again you notice that this meeting has been provided to the retrospects and The Courier Post as legal ads on January 5th 2024 flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all welome here M here Mr Kendall here Mr Lex here Mr oh I'm sorry you were ask earlier here M here M Williams is M here can I get a motion to approve the minutes from the regular meeting work session of March 21st 2024 second all in favor I can I get a motion to approve item 2.2 the special meeting minutes from March 27th 2024 all in favor Mrs go do we have any correspondents no we do not I'm going to open up for our first public comment um section of the evening this is for members of the public to discuss items that are included on tonight's agenda if you have a comment please state your name and address for the record right seeing none we'll move into the superintendent part all great all right thanks welcome everybody thanks for coming out uh first the agenda is just a followup to the presentation and discussion we had last month on the high school grading scale the board and the community um with a handout on what this process is actually going to look like so shortly after the March meeting uh we formulated an internal uh committee uh to review all things related to the grading scale and the considerations questions and issues some of them are listed at the bottom but um it's not an exhaustive list uh it's about a 14 member uh committee uh including four students gradiance of that I listed their names here because they're also uh our student uh representative on the board of education I didn't list the names of Two 11th grade students it just um didn't think it was appropriate uh it it's not appropriate to interfere uh with the committee the committee is going to meet uh as many times as necessary you know the ask of them is to make a recommendation to me uh sometime between talk between now and the beginning of May um we have a board policy committee scheduled uh for the begin May 7th and then uh I plan on utilizing the time to uh meet with small groups of parents and community members for feedback on the recommendation between May 8th and the 15th and then my hope is to have a first policy reading for the full board what the group's recommendations are um plus the parent feedback plus any other ideas to to um adjust any other adjustments that I would recommend or that the board policy committee would recommend would be incorporated before the May 16th first reading at that point we take the the first policy back out to our community and do more Community engagement sessions for more feedback we the go of a potential second reading and a policy adoption for any new um adjustments uh for The Greening Scout some of the recommendations May directly affect the board policy around grading some of the recommendations may not have anything to do with the actual board policy and because the board policy essentially stops and starts uh regarding the measurement for a BC and so on but there's other things that are kind of close cousins of the Grady scale such as the GPA calculation and so forth you're aware I don't want to um restate all the components as part of the presentation but um go back and take a look at that so that's kind of where we are uh with that any on the board have any questions does this seem familiar to you does this make sense logical rational the balances uh the need to have these discussions kind of internally at the school level and then scaffolds nicely I think toward the superintendent towards the board policy committee I think it's got a strong level of parent engagement and U I think we have a good aim to kind of come together on this and it's you know not everybody's going to be happy at the end of the day but you know we're trying to improve um the amount of Merit Aid that our students are able to qualify for without any of sacrifices is part of our gring scale hope that makes sense to everybody and that's where we are questions for the sake of transparency to the board as well as to parents I just want to highlight one other component if following that May 16th board meeting which is the first reading through board feedback additional parent engagement feedback we feel a need to make changes to that version of the policy then the changed version would go up for first reading in June and then finally second reading in July so we would still be prepared for the start of the school year but we've been very transparent about the timeline up until this point so I want to continue that level of communication just so that we're we're all in the same place about that so when you say first reading of the resolution that's the one that we're that's the our draft model that has to we have to put something in paper and just so the folks know it's not necessarily what gets approved right so we can we can tweak it from there CU my question uh Dr was just just based on the amount of people here and the timing is this enough time for them to get all their I mean you've been doing this for a while so I know that but is it enough time for the folks behind me to get all their input too I think I hope right I think most of the input has been received I think from many of the folks that here just g a g a quick glance I think we've gotten input from most of the individuals um and most of them by first name now so I think I think you have most of the input but if it's not listen changes need to be implemented for September right we still have the months of July August here we need them we're going to continue to heat um and the you know the committee with making a recommendation before April 30th I think that might be a little bit Ambi ambitious so that could very easily go into the first we at least um that's why so the schedule that's put out here is fluid yeah it's just it's just spaghetti schedule we had to put something in the paper to work from this is the best case scenario listen you always want to end the school year prepared to open the following you know the following day right uh so so Dr pakar worked through this with our committee as part of our April 9th committee meeting and the intent was when we come to that May 16th board meeting publicly as chair I would be able to share with the board not only what the committee's recommendation is around first reading but also what the parent engagement response has been to that first reading to be able to say these are the components that the parent engagement group supports these are the components that we might want to go back for further consideration at the committee level so that's why I'm just sharing at that June meeting the parent engagement committee might come and say yes we support you this makes sense we're ready to move forward or they might say hey can you put together another version for first reading in June that the committee feels comfortable working with the administration to do in which case then it would go to Second reading in July so it's still time to prepare for the start of the school year but given the level of of family engagement um both at the parent and the student level that has come forward on this particular topic I just want to be a transparent responsible about that questions for the board all right V and Brady welcome