Is this right here? >> Thank you. Like to call to order the Vernon Township Board of Education public board meeting for June 18, 2026. Can I get a motion? I move. Second. Second.
>> Thank you. We got a roll call or do we want to do all in favor and then roll? >> Uh let's do >> just roll call, right? >> Mr. Smagley, >> Mr. Fischer >> here. >> Mr. Krauss >> here.
>> Miss Nichols >> here. >> Miss Pallet >> here. >> Miss PEC. >> Dr. Ross >> here. >> Miss Aarella >> here. >> Mr. Zan. We have a quorum. >> Great. >> Thank you. It's recommended that the board enter close session for the purposes of discussing legal, personnel,
and student matters. Can I get a motion? >> Thank you. All in favor? I'm ready. Yeah, but we can read it on as an extra item. >> Thank you. >> Can I Can I get a motion to return to open session?
>> Yes. >> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Um, roll call. Uh, Mr. Fischer >> here. >> Mr. Krauss >> here. >> Miss Nichols >> here. >> Miss Pellet
>> here. Should probably talk to us. It would help. >> Miss Pac. >> Dr. Ross >> here. >> Miss Varela >> here. >> Mr. Zimmerman >> here. >> Mr. Sangalia here.
>> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. >> And then additional attendance. Uh Mr. O'Donnell >> here, >> Mr. Mendes and myself. >> Excellent. >> Mr. Slam, when you're ready, would you
lead us in the pledge? >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Item six, reading the public meeting notice. >> The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of a public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of the act, Burton Township Board of Education
has caused notice of this meeting to be published and adequate notice has been provided and notice this meeting has been properly posted in accordance to the New Jersey open public meeting law. And then just a quick note, our next meeting will be held on July 30th. >> Thank you. >> Item seven, approval of the minutes. Uh
these are the minutes for the closed public session meeting from May 21, the minutes of the public session meeting from May 21, the minutes of the closed session meeting from June 3rd, and the minutes of the public session meeting from June 3. Some of you need to abstain or noted. Um can I get a motion, please?
>> So, John second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Alice. Okay. U roll call. Oh, does anybody have any questions or comments about the minutes? Nobody ever seems to, but Okay, thank you.
>> Mr. Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Nichols, >> yes. >> Miss Pallet, >> yes. >> Dr. Ross, >> yes. >> Miss Sarella, >> Mr. Zimmerman, >> Mr. Sagalia,
>> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> hi. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Item eight, presence report. That's me. I'm going to be very brief tonight because we have a bunch of presentations. Um, obviously we're in the final stretches of the school year,
so everybody's looking forward to graduation, end of the year celebrations, and the start of summer. I know that our student rep is going to give us a robust reporting on all of those activities. Um, and I during want to take this time to just sort of
recognize her. She has been a phenomenal board member and has definitely um kept us very informed, more informed than we've been >> for quite some time about the goings on in our school buildings. So, we want to thank her for her thoughtful and
thorough reports uh throughout the year and we will be recognizing her later in the agenda as well, but I did want to call that out. So, please uh and as I mentioned before, we have a full agenda tonight. We're doing uh presentations on the weekend bag program, uh financing options for our capital improvement
plan, and an update on the district strategic plan. So, I just want to move straight into that uh section of our agenda so that we can get rolling. Um the weekend bag program is up first. >> Thank you for coming. >> Oh, thank you. Good evening, everyone.
I'm Maggie. This is my uh mom, Don. and we want to start off by saying thank you so much for letting us come share about our program, give an update and everything. So, thank you all so much. Um, just to start off if I'm going to do like a little background just in case
there's any new people or anyone who haven't heard of us. Um, the weekend bag started around 10 years ago by my oldest sister when she was going into her freshman year at Newton High School. she uh took notice around her peers were going home hungry over the weekend and
that was affecting their school life. They couldn't focus or they felt dirty coming into school, felt embarrassed cuz you know you're a teenager in high school. You know people are going to talk and stuff. So you get that mindset and um she didn't want to go the rest of
her four years in high school knowing that that was a problem with her peers and her friends. So she decided to talk to the principal to see what he was doing to help with this situation. And he said that there was the free and reduced lunch within the school. Wonderful program, but it didn't cover
the weekends. It only really helped during like, you know, school hours, weekdays. So she decided to create the weekend bag program, Inc. to help fill in those cracks within her peers. Starting noon high school with 28 students receiving a weekend bag every week. Then by the time she graduated in
2020, there were seven schools on the program feeding close to 80 students every week. Then after she graduated, my other older sister and I took over and she graduated June of 2024 and we ended that school year with 19 schools on the program beating around 232 students
every year. Then obviously after she took over um she graduated, I took over and we ended this school year with 30 schools on the program feeding close to 400 students every week. So huge accomplishment. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Um as my when my sister uh started this program, she uh made three key factors to go with it to keep it alive and moving. The first one was um kid-friendly. So nothing is expired or
nothing is about to expire cuz these kids are already falling through the cracks, you know, they already feel like no one really like cares about them kind of and stuff. They're just really in that like depressive state and once they see that they're finally getting help and then they look at the expiration
date and it's like expired, you know, by a week or a month, they feel like, oh, it just really puts like a damper on their spirit. So we hand out nothing that is expired or is about to expire. The uh second is that our program is completely anonymous. So we don't know
who's getting a weekend bag just cuz when again my sister started this she was going she started this to help the kids in her school and she didn't really care about you know recognition or anything like that. She didn't want anyone you know giving her praise. She
just wanted to help her peers and then move on. And so how that works, each school has a school liaison, which could be a guidance counselor or a principal or a nurse, and they identify the students they think would most benefit from the program, and then they give back a number to us. So that's how that
works. And then the last is uh we it's all kidun. So I run it, my sisters ran it, and we just it just shows like, you know, kids can do like amazing things and everything. you know, it's not that we're, you know, young, we don't know
what to do or anything like that. It's just like upbringing other kids to do, you know, amazing things and all. So, that's just a little background. Um, again, with this year, um, with this was our first full year with Vernon High
School and let me >> Veron schools. I'm so sorry. Um, and let me just say you guys are amazing. You guys probably are like our favorite school district. I know. I know. We're here. We're here, you know, doing a
speech, but you guys are phenomenal. You guys are so, you know, like nice and very supportive. So, give you guys like a nice round of applause. You know, you're amazing. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> And then you my mom wrote down some
numbers if you want to. >> Uh, yeah. I'd like to hear those, but can you just state your name? I I realized I didn't really introduce you and I want everyone to know who you are. >> Oh, I'm Magdalene or Maggie. Um I'm currently the president of the weekend bag and then my mom Don. >> Dor and that's Maggie Castello you guys. >> Sorry.
>> Yeah. No, that's okay. I just want people >> Thank you. Yeah. M I I mirror what Maggie says. We love all our schools and we have a very good um relationship with all of our schools and our liaison. But honestly, the Vernon Township community
and school has been from top from bottom to top. Everyone's supportive. Everyone knows about the program is eager to help whenever we've reached out um with fundraisers or ideals to help. I mean, everyone principles called me and I've
never had a principal from any of the schools call and say, "How can we help? Can we do this?" Um, we've always had our liaison or we've reached out asking for help. Never had anybody come to us. Um, and say, "How can we help?" Or actually,
hey, we did this for you and um that's why I'm calling to tell you that it's just amazing. and um we felt very welcomed um in the community um outside of the school when we've done stuff and we felt very welcomed in the school. So, thank you. It makes us our job a lot
easier and um eager to do more. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you for including us. >> Lee, thanks. Um, so like Maggie said, we we um to date we've done over 70,000 weekend bags to students here in Cesus
County and um October 19th, 2026 will be our official 10 years and we will have hit and possibly gone over 500,000 meals um this past school year alone or this current school year about to end, we've
done over 12,000 weekend bags and about 75,000 meals on top of some other things that we we've uh done and the Vernon Township School District, all six schools um we did we um supplied over 3,200 weekend bags um to the Vernon
school district. We had we ended the year we started the year with 103 students from all six schools and we ended with 105 students and I think we are starting next year September 23rd with 105 students um receiving a weekend
bag and that may increase depending on the new students coming in or um any situations hopefully get better not worse. Um plus we were able to um supply 37 turkeys for Thanksgiving. We don't normally do that, but we were asked if
we knew and we said, "Okay, we're going to try." And we were able to um do 37. Uh we did a total of 75 turkeys this year because when once the need came out here, we started asking our other schools. Um we were able to supply over a thousand toys this year. Um that was
split um between all the schools and over 300 of each winter hats and scarfves. So each child in their bag got a winter hat and a scarf. But then we were able to send about 50 or so to each of the schools um so that if there were
other children or siblings then the liaison could make sure that those siblings got them and they were all donated to us. They were all brand new and and donated to us. So that was awesome. We hope to be able to do that again this year. Um I don't know if Maggie mentioned we do beyond the bag.
We have a division with the weekend bag called Beyond the Bag. And that um division um has our transition programs. And those are the uh programs for the high schools and middle schools are 17 to 21 year old students that have
different cognitive and other disabilities. And then some of our younger um elementary and middle school as well as special education programs. And for Vernon, we give 105 >> bulk items to make 105 bags to the
middle school and the middle school kids um put those bags together and then distribute it to um all six schools. And that is just amazing. I love that part. Um I love the students. I've gotten to meet the students three times from Vernon and then in the other schools we
have um High Point, Lenipe, Newton High School achieve program and um then we have some outside programs uh piece by piece which are are um 21 and older young adults and they come every Wednesday to our um warehouse space and
they put 50 bags together. So we have enough items for them to put 50 bags. We do that on Monday and Tuesday and they get to pick up uh in the morning and then they drop off their completed items. Now, Verdon's different because Vernon just delivers um to the schools,
but it is awesome. It's such a huge help to us. Um and I'm sure it's a huge help to this, you know, the students in the classes. Um >> Amy Systo is who I primarily deal with and she is the sweetest person. And Will
McCade is our um delivery guy and he comes on the dot 9:00 am doesn't matter if it's snowing, raining, whatever. He is there. He's there with a smile and he frowns when I help load the truck because he wants to do it. He said, "You don't have to do that." And I'm like, "I
don't mind." But awesome. Um yeah, I think you know, we're we're so excited to be working with you. We look forward to next year and hopefully we can keep up our part of the deal. Um, it gets harder and harder every year because we keep growing. We doubled in
size last year, not just with Vernon, but other schools. And we have three other schools that have um had members of it reach out to us asking if we can um expand to them, but I'm not sure how we're going to do that. We're we're
trying to figure out a way um but it's getting harder and harder every year. And then we have other counties that have been reaching out to us asking us to expand. Um, and we have to say we'd love to, but we we can't do that yet. Um, because we're
still trying to figure out how to >> keep going >> keep going in in our own county. Um, it costs about $25 to um make one weekend bag and we have uh we ended this year with 395 bags a week. So that's a lot of
money. Um, but I mean our communities are great and we're still here and we're very grateful. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there a a way to get in touch if people want to help in some way?
>> Yeah. So, I handed you guys on every single table that has our Facebook, our website, and our email and our number. Our number is just a no text number. So, you would have to call with it, not text. If you can't call, obviously.
>> Yeah. And then there is extras on the table if you guys want to take one on your way out or anything. So, Okay. But we would love to um you know, have you guys, anybody wants to come take a visit to the warehouse. We're not running, but we're there working trying to get things
done in the warehouse. We would love to show you exactly how we do things. Um, >> and if you follow our Facebook too, we over the summer we do a bunch of stuff the buses. So either in Weiss and Franklin or Weiss and Newton, we do a little competition between the two. If
you ever Sunday, not every Sunday, but we usually do it on Sundays if you want to take a visit to our Facebook. >> And we are looking to do a wine bottle bingo here in Vernon to benefit the program and what we do. So um, if you get on our Facebook, maybe you'll see
that soon. Okay. >> Is the Facebook weekend bad program like is that what it page is? >> It should be on the back of the flyer. >> The QR code. >> Oh, there's a QR code. Yeah, >> the QR is our >> Facebook ink. Yeah. >> Yes.
>> Oh, the weekend bag program, Inc. Yeah, for Facebook. And then there's a website, weekendbagprogram.org. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Questions? >> Oh, yeah. Does anyone else have questions? I just want to say kudos to I met your husband one day at Weiss last summer I
believe and we talked quite a while about the program and I just want to say kudos to you and your husband for raising three incredible young ladies who want to do this and continue this >> as you as that passes on from sister to
sister like that is such a testimony to your parenting >> youngest I was gonna say I am the youngest one So this year >> Yeah. >> Even in the like I know we don't want to take up too much and I don't
>> Oh yeah. Sorry. >> We would love to have a group like what you do with the transition programs. If there is a youth leader that would like to take be like a youth liaison leader and you know when the bags get delivered
make sure and come back to us and just get a little bit of we would love that. Um, >> yeah, >> we have a whole a group of students. We call them the the CIA. It's the community involvement ambassadors. So, I can reach out to them. I'm a part of the group and I'll just reach out to them and I'll ask if they're
>> a couple of the schools that have signed up for next year. They start at the end of this year because they just realized they can do that. Um, they come during the day, so they do a field trip. There's a um honor society has done it and then there's another group but for
um High Point and they come um once a month or every other month. I think they're coming next year like at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday and whatever needs to be done they're going to help with and they come for like an hour and 15 minutes and then they go back to school. Um so if there's ever an opportunity for
kids to you know for a group to do that we would love that. >> Wonderful. >> These kids at every school is amazing. They really can do amazing things and they get so excited because they know they're helping their peers younger and older. Um so it's awesome.
>> Yeah. And then another really quick if you do have any like kids or your friends want to come please come to the warehouse and to like you know see what we do but I'm going to be a senior this year. So this is my last year where I'm going to be able to like physically be there helping the program. I'll still
always help. You know it's literally our family. I've been doing this since I was six years old. So, it's basically my whole life. And um but I'm trying to find, like I said, uh this is a kid-friend. So, I'm trying to find more youth to, you know, take over the program once I leave. And
>> so, if you have anyone who's interested, please send them our way. >> But thank you guys so much. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Okay, next up is our C. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing. Um, next up is our capital improvement plan financing
uh folks, Mr. Charles Solom Solomine. I'm not sure I'm pronouncing it right. Oh, we have to move that. >> Good evening everyone. I'm 20 fifth on the district bond council and I've been
to meetings for 23 years. Uh my previous difficult thing to follow was a piano player but in kids or family donating food to people pretty tough act to follow. So I'm going to talk to you guys about school facility financing. So we're gonna really
apologize. >> Oh sure. Um, so we've discussed, I know, in part some of your financing options and as your budget gets tighter and tighter, being able to finance different capital projects outside of your general fund budget is becoming harder and
harder. Uh, so really in New Jersey, um, most districts can only finance projects if the expense is outside of their general fund operating budget. So today I'm going to talk to you guys about two financing options that we already kind of discussed but it's my go and answer
any questions you guys have. So the most common financing tool that district is a bond financing and how does that so a bond financing you have to go to the public to ask for their permission to
borrow money. So a school district is not like you or I where we can just walk into a bank and borrow money or even municipality where they can go just authorize the issuance of debt. For school districts, if you're doing a referendum, you have to go to the voters and ask them to
approve the issuance of debt. So, there are four special election dates you can use. January, March, September, December, or you can also ask a question at the annual election right um right there. We're talking about the 18 to 24 months needed prior to the vote. And the
reason for that is you have to identify the scope of the projects. And once you identify the scope of the projects, then your architect submits project applications to the department of ed. The department of ed has up to five months to review those applications.
