she did hello yeah I can't hear no we can't hear you I'd like to call to order the Highland Park Board of Education hybrid Workshop voting meeting today Monday July 22nd 6:30 p.m. May I have roll call please please oh wait no yes no you would think that I did haven't done this for six months all right the New Jersey open public meetings Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in compliance with the open public meetings act the Highland Park Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting setting forth the time date and location to be submitted for publication to the home News Tribune and Star Ledger and posted on the board's website at least 48 hours in advance of this meeting members of the public who wish to address the board will be given the opportunity to do so before the board adjourns for the evening roll call please Dr B here dran Dr Pixley here miss Bruce here Dr Swan miss stano here miss here miss here we are going to recess to Executive session be it resolved pursuant to the sunshine NE njsa 10 colon 4-12 and13 the Highland Park Board of Education will now meet in close session to discuss matters related to hi and student discipline these exemptions are permitted to be discussed in Clos session in accordance with the njsa 104-113 information regarding the board's closed session discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists I move that we recess to Executive session second all in favor e I'd like to move that we reconvene to regular session second roll call please Dr B yes M Cel yes dran yes Dr Pickle yes Miss Cru yes Dr scholman yes Miss Dan yes Miss vman yes Miss B yes hey we'll stand for the pledge States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God Christina's voice defitely really um we have had three communications since um our last meeting two about the uh after school carnival and one about the cell phone ban and exceptions for students with um Health needs number nine we have the approval of minutes for the hybrid Workshop voting meeting and executive session on June 2 May 4th 2024 I move that we approve those minutes second Dr b obain m yes dran yes Dr Pixley yes missu yes Dr scholman yes Daniel yesman yes yes okay we are going to move on to our superintendent report Dr Susa is here tonight virtually um but she's going to lead us through her two presentations okay good evening everyone thank you so much uh so I have two presentations tonight the first one is on the Strategic plan the draft of the Strategic plan and then my second one tonight is on uh some test results that we've got back for the spring so we're going to start with the draft of the Strategic plan goals so first and foremost tonight uh I'm calling it a draft because tonight that's what we're discussing so the district has come together to um to create a new five-year strategic plan I'd like to discuss it tonight take some public comment I've already heard from some board members and we have some ways that we're going to tweak some things along the way so your input is incredibly valuable that I can bring back to the leadership team and then we can vote on adopting it in August so Angel if you could skip jump to the next slide so our strategic plan process so for those um who know I'm sorry if it's a repeat but for those who don't know we started this process all the way back in the beginning of the year with some planning and preparation so we had a team of some board members administrators staff and community members come together as our strategic plan committee and we set up three meetings so we had a meeting in October meeting one where we discussed strength and challenges of the school district at our second meeting in January we created common vision and initiatives and in February at the last strategic planning meeting we designed the district's Destiny essentially the goals that would guide us for the next five years we did this with the help of New Jersey school boards and a representative there that came and guided the community Through the planning process um so this was led by Patty Reese there was um a lot of commun uh Community participation which was great I didn't list everybody because that would be a lengthy list but we had a lot of community members caregivers staff and students attend so you can see the number of participants at each session and there were a lot of people that came to all three sessions which we were excited to see some people just popped in for some of the sessions so the feedback was was great so throughout the process also I posted everything on the dist District website so that members that couldn't attend um all the meetings or any of the meetings could follow along through our prog progress so essentially the committee came up with four goals to guide us for the next 5 years and that was done really by looking at themes so when the community came together to discuss the strengths and challenges after kind after looking at that information and then discussing where they saw the district in the future that all was put together in these themes so one the first one is culture and climate so it we were looking at providing a safe inclusive identify firm Ing and supportive environment an inclusive education that uses its diversity as a strength our second goal was on connecting resources and improving communication which was to connect families to schools by strengthening the coordination and accessibility of communications the third goal was on student achievement to increase academic rigor and excite and challenge students to learn in order to reach their individual potential and the fourth goal was on facilities which was to create a long-term plan that addresses the safety and accessibility of District facilities that utilize an Innovative approach and reflects Community needs so um in addition so what happens after the community came together and created those four goals from March to June the district leadership team and myself created and reviewed actionable items so we took each of the four goals and then broke them out in in smaller groups and created the very specific actionable items again based on those overarching goals and based on objectives from the planning meeting so miss Reese those goals as are written are written by her so the idea is that I don't have any influence on that that it's a really community-led influence my team just takes those and then based on the feedback from the community creates actionable and attain a able goals the full plan can be found on the district website under strategic planning um which includes all the action items the targeted grades the responsible parties and a timeline in which we could do it the way I like to think about a strategic plan is that it's a fluid document as well so there might be things on there that you'll see as an actionable item such as research something so we might research it and we might find that we can do it or because of budget constraints Maybe we can't do it or we can do some version of it so it's very fluid and as myself and a and a group of people that come together as my strategic plan committee um throughout the course of the year and and the coming years we can report back all of the progress that that we're making and how we're adapting the Strategic plan to meet our needs so what follows in this presentation is just a very uh brief snapshot of what I put together was the action plan just so that you can see under each of the goals and again looking on the district website if you would like the full um the the the full plan so under culture and climate I'm not going to read through all of them it's it's quite extensive however one of the things that we looked at was a lot of peer mediation we have a really great peer mediation program at the high school and we're looking to expand it into the middle school and that is where peers are helping to um work through conflict and conflict resolution strategies together so we're looking at adding that to the Middle School um so we might want to research some other programs as well to make sure that what we're using is it's working for our our students we're looking to research and Implement more character development assemblies on topics such as lgbtq plus I know we're already starting our rise evaluation but we put that on there because that's a lot of culture and climate um looking at ways to strength in the work that we're doing on on climate and culture with character development programs ways to elevate student voices and looking at Universal screenings um more professional development for Refugee and Asylum seeking families to help our staff really understand that we're looking to um like I said facilitate more anti-bullying prevention and conflict resolution presentations we found through some of the work that we're doing that larger assemblies might not necessarily work uh for our students especially at the middle school so we're looking at you know some other programs and presentations uh that can be supported in smaller groups um we're looking at maybe bringing back some community events according to my understanding from the leadership team in the community is that there was um some events that used to happen like barbecues and things like that in the past that really brought the community together so we're looking to potentially um research the feasibility and interest of maybe bringing some of those um whether the previous events back or some new events to really bring the school back together as a whole the leadership team really feels like since postco that you know every everybody's kind of gone on their own or is a little bit divided and how can we bring everybody back um to be on the same page um chronic absenteeism is still a continued concern for us so we're looking at researching evidence-based interventions for students that struggle with school refusal or attendance issues more district-wide Substance Abuse Prevention programs we're seeing a spike in the number of students vaping and um and having issues with substance abuse um the board and myself will review anti-bias review and examine our policies to make sure that they're um Equitable and and um update them to be anti-bias as needed and increase you know oural programming for our second goal we're really looking to connect families to school by strengthening the coordination and access ability of our Communications so for that we're going to do a lot more making sure our