back a great time in Disney all right and uh we're ready for your report so this week tickets are being sold for our prom which is on May 17th Friday as of today the class officers have sold nearly 200 and they're expecting to double that number tomorrow which is usually when all the tickets gets fored cuz it's the last stay um contrary to previous years our prom was all at the Mount Laurel Weston um but this year it'll be at the Scottish right which is a lot Clos to to home and people are really excited because it's such a a much easier Drive um tons of students are actually asking other people to the prom little prom proposals which we didn't see that much of last year um and they're actually mesing grad so juniors are asking seniors and vice versa which is super cool to see because it's our last year so we're kind of all bonding I guess um we also had an assembly a little while back from organ organization called friends of Rachel uh Rachel was a victim of the combine shooting and her family and friends started an organization to give back to schools and help communities become a more positive and supportive place after the assembly there have been two meetings and at them we were trying to get some ideas out um on how to help the students in need at our school um and after throwing many ideas out we landed on a school food pantry and clothing Drive almost like a store but everything in the store would be free um for any kid that needs anything from the store um unfortunately time seems to be kind of running out this year uh so there likely not be any real like building of the idea until next year but I think we've laid a really good foundation for the future yeah we're really optimistic about that it be an awesome project for the future um so while seniors are committing to colleges or like their postgraduation plans we just had a lot of kids commit to tcj a few to Charleston and one to Boston University which is really impressive um under class are wrapping up the time of year when students are picking all of their courses um I've heard tons of great things about the process this far and a lot of Juniors have been coming to seniors like myself and my friends and asking them you know what classes they should take and they're all taking like really rigorous courses but on the other side of that we also added advanced level statistics and CP level Anatomy which is great for those students that want to take those courses but not necessarily at such a high level um so that should be really cool for those students that want to take those opportunities that's we have you're not going to share you got into three schools right you got three accept but go ahead so I got I did get into Boston College um and then George University and American University and those are my tops right now congratulations good job yeah so every every year uh there's a yearbook kind of students are voted most likely right sounds like that we have the right to student Representatives on our Board of Education because Brady and Savannah will voted most likely to change the [Applause] world okay all right so I think uh everybody knows we're in executive session earlier tonight I went through budget timelines with the Board of Education um I you know on the on the right side of things you know I said out District update a few days ago there is a pathway to receive some of these deduction and state funding back um 2/3 of that back there are some caveat to that um however the timelines for notifying staff and the timelines for adopting uh the school budget for the uh for the public hearings have not been changed so unfortunately uh our budget hearing uh is still scheduled for May 2nd so really just too short weeks away um some really tough decisions going to have to be made nothing is decided tonight um you been working having difficult conversations with members of the administrative team these decisions will not be in a vacuum which we Shar tonight with the executive session with the board in terms of just ideas none of them are any good none of them are any good um and you know like to continue on with you know not only keeping all the programs and Personnel that we have in the district but also keeping all of the resources and adding the programs that's how you improve the school district so um we certainly have some challenging times in front of us however this shakes out um what will be presented in in May on May second from a balanced budget standpoint hopefully will not be permanent and we'll be able to have additional conversations in in the months later in May and maybe in June uh with the idea of you know adding some and positions back into the budget for for next year when this was first announced you know these reductions I remember I want to remind me I said that you probably won't know until July in terms of where will these things actually become so it's an easy time uh to be uh in the district because we're proud of of what we built we want to keep it we want to improve it uh but financially we've not received the support necessary uh to do so and and we have some some concerning escalating costs that are an added barrier so that's that's where the budget is and that's where the dates are all right so ready to move to our present great all right so really exciting news uh to my right there's is the uh visual of the music department is here tonight uh led by Mr John mro and I received a letter uh from the NM Foundation they just say n Foundation as call okay and uh the the recognition tonight is that the head Township uh has been recognized as the best community for music education this is a national ecme award that has honored more than a thousand schools and districts across 43 43 States and the qualification is for unwavering commitment to music education as an integral part of a well-rounded education for all students so um we will probably eventually provide you with a plaque uh Mr MAA I'm going to ask you to introduce your staff here tonight uh but for the purposes of tonight wanting to you something to take a photo we are presenting you with a small certificate of for best communities from music education um for unwavering Excellence um to your craft and make you do so like the it I'd like you introduce the staff say a few words and then take a phot thank you thank you Mr can do um well I'm John barcaro I'm the uh District Hearts fac here thank you um and over here are the wonderful uh portion of our art staff our music staff and we have Mr Brian mcnamer here who is in charge of our high school band Etc we also have uh Miss Lisa Huff who is in charge of our Elementary music in part we also have Miss Jen GNE who's also high school and middle school and Elementary uh music strings uh we have m Abby Marl Stein who is going to be our element not is going is currently our Elementary uh uh music educator as well and when then we have Mr Cathy over here who is in our Middle School handling all things uh instrumental as well so um this wouldn't have happened if our very own Abby marline hadn't said hey John we should do this thing and uh so then I thought up the form and you know it was a pretty um uh exciting process and then we got the notification hey you're one of the best in in the nation so couldn't