Good evening. I would like to call this meeting to order. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Present. >> Here. >> Here. >> Present.
>> Here. >> Here. Thank you. Board member Faria, would you please lead us in the flag salute? indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Board member Faria, would you please
read the mission statement, >> empower and inspire every student every day. >> Thank you so much, Miss Faria. Miss please read the open public meetings act statement. Good evening. In accordance with the
provision of the New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act, Township of Union Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof published in the Star Ledger in Union County. Local sources posted in the administrative building of 2369 Mars
Avenue, Union, New Jersey, filed with the township clerk, and mailed to all persons, if any, who had requested said notice. The board of education offers members of the public an opportunity to address issues regarding items on the agenda to by the board. All comments
will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board ask all members of the public to be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Comments regarding students and employees of the board will not be responded to by the board. Madam
President, >> thank you so much. Miss the board will go into executive session to discuss personnel and legal issues and action will be taken. May I have a motion to move into executive session?
>> Thank you, Miss Scott Hayden. >> Second. >> I apologize. Who? Miss Faria. Any discussion? The motion has been properly moved by Miss Scott Hayden and seconded by Miss Faria. Can I have a roll call, please?
Miss Capiello, Mr. Cohan. Yes, >> Mrs. Conte Mackey. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes, >> Mr. McDow. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Mani. >> Yes, >> Mr. Nasta. >> Yes, >> Miss Santana. >> Yes, >> Miss Mrs. Scott Heden. >> Yes, >> Miss Carbonel.
>> Yes. Thank you so much. Good evening everyone. May may I have a motion to move back into our public regular meeting? >> Second. Thank you. This motion has been properly moved by Miss Scott Hayden and
seconded by Miss Nancy Mani. Can I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Mr. Cohan? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Conte Maki? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faria? >> Yes. >> Mr. McDow? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasa?
>> Yes. >> Santana? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Scott Hayden? >> Yes. >> Miss Carbonel? >> Yes. Approval of the minutes. May I have a motion to move the following minutes? So move. >> Second.
>> This motion has been properly moved by Miss Antana and seconded by Miss Mani. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Mr. Cohan. >> Abstain on September 9th. Yes. On September 16th, >> Mrs. Conte Maki. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faria. >> Yes.
>> Mr. McDow. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Beni? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nasta? >> Yes. Miss Santana, >> yes. >> Mrs. Scott Hayden, >> yes. >> Miss Carbonel, >> yes. Next, we will have our communications that are reflected on operations and
personnel agendas. >> Good evening, everyone. I would like to take a moment to thank you all for being here tonight. As we begin the public comment portion of this meeting, I want to remind everyone that we value your input and appreciate your time and
effort in sharing your thoughts and concerns. We ask that all comments be respectful and constructive as we aim to foster a productive dialogue that benefits our community and the work we are here to do. Each speaker will be given three minutes
to address the board. Please remember that while we are eager to hear your perspectives, we are unable to engage in a discussion during this portion of the meeting. However, your comments will be carefully considered by the board and if necessary followed up on. With that
said, I invite the first speaker to approach. Um, do we have those cards? >> Madame President, surprisingly none for the first comment. These all will be for the second. >> That's wonderful. Um, as we before we move to the superintendence report, uh, Miss Scott
Hayden, um, will you address that? Yes. Good evening everyone. Um on behalf of the board and the administration here, um we would like to offer a moment of silence for one of our employees who lost her mother, Tracy Kesak, um the
manager of transportation. So we are requesting a moment of silence on behalf of her loss. Thank you. And we add that may her memory be a blessing to all who knew and loved her. >> Thank you so much, Miss Kah Hayden.
Now we will proceed to the superintendence report. Thank you, Madam President. >> So, we have some great presentations again tonight for you, just like we did last month. Um, real quick, I just before we get into our first one, um, just wanted to
kind of open everyone's eyes. Um, as we prepare start preparing, uh, Miss has, uh, set up many meetings coming up for our our budget uh, uh, to to build our budget uh, for the next school year.
Um, I want to just kind of reflect on where we left off last school year to this year in enrollment. We are down approximately 295 students. Why I say that is obviously our we we get funding based on number of students as well. It's just trying to look at as many
things as we can to try to predict where our funding is going to be uh you know if we stay status quo at least. But we are down you know the residency department the re-registration there's a lot of different reasons why. Um, I'm going to keep track during the year to
see if it starts going back up along along the year, but we are measured on our October 15th date. So, even though we might gain students uh later on uh for budgetary, October 15th is a big date. Um, and those numbers are including our out of district. Uh, just
wanted also to reflect on that as the board does from time to time. So, next up, I would like to uh invite Mr. Ferrroni up, Nicholas Ferrron to kind of share a little bit on historically correct um and Nick has done some amazing things for our district,
continues to has done in the past. He he really does provide our students um I guess access to things they may not have ever had a chance to. He brings so many people to us as well as I know over
the years uh cosmetology and some other programs have been able to go to like New York or different things because you set up because of your relationships uh them to again go and and get to uh experience things that they may not not have. Here's another ad adventure for
you. I loved the the episode I watched. Um, it really got me to reflect on, um, you know, back to the days where I I was sitting in class learning about, uh, history and, um, and it was really
exciting to to to watch. Let me just try to get this to come up. But Nick, do you want to just talk a little bit while I get this to come up? Uh, >> hello everybody. Uh, thank you for having me. Uh, >> I'm sorry.
>> Good evening. >> Oh, good evening. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was about to say good morning. My brain is a little fried right now. >> All right. But, uh, it's funny because obviously, as Dr. Brennan mentioned, as you know, I grew up in this town. I went to Franklin School, went to Bernett. My history teachers uh, were two amazing
and crazy, just crazy enough history teachers who made me love history. And I remember when Edward Zizac would talk about the revolution and share the stories about how there was British soldiers buried in Connecticut Farms Church and how the Hannah Caldwell story. It just again passionate people
make other people passionate. So when I had this opportunity, I partnered with America 250, which is the federal organization overseeing the 250th anniversary, which is coming up, and Rev New Jersey, and they asked me to do a little digital series that's educational, entertaining, just a way to
highlight locations in the state that were significant for the revolution. Uh when I wrote the episodes, my only prerequisite was that I have to end with the fifth episode in Union to highlight the Battle of Connecticut Farms and to highlight obviously the Caldwell parsonage in Liberty Hall. So this
series again, it's it's basically edutainment. So it's something I would want to show my students in class. Uh there is I'm going to do the most teachery thing ever. There is a pop quiz during so play along and just lie to me about how you do afterwards. All right? But uh again, I hope you enjoy it.
short. It's only 45 minutes long. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, it's only 7 minutes long. Actually, again, they're like, "How long do you want to make?" And I'm like, "My students can't watch anything past 5 minutes." So, 5 to seven minutes is the norm. >> Keep talk. Let me start quizzing people
now like the show. All right. Uh but again obviously the work that that Barbara and Dave do with the and their team at the Cordwell parsonage I don't think we utilize it enough in the town and I try everything I can to highlight that but but again it's there's so many
amazing things happening or happen in this town and continue to happen. We're so much more than a water tower which apparently is not going to be there anymore. Yeah. >> I could share a link with you too. All right, I hope you enjoy and let me
know how you do at the end on the quiz. >> There you go. twice a single bullet. A moment that turned grief into a vengeance. >> This is 1980. The revolution hit home right here in Union. British forces came
storming in. >> Is this the beginning of it? >> Fighting preachers white. A single bullet. A moment that turned grief into vengeance and changed New Jersey forever. And it all started in my hometown.
I wasn't involved. You've heard of Lexington and you learned about Trenton. But in June 1780, the revolution hit home right here in Union. British forces came storming in and what happened next
changed everything. This is the Battle of Connecticut Farms and the death that became a rallying crowd. It's June 7th, 1780. The British launch a second invasion into New Jersey, marching inland from Staten Island
toward Marstown. Their goal, wipe out Washington's army once and for all. But there's one problem. They didn't plan on Jerseyy's geography or grit. The Patriots use the Watch Mountains as a natural barrier, setting up ambushes, slowing down the advance, and forcing
the Red Coat to turn back. But the most tragic moment of the battle wasn't on the field. It was right here in Union, my hometown, and where I currently teach. Hannah Codwell, the wife of Patriot preacher James Codwell, was shot and killed inside her
parsonage, which was then burned down. Some say it was an accident, others a warning. She wasn't a soldier. She wasn't in uniform, but her death became a spark fueling the flames of war. All right, let's separate the red coats from the real ones. It's pop quiz time.
Jack, when was the last time you took a pop quiz? You're still in school, so recently. >> Uh, like about um less than a year ago, I would say. >> Well, college, grad. >> College. Okay. Nate, it's summertime. Do you hate me for giving you a pop quiz right now? >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're both educators. You You've given a lot of pop quizzes. When was the last time you actually took a pop quiz? >> I don't want to say. It's ancient history. >> This is for every student you gave a pop quiz to. Okay. What was George Washington's force's name that he was
gifted when he was 13 years old? >> You're kidding. >> Yeah, I am kidding. That's all right. All right. They're multiple choice, so it won't be too bad. >> All right. Where did the Battle of Connecticut Farms take place? Marstown, Union, Connecticut, or Central New
Jersey, which definitely exists. >> Going to say central New Jersey. Central New Jersey. What town? >> Yes. >> Connecticut Farms. >> Connecticut Farms, which is now >> seems like a trick question. >> Present day. >> I'll give you a hint. Your mom was from
there. >> Oh, Union. >> It's Union. Great job. First one. Naming back then was kind of confusing. It definitely wasn't Connecticut, but then again, the New York Giants and New York Jets both play their home games in New Jersey, which is also very confusing. Yeah, >> I had a feeling it was your question. I
knew the Battle of Connecticut wouldn't really be in Connecticut. >> All right, next question. Who was Hannah Codwell? A loyalist spy, Washington's cousin, a patriot's wife killed during the battle, or a town baker? I'll give you a hint. She was
married to a patriotic preacher. >> She was the wife of Reverend James Caldwell. >> C. Yes. The patriot's wife. >> A patriot's wife. >> Um Patriot's wife killed during the battle. >> Yeah. >> Oh. killed by a patron. >> Well, she was killed by a redcoat, but
she was the she was killed during the Battle of Connecticut Corum. She became a symbol of what the revolution really cost and she's immortalized in the Union County Seal. So, if you look at the Union County Seal, it's a picture of a red coat shooting Hannah Codwell. >> Yeah. >> Sad. >> They're very, very sad. She may have baked, but that's not the correct answer
for this one. All right. >> I'm sure she baked feed nine children. She baked. >> All right. True or false? These are a little easier, right? Yeah. >> All right. Perfect. True or false? The British won the Battle of Connecticut Farms. >> Um, no. They retreated.
>> Say false. >> True. False. >> You said that so confidently. And you're correct. >> And you're correct. That is false. They advanced, met resistance, and turned around. Like when I can't find parking in Hoboken. >> I've heard bad things about the parking. >> Parking is a nightmare. Three for three.
Serious. Great job. And bonus question. What happened to the Cordwell parsonage right after the battle? The parsonage means the house. What do you think the British did to her house after they killed her? >> I'll give you the multiple choice.
>> Oh, good. >> It was turned into a hospital. It was turned into a bakery. They burned it down or the British took it over and moved in. >> This one I don't know. I'm going to go with trans hospital. >> Is that when it was burned?
>> Well, it was sort of burned during the battle. I don't know what preposition you want. >> Okay, we'll say during and after. What would you say? What do you think the British would do to a house of a woman they just killed? >> They took it over. >> Burned it down. >> Are you serious? Four for four. Great
job. So, you're right. It was burned down. But now it's home to our town's historical society. Just down the road from the battle is Liberty Hall, home to New Jersey's first elected governor, William Livingston. He was governor right after declaring
independence. All the previous ones were appointed by the king. The last being, wait for it, William Franklin. That's right, Ben's son. William Franklin actually stayed loyal to England and chose the king over his own father.
To quote my father's favorite movie, The Godfather Too, don't ever take sides with anyone against a family. Back to William Livingston. After the war, he helped write the US Constitution. This same house went from crown to
Constitution in under a decade. Talk about flipping property. Want to walk through a battlefield and see a founding father's home? Visit Connecticut Farms and Liberty Hall, both in Union. Tour the parsonage, where
history turned tragic, and the mansion, where revolution turned a republic. Join the fight to help preserve our battlefields and historical sites with the American Battlefield Trust. And don't forget to download the Liberty Trail NJ app and visit the libertytrail.org work because in Jersey,
history is never far away. People could trash New Jersey all they want, but we wouldn't have a USA without us. [Applause]
Raise your hand if you got four out of four liars. All liars. You chat GBTE those questions, didn't you? No, but but again, it's just obviously homage to the town and the community that most of us ob a lot of us did grow up in. So, thank you for having me and and hopefully it represents our
town and community and kind of celebrates in the way that we know it it should be. So, thank you. And how about we give another nice round of applause for Mr. Fon. And I could tell you just like as engaging this is he is with his students enjoys class every day and it says a lot about how
you bring your lessons to life. So, great job. So our next presentation I could uh I'm happy to introduce uh Miss Ahern. She's going to share a little bit about uh her responsibility as a supervisor of counseling. >> Perfect. There's a lot of things. Oh,
thank you. Can you click for me? Okay. Oh, I can see it over there. Okay. Hi everybody. I'm just getting myself a little situated. Thank you so much for having me. Um, good evening, Madame President, board of education members,
superintendent Benquista, Assistant Superintendent McKenzie and Rodriguez, the wonderful union school community. Thank you for having me here tonight. Um, my name is Nicole Ahern. I am the supervisor of school counseling. I've been in this role for approximately 14 years after a long career in union as a
teacher and a school counselor. Very proud to say that I call this home. So tonight, I'm going to give a little bit of overview who we are, what we do, and how our work as school counselors directly align with the district's mission to empower and inspire every
student every day. So who are we? We are a dedicated staff of school counselors, certified school counselors, and student assistance counselors. By location, we have in Union High School 11 school counselors, two sacks. Bernett Middle School, three
school counselors and one sack. Kwami Middle School, two school counselors and one sack. And at the elementary schools, each has a dedicated school counselor for a total of seven, including Jefferson. We are lucky that the district has put the effort into making sure that we have all of these resources
for our students. Just a little note, at the middle school and the high school, our counselors do follow their students for the entire time they are at that school for continuous services. The counselors also serve in many additional roles. They it's not just with the
students. They exist in their school communities as well. Many of them act as the anti-bullying specialists for their building overseeing HIV and all that entails. Some of them are also the 504 chairperson. They might be the INRS chairperson. They're all members of
various building committees, skip teams, care teams, um attendance committees, and they are part of their school cultures. for all of you that work in a school. They are part of the fabric of each and every school that they are with and they influence the overall student
experience. So what is our purpose? What is our why? We want to promote student success for all. We are a comprehensive stu uh comprehensive school counseling program who addresses the whole child not only academically but socially and emotionally. We are collaborators with
everyone we come into contact with. It feels like not only our educators in the buildings, but our families, our greater community to remove barriers to learning, whatever they might look like. We also as a group provide equitable access to opportunities and resources
for all of our students. So, our counseling model that we follow is intentional in that it's designed as a continuum of support across all grade levels. As you can see in elementary, middle school, and high school, it may look different just based on the developmental level of the students.
Whereas elementary, we're having students with us for the first time. So, we're looking at those foundational skills, self-awareness, emotional regulation, friendship skills, decision-m. Moving into middle school, it's more of an exploration of either academic habits, goal setting. We know
middle schoolers identity development, peer relationship, social skills that they need assistance with. then moving into high school post-secary planning but also talking about career readiness, what their plans are, giving them those mental health supports and life skills.
I have to say that we do articulate from one school to the other. I have the privilege of being able to host department meetings in which we are able to get together and as the school year goes on, we are able to speak elementary to Jefferson, Jefferson to the two middles and the two middles to the high
school. In terms of staffing, we ensure readiness for both life and learning beyond graduation. We want our kids not only to be academically academically prepared but also to be emotionally resilient and future ready. So services provided I tried to break
this down and I felt as I was going through the presentation I started to talk general and then I started to talk specific. So I'm going to talk general for a moment just in terms of a the variety of direct services that the staff does give to their students. So we offer individual sessions that may be
academic again social emotional focused depending on the student needs. We come from a space that is completely student centered. We meet the child where they are in that moment. So when they come to us or when we reach out to them it's to see where they are and what they need.
Whether that be a survey, whether that be a check-in, whether that be a call from a parent, a referral from a teacher, we're going to get in front of that student to see what we can do to help them. We do some small groupoup facilitation with various topics. Different schools have different needs,
but we look at commonalities of members. We look at trends in the buildings and what different grade levels might need. It might be a fourth grade girls group focusing on one particular thing. We might have a group of students that wants to hear more information about a different path other than college in the
vocational realm. So we try to put groups together that represent what our students need in that moment so that it's relevant and responsive. So beyond individual and group meetings, what else are we working with? We are involved highly in crisis response and
student support. When things do arrive arise, often it's the counselor that is the first point of contact. When someone's unsure of a student in need and what they need, a student in need and going through crisis, the counselor is that person that they can go to and
then bring in who needs to be brought in. Uh, also class lessons based on targeted themes. So, these could be based, these could be trends in the building. I'm going to talk when we get to the levels and the different buildings about specific specific classroom lessons that we're running. We
look at school climate data to kind of say what is the overall picture of the school and then address that with lessons. We attend grade level meetings, parent conferences, teacher conferences. Um in addition to preparing schoolwide initiatives, all of these help us reach our students proactively. Again, the
goal being to address issues before they become obstacles. So, this is where just I want to get in some specifics and give some shoutouts to my amazing staff. Um, the delivery of services does look a little bit different for those of you that visit
the schools. Um, a counselor entering a kindergarten classroom might look a little bit different than a middle school counselor talking about vaping. So, that being said, I we talk about at the elementary level, they are going into class classrooms on a monthly
basis. the teachers let us know their availability and they schedule around that. What I do like is that there's usually a parent follow-up piece. So, we're keeping that homeschool connection open. So, even if the students can't articulate when they go home at the
elementary level that they saw mi that they saw Miss Abru um today, Mr. Abrew will send a note home or she'll send um now we have parent square. She can send a message to say I was in the fourth grades today and this is what we spoke about. So, we have that homeschool connection, individual sessions, small
groupoup facilitation, what we commonly call our lunch bunch at that age, um, and schoolwide initiatives. When we get to the end of the presentation, you're going to see some amazing um, pictures of kids and what they're doing. And at the elementary les at the elementary level, it really is building school
culture and climate. And that counselor is at the center of it all. bringing in speakers, doing spirit weeks, having things, you know, having things planned for assemblies, um, leadership days, running clubs. So, that's where we are with the elementary school.
Oh, and I just want to say one thing about classroom lessons. What does that look like? The themes usually are around perseverance or we're talking about conflict versus bullying or we're talking about respect. What does it look like? What does it sound like? They do a
meet the counselor in the beginning of the year. So there are a lot of things that depending again on what the school needs that the elementary counselors are doing. They also PLC so that we're they're planning together all seven schools so that we're getting consistent lessons.