notifications are going out in home language when possible I know that was a a great goal that we had with apto our current Software System uh a backend system for communication allows parents to select the language that they want but really looking at even our other Communications whether they're our Flyers our paper copies of things um and making sure that we really can provide notifications in a way that are easily to be digestible and in um home languages um increasing participation at our family engagement nights um we're really looking at trying to figure out ways to do more two-way communication so it's our communication isn't that we're just putting out information and not getting anything back we we love that uh feedback loop um looking at expanding roles like we did for the technology department um to help us with our website management and responsibilities with social media so that we can make make sure we're highlighting a lot of the great things that are happening in the district and keeping everyone informed um maybe streamlining our events calendar so that it's um easy to look at so that we have coordination of all the great activities that are going on across the district so maybe there's no overlap and we can increase our participation at those activities um one of the things under the technology department um that we're going to do is Monitor our website and social media to ensure Ada compliance um using title funds for those engagement and activity events um I'm really happy to report I think we saw that at the last boor meeting the middle and high schools active ptso is is up and running so really harness the power of those to support some of our initiatives highlighting Student Success our board bulletins um you know use of social media and Contracting with translators um to help any of the uh barriers for languages um that are spoken that we don't currently have translators for and I know we've approved some in the past and we're going to continue to connect with community members and local companies that can help us provide translators um to support students during the during you know those families at at meetings and things like that oh we can uh yeah goal three okay thank you I was talking too fast my apologies so goal three on student achievement our goal is to increase academic rigor and excite and challenge students to learn in order to reach their individual potential so some of the work that we're going to be doing includes update our math and Ela curriculum to be aligned with the new standards for math we're going to revise and create common benchmark assessments and I know that you've heard that a lot in um Alison's report from curriculum instruction committee so we're really looking at ways to monitor assessment data and design datadriven instruction based on that important information that we're getting from benchmark assessments provide uh professional development for Math and ELA teachers on standard space and differentiate instruction and assessment um continue that work that we're doing on implementing differentiate instruction in particular in co- teing strategies I know I've talked about that already with the um special ed Department in doing uh some work in co- teing and set up clear guidelines for tier one two and three academic interventions and progress monitoring in addition we're looking at ating more of the njsla NJ GPA instruction and assessment into our daily practices so not specifically teaching to a test but making sure our students have access to short constructed response questions extended constructed response questions that they wouldn't happen to see that are really more of the higher level of Bloom's taxonomy when we talk about assessment so the higher level thinking we want to make sure we're exposing students more regularly to higher level questions so that they're more prepared to take State assessments and increase achievement on those assessments as well um that includes vertical articulation um highlighting areas of implement implementation on state mandated education in lgbtq plus climate change the Amistad we do a lot of that already or if you review our curriculum documents we have a lot of that mandated education infused whether it's our the books that we're choosing to read assignments that we're giving so what we really want to do is make sure we highlight that more so I think that's an area that we were struggling with that really overlaps with communication is that we weren't really highlighting the areas where we maybe provide some more diverse reading texts or more diverse options for assignments so we want to make sure we do a better job of highlighting those areas we're going to research ways to incorporate writing across curriculum uh potentially look at scheduling options for middle and high school now that we have a new high school principal she may come up with some new creative ideas to think about scheduling and then uh providing professional development on uh the use of technology for learning we might want to adjust when you see online the document I believe that year says 25 26 so we didn't some of the things when the team was looking at making the timeline for some of these action plans we didn't we weren't sure where we wanted to put it we put something like research professional development to supp the use of technology for learning as a 2526 goal that would be an example of something that might be a little bit more fluid the students have the Chromebooks so that technology might be the use of technology to be more Innovative for Chromebooks not necessarily personal devices so as we look at the use of technology and the research surrounding that in schools this particular goal might be or action plan might be fluid and adjusted accordingly and lastly goal four to create a long-term plan that addresses the safety and accessibility of District facilities that utilizes an Innovative approach and reflects Community needs so I'm really happy and pleased to see that the community came together and really felt that our facilities was an area of need and as you can probably hear for those who've been been listening and watching our board meetings that there's uh definitely some areas around the four schools that that need a little TLC um so some of the things that we're going to be doing are implementing budget requirements for annual maintenance needs and anticipated Capital repairs so in the past that necessarily wasn't um being done with Fidelity so we're going to make sure we do that and we're just more strategic about it and more thoughtful about um our maintenance needs and more creative uh evaluate classroom needs based on capacity and a demographic study with our Architects so we have some new Architects to come in and look at are we really utilizing our classrooms in in the way that we can are we using classrooms the way they're intended so we really want to look at um the the the needs of our our facilities investigate accessibility of facilities to meet all students needs at the high school in terms of the media center so that was something that came out of the work that we did this past year with some of our walkthroughs for those who maybe don't recall from a previous presentation that I gave in the beginning of the year but in order if you're a high school student in order to get to the media center you've got to trck pretty much across the whole um the whole school to an elevator you know go up and then over and if you want to go back and you have to go to the other side of the school it it really is problematic or you have to go through I'm sorry you can't go through the high school to get to the media center you have to go to the middle school so you have to go to the Middle School through the corridor up the elevator to get into the media center and if your classroom is back you know in the gym or you know in in the social studies or or second floor of the science Wing you know you have to go down through the schools to another elevator and up and so it's just not really um uh accessible um in in a positive way for our students so we want to really look at that at see if there's anything we can do to increase our accessibility investigate visitor check-in stations um with exterior door locks so some of the work coming out of the Safety Committee that we're really excited about just to make sure our buildings are a little bit more secure um and can work for a workflow with our staff develop procedures for entry into school buildings after hours so that's something that the School Safety Committee realized as we have been meeting quite often is that we have a lot of really great safety features and procedures during school hours but after school when our students are still there participating in After School athletics and events we don't necessarily have those um robust procedures in place so we really want to dive into that a little bit we're looking at establishing a reing procedure over five year period um to reduce our key inventory beginning with the exterior doors we found that through the years um sort of keys were given out and not returned and we've got a hodge podge of keys everywhere or mismatch so again for safety purposes we really want to look at um at doing that for the district upgrade ble and Irving systems uh CCTV systems to be on the Milestone platform um camera you know looking at um Standalone door cameras and then evaluate where needed sort of our security cameras looking at where they're placed um you know as incidents happen things unfold we realize we couldn't see something or cameras aren't really necessarily placed in the right areas so it's just kind of looking at and evaluating um our security cameras as needed increasing them at at Irving and ble um for safety and security purposes so more than anything else I want to thank the entire Community those that participated or emailed myself or or members of the committee with input that weren't able to make it it was such a positive experience hearing a lot of the great conversations what we created were four fantastic goals that are going to drive us for the next couple of years and hopefully these action um items uh that the the the team developed meet you know meet those goals really well and to the board the items that were sent for feedback I'll incorporate what I'll do again and from anything that I hear at public comment today or from the board I'm going to take detailed