And then the department of ed issues what's called preliminary official cost letter. Those cost letters tell you how much aid you're eligible to receive for projects. That's a really important point that we're going to talk about. And then if you go at one of those
special elections, the county needs the question that's going to go to the voter six days in advance. And or if you go at the November election, 74 days. Um once those PEC letters are received, that's kind of when the full onscale
public information session, excuse me, sessions happen. At that time, you'll have all the information you can share with the public on tax impact, approvals, etc. So, so really quickly, some pros and cons with the bond financing. Um, the
biggest pro of both of the financing that we're going to talk about are the payments are outside of your 2% tax levy cap. Eligible projects, you can get debt service from the state of New Jersey. Uh, debt service aid. And the way that
works is for eligible projects. Um, and your probably logical question, what's an elig eligible project? So, an eligible project is anything for health and safety or anything for the educational component of your school district. So,
roofs, window replacement, HVAC, redoing your media centers, redoing your STEM labs, redoing your gym, flooring, uh, roofing, all that is all eligible. You're entitled a letter that says you're going to get 40% debt service aid
on anything that's eligible. So on either of the financing methods that we're going to talk about, you can get up to 40%. Now over the last 15 years, the state has only been giving 85% of that. So you're going to hear a lot of times as we go through this process, if
you decide to go down either of these roads, we're going to talk about 34%. Because that's the actual dollars that the state has been allocating for the last 50 years. Uh but if you think about it this way, if you guys pay or you have a root project that's a million dollars and you pay for it out of your capital
reserve or you pay for it out of your general fund, it cost you a million dollar plus you have to pay the full interest expense of a million. If we use one of these financing tools, 34% of that million is going to be paid for by the state of New Jersey. So right there
you draw you dropped your cost down for that roof to $660,000. Plus there's an interest expense associated with borrowing that money because you need money all up front to finance the project. 34% of the interest the state will pay for as well. So
that's why these finances are really good bang for your um because you get that state aid it's outside of your budget. And lastly both of these financing models you spread the cost out over the life of the project. If you
guys finance a project right now have money you can save in the capital reserve or money in your general fund budget, everybody that lives in your community pays for the full cost that roof, but that roof's going to last for 20 years. So your residents within your community that are going to come go and
live here for 20 years. You finance it through one of these methods. Everybody kind of pays their fair share of that asset as they use. Why burden everybody today? have to pay full calls when the assets going to last, you know, couple
30 years. Um, so the other financing model we're going to talk about today is working in connection with the improvement authority. So if you do a referendum on your own, you'll probably get better interest rates on the debt you sell
and you don't have to rely on getting any other governmental body approvals. It's just your approval. But the big con of doing a referendum is you need the voter. So potentially you could pay your debt, couldn't pay
special election cost, you could pay me and you have all these sunk costs and then the project get voted down. So at that time you just kind of spend all this money and you never get the project in the first place. Um the bond referendum takes some time
because you only have those four special election dates for November. So we're kind of tied to those dates. Um so they kind of dictate the the timeline of how we're going to work. The other financing mechanism that's somewhat newer. It
started in 2024. You can finance a project through county improvement. Now, some of the timeline is similar to this one as a bond financing because no matter which avenue you go down, like I said, your architect has to submit those
project applications because we have to know that the projects are approved by the New Jersey Department of Education and we have to know what you're eligible to proceed. Um, these projects are somewhat the legal
structure is somewhat convoluted um because you need you guys don't have a improvement authority. So you need an improvement authority from another county and then you need Sussex County to be a party and the board. So you need at least three
parties in the transaction. Um and we also need to get approval of a body in the local fun. So there's a lot more governmental entities, there's a lot more steps. Um and there takes a little
bit more time to get this approved. Now, the pros of this again, if you want to go forward with a project, we can go forward with the project because we're taking the voter approval risk. Um, also the timing, we could probably
move faster because we don't have to wait for one of those special elections. Also too, every district has a bonding capacity. This is technically a lease payment and not a debt payment. So, it doesn't count against your bonding capacity.
But even though it's a lease payment, which are generally in your general fund, it's a lease payment outside of your general fund. Uh the negatives of this, like I said, you need additional legal authorizations because there's at least three parties and potentially the township as well. Um
and obviously when you have more lawyers, more accountants, more financial advisors, there's more folks because if you do a bond referendum on your own, you're only paying one set of professionals. If we do it through a county improvement authority in the county, they have those same sets of
professionals on their end. So there's additional cost. Um the depending on the improvement authority you use, there will probably be an ongoing cost and there's probably an upfront cost. So your cost of borrowing to do it through
this method is probably going to be higher than if you did it on your own. Um and traditionally because these are a little unique. We sell these bonds through a negotiated process. We don't go to the open market whereby if we did
yours because it's kind of a financing structure. We kind have to explain it to people buying them. If we just did a general school bond, we set the lowest interest rate and go forward. So here um we would probably negotiate potentially could give you a slightly higher
interest rate. Um, those are kind of the two overall financings in a really quick nutshell. Um, but I'm here to answer any questions, provide any information. >> Thank you. >> Sure.
>> Depending on which building we decided on referendum in the earliest we get it on. So that's a great question. So really what's going to drive both of these is to say how long it takes you guys for architect and
your administration to determine your scope of problems. So if you knew your scope of projects today and your architect was able to start preparing those applications to the DOE, you know, it would take a month or so month or two two months to prepare
those applications to the DOE. >> So right now we are in June, let's just say September 1st. >> He submits those applications. They have five months to review those applications. September, October,
November, December, January. You may make the March referendum. If not, you would make September the following year. >> I believe we vote we we voted on the scope last meeting. So, so we're already
there. We're in that timeline now. >> Okay. So, March, >> March of 20 by December. Um, is there any chance of the uh local finance board or the county not approving? Is this >> So, there's only been four of these
financing so far. The state of New Jersey. None of them have been denied by the local finance board. So, I don't think that's really probably that much of a risk. There's always a risk of having to get approval. Um, I think your biggest
risk if you don't have authority in your account. >> So you're relying on another >> I believe we've already done that. I think we've had some initial conversations, but I'm always skeptical until
>> until the deal is >> authorities are in business to do and the only way they make money is to do they make a fee on these property to the agreement. Um even though the county really has no legal exposure, they're a pass through entity
>> in the transaction. Okay. >> So, there are a couple moving pieces, but I would say there's a higher likelihood that we'd be able >> So, the two biggies are us whether we want to do that and the improvement authority coming through if that is something we want to do. All right. Um,
is that something we want to discuss now? Does anyone have any question? Okay. >> Are we voting on that at some point? >> We are not voting on that this evening. decided >> this is this is an information session
on that potential >> opening on which we're taking >> that's our plan at the present time. Yes. >> Yeah. The purpose of tonight is the for the full board to have the information and also have the opportunity to ask uh
questions uh while we have an expert on the financing process here. >> Right. And to keep the public informed through transparency. Um, so does anyone have any I I know the finance committee's already been been briefed on this. So, but does anyone
who's not on finance want any further details? Do you understand it? Do you are you Oh, right. There you go. I'm looking over here. >> Why is a great question? >> Yeah, that's a good question. So there are two large counties in the state of
New Jersey where the east parties will not do these. So Moth County and Morris County uh will not do these. So those two counties are school districts don't have um there's other counties like your
county, Ocean County that don't uh Atlantic County that don't have. But that makes a little bit more tricky because we have to kind of work between different counties to kind of try to um so for example I had a client in Cape
May County actually came May County want to do a project um Atlantic County said yes but then May County did not want to support the project. So, and it's I think it's political a lot of places because they don't want to say
listen everybody's taxes go. I don't want you all everybody's taxes go politician norally don't want to say I'm in support of some tax bill. I think the answer you have those couple counties where they don't want to be involved and you
have a couple counties that don't >> the two counties that don't want to be involved. Do we know why? Why don't they want to be involved? conversations with them. I've only had conversations with but I think
some of them have been confident over the years a lot of time and I think some of them also um historically school districts were the only voters we want to do that should you want to do it go talk to your
community >> so and I think another factor that maybe related to that is and know what's on the slides. So through an improvement authority that doesn't go against the district's borrowing capacity, but my understanding is it would go against that that
improvement authorities borrowing capacity because they would be the ones actually going to bond. So essentially it could be a financial decision. Okay. >> But um preliminarily I think there were a couple of improvement authorities that were interested if the board had decided
to to go that route essentially. >> So essentially the path is there. Um if that were a path the board wanted to take want to do our due diligence. We didn't want to come up with this option and that we >> couldn't find us.
>> Are county improvement authorities forprofit or not for profit organizations? So, they're governmental entities, but their really only purpose is to finance. They really have no other no other use. So, a lot of times too,
they'll work as construction managers on projects, etc. It's kind of a way for counties and such to to create money because the way it works is they'll charge you an upfront fee to the project your behalf and then they'll charge a year as well because
they're basically giving you access and some of them want to have the construction managers etc. That's why I know too if I were those other county I really want to work with making money out of
>> bring it into my county >> then it's there a chance they don't want to do it yes but they're thinking about the finance good business is >> so what kind of projects do they usually finance if this is relatively new and
only four of them have happened generally for county pockets a lot of times and also a lot of improvement will do purchase financing the public entity and also too if you have a referendum some county improvement authorities will
actually sell the bonds under so and why that would potentially make sense in areas is you have some counties that have aa rating if you have a school district that's got a much lower rate >> even though you have to pay >> the rate Yeah, >> you're going to get a much better interest rate on the bonds.
>> Sure. >> If you get a guaranteed by the county or what have you. So, it'll help. >> So, you're saving money and they're making money from your s Yeah. Okay. Got it. >> Okay. >> March, right? Was and that was for referendum.
>> Yeah. >> So, if we went if you went the other route, would it be long? You said because I thought you said on the slide it a little longer, right? So potentially it's in your F stage where you're getting your project approval, we would probably need to start to the
authorization um when you got those project approvals. So if for some reason those project approvals come back quickly like in October or November, we could start the authorization process and maybe we could issue bonds February, March. But if we don't get the approvals till December
anyway, we would start the authorization in January, February. you probably issue bonds March or April where for the you could issue bonds like if you approved in March you could go March
>> it could go April but probably June or July if we had to get you might pick up a couple months now um but since you're at that kind of stage of the approvals timing pretty close
>> so I think essentially the biggest timing difference would be in a situation where if a referendum were to fail because then you'd have to go through the referendum process a second time essentially. >> We don't go to March then you can't go September.
>> But that's true for both Ps. >> Uh if they sit on the approvals and we get them in January, the county needs the question six days in advance for March. So that's really like January 10th. So if we could do approvals on January
11th, you missed March. So you're waiting till September, but we could start January, February, March, April, you'd have your money, April, May through this process. So that's where you're just kind of on the same track because of that March date kind of similar. But if you miss March, the one
would be much faster. >> Uh just a reminder in terms of timeline for either option. um sale of bonds isn't start a project. So you have to go through the bid process. So just so while we're talking about
timelines and dates, uh just so everyone has that in their mind, sale of bonds is not start a project. You have to go through the actual the bid process. >> Yeah. >> So and then also there's the logistics because of the type of projects that we're looking at with ro roofs and HVAC and things like that. we're going to
have to in terms of the scheduling and the logistics of that uh plan very carefully. It's it's not something that could get completed in say a summer, right? You know, you're not going to replace every roof from the district in one summer. So, it's going, you know, it will be a long um process uh where we're
trying to not impact uh you know, the actual going ons of the building, you know, during the year. >> Um so, I just I did have one question. So for the for the schools that have done this uh has there been a specific kind of category or project they're going for that they've had uh success
along say the improvement authority route >> falls like $45 million renovation additional And there's another one for a small >> curious. Okay. I know you said that it's a more expensive avenue. Is there any way to
know like to quantify that difference that we'd be basically paying to have a sure thing instead of a >> I think the financial advisor has done some initial projections. I don't have them. Um, but we can get you that show you kind of side by side.
>> Okay. >> Based on market today, they think those bonds would be compared to your bond costs. The cost of issuance is it's not triple, but it's probably two and a half.
>> Okay. Is it possible to get that before our July meeting? The sideby side. Thank you. >> Oh, okay. Shared it. >> Okay. Yeah, I can get that and share with everybody >> seeing it. But maybe I >> thought you gave it to us in the finance
committee. I think I think it's >> is it okay? >> All right. So maybe we can share that with the full board. >> Good thing about >> your annual annual fee for authority come out of
your annual operating budget. That's The upfront costs are going to be a larger fee and the interest component is going to be a larger. Good part about that you are completely eligible.
You're going to get that 34%. On that increase fall increase. So any increase is an increase but it's not a full increase. It's kind of discounted by 34% because the
at least a third. So, it's bad. It's not >> kind of like when my wife buys something, she says it was on sale. >> But at least you're third. >> I don't know how comforting that is, but okay. >> Understood.
>> Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Thank you so much for coming. We really appreciate it, Mr. Sal. >> Okay. Item C. Um, Dendez, our strategic plan update. Woohoo. >> Yes.
Set up the front again. Thank you. >> All right. Good evening. Um I'm here with our team, our administrative team. Thank you everybody for coming and um thank you to our our board and our community. Today we are
here to present our strategic plan. I think tonight is a milestone. Uh we started here uh with the board saying uh we need to by o in October 2025 the board asked um and set a very clear goal
and that goal was to design a collaborative strategic planning process that was grounded in our community input and the voices of our uh members, our parents, our town council, our not town council, our town members, which includes our town council, I would suppose, our senior citizens, right? uh
the people who live in the Vernon Township, most importantly our students. Uh and so then we were able to come together. I think this year represents one of listening, of analyzing, one of planning. Um and we are delivering on our commitment today to uh accomplish
that strategic plan. And so this is our team. Uh we started with our community relations committee. And so then the names of the committee members are marked with an asterisk. um our VTSD leadership team. Uh I am honored to
acknowledge everybody on our team. Uh they are the co-authors uh with um our schools, uh our leadership, our central office, our um content area people uh to really think about what are we going to thoughtfully put together as an action
plan that really represents the goals and the objectives uh that the community uh identified. So I'm grateful to each of them the time, the rigor with which we really thought about our plans um and for the board uh entrusting our process.
So this was the goal. It was a board goal that became a district goal strategic plan. Between October 225 and May 26, the district will design and facilitate a collaborative strategic planning process that incorporates community input grounded in district
priorities and data. The final multi-year strategic plan will be completed and adopted by the board. We're a month behind. We had a full agenda last uh last month and will include clear action steps, progress monitoring measures, and a reporting structure for implementing uh
implementation beginning in the 2627 school year. And so, uh we began with a vision. Um everybody has a microphone there. So, I'm going to ask one of the board members, would you read our vision? This is what our community came up with.
