Yes, it is. >> The adequate notice of this regular meeting. >> Thank you. Starting over. The adequate notice of this regular meeting as required by the open public meetings act was provided on January 6, 2026.
This notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board in the township office and the board of education administrative office posted on the board of education district website and filed with the township clerk of the township of Warren. All in accordance with the requirements of the open public
meetings act. Please rise for the pledge. to the flag of the United States of America nation indivisible liberty and justice for all >> Mr. Hegel.
>> I will now call the role. Mr. Bratz >> here. >> Mrs. Dalton >> here. >> Mrs. Granholm >> here. >> Miss Keller >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Moffetta, >> Mr. Tor >> here, >> Mr. Valentino >> here, >> Mr. Weinstein
>> here, >> and Mrs. Z >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> All right. Uh, good afternoon everybody and welcome to the board's annual um board retreat uh which is of course welcome open to everyone who wants to
join us. Um we're going to start out with a presentation from our um council board council Mr. arson zar zertarian I apologize who's going to uh give us our annual training on the school ethics act and uh
anything that has come up in the last year >> sir >> thank you very much um I just want to say so my name is Art Zartier I'm one of the partners in the education office education uh law uh section of uh clary jacobi and I'm also a co-chair of the state bar association school law
committee and Dr. Mingle is actually on that committee. So, he's not every superintendent's on that committee. So, you're very very lucky to have that. All right. So, it's my honor to deliver your uh school ethics act review. Uh this should be familiar to everyone, but the hope is that you pick up something new uh and receive a valuable update and my
job is to keep you entertained and grow. So, um let's see how we do moving forward. So, first I'm going to review the two different sections here. So, there's two sections here. The uh the first section is the prohibited acts and that's set forth in 18A2-24. So this is the section that doesn't just
apply to board members. It also applies to school officials and administrators. Now when we review the prohibited acts and I'm going to be talking about the code of conduct for board members as part two. The prohibited acts generally deals with conflicts, finances, uh
personal gain, advantage, abuse of position. So just a quick review. Um again this should be familiar to everybody. No school official or member of immediate family shall have an interest in any business organization or engage in any business transaction or professional activity which is in substantial conflict with the proper
discharge of duties. Uh B, no school official shall use or attempt to use official position to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages or employment to himself, members of immediate family or others. U the others is the one that kind of crosses people up sometimes and
we'll we'll talk about that. Um but there are a lot of this that's one of the primary ones when you see some of these cases develop the using uh the access to unwarranted privileges and advantages or employment. C no school this is very similar to A. No school official shall act in official capacity
in any member where he a member of the immediate family or business organization which has an interest has a direct or indirect financial involvement that might reasonably expect it to impair objectivity or independence of judgment. No school official shall act in an official capacity. A member where
he or immediate family has a personal involvement or create some benefit to the school official or member of his family. D. No school official shall undertake any employment or service whether compensated or not. That's a key thing there. Uh might reasonably expected to prejudice his independence
or judgment in the exercise of in of official duty. Sometimes you see board members wanting to volunteer like as a coach or there was a case a couple years ago where a board member was trying to help the district out and assumed a volunteer position as as nurse uh or substitute cafeteria worker and that
always runs into problem. So it's a little bit of good deed no good deed goes unpunishment. Um section subsection E no school official or member of his immediate family or business organization which he had an interest shall solicit or accept any gift favor loan political contribution service
promise of future employment or thing of value based on understanding that the gift favor loan contribution service etc was given or offered for the purpose of influencing him in the discharge of his official duties. famous case a couple years ago. Board member meant well but
ended up getting going on a a trip paid by a vendor, an all expense trip paid by a vendor to Arizona. Uh then came back to a board meeting and and recommended the the vendor services. So that's seems kind of obvious, but sometimes we we forget about these things. F. Uh, no school official shall use or allowed to
be used his public office or employment or any information not generally available to members of the public which he receives or requires in the course of by reason of office or employment for the purpose of securing financial gain. Any members immediate family or any business organization. So remember this kind of goes along with the
confidentiality that board members are some are privy to a lot of information not generally accessible to the general public. G. No school official or business organization which has an interest shall represent any person or party other than the school board or school district in connection with any
cause proceeding or application member pending before the board school district. Um you see this a little bit. I mean obviously everybody here is um a person and could be a parent um and might have individual interests but there are certain times when even though
you know you you don't give up your rights as a parent the line is blurred. And we're going to talk about a case briefly in a little bit about that. Uh there is an exception here under H where no school official shall be deemed in conflict with these provisions. If by reason of his participation any matter required to be voted upon, uh no
material monetary gain accuses to him as a member of any business profession occupational group to any greater extent than any gain would reasonably be expected to acrew to any other member of the business profession occupational group. So what exactly does that mean? Well, you're not giving yourself an individual advantage. this comes into
play like if you're voting on a policy having to do with like the honor role or or or something else or a grading policy and you have and you have a student in the district, you wouldn't be in violation of that because you're not necessarily uh voting for some type of enhanced uh award for yourself. No
elected member shall be prohibited from making an inquiry. Pretty obvious for information on behalf of a constituent if you know nothing's promised to you. Uh J, nothing shall prohibit any school official or members immediate family from representing himself or others in negotiations or proceedings concerning his or her own interests. Generally,
that's going to be with regard to union issues, but there might be a situation where um as a parent, you might represent yourself for a special ed matter or something like that. Uh K has to do with the school board's association. So, we're just going to leaprog over that. Let's go to uh code of ethics for schoolboard members. So,
as I talked about the the prior section really had to deal not only with uh schoolboard members but also officials and um administrators and had to deal more with conflicts and awards. This section really has to deal more with behavior um and also like the role of
the board uh visa v um the administration and limitations on your powers and other restrictions such as uh confidentiality. So here, you know, obviously um the state board of education issues regulations and you're supposed to uphold and enforce the laws,
regulations of state board of education and corridors pertaining to schools. You might not agree with them. Sometimes we get some strange, you know, rulings from the state board and weird directions, but that's where you are as board members. You're taking note that you're going to enforce uh the laws of the state board of education from the state
of New Jersey. making decisions in the education where for children and look at that lat phrase there regardless of ability, race, creed, sex, social standing. So, um this is where sometimes we get into trouble with, you know, it's equity, equity, equity across the board. And just keep
that in mind that sometimes there might be a situation where it might be affecting maybe not even intentionally affecting one group of students versus another. And it might somehow impact on ability, race, disability, creed, sex, social standing. C, I will confine my board action to policy making, planning,
and appraisal. Um, I'm sure that you've heard that again and again. That's read together with D. You're carrying out your ability, your responsibility not to administer the schools, but together with fellow board members to see they're wellrun. So, you're not running uh rogue. You really have no, I'm sure
school boards has told you this, you really have no power as an individual board member, but you do as a group of board members, as a majority. And again, your primary action here is is of course hiring the superintendent, evaluating the superintendent, working on policy, working on the the judgment, but it's
not to it's certainly not to go into the schools and direct people around or make uh decisions. That that's the educator, that's the administrator's role. And of course, you recognize that authority rests with the board of education, make no personal promises. They'll take any private action. We compromise the board. Sometimes a lot of board members, they
get caught up in this. They might just be going out for like, you know, dinner or or you see somebody in the supermarket and a constituent comes up to you and says, "I want you to do that." You can't make a promise. You just say, "Okay, we'll talk about that. We'll bring it up in committee. I'll bring it back to the superintendent." But you can't make a promise that you're going to act on anything. Um, you refuse
to surrender your independent judgment to special interests um or use groups to use the schools for personal gain or the gain of friends. Again, confidentiality in subsection G, holding all confidential on matters pertaining to schools, which if if disclosed or