be prouder to be a part of this team and a part of this district and thank you for this beautiful plaque take a photo in front of the V but before we do that can you give a little infomercial for Madagascar RMS musical oh man if you're looking for a night of entertainment that lasts about 60 minutes this is it so Madagascar Madagascar is going to be opening the end of this month this is um uh uh Miss McDonald's first directorial debut for the Middle School Musical she's been doing an excellent job because I'm the control freak as well so I'm seeing everything she's doing she's doing great it's awesome it looks great the kids are excited they're happy they're smiling every day um and it's going to it's actually a really good musical it's it's fun music so come see it come support it it'll be a nice night thank you for the you want to we have our own people in the back people people in the front [Music] [Music] yeah are you go ahead it's all you oh are you sure you okay you you'll send it to us right yeah I can send this is a lot of pressure ready all right let's get our faces in the FR all right look at me smile we not I don't know whatever you want do you want anyone that looks silly or I don't like happy Wilding so people are like I go why am I here I'm sorry thank you guys appreciate it thank you [Applause] see Jimmy [Music] all right all right moving into the rest of our agenda jumping into section s finance and Facilities uh Mr Richie or Mr Lex did you have a committee meeting you give an update I I'll give an update sure thank you Kelly um so we met last night and uh just had a couple things at we went over um the emergent project and capital maintenance program has award had the township over $449,000 for capital projects that will be uh use the money for tennis court repair new server for high school cameras bus repairs and concrete for baseball bleachers so that's good um the construction management firm for the referendum we appointed uh new road and the can County Improvement Authority and you'll see that on this month's agenda the cops Grant is open and due June 11th work on the they're working on the application now and uh looking to have new cameras uh throughout the district um also looking into an appraisal for the Board of Education building and last but not least rfps are out for three uh things auditor nursing and behavior intervention ad the just for me thank you can I add a little bit to that sure okay so the tennis courts are part of the referendum and but these repairs are going to cost us about $6,000 we have three4 in cracks on about four of the tennis and the cracks are widening we're worried that there's going to be an injury um liability issues so we're trying it's just a Pat's job just to try to help get us through this season maybe part of next season before we put up the tennis cours to replace that completely in the water is continuing and cause that issue um so that that's why I think it's important for we to understand you know this is just a temporary inexpensive Band-Aid to prevent injury other thing is you know you I know I talked through the board some individual board members before about the idea of at least getting the board office approved I don't think anyone is Mo out of the board office I know the Board of Education likes the building we like being in in the board office um but I I think it can't hard to get it appraised you know if if this year is some you know if something is learned from this budget cycle is that you can never assume anything you never assume what the state aid is going to be from year to year it's really just you know without any reduction in moment this the amount of Aid that we're losing is is very shocking that I think we need to start to prepare for anything so to speak so you know the idea of getting an appraisal just would be just for the scenario know we can't we can't have like multiple years like this you know uh so there would be a situation where we went into school buildings and uh we have to kind of separate and figure out a way to make it work right um so it's just an appraisal we're not saying that we're Sig for on us right now any questions about that I have one question would that appraisal include any under surface I guess exploration so I remember from the previous Bond referendum when we looked into that there was a tank or something below the surface that would affect the value of of the property so would that appraisal include that I think if we have an information and there was a tank under the ground there I'm see if they say the Tank's probably still under the ground so just turn that information over the okay so just from a disclosure standpoint that would be part of the correct okay all right board members I know we didn't get a chance to discuss the agenda together so I'll take motions to approve then we'll do questions then we'll approve um can I get a motion to approve items 7.2 through [Music] 7.18 any questions I have a question on 7.9 the tuition rates yes in our committee meeting we discussed the possibility of a different tuition rate for students on an F1 or a J1 Visa are we still pursuing that or are we just going to kind of go with with these Universal tuition rates for the 2425 school year no tuition rate there's no tuition for J1 students uh they're basically had cap just get State a supposed to get state so just that Intercultural exchange there correct well for the F1 my recommendation would be to accept the same tuition as we would for um 9 to 127500 okay and any extra uh funds that would be kind of captured as part of F1 exchange students would be passed off to host families because it's getting more and more more and more expensive to host exchange uh food gas and uh so our host families five in the district right now doing on a volunteer basis if there's a way to provide I help be stien to offset some of the cost the W cost I think it would be a good faith way to kind of accommodate some these okay I had a question on 710 um those tuition students were required to pay the tuition that for the out district for the C County techical Schools y that's a huge increas others give any question I did I have a question on um 7.18 cheing to make sure the number is the same yes it is um summer camps and the question was do we receive income for facilities rental and no these are um which camps that are run by our teachers in our coaches so we do not re that any other questions call Miss B yes M doy yes Mr Kendall yes Mr Le obain Mr Richie yes Mr robman yes Sal yes Miss yes moving into Section 8 instruction program uh billing you provide a committee up sure um so preschool and kindergarten Roundup events went really well we currently have 100 plus students signed up for preschool um and we have to give a nice thank you a shout out to our head and tou of Wawa because they for those events um provided donuts and coffee um you know for for those Roundup uh nights so thank you uh the tutored by teachers program is going really well the company's been very receptive to teacher feedback um you know that's from our our tutoring Grant and they've been making adjustments uh for our students So based off of what teacher feedback is they're right away making adjustments to what they are doing um the 2024 