Vernon Township School District is a learning community where every student is safe, supported, and seen. We value an inclusive environment grounded in respect, accountability, and strong partnerships with families and the community. We are committed to developing curious, critical thinking,
creative, and resilient learners prepared to thrive in life. We do this through equitable, rigorous, realworld learning experiences and a focus on the whole child academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. >> Absolutely. Uh I think we would agree
that this represents the community voice, right? uh that we've captured uh all of the voices in the room uh all of our survey input uh and our we believe statement is that every student deserves a learning environment where they are
safe, supported and seen. And uh to the right you see the therefore we value and it is a list of all of the uh values that our community expressed around our visioning around the direction in which
we want to go and what we believe about our students about academic excellence and about how we as a community are going to move forward to ensure that all of our students reach those aims. Um, in front of you, you have a binder and I
just want to let you know how it's organized. Uh, that binder in the first pages uh includes the vision statement and it also includes all of our goals and objectives for our community today. We also have those handouts here for the
goals and objectives and we are posting that on our strategic planning website. You then have the binder organized by goal. So each goal has a cover page of the goals and objectives and then you will see our action plans. All right. So our action plans have what
is the task? What is the specific body of work that we will conduct uh over the next five years? What are our action steps in the timeline? What will actually happen and where in the fiveyear cycle will that step um fall
in? And then the responsibility. who's responsible for making sure that we accomplish that task and what are the expected outcomes. So in these action plans uh year one is fully developed. every year one action step timeline and
outcome reflects either work that is underway that is currently ongoing um and next year where the strategic plan begins 26 27 years 2 to five we will refine that annually uh because we're not in year two or three or four or five
and so many things can take place between now and then. So what the board can expect is that every winter and spring we will give you an update. In the winter we will give you an update as part of our superintendent report, but in the spring we will present um fully
where we are in each goal, the progress that we're making toward that goal um and what you can expect for year two and then the following year what you can expect for year three. So that's our plan for uh reporting out and also for the board's accountability of the
administration. Uh there are five goals uh but one direction and those five goals are coherent learning pathways, pre-K through 12, academic strength and support which is talking about academic rigor and multi-tered systems of
support. Uh, goal three is about student well-being. And we're thinking specifically about our student supports and our technology. Goal four is strong partnerships and clear two-way communication, not only with our parents, but with our staff, with our board, and our systems. And then number
five is facilities and stewardship. And we're talking about long range planning. And you heard some of that presentation um today about how we're thinking about making sure that we can afford that planning. All right. Okay. So, we're going to start with goal one, which is
coherent learning pathways. These are pre-K through 12. And this uh goal is really addressing a fundamental question. Does a student moving from Cedar Mountain to Rolling Hills, from Rolling Hills to Lounsbury, from Lounsbury to Glen Meadow, and from Glen
Meadow to the high school. Does that student experience a system that is connected and aligned? this rose to be our top number one priority as identified by our parents and our staff. Do the expectations, the curriculum and
the transitions hold together across every building when we move. So our answer through this goal is yes and we're building the structures to make that true. So goal one has two objectives. Uh objective 1.1 addresses
curriculum coherence. It it establishes standards aligned curriculum pathways across all of our grades and schools so that students follow consistent learning progressions at every transition point. We're not going to go through the whole action plan. That would be right. It's
about 80 pages. But we've highlighted just two key areas to talk to you about tonight. So, in goal objective 1.1, we will give you an update on where we're headed toward curriculum coherence for ELA K through 8 and math 4 through 8
algebra 1. And objective 1.2 addresses transition, specifically building structured articulation practices at every grade level crossing with purposeful attention to students with IEPs, 504 plans, and multilingual
learners. So um here I'm going to ask um Vinnie Gaglaststro who's our director of curriculum instruction and Dr. Hel Shep and they'll talk to us about those highlights. Good evening everyone. Uh so as you can see this slide up here
shows how we are actually writing curriculum for coherence. We use crossgrade and crosscontent teams so the work is vertically aligned and not soloed by one grade. Uh, our ELA team spans from K to 8, and our math teams
cover 4 through 8 and algebra 1. An intervention and special education team works with every grade level team to align supports, interventions, and accommodations from the start. >> There are key features that are embedded in each unit of the curriculum we are developing. First, I'd like to highlight
the transfer goals and enduring understandings. These are the standardsbased big ideas for all the units. We then have essential questions. These essential questions drive the critical thinking in each one of our units. We have our um student
misconceptions that are embedded into our programming. This allows teachers immediate access to understand possible misconceptions students have coming in to anticipate these and to plan for these to support our students in
accessing our materials. We also have accessing prior knowledge built into our system. This allows students to connect what they already know with their new understanding to create a deeper understanding of the material. And then
we have our language and discourse supports. These are things like sentence stems and vocabulary supports that allows access to all of our students and supports for them to have academic discourse.
>> And lastly, we have increasing levels of support. Uh these are unitpecific light, moderate, and substantial scaffolds that are embedded right in tier one within our curriculum. Within that, there's also extension activities for students who are ready to go
further. Units also carry newer focuses including cursive handwriting and AI and technology designation and intentional steps to decrease screen time overall across the district. >> So, why does this matter? We're talking about coherence. So, what does that word
mean? We're looking for clearer grade progression. We're looking at consistency between classrooms, between grade bands, between buildings. We're looking at access for all of our diverse learners. And that's all integrated into our tier
one core support. So coherence isn't just a word. It's not a binder on a shelf that we pick up every once in a while. It's truly built into how we make our curriculum. >> Thank you uh to Vinnie and Halis. Um, I think uh they have done a phenomenal job
in co-presenting and training our curriculum writers. We have uh close to 40 curriculum writers in the room. Uh and um I appreciate you guys. >> Yeah, we've done a great job at making sure that they're trained. Uh so beyond um the curriculum writing, I want to
talk about the transitions. Uh Dr. Jackie Van Orton is going to come up and talk about the transitions K through 8 along with Kalista who will represent um how the transitions are taking place from 8 to the high school. Good evening. Student success isn't just
about what happens inside the classroom. It's also about intentionally bridging the gaps between the schools from preschool through elementary, middle school through high school and postsecary. We've built a continuous, supportive, cohesive journey rather than
jarring shifting changes. This was designed to eliminate student anxiety of transitioning to a new new school school every other year and replace it with confidence. Whether it is the data-driven screening, collaborative
articulation meetings, or the robust shadowing and programs easing the shift from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school. Every milestone is now planned with a purpose. Family partnerships will be the
cornerstone of this journey as we partner for the success of every student. As highlighted in this Glen Meadow Middle School slide, a successful school transition relies on two core pillars. Building student confidence
early on and establishing strong family partnerships from day one. Following our June 15th student orientation, which featured a comprehensive presentation by the Glen Meadow Administration, a building tour by the National Junior
Honors Society students, and an introduction to the clubs and activities that are offered, over 90% of the fifth grade students, I had surveyed the students the day after the orientation, and they reported they feel more
confident about coming to Glen Medal. middle school next year. A follow-up newsletter was also shared with parents and guardians of those fifth grade students and a welcome letter was sent from the counseling and CST team to
ensure our fifth grade parents and guardians that they would re assure them they were receiving the same information that their students received on Monday. In addition to the orientation, we've also focused on student and classroom transitional support for some of our
other students. Students from Lounsbury Hollow's ABA, ERRI, and LLD classes have come and taken part in specialized shadowing days at Glen Meadow Middle School. We've also as counselors, case
managers, and administrators visited Lounsberry Hollow on more than one occasion to connect directly with the students and their teachers. Looking ahead to August, we have two key dates to finalize this transition. On August
4th, Glen Meadow administration and the counseling and CS CST team will be facilitating a parent guardian orientation uh to welcome the parents and guardians of not only sixth grade students but also any new students to Glen Meadow
Middle School. And on the 21st, there will be two sessions of an open house with all various community entities who will be there as well as our kindness ambassadors offering tours to those students visiting on that day.
Thank you. Um, at this time I would like to invite Miss O'Donnell to come join me and speak about the 8th to 9th grade transition that took place this past Tuesday. >> Hi. So, um, I heard today through students
that were there, um, you may recognize them, Matthew Seleno, who's been very, very involved this year. Um, Caitlyn Vin Borham, Molly Wolf, Tristan Oinsky, who we all know reported about our rat situation in the high school. >> Um, non nonrat situation
>> burning situation >> sorry. Um, and I believe one other student, and for some reason I can't remember her name, um, the five of those students went down to the middle school this past Tuesday, um, to talk to the eighth
graders about the transition from middle school to high school. We all know that it's very stressful and it's very, uh, it's a different environment. Um, you're dealing with a lot of older kids who think that they know their way around the school and they really don't and they're all just lying to you. Um, so in
that talk they talked to them about the differences in the schedules, what that would look like, having to get up earlier, um, having to find their way around the school a new way every day because the schedule changes every day. Um, so what that would look like and
with the new schedule that I believe we are implement, Yep, we are implementing this year. um what that would look like given the fact that when they had been talked to before about it, it's completely different than it was. Um from what I heard, they felt a lot more
confident in their transition from middle school to high school. Um and essentially the five students that were there just supported them and were like, "If you need anything, you feel free to like reach out." Um gave them positive affirmations and we're just like, "You
got this." So, I feel confident in them that they will do great. Um, I'd like to point out that our freshman academy program as it is. I know it's it's in here if you look really closely. Um, is already very very strong. When I was a
freshman, it was like kind of the thing that got us into the groove of high school. Um, and looking at what they have set up for next year, I'm positive that it will be even better. Um,
and I think building off and branching out of just the community involvement ambassadors that we have now will help even more and branching down to the younger grades and bringing up those oh, what do you what do you call them? >> Kindness ambassadors.
>> That's the one. Um, and getting them involved with the community involvement ambassadors. I think that is a great way to bridge that over. So, yes, that's it. Uh thank you, Miss O'Donnell. Uh yes, I
got to meet with the CIA today. Uh the team is beautiful. Uh next year, they were very excited about the transition. Uh so thank you to our middle school principal, uh Miss Van Orton, who really is allowing us to facilitate along with Miss Young, uh making sure that these
transitions work. Um our second goal, goal two, this is academic strength and support. And so goal two is built around three connected objectives. Uh this is objective uh 2.1 which focuses on
establishing consistent highquality core instruction in every school. It's what we call tier one intervention. Uh we have it up here as MTSS but we have Vernonized it and it is VTSS the Vernon way. uh this is instruction every
student will receive every day in every classroom and it must be strong before we can expect uh the interventions to be effective. Objective 2.2 then focuses on intervention and acceleration structures creating clearly defined entry and exit criteria protecting intervention time in
the master schedule and monitoring student progress with reliable data. And objective 2.3 thinks about strengthening our inclusive practices in IEP development, expanding access to the least restrictive environment through database decision-making. So, uh, we're
going to highlight three areas. MTSS framework, we're going to talk about our master schedules, and then we're going to talk about moving our students toward independence. So, Halis and Vinnie, >> this is actually going to be myself and Dr. Vandor presenting this.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. >> That's okay. Uh, so this slide here is our Vernon tiered system of supports or VTSS. Uh, I want to give you a big picture of our priorities and how support actually works for a student. Uh, then Dr. Van
Ororton will share specific examples. So here you'll see tier one interventions, our VTSS flowchart and specialized programs and supports. Our first priority is a strong tier one instruction. The core teaching every
student receives every day. These are our high leverage practices for tier one. And what we know is that when tier one is strong, fewer students need intensive intervention later. That's the heart of the model. Strong instructional practices begin with tier one
interventions. These are the universal supports that every student will receive. There are six foundational elements. The first being delivering explicit instruction in the classroom. An example of explicit instruction is
where the teacher models, explains, and scaffolds, leaving nothing to chance. Nothing is guesswork for the student. there is no guessing what the teacher's expectations are. Number two is establishing organized classroom
routines. This includes areas from entering the classroom to the students preparing themselves to learn to the teacher's expectations when a student needs to leave their class for any reason. Again, routines much like
explicit instruction should be predictable and should be structured for the student. creating opportunities for students to respond. Students learn best when they are given the opportunity to articulate their understanding and this
should happen frequently during the instructional block. Number four, setting clear learning goals with authentic benchmarking data. Teachers will use consistent benchmarking tools to assess student learning and use this
data to inform their practice and drive their classroom instruction. Number five, identifying common behavioral expectations. This will be done universally in every building and together between teachers
and their students to develop consistent expectations which will ultimately maximize instructional time. Again, there is no guesswork as to what the school and classroom expectations are for the student. And finally, number
six, building strong relationships with the students. This is the foundation upon which classrooms are built. Restorative practices promote giving every student a voice and time for classrooms to become respectful learning
communities. >> And here on the right side of the slide, as we mentioned earlier, is our a sample page from our curriculum. You can see we are incorporating explicitly into the curriculum the supports. These supports are unit
specific. Any teacher can pick this up and use it to support or challenge students in their group. Our second priority moving forward is a clear databased process. Every student starts at tier one with universal screening. When data shows a student
needs more, we move to targeted tier 2 and then for a small number of students intensive tier three. Movement between these tiers is not a guess. We check progress at set points. We review the trend line and follow a decision process. It is also how we make
sure tier one and two supports are documented before any child's study team referral occurs. Dr. Van Orton is going to bring this to life with specific examples from our schools. >> When students need more targeted help, we will follow a structured path which
is outlined in this flowchart. Tier one is classroom support. This starts with using a universal screening tool with all students in the class. If a student scores in the bottom 20% or one or more
grade levels below, we will initiate a four to six week inclass intensive tier one support that is being taught and managed by the classroom teacher. If the data shows a flatline or a decrease, that's when the student proceeds to tier
two. If they're showing progress, they continue with this differentiated tier one instruction in the classroom. If a student does move to tier 2, that is more targeted support. Academic support teachers will work with approximately
three to seven students in a group on targeted ELA and math instruction. It's important to note the students would never be taken from core academic subjects, but in fact from intervention and enrichment periods. Students are monitored with using bi-weekly
assessments. Attendance at that individual targeted instruction. Tier 2 intervention is maintained and data is reviewed bi-weekly using an outcome matrix. If students are above the target line, we will fade the support back to
the classroom teacher at tier 1. If they are parallel, we will modify and increase the frequency with the academic support teacher. And if they fall below the target line, we will move the student to tier three. In tier three,
this is intensive support. This is our most immersive intervention, also facilitated by the academic support teachers. Programs are adapted and targeted toward groups of approximately one to three students, monitored by
weekly assessment data, and again, no student would ever be pulled from core instruction for this intervention. Using an outcome matrix based on this data, we would establish a post tier3 decision path. If students are making progress,
the student moves back to tier 2. If they remain parallel, the program of which the academic support person is using or the time with the academic support person intensifies. If there is a consistent trend below the
target line, this is where it will initiate a referral to special services. By using this model across the district, it will ensure that our interventions are calculated, systematic, backed by
data, and centered on student growth. >> Which leads us to our third priority, the programs and staff behind it. We have academic support teachers and coaches in English language arts and mathematics. We have a dedicated
intervention and enrichment block. So, as Dr. Van Orton said, students will get help without being pulled from core instruction. And our Glen Meadow mentorship program is one strong example with start of year alignment and encouraging early results. Thank you.