needlessly injure um individuals or schools that that seems like it's a high standard, but it's not. The courts really review that as if this gets out, people get hurt, particularly with the accurate, inaccurate information. And that's where you have to watch out with the game of telephone because a lot of times the rumors get around and you'll hear something happened and this comes
into play with like maybe a a student discipline issue or an employee discipline issue or an employee hiring or retention issue. Just be very very careful and of course the best advice is everything's confidential. I'll point the best qualified personnel after consideration recommendation of the
chief administrative officer. Again it's the sup everything it generates from the superintendent regarding personnel. You can speak to them about it and have questions but essentially everything uh emanates from the superintendent of personnel support and protect school personnel and the proper performance of their duties. Um the superintendent
evaluate staff you know the other administrators evaluate staff when a board member starts making comments about personnel or something else going on. You could jeopardize situation here. And the thing that we have to remember here is that your complaint an ethics
complaint could come out of nowhere. It can come anybody in the stands, anybody. It could be on anybody on the board. It could be another administrator. Anybody could file anything. And sometimes this is a situation where somebody mis misspeaks or says something or you know again anything really personnel related
should be between you and the superintendent executive session. But in terms of school personnel, this is where it gets a little crazy. And of course, this is you don't take action on yourself. In subsection J, you refer all complaints to the chief admin uh admin uh administrative officer and act on the complaints at public meetings only after
failure of administrative solution. Nepatism, I'm going to talk about two uh specific areas and then we're going to talk about five recent cases. Nep the two specific areas that a lot of board members get into trouble here are are nepotism and um we'll talk about the second one briefly with nepotism. And
again the the edict here is that you got to watch out in terms of using official position to secure unwarranted privileges, advantages or employment for yourself, members of immediate family or others. Um so relatives these are all definitions that that have been developed through
the case law. Relatives are spouse, civil union, domestic partner, parent, steparent. There's immediate family members and then there's this other. So you go everywhere from immediate family members which obviously is your spouse or children in the household and then you go on to relatives and then you go on to others and it's kind of taken on a
life of its own. So the best thing that we can advise here I'm just pulling up this ethics chart. Um, the best thing we could advise here is is if you have an issue where you have somebody who has some type of employment in the school system, not just this school system, but
maybe like another statewide union or maybe a similar statewide union or administrator union, you really bring it, you should be, you know, disclosing this on your disclosure statement. Um, sometimes I know my firm has a supplementary disclosure statement and if you have this situation, we'll work
through the analysis because it's, you know, you have to kind of stay hands off. A lot of times these these are unintentional these violations and we'll tell you, yeah, you shouldn't be voting on that or yeah, you could stay out of that and then come in and vote on it. Uh, that doesn't affect you at all. It it's a ridiculous analysis and not only
is it very complicated, but the law changes and is inconsistent. So the the best thing I could say to you, I don't know if that affects anybody in this district, but to the extent that you have any of these people or relatives or others who are employed by this district or another statewide union or have some
relationship, we'll we'll work with you. And like you might be you might be conflicted from certain committees but not others. And I believe I've had districts a couple years ago I had a district where seven out of the nine board members um had relatives in the district. So we do this whole flowchart analysis and you could be on you know
this committee but not that committee. So, don't try to navigate this yourself. You have support. Social media, I mean, I personally enjoy social media. I I've reconnected with a lot of high school friends and, you know, I'm in a pizza group and a and a chicken parm group and
I bash Ruckers football on it. But, for the most part, you know, be careful. You know, stay with like, you know, dogs and pizza and pictures of your kids. Try to avoid any kind of political thing. Uh again you we these cases are all over the place and I'll talk about them
generally um you know if you start talking about things people start pegging you as a board member because even if they you know identify yourself as a board member they'll know you're a board member so just be careful what you like share and comment on um you have to ask yourself could a reasonable person perceive that I'm speaking as my
individual capacity or as a board member so you don't give up your rights obviously as a board member or a parent you still have your rights as a parent you still have your rights as a first amend first amendment rights as a citizen, but you have to be very very careful because you get pegged with this thing. And then these disclaimer cases are are all over the place. Okay? So, if
you are going to do this, if you are going to dabble in social media and start talking about what's, you know, what's going on and the issues of the day, obviously the issues in the school district, just be very careful. You'd have to try to use this disclaimer. This is a disclaimer that would be acceptable. But so you know again again
the scam claims are going to say something like the statements are made in my capacity as a private citizen not on my capacity as a board member. They're also not representative of the board or individual members. Uh they solely represent my personal opinions. That sounds pretty good right? But we've had situations where um the school
ethics commission reviews the social media content and say, "Hey, yeah, you use the disclaimer, but who are you kidding?" You know, you're you're still you're acting like a but you can't say this is my individual opinion, but then start saying, "Well, when I'm on the board, I'm going to do this and I want to get my board members to do that." So,
just be very very careful because again, these cases are all over the place. There are people who don't use disclaimers and they they they end up okay and there are people that do use the disclaimers and they end up getting spanked anyway. So just be very very careful. So just to before we go over the five cases that we're talking about from last year just to give you an idea how this plays out just remember the
specific roles the assoc the school officials and the board members everything confidential particularly deliberations and close session personnel student investigations litigations uh make sure that accurate information is communicated um district issued email I mean I be very very
careful obviously what you write in email um anything on your district email or your personal Gmail or personal email account is discoverable Um, you know, one of the most famous crazy emails of all time, time for some traffic problems at Fort Lee, that was a Gmail account. So, when you're when
you're when you're doing any kind of when you're doing any kind of business, you should be using your district email because if somebody starts if there's litigation, somebody starts asking for, you know, what did this board member do in their capacity, we we can just, you know, look at your board email obviously
and figure things out. If you start doing official business on your Gmail, you're you're not going to get over on anybody because you're you're just going to get it's just going to be a headache for yourself because people have to start going through your individual Gmails to figure out what's going. We talked about this the disclaimers on public comments. We talked about
referring any complaints to the administrative personnel. Don't investigate yourself. That's running the schools and be conscious of statements and how they can be perceived. All right. Um Okay, we don't have the Okay, that's it. All right. So, I just want to go over the the cases now. Um, so I'm going to
talk about five cases just briefly to see how they were played. So, these cases were all decided in late 2025. All right. So, the first case has to do with a board member who uh prior to becoming a board member co-founded and co Can
everybody hear me? Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, prior to becoming a board member, she co-founded and co-led the district's special education parental advisory group, CBA, you guys have one, right? Okay. While a board member, the respondent continued to hold the leadership role and also served as
chair of the board's special education committee. All right. As the board's special education committee chairperson, she was the liazison between the board and the district special ed department. So at one point she sends an email from her board email account to CEAC members saying that I intended to attend I
intend to attend the upcoming board meeting not as the co-leader uh or I'm sorry as the co-leader CBAC not as a board member. So obviously she's kind of intermingling things here and she's going to get in trouble. So a complaint gets filed. It goes to administrative law judge and the administrative law
judge says well the use of the account lets a you know send a message that was that was troublesome and although she was permitted to be a member of the CEAG as a parent board member she failed to be vigilant in maintaining appropriate boundaries and therefore she violated
the school ethics act. Um so again this case stands for the proposition that although dual membership in the seabag and the board per se would not reasonably be expected to prejudice her independence of judgment here she's blurring the line because as a leader of seabback she's actually advocating
against the district right um on behalf of special education students and their families and she ended up getting a reprimand I'm sure you guys know that there's different levels here so reprimand is really just like a a written letter that you get it's just a written it's called a written rebuke is how it's defined The next the next level