summer enrichment program which is was funed funded by Title One um invitations have been distributed to Rising first to Rising 12th grade students who are still working towards grade level Mastery uh some of the offerings um that we're going to have this summer but they're not limited to is cross-curricular Adventures Civics designing with canva jump start to Middle School summer reading social emotional learning social entrepreneurship culinary Creations which I should probably sign myself up for um p a multimedia art um and summer school is still being explored for those in need due to attendance um like lack of attendance um in school and mastering uh grade level standards a curriculum Council initiative is in the exploratory stages with the goal of revising and organizing District curricula so taking that and putting that into you know one specific area digitally that we can access our our curricular easier uh the district is currently looking at ways to utilize parent resources to assist with combating budget cuts and and Mrs shorter has been um you know really working hard with trying to figure out ways that you know programming we can try to extend um and save money so uh you know some examples are we're going to uh she was able to talk to amplify and we're going to be able to continue to Pilot that versus uh purchasing that program this year so that is a savings for us and um also looking into the free pilot for Mastery writing so similar to that mystery DG with uh mystery science um and that would be for grades 3 to five with hopefully reduced fees you know piloting that and then reduced fees within year two the next professional development session will be held during our early dismissal Day on May 17th and the focus will be report card indicators seal and Trauma informed practices PLC and end of the year wrapup and kindergarten transition night is May 15th at 7:00 p.m. in the media center for all incoming kindergarten families and I did notice that on our our previous minutes I did give that original date that we had thought and talk about as the 17th so this is a change so that was incorrect um so I apologize for that it is actually May 15th thank you we have nothing to approve in this section so moving to section nine Personnel Mrs Rodman would you like to give a committee update certainly so our personnel and policy committee met on April 9th there were four um major components to our meeting first was reviewing and then refining the timeline around what some of the grading scale recommendations are going to look like so that's the same timeline that was shared with um the public this evening as a part of Dr ficarro's uh superintendent report the second component of that was discussing at a very high level potential Personnel shifts in response to our budget situation which we then discussed um at a slightly deeper level during the executive session with the full board this evening and then um related to policy you will see on for first reading um this evening two major batches of policy so the first batch is four mandated policy revisions and one regulation policy um revision or regulation guide mandated revision related specifically to protected classes so the only real shift there is to expand the definition of protected classes as it relates to equal employment affirmative action Etc so that we continue to align with State Statute in that area it also is related to The District Equity plan um making sure that we as a School Board review and approve the district Equity plan every year it's what we already do in practice it's just making sure um due to the the new state mandate that that policy reflects what our board is already already doing in practice so those are the four policies and the one regulation guide that you will see on the agenda for first reading this evening that are mandated revisions you will also see three policies or I should say two policies that were a recommended revision that the committee is recommending that the full board move forward with um related to sick leave for both um instructional staff as well as support staff it gives further definition to the previous policy of 3432 which we are recommending for abolishment this evening so that one would go away the two um 1642 um policy and and regulation guides would go into into place and we feel it brings much greater Clarity to staff as to what's included there so um those are the ones that are on for first reading this evening and then if you'll recall from last month um we'll be moving forward to Second reading the policy and the regulation guide regarding um education of homeless children um so that that would look forward to to Second read thank you can I get a motion to approve items 9.2 through 9.17 so move second any questions uh I had a question come through on believe it was 9.3 and it was a date issue and that date has been corrected said 2020 return oh you know what that that was pulled from the agenda never mind because it was for next year we said and hold off on that any other questions roll the spilling s yes M Desi Mr Kendall Mr Lex yes Mr Richie yes m robman m St yes moving into section 10 student services and activities can I get a motion to approve items 10.1 through 10.11 motion [Music] approve any questions uh 10.3 the V sc one that seems very ODOT that I know that situation uh very well yeah that was the right decision um that was for the safety of others in that carass it just seems like it's CAU me off guard and I noticed that there's at least while my report on the middle school there seems to be in the high school there seems to be a reoccurring theme with at least one student causing issues three separate times and the Middle School particularly and then High School the same thing so I don't that students help Hope sure they do right what happens if they have like a repeat offender like that have you're suspended a certain amount of times just a conference with uh the parents and the administration I think if you suspended five time five days of suspension I meet with the with the parent and the student and then if they uh there's not Improvement start SP po this year I actually have not had any of those meetings two years ago by this time of year I probably had four or five meetings with parents and students that have met that threshold not got I have a question related to 10.5 and 10.6 so there have been three um PP situations at Edison two on for second reading one on for first reading that were not investigating is that because it didn't reach the threshold of of hi So a family may be reporting it but it does not meet that particular threshold that's correct okay it was just a pattern so I wanted to to make sure I was understanding that and the one that you asked about um the last me asked me to look into the similar situation we had the details of that and uh Okay add the specific on that if you want to see it later okay thank you any other questions M Bingley yes M Desi yes Mr Kendall Mr Lex yes Mr Richie yes M robman yes M St yes Missle yes moving into section 11 policy can I get a motion to approve item 11 Point move second any questions roll call Ming yes M Desi Mr Kendall Mr Le Mr Richie m m yes M yes all right we're moving into our final public comment section