The middle school the structure is a little bit different just in terms of how we're able to reach our students. Luckily we have home rooms that the counselors can go pop into. We have advisory lessons. We could extend home rooms at times. We go into classes. The middle school counselors can go into
classes for their lessons. They try to rotate. So maybe they might see all the seventh graders in an English class, but then they switch for cycle for the eighth grade. So that depends depending on what the needs of the school are. They do individual sessions. They have small group facilitation. And as I spoke
to before, developmentally some of the groups at the middle school level are about self-esteem, friendship, social skills, advocating for oneself. Something that I saw um it might I think it was last year, one of the needs based
on trends, one middle school had implemented um a cell phone policy that was receiving a little bit of kickback from the kids. So the seventh grade school counselor decided that she was going to prepare a lesson and she was going to go into see all the seventh
grade students within their classrooms and she presented not only digital cit citizenship but um accountability and time management and distractions. So that's an illustration of how we meet their needs. At the other middle school, we had some targeted speech going on in
one of the grades and our SAC counselor developed a lesson and it was called intent versus impact and she partnered with the school librarian and she went into the cycle classes and she spoke to the kids with real world examples about how what you say it might not be your
intent but it does have an impact. So, those are just some examples at the middle school about how we are um addressing things that are coming up. Schoolwide initiatives, I don't know, it's on social media. Their PBSIS is like no other at Bernett Middle School
and that carries over. Kami does it also, but Bernett definitely is definitely has been recognized nationally and that is led by our student assistance counselor and her team. At the high school, oh, at the high school we are doing a lot. Luckily, we
have the staff for it. Our case loads do run about 240, which is under the state average. They do stay with their students, so they have 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, and they move with them. So, they do grade level small groups during the year. They're seeing these groups numerous times, and it looks different.
9th grade, I just um I just observed a group with nth graders, and they were doing transition and resources, and what are we doing in those moments? What do you need now was sort of the theme. and they did it 10 ninth graders at a time. Then they did makeup sessions. Then for 10th grade, we're kind of looking at,
okay, let's start to explore goals, interests. Let me show you how to use Nviance because this is a tool you're going to be using. With our 11th graders, we have a dedicated junior conference program, which has been highly successful, that everybody receives approximately a 45minute conference with the family and their
school counselor, and they run much longer, which is great. um where they're sitting as a group collaborating to figure out what the next steps are. We have senior planning meetings. We have assemblies. A lot of our senior work is done individually because the needs are
so broad depending on what their path would be after they leave us. We have assemblies. Our sachs also at the high school level they're going into health classes for targeted lessons. We have a great partnership with prevention links and NJ4s. So they're able to bring us
programs for tier one at no charge which is very helpful. So we have two running now it's safe dates which is about healthy and unhealthy relationships. We also had um and we also had a power back presentation which had to do with um which had to do with setting boundaries
and knowing you know knowing your worth and those both to prove to be very successful. We again individual sessions small group um small groups and with the small groups again those are those mental health supports where we identify them. We have a grief group that is
constantly cycling in members. I have one of my facilitators here uh groups if they um cycle around anxiety. Our substance use prevention students that are sent out that come back in for that counseling piece. That is also a small group that we run. Um, and then
districtwide, what are we doing so that we all have common language and that we're doing things for the greater good of the district's culture and climate? I listed some of them here. We of respect, school violence awareness week, National School Counseling Week, um, suicide prevention, mental health awareness
month. So, this promotes again positive school climate, safety, and that commonality throughout the district. So another part of our role is to use data to monitor student progress and intervene early. So we looked at course
failures for 24 25 and the number of students that did fail one course whether it was a core course, an elective course, an extra course for credit. But then what we did was we analyzed how many students after giving them resources for summer school, we had
214 kids enroll. So that was 158 in person and 56 56 online through an online platform. And what we saw was that over 94% of the students that enrolled in some form of recovery and intervention program for the summer were
able to retain credit and make up a failed course. So again, it just shows that our recovery systems and what we're offering are working because our ultimate goal is to keep students on track. So another another form of data tracking
is monitoring credits carefully. This is huge as we have to make sure that everyone meets the state graduation requirement for 120 credits. So we looked at our current 12th, 11th and 10th graders, the class of 26, 27, and 28. And when we looked at the fact that
they need 120 credits to graduate in all three grades, over 90% of the students are where they need to be creditwise to be considered on track for graduation. So the maximum credits possibly earned are listed there because we offer them
40 a year and if they fall within that range, they're still projected to be able to attain all their credits. So again, proactively tracking these students to ensure timely interventions because if you have a class, if you have a current 10th grader who is within who
is underneath that um that credit range, we want to intervene early because we want to know how are we helping the student? How are they getting that credit back? Did we give them the information? Let's meet with them first thing the f you know first thing to see okay this is someone that do they need
extra resources. So in addition to graduation requirements with the 120 uh with the 120 credits we also have a new state assessment s state assessment requirement related to the 11th grade test NJPA for those of you that don't speak high school. Um that's a test that
we give in the spring of uh junior year. And in the class of 2026, which is set to graduate of our cohort, mostly most of them completed one or both ELA or math. And in addition to that being
NJGPA, that's also alternate pathways. Students, because it was just released by the state that were allowed to use that um were allowed to use that as a qualifier. students that had a um a cuto off score for a PSAT, an SAT or an ACT, which is
determined by the state, they fell into those categories. So, they are where they need to be. In terms of what we need to do now, because obviously the numbers don't match those in the cohort. We need now to do targeted support where I work with my teaching and learning staff to
uh assist the students giving them assistance with their portfolios which is the third way that they can graduate by showing proficiency. Those portfolios are done in conjunction again in conjunction with our teaching and learning staff because the documents that we have to submit are state
approved and we will have them all submitted by March. little pat on the back. Every year in terms of state assessments, all of our portfolios that have been submitted have been accepted since we started the portfolio program. >> That's wonderful. >> Yeah. >> And I'm glad that we have different
pathways available to students so that they can graduate on time. >> I have a question, Miss Ahern. >> Yes. in that slide with the assessment NJGPA first because we're speaking to an audience. Can you say a little bit about what NJGPA represents, what kind of test
it is? >> Sure. So, and you might assist me with this. So, uh so the NJGPA is I equate it to some of us will know this like the original HESPA that some of us remember. So it's a general overview of math and
English with with standards that are supposed to be mastered at that point in the 11th grade year. So since all students are not on the same math track, they want to make sure that everyone has had the exposure. So that's what the math questions are related to. It it
falls within those guidelines of NJSLA based questions just moving it up to 11th grade. And my other question is I see the numbers of those that's performed were proficient >> yes >> in ELA either ELA or mathematics
>> correct >> what is the statistics on students that pass both >> that >> I do have that in a spreadsheet I could email that to you >> because some of the students only pass DLA some of them only pass math and some
of them pass both but I can get that for you. >> Thank you. Absolutely. And something that we point out to the students when we do our senior meetings, just to follow up on that because it always comes up when we talk to our seniors about what's left. That's part of our senior planning. When we talk to
them about what's left, we always bring that up. It's it's just a number. We reave you the test in the fall. We'll get those results back. We'll knock those numbers. We'll bump up those numbers from the fall test results because we had great attendance. The kids took it seriously. There were a lot
of students that were very close to that 725 cuto off score. So we let them know we'll get you there. If it wasn't the PSAT or the NJGPA, we will get you there. And that's why we have the portfolio. It puts their minds at ease. But thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> So then we do have challenges. Speaking
of challenges that everybody, you know, all students are different and we do know that students are coming to us with many things that are happening outside of just the school system. So, our counselors handle that almost as a multi-layered approach. First, they're
advocates. Not only are they advocates for their students and families, speaking with teachers, outreach, but we also encourage the children to advocate for themselves, to be part of the process so that they can get what they need and articulate that. There are so many factors that come into play that as
counselors, we want to address those factors and research them, get the background information. What's going on? Do we have those stressors? Do we have barriers to learning? Is it something financial? Is it access to resource? Is there something going on in the home? Those are all things that we need to be
able to find out in order to help them effectively and get them what they need. We also work with families once we, you know, we work with families on that level in order to re-engage and get them there that access to resources. Oh, that's my cue. Sal said he was going to
run the music, so I only have a couple more slides. Um, and we're analyzing data. Yes, we have the grades, monitor marking period grades. That's what the counselors do at all levels, getting them in there, looking at their grade book, but we're also looking at the whole picture, their attendance, their
conduct, teacher feedback, parent feedback, anything that'll help us identify what their needs are and then develop remediation and intervent and intervention plans to be able to address that. Again, student centered. We're also engaging our families and
offering them options. Do they need mental health supports? Do they need a referral for any sort of outside agency or community resource, whatever that may be? Do we need to give them access to credit recovery? Are we needing to reschedu them just to make sure that they are ready for graduation? And in
the elementary schools, are we looking at what's going on in the classroom to see if what's going on in the family or outside of the classroom is affecting them? And then we are bringing everybody in, stakeholders. Every student has a team, whether it's
their classroom teacher, whether it's their case manager, whether it's their 504 chair, whether it's their school nurse, whether it's the start team, are they do are they currently um receiving RTI services? Do they need additional support as an ML? Are they part of an
INRS case? What is it and who is it that we need to bring to the table? because everybody has input and counselors can't act in isolation. So, we look to see who else can help us because it shouldn't just be the counselor. It should be that collaborative approach. Check-ins are
important and essential to what we do. Counselors need to be visible. Gone are the days where they're just sitting behind their desk waiting for kids to come to them. That doesn't happen. We know that doesn't happen. So, if a student isn't going to make an appointment and you keep trying to make
an appointment because it's that time, then please walk down to the math class and see what's going on. Or you might want to walk through the cafeteria. My elementary counselors live on the playground. My middle school counselors are in the cafeteria. But it's all about building that connection for the kids to
see that the counseling that the counselor can be their trusted adult and they will go to bat for them. So again, the counseling department, we focus on community and family engagement through a number of educational programming. I listed some of them for
you. I'm not going to go through them all through them all. They were they um are related to various topics during the year. Um we also are able to promote agency workshops. So NJ4S just delivered a whole series of webinars that we were able to that we were able to post in
some of the Google classrooms. And again, now on Parent Square, we can get those things out to the community. So, it's not just things that we have to present, but there's a lot of really good resources out there that our families can take advantage of. And I do want to give a little shout out here to
funding, Miss Yolanda. Um, we have the ability through some of our grant funding that Miss Skakosa offers first and foremost to the principles and the counseling staff with assemblies in mind, with guest speakers and programming. So there are principles
that you know scrimp and save and put some on the side but I have to say that our grant funding some of our title funds go towards programming which paying people to be able to come in and do presentations at night. So that is essential and everybody knows PTA in my
heart. PTAs also are advocates and part of their mission is that they help support the schools and assemblies is one ways that PTAs also give back in town. I can't help myself. Um, specifically to the high school, I just wanted to touch
base on some annual events because I know we always ask, what are we doing to get our kids where they need to be? So, every year, these are programs to essentially connect students and families to real world opportunities and guidance as to what the next steps are. Um, we have planning for post-secary and
supporting your student. We do nighttime senior family meeting, a ninth and tth grade parent meeting which is coming up where we're able to present information and resources and timelines. We did just have our college and career fair where we have representatives from all areas, two-year schools, four-year schools, the
military, civil service, trade, vocational schools, business schools, they all come out. And I just wanted to say again, speaking to trends, and this could be a separate conversation, and I'm almost done, but I just wanted to put in this part. We are seeing the trends. Not everybody is going to a
four-year school. It that's not the path everybody is taking. We've seen an increase in gap year. We've seen students going into work into the workforce because they already had a job that offered them full-time. We see students that now want to engage in a trade. We have a partnership with Union
County, now UCJ, and we have them come in to talk to our students about the advantages of two-year programs. They have an American honors college. They have EOF. We have a wonderful instant decision and info session program which has kind of
pivoted which I have my other counselor here who is in charge of that program but we've done a pivot over the years where now our on-site visits and people that are coming in are not just Cwell University Satan Hall NGIT but we have
universal technical institute coming in which is related to which was related to car and mechanical work. We have Lincoln Tech coming in. We have the police fire coming in to talk about civil service. We did a presentation with the department of corrections. Today in the
meeting room was the electrical training academy coming in to talk to our kids. So what is it that our kids need and how can we just continue to invite people in because not everyone is going to go to a college fair. They might, they might not. Um but this is a way that if we
know our captive audience, we survey the students to see what they want. were able to then design programming around it. So, I have to say that that instant decision and info sessions has really grown. Um, and of course, last but not least, financial aid. We have a wonderful partnership with HEISA. Um,
Andre has come to see us twice last year, once this fall. We're working on some technical sessions for our 12th grade families, and that is just a way to get the information out. I don't know if everyone's aware, but FAFSA is now a state graduation requirement. So, we try to give our families as many
opportunities as we can to be informed in addition to posting things. So, we'll leave the slide up. So, this is our why. This is why we do what we do. Um, these are our kids, our students, our counselors that were behind most of it. And we're committed to supporting the
academic, social, and emotional growth of all of our union students. Um, I'm very proud of my team and their work. and I'm proud of all of our student achievements and what they do. Um, and I just wanted to take a second to thank you for thinking of me to come present,
continuing to support our work and for recognizing that school counselors are essential to the work that we do in district um, in partnership with the greater community and we play that vital component of empowering our students,
every student every day. Oh yeah, and I didn't even mention the field trips that we're doing to various college. We when I said college fairs, not everybody goes. We've been running field trips as well. We have a UTI one coming up, H.B.CU one coming up. Kane
hosts one. So we also have that for our students. >> Thank you so much. >> No, I was thorough. >> Before he goes, before he goes Nick >> Mr. >> Mr. Ferrroni. Um, we transitioned so quickly, but I will be remiss if I
didn't say that. That was an exceptional video and it is so important to bring learning to life for students. I was one of those students that was disengaged in many classes. I can almost guarantee you that if I was in your class, this will
be of interest to me. So, thank you so much for going above and beyond. Um, it is truly appreciated by the board and recognized. Thank you. Now, Miss Ahern, thank you so much for a very thorough presentation and joining
us tonight. One of the things that I promised back in January was more transparency and more information for the parents. Inspired and empowered does not only pertain to the students, it also pertains to the parents. and we're going to arm them with information
about what they can expect from our district and this is really a relevant presentation of what they can expect from the guidance department. >> Um we do have some questions if you don't mind. >> Sure. >> Um so we will begin with Miss Faria.
>> First I want to start by saying thank you. This is a lot of information. I appreciate sharing it. Um, and but I wanted to bring up some things about so when we're looking at the NJGPA, I think we're looking at about 43% of our senior class currently still has to do portfolio and math. Um, I'm wondering if
there's a better way to target some of those supports. 43% is quite a high amount and we're working with what we're working with, >> but I'm wondering NJPA is an option for the summer. might we consider potentially bringing in some students over the summer, particularly those that
we know are really close and have an opportunity to pass because I think when we have 43% of students to that need to be serviced to portfolio, that's a big undertaking that I think if we can move teachers and staff from that position to being more proactive before will be uh
much more of a better use. Hopefully our our fall administration will remove some students from here. But I just wanted I wanted to bring that up because I think we need to start being a little bit more proactive of getting that number. Yes. Down >> and we collaborate closely on the portfolio to say okay what else can we
do? So I think that's a great idea for us to follow up on in terms of teaching and learning. Thank you. Because it is overwhelming. >> I I just want to know we are very blessed to have the portfolio as an alternative path but it's not ideal for our students to graduate via a
portfolio. So I do hope that we put in place interventions early on to ensure that the majority of our students are successful. Um I see a lot of acade you know student success but are we leaving 10 children behind? What's acceptable?
20 students behind 100 students behind >> we got to get all our students in the right track. >> Agreed. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi M. Thank you for this presentation. It was really good. Um, lots of information.
I always tell people that I make it no secret. I always say that the guidance counselors during my high school years um were key in helping me navigate challenges growing up as a teenager in New York City in a rough neighborhood, rough inner school. So, I always say um
it's important that, you know, our our counselors, school counselors are engaged. Um, so I have some questions. What how does it work when a student's grades are failing or you know you typically have a student who's all A's and then you have a semester that comes
up and then you know as a parent or you know taking into account parents we are responsible to be checking our grades um our kids' grades but you never know what a child is going through at home and not everybody is the same depending on their reasons or whatever is going on in their situation. >> What does that look like? So when a
marking period comes out, the grades are put out, does the school counelor get that? And what happens? So a kid went from A and then you just see Fs, D, C's, who's primarily a good kid. What
does that look like? And what is the expectation of the school leadership and the school counselors and the parents? And how is the communication to the parents and with that child? Okay. So, I'm in thinking of a student, obviously something is going on, right? And it
would be looking at that trend, but it wouldn't just be when the grade comes out. It would kind of they monitor. So, they're able to run their data in Genesis. And if it's before the marking period comes out, they could scroll through, they could look at their child's gradebook. If it's a particular class, they might reach out to the
teacher to kind of say, "What do we think is happening here?" There's a lot of data in that gradebook that sometimes you could see, is it a test and quiz issue? is it a missing assignment issue? And then you're approaching it in different ways based on what the student's issue is. But again, calling the student down to say, I'm recognizing that I'm seeing a little bit of a change
to have that conversation to have that interaction because then what if something comes up in that meeting? Right. So that's the expectation. >> Exactly. We're not waiting for the end of the marking period that the school counselors in conjunction with the teachers are looking. So as the grade
book is there is the expectation that the counselors are also monitoring for peaks in performance and bringing that student teacher and or parent involved. >> Yes, that is the expectation in the department. In addition, we when we have those conversations with teachers, we
try to say, you know, it's fine for us to send an email or it's fine for us to set make a phone call, but as the teacher, we could partner, we can call together, we can set up a parent teacher conference because this is what the student is communicating. Um, we could if it's something, let's just say missing assignments versus test and
quizzes or the reverse. Maybe it's that they're not preparing or they're not sure how to study or maybe it's a mismatch where they're in the counselor's office and they're saying, "I'm just not getting it." Okay. Well, what is it that you're not getting? And it's kind of taking those pieces again depending on what's coming out. On the
flip side, there's something that goes that's going on at home that a parent lost their job. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. Or a parent lost their job and now the student has to work at night. So, what is it that we can do? Can we advocate with them? Can we go to the teacher and say, "Listen, >> what are the essentials here? Of these
10 missing assignments, can you identify five?" It's kind of coming up with that personalized remediation plan to get the child where they need to go. Not to leave anybody behind as Madame President said, but to say, "Okay, what do we need?" And then, >> does the student now need to fill out a
free and reduced lunch application, which they didn't previously have because their income at home has changed. So, now let's bring in Mr. Jesso to say, "Okay, can we have this conversation?" But all along keeping in touch with the parent, making sure the student knows that we're in their corner because sometimes they are just so at a
loss because they feel it's too late and it's never too late. We can get you back on track and it is that is the expectation. >> And one more other question. Sure. Because I know we have other people have questions. You know, special education is my baby. >> Yes. Um oftent times counseling
services, school counseling services and IEPs and things of that nature interact and interconnect and sometimes there are things that are picked up from >> the school counseling level i.e. special education. What does that partnership
look like? So are the counselor school counselors a part is the expectation that the school counselor is also still because that child is let's say in the school or out of district the counselor still responsible for the roster of students that are associated with that
school are they a part of that IEP process do they follow up what is the relationship and collaboration with the CSTs and the teachers and the counselor or counseling services and special services coming together for the greater good of that kid.
>> Absolutely. So, our case managers work hand inand with our school counselors. There's a lot of collaboration when it comes to the scheduling of IEP meetings and things from the special services side. They're always the ones to invite the counselors to attend. It is important. I stress the importance of
it. We actually have um we usually have about two staff meetings a year in collaboration with all the CSTs at the high school level and at the middle school level. CST teams and the school counseling department that Mr. Syling and I run together just to kind of keep everybody on the same page, but we
always say invite our counselors to the IP meetings. The counselors do just like with every other student, they have their data, they have their books, they have what they need. And in regards to out of district, they still have a counselor of record just like all the other all the other students. They have a counselor of record that goes with
their grade level that goes with their, you know, right there in Genesis. And we encourage that. Also some of the out of district schools do have school counselors but we still encourage ours that if there is a meeting at the end of the day we want to keep that >> still belongs to you. >> Yes. Yes. So they do work closely.
