all right start the flag salute FL United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all du notice of this meeting has been provided to the retrospect and the courrier post as legal act on January 5th 2024 roll call M Bley here M here Mr K here Mr Lex here Mr Richie is abent M rman here M here M here here uh moving into section two meeting minutes can I get a motion to approve item 2.1 the minutes for the regular meeting and work session of December 21st 2023 Mo second go call mle yesi yes Mr kendle yes yes M rman yes M gber yes M Williams yes can I get a motion to approve item 2.2 the minutes from the reorganization meeting of January 3rd 2024 so second R call mle yes M yes Mr pend yes yes M yes M William yes can I get a motion to approve item 2.3 the minutes from the special meeting of January 9th 2024 so move second roll call M Bing s yes mie yes Mr kendle yes Mr Lex yes M Rodman M St yes M Williams yes yes Mrs call do we have any correspondence yes um we actually did receive an email from hold um regarding a question um from a Nicole Kennedy about uh when the research and data related to the 7even point ring scale will be shared with thank you all right I'm going to open it up for our first public comment section of the evening this is for comments for members of the public for the Board of Education items included on tonight's agenda we will have a second public comment section later this evening for items that are not on the agenda this evening any comments on tonight's agenda all right moving into section five our superintendent report okay great thank B uh for our that correspondence about when we plan on getting into the research scale consistent with past years you know once the budget is uh submitted to the county for approval all right that's really the kind of a lever to start talking about goals and objectives and priorities uh for the next school year that budget goes to the county March 20th so I would say sometime in that window you know from March 20th to April 20th will be The Sweet Spot U to start getting into discussions for some of our findings um and some of our recommendations regarding uhing down next one superintendent report is our um Bond campaign uh we' been great deal of time um in work session talking about all the things that we should be doing now that we've approved the you know the question uh and we are going forward with this referendum and some of the things I think that stood out from those discussions are we're going organize Community meetings at each of our elementary schools for to have information set sessions for our citizens we're also going to try to approach the firehouse and host a meeting at the firehouse for our senior citizens for folks that have availability during the day we should consider a district mailer um that has a QR code or direct Foles to the website and if we can have these dates uh for these Community meetings if we can get that information on on the mailer that would be kind of a bonus we should be um linking information uh that is sent home from our school secretaries we have information at the bottom that links to our website which now is up and running with Bond uh referendum um details we are starting a television production Club here and I think it's recommended that we kick off our TV studio by interviewing some students and finding out why they're most excited about the projects in the referendum and and maybe do a podcast with a group of students um at some point in the next few weeks K the county clerk's office is going to visit uh in February to help us have students uh become registered to vote um it's just a good practice to get our students registered to vote and we're going to have an ad hoc committee I think it's going to be Jim Marie Ali and Kelly if you're still willing to be on our ad hoc committee um to kind of Drive some of the strategy around where uh individuals should be what our marketing material should look like what we should be what our presence regarding the referendum should look like on social media I think we should probably host some tours of the building and and consider putting on the websites of before and after photos or diagrams of what these areas look like now and what they could look like with the referend is approved um and we want to re-engage our hand catch of community groups these are the first groups that we met with to discuss um all the projects in the referendum um these are folks that are you know deeply rooted within our school Community such as our um education associations our um Zone ptas our Athletic Association and um Education Foundation and soth so you know we're excited about this road ahead it's not a long Runway it's a rather short Runway at this point we been talking about this for a long time um and now this this is where the work is that's before us so so I have for that part of the topic um next part is I'm going to turn this over to Savannah and Brady for the student report but I'm embarrass her now because I'm going to congratulate savan publicly I found out today that she was accepted to Syracuse University [Applause] our first choice told her to get ready for a lot more snow there um congratulations the ble well deserve and uh turn it over to you tell us all the good things or anything you want to report on from the stud's perspective and before you start Savannah congratulations but your iPad you see it's blue and orange right yeah I know I had another meeting at that time so I missed like the breaking [Music] news um hope just concluded their winter Drive which was a huge success we partnered with JY cares to provide codes for men women and children um as well as one home in