of the evening if you have a comment to make uh this can be on any item um it does not have to have been on tonight's agenda we ask that you come up front state your name State your address and when comments to 3 minutes open it up okay good evening uh my name is Al 782 West M Vernon Avenue so I'm glad to hear that there is a great scale committee it's something that we parents have w for to seek to come into tuition for a very long time now I want to thank the superintendent for listening to us and putting words into action this is progress however let me remind you as we expressed from the very beginning that we cannot have partiality in the committee we cannot have any member in the past that have expressed their resolve into keeping the existing grade scale objectivity is what a great committee Poss Essence to follow the evidence where it leads you even if it brings you to unwelcome or undesired conclusions in other words an open mind he will find it difficult to accept any findings from this committee that does not include partial members or that does include partial if one was placed on a committee seated across from their boss who has been outspoken about their stance with the grading skill one could find it difficult to speak freely and present their findings if that one person feels so strongly about the grading skill is in a position of power then their influence can dramatically affect the work of other members on the committee we had a meeting with one member in November who is currently stay who's currently serving on that committee at the meeting he this member told us just so you know nothing changes unless I say so during the whole meeting this member was adamant of keeping the great scale as it is and kept calling it Superior this is not object this is not objectivity this is not having an open mind this is not following the evidence where it leads you this runs contrary of what a good committee has made otherwise how can the people accept the conclusion determined by the committee if the people feel that the committee cannot operate freely I urge that parents enjoy a seat among this committee involves our children their future their mental stress in our tuition model we are major stakeholders that being addressed we fully support the 10 10o plus or minus grade scale it would benefit not just the elite students but all students thank you thank you hello I'm ter kit in Santiago I live at 3:45 Avendale Avenue um just a piggyback on what was said I think I was pretty disappointed that there aren't um parent representation on the committee my call with you Dr pikaro I left kind of understanding that there would be parents on the committee and I know other districts have had Parents on this type of committee before so I was pretty disappointed by that considering the community um the community uh coming out to support grade scale change I there have been a lot of parents over a long sustained period of time and even in past uh years um the other thing is I really think that a committee if not that committee should not just be looking at the grade scale but also should be looking at related issues like the transcript and what's on it and also the waiting that we give to classes um we talked about that too Dr ficaro and my understanding was this committee would be a broader committee or at least if it's not this one then there's going to be another one soon after that's going to look at it because it's all related and so I think it's hard to look at just one thing it sounds like you were you were about to say something I don't want to interrupt you but take a hand out take a hand out did you get a hand out when you want I did not okay okay please go on okay so that's really it I just um I just think that there really should have been parents on it and I think frankly you're not going to get the kind of support for whatever comes out of that probably if parents aren't on it and the other thing I want to say is look I I have no issue with with uh Gary O'Brien as a person but I'll be honest very few parents trust that he is going to come forward with anything that they're going to buy into and part of that is because of his reaction in the past to parents one-on-one and to this issue and I think he's very biased as you said and I just don't think you have him on the committee which I understand but then not to have parents on the committee and I agree with everything you said about what he said and how that's going to impact the committee so I just yeah I just think it's going to be problematic I think yes I I'm just going to ask moving forward that we not single out any of our individual educators comments please okay yeah address um I think it's important that everyone's respectful here uh and that you know we come along way and you know we're starting to work together and I think we're going to get there and the plan that we have in place I think was a plan that I recommend and I'm a firm believer that parents need to be part of of the discussion and we have a process to engage parents in a deep way but there must always be elements to change where part of the process includes the ability to have internal conversations before we Branch out into having bring you know having those conversations uh with folks that are not either students employees or board members in the system not having parents on the committee is by no means slight in parents we I think I understand how the parents feel about this issue I've met actually looking at gu I think I've met with most of you some of you I met more than oneone um so parents are already involved in a deep deep way into this into this conversation and have actually been the catalyst the for the committee have been the Catalyst of spur the research that was presented after the last meeting so we want parents feedback but we want this committee to look at all the evidence that has already been submitted from our parents look at the evidence that was presented at the last meeting that that I presented um and try to figure out the best cast SWS with a recommendation at that point we already have a parent committee group that we're I'm going to meet with less than 24 hours after I we meet with the policy committee if we need to add a second parent committee to that I'm all for that we need to have a zoom meeting with all of these parents between the first policy meeting where we discuss a tenative recommendation and the second policy reading where it's actually implemented I'm all for that right but there's layers to this and you know the process needs to be perspective that was my call to do it this way because I think it would be the most productive way we can't have any personal um attacks to this not everyone's always going to agree with superintendent the building principle and and so forth I have to speak up for our principal mrri I believe in Mr O'Brian's Integrity I think Mr O'Brian is a man of integrity I don't want to re adjudicate whatever presentation occurred in 2017 that's not the purpose of moving forward he has served this District extremely well I trust the man I trust his leadership and I trust his ability to remain impartial while being part of a committee and I think that he's been to do it in a way where he has an open mind