Um Vinnie and Jackie spoke about tier one. Uh we named that also as a priority in the strategic plan because we understood that our special education rate was high. When we entered our question was what is the system right
that is in place uh prior to classifying a student and I think we found an uneven application in our district at the beginning of the year. Um again we established a VTSS team for every single school led by the
principal. Uh it includes school counselors, it includes um staff members, teachers. Uh and they have done a wonderful job at conducting needs assessments for each of their buildings identifying what the structures are that need to be put in place so that we can
have a more even application of tier one, two, and three across the district. And I think that's what we just heard that implementation uh beginning with Fidelity next year. Uh in addition to that, we're introducing our scheduling priorities. We heard um Dr. Von Orton
talk about protecting our core instruction, not pulling students out of ELA and math to give them intervention. That's so important because if you walk into a classroom and we're teaching at grade level all of our content, but half of the students aren't there because
they are in ELA intervention. or math intervention or in some of their services or in gate, right? If we're pulling them out, then they're missing their instruction. So, our focus is on protecting our core. So, we are also making sure that the number uh that the
amount of instructional time dedicated to each content area is what the program requires. So if the best practice and the re research says that HMH interreing needs 120 minutes of ELA but we're only teaching at 60 minutes then we can't
expect the results that that program promises right and so then we are finding an even application. So next year we can expect K to three to have the 120 minutes of daily instruction in ELA grades four to five between 80 and 90. We're still working on schedules
math K to 5 um receiving 60 minutes of daily instruction in math. We're also preserving our intervention time, our win intervention. So that time will be protected at 30 to 40 minutes for the intervention. Uh we will also not try to
pull out for every single uh service from our win period. Um we are maximizing our school day. We met as a team K through five to say when are we um thinking about uh starting our class time from the moment they get off the
bus right so you get off the bus we should start instruction within 10 minutes maybe a little more at the lower level kindergarten as we're getting them into the building but we want to make sure we're not starting 25 minutes later right we also looked at our transportation and said what time are our buses arriving we want to make sure
that our buses are arriving and our parents are picking up after our day has ended, not during our last period. Right? So, we are looking at maximizing the school day, maintaining access to the entire curriculum. Um, we had heard from some
of our staff that sometimes we can get to the science and social studies at 30 to 40 minutes, but now we're going to make sure that we're always getting to the science and social studies for those 30 and 40 minutes. We continue with our specials and PE. They are also our priority. Um, and we're thinking about
our support staffing, making sure that all of our staff assignments are aligned uh to the student needs and creating consistency across the building. So, why it matters is we need the coherence on our time. If we're going to adopt new programs and find the coherence K to 5
for example with the ELA, we need to protect our student support time, balance our access to academics and specials for a whole uh well-rounded learning experience and a stronger day-to-day consistency. Um we're going to focus in now and zoom
in on one of our major scheduling changes toward this end, and that's the high school rotating dropbox schedule. Good evening. Uh so next year and I think our students are going to have the opportunity unlike other schools where they're it's kind of
familiar to them because we currently have a rotating schedule at the high school but now we're moving to a rotating drop schedule. So if you're in education you may have seen it. Um so the goal and I'll briefly tell you what it looks like. I know you maybe look at it and say what is this? But it's not that difficult and I think the students
kind of pick up on it uh a lot easier than than the adults. And so what will happen is students instead of having eight instructional periods, they will have six every day where one will drop in the morning and one will drop in the afternoon. Uh which will allow us to have um longer class periods and I'll
kind of go into what the benefits of that will be. We will still maintain that unit lunch. uh the rotating uh drop schedule. With the rotation, it gives our students the ability to not see their teacher at the same time every single day. I think that's been a benefit for the last couple of years
that we've had the schedule, especially because, you know, sometimes a student is coming in late because there was an issue at home or if there was a doctor's appointment that a student has to be picked up at the end of the day, they're not consistently missing the same exact class. Uh so it gives them the opportunity. One of the things that we're really focusing on next year,
especially with this schedule, is how often are students missing class 4, um, school related activities, um, meeting with a guidance counselor, whatever it may be, just to ensure that they're really maximizing their time in the classroom. So, the rotating job schedule, like I said before, really
prevents students from missing the same class every day because of the rotation. Uh, the other thing, the longer periods, now we have fewer transitions. So, we know if you're going class to class to class to class and there's eight transitions throughout the day, you're moving a lot, right? So, now we're taking away that transition time and
putting it back into the classroom. So, they will have the ability to now focus on six classes versus eight classes in a day. Uh, with that being said, it gives us the opportunity to have built-in flexibility for academic support, enrichment, targeted interventions without pulling students from those
courses. So now with that time teachers can chunk their lessons where they have the ability to do those student engagement activities like labs and um uh hands-on projects whereas we currently have 40 minute periods and I think we all know by the time students settle down take attendance you you
blink and now the bell rang right so uh maximizing that time to ensure that we can include what we talked about with BTSS with uh the high leverage practices uh related services is another thing that now you know they're not missing so much academic time because there's more time within that period. Uh so you can
implement those related services within the class. Um so I talked about problem solving. I mean excuse me labs, projects. Uh the other thing is meaningful feedback. I think a lot of times our teachers struggle with the bell rang and uh they didn't have the opportunity to give that immediate
feedback and now it's not really relevant the next day, right? So having that that time to really work with your students, provide targeted instruction within the classroom setting and give that feedback is super important. Um the uh managing course loads I think is uh one of the things students always talk
about, oh my god, I have so much homework. And I think with the rotating drop, it gives them the opportunity to say, oh now I have to manage my time, which is a skill that they need for later on, but they may not have math the next day. So they have two days to kind of really focus on, you know, what they
need to get done and organize their time um without having to feel overloaded with eight periods in a day. Uh it does align and I will say this, I think if we think of anything we do in life, nothing is really 40 minutes, right? So postsecary, if we're preparing our students for what's next, um it's it
it's more than 40 minutes. So, it's building that post-secondary environment for them, helping students build time management and really that those independent learning skills. We will still have the unit lunch uh which I think our students that was the big thing. They thought they were going to lose that and I think the unit lunch
really gives our students the opportunity to either meet with their teachers for academic support. Uh our clubs meet during that time. We do school-based activities at that time. Labs still are occurring during unit lunch. So that that block of time still allows students to one kind of reset,
right? Gives them that opportunity, but also if they missed a day. So, uh I think one of the things that comes up with a rotating dropbox schedule is well now that they're missing one day every four days, what are they going to do? And I think the unit lunch gives them that opportunity to say like, hey, I
missed school yesterday. Uh I missed my math class, but I I have unit lunch to go now meet with my math teacher. So, there's opportunities there with still maintaining that unit lunch. And um I I just think overall it's exciting. I want to see how it rolls out. Uh you know,
we're going to be meeting with our CIA quarterly and just kind of talk about, hey, how do you feel about it? How's it going? What are the students saying about it? Surveying our parents to see how they feel about it. And then at the end of year one, seeing how it really kind of tied to our goals and our strategic plan and how we can continue
to make it better. So, >> thank you. I have a question. >> Yeah. >> Where's day five? >> It continues to rotate. >> It'll start again. >> So you go Monday to Thursday and Friday
is Monday. >> Well, then it starts over again. Then Friday. >> That's our current schedule right now. We just continue to rotate. So A B C D and all teachers and students will have the rotational schedule to start the school year. So if you want to think of
like April 15th, what day will it be? You will know ahead of time. >> So no, Tuesday is the same. >> So eventually >> and we did have an ad hoc committee that came together to review schedules prior to selecting a schedule and we narrowed it down to this schedule. So, we visited
some schools to see what their schedules look like, uh, how they were running it within their building, some of their concerns that they worked through when it came to the building, the master schedule. Um, I will tell you that every school we went to said they could never imagine going back to a 40-minute period. So, I'm excited to see how it
plays out. >> Thank you. >> Great. All right. And now we are at objective 2.3, inclusive practices and IEP development. And I'm going to ask Mr. Fay to present here. >> So this is our road map for objective
2.3 strengthening inclusive practices and IEP development. Our strategy shifts the focus from managing student dependence to deliberately cultivating student autonomy. We achieved this through three core pillars. Independence,
data, and district consistency. So first pillar one, student independence planning. We are embedding formalized independence plans directly into the IEP process. Rather than treating par profofessional supports as
permanent fixtures, teens will use data to systematically fade adult prompts explicitly and explicitly teach self- advocacy. and success will be measured by student growth and autonomous functioning across all settings.
Pillar two, we have strong PLS and decisionmaking. Reliable data is our starting point. We require quantifiable baseline data in every present level statement to establish a strict linear chain. Plaques
will drive goals. Goals will determine services and services will dictate placement. Ground in discussion strictly in pro progress monitoring data ensures our IEPs are instructionally sound and
defensible. Pillar three, consistency across buildings. Student services or least restrictive environment placement should never dependent on their school building or their assigned CST. We are calibrating
decision-making and standardizing support allocations across all sites to ensure absolute equity for every Vernon Township student. As highlighted by our pillars, our focus is clear. student growth, defensible
IEPs, and consistency across the district. Ultimately, this ensures students receive appropriate supports, build greater independence, and access learning in the least restrictive environment through consistent
data-driven practices. As you know, this critical work is done entirely in partnership. To highlight how we are operationalizing this vision, Mr. Mendes will now speak to a specific recommendation on tonight's agenda.
>> Thank you. Yes. So, part of this work is truly in partnership and we have uh a phenomenal team already in place and tonight I'm going to recommend that the board um approve the hiring of our new assistant director for special services,
Miss Candace Snyder. And so I'd like her to just come and introduce herself so you can hear her say hi. >> Good evening. My name is Candace Snider. Um I am very very grateful for the opportunity to join such an amazing district. Um I'm looking forward to
contributing to the work that you guys are already doing. Um many of it aligns with my professional experience and goals. So, I'm just very excited to be here and I appreciate the consideration. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And so, now we
move on to goal three. And so, goal three is student well-being. And so, as we're thinking about goal three, we are lost my notes here. Uh it is built around our conviction that who a student feels they are in our schools matters as
much as what they learn. Uh here we have objective 3.1 which focuses on school climate consistent expectations and relationship centered practices so every student feels safe, respected and connected to caring adults. Objective
3.2 thinks about wellness prevention and social emotional learning supports. And objective 3.3 reflects a growing urgency uh across our state and nation uh around uh technology and AI integration.
And for objective 3.1, I'm going to take a moment here to talk about uh HIB. It is one of the most carefully defined areas in New Jersey law. Uh their precision is certainly intentional. The definition is established under the
anti-billing bill of rights and it is the standard for all schools and districts in New Jersey. Uh it is not discretionary and it's not for us uh to interpret. They have a very clear definition with clear criteria that they've outlined for us. Uh for an
incident to meet the legal definition of HIV, it must satisfy three specific criteria and those are motivated by distinguished characteristics such as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. That's the first criteria. The second one, it must
be reasonable to believe the act was intentional. And the third one is must substantially disrupt, interfere with or impact the student. all three prongs must be present and incidents that do not meet those criteria are then deemed by the state as student conflict. Uh so
that's the law. Um but at the center of the law is the child. And so every investigation, every report, every founded HI exists because a student came forward and said something happened. And we want to be responsive. We want to
make sure that we are attentive, aware, and engaged with making sure that our students are not um experiencing any um incidence of HIV. So, this objective is focused on student well-being. It's how
we respond to that student. It's how we tell them that the district sees them. It's how we say that we're taking the um uh allegations seriously and that we will follow the law on their behalf. It is the commitment that we're making to our families because they're trusting us
with their children. So our work here is twofold. It's ensuring how well every member of our district understands the definition deeply, consistently, and accurately and providing the necessary supports to our students and our families that are
experiencing either HIV or student conflict. So this year as a part of this object objective and we will continue to strengthen this work through our strategic planning we've invested on HIV training across our staff to ensure that our
anti-bullying specialists our administrators and our building level teams are not just completing investigations or moving through compliance but that they're doing so with a shared legally grounded understanding of what HIV is and what it's not. And so the training will
continue uh as we move into the 2627 school year. We're strengthening the PD the professional development cycle around HIV so that the definition the process and the reporting structure are clear at every level of our organization is clear. Um
we started also with our HIV hipster um app. I think that was something that was important. It's a reporting process that we're using to standardize how we do HIVs. to make sure that we're all defining it the same way. Make sure that we're collecting data so that we can
pull reports, identify patterns, identify repeat offenses, and have a historical pattern so we can look back and say, is this something that's been happening in prior years across grades? So, we are also aware um of instances
that are not just happening in one isolated incident. So, why does this matter? It improves our consistency. It supports our students effectively and it strengthens school climate. And now I'm going to um go back to Dr. Van Orton and
Miss Young and they're going to talk to us about our AI and critical thinking. We are excited to share two courses we are launching this upcoming school year. Beginning in September, Glen Meadow Middle School in Vernon Township High School will be introducing a brand new
focus, AI and critical thinking to students in grades six and nine. Our overarching goal is vital, preparing every student for an AI powered future. Artificial intelligence is here and is already changing the landscape of
education, higher education, and the workforce. Starting this fall, Glen Meadow and the high school students will participate in a course designed to help them understand, evaluate, and use AI responsibly. This course will focus on
building critical thinking skills, digital literacy, ethical decisionmaking, and problem solving skills that students will carry with them throughout their academic and professional lives. If you look at the bottom half of the
infographic, the Glen Meadow and High School curriculum is built on four key pillars. These courses will be tailored to the developmental levels of the students. Glen Meadow students will work to master pillars one and two while
getting exposure to pillars three and four. High school students will dive much deeper into pillars three and four, applying advanced critical thinking skills designed for high school success and future college and career readiness.
Pillar one focuses on how AI works. Students will unpack what actually makes AI smart, explore the difference between AI algorithms and a one person's true intelligence, and learn how machines
process data with the information that it is given. Pillar two is prompt engineering. Students will learn how to communicate effectively with AI tools, write clear instructions, improve responses through various
iterations of their questions, and critically evaluate AI generated content. >> Hi. So the high school like um Jackie said we are um going to focus more on pillars three and four but the course that's running at the high school what
we're doing is uh many a times we've sat and said nth grade students really need just a little bit more to be successful right they're lacking some of the basic um I guess uh I would say skills uh not necessarily academically but just to be successful. So, what we're doing is
we're taking our our idea between behind AI and critical thinking and embedding it into a curriculum that's tied to public speaking, tied to um character education, and really trying to focus on how to make our students better students, not just for high
school, but for college career and life readiness. Uh so, pillar three tackles ethics, fairness, and bias. We want our students to understand how bias can end up in AI systems. I think if you worked at a high school, we know that a lot of times uh depending on what your
algorithm is on your your phone, it's going to go in one direction and students uh believe it to be true. So students will look closely at the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence and advocate for fairness, transparency, and accountability. Uh pillar four is media literacy and factchecking. Uh that's a big one,
right? So I think prior to AI, everybody uh used Wikipedia, right? Everybody thought Wikipedia was was right. And now all of a sudden we have this AI person who's telling us all these things that must be real. Um so this pillar is about combating misinformation, learning how to critically evaluate sources and
ultimately learning when and when not to trust AI. And so the course itself is AI's the idea behind educating our our students on how to use AI but more so thinking critically is embedded within um specific topics that are really used
to kind of grow our ninth graders and tenth graders. is going to be offered to our underassmen so that they can be successful their junior, their senior year, and then post-secary. So, Vernon schools are teaching students not just not how to use AI, but how to think critically about AI. And by implementing
these new courses in the fall, the hope is to ensure that our students don't just keep up with the future, but lead the future. That's where we are. >> Thank you. >> I just have one question. >> Yeah. >> Um, is it required or is an elective? It's it's an elective, but it's going to
be required between 9th and 10th grade. So, the reason why we're not only offering it ninth, we know at the high school, we have those students that are the um band cosmetology honors student who al right. So, what I mean is the kid who really does a lot and we don't want to restrict them from potentially taking
a course that you know that they're planning to pursue within the next four years. So giving them that flexibility between 9th and 10th grade I think would be beneficial at least to start this transition into offering this course. >> Wait, one more thing. >> Um, is this included? I heard talk about
the public speaking course next year. I didn't want to talk about >> No, that's effective public speaking for seniors. >> Okay. >> Yep. So that one's a little bit different. Okay. >> Yeah. All right. Any other questions? That's okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Great.