>> Last question. Sure. Sorry. Co we see a lot of we have a generation now that's completely obsessed with social media um and the interactions of it. But it leads to multiple issues in terms of
socialization, depression, anxiety, bullying and etc. What are the you talked about um the counselors going into the classes monthly. What metrics or methologies are used
um to determine if a child is in trouble or if they're having effects of postco COVID. There's a lot of issues with our kids um behavioral patterns, socialization. I don't even know if they write letters anymore. Everybody's texting and things
of that nature. But what do what do you have in place to kind of identify? >> So we actually have a platform. I didn't mention it. We actually have the platform which is silus silus which is anal and I didn't even mention that. So that's um seal based. Okay. Um it's
research driven. I think this is our third year. So essentially it's a series of questions that focuses on the competencies. Okay. And it's and I could actually send a report if anybody was interested. But we're able to do that and we've administered that to our students in a group format last year
because we did New Jersey Sky. We didn't administer it because it was all at the same time. But our plan is to administer it after state testing in November. And what that will give the counselor is in the five core competencies. It'll give them it looks like green based on their answers. it looks like green, yellow,
and red. And where they then can identify students that might be experiencing some sort of difficulty, they can pull them out in groups. If there's something in a classroom that they see overarching, let's just see in the fourth rate as a whole, but it provides those metrics to be able to
address it. And what I like is it's also good for small groups. So, at Jefferson, as an example, um Mr. court was able to pull a bunch of students from different classes based on the data because at Jefferson they all start together. So it takes a little bit of time. It's not a
student that they've had with them or they've noticed patterns or they know the family. So Jefferson is a little bit different. So she was able to use those metrics to pull students from different groups with the teacher referral to say, "Hey, these kids are having an issue with their social awareness. So we're going to pull them in and we're going to
do some targeted lessons." which also Silas has a um Silus has a whole library and we're going to do these targeted lessons so that these kids even though they're coming from different classrooms we're able to give them some skills because that's the overall goal to give them the skills that they need to be able to to be able to be successful with
their peers. >> Well, thank you for this miss. >> No problem. I hope that answered your question. >> You did. Thank you. >> Excellent questions, Miss Conte Macki. I do have a couple of questions. >> Okay. >> Um first of all, thank you so much for being here tonight if I didn't say that.
Um can you go over a little bit about post secondary planning? How does that process look in this district? >> Okay. >> And goal setting. >> Sure. So again, these are things that we're that we're introducing at all
levels in terms of whether it be a vision board in a middle school with the counselors or it's not anything that they're walking into high school and saying, "Oh my gosh, what do I do now?" It's things that we're setting the tone to say, okay, what are some short-term goals? What are some long-term goals? But in terms of when they're when they
really start to explore um again, maybe it's in middle school, but as we're moving into the high school, we have the Naviance platform, which is everything college career interest inventory related. It has metrics in there that we're able to have the kids complete
them. We usually do them in nth grade and in 10th grade. they are able to retake them. But it and that's not the only thing we do. We also have again these small groupoup meetings to kind of say okay well here are our options giving students options having those conversations but then as we're moving
we're giving them these inventories and what the students are getting back is based on my interest this might be a potential career and then we're able to research okay well with that potential career what's the education required or where would you go to or what's the possible salary range or what are the
options they could even set the parameters to say in New Jersey and then From there, we're then taking steps at the same time. Let's try to find the classes that peique your interest. So now the counselors are working with them on course scheduling and try to trying to mesh the two together to say let's
try something. Let's see you you're thinking you might be an engineer but you're not sure. Well, let's look how are you doing in science and math and maybe let's look at what your interest inventory said and where does it say your strengths. Do you agree with it? Is there something else you want to pursue? And then again moving through bringing
in the parents for that conversation. >> Miss you. Yeah. >> What inventory do you use? >> True colors test or which one? >> So they administered the true colors test in seventh grade at Bernette which is so funny that you just said that. >> I because it's it's it's very simple.
It's easy for them to understand >> and they actually then used it in eighth grade to look at the classes in the course catalog for Union High School. >> Oh that's wonderful. So again, making those connections, but when we get down to it, it's saying, "Okay, now let's do some researches. Now, let's do some
research." And we have access to say, "What is it you're thinking about?" And when they are able to work with their counselors and kind of take the lead and say, "This is what I'm thinking." It's the counselor's expectation that they're going to come to the table and say, "Okay, it sounds as though you might be on this path. These are the resources
that I have, and if I don't have it, let me see what else that I can get for you." But again, bringing the families into the conversation is important because we never want to have that disconnect where senior year we're having a conversation and the families are in the meeting and all of a sudden we're on two completely different pages
because someone is going to the military and somebody thought that they were going to a four-year college. So talking with the families all along to kind of say, okay, this is where we are in the process. And then the then there's all the steps. We have senior checklists. we
have regardless of the pathway we have senior checklists have we done the things that we need to do and a have we done are you looking at scholarships do you have letters of recommendation are you preparing a resume because you're not sure and you might go into the workforce so we're trying to again meet the child where they are and what
they're thinking of doing and then going through the planning steps we have a pretty we have it pretty detailed in terms of what we give to the parents and I'm happy to provide that our jun our um junior family checklist our senior planning checklist I'm happy to provide that as well. >> Thank you so much. Um,
>> yeah, >> so I I would like for you to consider possibly moving the resume development earlier. Senior year is just a little too late. We used to do brag sheets and ninth grade. By 10th grade, everybody had to have a resume. >> Yeah.
>> Um, it just helps them build upon it and by senior year it's a beautiful work of art and it's perfected. >> Um, but I do have another question. Sure. And um something that a a parent wrote to us that I would like for you to give us your thoughts on data analytics
has become a major part of every industry that we know of. How do you use as the supervisor data analytics to ensure that every child is seen and consulted with?
>> So there are again expectations. So we can check in genesis notes. We have again we have spreadsheets on how many students at um when they have the date and time of their conferences at the elementary school. They all keep their own logs but at any time we can go into
Genesis and I'm able to see that. But in terms of minutes with students and times I don't I don't have that at my hands. I know that each individual counselor again keeps their logs, keeps their notes that I have access to at any time. Um we have counselors that use Google
forms for their check-ins. We're now using Turnstyle for when the students come in. So, we do have that data available to us. When the students are seeing their counselors, how long they're staying, we do have that access. I guess what I'm asking is, would you say that a 100% of our students are seen
at least once by a guidance counselor in the year? I >> some >> in some fashion absolutely in an individual session I would say but in some fashion absolutely absolutely in some capacity
>> and and la last but not least um for me anyway um I received an email from a parent um Miss Nulan and obviously we all watch the news we know what's going on and there is some
how would I say it there's some issues um going on with the SNAP >> um subsidies. And one of the things that she suggested as she thought about our student population is possibly
beginning a food pantry where students can donate and students that had some food insecurity at home could come and get some some some food.
Is is that something like the guidance has thought about? Is that something that >> So so in talks with the church that is using our auditorium, they do that now at the their real uh location, but it's something we've been
talking about because he he's recognized that they're running out quicker and quicker, which mean more people are coming in need. So we actually were talking I didn't get a chance to share it with anyone on my in my team uh about how can we bring it now that he is in
our using our facilities how can we partner on something like that because it is a growing need so that it's it thank you for bringing that up >> and we also just something else so we again through Miss Kakosa's grants that were able to house it we also have hygiene products for students that might
be displaced in a confidential location we have a bunch of hygiene products. We have people that donate things. So, we do have that already running through the grant outside of our school. >> Well, I'm glad you say that because communication is one of the big things. What I found many times is that we can
be doing great things, but sometimes it's not >> getting to the people that really can use those services and resources. How are you communicating regularly with the parents? Is is there a guidance newsletter that goes out so that the parents know of all the services,
events, workshops, um field trips and other resources that happen in guidance on a weekly basis, monthly? Is there a newsletter or something communication? So, it a lot of it is building based. So, for example,
there's a counselor newsletter for my elementary schools that they do that they do in conjunction and they send that out through their platform. Um, I'm able now with access to parents square for the middle school and the high school. I sent something out for financial aid that I was able to get to all the parents. So now that I have
access, I feel like moving forward, we use the PTA again, parents square, we send out counseling events per school, but it is something that maybe district-wide to say what's new with counseling. I think that's a great suggestion just and maybe those little things that we put in there to say in need, you know, if you have any extra
needs, we have resources such as and we could list that. I think that's a great idea and Parent Square has made it a lot easier. I don't know if John's still here, but Parent Square has made it a lot easier. >> Wonderful. And last but not least, >> yes, >> our MLS. >> Yes. >> Multilingual learners because we cannot
leave them behind. Correct. Either >> what are we doing to ensure that they are culturated not only linguistically but also academically and socially into our schools. >> So um at the high school level academically right now we initiated the bilingual program this year. So that's
helping at all levels. We work with the teachers that are with our students. ESL, they are a wonderful, our ESL teachers are a wonderful resource in terms of getting to know the students and being able to assist them building relationships. Where is it, you know, what else do they need? Because again,
did they come to the country by themselves? What are their circumstances? What are they struggling with? Uh we have an adult ESL program that I know we brought in for the families. Correct me if I'm wrong. And then um the socialization piece, the connection piece, finding mentors,
finding students that they have maybe a shared experience. And one thing that we're working with, Miss Garcia, um this is her second year. So some of the counselors were interested in beginning a newcomers group in terms of giving people a safe place to which they can you know which they can relate and just
you know not even so much as yes giving resources but more of a safe space for our MLS just so that they have someone to connect to. >> And how would do we support the the families or the parents >> in what ways? >> Oh so we um again sending things out in
multiple languages. Uh Dr. Rodriguez, he is he is always says don't forget, don't forget. So, and again, the feature again on parent square that you're able the feature that has been invaluable. But I've been CCed on emails from my counselors to families of MLS that are
already translated and the response comes back translated. So, that's been good, too. Some of our programs we Oh, she's up. Some of our >> No, no, she's not until we're done. some of our um and some of our programming too again for resources and accessibility to make sure that if we're
doing summer school or if we're doing something that kids have to sign up that they're getting it in multiple languages so they don't miss out. >> What are the top three languages? >> Miss Brandy, I know you're going to help her, but >> Spanish. I wanted to tell you too that um Miss Garcia has led the multilingual
parent advisory committee. So she invites all of our multi all the families of our ML students in um quarterly if not more to have celebrations and to talk about the resources in our district. So she's been really great about that. She should um
our top three languages are Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Portuguese. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. >> I did not. >> Um and Ronnie, did I see you with your hand up? >> Hi, Dad. >> No. No, that's running out of time. >> No, we're not.
No. Uh, no question. >> Took my medicine. >> But, but, but I I just simply wanted to comment that, uh, I don't think you have to convince anybody, at least not me, that counselors are absolutely essential in high school. Um and and no no
disrespect to teacher to teachers but uh uh when they teach it almost ends but you and your group are focused on after high school and and not and I I was glad to hear you say happy to hear you say
that uh uh as as we're all learning everybody's not meant to go to college >> and that's okay that's okay and and and I think it's your responsibility not your responsibility but what your group is doing is finding out okay what are you interested in you don't want to go if you don't want to go to college where
do you want to go and that's what I I that's what's come across to me what your group is doing and thank you for it >> thank you thank >> thank you so much great presentation >> thank you everybody >> and and I also want to thank her one other thing I would like to highlight a
couple years ago we were talking about uh not accepting our failure rate in summer school for recovery there were some courses we were failing at a rate of 40 50% of the people taking the recovery class. I am so happy to hear that we're in the 90s of passing. So
that's a big turnaround from a couple years ago and and you know we're doing a lot of things that we might not even realize that now we're we're making sure our kids are are successful. So thank you for the presentation. Thank you for that little >> very noted and um Miss Santana has
>> Yeah, I'm always forgotten. I know. So, uh, I just wanted to start first with the MLS piece. Um, so I guess I was ML MLS, but I was ESL and I just came from the Bronx. I just didn't learn English until much later. Just, you know, putting it out there with, you know, I guess we all come from
somewhere. Um, one of the piece, Miss Ahern, as you know, I think that, um, your skills with what you do, it's kind of like a dance and I always love it. I always want to hear what you do and how you do it. Um, uh, what I would have loved to see, and not that I'm putting
this down, I give this an A. The plus, I would love to have seen something about 504s, not a huge thing, but just some piece as as uh how it it's incorporated also in into your umbrella. So, because
as you know, many times we forget the that course between the 504 and the IEP and how it has different houses. I would like to have seen that. Um, and much to Miss Ky Macky's point, um, with, uh, special education, I know that, uh, it there there comes a
time that there's a fallus out there, and I'll be very honest with you, where if you have an IEP, you people think that you don't see the counselor, and it's out there, trust me, on the base level. And I continuously just always, absolutely, I go to my counselor. You don't even every time that there's
something wrong with my child that has an IEP, you know, anytime is wrong with anything, I I'll call my just pick their brain. Hi, do you think you could just pop in and look at them and see how how things are going? Um, and we it counselors are I like I said, I we're
all important in this, but counselors are kind of like that, you know, they they they give that that that put your shoulders back and help throughout the day. And in elementary school, when you saw lunch bunch, 100% I knew exactly what that was. and and how it's incorporated into special ed and regular
ed, but kind of just touching to to that piece of seeing a little bit of more of 504 and if it's not already incorporated into special education, how it should be. That's what I would love. Thank you for that feedback. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you again, Miss Ahern. >> Thank you, Miss Sana. >> So, uh, as we move on, I would like to, uh, let Dr. Rodriguez introduce the uh teaching and learning team. >> Good evening.
>> Good evening. >> So, I have the pleasure tonight of introducing our teaching and learning department. Uh over the last couple years, this group has really taken it on to make sure not only that our uh scores
are going up, but that academics uh and everything surrounding that area is really improving. One of the things that we started to do and and the teaching and learning department really has has really understood the assignment is instead of doing more, we have to do
less, which sounds weird to say, but we have to do less and we have to do it better. Uh when I came into the district a little more than a year ago, I fully understood that this district has all the tools that we need. We do not need to go outside. We don't need to buy more
things. We don't need to do more tricks. Nothing of that. everything that we need are is here. Um I I like to say a lot of times it's like walking into your garage and seeing all your tools are spread out all over. You don't just walk out and go to Home Depot and buy more tools. You
gather what you have, you put them in your tool box, and then you make sure you get the job done. So over the last few years, these three along with everyone really in the district, they've really taken it on. Um I'm so proud of them and what their work that they've
done. Tonight you'll see that there has been great growth in some areas and that we need to work in some others. Um but what I am confident in and what gives me great hope is that we know why. We know the why. We know where we need to
improve and we are executing in that. So without further ado, the teaching and learning department. [Applause] Okay. Thank you. Uh like the two presenters. Thank you. Thank you. Uh like the two presenters
before me, I also grew up in Union. Uh graduated in the 90s from Union High School and uh when I was a kid, I played a lot of sports and I felt like I knew everyone in the town. I was uh drove all
over the place. My dad took me all over and I had like a good group of friends from all over the town. I didn't realize until I got a little older, especially when I started working in Union and became an administrator, how big the town was. Um, and I actually looked this
up based on student enrollment. We're in the top 10% in the state as far as size. Um, and we're really behind some of the districts you think we would be behind. Elizabeth's, the Norcs, the Tom's
Rivers, and then we're next. Um, and with that size comes tremendous opportunity, right? We have diversity of thought, um, rich perspectives and also with that size comes a lot of complexity.
Uh, particularly because it's there are thousands of students, hundreds of teachers, lots of buildings. And if you think about one of the goals in education or in any district, right, we think it's growth.
It's parent and family growth. It's administrator growth. It's staff growth. And it's all leading towards student growth. And in order to do that, we have to make sure that we have the right structures
and the right systems in place in order to support that growth. And that's really been the focus of this department over the past year or so is identifying what structures we have, what systems we
have or don't have and beginning to put them in place and align them uh so that all of us teachers, administrators have the tools they need to make the right decisions. And and
really that's what we're here to do tonight is we wanted to talk about one of those systems and that's a data system. Okay, what the data system in union is. And so >> you can go on. >> Okay. So if you look at this slide,
yeah, you'll see a pyramid that highlights the three types of data that we look at in the district, at least that the department looks at in the district. And we know nowadays, I think we heard this in
Nicole's presentation and in the first presentation, that there's so much data now that's out there. Uh, and while it comes in many forms, classroom level data, district level data, state level data,
for the most part, it serves a similar purpose. It helps us understand student learning and it helps us guide improvement. And tonight what our plan is is to look at this data and how we're using it in
the district. And while we're going to focus mostly on state level data, it's important for us to also talk about district and classroom level data because state data is one data point of
a larger system. Okay? So we want to make sure that we highlight some of the classroom level data, the district level data, and then we'll spend most of the time talking and unpacking the state level data. Great.
Uh we're gonna I'm sorry. I'm going to start us off with our classroom level uh which is the foundation of our data system. Uh one of the major systems we've been building across the district is our common assessments. Uh over the past year, our instructional coaches have been working directly with the
teachers uh and PLC's to co-create these assessments. Uh together they identify the key standards, define what's uh what true mastery looks like, uh and design questions that align directly to those expectations. Um what that means is that our
assessments aren't just random tests. They're intentionally built around what students are expected to know and uh be able to do and they're common across grade levels and buildings. Um on this slide, you'll see a sample of of one of the common assessments. Each question is
mapped to standards and designed to give teachers meaningful information about student learning. Um if you'll see on this slide on the following slide you'll see the kind of data that comes out of the common assessments. Uh this data allows us to
identify where students are excelling and where they need additional they need additional support. Uh plan targeted remediation or enrichment. uh identify questions that may need to be modified and at the district level refine curriculum and resources to keep
teaching and assessment in alignment. It's a cycle of continuous improvement. So it from classroom practice to curriculum refinement where we we're continually making progress. The second set of data >> I'm sorry before you move on
when what percentage does a student need to earn in order to be considered that he or she has mastered that particular standard. >> I mean it it varies across areas but you're looking to you're looking for
mastery above 80 80% to to show that they Yes. Yeah. So that you're showing >> so the system the platform is set up that N80 constitutes proficiency. >> Okay. >> The second set of data that we look at is our our district level data and the
diagnostic assessments are our most common data point that we look at in that area. A diagnostic assessment is an assessment that helps us understand what students already know and what skills they're ready to learn next and also what areas they need additional support in. They
provide baselines for our students and help us track their growth over time. >> And when is this diagnostic administered? >> Uh each of our diagnostics are three times a year in the fall, the winter, and the spring. I'm going to go through the three different assessments that we give um that we consider our district
diagnostics. >> Beautiful. The first one is I Ready. Um I Ready is the district assessment that we've had the longest. This is a comprehensive diagnostic that is given in reading and math. It's an adaptive assessment um given three times a year
in grades K through five. What that means is that the questions adjust based on the student responses. So as students get questions right, they offer them harder questions. As they get questions wrong, they offer them easier questions to be able to pinpoint the exact middle of where their proficiency is.
From this assessment, we gain information such as proficiency in school group in skill groups which I already call domains like phonics, vocabulary, algebraic thinking, numbers and operations. Um placement relative their to their grade level expectations.
Are they on below or at grade level? Um and their growth over time. Amamira is our newest assessment in district and this focuses on early literacy and fluency. With Amamira, students read aloud and Amamira listens,
times, and coaches them and then evaluates their reading. Like I Ready, it's given three times a year in K through five. What's different about Amira is that the program is based on Scarbor's reading rope and the science of reading developed by Dr. Hollis
Scarbor. The reading rope shows how skilled reading is achieved by intertwining language comprehension and word recognition and was though when those things become more automatic, you develop skilled reading and comprehension and fluency. So this is really what um science of reading is
based on that if you are able to explicitly teach students the um areas of language comprehension and word recognition and continue to give them practice to where it becomes more automatic they become fluent readers. >> Miss Hutchinson I'm sorry I'm going to
I'm very excited about this presentation so I am going to interrupt you in between. >> I apologize. Um, going back to I Ready, you spoke about this assessment being adaptive. >> It
>> is that similar to the new state test? >> Yes. So, >> talk about that soon. >> Yep. So, all three of the assessments we um provide, I Ready, Amira, and what I'll talk about next and they're all adaptive assessments and um that's what the new state test, the NJSLA, and the
NJGPA are moving to. um with the exception of science, science is not going to be adaptive this year where they're able to offer easier and harder questions based on how students respond to be able to really pinpoint their um what is like that perfect sweet spot for them and their proficiency.