has integrity and he's not opposed the change this man is not opposed to change um conversation that was referenced earlier you know there all I'll say to that is you know two sides to the story on that um and disagreements are difficult sometimes but we have to remain respectful we have to continue to listen to one another we listening to the parents we hear you we're trying to do this in the best interest of um from the majority and all of us students so let's let's try to stay together on this even though we don't always agree and not have any personal attacks or single anyone out um as a reason that something may succeed or fail any certain in certain sets of eyes we have to there's too many difficult things that are before this District right now and there's too many difficult things behind us in this particular topic that we have to move forward in a positive way thank you [Music] Jen Parker 105 Virginia um hi in Township parents to Thursday night April 20th 7:00 p.m. Media Center information session being held during the Board of Ed meeting to help understand head and Township's practices when it comes to grading scale waiting of GPA valuing of AP courses the number of weighted course options and the head in Township Honor Society wanting to see the students of Haden Township and our school shine should be the priority of the Board of Ed and the administration when it adjustments can be made so our students may be more competitive with peers from other districts in the college application merit scholarship process with no impact to our budget we need to ask why not make change without people showing up there is no reason to make change please share this with other parents V grade levels and please make time this was 7 years ago yesterday in my Facebook memories um I want the new committee um just to remember since then nothing has changed students have missed out on Merit the district is continuing to allow students to valid applications with weighted GPA when an unweighted GPA is called for the waiting formula continues to only impact students who earn A's in weighted courses negatively the grading scale is an eight is still eight points and costing students Merit money particularly in conjunction with the waiting scale we accept that this is a small district with financial difficulties being lifted up largely by tax dollars our district is imperfectly perfect we ask that through a grading scale change to a 10 plus minus and a real look at practices surrounding the waiting policy like one like one of my metal smithing professors used to remind us in the studio if you can't make it perfect make it shine it's our hope that the newly formed committee keeps this in mind we think hideen Township can help all students shine with thoughtful e changes you fine hi Nicole Kennedy 1009 Emerald I just want to say two things kind of adding on to um Al and Carrie's comments um I really think the the request for parent involvement is more around there is the fact that there's been so much work done by these parents I can't claim any credit so much number crunching phone call data analysis that have been done that the hope is that this committee will be able to see all of that so I guess if it's not possible to meet with them before um the recommendation is made the question I guess I'll just put out there that I you can't answer are they watching past board uh meetings are they you know I know Dr a bunch of us have met with you and we're grateful for the time but it's really the fact that there's so much knowledge within this group and others who couldn't make it that we want to be used to inform that committee so that's I think what everybody's looking for obviously involvement with the committee and conversation and collaboration would be ideal but I understand that that's not going to be the case so just being able to help inform that committee would be amazing um the the second thing I want to say is I don't think it's you know a place of finger pointing that that everyone's getting at and then I'm not going to name names or attack anybody but there's facts being shared and I think those facts are really important in understanding how we got to be where we are today so I thank everybody for sharing their experiences and their facts because I think it's critical moving forward thank you thank you want Lauren Beals 208 Hampton Road thank you all thank you board Carl um I'm here to Echo some of the things that were already said and that drar you addressed as well um the equity in the decision making process regarding the grading scale um I think it's crucial to emphasize the importance of fairness and inclusivity in the decision- making process unfortunately the committee advising Dr pisaro and the grading scale lacks representation as we know from parents um this exclusion is concerning and raises significant issues of inequity one primary concern is the absence of diverse perspectives and voices in the decision-making process by excluding parents the committee making biased recommendations that don't fully consider the concerns of all stakeholders Additionally the power dynamics within the committee are unfair and contribute to the potential for bias decision-making bodies should represent the Brad the broader Comm community and include a variety of perspectives to ensure accountability and legitimacy as a proud member of the hat and Township District Equity committee consisting of a devoted group of Administrators teachers counselors a board member parents and students I've witnessed the importance of fostering relationships and collaboration among all parties involved in our educational system at our most recent meeting in March we landed on our big idea moving forward relationships we agreed that having strong honest authentic relationships and is the foundation of equity work however excluding parents from this critical decision-making process contradicts the goals of our Equity committee and fails to set a positive example for our students I urge you to reconsider the decision and include parents on the committee there is still time to rectify the situation and ensure that our decision-making process is fair transparent and inclusive I think rushing the decision is unwise as well it creates unnecessary barriers and hinders our ability to evaluate all angles and research to come to an equitable decision for the collective student body I support a 10 point a 10o plus minus scale and I do believe there's plenty of ample research to support this change my hope is for all of us to to expand the committee hear the research parents have collected and make the best decision for our students while building stronger relationships between all parties thank you any other [Music] comments Christina 782 West M Vernon Avenue we are asking that a 10-point scale be implemented in the district it will put us on on a Level Playing Field with the other districts the presentation last month seemed to focus on just a handful of the top students the school is supposed to focus on every student and not just those at the top a public school should be a place where everyone thrives not just a few by including pluses and minuses the bell curve is more Diversified coupled that with more value given to AP courses the