up is a censure and that get gets a little uglier because there's a there's a there's a public resolution that's issued by the commission and then the board has to read it and you get called out uh and then you could have everything up from suspension to termination. So, uh this board member
got a rep reprimand um the school ethics commission adopt the findings of effect um and then it goes to the commissioner different levels of review here and the commissioner agreed. Also another case, um, so this is a social media case. In this case, uh, was decided July of, uh,
2025. In this case, the board member uses a personal social media account to respond. Okay, he's not even posting. He's responding. He's posting a response. He's not originating the post to social media post made by an anonymous member of a social media group called Parents and Taxpayers of the
Regional School District, Putting Kids First. Um and the post and the ensuing comments all had to do with the potential banning of books in schools, which was a topic that was pretty big recently. Um members of the public then reacted to the board member's posts and asked for clarification his thoughts on
banning books. Now, although the board member didn't directly reference the board in his comments, it was clear from the continuing string of comments that his social media posts were being interpreted as discussing his role as a board member and the impending business and planned actions of board. And also
at no point here did he ever you during his social media discussion did he ever post any kind of disclaimer that he was speaking his personal capacity and not as a member of the board. So this gets filed and goes to an administrative law judge. The administrative law just says that the posts were reasonably interpreted as being made in his
capacity as a board member and public commentary and perspective. Uh although it's unspecified board business regarding history books in the system. However, this administrative law judge says that there is there was really no evidence to support a finding that the respondent's comments and post had the
potential to compromise or that they would really compromise any of the board's discharge of the duties. However, after the administrative law judge finds that, remember there's another level of review. And this is what you have to be careful of because there's different level of review. So, you're not scot-free once the administrative law judge says you're
okay. So what happens is the school ethics commission then reviews what the administrative law judge says and say okay we agree with your factual findings but we're going to modify the decision because we think that given the context of his post a reasonable member of the public would perceive that he was speaking his official capacity and we
disagree that this didn't compromise the board because anything could happen as as a m his social media posts could have caused concern that with the teachers that what was going to happen to material they were teaching in their classrooms. In addition, while the actual issue of book banning might not have been before the board while he was
writing these posts, he was directly commenting on potential or future board activities, including activities or actions that could come before the board. Um, school ethics commission then issues a reprimand because it was his first discipline and occurrence. And the commissioner of education agrees it al with it also. Next case I want to talk
about is it's a little tricky this case here. Um, this is a board member that, you know, really meant well and was just trying to correct a record and and you know, I I don't know why this complaint was filed, but just to show you it does. What happened here was that the board member spouse was a full-time music teacher in the district. The board
approves that the appointment of the spouse to um an extra duty assignment as the board as the band director, but he resigned from the position in December of 22nd. Um, due to the wording of the resignation on the board agenda, there was some confusion. It wasn't clear. And
then all of a sudden the board member receives messages from the community who thought that he was resigning from his full-time teacher position rather than the part-time position. So what the board member does is the board member takes it upon herself to email the superintendent's assistant um and recommends that they revise the agenda
to make it more clear and then the board member also um emailed her spouse's supervisor alerting him the situation in case any communities reached out to him. So she meant well but she kind of went about the wrong way about doing it. Let's see how what happened here. Well, the school ethics commission here um
said that um sent it to the administrative law judge and the administrative law judge said that well she didn't violate anything really because you know I I think it was a friendly communic recommendation. It was just an obvious she was just advising us to an obvious meeting error. Um there was a problem on the agenda and uh maybe
it would have been a better practice for her to take no action because she had to recuse herself. She would have recused herself of the process, right, for voting and everything or maybe just let her spouse deal with this. Um, but the email didn't create any kind of public impression that she was using her position to secure an unwarranted
benefit. Well, even though there was factf finding, remember the administrative law judge's job is to factf find and have a recommend recommend a decision. Okay? So, the school ethics commission adopts the findings of fact, but then they reject the legal conclusion of the ALJ and they say, "Look, recusal in a matter means
recusal at all parts of the life cycle of the matter, and she should not be contacting a superintendent." Um, and the attempt was actually was an attempt to use her official position to secure an un warranted privilege. Um, and again, she was conflicted from any and all matters regarding her spouse. Uh,
not only should she not have been involved in the situation, but the staff could reasonably interpret her email as an attempt to instruct them how to write the agenda and how to do their jobs. She chose to insert herself into a situation where she knew what she was accused and she violated the act and she ended up with a reprimand.
Two other board members now in the last two cases I'm going to talk about. So, the the one board member here goes down to Atlantic City, uh, goes down to workshop. Um, originally the board member was the officer of a for-profit organization. It didn't listed on their
disclosure statement, uh, which is a problem. Obviously, everything has listed on disclosure statement, but then the organization transforms into a non nonfor-profit organization. So, the board pays for the, uh, board member to attend the Atlantic City workshop. And
at the workshop, she wears a name tag with her board credentials. But then she also wears a shirt with the name of the nonprofit organization on it. When speaking to vendors at workshop, she then introduces herself as a board member. But then she ends up promoting her nonprofit in attempt to obtain services on behalf of the nonprofit. And
she also live stream these conversations with vendors. So a complaint is alleged against her. administrative law judge hears it and says that the administrative uh that she violated the act and the school ethics commission adopts the decision and recommends a penalty of censure. So here what happened here was that she attempted to
use her official position as a board member to secure business relationships with vendors for her separate nonprofit when doing the workshop and the reasonable people would view her as lacking objectivity or independence while performing responsibilities as a board member and also promoting her nonprofit. So essentially the conclusion
was that she used her official board position to secure business relationships with vendors for her separate nonprofit and she was centured. Last case I want to talk about and thanks for everybody being very patient is um a board member who was serving um
as board president who started and served as the chair of a board of a nonprofit organization math adventures and workplay which provides free tutoring. So this wasn't even a situation where this board member was getting compensation. The board member um was the chair of the board of an
organization provided free math tutoring and enrichment services with the approval of a superintendent and other administrators. That board member promoted the entity for students in the district through emails and flyers. Ministry of law judge says well this board member didn't violate the act
because you know what happened was she it was permitted. talk to the superintendent um and there's insufficient probable cause to turn member into a formal complaint. Um so the administrative law just focused on the on the fact that she had u gotten the permission from the district
administrators and also that it was free services. So again, the school ethics commission adopts the findings of the judge but then finds penalties and issues a penalty reprimand saying that there's a conflict of interest from the use of his board title position as a means to generate clients and volunteers
for profit proonoting the nonprofit to students and teachers in the district was a substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties as a board member. Even if the services provided by the nonprofit are free, it could create a situation where the parent, teachers, or students may feel pressure to use and/or volunteer for the
nonprofit and the superintendent's permission to promote the nonprofit doesn't negate the fact that a conflict existed. A conflict can exist despite the board member not receiving a salary or any financial benefit and a penalty of reprimand was appropriate under the circumstances. So those are the five
cases. Any questions? Everybody understand everything? Good >> board members, anything? Okay. Thank you very much for having me. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Mr. Zarterian. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> You Thanks, Matt.
>> We'll just let >> Okay, Miss Keller. >> Whereas the Oakmitten Public Meetings Act NJSA 104-11 permits board of education to meet in close session to discuss certain matters. Now therefore be it resolved the board of education adjourns to close session to discuss
specific prospective or current employees unless all who could be adversely affected request an open session. Action may be taken upon return to public session. The length of the meeting is anticipated to be approximately 20 minutes and be further resolved. The minutes of this closed session be made public when the need for
confidentiality no longer exists. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. The board is now in executive session. >> We're going to go to the main office conference room. turn.