>> And I think you and I talked about this at one of the committee meetings and we spoke about Lexile level or DRA level, >> but you have a mirror here. >> Yes. >> Um does that provide the level where the student is? >> Yep. So, um, if you can go to the next.
Yes. Amira gives us information about, um, a lot of different areas. So, each area of the reading rope will get a score for that student to tell us whether they're need catching up, whether they're on track or whether they're ahead of their expected grade level. One of the things that students
will receive is an inir they call an ARM level. It's the Amir reading measurement. Um, and it's a very simple to to understand level. So when you see like Lexile levels, it's like 1,200 1650 and as a parent you're like what does
that mean? Um or when you do reading a toz, they have uh like you're on a reading level K. None of those things really mean anything to parents. In Amira, what it offers is your reading level is a 2.5 and that means that you're reading at a
second grade level in the fifth month of second grade. So, it really tells you very clearly at what grade level you're reading. And then you can look for books that are appropriate for that kind of grade level. Because a lot of times when you look at like Scholastic or Barnes & Noble or anything like that, they
classify their readers at grade levels. They say these are appropriate for either ages or or grade levels. So, it really helps our families find stu find books for students that are right for them at the time. >> So, that that information is shared with the parents.
>> Yeah. So after our universal after a is done the window actually closes this week um within a certain amount of time we will have to we submit the information to the state and then we will send home a parent report to all the families in K through three who took
the assessment. >> So let me ask you you you administer probably in the fall, winter, spring. >> Yes. >> A child gets a 2.5 in the spring. Does that child need interventions? >> Uh, it depends on what grade level
they're in. >> 2.5. >> So, >> we're going to assume second grade. >> Okay. So, if they receive a second uh 2.5 in the spring of second grade, they are pretty much on track. They might need a little bit of reinforcement, but
because they're they're reading at a second almost they're reading at the middle of second grade level. So you figure in the spring in about April that's almost the end of second grade which would be a 2.9. So if you're at a 2.5 you're pretty close. It's not like your grade level is
behind. >> Okay. I'll disagree with that but okay. >> I I'm not saying that they don't need intervention but it's not it's not drastic intervention. It's not intense intervention. Absolutely. They need a little bit of reinforcement. But the 2.5
tells us that it's not on grade level mid year. >> Yes. So if it's if it's April of second grade and they're receiving a 2.5, they're not at grade level, but they're very close. >> Okay. >> Okay. Um the other great thing about Amamira,
oh sorry, here's an example of some of the district level data that we get back from Amira. Here you can see all of our areas of the reading rope and a numerical value associated with each. These values are the average percentile ranking of our district compared to all
students who took the Amir assessment across the nation. What that means is that for example in decoding which is noted as DEEC in the top left of the image um the average student in our district is scoring higher than 52% of
all students across the nation who took the assessment. It also is telling us that the average student in our district is scoring on track for their grade level expectation. The other great thing about Amamira, thank you. Um, is that students can
access Amamira, it's not only an assessment tool, it's also a tutoring tool. So Amira, Amamira tutor is a program that students can access at any time at home via Clevver where they're able to practice reading passages to Amira, receive support, receive
coaching, receive scaffolded supports to be able to practice all those areas that um in the reading rope to help build up their fluency. In grades 6 through 12, we administer, which is >> Before you move. Yep. >> So, it it's hard and I'm I'm I'm a
former teacher, educator. It's hard not to take these things personal >> um when a child doesn't do well. Um but I would say instead of focusing on on that aspect of it and who is to
blame, it's about finding solutions. Right. Um I'm looking at the data that you just presented in the previous slide. Yes. And when I look at 52% of our students
um doing better than others in decoding, that's a of concern to me, particularly when we know that in math and science, students need that skill to really break down a word problem as well as vocabulary.
So I do commend you for looking at this data critically, but don't be shy about saying we got work to do. >> Yes. So, some things to keep in mind about this data. It's very generalized. This is taking into account all students from K through five and averaging their
score. So, you're getting K students who many of them are pre-ereaders or um you know are starting just starting to read and then fifth graders and we're averaging that score out. So, while this information is good, it's it's good to see and good to think about, it's not um
we would have to drill down more to be able to target specific grades and things to see where they are on the reading room. >> Well, that's wonderful. Maybe we'll invite you back next month so we can see some grade level data.
Um the last assessment that I'll talk about tonight um in terms of our district data is this is an assessment that we give in grades 6 through 12. It's very similar to I Ready but it's much more um the interface is much more appropriate for our older learners. Um
the questions adjust based on the student responses just like in Ire and just like on the NJSLA. What we get back from this is real-time diagnostic levels by here they call them strands. Previously, we called them domains. It's groups of skills. Um, growth snapshots of progress over time.
The other great thing about EXL is we're able to um identify standards alignment. So every diagnostic report from EXL, we're able to look at each student and see specifically for the NJSLS where that student is um landing in terms of
their proficiency, recommend assessment, recommended practice um activities for them that can be done in EXL because like Amira, EXL is also a practice tool. So students can access at home. Um, a lot of our teachers use it as a a
resource to supplement instruction and supplement practice for students who maybe need some differentiation, whether that's they need enrichment and pushing because every student can access skills from um 6th through 12th grade. So, if
you're a seventh grader who is flying, you can access skills from 11th grade, 12th grade based on whatever your diagnostic is. So we're able to really meet the students where they are and give them remediation or enrichment based on whatever they need. So students can access that at home too to be able
to practice and again that's accessible through Clevver. >> Thank you so much. Sorry. >> Uh so this is a lot of data that we have coming in. We get all these assessments. We get all these information. There's each assessment has like 10 different
reports that we can pull to give us different information. But that class and district data is some of the most valuable data that we have because we can act on it in real time. It gives us the clearest picture of what's working and what's not working and where we need to improve and it allows us to
strengthen instruction, support students and refine our curriculum right when it needs to happen. The third level of data that we have is our state level data. the state data, specifically the NJSLA, which we're going to talk about tonight, is one metric that we use to identify if
all those decisions that we made in reaction to the class and district data um are keeping us on track. >> Uh we're going to switch gears and move on to kind of the what we have to do tonight, which is deliver to you the the
state testing data, the NJSLA data. Uh as many of you may know um the NJS the test is changing as we referenced earlier. Uh the biggest change is that it will become an adaptive assessment meaning that it adjusts in real time based on how a student re responds. Uh
we are currently right now actually we started today uh administering the field test for that. Uh ironically the field test is not adaptive. Um but it will be in the spring. Um, we're doing that this week at uh three uh four of our schools
throughout the district and in two weeks we'll be doing the other schools as well. >> Mr. W. >> Yes. Yes. >> You you guys are going to kill us tonight, but this we're just excited about this presentation. >> No, you can do it now. We're going to continue with Miss Hutchinson before you
continue your se section. >> Yes. I'd like the record to show that I said I'd like to wait until the end, but I'm going to go ahead and ask my questions anyway. >> I don't want to be the only one. >> So, I just wanted to say as a parent of a child with a reading disability and
who I've seen using Amir at home, I cannot express how good it really is. It's costing me $5 a week because if my daughter does one lesson a day, it's a dollar a day. But she pushes back. But I really, it's beautiful for her to sit there. It's independent as she's
reading. If she gets stuck, it's automatically saying, "I notice that you're having a difficulty with this word." And then it'll actually prompt her and show her moving the lips of how to say that. So, if parents have not used it, please ask your child. I think it's a great we know we're supposed to
be reading to them. Sometimes we get busy. It does not replace the time that you read with your child, but like today where I'll be here late, she knows she can just log in, tell a story, reads it. um she now knows that you know it gives her a track of how fast she read and her
accuracy and now she's like mommy my accuracy went up or so I just wanted to share with everyone from a parent perspective how much I really appreciate that so I don't want to downgrade um I ready but she's much more excited about this and I think it really gets at the
heart of her reading more so thank you for that um I had a question I want to go back or not a question it's a comment because I need to advocate for science and social studies instruction. So if we go back to that scar bro's reading rope,
I think one of the issues that we're really noticing with children today and the difficulty with reading is that we understand that in order for children to read, they have to have background knowledge. And I think dinner table conversations have eroded a little bit. I think just the kind of conversation
that children are exposed to have changed. And so therefore, it is really hard for them to read something and be able to grasp specifically when we're talking about um non-fiction text. So with that, I cannot urge enough the importance of making sure that we have
social studies, good social studies and good science instruction in the classroom because we know that the experiences that we can do hands-on with science and social studies. First of all, we know that those are the two biggest areas right now where we're really experiencing challenges in this world. So for students to have those
hands-on experiences and to then read about them, write about them, that is how we continue to support literacy. I do not want to see us doing five hours of literacy in a classroom. For a child like mine who struggles with reading, we want to help them. We're going to help them through social studies and through
science. So I just want to make that point clear and on the record. Also, um I would like to understand what HFW stands for because I figured out all the other ones but not that puzzle piece. >> Um so there are uh different words here. It's a psych site recognition. It's high
frequency words. >> Um previously when we looked at balance literacy or um whole language, there was a belief that those words we call them now heart words. There's actually going to be a um parent session about heart words that our elementary instructional
coaches are going to lead. Um they're the words that they don't follow the rules. They don't make the sounds that they're supposed to make. So we used to believe that you just kind of had to memorize them and that's when we used to have site words and you would memorize the list of site words and like in first grade there was a list of a
hundred that you had to get through. Um we don't really practice that much anymore. There are some site words that you you do kind of just start to learn. Um, but we really encourage our students to start to understand why that word doesn't make the sound it should and to
memorize that that vow combination or that letter combination rather than the word in a whole. Um, so HFW stands for high frequency words or site words. >> I would have gotten that eventually. Um, the last piece that I want to know and this is always a challenge, right? Um, obviously I have a little bit of
background in education so I can understand this. A lot of parents don't. Um, and before I had the current role that I have and where I was a high school physics teacher, I could not tell you any of this piece. I cannot stress the importance of those parent teacher conferences and this information really
being communicated to parents and that is one area that I think our district can improve on. I think it's really important that when a parent comes in, it is wonderful to hear how great a child is. I understand sometimes there are discipline issues that become the bigger piece because if the child's not
ready to learn this becomes a moot point but I think it's really important that we have the buyin from the staff and that teacher and parent like that's the first relationship and connection so I encourage the parents to ask the questions what is the data available and
I encourage from the district to make sure that we work with teachers about what should be communicated at a parent teacher conference what does it mean what is the next thing I can do what are the next questions? I think those uh literacy nights are great, but I I we have to make sure that those few times
that we really have a teacher and parent coming together, this information has to be communicated, not about whether I'm on grade level or not, but what am I doing next to continue for growth? That's it for now. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I I do want to say
that I love the fact that you share that from a parents perspective um and how important it is for us to work as partners with the parents to make sure that the students learn and I do still believe in memorizing those site words. Okay, there may be a science
behind it but it worked for me. Um I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Mary Ellen Patrico. Did I say that correctly? And Miss,
I apologize. I'm not good with names. >> Miss Lipstein, I haven't said your name in a while. Um, through your grant, she was able to actually implement what you were referring to, which is applying those non-fiction literacy skills in a
real environment, a science environment. And everybody thinks that only ELA teachers are literacy teachers, but math teachers, science teachers, social studies teachers should also engage students in literacy development. So, congratulations to you for having an
awesome summer program um doing just that. And Miss Livstein, thank you to you for those grants that afford us or some of our teachers the opportunity to address those critical standards. So, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Way. You may continue. >> Oh, I I wanted to jump in. This isn't part of the presentation, but you said something that uh sparked something for me about mathematics and literacy. Uh when I was younger, there was no literacy in math at all. Uh it was all
al algorithmic. We sat in rows. The teacher taught us how to multiply fractions. I did 20 problems of multiplying fractions. The next day, I showed up. I learned how to divide fractions and I did 20 problems of dividing fractions. Um, you know, and
and when as I grew up, I never really understood that when you multiply fractions like 1/2* 1/2, it equals 1/4, right? Isn't that strange that the product decreases?
I always thought when you multiplied the answer is supposed to get bigger, right? But it doesn't. Or when you divide fractions, two divided by 1/2, isn't it supposed to get smaller? But it doesn't. The answer is four. That's
strange. Um, and so learning this algorithmically, right, I never really understood like what was happening in mathematics at all. And I became an adult that still didn't understand it. And now what I see
is uh even if you look the the next section we're going to talk about state data. I'm gonna hand it back to Craig. But on the state tests, some of the questions in math, there's three different kinds of questions. Quest level one questions are
algorithmic like we're used to, but level two and level three are not. They require students to read, to understand what you're reading, to apply a strategy, and then the toughest part, I
guess, is to communicate in writing what you're doing. And so, so much of that is not historically what we think mathematics is, but it is now, right? And so what that means is in math class,
you're not only teaching math anymore, but what we're working with teachers to do is you're teaching these literacy skills to math teachers so they can use in the math classroom. Right? So as a te math teacher, when I first started, I had no idea what a
noticing routine was or stop and jot or three read. But now what we're doing is we're working with math teachers to teach them this so that they're also helping teach the literacy piece in math.
>> Sorry. >> That's okay. >> That was >> That was beautiful, Mr. Cohen. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Thank you. >> And now I'm going to bring us back to boring. Um, so we're going to switch gears. We're going to start digging into our our
state level NJSLA data from last year. Um I as I mentioned we are doing our field test right now. Um we should be done with that in the next couple of weeks. Um just to remind you as far as NJSLA goes who tests this is uh in English and language arts it's
administered in grades three through nine. Mathematics it's administered in grades three through eight. Algebra 1 and 9th grade geometry. And then for science, it is administered in grades five, eight, and 11. Uh, and
tonight, uh, we'll look into three key data sets. Overall grade level proficiency and growth, our proficiency and growth compared to the state, and our demographic data. Uh, keep in mind tonight's results represents district-wide performance. um each
building and their building administrator will hold uh meetings in their building with their staff and with their families to dig deeper into individual building data. So we're going to focus tonight on district level data. Uh and so with that in mind, I'm going to hand it back to Dr. Cohen.
>> Okay. Um, so I had the job tonight to uh do my best to to orient you to all of this math and this data that you're going to see and to unpack a little bit of it for you. Um, if Mr. Ferrron was here, I would have given him a pop quiz
uh on math, but since he's not here, I'll have to give it to somebody else. Um, so I the first thing I want to do is or if you're in the audience or the board, I want to orient you to what you're actually seeing here. Okay? Because the next four or five slides are
basically this slide just with different data sets. So if you can understand this slide and what's on it, you'll be able to understand the subsequent slides. Okay. So the slide you're seeing right now is uh focused in language arts. So
it's our language arts data from grades three through nine. So the rows are the grade grade three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. And then the first column is total proficiency. So this uh represents students who
scored proficient at that particular grade level. So if you look at grade three, 44% of the students in grade three scored proficients on the NJSLA at that level. Okay? Okay.
And if you look at the column to the right of it where it says changes in level four and five, what this represents is uh growth from the year before to
last year. So what you can see is in grade three there was a plus4 means a 4% growth from the previous year to this past spring. Okay, does that make sense? so far. >> Nope.
>> I have a question. >> From one third grade cohort to another though, right? >> Students, >> right? This So, we're not talking about cohorts yet. What we're talking about is grade three. >> So, how
this have grown plus 4% if the students didn't test in the second grade. >> Yes. to the number of students that pass this year. >> That's what I'm saying. Third grade cohorts. Correct. >> I had the question right. Sorry.
>> Sorry. I thought you were talking about students over time. >> Got it. >> I just wanted to verify that. >> Okay. Make sense so far? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, so let's just go through some of this on this slide just to make sure everyone's oriented to it and then we'll
unpack it a bit. So grade four, 49% of the students were proficient and that was an increase from the year before at grade four of 3%. Grade five, 43%
proficient and um it's a decrease of 7% at that grade level. Okay, grade six, 60% proficient and that's an increase from the year before of 10%.
Grade seven 51% proficient increase of 4%. Grade eight 53% increase of two. And then grade nine 37% and we see a decrease of 6% there. Okay. So let's
let's pause for a second and unpack this a bit. Okay. Okay. So um when we look at this what we tend to see is in five of the seven grade five of the seven grade levels
there is improvement there's an increase at that particular grade level and at two of the seven there's a negative growth so a decrease okay our greatest increase we
can see is in sixth grade with an increase of 10%. Which is encouraging and then we see declines like I said in grades five and in grades nine. What you can't see in this data set uh and what we know is
every single place that there's improvement up there in grades three, four, six, seven, and eight. That's where we had an instructional coach. where we didn't have improvement, we didn't have an instructional coach there
yet. We do now, but we didn't have it then. Okay. And one of the things to remember, and I think Craig, Mr. Wick had mentioned this before when he was talking about uh the the classroom system is that the coach
is a structure that's working within a system. Okay? So remember what the coach does. The coach is there daily in PLC's supporting teachers, co-planning lessons, co-creating common assessments, analyzing data with the
teacher staff, supporting instruction, going in teaching lessons with the teacher. And so we see in at least in this data set that that had a positive impact. Perhaps it was one of the variables that had a positive impact at
certain grade levels. Let's I'm going to uh move forward and I'm going to release the state data. Now, okay, so this is state data in ELA and I'm going to go slow through this just to make sure everyone is oriented
and understands it. Let's start with grade three. So, it's the same exact chart with the state right next to our district data. So, you can see in grade three
at the state level, 45% of the state in grade three is proficient and they increased by 1%. Okay. Grade four 54% proficient. There was an
increase of three. Grade five, 52% proficient. The state had a 0% increase there. Grade six, 56% proficient. The state increased by 3%. Grade seven and you can see 57% there
was an increase of three. Grade 8 57 increase of four. Grade 9 50% and the state decreased by 8%. Okay. So let's let's unpack this a little bit because you can see the the numbers up there. So let's kind of
unpack some of the descriptive statistics up here. So generally speaking in language arts when we compare union's growth to the state you can see that generally speaking
we're growing at similar rates at many grade levels and in some cases right we're outpacing the state. In fact, if you look at sixth grade, right, that's that's a parade worthy
number there. The state grew at 3%. And we grew at 10%. Three times the state. And what I see up there is it's one of the spots where we've now
surpassed the state as far as total proficiency. In ninth grade, I see that that's an area that both the state and the district
declined. Okay, we can see in ninth grade we were we went down by six, they went down by eight. So, it looks like that's consistent with the broader trend there. You'll notice though in fifth,
right, that seems like an outlier, a bit of an outlier on this page. Uh particularly because it's inconsistent with the state trends. Okay. So, and that's something we're we've recognized
and uh you know, we've already begun to address that this year by bringing some of that uh common assessments and the coach. We now have a coach and common assessments in fifth grade which we previously did not have in previous
years. Um and so that is our English language arts data. I'm gonna move on to math. Okay. All right.
>> I'm gonna slowly click. >> Yes. >> So, I think there's a I think obviously there's a lot of growth still or to be done, right? And I think we can all admit to that. But I want to point something out because there are some places that I think we do have to to
look at to see what's happening. The question of the same group of students. So if I'm understanding this correctly, I'm going to look at third grade. So the third grade class of in spring of 2025 schedule scored 44% of those students passed either meaning they either had a
four or a five showing proficiency in ELA. That is a 4% increase from spring of 2024. That means that the third grade class in spring of 2024, only 40% of those students passed. Those would be the fourth grade students of 2025.