notes as always I'm going to bring them back to the leadership team to discuss feasibility so I understand that there might be a goal that we missed or uh sorry an action item that we missed or something that we'd want to tweak what I need to do is make sure that we can that it it's something that reasonable that that the team really could Implement um or that it might be a if it's something that's financially something that we might not be able to ever do would want to communicate that back so please bring forth you know any comments that you have I'm looking forward to hearing them like I said I'll take detailed notes and then I'll Circle back with our final strategic plan document for a vote next month thank you thank you Dr suska um would anybody like to start with anything that they'd like to say or add or questions I just had a question about the benchmarking Benchmark testing I know right now a lot of it is actually done on a screen and I know that there are quite a few students who do struggle with taking exams and and assessments on screens and we actually get different results and I'm wondering if there's an opportunity to give well if there's a possibility to give them an opportunity to choose a hard copy paper option when they're one of those people who are struggling okay can I okay uh so uh Dr sues thanks so much for putting this together I feel like I've um got to know your working style and you know your your values a little bit over the past year and I have to say this is a characteristically thorough and detail oriented plan uh very much reflex in terms of the individual items um the sessions the planning sessions that I went to so I think I person I personally don't have any uh bones to pick with the individual goals or the or the or the sort of policies underneath the my my commment has to do with the order um and this you know might seem a bit nitpicky like why am I editing this but I I I think it's important I think I'm so putting myself in the position okay I'm a parent deciding what district I want to move to you know I'm a teacher deciding where I want to work and I open up the Strategic plan I think what is the biggest priority this district has and what is the goal of this entire plan and I think obviously I think creating a safe and inclusive and welcoming culture is critically important I think having great facilities and good Communications is really important but we're a school um and if you know we have the issues with declining test scores we're making progress in so on but if that is an issue that we have and it is a problem we have in this district and we're a school and our our duty our first order duty is to prepare students for academic Su you you academically to succeed in the world when they graduate then the first goal the end to which everything else is pointing uh has to be um student achievement and then the question becomes how do we want to go about that and then there are policies under if then of course we want to go about enabling students to achieve and at the same time create a safe and welcoming inclusive environment in which they can achieve right we need great facilities so that they can you know uh uh be provided for we have to you communicate with parents and community members that is all true but that those are all means to the end to the F to the first order goal of academic achievement so though it seems nitpicky maybe you know word smithing a little bit but I think it really communicates the values and the needs the priorities of the district if uh student achievement were first uh and followed by uh culture and climate and then communication to facilities and that that's the comment I have tonight thank you Ethan um I'm going to have to respectfully disagree um with that because I consider the culture and climate as the foundation of which everything else is built upon um I consider that for whole child education as the priority kids learn when they are happy safe and healthy and um I want to challenge us to think of this not as a list that's been a progression but more of a wheel all of these goals into intersect with each other none of them are more important than the other um they all intersect so we have to as a board kind of see where these um goals can build upon and improve each other and student achievement is only going to improve if we improve the culture and climate of our buildings um I'm going to now add my own feedback for the conference but a lot of it was based on the culture and climate section um I am pleased that we do have uh specified evidence-based programming here um wherever we see the word intervention or programming I really would like to see evidence-based um my and I did share this earlier but um I with number 1.3 I feel like character development should really be the goal not the assemblies um assemblies are not evidence-based they are you know of something greater um so if we did like a evidence-based character education uh program that we knew um had research on it and we looked into and checked its efficacy um assemblies would be perhaps a part of that um and then the second thing and and this kind of goes in a little bit of two goals but um you all know I was a health teacher and uh one of the things that I would love to see reflected in our um goals and in our action items is comprehensive health education and comprehensive sexual health education um which is something that I know uh we have received feedback on um and that goes hand inand with culture and climate um a lot of what we experience is because kids don't know what they should know um and so I'd like to uh challenge us to figure out where we could um in integrate Comprehensive Health and Sexual Health uh education into our um action items or our action plan um whether even if it's comes later on that's something that's really important to me and I know really important to a few people at this table um and so that would be my feedback but I am really appreciative of all of the things that you have put together so far you and your team and I think that we have a really good first Str is there anybody else yeah um I agree so I think that uh in this is really reflective of the process that we went through and so I already I went through this when it was sent out a month or so ago so um you know Christina uh really kindly uh got back to me with some of the um responses I will say in some instances it was more around you know we want to drive a certain Behavior but how do we do that so hey let's go and we'll research it we don't yet know how we're going to get there and so she updated in some instances um that one thing I would say um you know when I think about Five-Year Plan this is I love how you know we've got action steps that are that are agile right once we learned then we can kind of reprioritize and and then and think about how that's in service of our goal what I'm wondering if for each goal if we might also want to have like a one-ear threee five year what we'd want to see to say hey we're doing well um so what's our Northstar it doesn't have to be a hard you know keep kpi but something like we want to see that we have implemented X programs that can drive culture and climate again I don't know what those are um but I think it'll help us keep it on track especially when it's kind of malleable and and and a moving Target and things are changing every year new you know new uh you know new circumstances will come up with infrastructure with all of this so if we just have some some something that we can kind of all look to to kind of say hey how are we doing here I think it could be really helpful so that's my suggestion Monique yeah I just want to Echo everyone's um sentiments about the comprehensiveness of what was put together here so thank you Dr cesa and your team uh and just to kind of follow up yeah like benchmarking ourselves right so I think that absolutely makes sense one of the thoughts that have has been running through my mind about this whole process is how we're going to make um our strategic plan sort of mesh with our you know board goals and so again how do we sort of put together all these pieces just to make sure that we do have a comprehensive cohesive unit um and we don't have kind of these separate pieces working we all working towards the same goal goals in terms of our board goals and the Strategic plan um but I understand the Strategic plan is really a community developed um plan we want to also make sure that we're aligning um that with our or our board goals are aligned with that strategic plan so I feel like that needs to be a part of our the process of working through this as well um and then I I do want to just say had I want to sh just Echo um Allison's stents about sort of um the different areas in which these goals are framed and the fact that to me none is more important than the other um in terms of who we are as a district as a community um and each is equally as important in terms of what we want our outcomes to be right in terms of creating a community of Learners um and seeing our community of Learners come together and represent the best of who our community and our society can become um and so I think to me uh I would love to see culture and climate lead in sort of um outlining who we are as a district and Community without that we won't have a community of Learners if we don't have the safe space for that where everyone feels accepted and so I just want to say that uh to lend kind of a little bit more of weight to um Allison's opinion on that um and then I I guess for me one of the things that uh struck out is that there were I don't know if there there were conversations in any of the meetings that I missed around sort of the math kind of redesign process that had been occurring at the middle school and how that sort of factors into um the academic achievement um U let me pull that up I'm sorry I think I don't know the numbers but one of the numbers under academic achievement that spoke specifically to the math goals and I just wanted to um and you can kind of report back Dr susco and how how um leadership is thinking about [Music] um um making sure that again we are still moving forward and making the best uh use we possibly can out of all the work that is already been put and done being put into that process um and so how we can make it align with this new strategic plan is just a question that came in in into my mind as you were discussing it um and