>> Motion. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. The board is now back in public session. Um we are going to move on to the next item on the board retreat, which is the board's self-evaluation results and board goal
setting. Um just for everyone's uh knowledge each year the board conducts a self-evaluation across nine goal areas. Uh those are leadership mission and goals policy and governance community relations financial oversight student
achievement and performance monitoring monitoring and then board operations across the following four fields of meetings board member communication board staff relations and board superintendent relations. Uh the board undertakes this self-reflection process
to assess its governance practices, identify areas of strength, and determine whether any areas require additional attention. This self-evaluation is one of the tools that the board uses to set its goals for the coming year. The 2026 results reflect a
strong governance profile. All nine goal areas were rated above a 3.4 on a 4.0 scale, and nearly all item level ratings were 300 or higher. Uh the complete area and item level results were provided to the board on July 16th.
As we set goals for the coming year, I want to make a couple of observations. Um the WTAAA contract negotiations will take place this year. It's customary for the board to have a goal around contract negotiations in the year where that is relevant. Um last year the board had one
goal. Typically we have two or sometimes even three, but last year it was one. And that goal read, "Each board member will participate in at least one community outreach activity during the 2526 school year to strengthen the two-way communication with the broader
community. Uh the board can certainly readopt that goal, a similar goal, um modify it, but I just wanted to place as a marker that that's the goal we had for the last academic year." And then finally, there were two items in the self-ealuation that were identified um
at below 3.0, 0 not a goal area but individual item areas. Um and the board should consider whether or not it wants to do a goal around those items. So with that and assuming everybody has read the full memo on the board's self-reflection
results and recommended board goals, I'm going to open it up to board discussion. So I will say I do think we should have a goal around the WTAA contract. We usually do. So I think that should be one of them. Agreed. And I would typically just I think we have standard
language that we use every time that comes up. Okay. So that's one board goal. And just to remind the you know board goals are owned by the board. These are distinct from district goals. These are goals that the board is uh in a position to effectuate. So something
like that would be appropriate. Other thoughts? Do we want to look at last year's goal and um readopt that or something similar? Again, the goal from last year relating to related to um each member
participating in at least one community outreach activity during the academic year to strengthen the two-way communication with the broader community. Certainly, we're going to have a lot to talk to the community about this year with um all of the items on the plate for the district. Do we
think a goal around board participation in outreach is valuable? >> Yes, I believe so. >> I like it. Um, I also think communication, how we communicate, you know, we I think we all we'd like to
think we do a great job communicating, you know, what what is happening in the district, what it means when it's happening, and sometimes we we hear that, hey, I wasn't aware of that. Even though I think we do a great job of of getting that word out there, maybe setting a goal to figure out even more
ways to communicate to the community. We do have a um standing committee um which is going to be busy this year with the negotiations. That's our personnel negotiation and communication committee that did circulate this last year a um an Excel spreadsheet asking board
members to identify what organizations they had a relationship with. Um and around that we could have a conversation in that committee about about that. I think Rich about um how you know what type of of you know information we're
supplying. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? >> I was just going to maybe not so much communication but as far as the participation um with outreach maybe making it a broader just participation goal in general, you know, including an umbrella of things.
>> I agree. I was going to bring up under the umbrella attendance at this board meeting. not this one but all of the board meetings and committees >> and I would add like preparation for that just really being versed on what it is that's on the agenda.
>> I agree. >> So attendance and participation and preparation in board and committee meetings was one of our weaker scores on the self-ealuation and it is one of the two items that was below the 3.0 that we would want to flag for conversation.
um we have board norms that speak directly to this. So from just a leadership perspective, um I I kind of would want the board's thoughts on do do the norms need to be
uh changed, strengthened I mean how would we approach we already adopt these norms as a board on an annual basis. How do you guys want to approach the attendance issue
>> buddy system? a buddy system. >> Yeah. Like like kind of I'll give you an example. Sometimes for me, you know, the date or whatever. So, I kind of buddied up with Nikki like and and it's I think all of us, you know, we signed up here. We want to be
here all the time. And um sometimes just having that one person that you're communicating with about your, you know, hey, I'll see you there. I just trying to get creative here. I think that's a simple way. I certainly invite all board members to voluntarily on their own as
adults seek a buddy if they find that useful. >> I'm not sure a goal around buddy. You know, I did it. >> Mr. Petta, there's also this thing called a calendar. >> We don't send invites. >> We don't send invites place. >> I was going to say I think you volunteered for that. >> We don't send invites just the
committees. >> Got it. >> Which I also think we could do a better job. >> Mrs. I do go back to what you said. If it's in the norms, do we really need to put in our goals? Yeah, >> I I would say no. Not to say it's not important, but if it exists in the norms, we should all know the norms and just follow the norms.
>> May maybe it would be useful if we all just like recommmit. Mhm. >> I you know, everyone here is we're busy, but I know that this is important to everybody and um you know, I don't know how I would even do something with a
goal around attendance, but if we all recommmit to go back and take a look at those norms, the norms do have, you know, the expectation for attendance as well as the um mechanism for advising if you're going to be absent for some
reason. We we have on occasion in the past and unfortunately just this recently in fact were perilously close to lacking a quorum. And sadly that particular meeting where we barely made quorum was the meeting at which we were recognizing the
achievements of our staff where you would want the staff to see a full deck here um recognizing their efforts. And so that was a look that I think we we what didn't reflect well on
us and I know we work so very hard that so >> sure. Yeah. >> Should uh planning for growth is probably going to be second's biggest topic for >> you speak into the microphone. I'm sorry Steve. >> So the planning for growth is probably
going to be >> just talking to the microphone. >> It's summer. I don't know. >> Okay. So, planning for growth is probably going to be the biggest thing on our agenda. >> Four really big things coming down our
administration and consequently us we are all going to to really be taxed this year. Planning for growth is absolutely right up there. But this is also a CUSAC year. That is a huge lift for the administration, right? We're going to be talking about district goals in a minute
and that's going to also, you know, be um goal. We will have goals around items other than just CQAC and planning for growth. We're going to be talking about BLA, I think, in a minute. Um and we have a contract negotiation. So, we had a lot.