a time to provide everyday items such as blankets sted animals and tools for Hygiene to make a smoother transition for students and like children especially to um have the supplies that they need to get to bed and like a better transition if they're in poverty or an uncomfortable living situation um the club collected donations from all the elementary schools and the middle school as well as high school so this was like a district W event and the club interact is following with another drive so everything that we couldn't use it's just getting rolled over so everything is going to be donated and we got a ton of stuff it was really great uh this past Monday intera club met um to make lasagna for families with with a loved one in long-term hospital care um we had set aside 2 hours to make the lasagnas but our turnout ended up being huge and we finished with an hour of spare that was really good um we were so glad that so many people including Mrs harrove and her her family decided to dedicate their time to make others lives a little bit less stressful so thank you to all that showed up for that um and then as Savannah said and our club is also collecting children's Coast from now until February 14th so if anyone has any gently or new children's Coast they'd like to donate uh you can contact shap for so before the long weekend a lot of our classes showed the referendum bom video and especially our history classes and I feel like students are really talking about it and they're so excited I think that the video was really effective Ive in showing you know what's wrong with our school but also what our school can be if they can use their vote and a lot of our seniors are old enough they're on like the earlier end of the Jun like birthdays so um they're all really excited and the positive feedback especially is about like the field the locker rooms from the media center even the Juniors and seniors might not be able to get it like to see it play out um want it for their under Glassman so that's really great and then after the success of our homecoming dance and our spirit weeks uh student council is taking a little bit of a break to gather ourselves um and to start planning for the spring but we already have some good ideas um we are planning for a Spirit Week looking up the spring break and potentially a PE rally on that last day before break we also want to host a Disney movie night for the seniors before we leave for Disney in March um which we talk to um the PTA and they would be willing to sponsor um the buying of like some candy and snacks for us to um cell and then we're also discussing a bonfire night later in the school year but we do have a lot of logistics to work out so all that is to be DET for now great all right thank you uh just have a report from our uh Visual and Performing Arts Department um as many of you are aware Matt Cathy through his studio recording group helped to facilitate $15,000 donation um from the the winner record that he worked on directly to our Visual Arts Guild of performing art students many of them went uh uh trip yesterday to New York City to see the musical Back to the Future two full buses uh went to see that Broadway show and came back very enthusiastic the elementary winter concerts were a big success they happened here last night um and the students that are involved in our exclusive South Jersey choir and band have been rehearsing with other students from the South Jersey area into the woods is also coming along Morgan McDonald is our first year as costume costumer and and assistant director Miss oen has been pulling students for acting exercises and Katie Emerling has been chore choreographing the cast so we're excited about these that's all I have for super tetus report um questions or comments HDA no one from HDA is here tonight but they did send me an email and said looking forward to attending in February great all right moving into section six finance and Facilities M Williams alternative report sure we met uh January 9th um and uh our discussion was minimal um we had a discussion about the addition of special Council um using uh one of the former Park McKay at special Council so that we can continue um work for consistency purposes while keeping the firm for the bom work um and that will evaluate the services in conjunction with our regular RFP riew and Sprint and then um we had just talked about you know uh the bond question that was held later that we all right for this section we are actually going to approve um two different times we're going to do items 6.2 through 6.10 and then we'll do 6.11 separately so six uh can I get a motion to approve item six .2 through 6.10 roll call Miss Billy L yes kend yes Mr Le yes m r yes yes Williams yes can I get a motion to approve item 6.11 second roll call Isley yes M yes Mr Kendall yes Mr L no um Miss Rodman yes Miss D yes Miss Williams yes Miss yes moving into section seven instruction and programs pH I'll turn it over to you for committee report sure so the following is a schedule for the um I know we talked before about the tutoring grant that we received so the schedule is finalized strawber and Edison um their meeting dates will be from January 9th to May 30th and Van skyver Jennings and stoy their meeting dates will run from January 16th to June 6th um having the snow with the delete opening did just put a little bit of a um you know slight um alter in our schedule so the district in service took place on January 12 that was a um half day for students early dismissal right isn't that what we call it Tel not a half day early dismissal um so staff participated um and and a mix of Staff participated in some of the following um