then lastly I will say I was bit um I understand certainly the importance of seeing um our students do well and see Improvement in the njsla scores um but anytime and as a teacher I hear that we want to um integrate more njsla instruction into our daily practices um you know kind of the red flag is gets waved around teaching to the test and I'm glad you um started out Dr cesa by saying that is certainly not the goal um I would just be curious to hear and this perhaps goes to some of what Sarah's talking about in terms of how that we can be sure that does not happen um so because this just seems like such a really fine line to talk about incorporating um njsla type and style of questions into daily practice throughout the school year um how do we do that without again falling into that area of teaching to the test which most teachers don't want to do for the entire year um because it's a very specific style and and approach to questioning um that is absolutely just about pass taking a test and doing well in the test um so I just will be curious to hear what the um plans are to to do that in a way that still does not take away from the um the type of kind of uh year-long learning that we want that is not necessarily tied to a test but still addresses some of the kinds of um ways of thinking and learning that will help students do well on the test which I understand is the goal um Dan hi sorry a little issue unmuting there um yeah I want to uh reiterate a couple things were said that um I think first that I think assemblies can speak values but they're not going to change the daily experience of students and so I think any sort of broad culture change has to be focused on the everyday and kind of research Bas practices so I just want to rate reiterate um what Allison said and then I think what munique said just said was really important and I I know Dr sesa Who said um that the focus wouldn't be on teaching to the test but I think the focus should be on learning more broadly not just achievement I think achievement often focuses on test taking and so if the learning is supposed to be more broadly it should reflect on those tests but the goal should be um like student learning more broadly and so I just wanted to reiterate uh Monique's Point um the other piece uh and I meant to send this earlier but um I didn't get a chance to um was that I think we have patterns of who of the students were reaching and the students were not reaching and I think um I don't necessarily think it needs to be specified in these goals but I definitely think in the implementation it should be a focus so we know with black Latin um students with special needs and low SCS students that we've struggled around achievement uh those are the four groups that that really stand out to me and I think they're more focused on who uh we're not serving and why and how we kind of adjust instruction um in culture to really um reach those students the better I felt like goal 3.4 special uh kind of specifies that for students with special needs because usually Co Cod teaching differentiation is an inclusivity or kind of code for that but I didn't necess see the focus for the other groups and so I think at least in the implementation to be really focused on that um and just one last thing that kind of came up as I was listening to the culture and climate or well well both that and the connecting resources was really valuing what those same communities uh bring that often is devalued in schools and so thinking about ways that and this might be kind of a new sub goal or kind of rethinking of one of the sub goals but thinking about um how teachers in the schools are valuing things that often aren't valued in schools as a way to include uh students and families um and I noticed there was you know focus on on language but I think also culture and how we're bringing that into lessons and how we're we're um kind of Shifting status within classrooms so that uh students who were not serving as well actually feel like they have a home and a place and are welcomed into schools and I didn't see as much a focus on on that and so I think um that's another way to kind of um kind of rethink relationships with with schools or or with families um and reorients teachers often times to actually see the assets um that families and students are bringing in um that typically Public Schools often frame is a deficit and so that was one thing actually just came up tonight as I was listening to the kind of culture and climate and resource piece um that might be uh helpful to kind of to think about um as we think about enacting these goals um and that's it for now and I just want to say thank Dr cesa for all her leadership and in putting this together as many other board members say I know this was a lot of work and you know the three meetings and incorporating as much feedback as possible I know it's a lot um and I think these have really taken shape and I think we're talking about you know uh adjusting here and there adding more detail or really thinking about the implementation um things to think about so I just wanted to say I appreciate all of your work on this thanks Dan Marilyn I just also had one or two comments same as everybody else I think they the plan is really coming long well and it definitely uh mirrors what the what people were speaking about in the strategic planning meetings and that's what they're supposed to all be about um one thing which I actually had emailed you Dr Cisco was the um I feel like what's might be missing or is our need to continue focus on access to the AP and honors classes um something that we've worked on uh you've worked on with your team over time we've had some successes not as much as we'd like and do we maybe want to keep it on on the radar by putting it in on as an action plan somewhere so it doesn't get lost um with all the other important things that we have here so that was just kind of a question or a thought um on how we you open up those classes how we get students to Fe be successful uh in um more challenging classes uh students who are mostly from the under repesentative communities that we've been talking about um and my other question which maybe doesn't really fit here because it's a separate issue is um where do we show our continued goal of expanding preschool um don't know that that I know it's not a mandated program so in some respects I'm not sure that it fits in the Strategic plan on the other hand that is our our our goal as a board and and I know yours as well is to find ways to gradually increase the number of preschool students so we can accommodate in our district so just a thought whether if it's in the Strategic plan maybe we keep we know that we have to keep reporting out on it and keep focusing on it so that was just a thought but thank you for all your work on this as well and can I I'm sorry I can I just say something really quick to that I think this kind of speaks to the first comment I made is that I'm trying to put together the different pieces too because there were a lot of things that we have we have prioritized and I think we are still prioritizing as a district as a board that aren't necessarily laid out here so and right so how do we bring the these buckets together I think is really important so we're not um saying well now that we have the Strategic plan that now um I think some would somehow take precedent and say over whatever other goals we created through the board that we so I think we should somehow make some sort of clear um plan around how we're going to ensure that our priorities are still meshing across all these different um action plans sorry j that's okay I wonder if that'll come up a little bit with what Sarah had mentioned earlier with what's our one-year goal threee fiveyear then maybe we'll get a little bit more detailed with some of that but I think you were talking specifically about the the Strategic plan right like like goals for that or benchmarks benchmarks of we've met our goal and I guess if some of the you know I think where that would come into play is where some of the work that you will that has been going on is um in service of these goals that would that would come out I think when we're thinking thinking about benchmarks but I hear what you know wanting it to be more explicitly laid out and not there to be a dissonance so yeah um I wanted to just mention kind of a clarification about what Ethan said before um or not clarification but just another opinion about the way that it's listed with Goal number one goal number two goal I could see thinking um you know that the student achievement is the third most important so it's interesting to hear everybody talk about how these aren't really an ordered goals because that wasn't clear to me either and that they're all you know equal which is which is really great to hear um I will also thank Dr Susa for all of your work it's kind of exciting to see all of the different phases of this and seeing this this plan and especially the more detailed one on the website um is really interesting there's one one question I had about goal number two which was connecting resources and improving communication that a lot of the bullet points under that had to do more with communication and family communication with the schools and I thought what had come up in some of the meetings that I didn't see here were connecting resources meaning um middle sex college and ruter university and are there ways that we can connect our students with with those schools as far as taking um classes for credit during the year and maybe some summer classes that I see other districts offering that have that connection um so just wondering if we can look into that I I'm pretty sure that that was part of of some of the meetings that I was that I was in um and that's it thank you thank you I think that uh Ethan and Jen your point about how we visually present this is really important um so having perhaps like a different visual representation of how the goals um of our goals whether it's a wheel or intersect like a wheel like because I get the I need I get that we need to order them in order to know you know which one uh you know to differentiate between them and to differentiate the action plan steps under each one but maybe we can uh or you and your team could play not me but Dr cisa and your team can play around with how we could do that visually and kind of communicate that all of these things