>> So, why don't we just say having one or two might not cut it this year and consider three, four or five as we go through the agenda recognizing how important those things are. And some of the committees may pick it up as well, but so it could be par part, you know,
pared out. I I just, you know, all of us if we I think if we all just like recommmit to each other that we're going to make every effort so that the lift isn't, you know, is equally spread and shared and that we're able to deliver to
our voters, you know, um certainty that everyone here is is doing the hard work as I know we are. So, where we are right now is we're at a WTAAA goal. We're at a renewed goal
from, you know, mirroring last year's goal. Do we want to change anything other than the date on that? Do we want to keep that goal the same? The one about um >> board member participation and outreach. >> My concern is that it was very prescriptive. Um I don't know. Each board member, we
couldn't do it. Each board member participate in at least one community outreach activity during >> the school year to strengthen two-way communication with the broader community. So, I think it should be achievable. If we can't do one,
go to half of an event. No, I mean I what I'd like to try to do is acknowledging that and I we're kind of crossing lines with the district goals, but acknowledging that we have a lot of district goals and a lot of work for administration. I'm specifically thinking about planning
for growth. Are there things that we can articulate as a goal for the board to help with communications around planning for growth? Whether or not we put a number to it of at least one thing, but I I think that could be something that we can actually help with getting the
word out, having people have the right information, that may be something that can then help with some of the district rules. But I don't I don't have the language. I don't know what that look like. it. I know last year we couldn't do just one generic. >> So,
>> but you know, we can always like we can recommmit to that effort. You know, it I don't think that because we didn't achieve it in the first year means that it isn't achievable with the ne another year. I also kind of almost think of it as two separate things. We have all of
the communication and the board, you know, participation in communicating out the planning for growth process and what that's going to look like. showing up at back to school nights, all of that. But separately, this goal last year was really directed not at that. It was directed at building bridges and
pathways to organizations. And what we were going to be speaking with those organizations about would be other things. It would be like what great things are happening in a particular school. Um, you know, how back, you know, how things at back to school went. I mean it was an opportunity not to
focus on the delivery of information around just one thing but generally building our relationship within the community to other organizations. So maybe regarding that we we have the
calendar prepared like at the beginning of the school year and saying hey these are the opportunities right where we can be participating communicating I know we did that but then assigning it you're here you're there let's go let's show up
and these are the topics that we think are um worthy of communicating or worthy of sharing And I think that will also help with the perspective of maybe only hearing about the bad things. Let's just say for the middle school for example, you know, now we're getting we're
sharing all of these positive things that we're accomplishing um as a district, as a school, as a board and and identifying it at the beginning of the year so that people are prepared. They're knowing what it is. It's not like, oh, next week or next month. It's okay, these are the opportunities
throughout the year. Where are you going to be? And send it out as a calendar invite. So >> along with the board meetings, >> one of the things that was struggled with this last year was populating such a calendar is creating the events that I
mean you know one of the things that we we kind of asked individual board members to do was to tell us what organizations they belonged to to then create this opportunity using board members existing relationships rather than us like pushing out like finding
dates and pushing something out is having individual board members come and I mean what I did for instance is I I'm a senior sorry but I'm a senior I'm a member I am a sen I'm an old fart I am um a member of the senior club so I went
to them and I said can would would you host us and they did and so if individual board members who do you guys do amazing stuff you're involved in like 5,000 things every one of you went to an organization that you that is a community organization say, "Hey, you
know, can can the district come talk to you?" And then that becomes the date that populates the calendar that you know. Okay. What do you think is that? >> I think I think it's great, right? Like senior like I mean we do it. >> Well, not seniors. I'm the only one here.
>> But we do it for businesses, you know, like for your own business. If you're thinking of it like that and I think that is what you're recommending is, hey, think about it as if you were marketing your own business. what you would do, how you would do outreach to your community, how you would get the word out there. So maybe just if we come
up with brainstorming some some groups or or some community events or whatever it is that makes sense. Um and then an opportunity to speak at those. >> I mean, we should maybe start thinking about putting tables at stuff.
>> You know, there's um I don't know if they're going to do it this year. I think last year they had a 5K in the fall. Yep. >> You know, >> yeah, >> you know, a district. Yeah, I'm sorry. >> I think it was three, but it may have been five. I think it was five, actually. 3.6 months. >> I wasn't there. I didn't It's like, did
you >> I just wanted to add that I felt like there was a lot of work done with that. Um, you know, with people reaching out to groups and then I feel like, correct me if I'm wrong, but it kind of felt like crickets from from a lot of those populations. >> Yeah. um or you know the ones that had a
lot of us that were part of it. You know it was groups that already kind of had a really good idea of what was going on. So maybe we do need to look at what types of events or you know different ways that we're going to to do that outreach. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I think I think if we want to keep the language the same and when you're a failure what's one I'm kidding. I'm totally kidding. >> Yeah. I keep it in as is. >> Keep it as is. What I what I think we should do differently last year, and this is more for the communications
committee, but instead of, you know, we listed baseball or Girl Scouts and we sort of boiled the ocean, I think we take the cues from what the needs are in terms of the timeliness of the message, what needs to be communicated out, and then we we we formalize it. We say we're
gonna have a table and we're going to wear our shirts and we're gonna maybe buddy up >> to use your phrase and and so it's not just one person walking around a random event, you know, a random because I think that's one thing Dr. Mingle would
communicate here are all the things that are happening at all the schools. And I think some board members did take advantage of that. But I think to let's be a little bit more targeted. Let's actually try to actually do meaningful outreach. But I wouldn't kind of boil the ocean with it. I would say, you know, if we think it's a planning for
growth topic and it's things like back to school nights, we got five back to school nights, you know, how can we get one or two board members at each one where we have a table, we have handouts, you know, and then if it's there's another appropriately timed thing, whether it's planning for growth or
something else, but I think we just get a little bit maybe more focused on what needs to be communicated in a meaningful way and then we formalize it with, you know, who who's available, let's get a table, let's wear our shirts, and let's do rather than last year which I think was a little bit more open-ended. I
think if we're a little bit more targeted and we have multiple one or two board members two three um people feel more comfortable doing it too. So >> I think that's right. Um but who's doing the work is are are is this
>> I think it needs to be a committee. >> Yeah. Well, this is what I'm saying. >> The more I think about it, I think it should be in the likeness of influencers. the way they take a table, they have a I don't want to say provocative, but a question like that that draws you in where it's like, you know, change my mind or let us change your mind or or this is what's great
that's going on. Something that the community would want to hear like for example, what projects is your district doing next year for your elementary schools? Like I remember handing it out and we had all of the projects that we're doing per school on the the trifold or whatever and
>> people ask questions about that. So just doing it in a more targeted way I think makes good sense. Um >> I mean we do have a standing committee that this falls under but that standing committee is also going to be doing contract negotiations. Um would the chair of that committee give some
feedback as to capacity >> just just it's just layer it on just just give it just give it more more work. >> I think it's fine right? Is that fine? >> Okay. It's fine. Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do you feel like you from the board have gotten enough guidance. Um
>> yeah I think you just keep the language from we're obviously going to add the WTAAA goal but I think just if everybody's comfortable with this one we don't get too specific about the topics but that everybody has at least one. >> Okay. >> So that's that's two board goals and that's certain that's 100% more than
last year. So um >> we're an ambitious district. >> We are we are we are right out there. Um, do we want any other goal around just generally supporting the administration in the work that it's doing? Is that a necessary thing? It's not very It's pretty nebulous. I don't
even know what that means. I'm going to take it back. While I was looking, do you want us to do anything for you? >> I don't think you need a goal on that. I think >> Okay, then we already do that. Okay. Anything, Todd? I >> I mean, financial oversight is extremely important, especially as we're planning
for growth. the rising cost of everything, right? So, I you know, I don't know what it does or doesn't look like for a board goal. I know we do a nice job through the finance committee and then the overall board. >> Thank you. >> Like I was saying, we do a nice We do a nice job.
>> No, I think we do a fabulous That was our highest rated area actually. >> Yeah, it just it just seems like it's um it's increasingly important and challenging. >> I think that that's right. I don't know that that's a >> and maybe it's not a goal. >> I don't know that it's a goal, but I
think it's worth mentioning frequently from this >> sure >> from the the das here. Um so that it's captured on video that you know people you know we don't have much of an audience right now but they you know people can go and look at it and they can hear that the board actually brings
that up all the time that that you know we the fiscal challenges are real. Mhm. Um, >> I actually really like that suggestion as a talking point when we're talking about commu when we're talking about communication just how are we doing
actual versus budget. You know, we we had some very big wins last year and sharing that um at these events and educating the people, hey, we this is how we're doing financially thus far this year. This is what our targets are for next year from a project standpoint.
this one. It's a topic of discussion that I think actually matters to our community. >> I think as we build the materials that go out into the public, you know, we can build materials around that. I don't know that that's a goal item. >> No, not a goal. I just meant as part I
was saying tying his recommendation into the community outreach and communication piece is what I was saying. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, we have two goals, people. Anything else? Everyone comfortable that those board goals. So, what's going to happen now is
that Dr. Minkle has taken copious notes and uh actual drafts of the goals will be um made available before our next meeting and I believe our next meeting the board will adopt its board goals. Okay.