That means that you actually took that third grade class with the new reading program from 40% to 49% this year. That is a 9% increase for that class that is currently the fourth graders now or I'm sorry, currently fifth graders right now
because they were fourth graders last year. third graders the year before. So I think and then we have years where we're going to go down. So we noticed that in grade nine they went down because grade 8 the year before would have been 50 uh 51%
um and then we're going to 37 now. But we also know that when students transition from one school to another, we understand that there's a reversal in that scores. So yes, there's so much to improve on here. I think we're in the right direction. And I think that I I
have faith that the team is doing what they need to be done, but I think there's also other things to celebrate because taking a third grade class from 40% to 49%, I think that's something that's worth celebrating. We're not there, right? By no means. I want to see
100% passing in our school district, but I think we also have to celebrate the small wins. So, I just want to say that. >> Yeah. Thanks for >> nicely said, Miss Fia. Um, Miss K Mackey. Yeah, that was amazingly said. But sometimes we have to be real and and
really own the reality of what we're seeing. And as a parent with a child in the district, this is kind of concerning to me to see this level. So what I would recommend is when we're
having the meetings because to have to to invest in a school to want your children to have the the to have people want to have faith in our district is to show that we have higher numbers. So explaining this, you know, while I understand and thank you for
that, Gita, this is still kind of concerning to me as I look at these scores and we haven't got into the math which I happened to look at and I'm clutching my imaginary pearls and so
[Music] you know we talked with Miss Ahern and the counselors looking at the grade book or are looking at you know the teachers doing their part and everyone doing their part but it's a collaborative effect right and you will explain this
away to make it sound nice. It's pretty low. Do we have Dr. Benosa? I guess Dr. Rodriguez how we got here. >> So, I I can't go back in time, but when I took over as superintendent, I was very clear. I think it was one of our
first meetings, I said where we were. Nobody Nobody before said that. Why I say that again is again we're dealing with what we had before and and we could waste time going back and say well we we didn't deal with phonics back then. We didn't hit in on literacy. We got a new
platform. None of the stuff before was really working to help our kids. Today we're recognizing it's helping. But the other thing I said is we need years to sustain what we're doing. So when I see growth I'm happy. I know we're trending in the right direction. There's going to be times, like the team said, that we
see a dip and we got to analyze why, what happened in fifth grade last year. We got to we got to dive into it and find out for ourselves to say, how can we then improve that? It's not going to always be perfect, but overall across the board, the amount of growth we are
seeing in our district in my mind is amazing. If we could sustain that, just like sixth grade, we're going to be above the state in every grade eventually. And then from there then we work on even increasing it more. So I I I was very transparent in
the beginning and said I'm not happy and I was upset that more parents weren't at our pe at our meetings when 60% or what was it 40s high 40s in some grade levels were not proficient. I don't care what they see on the report card. No >> this is the data that parents
>> we can't make. We always say the parents, you know, I am educated, M's level, deals with data, the whole nine yards. And I as a parent do check on my child and I don't understand this. So sometimes when the parent is there, we
can't make >> So I I do agree 100% and I was actually having some conversations. We have to dive deeper into what data we're giving our parents. We talked about and later we we we don't have to talk about it now, but profile sheets. So it brings all the data together for that child,
for that parent, but not just hand it to them. We have to have conferences. So like like it was mentioned at the parent teacher conference. We got to say, all right, these are all the sets of data >> that is showing how your child's progressing or what where interventions your child needs. We can't just go by
one set. We can't go by grades. We talk about in the future bringing standardbased grading at the elementary because I want to throw out grades at the elementary. I want to know the kids are growing in other ways >> because that is only one set that might
not be accurate to identify a students two grade levels below in reading. So there's a lot of work we still need to do. But I am I have to say as a superintendent of schools it makes me very happy to see we are and I do believe in the team to keep us moving
and everyone that's working together because it is collaborative. It's not just the it's families. It's here. But we got to stick together and keep pushing because this is not acceptable. Where we are is not where we want to be tomorrow. Thank you so much. Um Dr. Vanquista, Miss Kante Mackey, you're
absolutely right. This is not something to absolutely celebrate. Although there are some highlights. Miss Faria and and Dr. Dr. Benista, I want to say I I thank you for your honesty because you can come up here and feed us
all kinds of things, but the reality is you understand when you took on this job where you were. The reality is this doesn't happen in one night. This is years upon years of I would hate to say
this kind of neglect. So the fact that I see you all working and understanding where we are, you know, one of the reasons I do I I went to the operations committee meeting. I
went to the education committee and we engaged in a very tough but very productive conversation. One of the reasons why you're learning tonight about some of the platforms in the district is because these individuals have finally began to assess
the re instructional resources that we have to make sure that they complement one another to get us results. So, it's not where we want to be and we can't lie about that because we know parents look at this and there that's
not where they want to be. When we speak about student success, we have to acknowledge that. But are we doing the work to improve that? Absolutely. So, thank you. And sometimes you got to remember when you're starting
to change practices, it's hard for some people to reflect and change and we're also facing those kind of things along the way. But we're not going to stop. >> Absolutely. >> Because we're doing the right things today. >> Thank you.
>> I I wanted to take a second to pull us away from what we going over the data for a second. Uh Miss Mackey, you you had referenced about uh getting data to the parents and making sure that we're communicating to them. Um over the last year or so, we've been working as a team developing a framework for us to to
follow so that we can make changes over the years. Um what we're talking to you about tonight is part of our data system. And within our data system, we've been working to organize our data in a a more uh accurate uh so that we have a data warehouse so that we have all of our data in one place so that we
can look at it together. Exactly. Um and what we use is link it. within linkit there's a parent hub that we have access to and it's one of those things that we're going to be looking into to push out to parents so that they can have access. So just like we have access to be able to see all of our students data
and be able to make changes, use our coaches, push that into the classrooms, we want our parents to be able to look at that data at home and be able to make changes and and support their children where they need support. So that those are things that we are working on. >> And I I really do because you know we have all these you know and I'm I'll
tell you I need a data for dummies, right? so that I can assess for my kid. You know, I just don't want us to make the assumptions, you know, that we we truly can dig deep and understand this and then it becomes a fingerpointing. Whose fault is it? Who's responsible? Is it the teacher? Is it the
administration? Is it counseling? Is it the superintendent? It's not clear. So, we see this. We have a community that holds us accountable. We all hold each other respectfully accountable. And it's just understanding that as a parent reading this, I need to understand how
it pertains to my kid, you know, and if my kid just looking at this, how is my kid learning if the other 60% are not doing well in the classroom? So, this is what I'm looking at in this scope of this and and I honor we, you know, yes,
we've gone through leaps and battles. We used to be here till 1:00 in the morning. So, I do commend that, you know, we are moving in a better direction. However, we need to be more engaging and I also don't want to I can't remiss where it's like, you know,
I do get these papers at home with like, oh, your son got a such and such and such and he's below or he's above and super smart, but becomes totally oblivious to this data in front of me. And we have to keep that in mind in the communication to parents and also not to
say we've sent this out to parents, they got it. We sent them an email. We sent them a letter and you know they we're giving them information. We did our hand. It just doesn't that's not realistic and that's why the grades are like this and it's not a partnership. >> Understood. And that's what we're trying to move towards to having more of a
partnership instead of our data living in silos where even us at the district level, principles at the building level, teachers in the classrooms, and parents at home where we all didn't have access to the data. We're now developing these systems where we have access to it, where we can make changes at the district level. Principles can
collaborate with parents and teachers to make changes at that level as well. >> I'm I'm just going to bring it back to a parent perspective again. It's so hard to keep track of all of this, but I want to if you've got the letter at home with your child's scores. There is a code and
a website. If you go to the website and you put that code in, it actually gives you a video that talks exactly about your child's data in comparison to the school and the district, it makes it much more understandable. But you do have to log in. The nice thing is if you
log in, it's the same code for your child. So when I log in, I can see how my kids have done and progressed over since they've started taking the assessments back third, fourth grade, depending on when they started with COVID. So please, please, please, if you're not sure, maybe ask your guidance
counselor, ask the teacher. But there is a code at the bottom. There's a website. You redeem the code. It is a beautiful like three, four minute video like it's animated. It shows exactly here's where the school performed. Here's where the district performed. Here's where your child performed and the things that it
can be done. So yes, I understand there has to be a partnership, but this partnership includes parents as well. Mathematics, >> it's time to clutch my time to clutch our pearls. >> Math it is. Math it is.
>> Okay. Uh mathematics. So again like the previous table you saw it's the same table setup. Okay. So on the left hand side what you're looking at is total proficiency and on the right hand
side is growth at that grade level compared to the year before. Okay. So let's just look through this uh you know let's unpack what's up here. Okay. Um, so what we see here is in I think
there's eight grade levels up here and in six of them we do see an increase from the previous year. In two fifth grade and algebra 1 we do see a
decrease there. Okay. Interestingly, if you think back to the ELA chart, this almost mirrors that. Yep. In that the growth happened at pretty much the same exact grade levels and the negative
growth happened pretty much at the same exact grade levels. Right? So, that's interesting. Um, and when I think about this, last year was the first year that we had a coach
in math at the middle school level. We also had coaches at they're they focused in ELA, but it's the same teacher they're coaching there. Okay. The elementary teachers teach math and
language. So, they were coached by uh a teacher there. Um, >> I'm sorry. >> Of course. >> So, we know every the teachers in the audience and you that there are certain grades that there's a dip that happens
that they go down. So, what are we doing that's proactive to capture that dip? That's where the coaches come in. And how do we identify those teachers? So, are the students are we looking at the grades and saying, you know what, this math class because there's a lot of math class in the middle school levels and
and around are we how are we pinpointing that? >> I think maybe I'll start and I can turn it over to one of them. >> Yeah. >> Um for me it goes back to what Craig said in the beginning uh in and I mentioned this at a previous board
meeting. Uh Rick Dufour talked about this idea of loose and tight, right? There are some things in a district, in a school, in a class that have to be tight. This is what we do here. There's no wiggle room, right? And then there are some things in a school that can be
a bit loose, right? And give people flexibility for us. What is tight are these common assessments. What that allows us to do, and that's what we're building out in the district. We don't have it. It's not ubiquitous
yet in the district. Uh we started at the middle school. What this allows us to do and and I think we had some examples up there is every single teacher is co-creating this is identifying standards right working
together with a coach all question. We're identifying what mastery of those standards looks like and we're teaching towards mastery. We're now able to see because we're putting it uh on a platform where we did well with those standards
and where we didn't do well and we're able to look at that by building, by grade, and also by teacher, right? And so we didn't have this in place just two years ago. We
didn't even have this in place. Well, we had in place last year, but in specific spots, >> new stuff. >> One of the goals from this department, and I think Craig had mentioned this is this is something we believe in. We believe that this should be tight that
we should be working in PLC's, collaborating, having support for teachers through this coaching, right? The other thing you think about, we have three professional development days a year. Right. >> Right. We have three. That that means
there's three times we're supporting teachers, but the coach is there every single day supporting teachers day in and day. >> I would challenge you, Mr. Cohen, when we speak and it's one of the saddest things in education. Miss Lipstein and I
can read an article and discuss it and that is professional learning. We have 185 professional learning days in the year. It is up to us what we do with it because it's not just students that are
learners. We are the main learners. >> So whether in the hallway, which I used to do with my ma math teachers, we would discuss a problem and go back into the classroom. During lunch,
you're discussing an instructional strategy or an assessment. Every opportunity you have to continue learning and growing professionally so that you could bring that into the classroom so that students can learn. I
apologize. is something that is very close and near to me because I hear people speaking about professional development in a very finite and small way and as educators we cannot afford to
limit our growth and learning. Thank you. >> Okay. So let's re let's reveal the state data. Okay. So state data.
Um let's unpack this. Couple things you can see here. Generally speaking, if you look at the growth, okay, let's start there. There's it's similar
to the district growth. Okay. Generally speaking, in many of the grades, we're moving in the same direction as the state. Another thing in if we take math and I think this was brought up if we compare
it to ELA the chart we saw previously there's more of a difference here between the districts and the state means or the state averages
these are a bit further apart right in ELA they were a bit closer so like it was said before there's work to be on here. And additionally, we see again in some of the grade levels, there's a more
notable gap, right? Um, you know, some that come to mind, I see fifth and I see some at the uh high school level. Okay. So, that's something we're aware of. We've we've noticed that and again, it's something
we're working on here. Dr. >> What I would say, um, you have to ask the president. I'm sorry. Some kind of way. Um, what I will say about this data, it is it's heartbreaking trail of tears, but I
we're not alone in this. Math is always, you know, does worse than ELA and science. Okay, I'm just saying. Um but I I am um encouraged to see that our youngsters, our third graders
kind of outperform the other cohorts. So obviously we're setting a stronger foundation than usual minus co I think we're moving in the right direction. So that makes me happy. >> I want to add to that. Um
by the time we get to third grade it's too late. >> Absolutely. >> What we need >> if so one of the places that we are focusing on and sometimes it's overlooked is K1 and two
>> and and the thing is it's overlooked often because it's not tested and so people start with interventions they start in third grade. it's too late by then. Um, you know, so what I believe is
that you need to start in K one and two. And what we're seeing is this focus and we had a PD right in the beginning of the year for our elementary teachers on numerousy and fluency.
Um, and one of the reasons if you look at any of the data, numeracy at that earliest age predicts future math success. So again, there has to be a focus in K1
and two on numerousy and fluency and and that's some of what I was talking about before with the multiplying. But >> Mr. Cohen, inaccuracy. Oh. Uh oh. >> The new standards reflect not just
fluency but also accuracy. >> Oh, accuracy. Oh, I thought you said inaccuracy. >> No, no, no. >> So, no. I I'm going along with what you're saying, but >> one of the things that we had students do was wrote >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Memorization. >> Memorization. And sometimes we didn't
check if the what they were writing a hundred times was correct. So, it's been added to the standards. Accuracy is a major component of it. At that foundational level, >> there's a difference between memorizing and knowing something from memory. It
doesn't it doesn't seem like there's a difference there. When you've memorized something, you can spit it back without understanding it. But when you know it from memory, you can also spit it back rather quickly, but you can explain it. Right. Okay. And I think this gets to
your point is that you know I can easily add or or multiply 10 x 14 like well that's an easy one but like 12 x 14. Why? Because I know 10 * 14 and and 4* 14. That's fluency
right? It's it's accuracy efficiency and flexibility. That's the definition of it. Okay. How do I start talking about this? We spoke about how prek I will stand corrected because prek has a a major
role in that >> up to two is a ma major grade levels to set that foundation. >> Yes, >> that's right. I'm sorry. >> I am sharp tonight. I I don't know what's going on. I think this is back brace. Korea.
>> Dr. Cohen, can you explain a little bit for just so that everybody understands because we're looking at that grade eight and we see the 11% and I think it's just important for the community to understand the nuance with eighth grade math, algebra 1, geometry that's a little bit different than ELA.
>> Yeah. If you look at the state as well as the district, you see this drop from seventh grade to eighth grade. And you start to say, "What what happened here? The state dropped by
almost 20%. And then in seventh grade, we dropped almost by 20%. What's going on there? What happens there?" And mathematics is really the only place that this happens
is that students are able to take algebra in eighth grade because they take algebra in eighth grade. Those students take the algebra
assessment. And so those scores previously that were in seventh grade because they all took the seventh grade assessment now many of our students and many of the students at the state you can see take the algebra assessment in
eighth grade and so those scores are not in the eighth grade score. So that's what tends to happen in eighth grade. And this not this isn't uh specific to union. I want to make that clear. This happens on a a state level.
It happens on a national level uh and other states as well. >> Um sorry, >> you have a followup. >> I just had a followup. >> I'm sorry. Thank >> you respectfully. So, um, as many of you
know, uh, we went to the New Jersey School Board Association, uh, the convention last week and we I sat in a lot of rooms. Um, I believe Miss Faria and Mr. Nasta were in this room that I sat in and I I think that I'm in a room
right now with many brains to theest degree in math and science and education, right? Um there was one educator superintendent I I really don't remember the exact that said to I'm sorry I'm a little under the weather. He said like this. He went to Japan, right?
And when he went to Japan, he found out that what they do there is they are teaching their children to be scientists. That's it. Nothing else other than to be scientists. Everything revolves around making scientists. As if
they want to walk around for languages, they have a a phone and the phone translates for them. Why is America so behind? Why is Jersey so behind? Why is union so behind when we have people on the other side of the world that all
they do is breed their children just on this one thing and then I see these numbers and it's mindboggling to me. I don't know the answer. I don't think that you guys know. I don't but together that's what I want. Why can't we breed them? I want all of mine all seven. I
want them to be scientists. And why can't why can't we do that? That that that blew my mind. Blew my mind. Thank you. >> Excellent. Excellent point, Miss Santana. And something that Mr. Cohen and I a few years ago engaged in. Um I I
encourage you to look at the Tim's scores, the PISA scores, and you it'll help you understand a little bit about what the expectations in the different countries are versus us. Um with that, I'm going to move on along to Miss Kante Mackey and then Miss Faria. Right. So,
Dr. Cohen, just because this has been So, my son is now a senior in college. Um, and back at seventh, eighth grade, same scenario happened. These kids were all super smart, all doing great. Got to eighth grade and then they were all
getting D's. Um, and then we I don't know if you were around back then. Seriously, he was around. I think so. And what was told was that there was the state level thing. So, what what's the fix of it? So, is it that now that we have these instructional coaches in
place that we can get ahead of this math dip that happens? I mean, you know, to to echo my my partner over here, you know, while the state is great, we're we're serving Union. So, what can we do within Union to kind of get ahead of
this? Because JJ is now in is going to is a senior getting ready to graduate. These same issues existed back when he was at WAMI. So, we that this happened. So, is it the instructional coach program now that's going to help us get
ahead to at least get that to 40 or is this what we should expect because this is the gap of this area? But if we know, Dr. And that that's what the problem is. Then how are we on being proactive
at least for union I can't control the state to get these grades this this this percentage up because while we can say whatever we want 11% is never going to be acceptable for me ever. >> Um so it is what it is and we can go
through the whole semantics and stories and loopholes of it. 11% in math is not acceptable. So, what can we do? We have things in place, but what's our what's our what's our offense? Like, how are we how are we going to at least get
this to at least 30%. >> Uh, I don't know if there's one specific panacea here. I think it's many variables that have to come together. Um, number one, you kind of referenced it
before and I talked about it. There has to be systems in place that everyone is aware of in the different subject areas in math and that's talking about this uh common assessment cycle. It's making
sure that uh teachers understand the math right understands the uh different pedigogies of math how to teach it. also making sure that we're identifying students who might need
additional support who've fallen behind. It's adding in perhaps intervention periods to support those students. So, we're working at tier one in the classroom. We're working at tier 2. Um, and then it's also including parents and
families in this. Um, and we've talked about that previously so that everyone is aware of what we're learning, what we're providing support for parents and families so they can help their students at home. I I apologize because I I hate these
nights because it we we have to look at this data and we have to understand it. But there are so many other things that play a role in this. I think one of the things that's really critical to understand for math is that algebra 1 is a high school class. You have plenty of
college students who go to college and still have to take al algebra, college algebra. It's the same algebra that we are teaching to our eighth grade students. Fair or not fair, there is this pressure to get our students to all go to calculus. So there's this movement
of algebra for all in eighth grade so that our students can take geometry, algebra 2, pre-calc, and calculus. How many of you have calculus? How many of you use calculus every single day? Yet, we are trying to educate every child for
calculus when we've heard all night long, not all of our students are even going to college. Why are we pushing them to to calculus? I would argue that, and I think it's been evident tonight, what we need more of statistics. Why aren't we trying to get all kids to statistics so we can understand how to
look at this data? So we can understand why it's 11%. And this is not a a a take on anyone here, but we have to understand that the objectives of education are not meant to see our kids succeed. They are meant to show our kids failing. And this is one of those tests.