are um integrated and built upon each other any other comments I think a squeaky will follow up yes okay um I wanted to just thank Sarah and Monique for making the point about benchmarks I think that's probably really important especially given that it is a five-year plan and it's not not always easy to know how much progress you're making on a year-to-year basis um speaking of benchmarks I think that actually the most important benchmarks we have for student learning are in fact the NGS are in fact the state test scores um and then when we think about how are we benchmarking our own progress with student learning do we want to teach only to a test no but we have a test score problem in this District they are too low they've been getting lower um and no one in the district not the teachers the students the parents or the ministry no one's happy about it everyone wants students to learn but everyone wants students to get better scores on those tests um I think those two things aren't contradictory and I think given how important those test scores are to the suit District's tax base and reputation and just the ability of community members to feel proud of what their school is doing we may have to teach the test sometimes and that's okay um uh and I appreciate the suggestion to visually represent the the goals maybe with colors or something in a way it doesn't make them ordered um there will come a point when you have to read one first and one second uh I think it's very reasonable to say that you know uh culture and climate could come first on that list something has to um but and I hope I'm not being you know again too squeaky here but um I think in the order of the goals there has to be an order student achievement should come before Communications um it just should uh that's it's it's more important and communicating and resources our way of enabling students to achieve uh not the other way around thanks okay I just had another comment um because I I I I hope this comes out prop shouting down my notes and it's not making any sense um um so I just wanted to reiterate that all four of these things are obviously very important it's a it's a holistic approach uh you cannot have uh one without the other you can't have education and kids learning if they're not feeling safe or if they're not feeling appreciated or respected or just having things going on at home or in school um and we cannot have um robust education if our communication isn't isn't quite where it needs to so all of this obviously is really important that we work holistically um consider it all holistically um I also wanted to speak on teaching to the test um obviously they are necessary then there's something that we do have to deal with um but um and I wanted to reiterate what Dan had actually said about uh helping the kids with broader thinking so and not not necessarily teaching specifically to a test but teaching them how to test which is is going to be something that they're going to need throughout their entire lifetime um when it comes to taking SATs or going to college universi so that is something that we do need to incorporate in general um but also having them have a teaching them to I think this was actually said in the report having a how encouraging to have a higher level of thinking or challenging to have a higher level of thinking um can also help them to um differentiate different questions on an exam or just you know have better problem solving skills um as a whole and then I also wanted to um agree with with um Allison on we do need a comprehensive um sex sexual health um curricula as well so it's it's also very important to our culture and climate and to all of our students in general to just know the science I want to agree with that as well just to add that we've been passing around the this specific set of books since our kids have been in kindergarten with a lot of the kids in town that were recommended by um a professor at at ruter who also has a child in District um it's wonderful our kids you know had access to these books they've been learning you know since they're very young but that's just one group of kids and I I wish that these books and this curriculum was available in our school so I'm hopeful that that will be included okay Dr Susa I think that's all sorry so like I said I took very detailed notes um and we'll continue to do so one of the things I'm going to do I'll reframe it you know take this back to the team we'll parse it out a little bit in August what I'm going to do is present updates like in bold and changes and then uh you know a a a really nice co clean polished version of of the document for uh for approval great thank you so much you're welcome all right my next report So speaking of test scores uh we have some test scores to report out so the state requires that we report publicly our NJ GPA and access test results so first the NJ GPA just a little bit of overview the um statute requires that the State graduation Prof proficiency assessment uh needs to be administered to all GR grade 11 students so this is a required assessment that has to go to all 11th grade students it's designed to measure the extent to which the students are graduation ready in both English language arts and Mathematics and graduation Readiness is reported separately for each content component the English language arts component is aligned to 10th grade standards so they don't get tested on the 11th grade standard so it's a basically a point of exit after their first two years of school and the mathematics component is aligned to both Algebra 1 and geometry standards on May 3r the New Jersey State Board of Education adopted the proficiency level cut scores for English language arts and Mathematics um as well as a menu of alternate assessments and aligned cut scores so the cut score for both English language arts and Mathematics is 725 students who take but do not meet the minimum required score on each component of the assessment will have the opportunity to receive additional support and may take uh some of the following steps that includes uh a portfolio appeal they can meet a designated cut score from a menu of other compet competency competency tests um or they can retake the ELA or math components of the NJ GPA the following summer or fall so essentially students that don't meet the the graduation requirement in 11th grade have alternate Pathways that they can achieve however they have to take the assessment to at least qualify to take um some of these alternate Pathways and apparently according to my understanding is that that is measured by I apparently according to technology some sort of Click so I guess the software knows if you're just clicking clicking clicking clicking and not taking it seriously that time on the test equates to that you didn't really take it seriously and you might not then necessarily kind of counts as if you didn't take it to then be able to open the door to these alternate Pathways so that is why you'll see a big push um at the high school level especially to obviously we to you have to take the test but to take it seriously and try your best so that if our students aren't successful on this test to meet the graduation requirement that they have alternate Pathways um to to complete that as well so a comparison of our scores from the spring uh based on the state so for English language arts our high school graduation um Readiness for English language arts was 89.2% versus the state which was 81.6 so I'm happy to report that we scored um higher in terms of not yet graduation ready ours was 10.8% versus the state 18.4% % so we're glad to see um we you know are are doing slightly better than the state there uh for mathematics this um we have a graduation Readiness rate of 58.9% the state Readiness is 54.7% so again slightly better not yet graduation ready for Highland Park High School was 41.1% in mathematics versus the state at 45.3% and then by subgroups so you can see by subgroups the blue represents English language arts and the orange mathematics and by subgroup so we have um what you'll see on the right are the number of students that took the test for our different subgroups the percentage that they received for um an Ela the number of students that took that took it for mathematics and then received uh percentage so you can see that we have um our students overall really are are performing a you know much better in our Ela um for our different subgroups than mathematics um and some of our areas um you know are are issues that we've been having reoccurring so like I said some notable achievements for ELA we are operating at uh 7.6% higher than the state average and for mathematics 4.2% higher than the state average and in English language arts at least 70% or more of the students in each subgroup meet or exceed the cut off score some of the areas we know in terms of our subgroups that are of concern that still be a concern although you know one of the things I I know I heard a lot and that we still value in Highland Park is a balance between making sure our students are College and Career Readiness um ready also that the state scores do matter especially you know in areas where they're graduation requirements but we also know our students are more than a test score so some intervention strategies that we will continue to work on are revising the curriculum to reflect the new student learning standard so I know that we've approved a myriad of curricula this summer to be Rewritten and most of that is in math and Ela so they put out new standards that were formally adopted by the state so we're going to revise the curriculum to reflect those new standards we'd like to use common language on assessments across grade levels that reflect items on the state test so it's not again to the point we're not our well we're not teaching toward the test so we're not going to say you have to learn only these things because this is exactly how it is on the particular State assessment it's more about using the common language that we see on assessments I think that's sometimes an area that it's if we're if we're teaching a certain way or using a certain language and then we get to the state test and they don't hear the same verbage or or know what it is sometimes our students kind of get tripped up on that so a lot of what we want to do is vertically articulate to make sure we're all using the same language that we're using the same language