plc's at grade level uh special education assessments Renaissance which was our past survey before it's now called Renaissance um let's see Preschool Round Table team meetings such as like nurses elll etc those um uh uh specific groups had team meetings Health Resource exploration and embracing differences within the curriculum that happened at the middle school and high school level specifically the Elementary uh teachers and staff participated in um looking at conferences kindergarten FNP and dance instruction the middle school and high school focus in on enVision Math um which is grade six through eight at the middle school um counselors looked at the Renaissance which was the past survey result and also Rachel's Challenge which is a um assembly of the middle school and the high school are putting on uh together uh survey feedback um is due tomorrow reg um which um you know Mrs shter always puts out and she will those results of you know how staff and and teachers felt about you know the parent PD and you know she'll review that and finalize you know use that to dry future uh professional developments um some of the um following are important dates so preschool information L did take place on January 17th preschool Roundup is February 21st and 22nd one of those is an evening one of those is um an afternoon kindergarten Round Up is March 6th and March 7th and kindergarten transition night will take place on May 17th thank you we don't have any items to approve in section s we'll move into Section 8 Personnel Mrs is robman ATT turny over to you certainly so our personnel and policy committee met Tuesday evening this 16th and we spent some time debriefing around last month's executive session and some of the policy implications that were before us as a committee related to that we also spent time um with Dr pikaro getting some updates related to personnel and also beginning to discuss next steps for us as individual board members related to the bond referendum to have an opportunity to discuss what were some of our try what what were the ways that we could contribute to to the work moving forward great thank you can I get a motion to approve items 8.2 through 8.21 moove any questions I can uh someone said a little late on 8.13 the research project yes that is a project um go back and look at that it's a reading study small group reading instruction Sarah Bruno right 8.1 uh it's going to be88 um it's a small group reading study that we uh she's going to graduate program you could get parent permission for all the students that we to participate that participate in that I don't know if it's a all page study or one page study [Music] any other questions uh the car allowance which I just drill off the number that's 8.14 that's within contract yes yeah any other questions no sorry roll call Miss Bley yes Miss Desi yes Mr Pendle yes Mr Lex yes M Rodman yes Miss St yes Miss Williams yes M yes moving into section nine one student services and activities can I get a motion to approve items 9.1 through 9.10 motion approve any questions can on the I just lost the number uh eight let's see 9.5 the first reading of the we had hit is there anything any outcome of that or is it it because it's the first reading was there a second reading that happens after that uh it like I know I know I could get backwards I know the first reading and then the outcomes on the second read or am I making I don't this hit is wrapped up this might just be the first time that you're seeing it um this is uh wrapped up as a non okay any other questions roll call M billingley yes M Desi yes Mr Kendall yes Mr L yes Miss rman yes Miss D yes Miss Williams yes Miss yes moving into section 10 policy we have no items on her approval uh and so we will move into our public comment section so this is our final public comment section um comments for members of the public for any topic for the board if you have a comment please state your name and address for the and please limit your comments to 3 minutes Jerry McCarthy 806 not Vernon Avenue going through the College admission process with my son I realize that our hat and Township grading system is flaw and puts kids at a disadvantage when applying to college not only from an admission standpoint but also scholarship mer Merit money standpoint a lot of colleges will recalculate transcripts and put them in a 4.0 10-point grading scale I've learned that our transcripts are not being recalculated because we are already on a 4.0 scale even though it's a 7.1 the 7po scale is not an advantage to our kids and in fact it's quite the opposite over 60% of the college that responded to me are not recalculating our kids GPA the GPA is the GPA those are facts so we are sending our kids to apply with a lower GPA than their peers from other high schools even if they wind up getting in you are still costing men many students money due to the lower GPA and transcripts not being recalculated my son has a 3.48 on our 7p point and a 3.76 on a 10p point as his college does not recalculate which is costing him an extra 5% intuition West Virginia University was on his radar and they don't recalculate either if he went there that would cost him an extra $122,000 in loans I reached out to over 40 colleges 27 responded 17 of the 27 do not recalculate our GPA because we are already on a 4.0 scale even though it's 7 point grest SC the 4.0 to them means pencils down I found out say Stockton doesn't recalculate this 2024 student is losing $8,000 because of this tcj James Madison Rhode Island and more do not recalculate the NCAA for potential D1 and D2 athletes does not recalculate I'm going to send my research to the board tomorrow and with that I'm