You'll look at the next science data. That is my job. I have to sit here and explain why is the state average on a state test 18% passing. That's bad test design. If any teacher in any school district had 18% passing rate, they would not be hired back. But yet this
state keeps bringing back the same test. So while I understand the passion I am all here for we need to improve. We need to understand the other stories that it's easy for paper that we're failing. But I do not think our kids are failing and I think
it's we have to be careful to not make that statement out there because I think there's great work that being done. And how many of you go to work where your work gets judged on a test? I don't. I get worked. I get judged on my performance, my work with teachers,
their development, student engagement. And so, while this is just one point and for all intents and purposes, with the exception of the NJGPA, it has no bearing on the individual student. So, I cannot tell you how many times I've
walked through a test, a testing room, and kids are sitting there, and guess what? Five minutes into the test, they are done. And here we are judging a failing school system based on kids and parents who don't put value on that test.
>> And that might be some of the differences between my kids know that you try your best. It was a conversation on the way to school today. You're taking it's a field test. You're not going to get the score back. And one of my daughter's friends said, "Does that mean I could just go to sleep?" I said, "No, you try your best. You don't stress
about it, but we need to know what you know so we can make improvements." So, I just I want to bring this out because I think it's important for those of us who are not in education to understand the bigger pieces that are here. Education makes money when we show our kids are failing. >> Sorry,
>> Madam President. >> Miss Faria, thank you so much for those that perspective. Um, >> Madam President, >> I do think I was right after me. Mhm. >> The other side of that is we are
measured as to how we perform. So yes, one data point does not define a student, does not define a teacher, does not define a classroom, does not define a district. However, we would be negligent in not
looking at this data to try to understand where teachers, support staff, and students need the additional support because it does have consequences. The reality is that there
is a comparison that shows that students that are perform actually performing on grade level tend to pass this test. So if our students are not doing well on this test and not taking it and I give you some do not take it seriously
because for what? But there's a difference between a child passing this test, let's say freshman year, and not having to worry about it again, then having to do a portfolio senior year,
submitting it to the state and waiting for the state to determine whether they are ready for graduation. So both sides are equally right and I cannot negate Miss K Macky's point and I
cannot negate Miss Faria's point but the reality is yes one assessment does not define anyone in this room or our students or our parents. However, while minuscule is still statistically
significant and must be part of our discussion and consideration when we are engaging in instructional planning and delivery. Got it. Thank you, Mr.
>> Cohen. They're different. >> Uh I've been sitting patiently uh waiting till the presentation is finished to make comments, but I feel compelled to step into this
this current discussion. Um I once heard a national educational leader say, you know, we're not opposed to tests. We're teachers. we invented them. But at the same time, we've got to make certain we keep all of this stuff in
context and the points that have been made by by the immediate pre previous speakers are well taken. I just think that we need to be listening to this comprehensive presentation because what we've heard about is an an effort led by the superintendent and the and the rest
of the leaders in the district that they're working to set up systems and I you know as as my colleagues well know I have multiple decades of of experience in this district going back to the beginning of my teaching career and I know that for decades there were
no systems. There were hundreds of classrooms in all 10 schools and every teacher was a free agent, was expected to do what they did in their classroom. And as emerging research revealed that that was not an
effective way to make certain that all students were supported and led, this district with without any blame or uh accusation of previous leadership,
neglected to to learn the lessons of that research. And we are now in 2025 and 25% of the way through the 21st century. And we are catching up finally.
We're using the the the lessons of the research. We've got very competent professionals in charge of this effort and we're starting to build the systems that we could have built decades ago. Uh,
I'd like to reserve the rest of my comments till till later because I don't want to interrupt the presentation any further. I'll I have more to say, but I'll wait. >> Thank you, Mr. Cohen. Um, we will continue with Miss Mani. >> My my comment is very brief. I just want
to say here here Mr. >> Thank you so much and and thank you to you all. I know that a lot of this is new, but it's coming together in a way and I'm confident that with this new assessment that is also adaptive because
I think the state also recognized that there were some flaws in the previous one. I think we're going to see many gains. Now to science. >> We're almost there's a few last slides. >> Miss Faria Okay,
science. Um, couple takeaways here in, as you can see, in grades five and 11. Slight increase in the district. Grade 8 remained the same, which was
somewhat reflective of the state. slight increases in grade five and 11 at the state level remain constant at the eighth grade level. And I think, you know, one of the pieces that I want to make sure of that
that I note is that since we've been here, most of our focus has been in ELA and math. We've been talking a lot about that here. Two years ago, there was a focus from Dr. Benista in ELA. That's where we focused. We had the
coaches there, the science of reading. We had a new program at that level. Last year, we started with math with a coach at the middle school. Um, our plan is to basically model what we're doing in
those subjects in science. this particular year at the secondary level we started with common assessments there but uh in subsequent years that's really the plan is to model what we're
doing in English and math and to move it into science as well. The other piece and I think it was brought up here uh maybe by Miss Santana and she's right that if you're a student in a science class,
you should be taking on the role of a scientist. If you're a student in a math class, you should be taking on the role of a mathematician. If you're a student in a language class, you should be taking on the role of a reader or writer. And so what that's
talking about are the practices in that particular discipline. And so in addition to modeling what's happening in English and in math, there also has to be a focus on the practices of that discipline. Okay.
Um let's move on. Okay. Uh two last slides. Demographic data. This particular slide looks at our demographic data which breaks down proficiency
by race and race and ethnicity in ELA math and science. Okay. Um, as you can see, as we saw, there's some
differences in proficiency levels among student subgroups, particularly in math and science. It's important to point out that union is not an outlier in this regard.
We tend to see similar patterns like this on statewide and national tests. And I think someone said before maybe the NAPE was brought up, you'll see very similar uh patterns on those types of
tests. Okay. Last Okay. And then uh one of our last slides of data, demographic data. This one's by gender and program. And what you might notice here, at least what we noticed here was there were two
subgroups that continue to need additional support. Our MLS, multilingual learners, and our special ed population. And
some of the things that we've begun to do is we've implemented a bilingual program at the high school. It's the first year that we've done that. Uh we revamped our newcomer ML
curriculum, so that's new. And we're starting to place a stronger emphasis in places on explicit instruction. For those of you who might not know what explicit instruction is, um there's a
lot of research coming out, particularly out of the special ed fields, on ways to teach and ways that students learn. And explicit instruction
has uh a very high effect size on how students learn. And explicit instruction is similarish to uh the teacher still at the center there. Um and there's a lot of talking
between students, a lot of questioning, but particularly in math and science, uh this does have a high effect size there. And so there's a bit more of a focus on explicit instruction there. At least the special ed department is working with
their teachers on this specific type of instruction. So >> Dr. Cohen. >> Yes. >> Co. Now I'm very confused. Um because Mr. Cohan, Dr. Cohen. Yes. Um
so la last year we had a guest and um she spoke about us teaching that there were seven continents. At the time I it kind of shocked me. Um but later in discussion with Dr. Rodriguez I learned
that in a particular country maybe a while back that's how it was taught that there were five continents. Yes. Um, and I reflect on that, you know, I I I went to a food truck and Spanish and
one of the things that I saw was that where I where we would use commas and numbers, they use a period and vice versa. Would are those kind of things addressed? Even like the division symbol
is different. It's like upside down in some countries. Are those kind of things addressed so that students you know like in this country we use inches in other countries they use >> centimeters?
>> Yes. >> But the Yes. Thank you chassity. So are those also things that are being addressed as part of the curriculum to get students more quickly kind of assimilating to our way of you know teaching and learning.
>> Um so Dr. Cohen referenced the newcomer curriculum for MLS. Um that's the one big change that we've made so far in our other than adding a bilingual program. Um our newcomers to our country and that
have our sorry our lowest levels of proficiency in English um they receive two periods of ESL and previously those two periods of ESL were just two periods of ESL and and we taught the old curriculum through that. Um the new curriculum has a heavier focus on one
period being language and learning the English language and then the other period being academic in nature and trying to focus on some of those changes and bringing in more academic balance and and referencing academic vocabulary and the things that they need to know in
those areas. The other thing um that we've really done and I'm really proud of is the bilingual program at the high school. So those students instead of being pulled out for ESL and um having that replace their English class, they're receiving English instruction,
language arts instruction in English and Spanish. So they have an ESL certified lang we have a language arts teacher who's dual certified in ESL. she's teaching that English class and they have similar to how you would have like an in-class support teacher, they have
an in-class ESL teacher or bilingual teacher who is a native Spanish speaker that translates and works with the students and the two teachers bounce off each other to teach in both Spanish and English. >> Thank you. >> Um they also have that in algebra 1. So, not only do those students in 9th grade
that speak Spanish are they receiving both English and Spanish language arts instruction, they're also receiving English and Spanish math instruction. So, they're they're getting that information um in their native native language as well. >> Quick question. Um algebra was
referenced a number of times that includes eighth and ninth grade, >> right? >> That's 26%. >> Yes. >> Okay. My other question is very stereotypical here. The females are doing better in language arts
>> and the males are doing better in mathematics. What are we doing about that? >> Go back to >> Are we evaluating our reading choices to make sure that the boys have selections that they like better? Are we engaging
the girls in coding and robotics and the engineering design process that is addresses mathematics like what are we doing? So we have a a number of um extracurricular programs like girls who code and things to really encourage those students to um engage in those
programs and in in science. One of the things that I think is really going to be helpful for us um and again we'll see that long-term effect of it is in our ELA program in K through five, it has a heavier emphasis on our non-fiction text. So our students in their regular
ELA classes are reading more about science and math and social studies than they have previously. So they're not just receiving that um you know kind of that exposure in their science classes or or things like that. They're getting it kind of across the board, which can
peak interest. I know my daughter, she goes and they read something about the solar system and and all of a sudden I'm researching everything about the sun and I'm hearing every fact about the solar system. And if we can start to get our students even just that exposure to
peique their interest in something and then kind of help them through that path and what Miss Ahern talked about about helping students select courses and talking about what they're interested in um that that collaboration and that partnership and us making sure that those courses exist um I think is going
to be really important to us as we move forward. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Okay, >> Miss Antana. >> So I don't So I don't know if it's point of order, point of clarification. I don't even it's late. Um I just I just need us in leadership at this top to please multiling what is it that what is
it? We're not just always born in another country. I was born in the Bronx. I did not learn English till I was six. So let's start at the top that some of them are born in in another country but not all. Please. >> Yeah. Some of a lot of them are are students who their families just they
their primary language is not English. It doesn't mean that they were born somewhere else. It's just a lot of a lot of their families speak a different language at home. >> A lot of the talk is always that you know multilanguage learners are born in another country. They can be but not all. That just >> missana that's an excellent point.
>> Yeah. All right. So as we look ahead >> last slide um our focus is on sustaining what's working and strengthening what's not. We've made some systemic changes like creating a framework a clear
roadmap of how things work and the systems that we put in place in union and teaching and learning. We are structurally looking at the structures that we have in our district, the scheduling, the staff additions, our
curriculum, our pacing, our effective PLC's, whether those PLC's exist, all the structures that we can put in place. And then finally, we're addressing program changes. We're implementing, like I mentioned, that bilingual and the newcomer programs. We're implementing
more win periods. We have um intervention periods at the high school for the first time. This year, we're putting out more family learning programs that are not focused on um general study skills and things like that, but specifically about the curriculum and the learning that is
happening in our district. Um we're targeting our afterchool programs better. we're targeting in our summer programs better. We're revising our course offerings to make sure that we're meeting the students interests and needs. And we're trying to make sure that we're supporting our staff
throughout all of that, both through the coaches and the PD days and just sharing the conversations that we have with staff in the hallways and things like that. um to promote that, you know, we're all moving forward together because together the the only way we're going to make any progress is if we do
it together and build on our successes and be able to directly address the areas that we have to grow. >> Thank you so much. Let's give them a hand. I I I I'm humbly grateful for this presentation. It is so important and it
is so vital the work that you're doing. um you just started, you're laying the foundation, but to me it looks like a solid foundation and we can only go up from here. So, thank you. >> Anyone else, >> Mr. Cohen?
So just to um reiterate some of the comments that I made previously, I I think that I'm very gratified to see that this is a systemic approach and that we are building structures and we are providing supports uh through the
coaching through time for the PLC's and through leadership to make sure that everybody's on the same page. I think that's the the most significant step we can all take together to make sure that we are providing the kind of services our students need to be able to learn
for the 21st century. You know, 30 years ago we were talking about 21st century skills and as I said before 25% into the century we're now providing them. But I want to just provide a little context too. Um there was a term that that I
used in my my work a few years ago talking specifically about the testing mania that that has gone on in in this state and in this country and that is the tests don't teach right and I heard an expression from an
assessment expert many years ago who said farmers don't fat their calves by waiting them weighing them we've got to make sure that we put all of this stuff in context this data is important. It gives us information that we can use to
inform the system and the practices, but we're not going to grow those scores unless we are focused on what's happening with our professional staff in the classroom. And I I think the other thing that's important to note when we
compare ourselves to the state and while we as as uh the team has pointed out we compare favorably in some instances and perhaps somewhat less favorably in some of the subgroups by most objective measures by people
outside of the education system in New Jersey. We are consistently rated as the number one public school system in the country. Now we then get compared to international competitors and I would submit that no matter what you want to
use whether it's TIMS whether it's PISA whether it's NAPE they're not valid comparisons because the systems that exist in those other countries support the operation in ways that are significantly different than the
supports we provide here. We talk all the time about the the economic factors and the the the money that we have available. U this board's received presentations in the past from some of our senior staff about the staffing needs that we have that we'd like to
grow the staff in many different areas. And in every instance, the context for those conversations was but we have budget constraints. So we've got to just keep all of this in context. If we're concentrating on
classroom instruction over time, we will see this kind of growth. There's no question in my mind that that will happen. That's our goal. That's our objective. We want to inspire and engage kids every day. We're going to do that in the classroom.
Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Cohen. Um Dr. Rodriguez, I believe you had some words. So I just want to close out the presentation. I just again want to uh let the teaching and learning department know how proud I am of the work you're
doing. Also how proud we are of the teachers doing the work. At the end of the day it's every teacher that's >> and support staff >> our prof everybody in that room including guidance. Right. >> Correct. So, uh, what we always forget is that our teachers, uh, are facing
students 25 at a time that are coming in with all sorts of needs, hunger, um, what had happened on social media the night before, what's going on at home, they have to teach these students in an environment that is each day is tougher
and tougher. We are swimming uh, against the current. And I just want to say to the teachers, to the staff, to everyone in our schools, to our administrators, you as well that uh we are proud of you. Our students are learning. Uh what this data does not show also is our students
who are coming up, who are uh gaining uh levels, right? So this these um these data all they tell you is the students that are on grade level. It doesn't tell you the students that are learning. For instance, if a student is one grade
below level for the for the entire career of his or her career here, they'll never pass this test. But when they graduate that they are at an 11th grade reading level, they're passing at math. Does that mean that that student didn't learn? No. But these tests don't show those. So, I just want to say how
proud we are. We are succeeding. We are winning. These are obviously they're not acceptable. Uh our first goal a couple years ago was let's get to the state. Uh out of the 15 areas, right, seven in math, eight English, three science,
we've reached one level where we beat the state. So we have more to go, but that's not bad in in a year. So, uh give us some time and we'll be there. Thank you. >> Nicely said. Nicely said.
>> We'll go we'll go quick um with the rest of the the night. we'll get it we'll get it done quick. But I just also want to say is I think we all agree we're not where we want to be. And I've coached for many years as the coach of this district. I take the times that we're
not progressing. When we get those small wins, it's the team. It's everyone. So why I say that is I also learned in some of my my years I wasn't supposed to end up in the state finals. It was with the average team or maybe even below average. But what did we do? We focused
on the little things and got the little wins. These are little wins along the way. Before you know it, those little wins become contagious. And then before you know it, you're winning without even remembering that you shouldn't have won. >> And this is the start of something that
in years to come, I can't wait to see where we're at. So, I'm going to take the little wins along the way, but it doesn't mean we're happy where we're at. >> Um, real quick, we have to go over this. As you see, we're affirming some hip cases from the 10th to the 14th. I'm
going to go on speed dial right here. Uh, Kowami 2, Bernett 2, uh, Union High School 3 met, unfounded, one and one, Kami and, uh, UHS. Inconclusive, Connecticut Farms, Kami, and UHS. Uh, reporting from that time period of 14th
to the 28th. Two at Union High School, one at Bernett, one at Unfounded at Connecticut Farms. Uh, real quick, the school assessment. um we have to report on this annually. It's out of 78. There's our schools. Uh they self um and
you could go on and and I left a link to see how they uh go through the assessment um and rate themselves. So, but that's where our ratings are that we have to submit to the state before the 30th, I think, of this month or 31st. Um so, those are scores. I won't read them.
They're up there, but you see it's at a 78, not 100, just so everyone knows that it comes up every year. Uh the rest of the stuff uh uh I'm gonna let go. I'll go through it quick. Uh but you guys it'll be posted online. Diane Cap, Miss Capiella will put it up. Uh we talk
about Parent Square a lot. A lot of information is coming out through Parent Square. Please download Parent Square. Help us meet our goal of 70% by December 23rd because that's where a lot of the information you're going to receive. And thank you Madam President uh for this presentation today.
>> Thank you Dr. [Applause] Wow, you were very efficient tonight. Um, quick question, Dr. Bernissa, did we celebrate in the district Hispanic Heritage Month? Is that something that we still do or
>> up there are some of the things we did by all >> and that's in parent square for the parents to check out >> my newsletter. the newsletter. Wonderful. In the spirit of learning, we will
continue um um with our presentation tonight and I have asked board counsel to educate us on a couple of things um in reference to some of the things that we do as a board.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Um so just generally speaking and in the interest of time and spirit of brevity um I just wanted to uh reiterate um some comments that were made last week um at the work session um but since we have
some new faces uh in attendance both administratively board members and the public uh namely speaking in the collective bargaining process uh in the state of New Jersey um is generally governed by the public employment relations commission uh perk
um that is It's a state agency that uh generally governs collective bargaining between public sector employees and public sector employers. Um you have what's called a contract, a collective bargaining agreement, a union contract, which is a legally binding agreement
between the parties, employer, and that particular bargaining unit. Um whether it's teachers, whether it's it's custodial staff, whether it's secretaries. Uh some districts have what's called a wall-to-wall or umbrella unit which kind of covers all employees
um that are non-managerial um have some kind of unity in in in connection um or you have different segmented bargaining units. Um but generally speaking that contract lasts for a certain term. Um it's usually three, four or five years. Um there is
often times a misnomer um misinformation, misunderstanding, um sometimes uh intentionally, sometimes unintentionally that when a contract expires, we don't have a contract. Uh that is false. Um in the state of New Jersey, uh when a contract expires
between a public employer, i.e. Union Township Board of Education, and any of its unions, uh the parties are still bound by the terms and conditions of that expired agreement. Um, that's a a a a status called status quo. The status quo must be maintained. The terms and
conditions of that expired agreement remain in full force in effect unless and until they are negotiated uh and and mutually agreed to uh change. Um that also extends to and includes salary increases. Um salary increases with the
exception of when there's language that says there shall be no raises when the contract expires. uh most union employees, and this is generally speaking, I'm not commenting directly on union township uh negotiations or or what have you. This is state law. Um generally speaking, the majority of
employees will still get a raise uh when a contract expires um pursuant to that status quo if the contract calls for that and if the parties have not otherwise agreed to a freeze. Um and there's various pros and cons uh to both measures. So, it's just very important
to note um the the the truth and and and the the state of the law in the state of New Jersey when it comes to various issues that affect uh employers and employees um with the the goal being to act in good faith um both in reaching a
deal on a successor agreement um but also in the administration of the day-to-day uh interpretation of that agreement. Um that leads me to uh the generally speaking the role of the board of education and the role of the administration. Administration being the chief school administrator,
superintendent um and the other employees. Um yes. So pursuant to the code of ethics uh for schoolboard members um the code of ethics is codified in New Jersey statutes annotated title 18A 12-24.1.
uh that is a code of ethics for schoolboard members and there's a corresponding code of ethics for administrators quite frankly and other school officials that's in NJSA182-24. Um those two statutes are further codified in board bylaws and policies.