elite students have more room at the far right of the bell curve to be distributed after the meeting we stayed to talk about the presentation Dr pacero and Ali Rodman both said that rather than a flat 10o scale would we as parents accept a 10 plus or minus scale let us be clear that is exactly what we are asking for a 10 point scale Plus or minuses would be our ideal grading scale a 92 in the scale would count as a 3.7 this is a dramatic difference under the existing scale where a 92 is a 3.0 we also read the literature Dr ficaro provided last month the author does not claim that GPA do not matter but gpas are one characteristic of the students profile he therefore agrees without side that GPA are a student's foot in the door and that all other indicators SATs grading profile are assessed after that first admissions hurdle is achieved the GPA are the most important and colleges cannot and do not read our profile with some schools seeing 70,000 plus applications we need to do whatever we can to make our students shine remember grades are our currency let us stop devaluing our students grades thank you all right since our names were mentioned there I a little more context around that um The Proposal that I evaluated last month was a flat 10o scale okay where 90 to 90 to 100s in a and 80 to an 89 would be a b um that's what was evaluated um presented last month as part of the handout you you see that part of of what the committee is considering is the incorporation of a plus minus variant and the impact of such it's not just the plus minus um incorporation it's the actual numerical value of that of whether it's 35 37 or 32 there's going to be different ideas around how plus miles variant actually works personally I have shared that I'm much more open-minded about incorporating some type of plus minus variant as part of the scale and that's the context of that conversation at the end last meeting and I've been open about that for a long time and you know I think that most of the people are you know it makes sense that you know that by incorporating a a variant that you become more precise question is what is a numerical value on the plus minus and how is that crosswalk SC those were work is a number of parents this evening have mentioned you know when the entry point is for parents in in this conversation and I just want to again be clear that the process that was outlined this evening is in accordance with board byw 0131 which walks through what our process and responsibilities are as a board as it relates to bylaws policies and regulations so anytime a recommended change a community concern anything of that nature comes before us as a board there's a certain sequence of steps that we have a responsibility to walk through and part of that is allowing proper time and space for an administrative team to to have certain conversations to Dr ficarro's credit at our committee meeting this past week it was his recommendation that came to the committee and said before we go to the public with first reading we would you know I would like to give the families an opportunity through this engagement committee to weigh in so that when you give your chair report to the full board you are able to share not only what the committee's recommendation is following the the admin recommendations that that follow but also we have an opportunity to provide context and response from that parent engagement committee publicly so I certainly want to credit Dr vakaro with that that was his recommendation in response to all of the parent and family engagement that has come forth from from all of you and that is represented in the timeline that that we share this evening and and that he discusses a part of his superintendent report but I I do want to just make sure that it's clear to the public that this timeline is also and the process for the parent engagement committee versus the internal committee is in accordance with our board bylaws as well in terms of the steps that we need to take in order to make appropriate change at a policy level did you say the parent engagement um committee is already formed is that what there's one there's one engag formed and you know I selected folks who had I've had conversations with that you know I'm willing to start a second one I'm willing to do five you know I'm not trying to keep parents out of this conversation in any way in any way any shape and any form I I I feel badly that that's how it's being categorized the reason there's no parents on this particular committee is twofold I don't know how it would possibly go about selecting one or two to invite that to feel on a committee of already 13 or 14 now you have a committee of 16 now that's now really two committees right how do you select you know and then the second thing is I always want to protect our students right and there's could be a situation where things are discussed where there's confidentiality and that that's something where again we're kind of stubbing our toe on this for a second time when we went into executive session in December and there was a lot of misconceptions about why we went to the executive session in December and the board knows we went to Executive session to talk about individual students matters to confidentiality as they related in grades and transcripts and Merit Aid and college admissions and went student by student and there's going to be some level I want the committee to be able to have some level of com ability to talk about actual kids in school and actual you know if if the students on the committee want to say my friend Johnny Smith last year who graduated I want that to be able to be it's internal you have to have a process you have to have a space that's internal first and then you bring in folks not for lack of trying to keep folks out of it it's just the process to the entry point of which the community is welcomed in um and as far as the committee having the research the evidence thoughts from our uh from our parent group I believe that they have post of it um but I'm going to turn over any information that is asked to be turned over so if you have information that you like for share well at means I will it's a lot it's it's a lot of it's it's high volum and it's delicate but we have to respect the fact that there are students on this committee and there are teachers on this committee and the last thing I want to do is put our teachers against our parents or our students against our parents we need kids two two kids on this committee 11th graders we need feel comfortable listenting their names to you know and I yeah I feel badly that there seems to be some residual negative feelings that go all the way back to 2017 I was here I don't know what could transpired I do feel badly that big part of this response must have something to do with past history um but we're trying to move forward you know in a proper way some things are just proper it's the proper thing allow space for our students and our staff talk about these things without worrying about breaking student rights and student confidentiality that's that's to be protective at all cost not it's not quite a desire trying to keep parents out do it our bring a minute now they want they want to bring you in in November or December