Uh goal four. Uh here we're thinking about the clarity and consistency of our communication. Uh reducing confusion across platforms, building a single predictable source of timely information. Um and really our uh focus on our clarity campaign. And so then
objective 4.1 is looking at clarity, family communication districtwide so that we can have clearer, predictable source for timely information. And 4.2 creates consistent structures for listening and responding. We're going to have a calendar of community engagement opportunities, feedback surveys, what
we're calling, you said, we did, reporting practices, and making visible how community input actually shapes our decisions. Uh here is just a look at our year in review with our district public relations uh from listening sessions and even communication with the board. The
board notes so that you're clear on agenda items um before you're voting on something. Our BTAM presentations, our committees aligned to our district goals, all of the things that we accomplished in the fall. In the winter, we redesigned our website. We elevated
our digital backpack. We built local media partnerships, amplified student and staff successes. We improved our access to information and in the spring we launched our full circle newsletter. We had two additions, our budget edition and our I Ready edition. Uh we had our partnership meeting where we really
reflected on how we can think about uh continuing to communicate effectively with our board and our associations and our administration. We expanded our career and alumni engagement. We launched our LinkedIn page. We increased positive district showcasing and we
implemented our event videography. So I think we've done a lot in year one. This is our review and we'll continue to move forward with all of the tasks that you see outlined in the action plan for communication. Goal five is facilities and stewardship.
And so then here we're looking at our long range facilities uh our long range capital planning. It's grounded in responsible management of our community's investment in our buildings and our students uh who really learn inside those buildings. And so then Mr. Slam is going to uh walk us through an
example of our objective 5.1 where we're thinking about annually updating our facilities roadmap and publishing it to our schools so they know what projects are planned in their building the year as they're entering in and our community
as well. Um objective 5.2 point too, just how do we structure our community engagement, especially as we're thinking about capital improvement. Today we had a presentation around funding options. We're going to have to campaign those, communicate those regardless of the journey that we choose to take. So, Mr.
Slam. >> So, as you can see, another area we've been very uh busy this year as facilities. Um rather than go through and name every single project, uh I'll spare everybody that I do want to draw attention to a couple of trends. Um
overall, you'll see we have 14 uh current projects uh that are in progress. Uh we'll put a special shout out there for the Glen Meadow SDA window project, which is at the punch list phase. So that project will finally be complete hopefully by the end of this book.
>> Uh years uh in the making right there. Um, so a couple of the trends I I just want to kind of point out. Uh, you'll see a lot of uh safety and security uh projects in there. Uh, you'll see a lot of repairs. Uh, significant amount of repairs. You'll see the reward repair up
there quite a bit. Uh, you'll also see um efforts made to offset projects either with say SCA uh funding uh such as with the Glen Meadow SDA window project uh or other areas of funding. Uh we had some security improvements that
are uh going in place uh and also um a playground that was installed on a ridge which we're able to fund either fully or partially uh with PEA funds. Uh and then in addition to that uh you'll see the Rolling Hills uh playground uh right
right across the right down the road right here. Uh that was um significantly offset with local recreation grant funds. Uh so that was another big accomplishment. So, you'll see that that trend of trying to offset the cost of these projects in ways uh that don't impact the taxpayer. Uh and then, uh
speaking of those repairs, uh one of the things I want to draw attention to, uh we have a great crew, maintenance crew here, uh and there's that that trend of trying to complete those repairs in-house if we can, uh because generally there is a significant savings with that. Um so, like I said, I'll spare you
going through every single one, but those are the main trends I just wanted to draw attention to. uh wanted to draw attention to the efforts of of our staff and the great job they're doing. Um and you'll see more projects uh such as you've seen um saw at our last meeting on the scope and notice those projects
for that long range plan are very similar in and the types of projects they are in terms of the upkeep and the maintenance of our buildings stay. And so then here it brings us to our year in review. We thought it appropriate since it's the last boarding of our the board meeting of our school
year, right? uh this kind of lets us celebrate together. I know you as board members and chairs of committees are going to report out on our urine review as well. Um but we'd like to take a moment to just uh highlight all of our successes. A lot of amazing work has
taken place this year. Um but we thought it appropriate for you to um kind of see it in review um so that you can say, "Wow, we we did do a lot this year and we did it well." Uh so then uh we'll start with our finance. >> So just finish up on facilities, go
right into finance. So, uh, one of the big things, uh, that you'll see up there first is financial oversight. Uh, so, as you know, our 2425 audit happens in the 25 26 year. Uh, and we receive zero, uh, recommendations or findings. So, I think that's something to call out. Uh, with
uh, again, I mentioned the our great staff in in the facilities. We also have great staff in the business office uh, and they're doing great work. I think it's a good opportunity to recognize that. Um in terms of budgeted budgeting uh with our fellow administration with our staff across the buildings uh we
were able to have another uh budget without a staffing cut which I think is big after some of the large cuts we've had in the past right so that's another big celebration uh you know we really worked hard uh to realign resources uh so we could avoid cuts but also meet the
strategic goals that are coming up in our strategic plan. Look at that look at that tying right there. uh uh and and and we worked hard to get also some more curriculum item uh curricular items in their instructional resources uh and more student supports and just to really realign with with the strategic goals.
Uh and also you know part of that strategic budgeting budgeting provides us uh stability and flex going into the future. Uh so we have lessened the amount of excess surplus uh that we've used year-over-year uh each year uh since I've been here. So we're going to
keep along that path. You'll see that coming up the next year gradually trying to bring that number down just because it keeps us more stable. Uh we were able to avoid using the full health uh benefits cost adjustment. So that's a that's another uh win right there. Um so there's two things we were able to avoid
the full impact to the taxpayer. Uh and also uh we were able to generate some bank cap uh if in the future we had to had to go that route. Uh we also have that focus on revenue generation. Uh so you'll see a few different things there. A couple things were essentially negotiated higher interest rates. um for
the EIP which is going to end up being our revenue in our general fund which is great. So that's unanticipated revenue. Uh we also had some rebates uh it's not up recently we had some rebates for our uh self-insure prescription plan come back a little bit higher with that change to uh RX data through Optimx. Uh
and then also you'll see a big item uh which you know we're all aware of with Warner Ridge and the PA program. Uh a lot of money is coming back uh in the Vernon from the state uh to support that program which I think is great. And then we also had the the stadium advertisement program which we're
working on getting the word out there. Please spread the word. We got a couple that were approved. Uh I think we have maybe one sign up right now. So we're working on that. So let's keep keep on putting that out there. Uh and then also we were able to um we have our tuition students uh over the last couple years.
We had two this year projecting one next year. Uh you know CST and and uh Mr. Fay have done a great job getting the word out there. Keep spreading the word. Looking for more revenue. Uh we also owned energy efficiency. We had shared services with the town. Uh we had a
significant negotiation related to health benefits where we went from 34% renewal down to 25% renewal which essentially was about $400,000 in savings for 2526 about $800,000 for next year in savings. Uh we're also looking uh is actually on tonight GLP1 program
uh which will be about $300,000 in savings for year uh per year. Uh and additionally it should make the process a little bit easier uh for our staff. So we're able to find savings without taking anything away. Uh which is always the goal that we that we we strive for. Uh we were able to consolidate some
routes some savings there uh multiple areas. We have some jointers. We're able to do other towns which we able to split the cost of transportation. Uh and then also we were able to reduce interest for a pretty large laptop least from 8% down to 3.56%. So the last area that we kind of focused on, we want to kind of shout
out is we have our transparency and planning. So we did a complete redo of the of the website uh over the last year or so. Uh this year the focus was on a redo of the budget areas. Uh we've kind of brought up a couple times and we keep throwing out there. Everyone should go
to the business office website. Bet that every time I can. Uh and then also we have the expansion of the PA program uh which requires a lot of planning in terms of finding space. uh making sure that we don't um you know overshoot uh our numbers and I think we're going to continue down that path and just keep
trying to expand till we meet um our universe and then just kind of finishing up just since this is the finance area we're planning. Uh again, just want to mention that we're on we we appear to be on track for a deposit cap reserve. Uh which is great considering the significant um facility needs we have.
Uh and then also right now the plan is to try to decrease that excess surplus need for the uh 26 27 u sorry 2728 budget. Woo time flies. Uh down to 2.2 million in the current uh budget we're going into. It's about 2.4 million. So
gradually trying to bring that down. Uh we were also able to purchase some things uh based off that year-end spending plan that uh were unable to make it into that budget. Um so I think that's another uh big success try to get people what and students and staff what
they need. Right. So >> yeah. So absolutely wonderful job. So, thank you to our um business department, to our facilities departments, right? And to our finance and facilities, buildings and grounds committee who's um just really providing the governance for
that for that work. Um and now we have our curriculum and instruction. >> All right, curriculum and instruction. We've been moving this year >> just a little bit. >> Just a little bit. Um, so, uh, over last summer, we finalized our district
professional development plan and adopted our prof comprehensive equity plan for 2025 through 2028. >> And the summer, we had our teacher summer academy where teachers could come in and get professional development over this summer. We also did some curriculum
writing last year. We wrote for electives like our new electrical program. We wrote for our new AP courses, AP seminar and AP physics. And we also rolled out our um grades four through eight mathematics curriculum, the initial installment, I guess you
could say, of illustrative mathematics. >> Uh then we began our Perkins CTE education grant planning uh as it was uh released halfway through the summer and we completed our title one schoolwide planning for VTHS.
>> The fall was very busy. We got started with our strategic planning initi uh initiative which we all can see the results of that or the beginning of that this evening. Yay. >> Um we started our co curriculum coherence initiative that launched. We
started planning for that working with what that was going to look like. Uh then we adopted the district AI policy and began our VTSS roll out with the American Institutes for Research and we completed the district-wide VTSS needs
assessment and we were able to join the New Jersey Department of Education SGO and evaluations pilot. We were one of 19 districts chosen. Uh we continued this through the winter and uh our seal of biiteracy program
continued at the high school level and we continued our American institutes for research leadership training with VTSS. Then we uh used our policy for AI to draft our K to2 AI integration roadmap. Our curriculum coherence committee kept
on working with professional development, developing templates and looking at just the coherence of high quality curriculum materials. That was a big thing. Then we looked at the science standards. They were updated this past year. We audited the science curriculum,
looked at the science standard and alignment with the NGSLAS. We then of course did our midyear review in the budget to see where we were and to do some resource alignment mid year to make sure we had what we needed to push into the to push into the spring.
And that brings us into the spring where the curriculum coherence committee really began to dig into the template the UBD template understanding by design and started that real rich writing process. Uh then we moved forward and adopted HMH into reading version three for
kindergarten through fifth grade with structured literacy in K to2. Uh along with our Rucker's ELA partnership to help facilitate the process. >> The curriculum writing committee then was able to dig in further to writing and expanding out the illustrative
mathematics curriculum for grades 4 through 8. And we were able to add algebra 1. And since our district team had been trained in VTSS, we uh drilled down into our school level teams and uh used that time to flesh out all of our
school level buildings and processes and uh were able to respond to special education audit findings and we were able to finish Perkins and high impact tutoring planning for this summer and next year. >> This summer. We just got approved. >> Yes, we just got approved for this
summer as well. Yes. Uh so the through line is simple. You know this year we built the foundation. Uh we obtained the materials that we needed. We aligned all of our data systems and built the capacity and the people that uh are helping us with this endeavor.
>> And I'm continuing I'm putting on my Mr. Lasso hat for our technology. Uh the technology department was just as busy this year if not busier. Uh here's what they delivered throughout the year. Uh they rolled out a 1:1 plus which was a
new help desk and device inventory system. They added new Ben cube boards at Lounsbury Hollow, new point of sale devices with our move to pay schools across the entire district and districtwide door access in every single
building. uh we they were an integral part of adopting the AI policy and then rolling out Genesis athletics hipster and of course the new NJSLA a testing platform. Uh Smart Pass was launched at Lounbury Hollow. Uh they
brought board meetings chapters to YouTube and had a fun fix of high school fiber run. uh mid year uh we moved to this new state reporting system as well which was NJ sleds and that's the New Jersey student level data system which
is a new uh system from the old NJ smart and over the winter they completed a new website refresh and uh also participated in our AI roadmap along with the laptop refresh testing and negotiating the price that Mr. Liam was uh referring to
earlier. The printer and copy release was also restructured and share 911 was configured so that we could do the testing to make sure it was the right fit for our district. Then through the spring uh we met together as a team to consolidate our dig digital resources
and then give training for those new resources across our district. We completed staff laptop imaging, supported NJSLA and AP testing, and migrated systems 3000, which is our budgeting software, to off-site hosting,
which had a myriad of benefits. And we updated the technology policy with a focus on limiting screen time and student well-being. >> Yeah, lot of work. Uh and last but certainly not least, our year in review for
special services. >> Okay, so we had a busy year in special services as well. Um so this tracks some of the milestones we achieved over the year um with some key data highlights at the bottom. So we started off the cycle last summer with the implementation of a
very successful ESY program or extended school year program. Uh simultaneously we're working on curriculum writing for our ERRI and life skills programs. And this transitioned over to the fall where we launched our strategic planning. We
expanded ERRI programming and initiated our audit that was conducted by NJ allin. And while we were doing all that, we were um doing inclusion and LRE data review processes to make sure we were um
we had the most accurate data as we to inform our decisions. By the winter, we finalized our department audit. We engaged in a NJ DOE data consultation along with our child study team and we aligned resources to
our midyear budget. In the spring, we successfully transitioned our elementary autism program to a multiple disabilities designation. We delivered critical behavior management professional development to our elementary school teachers and revamped
our bridgetoart transition program. And a continuous thread throughout our entire year was our increased independence plan framework. We built the framework in the summer. We conducted a mid-year data check over the winter and we wrapped up the year with a
comprehensive outcome review this past spring. So, some of our highlights and the results thus far are highly encouraging. Our classification rate dropped from 26% down to 24.7%. We have over 30 students that achieved
measurable gains in student independence and autonomy. and we fully hit all of our NJDOE inclusion performance targets and verified district implementation of our independence plans. >> Congratulations.
>> All right. So, um this concludes our pres presentation for this evening. Uh tonight we presented our strategic plan, our commitment uh to every student in every building every day. Over the next five years, we will look to implement
that plan, report out on our outcomes, and begin to move strongly toward our goals uh together. And that concludes our presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, thank you very much. Does anybody have any questions or comments on that
very thorough presentation? Can someone kill the light? John and I are going to go blind here. That's okay. It's all for a good cause. >> Ah, thank you. >> All right, pick up my computer. Um,
okay. Seeing no questions or comments. So, Charlie, do you >> say something? Okay, go ahead. >> Very good, Joe. This is a great year. I I think this is uh Vernon's heading in the right direction. Um we you know, we
got through some difficult times over the last couple years, but um I think we're finally finally moving forward now. We're out of the the rut and and and the strategic plan is great and all the achievements that that the team put
together, I mean, it's just amazing. Very good. >> Yeah, it's very clear that a lot of hard work is being done by a lot of people and we really it's really exciting and really appreciate it. >> Yeah. >> Well, >> makes our job easy, >> right? Makes our job easy.