So pursuant to state statute uh the board of education uh has basically three primary roles, three primary functions uh pursuant to law. um they are to number one in no particular order uh hire a superintendent. Um the
superintendent is the only employee that reports directly to the board of education. All other employees in the district that are hired subject to a recommendation from the superintendent and majority approval of the board of education i.e. five votes five affirmative votes report to the
superintendent. So number one is hire superintendent. Number two is to adopt a budget. the board has the authority working in consultation with the administration to adopt a budget and number three is a set policy. Now 99.9%
of the policies um are essentially mandated by the state of New Jersey um as directed or in consultation with either New Jersey schoolboard association um or a company called Strauss Esmate. They kind of provide services to help school districts uh
adopt policies pursuant to pursuant to state statute. the board has to adopt and or readopt its policy manual on an annual basis. Um, you have what's called critical policies that are required by the state. You have other policies that are somewhat discretionary. All of which
may be uh tailored to kind of fit the local needs um of a school district just as long as those local needs um and discretion of the board aren't contrary to to state law. Um so it's important to note that um in that code of ethics for school board members um which has
subsections A through K or L I think it is um one of them says that as a board member they they swear they are firm they take an oath uh not to administer the schools uh but to see that they are wellrun. Um, so it's a superintendent's job to run the day-to-day operations of
this school district with his or her his staff in this instance. Um, and report to the board and run the schools in accordance with state law and adopted board policy. Um, if and when there are issues, concerns, questions, um, the
board of education, even if one of you nice people in the audience, bring it to a board member. Um, bring it to Madame President with all due respect, she has no power. um to do anything unilaterally. None of the board members have any power to do anything at the
grocery store, um at the baseball game, uh on the sidewalk, at the parent teacher conference, at the play. Um however, pursuant to that code of ethics, they have an obligation to refer the issue to the chief school administrator, let the chief school administrator, superintendent review,
investigate, etc., and come back to the board with a recommendation uh for any action for discipline uh etc. And it's also important to note that board members have an obligation to maintain confidentiality. Um they have a fiduciary obligation to protect the
taxpayers quite frankly. Um and they have an obligation to to maintain confidence um not secrets, not lacking transparency. But when they get elected, just like members of city council, members of Congress, members of Senate,
you elect them to then represent you. However, they may not be able to tell you everything about everything in real time. I said that repetitively on purpose. Um, they can't tell you everything about everything in real time because every employee has rights. You
have litigation, you have contracts, you have confidentiality, etc. um where the board must keep things confident confidential so as not to violate people's rights um and or to un needlessly expose the school district uh
to uh damages and or uh extra zeros on a small problem that could be a big problem but for people maintaining confidentiality. So I just want to give a very general overview reminder uh to board members. I was very impressed and pleased to see uh the majority if not
all board members uh as well as administration uh senior level administration in attendance at the New Jersey School Board Association conference last week. Uh there were were dozens and dozens and dozens of seminars um information sessions and also just learning from other school board members
from large and small districts um uh representing challenges and opportunities uh and strengths for school districts and also a big presence from the NJA um who was also um in strong full effect. I just wish they would invite us to their conference next week. So
uh but thank you Madam President. I I think that fulfills my charge. Thank you. Thank you so much. And um I I did ask board counsel to explain some things because I don't think intentional, but there was some misconception and people were saying we're working without a
contract and I wanted us to use the correct language and and clarify that. The other part of that was understanding that while we approve a set of policies, it is incumbent on the person that we
chose as superintendent to ensure that those policies are adhered to and when they're not to address that with the individual. The board does not need to be involved in that. We trust the
superintendent will address whatever situation is related to the adherence of those policies that have been adopted by the school board. So, thank you so much, Lester. Um, in the spirit of learning
for all, um, we have one more. It's a full jam-packed night and but this is celebration for the district. um in New Jersey there are measures and that's why we say no you cannot define a
student by a score or a teacher or a school but at the same time that that data is used to calculate a number of different things and one of them is New Jersey QAC which I forgot what the
acronym stands for I think it's quality >> Jersey quality single accountability >> single accountability ility continuum and for the first time in the district's history and we have to celebrate this um there are five critical areas in
NJQAC personnel operations fiscal help me out here Dr. Vanquista instruction and program and governance for the first time in history. We have passed in every single category.
So congratulations to the staff to the leadership and everybody that works together to find solutions and collaborate with one another for the sake of the district particularly in instruction and program. Dr. Rodriguez,
which is an area that many districts struggle with. We passed and I am so happy to see that above it. Yes. And they really analyze the curriculum. They analyze our assessment tools and they actually look
at that data that nobody wants to look at to see if we are going to get earn some points. So, thank you so much. Dr. Vanquista, you want to say a few things about that or did I say It's the it's the little things uh that we keep focusing on. This is again just one
thing. It's compliance, but we got to make sure and it does say we're doing uh what the state expects us to do and and in some areas almost 100% in operations 89 in governance. So, we're doing a lot of things. Well, >> congratulations to you all, Dr.
Rodriguez. >> Yep. And madam president, I just want to remind the public as well while going through Hannah Calwell closing a school um we didn't we did not get an extension for QAC and and we were still able to >> so yep >> that's awesome. Congratulations to you
all. >> Next we will move to the education and student discipline committee chairs, Miss Mani and Miss Faria to present the resolutions that will be voted on tonight. >> Nice job. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um
if it's okay I'd like to pass >> the resolutions in block. >> Wonderful. >> Okay. So um upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools the education student discipline committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. E1, E7, and E15
were voted on and passed last meeting. So it would be E1A through uh E19. >> Wonderful. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Discussions.
The motion has been properly moved by Miss Mani and seconded by Miss Feria. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Mr. >> Yes. Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Next, we will have the fiscal and planning committee chairs, Mr. Cohan and Mr. McDow, to present the resolutions that will be voted on tonight. Thank
you, Madam President. Uh before I yield to Mr. McDow to present the resolutions, I'd like to just highlight a couple of issues that are on our agenda. Uh resolution F10 is a monthly approval of out of the out of district student
placement list. And um while the number of students that are currently placed out of district may have shrunk slightly since last year, our expenditures in that area have grown to $20 million. And you know, it is those are resources
that we need to spend to support these students, but it is a significant part of our budget and I just like to call folks attention to it. I'd also like to highlight resolutions F14A and F-14B that are both related to our uh
maintenance budget and maintenance plan report. Uh these are reports that have to be filed with the state department of education and the county executive county superintendent's office. Uh and anybody that re reviewed the budget worksheet will note that we are actually
under the recommended uh funding level. uh what is recommended is 2% of the total value of all of our physical plant. Uh and we are under that recommended level because of the limitations of resources that we have
available at this time. >> Thank you, Mr. Cohan. Madam President, I'd like to uh one moment. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the fiscal and planning committee presents the following resolutions for the board's
consideration. all except uh F7 and F uh F 16 A1 um 16 A through uh I I'll uh these will be passed in bulk F
one through F 17 also included F for our attorney fees which are not uh uh to be voted on but again F1 through F17 with the exceptions that of the two that were voted on uh previous to this meeting two weeks ago.
Second. >> Thank you. Um is there a discussion? >> Yes, >> Miss Scott Hayden. >> Um I have a question regarding F9B the last item on the agenda. Um fees apparel sale Franklin uh funds for
>> I'm sorry which one >> 9B >> the last item >> F9B >> yeah 9B approve fundraisers >> fundraisers it's one of the charts
>> so my question is um we had asked previously I believe Miss Ki Mackey and myself in uh executive session before in regards to who is the approved vendor for these shirts or sales of um Franklin school apparel items. >> Different different entity.
>> So we know who the vendor is and they everything is fine. >> Not what we discussed prior. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Are you satisfied? Do we have on hand who the vendor is? Let's uh
vendor's not just make sure >> it technically you're just pulling it. >> Was there already movement second? >> Yes, it was. >> All right. So, I mean is the second of
the motion okay with the modification? >> Yes, it is. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Scott Hayden. Any other discussions? Any other?
>> No. >> Nice catch. >> Yes. >> This motion has been properly moved by Mr. McDonald and seconded by Mr. Cohan. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Yes.
>> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. There are no grievances or negotiations items to present
tonight. Therefore, we will move to the operations and technology committee chairs, Mr. NASA and Miss Conte Mackey to present the resolutions that will be voted on tonight. Upon recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, the
Operations Technology Committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. Madame President, if I could just read them off in the block, >> uh with the exception of the three that were voted on uh at the October 14th
work session, uh that would be 03, 06, and 07. Uh everything else from 01 to 09 and then T1 for a technology. >> Thank you so much. Is there a second?
>> Second. Any discussion? This motion has been properly moved by Mr. Nasta and seconded by Miss Conte Macki. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. Next, we will have the personnel committee chairs, Miss Scott Hayden and Miss Santana, to present the following resolutions that will be voted on tonight.
Thank you so much. Upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the personnel committee presents the following resolutions for the port board's consideration. P1A, P1B, P1C was already voted at at the um approved at October 14, 2025 work
session. So I will begin with P1 A1 personal actions new hires. P1B1 personal actions extra pay. P1 C1 personal actions transfers. P2A approving soup substitute list. P3A
accept letters of resignation and retirement. P3B for that we're approving leaves. P4 approved district communication leazison specart. P5 approve change of salary class number three effective se
September 2025. P6 we're approving increment withholding. Uh P7 approve attendance brainstorm educational technology conference. P8 approve job description for human resource specialist. P9 we approve a job
description for human resource director. P10 approved principal for the Livingston Elementary School Shawn Paterno at the principal of Livingston Elementary School at a contracted salary of 163 163524 with the start date to be determined. P1
approve supervisor special education department approve Sheriff Fat Roule as supervisor in the special educational department at a contractual salary of 123526 with a start date to be determined.
Madame President, I pass to you. >> Second. >> Thank you so much. Um any discussion? >> I do have discussion. I would just like to say that um we we do have Miss Roule in the audience and she has sat through this entire meeting
>> and that is huge to me. I will never forget that. Um, just to let you know, you have warriors on this board through special education and from above, we will be looking down. Thank you. Uh, we expect we're expecting great things. And
from Mr. Pno as well. >> Yes. >> So, Miss Santana, she's going to say a few words. >> Oh, thank you. If if we do if we do um >> vote yes. >> Oh, yes. We must vote first. >> If we vote yes. >> Yes. >> I'd like to say
>> that's a good idea. Um, this motion has been properly moved by Miss Antana and seconded by Miss Scott Hayden. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. And welcome to our district. >> And thank you. Um, it's already a good sign. Uh, Sher got to see a lot about our district tonight
and she stayed. She didn't say to Mr. >> Absolutely. >> Please pull it. Um, but why don't you just tell the board and the audience a little bit about yourself and and and we're very excited obviously to join our team.
>> Thank you for welcoming me. I um Sheri Ruo. I have about 16 years in education. I started as a special education teacher. I went into leadership um almost 10 years ago. I'm very passionate about special education. My own father was a teacher. He was a special
education teacher uh until his retirement and it was just a natural thing for me to do to follow in my dad's footsteps. Um I am looking forward to working with the district. Um looking forward to um collaborating with the team, find out what our overarching
goals are and work toward them together. Thank you. >> Thank you again and congratulations >> once again. We're very excited to have you here and you're going to find a number of great people to work with and very passionate people. So, you're in a
good place. Next, we will have the policy committee chairs, Miss Mania and Miss Furia, to present the following resolutions that will be voted on tonight. >> Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the policy committee presents the following policies for the board's consideration.
This is a second reading and adoption. Can I pass these in block? Of course we >> So we like to pass these in block from policy one through policy 13 and then regulation one through regulation 4.
Wonderful. Is is there a second? >> Second. Any discussion? The motion has been properly moved by Miss Faria and seconded by Miss Manzy. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Yes. >> Yes.
Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Moving it along, we will have the residency committee chairs, Miss Mania and Miss Faria, to present the non- voting resolutions.
Um, these are forformational purposes only. So, upon recommendation of superintendent schools, the residency committee presents the following resolutions for the board's consideration. R1A and R1B.
Thank you so much, Miss Mani. May I have a motion to approve the bills list? >> So move. Second. >> All right, Miss is is um any discussion? This motion has been properly moved by Miss Scott Hayden and seconded by Miss Antana. May I have a roll call, please?
Miss Capiello. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. Now we will go onto unfinished business. Mr. Kohhan. >> Thank you, Madam President. >> Thank you. >> Miss M. Santana mentioned the uh and and council mentioned the New Jersey School Boards Association conference last week
and I'd just like to uh report briefly that among the sessions that I attended one was regarding uh training for substitute teachers which I found very compelling. Uh they they indicated that there's data
that suggests that students spend 7% of their high of their school career in classrooms with substitutes >> and that many substitutes feel unprepared and unready for various reasons to move into the classroom and
be ready to provide effective substitute instruction. Um they the company that presented the session talked about the training program that they have available to both sensitize
potential substitutes to being in a classroom all the way on a continuum all the way up to becoming subject experts so that they can be more effective in the classroom. Uh I found it to be very interesting. I've already had some conversations with Dr. Rodriguez and Dr.
Benquista about it and uh given our effort to try and expand our our list of indist substitutes, I think it might be something that uh we could take a look at uh to to make that whole substitute program more effective. Additionally, I
attended a session, two sessions, one by the uh commissioner of acting commissioner of education and one by the state department of uh state um board of education. And uh in my previous career, I spent a lot of time
in education policy working directly with the New Jersey Department of Education and previous commissioners. And I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised at the coherence and um relevance of the presentation of the
acting commissioner. He in the past many presentations by by commissioners in uh broad public sessions like this lacked specificity were filled with uh with platitudes and and flowery language that didn't really
say much. But this commissioner actually spoke about the initiatives that his department are working on and they clearly are focused on the challenges of school districts and this district as well. Uh so I was very very pleased by that. There was an acknowledgement that
the outcome of uh the election for the next governor next week might change some of those priorities. But um I feel like we were in in good hands. And um that's it for now. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Cohan. Anybody
else? I'm finished. All right, we're going into new business. Miss Faria, let's do >> I just wanted to take a couple of opportunities to celebrate a couple of really good events that have happened in our district. So, a couple of our board members got to attend that bonfire and
we were all kind of a little concerned about that big fire, but it was such a wonderful event. It was so great to see kids. So, thank you to the PTA for the administrators that were there. It was really a nice event, like great school spirit. Um, we also had the honor of attending the marching band competition,
I believe this last Saturday, and what a beautiful job they did. Like so great. We were actually leaving and a parent that I knew from a a different location stopped us to tell us like how well organized it was that they wish that they could bring the state competition
final to the to just a great job done by everyone. They were timely. They said they were going to start like at 8:15. That's when it started. Just a beautiful celebration all around. Great. Lots of trophies. Um the health fair that we had
was an amazing collaboration between the district and the township. Such great resources to be shared. I know I already in the commerce chamber of commerce. Thank you. Um so I really already took advantage of some of those classes that I got there for free. So just we're
doing great work and so in a day where we can focus on where there's still so much growth, I think it's really important for us to really look at all the things that we're doing really well. And I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate Dr. Cohen. He was one of
the presenters at school boards. He did he did a TED talk on taxi cab geometry. Believe it or not, that's a thing. And one of the things that really stood out to me is understanding the school system and and much like a taxi where you can only see two-dimensional that in order
to really fully understand what's happening in an educational system you have to look at it three-dimensional that you have to have that bird's eye view and that when we see a problem we really have to think about what's happening at the structure and at the system level. So to what Mr. Cohan said before and to all the work that's
clearly being done in this district to address the areas of growth at a systemic level. Thank you. We appreciate it and we look forward to much more success. >> Nicely said, Miss Furia. Thank you so much. Anyone else? >> Miss Mani,
>> I just wanted to mention that um in September, I went to the CPAG meeting, the uh the kickoff for the year, and it was a great meeting. Um they also uh uh run it Facebook live, so parents that can't come. It's always held in the high
school uh cafeteria. And during that meeting, we had the special ed department came in. They presented was Mrs. Ki and um Mr. Sigling and somebody else. I can't remember her name. >> Yes.
>> No. Yes. Mthorne. And um they did a great job explaining what the the department does and and giving out lots of information. And then the meeting after that part of the meeting then the the president and vice president explained um to the parents that were
there. There were many new families there um what CPAC does and how helpful they are. They reviewed what the the meetings that they held last year and um what the organization will do this year. So it's very very um informative. They
always do a great job. Unfortunately I missed um the second meeting October meeting was last week. So, we weren't there. Um, but anybody that has um an interest, they should really reach out to um Arisel Deralo
um to get the information. Um there's a um they have um they're they're on our website. All the information from September's meeting is already on there. There's lots of information, so you should check it out. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Miss Mania. And I
know that they were one of our the presenters. we had here recently. So, I'm glad that you stay in contact and are a liaison of sorts with the board. So, thank you. Um, Miss Gita Faria, I just want to say
I that was the first time um that I attended the bonfire and I really really loved the experience and to see all those kids so excited juniors um and to see our PTA which are parents
in our school district put so much work and thought into the hot chocolate, the the food, the snacks for the kids. security, making sure that the fire department and
emergency team was there. Um, and we had a couple of staff members there as well helping out. Um, but it was a beautiful night. I was only able to stay for about an hour and a half um because of my situation, but um the band I also got
great reviews about um and I can't wait to go to a future event. So wonderful things are happening in our district and we're blessed for that. Um I do want to give a shout out to Erica Nulan for your idea about the pantry. We are always
looking for solutions. So Erica, thank you so much. And um I dropped some seeds for Miss Ahern to see what she can do with the guidance counselors. Um and last but not least, I would be remiss. One of the things that we always talk about is academics.
um even behind the scenes sometimes you don't see that and you may think that we are not addressing it but it's something that we're questioning continuously as well as student success what does that look like um in terms of attendance in terms of social and emotional learning
in terms of academics in not only um performance but also improvement um but there is one area that has also done tremendous growth and tonight we were very blessed in getting um a presentation from the
operations team who in the QAC evaluation and for those of you that do not know when you don't do well in QAC the state can put you in a corrective action plan and I see some of you nodding your head as educators you will
know so and now they come into the district and monitor things so the fact that we pass in every area is commendable but one of the areas with operations who right as of now received 97%
proficiency. So I want to give them a shout out and Marissa I want you to tell us a little bit about your team and what the departments that it encompasses because I think it's crucial that people hear
that. >> Miss McKenzie, I apologize for that. I've been called worse. Um so the operations team consists of residency, it consists of buildings and grounds, transportation, security and IT. I think
that's everything. Um and so um the focal point for QAC on the operations side has a lot to do with our facilities, our buildings and grounds. Making sure that those checklists that I'm sure many of you have uh talked about with your building principles and your head custodians, we're in
compliance with those checklists. um 97% we couldn't have expected to get that high. I mean it was remarkable. I think that's the highest score in all of the areas and so very proud of the team that worked very hard to make sure that we were in compliance and the hard work that we'll continue to do to make sure
we stay in compliance. >> Thank you so much. Um but I do want to say that sometimes we receive emails because certain things are not um where you would like it to be. Unfortunately, our schools are very old. One of the
things that was presented to us were not only the accomplishments of those respective departments, but a lot of the stuff that we need in terms of human capital and material resources that will impact our budget
tremendously to provide. So, it isn't like we don't take your concerns seriously. is that we're often weighing paying this or paying that. Um, one area that is really crucial right now that
nobody and I I'm saddened to see that even in the political stage it doesn't come up a lot is when we talk about infrastructure, we speak about physical school infrastructures, but there's the cyber security
infrastructure. And if you if you don't know, many school districts have been hit with ransomware that they've had to pay to get back their data once, sometimes twice, even colleges. So
that is an area that in the next few years we're going to have to invest a great deal. Am I correct in saying that? To safeguard the data of not only our students but also our staff. So, there's a lot of things that we're looking at
in operations as we move forward and one of them is really growing that department. Um, but I do want to give a shout out to everyone, Bill, Anthony, please, John, Tracy, um, for the work that they have
been doing with you to also create a systematic approach and how we do things in those areas. So, thank you. Um, now we will move to comments from the public. Miss Christina Burler, >> good evening.