All right. If everyone is good with that, let's move on to district goals. Um and for that I think you can >> uh so I I shared details in advance of um proposed priorities and targets.
That's not actually usually what we discuss at this point but um our next meeting isn't until August 31st which is the first day teachers are back. And so I thought it was better just kind of get ahead and and try to do it um here even though it wouldn't be approved until the next time. What has been the practice
since the 2020 strategic plan, the 2020 to 25 strategic plan, is that the strategic plan goals are just the perennial goals and what adjusts each year is where we prioritize our time and effort. I um when I look at what we proposed to you,
there's actually 10 different pri targets listed there, at least one for every one of the strategic plan goals. Those are things that we're working on. um but they are targeted to the language that was the feedback from the board. So for example in goal 1.1 around academic
rigor and engagement the specific goal is around middle school ELA because that's an area that we've identified through the curriculum committee as a high priority. The action plans behind it which we share along the way will have all the pieces like a full program evaluation everything else but we were trying to find a way to quantify whether
or not we made progress on outcomes not just inputs. So traditionally we might have had a goal that said something like complete a program evaluation but we can do that and not see any meaningful change in what is actually occurring in the student which is why we put these goals here. The caution I want to raise
for the academic goals which I know are the most important ones is that we don't have student achievement results from the spring and we normally do by the time we set goals because it was a new test. We don't know when they're coming but we know it's not until at least September. So what I would say is if we
get information that is significantly different than expected, we should come back to a public meeting and have another conversation about whether these are the right targets based on that you know through curriculum and then come here. We estab which has been the goal for the last several years and we've been hitting it incrementally is a 3%
increase in student achievement on the assessments that we give. we don't know because we don't have the information from the external ones. And then you can see that through the other areas they're they're tied to the places where the board gave feedback. For example, in safe, supportive, and inclusive school climate, there's a specific goal around
um middle school student interpersonal behaviors um and so on down the list. And then for planning for growth, which is obviously the thing that's taking up the vast majority of our administrative time and capacity, we kind of establish two checkpoints. One is be ready for you
to have everything you need in September to vote on the issue and the second is once that happens to make sure that we are ready at the end of the school year with the implementation plan. Uh those are two relatively small paragraphs of information but they represent a huge
amount of time and effort. So and outside of that as Mrs. Zan said QAC many of you were not here the last time I went through CUSAC it is a lot of work on the back end for administrators that'll happen throughout the fall. Um that's when the state comes in and they monitor all aspects of our operations.
Um negotiations obviously takes time for administration as well as for the board. Uh but we feel pretty good about these priorities. Happy to take feedback. As far as adopting district goals because it's the strategic plan goals, I would say we could probably adopt the targets if that's what people want to do in August.
comments board members. >> Um, this is my first time going through this process, so excuse me for not having if this is surp I don't want to surprise anybody, but I don't I didn't know what to expect here. So, um, I have
a few questions. um with respect to the um what's in 1.1 with the test results and I think you just touched on it a little bit Dr. Mangle. My question on that are are those results those targeted results achievable and are
those t is the timing aligned with the timing of the tests and the results of the tests? >> Yes. So that's why there's two different times there. Um so the first goal is around ELA. It's a middle school specific goal that says year-over-year
winter to winter would be a 3% increase. We met that last year. Um, that was a district-wide goal, not a middle school specific goal. Last year, though, the reason it's winter is because that's when we give our internal diagnostic assessment. Per, you know, in a perfect world, we would say spring to
spring on the state assessment, but not only do we not have last year's spring results, we never get the next year's before you have to evaluate whether we met the goals. I think, you know, internally, we should Mr. Kimick still has to present on those results. So you even if we don't have that written here,
it's still obviously a because that's the public perception of the achievement. In math, we give an internal math assessment in the spring and so documenting that in the spring is right after we've given it. >> Um thank you. Also, so with respect to
um the academic goals, something we've talked about at the in the curriculum committee is um a focus on sixth grade writing. I would like to suggest that a specific
goal be added to have a a sixth grade writing plan in place by this time next year. And I think based on the conversations we've had in the in the curriculum committee, I would I would anticipate that being achievable, but I would like to suggest that as being a
standalone goal. Um, and then, you know, going down to sorry again, I I didn't I didn't know what we were doing here. Um, the vestibule project is June 20. My my concern is is June
2027 the right deadline for that because if you got if that's a job that's going to get done next summer, I would imagine it's got to go out for bid earlier than June of 2027. >> Yeah, I can address that. So, um, for the two goals that I that that really
come out of my departments, I I just I set them at June of 27 because I didn't know from our design consultants when we'd be looking to do those bid um those bid activities, but they will be done long in advance of of that date. Um,
when exactly that will be done, I'm unsure. We usually look to um set those dates around what would be most advantageous for the district in terms of getting um good bids. Um they they go around more around the vendor schedule a
lot of times to make sure that we are getting in ahead of when many other districts do their bidding. So we become the first uh to set things that way. um we get biders that haven't don't have fil full calendars yet. Um I expect
those let me look at them before I state this. Um well the first both the first goal is around completion. Um those those projects will likely be completed long in advance of June of 27. In terms of the design uh getting us ready for the
vestibule project. My expectation that that will be done in late winter early spring. >> Okay. Yeah. That's what I figured. I just want to make sure we weren't walking ourselves into a trap with it. >> Yeah. No. >> Um and then >> I'm I'm trying to set a goal I'm going to meet. >> I hear you.
Um and then under um the planning for growth section um the second item the second item in there and um I was just my question on that is is June 2027 the
right time frame to accomplish that? Some of those things seem to me to be the types of things that should be accomplished sooner than June 2027. Um, and then in addition, I was going to
suggest, and you know, it's easy for me to suggest things and ask other people to do them. Um, but, uh, I I I was thinking there's an opportunity for some more specific planning for growth goals.
Um, I just thought it was I thought what was in there was a bit broad and the types of things that we're going to accomplish. Anyway, I'm not I don't have a suggestion which obviously isn't that helpful, but um I that was just my
thinking as I read it and that's it. >> Thank you, Kevin. >> Any other board member? >> Dr. Minkle thoughts. >> Sure. >> I just want to talk about the writing one for a second. So, uh, because typically what happens, um, from a cadence standpoint is we take the
feedback, we talk about it more, and then we kind of iterate through the weekly updates so that by the time we get here at the next meeting, things have morphed based on the feedback and all that. Um, so the writing, um, I'll have to talk with the appropriate administrators. I'm not looking in that
direction because I don't want to put them on the spot. Uh we as as people on curriculum know we did make we are making some changes to writing you already and so at the risk of making it harder on
myself and my team a goal that says we're going to have a plan in place by this time next year is probably not really I mean I think a plan is already in place. It might be something to look at how did it go in year one for writing. But let me think about that some more and and we can kind of talk about
whether that should be a standalone goal or does it fit into the action steps that get us towards the larger ELA um goal. And similarly for planning for growth, I think that's something that we could talk about as between now and then. There will be more meetings of the ad hoc committee too. We'll sort of
we'll sort of see where things go. We will certainly have a plan in place by the time the school year closes next year for how we're implementing. I could see it being a two-year thing though of what has to happen during the implementation year and what are the targets to know how how we did that year.
>> Thank you Dr. Minkle. Any other comments on district goals? >> I I have one. I don't know if it's a goal or where it fits or what it is, but I feel like the conversation is empty without a mention of AI and proper usage. Um, I know that there's stuff
that is happening and there's education in that in that area. Um, I look at the categories and I don't know that it fits perfectly anywhere. I guess if I had a shoe horn it' be, you know, elevate academic rigor and engagement, but that's probably not perfect for whatever we choose or don't choose for AI, but I
know that our kids probably could use some instruction on it. And maybe that's just something we handle in the curriculum committee. I I don't know. or or is it a goal? It's it's more of a rhetorical question that I don't have an answer to, but I feel like it should be brought up.