>> Yeah, it does. Definitely. Yeah. Thank you so much to all the school leaders. It's really amazing and we get a lot of facetime with Ebony and she always says it's a team effort. It's a team effort and you guys really do an amazing job. Thank you so much. >> Excellent work. Excellent. Thank you.
Yeah. Okay. Um, so moving on to item 10, board report summary. Mr. Fisher, you're up with community relations. >> Yeah, community relations. So, uh, I'm going to do this from memory because I actually did the meeting from my car.
So, uh, the meeting was on June 2nd. In attendance was superintendent uh Demz, our high school principal uh Miss Young or Glenn Meadow principal Dr. Van
Nordon. I believe Martin was there. I was there. I think that was it. Right. >> I was very late. >> What's that? >> I was very late. >> Were you there? >> Yeah, but very late. >> I wasn't. So
>> you didn't need to say that was quiet. >> So um the the majority of the meeting we did talk about the strategic planning presentation that was going to happen tonight. Uh and then we also talked
about getting uh feedback on how we did the strategic planning. Uh we talked about possibly doing a survey. uh who would be in the survey, whether it would be uh parents or all stakeholders like
we we had done with some other surveys. Uh what our expectations for a survey might be. Uh and in particular, I think we we sort of focused on what questions we wanted to ask. Uh, one of the things
I think that I was focused on was um how do we get more people involved the next time we do this five years down the road. Um and then that sort of uh wo
into the state of the district which is going to be in September and how we were planning to do the state of the district and uh what that would entail. >> Okay. Thank you. Um so B technology Miss
Nichols >> we had our technology meeting on Uh, oh, was it June 2nd? It feels like so long ago. >> Oh, I was only at one, so I don't remember the other one.
>> So, uh, I was there, uh, Mr. Gaglaststro, Mr. Lasso, Mr. Fischer, uh, Miss Pallet was there, and so was Mr. Smaglio. So, we had a full team going. Uh, we talked about the NJSLA and all the testing wrapped up, and I just, you guys did such a great job with
the testing. It was a brand new platform this year, so it was a lot of fun, new challenges. Um, so you guys did a really great job with that. Uh, we don't expect the results as early as we normally do. We're not expecting until late fall, early winter. So, we're going to see what happens there. Uh, because it's a
brand new test and a brand new testing platform and who knows. Uh, we also went over Share 911. Um, since the meeting, we actually got a really nice report. Uh, thank you for sending that out. That was a great recap of the actual true implementation of Share 91. It seems
like it went really well. Um there's a lot of good feedback in our meeting at least um from the leadership of the school and the local police and about how it can really help with our security drills and just overall school safety and communication.
Um uh that was really it. It was kind of a shorter meeting. It was really nice. We did get a sneak peek of the year end graphic. So I want to thank Mr. lasso for doing that for us and you kind of prompted all the rest of them too. So those were really fun. It's really good to see how the year went. That was our meeting.
>> Good. Thank you. >> Um okay, item 11, our last student less on report from the listtote. >> Are you guys going to miss my long reports? >> We will. I will. I like them. >> That's one.
>> We will miss that. >> Can I get a show of hands? Who's going to miss that? Come on. >> All right, there we go. >> Much appreciated. All right, so our spring sports have mostly concluded, and I say mostly because our track and field
team is going very far this year. Um, so in that, our 4x1 team, Monica Curry, Sophia, uh, Isabella Paziki, and Samantha Gandits the I don't know what this means, so don't ask me. USFCCCA.
I looked it up. There was no explanation. So, uh, but they were named the Allame Americans. >> So, >> there you go. >> They're all Americans of something. Um, >> the Adidas Track Nationals, um, Drew
Mountain, who is a freshman for the long jump and 100 meter, is competing and Jaylen Castillo, who is also a freshman, is uh, competing for the 800 meter. Um, and then the New Balance Outdoor Nationals, Isabella Kaziki, um, who's a freshman for the 400 meter and the 800
meter. And then our 4x1 run team who is the um names that I just mentioned Monica Curry, Sophia Hall, Isabella Kaziki, and Samantha Janice. Um we had a fall sports meeting uh for the upcoming 2627 uh season. I also know
that some of the winter sports also met. Um schedules are lining up from that. Uh so you guys will hear about more about that in the fall. Um cheerleading triyouts have occurred already. So, our varsity team is is out. I don't have a list of who made it, but
congratulations. Um, our unified club had a bowling trip on the 9th and the unified theater students held an endofear performance in the auditorium. I could not attend, but I heard very, very good things. So, I'm very proud of all of them. Um,
our we had drum major and color guard captain auditions. Um, I'm unsure of who the drum major is, so I will find out soon and hopefully get it to you guys before I leave. But our color guard captains are Noel Litus, Edy Roman,
Anelise Gistler. Um, and that's it. Uh, for our theater department, we had our final uh, actor showcase um, which is a showcase of our um, acting four students. They do a director's or we do a director's project. Uh we had seven
this year which is a big accomplishment. We've never had that many. It was a three-hour long showcase. Um and we had lots and lots of things to show from our uh pieces that placed at competition. So that's why it was so long and it was very successful and we had to add more
seating like we do always. Um, our choir slashband had a successful solo ensemble concert. That was last Friday. Whenever that date was last Oh,
no, I lied. It was last Wednesday. Okay. Um, Jazz at the Flats happened on 610. Um, I believe there was a rain, so someone else performed first, but it was very successful. I heard um the Thesbian
Honor Society held elections. So the new officers for the upcoming year is Cassandra Cruz as president, Dominic Peek as vice president, Lindseay Jensen as secretary, Tristan Krinsky as treasurer, and Lindseay Vogel as historian. Um National Honor Society is
also holding elections, but I'm unsure of who's getting what yet. Um and same thing for probably the rest of the honor societies. Um So, the senior class, I don't know if you some of you guys were there. So, Miss Pellet and Miss Menddees were both
there. We had a hugely successful scholarship night. Um, a total, if I can remember the number correctly, on the back of the pamphlet. It was a total of $137,000 that was given away to our students that
night. Um, and I think we had probably 50ome students that were receiving all kinds. 61. All right. I was close. Um, that were given scholarships. So, it was very, very interesting. It was very, um,
eye opening. That's a bad word, but it was very eye opening. There were lots of scholarships. There were lots of explanations to them. So, it was a lot of uh a lot of good storytelling in a way. Um, we had a very successful senior breakfast. Um, it was so good. It was
delicious. I don't care who comes up to you and tells you different. It was really good, >> wasn't it? >> Isn't it always candy? >> I know. They had a coffee bar. We had a wrap. We had tons of gift cards. It was great. They had ice cream. It was
amazing. Um, and then we had senior prom and that was also very very uh hugely successful. Everyone was dancing. It was very nice. Um and that is all I have. >> Awesome. Thank you so much.
>> Yeah, that scholarship night was really um yeah, it was really something and the the generosity of the community is really appreciated. There were so many stories of people who had >> gave um created you know scholarships and memories of >> and the amount donated was insane. There
was 17,000 for one scholarship uh that was given to a bunch of students and then there was 22,000 for another. It was crazy. >> Yeah. And the SCA and the DTA, everybody. >> Yeah. >> So that was great. Um okay, item 12, public comment. Uh this is for agenda
items and student matters only. And Mr. Slam is going to read this nice long thing first. During the course of the public meeting of the Vernon Board of Education, the public is offered the opportunity to address the board on agenda items and any issues regarding the school district. The board reminded reminds
those individuals who take this opportunity that they must identify themselves by name and section of town and limit their comments to agenda items and or issues that directly relate to the operation of the school district. Issues that are raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board or administration at the time of the meeting or at any time. All
comments will be considered in response be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board requests that members of the public keep their comments to a limit of 5 minutes. Be courteous, respectful, and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board of education should be thoroughly considered by the speaker and may or may not be responded
to by the board or administration. Be advised that students and employees have rights of confidentiality and other pro other protections under the law. Student names should never be used. The board bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by the public during the public portion of a board meeting. Members of the public
should consider the comments in light of legal rights of those affected or identified in the comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for the comments that they make to the board. >> Thank you. Um as always we alternate from members of the public in person and
online. Do we have anybody in person who would like to comment? Oh, young. >> Please state your name. >> Lindsay Young. >> Thank you. >> I live in Vernon and I'm a teacher. I mean, excuse me. I'm always the teacher. I'm a principal. Um, I'm the principal of the high school. So, one of the
things that is being recognized today is Kalista. So, on behalf of Mr. Dempseac and I and Mr. Down, who's not here today. We wanted to thank Kalista. She was appointed last year at the end of last year and her excitement and enthusiasm has not missed a a beat. Like, she is there. She is present.
She's excited. She's a positive role model in our building. So, I want to thank you. We want to thank you and we want to thank you and wish you the best of luck next year and and your future and your parents. Thank you for being here. >> Um I think this ties into an agenda item. So, um with the strategic planning, I just wanted to take a
moment. I came back in January because I was out on leave at the beginning of the school year and I came into a lot. Um but I the transition was very smooth with the strategic planning and BTSS and everything that went on u because of Mr. Dempseac. So, Mr. Dempseac stepped in for me in September and lucky enough I
was able to step in and feel confident and comfortable with the work that he had done. So I wanted to thank him uh this evening too and then I wanted to thank Mr. Mendes on her first successful school year. So there you go. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And although I'm not here because I have little kids at home, I listen to you
guys these meetings. So thank you all for volunteering your time for this. >> Thank you. Thank you. And once a teacher, always a teacher, right? Um okay. Hey, do we have anyone online who would like to has a hand? No hands raised online. Okay. Anyone
else here in person? Go this way. >> Martin O'Donnell, Sussex section of Vernon. Um, as I was sitting here listening to these folks go over the strategic plan, um, the one word the one word that came to mind was wow. How
impressive. Okay. As you were going through it, it was very evident that there were goals, dates, metrics, and accountability, which many times you don't see in a strategic plan. Okay. I just want to compliment the team and the board for taking such a proactive approach to the next 5 years when so
many other places are taking reactive approaches because they have to and they're spending all their time being reactive. You guys put so much time and effort into being proactive. I just wanted to thank you for that. And it really um it really makes me feel good about the little kids around my house because I got a lot of friends with
little kids in the age range from six to 12 or whatever. And um I think they're in for a good future. Um >> secondly, you all know I'm close to that. >> I was waiting for it. >> I just want to thank the board and the administration for their leadership and
guidance. Okay. Um for Kalista, as as well as her the accepting her as a board member so quickly. the first night she the first night she came home she was jazzed. She was really jazzed and um her mother and I are so proud of her really um that she embarked on this
journey into the unknown and you know as many of you told me she really hit it out of the park. So Kalista mom and I are very proud of you and uh thank you very much to the board and the administration for being there for her. >> Absolutely. Thank you Mr. O'Donnell.
worse. >> Yes. Um item 13, superintendent. Oh, do we have any other members of the public? Sorry. Closing the session. Um >> yes. So on that health, we're so proud
of you. I'm so proud of you. Um you are an exceptional exceptional young lady and an exceptional leader. I am so excited that you're going to study marine biology, that you're going to um go into a field that um really deserves all of the attention and the care that you're going to bring to it. I had an
opportunity to meet with Felista as we were thinking about uh scholarships and moving on to college. Uh we're going to miss you. Um but she has such an exceptional story. Um and you are strong and you are valuable and you are seen and I am excited for you and for your
future. and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to just get to know you this year. Thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you. >> Um and so then we have ourformational items. We have our artists of the month for June. The high school students artwork is being displayed at the board
office in the municipal building. For item two, we have our enrollment report which is attachments S1. We have our HIV report for May 2026, which is attachment S2. And then this year we did a little more, right? This time our superintendent report was just a little
more cheery. And I think the reason is because we have so many pictures and I wanted you to see them. And so then as our 2526 wrapup is here, it has certainly been a whirlwind of end of year celebrations from field days and graduations and our preschoolers walking
across the little thing with their little pups on and receiving their diplomas and moving up. Saw their walnut ridge. Uh preschool students moved to moving to kindergarten in September. They participated in a moving up ceremony on June 16th. Thank you, Miss
Plet, for coming and for helping our uh youngest citizens celebrate their movement toward kindergarten. I am so excited. Um their families were there. It was an adorable ceremony performances. We saw the readiness um to
their road ahead and there was a song that they played. It was so wonderful. It was saying you're moving on to kindergarten, right? And they were all clapping and cheering. So, it was wonderful. Um, it's beautiful to know that they're moving on to Cedar Mountain where they're going to be welcomed by our principal in our school community there. Cedar Mountain also had a
wonderful year. Um, they had year-end celebrations including a performance from Mr. Magico and a special visit from the ice cream truck. Um, so we want to just celebrate our staff who were featured in the latest allin for
inclusive education newsletter. Um this was a a beautiful celebration of the contribution that our staff is meeting making in part of group cohorts who received support um for five years. Moren Sweeney, Ivory Petty, Christina
Moyet, Mary Olert, and Kristen Gutenoff completed their last year of support with NJIP. But throughout their five years with the project, the team led staff at Cedar Mountain in creating a vision of inclusive education that they work to bring to life and maintain. Uh, so this
is their vision. At Cedar Mountain Primary School, all students will have equitable opportunities to belong, be valued, and be welcomed. All students will be given choices and options to help facil facilitate ownership and independence. All students will be
provided opportunities to contribute and add value to their learning community. And as a result of their inclusive environment, all students will have access to all educational, social, and emotional ethic components of the school community, the faculty, staff, and families working together is integral to
the success of our students. So, congratulations to Cedar Mountain and completing the five years of their work. Um, and um I think we're going to see the outcomes as a fruit of their labor. At Rolling Hills Primary School, our students capped off the year with um
highlighting field days, their ice cream social that was hosted by the SEA. Our third grade students took a celebratory walk to Lounsbury Hollow on June 15th to explore their upcoming campus. So, to our transitions, they're in effect. Um
and Lounsbury Hollow, if you paid attention and if you didn't, if you didn't have time when we're leaving, we had our time capsule. So congratulations to Mark Citro, our principal, and that team. Uh they uh dug up the time capsule
that was um buried 50 years ago. So we are at the bicesentennial. Um uh Miss Stone who was a teacher at that time. Uh Mr. Citro visited her at her home. Uh she had so many relics and so many
things from 50 years ago from that class because when they dug up the time capsule there was some damage to water but she had all of the duplicates so she gave them to Mr. Citro. Um in the hallway you'll see all of the artifacts that were retrieved from the time capsule. We're going to have a big
celebration ceremony then it again with things from this class so that in another 50 years I'm sorry I won't be here. Excuse my absence. I will probably be, >> you know, not here. >> Uh, but we will um bury uh artifacts
from this year and in 50 years our um generation will um unearth what we have today. Um some of the items included cassettes, but I remember those. Do you remember what cassette? So you don't know what a cassette is? >> I know what a cassette is.