asking the board to take a good look at changing the grading scale the ball was dropped in 2017 and that's an understatement I have more colleges saying they do not recalculate our GPA then were used in the actual research in 2017 I'm urging any board member who was not on the board in 2017 to do your due diligence and understand the huge issue going on here because your peers from 2017 led a lot of kids down I'm just one parent speaking up on how this is actually costing fam's money imagine if we then added up the other 148 kids in his class affected by this we're over the Thousand kids since 2017 imagine what that total number would be that 2017 decision and grading scale cost people financially and admissions wise it's sad how many kids were let down because of this please don't let history repeat thank you thank you hi it's me again Nicole Kennedy 1009 Emerald I I submitted correspondence because I didn't think I was going to be here but I was able to make it I just wanted to ask thank you for answering draro what I wanted to ask is so we've heard so much information from parents who've had a really negative experience with our current reading scale as a community member as a parent I have three children in the school system this is all the information I'm getting and so I would ask again you know this small town I've heard there was re resarch that the school did previously without access to that with that lack of information we add like to me this feels like an knowbrainer so I just really would ask that in advance of the Mark if it's already in existence if we could see something hear something before discussions begin in March like I know how this works if if discussions begin in March this is not happening next year and I think that's a real problem so I just want ask that we could see the information that you have so we can all make you know educated decisions ourselves it's like when I look at any issue I want to see both sides I want to truly understand how we got to seven point I'm not an expert on this but so far everything I see seems like a 10-point greting seal is an a bringer so thank you in advance and thank you for hearing me again Jennifer Parker 105 Virginia Avenue um I just wanted to go on what Jerry was saying it goes beyond 2017 you all know that it was just last brought up in 2017 this um grading scale and waiting system um together are working against our our students and it it goes well beyond and even if we could get a window of the 10 years that is proposed of where the denominators are com like anything anything to help it make sense so that all these people with kids still in school might get a better understanding other than me going through the numbers over and over and over again and not being able to make any sensitive but it goes back well past 2017 I just wanted you to be C thank you evening everyone um my name is Joe Gallagher 113 Le Lane and I just wanted to say support of transferring over to the 10 point rating scale I mean I've had I've been had students in this district for over 30 years wonderful experience wonderful Academic Program three kids already graduated college two are in one left but the financial impact of a grading scale that we just asking to level the playing field the Dual credit program our our kids have to get in certain classes a v which is different from the bees that are from the surrounding communities each class can cost $5 to $6,000 right now you know I calculate in my head what cost me for six kids to go to college is about 1.3 million that I'll be putting out that's a lot of money all these classes at $6,000 $5,000 each we can save money there plus you know with the Dual credit program and the academic Merit money based on pretty much scores and uh gpas if we're not on a Lev Level Playing Field why are we doing that to our kids you know they're working hard they're you know they're coming in every day they want to get a you know by making it a 93 to to 100 and a say they're going to work harder is ridiculous we'd like to see the research that you did back in 2017 I don't want to wait until May or April for you to say you know let's you know we'll consider it then we need to do it now because it's going to cost me I mean I only have one left but you know for the parents behind me that you know it's a lot of money and colleges aren't getting any cheaper when my first son started it was probably around 30,000 for one University now it's 55 that's a big difference in a few years it's a lot of money and you know and I think why would we you know put our kids at a disadvantage in getting the financial part they're going to succeed they're going to do well it's a great academic program it's the money that really really is is put all the parents at a disadvantage that's all we ask thank you any other comments any comments from the board before we adour wasn't here uh at the end of the work session we did set a date for Monday I don't know if you're good Monday 4:15 talk by ad hoc committee yeah this coming not good okay and you can connect with offline ideas that I Shar V reports out consistent okay um and I should have mentioned this I did not want to commend Mr shter and our prek staff we hosted uh a meeting last night a prek information night um for all of our parents children of that age we over 20 parents on Zoom we get a substantial amount of parents here pre St a really great job um it's a really skilled group it's a really passionate group and we're excited to continue to build um on our preschool uh program anyone else just thank you everyone for coming out tonight Shar yes thank you all all right can I get a motion to a journey all in favor thanks all