because we're still trying to working on implementation we want to bring you in now because we're trying to look at some things for September of 2024 hope everybody can understand that I believe we had at least another comment someone in the back a comment something 27 Oriental Avenue um trying not to spin here and maintain my composure so an emotional person and um there's just I feel like not I feel I I'm I'm trying to keep it in my mind I think like there's a lot of spinning that's been going on through this whole process and the idea like I really want to appreciate uh Dr ficarro's notion that it's a process and it's what's appropriate um and we don't want to put parents against teachers and and I just stop right there and say when and just to go back to what Lauren was saying it's about bu building relationships and working together and I've been in several contentious kind of situations over the years related to my son's education teachers saying and doing things I didn't agree with but we sat down we discussed we worked things out that's what we did and this idea that we can't get in a room with these people and work things out and we're going to be pitted against one another I take exception to that idea because we're all trying to work ethically here and that kind of goes against our mission so then one of the other things I wanted to speak to is what Ally was saying that her the board policy you're all here representing our interests and I think I speak for most of most of us here that we don't feel like our interests are fully being represented when this committee has been formed and none of us are sitting on it and how do you pick I I think we'd be happy if you pick any of us out of I don't know how many of the people on the Facebook page 270 how many of them pick any we're not going would anybody here oppose any you know we would be happy if you chose any of us so it's not I don't think I don't foresee a problem with that I don't see that as an excuse so this notion of pitting parents against teachers delate this notion that it's hard to figure out who I think you have an over of an abundance of people to choose from and then lastly if you're going to be Consulting with parents for some kind of input and I'm I'm a little confused because if I'm correct there have been some conversations with parents that maybe would be those parents that you would be having selected to work with the committee to seek their input if those parents have been chosen how did you choose them and why don't we know about them that's a real problem which actually brings me to one more point which the way this meeting started we were discussing not personal attacks just the real fact that there are trust issues going on here um trust issues with the way things been handled the way people are being represented and misrepresented the way things are being spun and so we would like to have uh just the sense that there's fairness here so I think I'm kind of getting back to that place of just confusion and and trying to figure out uh exactly trust yeah that's my time but um thank you any other comments before we adjourn yeah listen I I I understand uh the comments you know didn't mean like that we would be hitting you know could be a situation where folks may feel a certain way okay if um parent was in the room again going back to stud confidentiality um those discussions would have to be a little bit more guarded maybe after we get through a few of those committee meetings I believe the commit you guys met twice to a third meeting schedule soon you know if we wanted to consider adding a parent you know and I'm not personally against it it would be my first recommendation but certainly I don't want the perception to be that we're trying to freeze anybody out um meeting with one parent group just based on the amount of contact points that I've had with certain individuals uh and I guess certain individuals that have vocal about this to consider meeting with me I've met multiple times already with individuals having similar conversation so I just basically said hey you know this person you know this person would you like you know would you like to meet uh as a group I necessarily know the parents always kind of know each other I think they started to know each other by showing up the needs here but at the beginning of this uh I think there was a lot of kind of uh folks were meeting for the first time this kind of common call the idea of a meeting group has to be manageable right anytime you start a a parent group should be about four or five balanced between different age of kids and commit close to 20 we have much of a committee right now you have an assembly I could say so I want to get this right too I don't want to rush it uh maybe we slow it down if if the process if the board if you don't think that the process that we've established based on what you've heard tonight um and you want to uh consider allowing this committee to meet as is and then you know not having a recommendation before April 30th you like to consider adding a parent or two um to the committee slowing the process down a little bit providing more time for our parents to have direct input into the committee before recommendation is made I'm not personally opposed to that maybe we can work that out um but that that moves the kind of the timelines back a little bit then I don't think we have to have a parent committee meeting after the policy committee parents would just kind of have more involvement the actual the actual committee so it wouldn't be my first preference but if the feeling is that I want to work together too it's not by design that we're trying to keep anybody out and I start starting to worry that no matter what the committee comes up with there's going to be resistance to it because parents weren't at the table as part of the actual process I think the tax input has already been considered um as part of the conversations that were that have occurred um but at some point we have to get through a process that's not messy you know or perceives as being messy and I tried to design things that um are inclusive but at the same time uh have some protective me mechanisms for our students I think that's important every want to put a student in a situation where their rights are not protected that's always our first priority keep safe stud don't misc constru lack of parent act Comm members any um comments for the board just one thing that I want to highlight for parents in item 10.11 this evening we did approve a revised version of the 2425 calendar it affects May 9th specifically so I know that families use those calendars pretty regularly to plan different family engagements and so forth so I just wanted to make sure to publicly highight and that just switch to a half day correct from a full day yeah and go just going back to my sen I know it's not what the community wants to hear in terms of not really what they meant but we do have a teacher that was strategically put on the committee who's also a parent in the district technically parent on the district who also serves as a future um I know it's not what we asked was tonight but the board should be aware that we have teach anything from the board any got a motion toour all in favor