>> Okay. Anyone have thoughts on that? >> Yeah, I think you're right on that. I think it's a curriculum committee discussion. >> That's fine. >> Okay. >> I just wanted to bring up, you know, the goal relating to the the middle school and the negative student interpersonal
behaviors. Um just thinking about, you know, the dis the way the district is possibly going. Um, and I'm curious to see, you know, the impact that potentially having a four five school would have um on the middle school interpersonal behaviors if that would be
a way to kind of bridge things if that's the direction that that we go in. >> Thank you, Miss Dalton. Any other comments on district goals? >> I I had a question uh for Miss Dalton's uh comment. Are you saying put the
planning for growth plan as a part of um fostering a safe, supportive, inclusive school climate as like a a pillar or a contributing factor? >> Well, I guess also the the timing of this would be before theoretically anything would change. So, I'm just
saying I'm curious as to how that will, you know, if that's the direction we go, if that will kind of build on that goal down the road. >> Yeah, I I do think it will. I just don't know how we would put it in now >> if we can't if we can't um
>> thought about this goal. >> Yeah, I think I think in 2027 it probably comes in. >> Just a quick comment on Mr. Brobby's comment. even if it ends up not being a district goal around writing I think some hard milestones that we perhaps
review with a similar frequency to why ready and other things we review so that either if it's not in there it doesn't get lost and it's something that is regularly reviewed is an option perhaps >> thank you Mr. Tour >> more board comments or thoughts on
district goals >> Dr. Dr. Mingle, do you have any questions or anything you need flushed out? >> Okay. >> All right. Same thing with these goals. Um, they're going to get flushed out, looked at, written, circulated, and will be adopted hopefully at the next board
meeting, end of August. And on that note, um, we are going to take a recess. Um, the board is, um, going to eat and that's going to take, we're not actually in executive session. I don't know what. Yeah. Thank you. Um, so I'm going to
take a motion for the recess here in a second. I think our goal is 20 30 minutes. Our goal is to return in 30 minutes. Miss Keller. >> Motion to recess. >> Motion to recess. >> I think you could the chair could just
move. >> I can just move us into recess. Surely I'm not that powerful. >> That's all right. >> I think you just did it. It'll be fine. >> I did it. I have recessed us. We're going to go eat. 30 minutes. Everybody puts us back here at 6:20.
if I if we Oh, good grief. If I can send us into recess, I can bring us back. >> Yeah. >> All right. We are open session. >> We are back in open session. One second as I mop up my spill. Okay. Miss Keller minutes.
>> Resolve that the board of education approves the public and private session minutes of the June 15, 2026 board meeting. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Hegel. Give me one second. the table. >> All right. And call the role in the
minutes. Mr. Bratz? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dalton? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Granholm? >> Yes. >> Miss Keller? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mfetta? >> Yes. >> Mr. Tour? >> Yes. >> Mr. Valentino? >> Yes. >> Mr. Weinstein? >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Zan? >> Yes. >> Minutes pass.
>> Correspondence and information. Dr. Mingled. nothing to report in HIV or suspensions. Uh and the board was in receipt of six emails related to planning for growth work. >> Uh thank you Dr. Mingle. Good evening. Welcome everybody to the um board of
education meeting July 20th. Um many of our residents may not be fully aware of the standing that Dr. Mingle holds in his profession. He's not going to like that I'm drawing attention to him. But uh I have several
times brought to everyone's attention various awards, accolades, and positions of honor that Dr. Mingle has received and held. He rarely speaks of them publicly. He instead regularly lifts up the achievements of others, of students, faculty, and staff and members of the
administration, and those recognitions are all welldeserved. Um but it is a pleasure tonight to be able to congratulate Dr. Mingle on another welldeserved recognition. Last month, our superintendent Matthew Mingle attended the annual IST live 26
and ASCD annual conference 26. At this conference, Dr. Mingle served on a panel addressing entitled um addressing quote overcoming the talent crisis, reimagining teacher recruitment and retention. The panelists included
the national teacher of the year, the executive vice president of Teach for America, the director of an international group of schools based in India, and the CEO of an organization dedicated to teacher pipeline development in Michigan. A truly
impressive panel. Uh Dr. Mingle represented superintendent on this panel. At this conference, our superintendent was, I believe, surprised surprised maybe like I'm surprising you here, uh, to be announced as a recipient
of the International Society for Transforming Education's Making It Happen Award. The organization describes the recognition as honoring visionary educators and leaders who cultivate connected, empowered leaders. As stated
by Richard Colada, the CEO, quote, the future of education is being shaped by leaders who are willing to challenge assumptions, embrace innovation, and keep learners at the center of every decision. This year's honores, of which our Dr. Mingle is one, are demonstrating
what's possible when vision, purpose, and practice come together to create meaningful opportunities for students and educators around the world. So once again, I'm thrilled to be able to congratulate Dr. Mingle
>> and that's all I have. >> Thank you, Mrs. Zan. Um, I'm actually ironically going to recognize three of our staff members quickly um who uh were selected for some prestigious NJ DOE committees. Maryannne Larson is going to
be representing uh us and the state on the English language arts content development and review committee. This is the group that gets together after assessments to to help design the the cut scores and new state assessments and decide on the content that should be on those assessments. So that's uh great to
have one of our staff members selected for that. Michelle Zagamic, who's a middle school social studies teacher, will be on the state's social studies college and career readiness committee. This is the group that will be looking at the next round of social studies standards for the for the state and assistant superintendent Bill Kimmick
was selected to be on the district test coordinator committee. So this again is related to the new state assessments and uh district test coordinators are those who are responsible for implementation in districts and m Mr. Kimick will be representing that group. So congratulations to all three of our staff members who were selected for
these these are statewide uh committees. That's it for me tonight. We'll give everyone a plus. We do not have any presentation or discussion this evening. Um so do I don't believe but do you can tell me do
we have any reports from external appointments? Seeing none. Okay. We're going to move on to curriculum reports or committee reports rather. Um Mr. To curriculum and technology committee. >> Okay. So that's right. So we last met on June the 15th and we
covered off on three areas. The science curriculum, I ready and the use of technology in the district. So I'll update you one by one. So in terms of the science curriculum, adjustments to the curriculum need to be made that were not known at the time of the last revision and when the proposal was
presented. So, New Jersey Department of Education informed the district of this requirement in June of this year and the adjustments uh just so you're all aware of very very minor until wording in the curricula that reflect three updated science standards. So, Mr. Kick Mr. Kick is handling that and it will come back
before the board for approval again in August. Technology and scores as I think you will have heard me mention in the prior update. This has been a topic on the agenda for the last two meetings and we re uh at the last meeting we reviewed uh
a proposal for scope and goal that Mr. Weinstein presented but we couldn't review it in full at that occasion. Uh the committee also discussed the proposed scope and goal feasibility in relation to its various components and the relative importance to other things that are ongoing in the district over
the next year. for example, uh the English language arts project, if you will, at the middle school. We discussed a more narrow focus on technology and how it's being used at the various grade levels to support programming, but in the end concluded there wasn't sufficient time to review the both the
proposal and the implications. So, we'll be doing that again at the next meeting on the 13th of August. uh we'll do it in the context of broader district plans uh for addressing growth, evaluate the priorities and revisit the topic really to see if there's a consensus within the
committee as to what we should or shouldn't do with this and I'll report back on that at the next meeting. Oh, sorry, sorry, one more. I already I mentioned uh so we focused primarily on math at the last meeting but one thing I should flag is the committee noted a 40%
of rising eighth grade students will be taking high school level math in eighth grade uh this coming year. So I think that positively reflects the strength of the program that we have. Uh the committee also discussed uh various takeaways from the review of the data and in order to better assess progress
requested moving forward that we review the math data from fall to spring as we do second grade reading and the administration's following up on that. >> That okay thank you Mr. Tour. Uh the finance operations and security committee had a special meeting on June
24th. The contents of that meeting are going to be the subject of this evening's second executive session. So, those are the only comments I have at this time. Personnel negotiations and communications. Miss Keller. >> Yep. We met on July 15th. It was a brief
meeting. We talked about uh the network administrator job description and the 2026 2027 superintendent evaluation process and timeline. >> Uh thank you, Miss Keller. Planning for growth working group. Also, Miss Keller,
>> the ad hoc planning for growth committee met on July 15th. Uh to clarify, this is different than the full planning for growth working group which included parents and community members. That group's efforts concluded in May. Uh
this committee is responsible for the detailed analysis and implementation planning for the shift to the intermediate model. The committee includes myself, board members Kevin Brozb and Patricia Zan, and members of the administration Dr. Mingle, Bill Kimmick, Chris Hegel, and Molly Lang.