that comes from the standards because that's really the goal so it's not about the test so much is it about the standards because those state test are standards based assessments and review and expand our mtss which is multi-tiered System of supports to best identify and support varying learning needs of our students so we're constantly reviewing our MTS SS and expanding it as needed so for the access testing the state um requires assessment in four skills for Access which is reading writing speaking and listening for students receiving services in language instruction um in a language instruction educational program so these are for our multil language Learners probably formerly known as English language Learners it's mostly administered online and it's for all multilanguage Learners even those who have declined Services must sit for this test and teachers use multiple measures including a state state mandated coff score to determine if students exit or remain for the program so this is a little bit different in that the students sit for the test the our our staff members that are our ml staff members administer the test and then usually a cut off score between 4.5 and six they determine if the students are um ready to exit the program or not so it's a little bit different than a a graduation requirement per se so the proficiency has six levels so level one they're entering in terms of their understanding of language acquisition for for English uh level two is emerging so they might have General language related to the content areas they create short sentences or phrases level three is developing um where they are have some language of some content areas they're expanding their sentences and interaction with written paragraph level four is expanding where so they know some technical language of the content areas so the way that I've seen the test be administered and it's you know maybe science related questions or math related questions can they form sentences can they speak English and a Content area so that's really what they're looking at terms of making sentences putting together paragraphs and speaking in a more technical version of the English language um itself uh level five is bridging which is specialized or technical language of the content areas using a variety of linguistics to be able to communicate both written discourse and verbal and then level six is reaching um which is is the ultimate goal for our MLS so the language instruction educational program enrollment so just so that you have a a framework for when we look at the data so for 2024 in the program you can see it's broken up by four schools the bluish teal color not sure what you're seeing it there but the bluish teal color um is represented of last year 20120 2023 and what you see as the orange yellowish color represents our student enrollment in in the program for 2024 so you could see at Irving um it's been about consistent you know 30 4 last year 36 this year at ble uh 35 last year 51 this year Middle School 19 and and 27 this year and high school 32 last year and 34 um this year what you see on the right for our 2024 program is a breakdown so 60 students have been in our program less than a year 40 students uh have been in the program for one year that took this particular test which is a total of 148 students and we had 12 students that took access where parents refus to put them in our program so the overall proficiency across um all four all four buildings you can see that um the last year's data in teal and our current data in um orange so we're hovering about the same in in the entering level one um the same in emerging from last year slightly less students in the developing category than last year slightly more and expanding and about the same in bridging and none that are reaching for the results so some supports in our interventions for our multi- language Learners we're revising the curriculum to reflect the new weda standards so I know that was already board approved for curriculum writing so we're going to revise the program to reflect those new standards we're going to revise the curriculum for beginners and newcomers for grades two through five because we saw that was an area of of weakness based on our data we're going to continue sheltered instruction training for all new teaching staff and that's really just good practice but if our students have to be in content area classes so we offer sheltered depending on the level of their needs sheltered instruction training in in sometimes math or Ela but we want to make sure we give it to all new staff so that our students in social studies science art and and other content areas are receiving some of those best practices in multilanguage acquisition and instruction providing ongoing professional development for our ESL teachers and administrators in fact one of the things that we have to do is you have to take a course in order to be certified to evaluate an ESL teacher so that is one thing that we're doing as well so myself included has to go for professional development so that I'm well versed in what I'm seeing as best practice in ESL or ml instruction to make sure that we're even evaluating our staff uh appropriately that we have the knowledge to do so uh we have the creation of immigrant family engagement committee to organize and facilitate family engagement events under the um leadership of Amy kapola and the creation of multi uh lingual profiles that identify background information about the student um so that we can use those those descriptors to guide instruction and uh recommend accommodations hi so I will open up the floor to questions or comments about our njpa or access test results thank you Dr cisa anyone I have anything yep yeah go ahead um one thing hopefully I don't know if it'll um just maybe provide a little more context for the math scores um you know one may look at that and and really ask a lot of questions one thing I can say um you know here in New Jersey we're seeing declines uh in math but also other states as well and um you know it's just one thing to note that we're above the Benchmark and you know I think just Nationwide there is this anomaly that we're seeing and it's something that you know separate from my job perod that I'm actually researching but I think it it's something that is is happening and it's curious and um you know it's one that we can note here but again we're above the Benchmark um but the question is why this year it's actually particularly this year we're seeing kind of some changes and and again I don't know that it's specific to us but maybe we can take some lessons um when we look to see what's going on you know Across the Nation and take those lessons back to us but I I bring this up just because we could spend 30 minutes an hour talking about just this but I think it's a a bit broader than just what's Happening Here Yeah I just had a question about that because I mean if you look at it the scores dropped Statewide um pretty tremendously in just one year from 202 not yet Statewide not just in Highland Park um and so I over um Dr cisus said that the standards had changed did they change before that test is that is the test different um like that's just a question I had like was the test actually different this year are they measuring something different yes so that oh I was gonna say so that's a good question so we I can get some more specific information but my understanding is is that this the assessment changes and then they um update the curriculum but I will say I know that there were issues I don't know if you recall Allison reporting out through the curriculum committee with them formally adopting them there was a lot of controversy Alison shaking your head vigorously yes there was a lot of controversy at the state over them so that's a very good question Dan has his hand up but I'm not sure if he has any intel on this because he's our math expert yeah no that they weren't a part of the assessment yet the the standards got approved this year so they actually didn't change the assessment but and I don't know how soon it'll affect the assessment but possibly soon as next year um so yeah but but you're right that there was a big drop Statewide in math and I know it happened in a bunch of other districts like North Brunswick My Touch in and um you know places around us um we are above the Benchmark but yeah so the drop wasn't because they changed the items this year um so it is a little puzzling because it is really Broad as far as what I've seen um you know I think the other concern is is those four groups that that I noted earlier you know black Latin X students special needs an economic disadvantage right so that they're really low even even as we're kind of above the state Benchmark and so I just wanted to mention that yeah I think that that's important District by District but even yeah even what I think is fascinating about is other uh states are experiencing a really similar just tank like big big drop that you know 2bd like TBD what what's going on there but it's interesting curious about the pandemic timing you know these are 11th graders that went through the beginnings of algebra in during the pandemic it be an overc correction right where we were focusing so much on because there was a dip in ela and now we're experiencing a lagging dip you know but it it's interesting to see this trend and how it relates to more broadly what's going on yeah I'm sorry if someone else had to I just wanted to get my thoughts together now so i' lost track of no okay um thank you again Dr sesa for another comprehensive report I think my questions uh were around well comments first around what I saw here in slide 12 about your um plans for um providing supports and interventions for our multilanguage Learners and their families so I just love the idea of having the U creating the Immigrant family engagement committee um and trying to you know organize events to bring together the families and caregivers of the students so I was really happy to hear that um and really curious about the multilingual profiles I think that is just an excellent way to really get into each individual students um kind of strengths right looking at their backgrounds um and I would love to hear how that works like what kind of information is going to be included and even how we can think about expanding that a little bit more broadly beyond our U multilanguage Learners again not to give