>> I lived in my grandmother's house for a long time. There were some um albums and there was lipstick and eye shadow and >> real to real to real roll. >> A real tore roll a letter from President
Ford. Um there was or just beautiful artifacts. So we look forward we invite you to um that day. Uh and then they showed that on display to our families at their wax museum if you didn't get a chance to go. That was fun.
>> So, the kids were so cute. Um, and so then I included some pictures here, right, of our Albert Einstein, our Amelia Heheart, Gandhi, Anne Frank, and um and um Freda Callo and it was great.
Um so, uh they dressed up in the um vestage of who that person was that they were bringing into 2026. You touched their little hand and they came to life and they talked to us about who the person was and why they were
being celebrated and what they meant to them >> and how they died. >> Sounds a little disturbing, right? >> And how they died. Um but um it was just really nice. They really spent a lot of time um in um memorizing a lot of them
memorized who the people were. So it was just fantastic. And then Glenn Meadow Middle School, uh, buzzing with energy. Uh, they had their field days, their eighth grade dance, a high stakes volleyball tournament and fundraiser is currently underway. On the last day of school, the winning student team will
face off against the PE teachers in an epic final match. So, that's going to be exciting. We're looking forward to the Glen Meadow Awards ceremony on the 25th, followed by our eighth grade advancement um ceremony later that evening. Uh we are graduating
our eighth graders, another transition into the high school where they will be welcomed not only by our principal, our administrators, but also by our CIA who's going to be integrating more freshmen into their into their leadership group. Also a celebration Glenn Meadows 21st
Century Community Learning Center, our CCLC program. Um the director is Kate Ramirez and she was honored to present at the year's soaring beyond expectations conference. Uh her room started with a certain number of people
and as she was presenting it just kept filling up and filling up and filling up and they all came in to hear about all of the successes of our CCLC program here in Vernon. So yes, the weekend bad program said that we were their favorite and I had them say that at our
superintendent round table too. We brag and so uh we are bragging on Miss Kate Ramirez who also presented on how well our CCLC program um uh did this year and all of our outcomes. So congratulations to her. And then at the high school, the
traditional senior district walkthrough took place on June 17th. dressed in caps and gowns. Our seniors and dawn the grace uh dawn the hallways of all of our schools. >> Yeah, that's so fun. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Right. >> I didn't go to half of them, but yes. >> Yeah. But I thought you got the one.
Yeah. >> Right. And so then we saw each other in their caps and gowns. They walked through. Our preschoolers cheered them on. >> Oh, it was so cute. >> Yes. >> That's the kid is my heart. >> And every grade just cheered them on. And I think it just is such a wonderful practice here. I've not seen that
before. So, it's just such a beautiful practice to give our students a peer into the future modeling. Did you want to say? >> Yeah. Can I say I love that, too? I think it's so special. And, you know, we switch schools so often here. It's one way, a really powerful way. You know, my
kids are seven and 10 and they really come home excited by it. So, I think it's such a great thing that we do. >> Yeah, it was beautiful. It I'm not a crier, but I did. I showed it to you, lumped in the throat, the whole night. Right. Uh so it was beautiful. Uh the class of 2026 is finishing strong.
Kalista talked about all of the awards that were presented. Uh academic excellence lunch uh lunchon took place on the 3rd. Our senior scholarship night was on the 9th. Our actor showcas and jazz at the flats performances. And our graduation ceremony is on the 26th. So
we're excited to graduate all of our seniors. Um lastly here we had a lot of grants this year for special services. Uh I won't read through all of them, but PCAcast uh was our person centered approaches in schools and transition. We had grants for community- based
instruction and our special Olympics and New Jersey unified grants that we received this year. So not only um is our community investing in our children with their finances through scholarships and sea and our VTA contributes, but also uh our communities around us are
investing in our students. So we're grateful. And that concludes my superintendent report. Wait, I have one thing to comment on. I totally I missed putting it in my report. There was an announcement today about the unified Olympics. Um, our senior Jimmy Jansen will not be in school next week because
he is flying to Minnesota to go compete in the Special Olympics with the 100 meter and uh shop. >> So, we're cheering him on. We were very excited. I'm excited to hear the results at least. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, so you did the artist of the
month. Did you do the enrollment report and that? Okay, you did. Okay. >> Um, so we're going to go to item 14. Um, board committee report for policy, the exciting report. >> Yes. And and you know,
Mr. Slam's always talking about his website. I think we're the biggest competitor, but his website, the policy committee, I heard it's a little more exciting, but not not everybody likes numbers. It's true. So we we uh we had our fortunately our last one for the
year uh on June 4th our meeting uh this is always uh via uh Zoom and from 7:30 to 8 sorry 5:30 uh to 6:30 in attendance was Alice uh Carolyn myself and Ebony
um and we got some numbers so instead for governance this week I decid or this month I decided let's give it the round round u year year to date numbers so good job there we have zero um opas open
um we closed you closed 36 of them this year um none of them were overdue um the hours were we spent over 56 plus um there's a couple that are still being determined and added up unfortunately of
course was a little bit high. Uh we were at $1,195.50, so that's a year- end total. But overall, good job. I mean, the fact that we're closing them out and nothing being overdue is a good thing. So, thank you for you and your department.
So, next we got we have our policies. So, for first reading, um there's a couple groups of them here. So, let's go over some of the ones. Uh u I guess very important. Uh we have uh uh 3283.
Um I'm going to add the 4283 together with that. They're they're both um policies. Um this has to do with um communication between u staff uh and students and also the the uh teachers um
teaching staff and students. U basically the same policy. Um, but one thing I just want to point out, every every staff member should make sure to read these. Um, there are communication. Basically, if it's not
given to you by the Oh, we got nobody here left. Um, if it's not given to you by the district, most likely you can't use it. Um, so just double check what you have. The biggest biggest mean of communication would be email from the
district email system. Um there are some that will be um uh given um that are allowed by the tech department. We I'll let you know if if you're not sure or talk to the staff, but we need to make sure we're not communicating outside
these means. And so the the communic the those policies were updated um to help guide people into the proper way to communicate with students outside of a outside of classroom.
Um a similar policy is uh policy 169.02 02 and this is for board members use of social networks and um wait is that for I just want to make sure we did it for first reading right
or did we take it off >> I think we took it off we took it off yeah never mind scratch that we talked about it though it was interesting >> um uh we have a couple we have a bunch of policies in uh reference to the business department um Mr. Slam gave his
uh blessing on all these. Um I'm not going to read them all. They're there's about six of them. Um these are um most of these have to do with changes in the law, federal regulations u and um some
some um language changes. Um same same thing with the curriculum. We have another eight of them that were there. Um those are those will also be looked at by our um by um Vinnie and and
Russ. They went through these um most have to do with uh high school diplomas, graduation, curriculum content. Um the compensation for special education and uh equality in schools. Um again, a
lot of this was regulation changes. So they check to them, make sure it go uh goes along with our uh with our stuff. And last, we have uh superintendent duties and family leave. Uh those are all we're re the committee's
recommending them to go as is. Um as you see in your binders and um second reading, we have the use of life devices. Um so after this, this will be in place. This is a again this is a
life-saving device um that is fairly new and improved by the F FA FDA. FDA, right? Yep. Thank you. >> And um so these are going to be in our all our in our schools yet? Did they get delivered? I know we were waiting for
delivery. Right. >> There's a purchase order. I'm not sure it's been delivered yet. >> Okay. >> Look. So anyway, um again, we recommend going with the policy as written and as our uh
our our our leader has uh pointed out in our last meeting, she said, "Wow, we got through a lot." So I did some uh I did some adding and uh we for the policy, we went through a policy audit this year. Uh completed it. Um
we um for year to date uh we had the one audit, we had two alerts. I don't know what happened to them the other one cuz it skipped a number. So but I guess wasn't important. I don't know. And then um we had 73 policies reviewed. >> Wow.
>> Nine of them were brand new. 10 of them we abolished and 54 of them uh were amended. So, you know, I I think um couple things I just wanted to say. Thank you to our our administrative staff who always do like a lot of leg
work and give us those policies and clean them up before we actually get to sit down and talk about them. Um >> Nancy, >> Nancy such a big part. Yeah. Make sure we have our stuff, we stay on track and make sure it's all published. um our
superintendent who always make who who's has our vision of you know students first and and always pushing it the district make sure we're doing this right thing going forward. Um and uh our our board I wanted to say thank for giving me the opportunity to chair this
and and also putting my members on there and and all the members. I know we had a couple left this year. Um, >> and and uh I know they want to come back, but you know, they but >> everyone who's helped, thank you. It's been a it's been a pleasure and and I
think it really was a big accomplishment. Like 73 is a lot. So, it was good. So, thank you everyone. >> Oh, it was it was I can't tell you like the expanding adjectives here.
Okay, great. Thank you. Um, can I get a motion uh to approve items 14 B1 through B3? >> Second by Stephanie. Uh, questions or comments. See none. Move to roll call. >> Miss Nicholas.
>> Yes. >> Miss Pallet. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ross. Miss Varela. >> Yes. Mr. Zimmerman, >> Mr. Saglia, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> hi. >> Mr. Krauss, >> yes. >> Motion carries.
>> Thank you. >> Item C, personnel. Um, >> yes. Um, so, uh, C1, resignations, retirements, and terminations. Uh, I'm recommending the following non-certificated staff resignations and
retirements in the table listed. Um, section B certificated staff resignations and retirements. Uh 2A certificated staff's appointments as listed in the table. I'd like to draw your attention to a specific recommendation using earlier, Miss
Candace Snyder, uh who will is being recommended as the assistant director of special services. Um and uh we are u very excited to have her come on board. She's um coming with a wealth of experience uh unanimously recommended by
all of our rounds of interviews um and came with glowing recommendations from all of her districts and um those who um have the opportunity to work for her. Uh I do believe that she will be an asset to our team and brings rich experiences that we need to continue to move the
district forward uh toward meeting our goals. Uh section B is uh non-certificated staff appointments. Section C is the appropriate substitute rates for the 2526 school year. Section D uh appointments
for part-time aids for the 27 school year as reflected in attachment P1. Uh section E is the assignments of the 26uh 27 school year for part-time AIDS effective 91 which is attachment P2. Um not saying section it's letter
letter F is our extended school year program which runs Monday through Fridays and commences on July 6th through July 29th for a total of 18 days which is in attachment P3. Letter G is our VTHS summer acceleration program which is
running Monday through Friday and commences on June 29th through July 2nd and July 6th through the 17th. Uh 3 A is uh the stipen appointments for the 2627
school year in attachment P4. Uh letter B staff for summer 26 curriculum work attachment P5. C is summer CST meetings at the rate of $40 per meeting. Letter D uh is the summer evaluation at the rate
of $400 per evaluation. Letter E is um the certified personnel for nights back attendance beyond the stipen amount rate of $50 per night back. Uh letter F is the 2627 curriculum writing projects
which are in attachment P6 for A are our leaves of absence for our certificated staff. Uh B is the leaves of absence for non-certificated staff by our transfers.
Uh six is the approval for the job descriptions of assistant director of special services, director of school counseling, testing, MTSS, director of ELA, ESL and
world languages, and preschool teacher. Number seven is the district assessment calendar, page two. So that'll be page two to our district calendar and it lists out all of the anticipated assessments for the 26 27th school year.
Eight is our emergency virtual remote instruction program which is a requirement by the state. It's attachment P9. Uh nine is our homeless children youth program for the 2627 school year um for McKenna Vento in
attachment P10. And 10. Do you want to read this board president? Um yeah, I guess it's a board. >> Yes. >> So yes, so this is our um resolution. Whereas Kalista O'Donnell has served
with distinction on the Vernon board of education. And whereas through their leadership, the Vernon Board of Education has gained fresh insights into student concerns, student priorities, and what is on the mind of young people in the community. And whereas she has further contributed to the community by serving as a valuable spokesperson,
sharing the student perspective at board meetings. And whereas Kalista O'Donnell's exemplary commitment to fellow students and the school district has promoted clear communication between the board district administration and the student body. And whereas Kalista
O'Donnell has maintained a professional decorum at board meetings, shown respect to board members, and strived to learn the proper etiquette of serving on a school board. and whereas she has demonstrated a commitment to advancing the education of all students without neglecting her own responsibility to
strive for success in the classroom. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Vernon Board of Education recognizes Kalista O'Donnell's dedication and commitment to advancing educational opportunity and open communication between the board, district administrators, and the student body.
And be it further resolved that the members of the Vernon Board of Education extend their sincere appreciation to Kalista O'Donnell for her dedicated service on the Vernon Board of Education. And be it further resolved that the members of the Vernon Board of Education extend their best wishes to
Kalista O'Donnell in all of their future endeavors. Can I get a motion to approve uh Well, wait. I have to say approve items 14 C1 through C10. Now you can move. >> Thank you. Second, Stephanie. Um,
questions or comments? >> I have one question. Any concerns? The second appointment for 26 27 minutes. >> Oh,
right. >> Correct. >> They're at whatever is there now. >> Yes. I know you have to appoint them, but I just wondered how else >> at the current rate and also the federal that potentially chang.
>> Okay. >> What is nights back? I know we've went over this before, but >> so in a staff member's contract, they have a certain number of nights that are included in the contract. And if any nights back such as a back to school night or an evening event occur, then we
have to pay for that extra night back. So if I'm I think it's two days that the staff members have to come back, not meet them, right? They have to come back two nights, but let's say if they have to come back a third night and run an event, then we would pay them. So that's this um >> Okay. It's not a event itself. It's just
>> Okay. >> Any other questions or comments? This includes the addendum items, correct? Now I have to go. >> Oh. >> Oh shoot. Uh, so we have to amend the motion now because I already made it.
>> Striker. >> Let me just double check. But all those items should fall within the existing letters because they were just additions to the res the letters that were already in place. >> So you'll just go through. >> So just to include our personnel on our
addendum. Uh there is uh a resignation for a non-certified staff member. There is a termination for a non-certified staff member and there is a leave of absence for a non-certified staff. >> Thank you. Thank you for asking that
question. >> All right. Uh so any further questions or comments now that we've read the addendum now? So we can move to a roll call. Miss >> Pallet. >> Yes. Dr. Ross,
>> yes. >> Miss Varela, >> yes. >> Mr. Zimmerman. >> Mr. Simlia, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> I >> Mr. Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Nichols, >> yes. >> Motion carries.
>> Now, I would like all of the board members and Miss O'Donnell to come and everybody come up front so we can do it. I think that was one of the policies. >> Oh, no. Are you ready?
>> University of North Carolina. >> Wow. >> It's beautiful there. where >> that at Chapel Hill. >> No, it's Wilmington. It's the Oakland school. Yeah, because she's marine biology. So, she
>> on the animal side of it. >> Maybe eventually. >> All right. So, uh >> curriculum and instruction. Dr. Ross, you're up. >> Okay. Our committee met on June 8th. It was myself, Charlie, Sarah, Vinnie,
Evony, Elise, and say the resolution. >> We continue to align with five. >> Uh our focus remains on advancing academic growth and inclusive learning environments through a whole child approach, ensuring that district priorities reflect a balance of rigorous
instruction and robust student support. We reviewed the school performance report. This is assessment data from this includes assessment data that was reported in October. Um, we're heading in the right direction with absenteeism, which is good. We have good graduation
rates. We don't have any target schools, which is a good thing. Um, and the CTE participation at the high school is well above the state average. So, lots of good news. Um, Dr. Shep shared that we will be piloting a new curriculum for science instruction at Glen Meadow. Teachers are unanimously interested in
this program. Um, we're starting fall and winter. Um, balancing digital and print materials. Um and then we got a little bit of diagnostic data review um updates. Uh
we're seeing growth in math. Um the median student growth is 108% of the annual typical growth. So typical student has already met and exceeded a full year of expected growth. Um the placement at or above grade level
rose from 19% to 55%. the placement of two or more levels below fell from 29 to 12%. >> Um, and met and exceeded typical growth 56% of students >> met stretch growth 26%.