>> Good evening. Um, well, I uh first I want to start with two positives. Uh, I work at Union High School and I'm very sad to see Mr. Pno go. He's really such an asset to Union High School and I'm sure he's going to do a wonderful job at Livingston School as well. So, I do wish
him the best. Number two, I did want to thank Dr. Rodriguez uh when he spoke earlier, he did make special mention of teachers and staff in everything that has been reported on tonight. So, Dr. Rodriguez, we see you in our buildings
and we thank you. Um, so now what I came to say tonight is I was one of the individuals who received a rice letter, one of the four. Um, I did receive a communication from Miss Capiello to which I did uh respond to Dr. Benquista
last uh two Fridays ago, October 17th. However, I didn't receive a response. So, I just wanted to read what my communication said. Uh, I'm writing to formally acknowledge receipt of Diane Capiello's email dated October 15, 2025, which stated that the
original Rice notice dated October 9th has been rescended. This notification came only after I had sent two prior emails to Dr. Benista, neither of which received a response during contractual hours. Instead, I was provided a link to
the evening's board of education meeting agenda. As a 28-year veteran of this district, I feel compelled to express my deep concern and disappointment with how this situation was handled. I, like many of my colleagues, was born and raised in
Union. While I did not attend Union Public Schools, I was active in the town's recreational athletics and am a proud alumni of Holy Spirit School. I have dedicated nearly three decades of service to Union Public Schools. And in all that time, I have never received a
single reprimand or write up in my district file. Receiving a Rice letter on October 10th was not only unexpected, but deeply troubling. The message behind it was clear. Intimidation. As the UTA head representative at Union High School
and now the leader of our UTA action committee, I am more visible than ever. On October 6th, during our Union High School open house, I stood quietly in the back of the auditorium, wearing my UTA shirt and holding a sign that read,
"Un students thrive when educators are valued." During that event, I witnessed two board of education members take my photo. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, I received a Rice letter that Friday. Even more telling, the colleague who stood
beside me also received a rice notice. another coincidence. Let me be clear. I echo what so many others have already said. Settle this contract in good faith. This is not about choosing sides. It is about doing what is right for our students, our
staff, and the community. Our staff, who continually go above and beyond, often at personal financial expense, deserve to be respected and heard. It is time to stop the scare tactics. The use of right letters in this manners sends a chilling message to those of us
who speak up and advocate for our colleagues. These tactics are not silencing us. They are uniting us. While the board's negotiation team may distribute communications filled with partial truths. >> Excuse ma'am. Your time is up. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. Mr. Peter Leon Leone, I apologize. >> Can I read some of the notes that he left? >> No, I'm sorry. Nope. >> I I don't. >> Mr. David Armeno.
>> Miss Christine Zurka. >> Okay. Miss Ann Margaret Shannon. >> Okay. And Margaret Shannon, 2591 Spruce Street. And >> um Good evening, Miss Shannon >> and UTA president.
>> I have two points tonight. The first, Madame President, is to ask why at about 8:20 p.m. tonight, the board attorney, Lester Taylor, took my picture from the deis. I asked that he be directed to delete my picture from his phone. And if you're
not able to answer tonight, I'd appreciate an email why he might do that. I tried to talk to him earlier, but to no avail. Second, regarding the UTA BOE negotiations after the 9:22 mediation session, the
next date selected was December 3rd. However, trying to move forward um after some emails, the UTA asked the mediator to give us earlier dates. The mediator offered three dates and the UTA said yes to all three. Unfortunately, the board
of education declined all three. I'm asking now that the board of ed would reconsider the third date, November 5th. Let's get together sooner than later. Thank you.
Thank you. We got to respond to that. >> So, so just um regarding the three dates, um there was conflicts the board meeting, >> there was conflict, >> but we did not reject three dates.
There were scheduling conflicts. Now, let's move on. Next, Miss Susan. >> Just if I may, upon the advice of legal counsel, uh, I would ask the board and administration not to discuss the collective bargaining process, uh,
specifically with the UTA in public. Um, quite frankly, um, as the union president is aware, there is both an unfair practice charge as well as a complaint filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, uh, that is directly and or indirectly related to the negotiations process. And so based upon the attorney
client privilege pending and or anticipated litigation strategy etc. Um it is advised that the board not communicate with any member of the UTA regarding any aspect of negotiations so as not to compromise the board's legal position. Thank you.
>> Thank you Miss Susan Livstein. >> Before I speak, where's the timer? >> Right here. >> She has Okay. Okay. because I just usually I can get over and I know I'm going to talk bad maybe. Susan Limstein 2569 Jackson Avenue first as president
of the education foundation. Thank you for approving our dates and I look forward to seeing you at our brick ceremony and reception. We've been existent for 25 years and still going. Now I want to speak to as myself. I want to bring up my concerns about the
library situation in our district. In the past, I sent research to almost every board member and the superintendent about the importance of school libraries and librarians and their direct impact on literacy and literacy scores in a district. The board
just passed a new library curriculum which hasn't been updated since 2017. It's in your um you'll you know hopefully somebody looked at it. It would be good. Now we have to teach it. But right now, we have one school, Jefferson School, with approximately 600
teachers and no certified professional librarian to teach it. So, I'm not sure how we're going to implement the curriculum we just passed in that school. Uh, and we certainly don't want a lesson uh take the certified librarians who don't have enough time as
it is in the elementary schools to go over there. That's not going to work too well. Please. We also have one school, Hannah Caldwell, with no functioning school library at all. I requested the budget for restoring this library, and it's so small I cringe even to mention
it, but I will. For this year, library books collection, $1,000. Macken, which is I think a vendor, 500, we received $3,000 in a donation. Um, that comes out to about three books
per student. And you really need to have a functioning library. 20 books per student. So I don't know. And this library was destroyed through no fault of the students, but they're the ones who are going to be hurt, who are being hurt. The new curriculum can't be taught
at for 700 students at Hannah Caldwell at its best with no books and 600 students at Jefferson have no chief person to teach them. That's a total of,300 students. If we pass a curriculum, I believe the superintendent and the board need to know to see that
it's implemented. So, at the same time, the state is passing guidelines for teaching information literacy. Uh, as we speak, they're doing that. That's what librarians are trained to teach. The state has mandated that that be taught in grades K through 12. Obviously, you
need professional and trained personnel to teach this. Your librarians already know how to teach this. if you Yeah. Anyway, you don't need to have to go and teach the teachers how to teach it when you have librarians, but there's not
enough of them. Um, this this um I hope you find a solution to this situation. It's only gotten worse in the past years. We had eight certified librarians in the district two years ago, then down to seven, now only six. Again, no
librarian in one school and no library in another. That's six librarians for 7,300 students. I look forward to everybody working together so that the children will have the benefit. Your time is up. Thank you. Questioning school life. Thank you so much. Thank
you. And if I might say in regards to that, um, the principal of Hannah Cwell have carved out over $16,000 to re-establish the, uh, library and he's been in con um, in conjunction with
the superintendent. So, those items have just been um, approved. So, the Hannah Cwell has been established. Um, excuse me, excuse me. Uh in addition uh from the operating budget and along with the
grants department, we are collaborating to make sure that the librarians have all the materials and supplies that they need. And uh Isabella is uh monitoring to ensure and ask them on a on a consistent basis to ensure they have all
the proper um supplies that they need. Okay. Thank you. >> Next. Thank you so much, Miss for that thorough explanation. And Miss Lipstein, I do appreciate that you are such an
advocate for libraries. There's some challenges there, and it's not just us. Um, and believe it or not, I started in that information literacy team in Trenton um developing those standards. I subsequent to leave, but I was one of
the people that started as an expert. Um, librarians will have to learn a great deal because information literacy requires a lot of critical thinking and looking at media um, literacy information and helping
people decode whether it's real or not, which is with AI has compounded what we know about everything that exists in our, you know, in this world. Um, but I say that to say the librarian
certification, it is very hard to get individuals with that certification. So, I don't know what the state is going to do. And believe you me, science is another area that school districts are struggling with as well as mathematics. But it's
not just the academic areas. It's also the librarians that complement the curriculum. They are not necessarily the curriculum because those instructional resources are usually in the classroom but the li the libraries
complement what is happening in the curriculum and at home. So they are just as valuable and important. So we do take it seriously and thank you. >> Okay. >> No definitely and maybe you could find some books somewhere to donate. Um,
thank you so much, Miss Trish Gomez. >> Hi, Trish Gomez, 47 Brookdale Road. Um, first of all, I want to say that at the beginning of the meeting, you said you wanted to be transparent with all the parents. My concern is that too many presentations were scheduled for tonight, and I think it really limited a
lot of this great information getting out to parents because it's 11 o'clock and my kid went to bed like three hours ago. So I >> that's a good point. Thank you. >> A lot of parents missed out on >> Sorry. So I think a lot of parents missed out on a lot of this great
information. >> It is recorded for future view. >> Okay. Um one of my concerns is I was looking at all the grades that you had up and my child is fortunate enough to be in the G&T program and she does very well in school. Um but in that I'm
concerned that is it because she is a good student and gets good grades because she is smart or is it because the grades the I don't like is it like dumbed down a little bit if she was to go to a different district which is a
decision my husband and I like go back and forth with would she just be considered average if she was to go somewhere else or do they like lower the grades to kind of elevate the scores Um, and also is there anything that could be done possibly with the class
sizes and could that have any impact on the uh scores being so low? >> Once again, that has to do with teacher availability based on certifications, which is something that is not just the
district. But I do Trish invite you because you express a a very personal concern about where your daughter is and the rigor that we are providing. If she's being challenged, is she where she's supposed to be, I do invite you to
connect with Dr. Rodriguez before you leave to possibly set an appointment and because as we mentioned there are a number of different data points that need to be triangulated to determine if that child is thriving. So we will be
remiss in using just one data point to make that assessment tonight. But thank you so much for your points. Um and Miss I I'm not sure who came first so I apologize. Lydia Arnette. Miss Lydia
Arnette. >> Sorry. >> Did I Yes. >> Lydia Aria 1177. >> I apologize. >> Aretta. >> Aretta. >> Very sorry. H.
>> Okay. Um, I was going to read some of Mr. Leone's points too. Uh, you know, he mentioned like Mr. Ferrroni one example of the great teachers we have. We have dedicated staff, yastic, dedicated uh achievers.
They do individual attention. I'm sorry, hard to read. Nadilly, sorry. Nope. >> We're going to bring back calligraphy. >> Uh yeah. Well, I guess he was writing fast, but you know, and driven to help all of our students. Um I see this in my
children, too. My daughter this week uh stayed at the soccer games for Kwami Middle School. Was bald out there. The girls lost. the boys won today, so she was happy about that. Um, also, you know, we have tailgating when we do those, uh, football games at the high school, and a lot of the teachers are
the ones, you know, giving their time. They make hot dogs and cotton candy and all these things. So, you know, we do have a lot of teachers that are amazing. Um, >> thank you. >> I wish actually if I had teachers like
this when I was growing up. Um, and I know maybe by mistake and sorry we I want to apologize for everybody. Maybe some of us did say working without a contract. We do know we're under the contract. So like and we're all showing up. We're still there. So thank you.
>> Thank you so much and thank you for acknowledging that. We just wanted to clarify. So thank you. I'm glad we're on the same page. Um, Miss Michelle Zata. >> Uh, thank you very much. I >> Good evening, Miss Zata. Welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you. It's 11 o'clock.
I'm probably the last speaker here. >> Hey, listen. Our meeting is not over. We're going back into executive. So, >> okay. Well, God bless you for that. >> Thank you. >> Uh, I'll spend my three minutes wisely. I actually was home listening to the report of the NJSLA
and it got me fired up. It made me clutch my invisible pearls. >> Um, those numbers are not surprising. The what the team didn't do is throughout the years they've been union has been underperforming at state
average year after year after year and it was only before COVID and I showed you guys that data that presentation I saw and I've watched Maplewood I watched Milbour presentation NGLSA was bare minimal on
that there should have been a whole meeting based off of that information and the data present And it was very skin and bones on that. And as a parent in elementary school and being second grade, my kid doesn't isn't involved
with the angela, but I get I ready, which I wasn't even informed that already had happened. I just asked the teacher, did the I Ready happened this year? And she says, yeah, in September. Like why didn't we get the scores? I had to ask for those scores. And then I had
to look at the data and everything. And then is there there's no protocol of like how we're giving this information now. It's not like parents have to ask for this information. Buildings should be talking about this information. In fact, I had asked Dr. Rodriguez. I'm I'm
glad the lawyer is here, right? Because last time I was here, I had asked for the lawyer to give me the I Ready scores from last year. And that is public information for the building. And I wanted that for the for all the grades
that were there for math and reading and to know what was on level. So none of this information for NJSLA should be a surprise because we should be looking at those tests for the I Ready that happens three times a year and that should be impacted for the building and then the
NJA that should be talked about how each building is doing because I know looking back at last year the disparity that was happening between all the elementary schools it's great and that information was never talked about in this in this meeting and so was the middle school
with those two middle schools that there's great disparities between those. Nothing's ever mentioned. And we're not unpacking that. We're just skimming that. And I'm tired of that. As a parent, as a young one, it's scaring the crap out of me that this information, this data is not being taken seriously
and it's just being skimmed over. So, >> thank you so much, Miss Zada. Um, Miss Faria would like Oh, I'm sorry. Is she >> No, she has Sorry, Mr. Please. >> I'm I'm just saying please take please take parents
concerns and don't dismiss them. I want to see the information, the I Ready scores from last year. I also want to see the I Ready scores from this fall that was taken or these buildings. I shouldn't be denied that. I I sent an open request. The lawyer was attached to
that. I still didn't get any information. So, m >> Thank you, Mada. Um, Miss Faria, >> so I just want to clarify because I sat in a meeting. I'm I sit on the education committee and if in case didn't become clear today, I'm very passionate about
this. This is this is my livelihood. I stand behind it. I assure you this district is not taking it lightly. I assure you that this district is not sitting on the data. I have a binder as a a board member with information and every one of us does.
>> I'm sorry that data we are not going to sit here one school against the other because we also >> here give me a mic. >> We also want to protect teachers because the last thing we want to do is for us to get to the granular level where my
kid has a teacher who's not doing well that because there's a lot of other things that comes into play. What if you're in a class with special ed students or if you're in a class with a student who's homeless? One thing that did not come up in this district, we are 50% free and reduced lunch. If you compare our data to the state data for
free and reduced, we are above state. I repeat that again. If you are looking on how we do for our free and reduced lunch kids, we are doing better than at the state level. The evidence is clear. The research is there. Tests are a measure
of social economics. We can predict how towns are going to do. Go to Milbour. Teachers are making over $100 an hour to tutor children. How many of our community members can afford to? They could barely afford to live. So let's give a break to teachers. Let's
give a break to ourselves. I understand that and I will repeat what I repeated you in the last time. It is important that you understand how your child I understand your concern about is this a good education? What happens if we go to another system? That is a concern with
every school and it you can go to another place that's ranked really well and your child does great and maybe not or vice versa. But I really want to make a point. I have full faith that this team is looking at this data. They have that information. As a board member, I
don't even have access to the teachers, nor should I. I trust that the administrative team is doing what they're supposed to be doing here. Thank you so much, Miss Faria. Look, Miss Zada, we appreciate the fact that
you come here and you really want to look at that data critically. Um, and I am sure Dr. Rodriguez can engage you in further dialogue. One of the things that occurred last time was that
he was not certain that that you wanted specific student data. you just wanted the the gray level data >> email. >> And you know what? As I listen to Trish and I listen to you, I I respect that because the fact is
that we should be you should be holding us accountable. And one of the things as I sit here and listen to both of you as parents, um, and believe it or not, Miss Gita right now is speaking from an educational leadership perspective, but
as a parent, she's had some concerns that she shared with me as well. The worst thing that we can do is think that we're so perfect that we can't grow. And that's why I say professional learning is not something that is scheduled. It's something that is
organic and should happen every day. modeled first by the adults that are professionals so that the students can see. And I promise you, we may not be where you want us to be. And I speak to all the parents that are watching
tonight, but we are putting things in place to create a more solid foundation so that we could do better. All right? But we are here to answer your questions and engage you in that dialogue. So, it is
hard to hear what you have to say as parents tonight, but we do take it seriously and do and we do honor it. All right. So, thank you both of you. Um, Miss Gah Hayden, my madam vice. >> Um, I just want to take a moment to
acknowledge a email that was sent to myself this evening from a former employee. I just wanted to say, Miss Maynard, if you are watching this, um your email will be forwarded to the appropriate uh individual, which is the superintendent of schools for him to
review. Um I am not able to read it. Um and he will address it as he sees fit. Thank you. And to that point, I I I do want to make a statement um because it was something that came up for discussion and it is emailing um
public comments to us to read on record. Um we have decided as a board that we will not engage in that. Um, so that you know, and we're saying it out loud and to the public, that moving forward, we
will not read in public comments any emails that we receive. >> Um, Mr. But they will be a part of minutes. Thank >> Thank Madam President, thank you. I just want to also add that members of the public uh pursuant to the open public
meetings act in the state of New Jersey um each a portion of every board of education meeting must be set aside for public comment um a portion um it's public comment public question it's not a discussion per se um so there's no obligation for the board or
administration to respond um in some respects they can't because they need to do some research and and gather information to provide an intelligent response Um there are certain subjects that are uh the board and administration are procluded from commenting on. The
board cannot comment on individual personnel matters in public. Um while an employee can say all they want about their individual employment, the board and the administration cannot respond in public because that employee has rights um that are protected pursuant to state statute. uh student matters, matters of
pending and or anticipated litigation, contract negotiations, matters of safety and security of property or people, those matters are precluded, the board is procluded, the administration cannot discuss them uh in public. And lastly,
um while a member of the public um can say an employees name, um there's nothing that prohibits them from talking about a principal, a teacher. We can't stop you from doing that. But the administration and the board cannot respond in public for that very same
reason you heard reference to a right notice earlier. The only time the board can discuss a member's individual terms and conditions of employment is when that person is given a rights notice. A rice notice is not a bad thing. Um someone could be being promoted. They might get a right notice. Um there could
be an issue, an incident in a school that person may have been a witness to or party of. That could be a rights notice. Um, but it's important to note that while people have a first amendment right to to ask questions and make statements at a board meeting, um, individuals also have rights and
protections, namely against liable, slander, torturous, interference with contract, etc. So, just please be mindful that if and when people uh uh send emails to board members and ask them to read them publicly um and or make certain accusations
um uh that can be interpreted as as threats or or innuendo or slander, just be mindful that those individuals may have certain private causes of action um that they can pursue whether they are an employee, a board member um um and or a
citizen um in that regard. And I'm saying that specifically based upon the nature of the email that Miss Scott Hayden referenced. Thank you. Um, thank you so much um, Mr. Lester Taylor,
the board and Miss Scott Hayden, the the board will now go into executive session to discuss personnel and legal issues and action will be taken. May I have a motion to move into executive session? >> Second.
>> Any discussion? All right. Um, we have this motion has been properly moved by Miss Santana and seconded by Mr. Cohan. May I have a roll call, please? Miss Capiello. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Um for those that are staying, you can stay in here. And for those of you that are leaving, um thank you so much for being here tonight and get home
safe. Let's make There. I move we go back into public session. >> Yes. >> Yes. Move to adjurnn. >> All in favor? Bye.