you anything extra to think about but um when we're talking about kind of other groups of students who we know are um you know again not achieving um to are under being underserved um and and as is noted either in test scores or in discipline reports and so forth and how this sort of approach with these profiles couldn't benefit them as well but I just loved that part of this um work that you're doing I just had a quick question I was wondering um with some of the students that didn't meet the cut score on the NJ GPA were any of them just curious are any taking them those tests over the summer this year here in Highland Park just wonder if we have any yeah that's a good question uh I'm not sure I can ask I do know that we had students uh so 12th some 12 graders that took the portfol like the math and English language arts Port portfolio assessment and all passed so I think our uh our our math and ELA teachers who work with that it's a 12th grade support class that they take uh where we really gear them up for Success because now you're putting sort of your your graduation requirement in the state's hand to say if they take this portfolio and show that they've met met the standards or met the proficiency that they can pass so all of those students were successful and I some other students do it through other Pathways whether it's SATs um so we have a a whole plethora of other assessments that students can take along the way to meet that requirement um I just have one other question about the NJ GPA um do we have you know we have the um you know data for ELA and math um and then we have it we have the number of students versus the stat State data um but when it's broken up into Hispanic Asian um black white economically disadvantaged do we have that in comparison with State averages like are are are are does that look like the rest of the state are we doing better are we doing worse yeah that's a good question they don't give that to us in our report okay do they do they give you anything related to the year-over-year too because that would be for the subgroups that would be good to see if any dropped um more than than you know not just the Benchmark but like how it was over year-over-year change that's publicly available and I was actually looking at it um some and but like the we would have to look at it and compare because the drop is pretty considerable especially in math but that I was looking at other nearby districts as well and like like I said like it's and like Dan said it's pretty widespread um when you go from like 70% of the state state meeting the math uh cut off last year to you know 40 something this year it's a pretty substantial drop Statewide but I'm more interested in what we're doing yeah yeah I think it's two there's two ways you could get at it one you could see where there was more of a substantial drop or you we could just compare them to The Benchmark either way I think the point is from a segmentation standpoint we want to see are are any one of our groups suffering more than than the Benchmark which we're all kind of not doing that great yeah and it looks like you know even amongst our best performing students right like in math there was a drop whereas there wasn't in ela and there might have even been an improvement I would have to look at it more closely but you know it' just be interesting to see so that we could appropriate I mean and see what Statewide Trends are and like you said National Trends okay well that concludes my report thank you all right thank you Dr CSA we're going to move on to public comments the Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this time for your comments board policy number 0167 establishes and regulates the right of public the public to participate in public meetings we'll begin with inperson first is there are there any is anyone here for public comment I'm up to the podium just remember to state your name and residence and really close to the mic hi folks can you hear me yes Del Sasso 327 Becker street it's been a real pleasure hearing all of your really thoughtful comments and questions I'm I'm very appreciative of all of you and and Dr cesa um and I appreciate the the opportunity to to talk to you I specifically um want to talk about that culture and climate section of the Strategic plan I was at all three of the um strategic planning meetings and I was um the notetaker and and sort of loudmouth person who reported for the final culture and and climate section so I just want to um say a little bit about what I think our main goals and takeaways were and how they're in some cases they're well represented here but in others I think they could be better represented um so first of all I just want to say quickly the overarching goal there provides a safe inclusive identity affirming and supportive environment and I'm going to email my OCD sort of Corrections that I made humbly submit them to you so you can take or leave them but I will I will email them to you I have hard copies too I appreciate your patience and and Grace with that um so there are some things here that we didn't discuss which doesn't mean that they're not useful and things that we should do but I sort of grade them out just because they weren't they weren't priorities that came up in our discussion um two things that were I would say our two biggest priorities and takeaways that I didn't feel like were totally reflected in as um targeted away as I would like I wrote down as sort of additional sections that you can take or leave but one is utilize free state consultant and programs examples new Jersey anti-bullying task force safe schools New Jersey Etc Community groups and experts to develop a vision zero plan with zero tolerance for identity-based bullying and to dramatically lessen overall bullying if I could you know in one sentence encapsulate like the main themes of what we talked about it would be that a second one would be develop and Implement a program to promote a culture of self and Community Care based on res respect for self and others when we were talking about concerns about bullying and bias and a lot of the things that are represented here but I really I I thought this was just a beautiful idea that folks had come up with so I really wanted to highlight this idea of respect for self and respect for others as tied together and my kids are in the middle school and my brain is in the middle school right now this is helpful to all our kids but I feel like we could bring that respect for self and others into the middle school like as a overarching this is what we want the culture to be I think that would be really meaningful and that was something I heard from a lot of people in that meeting um a third thing that's um that's in here is data collection and I'm really happy to see that I just want to highlight that we were specifically um requesting data collection on bullying and identity-based bullying and above and beyond H reporting which is good and important um some of the sort of edits and additions I made on here were about Hib I was really happy to see um the things Dr sus included about like reassessing our anti-bias practices and stuff and I think that's really important I think it's only valuable if then um we educate stakeholders about those anti-bias policies so one of the things that I note and hear all the time is that nobody knows what a Hib is so like I've met a few times with the middle school and high school Saga the sexual sex and gender Alliance kids right no one in the room has ever heard of a Hib they don't know what that means they have no idea how one would file a Hib and they're you know they're relaying to me all kinds of bias incidents that are happening so I'm like did you did you file what's that how do we find how do we get that so if nobody knows how to file one then our Hib reporting is kind of not a good representation of what's going on right and if staff don't know what a Hib is or how to file one or that they should file want if they're seeing a bias incident it's not as useful to be you know re looking at how we're handling them so that all kind of goes hand in hand um that's those are the main things I wanted to say about the culture and climate I also just wanted to say harah for seeing um lgbtq curriculum in that um student achievement section I do want to say um highlight areas of implementation doesn't feel strong enough to me my experience I've emailed you all about this I some of you may not know who the heck I am but I'm a psychologist who works with lgbtq people I talk to a lot of students and I have yet to find a student who can name name more than one very discreet and I mean like one class and one teacher example of anytime anything lgbtq related was brought up in a classroom ever and and Dr Susa heard some of this when we met with a group of students like no one in the room could name an example through eighth grade the high school kids like they can tell you one to three One day things that happened in a few classrooms but it is you know nowhere near meeting the state requirements so I think I don't know highlight areas of implementation I would say we need to meet the state requirements for lgbtq plus curriculum and the climate change and people with disabilities there are other areas there they're also not doing I'm mainly advocating for the lgbtq part those other parts are important thank you so so much for listening I really really appreciate you and hearing so many of you talk about needing comprehensive sex education literally almost cried hearing that thank you thank you thank you really appreciate you all thank you D is there anybody in person for public comment okay uh anybody online how many people do we have eight one hand okay hi everyone can you hear me yes please just state your name and place of residence sure Erica Ryan I'm at 216 Felton Avenue um actually very much like Dell I I I so appreciated listening to your discussion about the Strategic plan and the things that we need to keep thinking about in relationship to it um and I think I really appreciate this idea idea that of course culture matters so much when it comes to talking about achievement for our kids I also have a child in the Middle School um and I think combining you know a focus on culture and climate is is really important as we also I hope really increase a focus on student achievement and rigor because I feel as though over the past couple of years we have we have not