So, great stuff there. For reading, median student is at 114% of the annual typical growth target, exceeding a full year of expected growth. Our placement at or above grade level rose from 33 to 60%. >> Wow. Our placement of two or more levels
below fell from 25 to 13. 56% of our students met or exceeded typical growth and 30% met the stretch growth target. Um and then the admin team shared the curriculum template which is truly outstanding. I've done curriculum work across multiple districts. This you know
uh Miss Deendo strikes again with her knowledge of curriculum. It's like such a thorough document. um really a thing of beauty. So all of our students are going to benefit from that. Um and our teachers are working really hard on it. >> Um and so then yeah, we had those those
year in review curriculum instruction year review and special services year and review to review. >> That was it. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> All right. So for curriculum and instruction uh D2 is travel in
attachment C1. Um there is a cost proposal from Vista Higher Learning for Connect 2022 in attachment C2. That's for our multilingual learners. Uh number four is our concurrent enrollment
program the courses uh in attachment C3. Number five are our HMH into reading teacher materials for grades one through five in attachment C4. Number six is uh to apply and accept because we were
already awarded before we could get it on the agenda after we apply. And that is our high impact tutoring grant for the summer. Um just a shout out to Mr. Gaglastra who did a phenomenal job at getting that um application in. I think
they gave him a week. They gave him a week to get it done and so then he, you know, burned the midline oil to get it and they gave us 80% of what our yearly um high impact tutoring grant uh is worth. So that was a great
um a great celebration. Um number seven is the approval uh of the following resolution and this is about our strong teacher evaluation model. This is uh a resolution that we have to put on annually to say uh this
is how we evaluate our teachers. Um and then that is it for the curriculum and instruction section. And it's still still you though, right? For the um the resolution. >> Do I have to read it? >> Oh, you don't have to read. Okay, that's
great. Love it. Okay. Uh, can I get a motion to approve uh 14 D2 through D7? >> Thank you, Ray. Second. >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Stephanie. Any questions or comments?
>> I just want to say great job on the grant. Um, thank you for doing that. >> Anyone else? No. Okay. Can we get a roll call >> for Ross? >> Yes. Miss Varella,
>> Mr. Zimmerman. >> Mr. Smagalia, >> yes. >> Mr. Fischer, >> hi. >> Mr. Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Nichols, >> yes. >> Miss Pallet, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Then section E is reports. Uh, number
one is the HIV report reviewed at the May 21st meeting in attachment R1. Number two is the random drug testing and school safety report for May 26 in attachment R2. And we're going to write in a third one because how could we
forget? >> Oh jeez. >> That we needed to approve and accept the 2026 to 2031 strategic plan which we presented today. How did we forget? >> I don't know. We did the agenda review. We talked about it, but we didn't.
>> That's the one that we're writing in. So this report, thank you. Uh we will get it right the next time. >> Okay. So can I get a motion to approve item 14E1 through E3? I write a second. >> Second. >> Carrie. Thank you. Um any questions or
comments? Okay. Can I get a roll call? >> Ross. >> Miss Aarella. >> Yes. >> Mr. Zimmerman. Mr. Sanglia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fischer. Abstain on one and yes on
two and three. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Krauss. >> Yes. >> Miss Nichols. >> Yes. >> Miss Pallet. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Um okay. Great. Uh F. Mr. um Krauss,
you're up. Okay. >> Finance and Building and Grounds Committee. Another exciting committee. >> Yes. >> Met on June 8th and meeting was conducted through Google Meet. Began at 5:30 and ended up at 7:05. In
attendance, Ray Slant, Ebony Demendez, Joe Van Kirk, myself, Ray Zimmerman, Brian Fischer, Jen Pellet, and Tom Bradley. Um the first thing we talked about was a health benefits update and we received a
a presentation by Tom Tafuri from Brown and Brown. He presented us with a program that will be beneficial to the districts in regards to GOP1 drugs specifically prescribed for weight loss only. There's a plan to work directly with the manufacturer and thereby cut
cost of the drugs way and Zband and it'll save the district up to $300,000 because we cut up the middle that particular program. Okay. Um excuse me. Number two, a letter of engagement with
Phoenix Advisors. I had asked Mr. Slam to look into the cost of the referendum work by Phoenix advisers to make sure it was not an overcharge. His investigation indicated that the cost is in line with what other districts have paid and probably a little cheap. And then we
also have our legal services agreement. We've included an agreement on the agenda to continue legal services with Portzio Brownberg and this continues to be our one. Um then under buildings and grounds uh let's see
district maintenance building there is a roof problem there. We received a quote of uh of a co-op vendor. It's under $29,000 and I believe we can do a capital reserve withdrawal to fix that. And then uh the Rolling Hills burner replacement approximately $21,000 to
replace one dual fuel burner. Uh we're going to go with two dual fuel burners because uh we're going to go to natural gas. And that is it. Thank you very much. >> Okay, Mr. Slam. Uh forformational items we have letter A
which is use of buildings and grounds. Letter B which is the approved contracts for the 2526 school year. And then under recommendations we have letter A which is the financial reports and check registers for the month and our transfers purchase orders. Letter B which is the board secretaries and
treasures reports. Letter C which is transportation for the month of June. Letter D which is the delivery uh service agreement with Machio Trucking. Letter E which is the agreement with ED uh Advocate Solutions
LLC for consulting services uh with fund 60 that we funded with fund60. Letter F uh which is the renewal agreement with share 911. Letter G which is the agreement with Porzio Pramberg and Newman. Letter H which is the renewal
agreement with water management services. Letter I which is to approve the proposal from Envirision Consultants Inc. for Ahira annual maintenance effective July 1. Letter J, uh approval for the proposal from securely in amount of $4,67.
Letter K, this is the proposal from independence uh constructors for the district ABA operator for the underground storage tanks for 2627 school year. Letter L, the student accident renewal proposal from Ballinger Specialty Group. Letter M is the
approval for the administrative fee. Uh this fee is related to essentially us offering voluntary student accident insurance uh to families. So that's insurance that we uh offer to them. The district doesn't pay for it. We only pay this fee. Uh and then it's voluntary for them if they want to get additional
coverage. Uh then letter N, which is essentially our renewal of our membership in the school alliance insurance fund. still scrolling. That's the only resolution. Uh letter O, uh which is the approval
for the talent tax levy payment scheduled for the 2627 school year. Uh letter P which is for this position following items. I just want to quick note uh there's an additional item a podium that's added on the addendum uh for that list. Letter Q which is the
renewal with uh with Reich. Letter R, which is the uh agreement with Phoenix Advisors for Municipal Advisor Services. Letter S, the agreement uh with the Morris County Educational Services Commission. Letter T, uh the pro
approval of proposal for uh from Howard Technology Solutions for projectors for two of our uh schools. And then letter U which is approval for uh proposal from summit for the installation of monitoring walls and a PZ meter at the
Vernon township high school. Letter V uh which is a proposal from CJ Vanderbre and Sun for dual uh fuel burner replacement at Rolling Hill School. Uh letter W which is a proposal for Northeastern services to paint the
Lounsbury Hollow Gym. Uh letter X which is a settlement agreement uh between Vernon Township Board of Education and Partnerships in Education. Letter Y which is a donation from the Rolling Hills SCA for indoor recess items. So I just want to say thank you uh for that
donation to support the students. Letter Z accept the award uh for the peer mediation mini grant in amount of $500 for Glen Meadow. Uh letter A uh which is the approval to utilize competitive contracting procedures to procure high
impact tutoring services. Uh letter BB uh which is uh the resolution approving us to move forward with the GLP direct plan uh which is called RX safeguard which was mentioned uh in in the finance
and building grounds report. And then letter C which is the approval for the not to exceed limits for the capital and maintenance reserves. And that's everything. Oh yeah, I I called that one in. Um that
was added to the disposition list. Letter P on the addendum. >> Okay. Could I get a motion to approve items 14 F3A through F3X? >> John second. Second
>> F3. It's F3CC. >> Oh, F3C. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Yeah, didn't put it instead of double letters. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't write it in. Um, okay. Any questions or comments? That was a long list. Does anybody have Charlie?
>> Yep. Letter P. Um, 688 books from the library. Do we have anything left in Rolling Hills? probably they have a lot of books in libraries too. >> That's a small one, isn't it? That
library remember it. >> It's downstairs. It's down. >> Hey, uh P disposition of items trying to find it. We did >> Oh, the >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yes. They called books.
>> There's moving them out of rotation. >> That's what weeded ones. >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. books every year and pick out ones that aren't used as much or are >> in disrepair. Yeah. >> Oh, in disrepair. Okay.
All right. Any other questions? >> All right. Um >> I say I screw up way too far when I was going up. There we go. Miss Carlo, Mr. Zimmerman, Mr. Smeaggley. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Fischer. >> Hi. >> Mr. Krauss. >> Say C. Yes. >> Miss Nichols. >> Yes. >> Miss Pallet. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ross. Motion carries.
Uh, special services. Letter A uh is approval uh for the following out of district placements. Uh just a quick note on the addendum. Uh there is an additional um placement uh contract that was received uh to celebrate the children. Uh letter
B is approval for the uh receiving uh contracts noted in the um table below. >> Okay. Going to get a motion to approve items 14 F4A through F4B.
>> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. Oh, I don't know who did the first. Um, any votes? >> Okay. Questions or comments? >> All right. Seeing none, I guess to a vote. >> Mr. Zerman.
Mr. Smaglia. >> Yes. Mr. Fischer, >> hi. >> Mr. Krauss, >> yes. >> Miss Nichols, >> yes. >> Miss Pelllet, >> yes. >> Dr. Ross, >> yes. >> Miss Sarella, >> yes. >> Motion carries.
>> Okay, great. Um, so moving on to public comment. Item 15. Um, the previous public statement applies to this public comment as well. Do we have any members of the public here or online who would like to
comment? No, >> we have Jesse Pal. >> Oh, okay. >> Jesse, Mrs. Pal, >> thank you. Um, I just wanted to say that I was um happy to hear the superintendent talk about the time
capsule. Um, I didn't know that she knew about it, but I wondered if any of you knew that that was a historical society time capsule that we did in 1975 with
Martha Storms. Um, we did not know anything about it being dug up. It's supposed to be dug up 50 years from now. And of course, um, most of us won't be here. And I spoke with Martha Storms a
couple of weeks ago and we had decided that we would we would pay for a marker or erect something uh near the site just so that people 50 years from now would know it. I had a very nice extensive
conversation with uh Mr. Mark Citro and we discussed some future plans. And you know, at first I was really taken aback that the school had dug it up as was um
former teacher Martha Storms, but in hearing how a lot of it was damaged and water logged, it was a good thing that that happened. And um he's drying things out and safeguarding it and everything.
Um, so that was a good thing. But it's going to be reeried and I understand that Ferguson Funeral Home is donating some kind of concrete ern that they um ensure will will never get uh wet or
exposed to weather. So, I just want to be sure that when you do do something or have some sort of a ceremony or whatever, you just remember to contact us as uh as I'm sure Mr. Citro will. As
I said, I had a very nice conversation with him and I also mentioned to him that um the Vernon Historical Society has the sole and exclusive deed right to the one room schoolhouse on Prices
Switch School and we would love to invite over the next school year classes, different school groups. We do a great program in there and we have a a retired Vernon teacher who actually goes
through a lesson just as the children would have had on the day that the uh school schoolhouse closed or um in the or in the 1800s. And for any of you who have not seen the schoolhouse, we welcome you to come and
take a tour of it. It is phenomenal. Talk about a time capsule. The schoolhouse still to this day looks exactly the way it did when the doors closed in 1958. So, please, if anyone is interested in
going in there, um um Miss De Menddees or any of the board members or anything, give me a call. I'll be happy to take you in there. That's all. >> Thank you. That's really nice of you. Really welcome. I really appreciate that. and several people are already
interested. John Krauss and >> yeah, >> you'll really love it. We're more than happy to take you. Just give me a call. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Just thank you to Miss Paladini and the historical for the partnership um and
for um uh you know all of the contributions for the time capsule and so we will make sure that you're invited and that uh we're all celebrating that together. Thank you. >> Yeah, I'm really glad that worked out. I mean obviously no one no one meant to uh overstep in opening it but at least it
was uh safeguarded now and we can we can uh preserve it and and somebody 50 years from now not me will be there to see it out domestically. >> I don't know they better make some real inroads if maybe
>> um all right uh so I don't think there's anyone else online right? No. Okay, that was the only one. >> Okay, so moving on to item 16, open board member forum. Does anyone else have I have one thing, but does anyone else have anything?
>> Just tell Nick I'm not in middle school anymore >> cuz my uh my laptop just locked on me >> and uh you're tech guy. >> Yeah, I guess I'm the only one. >> Your authentication. I guess I asked too many questions
>> you had too much screen time. >> So, but actually it was Jennifer who engineered the >> I just want to say congratulations and good luck next year um with the with college and and to you all your peers that are graduating in uh next week, right? >> Yeah.
>> So, >> congratulations and good luck. >> You have to be there. >> Yeah, we will be there. So, >> we'll be there. >> Well, he's got to be there times, too, cuz uh uh Dominic >> Yes. He gets embarrassed Dominic. That's That's >> Oh, your hand is >> That's why I joined the board to embarrass Dominic.
>> Um, and I have something to say concerning we're thinking about referendum or authority. There's other voting things going on in our town. There's a petition being put out to change our form of government. And if
that gets on ballot, that means and if it passes, that means there's going to be another special election in May to seat people in July. And if we want something on in March, there's going to be all of these >> things going on for people to vote on,
people to vote on, people to vote on. So we may get lost, Michelle, if that. So I would take care to look and see if that is on the ballot for primary government. And if that happens, we have some think about. That's a lot of votes they need for a lot of signatures they need for that.
>> They need over 30. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. They need a lot, >> right? That >> we did this 10 years ago. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> They want to go back to that. >> Yeah. >> And I just I'm just saying that that's a possibility that that >> voter fatigue is real, >> right?
>> Yeah. Okay. Good point. Um, and I did want to ask uh if anybody knows whether they'll be able to come to the New Jersey School Board Association conference because we um we optimistically RSVPd that we would have at least five. >> You're talking about
>> So we have one, two, okay, good. >> Did you respond? Yeah, you responded, right? >> I don't >> Did you respond? All right. >> I finally respond to your emails, Jen, and you didn't see it. >> I didn't see it. I'm so sorry. I thought this is why I never respond. I only had
>> Oh, okay. I wrote you guys all a text and no one responded except >> um actually I think Ray told me on the phone though. Okay, so we're good. We've got we've got our >> Okay, >> sounds good. Thank you.
>> All right, so uh item 17 motion to adjourn. Pay attention, folks. >> Second. >> Thank you, Ray. Thank you, Carrie. All in favor? Bye. >> Okay, now you can talk amongst yourself. That is that voice board.