During the July 15th meeting, the committee discussed progress since the June 15th board of ed meeting. Uh, administration completed a preliminary site screening of all four elementary schools. The site screening summary explains why Central and Woodland
schools will not advance to the detailed grades four and five site analysis and why ALT and Mount Horb will continue as the two active sites for consideration. I will now pause on the readout from
that meeting and ask Dr. Mingle to walk through that summary. >> Thank you, Miss Keller. And this information will be added to the um planning for growth FAQ website this Thursday as well. So uh people can read the details and a lot of other information that will be updated this
week as well. So at this point we've completed an initial site screening step as Miss Keller said that does not mean that we've selected an intermediate school location but it means that we've looked at each of the four elementary schools and whether they should continue on into detailed analysis based on that
screening. As Miss Keller said, Central and Woodland will not move forward as potential grades four and five intermediate school sites. It has nothing to do with a judgment about the quality of the schools. It's really it's simply about functional capacity. And uh the simplest way to explain it is is this. The school needs to not only have
a set of home rooms for all the fourth and fifth grade students, it also has to have space for all of our special programs which will need to be housed there. related services, student supports, art, music, intervention, staff work areas, all the things that make up the normal operations of a school. When we look at our current
planning model, which is um using both the round three housing numbers as kind of a low end, but also the stress test that I talked about last month, we know that we'll need as many as 29 full-size rooms in an intermediate school at the high end. And Central and
Woodland don't have 29 full-size rooms. So, it really comes down to a very simple math equation. Under the larger stress test, there would not be enough space at central or woodland, which also speaks to the challenges that those buildings have with maintaining um space as communities grow on that side of town
more than on the other side of town as well. So, it's consistent with the larger planning for growth, finding that those schools have the greatest enrollment and capacity pressure. So in order by narrowing it down, it allows us to get much more in depth in the comparison between ALT and Mount Horb as
the potential intermediate school locations. Again, that doesn't mean that there's been a final site selected. It means that those are the two schools that will be studied deeply, not only internally, but also with uh our transportation analysis that's taking place at the same time. But I would reiterate that there no other decisions
related to that between those two schools. No decisions about principal assignments or anything else related to the intermediate school have been made at this time. >> So to kind of complement what Dr. Mingle just covered, uh he mentioned it briefly. Uh leadership has also begun
the transportation and schooltime feasibility work. The next step is for the transportation consultant to test both two-tier and three- tier possibilities, including whether all three K through K through three schools can share a common schedule and how
preschool sibling schedules, student ride times, and the Wong Hills Regional High School coordination affect feasibility. Work also continued in assessing whether preschools should operate in one centralized location or across the three K through three schools, but there's been no decision
yet as analysis continues. Uh Dr. Mingle also had a productive discussion with CPAD, which is the special education parent advisory group around the unique needs and considerations for this community of students. Um as always, parents and community members are encouraged to email us with any
questions and comments to community warrante.org and the committee will continue to update the FAQs. They were updated last week and communicated in the uh community briefing and they'll be updated again this week after this board meeting and community again in this
week's briefing. >> Thank you, Miss Keller. That's it for committee reports. So, we are moving on to the first opportunity for public commentary. This is the first of two opportunities. I ask that anyone interested in addressing the board please raise their hand or use the raise
your hand feature on Zoom. Each speaker is asked to limit their comments to three minutes. Please begin your comments by stating your name and address and by directing your comments to the presiding officer. Please know that the board of education welcomes and encourages input from the public. Public
commentary is intended as an opportunity for the board to receive such input, but is not intended as a Q&A session. Following public commentary, if appropriate, the presiding officer or the superintendent may provide some response. For this first opportunity, we
ask that your comments be limited to items that appear on tonight's agenda. There will be a second opportunity for all other comments later in the meeting. We do not have a public audience here, so I'm looking to Zoom. Do we have anyone in our Zoom audience that would
like to address the board on agenda items? Going once. Do I have a motion to close public commentary? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. The first opportunity
for public commentary is now closed. Dr. Mingle. Items for board consideration. >> I have nothing. Does any board member wish to pull any item for board consideration for a separate conversation or vote? Seeing none, Miss Keller. >> Motion to approve items for board
consideration A1 through A5, B1 through B9, C1 through C17, and D1 through D4. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Give me one second to take some notes here. All right, I'm ready. Mr. Bratz,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Dalton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Granholm, >> yes. >> Miss Keller, >> yes. >> Mr. Malfetto, >> yes. >> Mr. Tour, >> yes. >> Mr. Valentino, >> yes. >> Mr. Weinstein, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Z, >> yes. >> Motions pass.
>> We do not have unfinished or new business this evening. So, moving on to the second opportunity for public commentary. Um, at this point, uh, you can address any topic you'd like to the board. Again, we ask that you raise your hand or use the raise your hand feature
in Zoom. And remember that comments should be limited to three minutes. Please state your name and address before beginning. Again, still nobody in our live audience. Oh, I apologize. Oh, miss, please.
You'll need to step to or it won't be captured on the video. Brandon Msek 59 small town in Warren. All I wanted to say was I wanted to commend our students for their reading of the Declaration of Independence. It was phenomenal. If you didn't see it, I
did videotape it and publish it. And if anybody out there wants to be proud of their kids, this was a proud moment. >> Awesome. >> That's completely agree. That's a lovely comment. Thank you so much. Okay, moving to the Zoom audience. Do we
have anyone in our Zoom audience that would like to address the board on any topic? Going once. Do I have a motion to close the second opportunity for public comment? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. The second opportunity
for public comment is now closed. Miss Keller. Whereas the open public meetings act NJSA pen4-11 permits the board of education to meet in close session to discuss certain matters. Now therefore be it resolved the board of education adjourns to close session to discuss a matter involving the purchase, lease or
acquisition of real property with public funds. Action will not be taken upon return to public session. The length of the meeting is anticipated to be approximately 30 minutes and be further resolved that minutes of this closed session be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Do I have a second?
>> Second. Second. >> All in favor? Opposed? Abstain. The board is now in executive session. Anybody just >> Rich? >> Um >> motion to return in public session. >> Motion.
>> Do I um wait all in favor? >> I opposed abstain. Okay, we are back in public session and >> motion to adjurnn. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. We're done for this evening. Thank you everyone.