been focusing as much as we need to on achievement and rigor and so I just want to I I I I like what I saw in the Strategic plan as far as um and I liked also Dr Dr Susa how you you sort of mediated one of those goals that it's not teaching to the test that we want to do but but increase um the ability for our students to practice higher order thinking and I I like that and I think that rigor needs to be reaching and achievement needs to be reaching all those students who are not being served by our school climate currently um which a couple of board members really thoughtfully pointed out um but that achievement also needs to to be brought to students who have really been experiencing a total lack of differentiation in the classroom and have not been challenged at all in the Middle School um so there are a lot of different communities we need to keep in mind here when we think about um not just achievement but also culture and the way it impacts that so I guess what I really you know the overall point is you have all been talking about this already and I wanted to encourage you to keep having these really hard and thoughtful conversations about the way way that culture and climate go hand inand with achievement as we start to I Hope You Know increase a focus on rigor um going forward so again really thank you for the thoughtful conversation you've been having and I encourage you to keep keep having those discussions as the Strategic plan is is hammered out thank you Erica Angel anybody else okay Abby hi this is Abby Stern cardal I live on Harper Street um a couple of questions about the Strategic plan one would just be where in the Strategic plan um would be a place for including the expansion of the prek program to the full universe or 90% or whatever the um desired um full prek would be is that something that is typically part of a strategic plan or is that more of kind of a drilled of a board goal I don't know where that's um you know typically included but I would love to see you know that in writing as a really big goal um I also was a little bit confused about um how how much there was a focus on increasing cameras and security um I completely understand and agree that security and safety is a priority but it seemed to be a very big focus of the facilities um area and I was surprised um the focus on that versus you know I know there's a lot of facilities needs and a lot of money needs to be sent spent on improvements so um when I saw three or four or more talking about security cameras and exterior um you know Building Systems um it was a surprise that that was such a big Focus I guess I would appreciate hearing a little bit more about why um um that's where the money would be probably prioritized versus maybe more more um other facility issues um and then the last thing was just a question not specifically having to do with the Strategic plan um just because I haven't been by Irving recently and like others were saying they were in the middle school mindset I'm very much in the Irving mindset um and I'm wondering if there's any update that can be given about the pre K playground area I know there was a lot of you know um plans for that to be done this summer before the next academic year started so that there wasn't any Interruption for any of the kids come September so um it's possible this is all happening and I haven't seen it I'm just curious if um there's been any update to that timing and if it's still going to be done by September so thank you and I should have started by just saying you know thank you for all the work everyone's put into this and I Echo what others have said that you know it's very um comprehensive and a lot to it um but I just wanted to add those couple of questions and comments thank you thank you Abby anybody else okay we are going to move on to our committee reports I will start with curriculum and instruction uh curriculum and instruction met on July 11th um we got really great news um the New Jersey inclusion project um accepted our proposal um to for Irving school and it's going to be a project to support inclusive education and improve outcomes for students with disabilities um the project will provide technical assistance in the form of five sessions of targeted professional development more detailed information about the topic are still to be determined um but they may include topics like introduction to inclusive education co- teing collaborative consultation differentiation to support inclusive education differentiation to support inclusion developing IEPs that support inclusive education Etc um the district did submit two applications one for Irving and one for Bartle but only B um Irving was selected um the second item we spoke about were Essa grants for the next school year um the district is still determining how to allocate Essa Grant funds for the 2024 2025 school year after using a significant portion of the title One funds to retain interventionists um several programs previously funded through Title One are currently unfunded this includes Brothers mentoring dolphin tutoring seal yoga some family nights and the ship program for summer 2025 the district is exploring options like scaling back our ship program um implementing programs through schedule B to sustain some critical programs with limited funds currently ship enrollment is very low and it costs about 60 to 70,000 to run it for about three weeks um we were discussing that it may be more beneficial to fund after school intervention such as tutoring programs like the ble dolphin tutoring um once carryover funds are established in October Dr fris Administration can look um to determine whether funding can be used in some form for these programs um and just to clarify ESL summer program for 2025 and extended school year for 2025 are funded for next summer um it was just the ship program that currently does not have funding we also discussed um the literacy lab pilot Holly Turner from Raising hands tutoring proposed A literacy lab pilot at B School in collaboration with the is imse foundation um this this would involve 12 Bartle and Irving teachers who are being certified in Orton Gillingham um to do their practicum program at no cost to the district around 30 students and um at least 50% of those students would be free and reduced lunch students as per the pilot requirements They will receive free Afterschool tutoring from teachers um in OG training supervised by ble and Irving staff the district will provide the space for the program and assist with promoting it to families um but would not be a part of choosing the students that would be done by Mrs Turner um there were questions about whether the program could include middle school and Miss Rodriguez will follow up with that um now on to our agenda items uh we have a few field trips to approve um for robotics September um the approval of three hibs one confirmed two unconfirmed an updated job description this is the director of before and after school um this is going to be updated to be a full-time position the approval of Home instructions students uh there are four of them um and the approval of curriculum textbooks mandated programs for prek to 12 um for the 2025 to 2020 I'm sorry 2024 to 2025 school year um we did mention that there is currently curriculum revisions happening um we will then approve those revisions in August or September but today we are approving what is existing right now and that concludes my report I had a a quick question for the um inclusion application that didn't get through is that something we will be able to resubmit and we may not know that answer but curious I guess Dr suska you would have to look into that yeah definitely something we can look into um and the other thing just to say I found that particular meeting really exciting all the good news that came in and want to just commend the work um you know Michelle and going through and thinking you know when you think about the Intervention Program what we're getting for free and I think the amount of people that are going to get impacted by this in a positive way is is fantastic and so continuing to see you know how we we can be creative uh in this kind of way when we know you know there there's a lot of students in need and so for me it was really inspiring to kind of see how that's going to evolve and support our community so thank you okay um equity and Excellence yes equity and Excellence was not able to meet uh this month uh we had some just scheduling conflicts of course in the summmer is sometimes difficult to meet as a committee but we will be meeting next month um uh we do have an item to move uh for approval here and that is of the uh comprehensive Equity plan statement of assurance 2024 to 2025 um to my knowledge we as a committee did not have an opportunity to actually review the statement of assurance I don't know if Dr cesa you want to speak to it a little bit more uh or a little bit specifically uh particularly for newer board members who may not be uh too familiar with exactly what the statement of Insurance is as opposed to the actual Equity plan yeah so the the New Jersey Department of Education pushed out um to they we should have been updating our Equity plan and we had started the process but they pushed out an update to say that they are actually having changes um and so they said you have two options either wait for the changes and then push you know use the changes to to push out your new plan which includes A needs assessment and things like that or a statement of assurance that just says that we're going to continue operating under our current plan and in the process start looking at creating a new one that will be approved for a three-year plan so we did the statement of assurance just to say that we're still in uh continuing with our existing plan and that uh miss kessle our supervisor of funding programs and District initiatives has already started the research on creating A needs assessment and looking across multiple data points to put together um our new plan which will be run through equity and excellence as well wonderful thank you welcome and that is all I have okay any any questions on that okay then we move to finance facilities and that's me so um we did meet we met on uh July 16th um and we um start off speak talking about before and after care update we got one from Collins on state state lure um and there was supposed to have been today but at Le was postponed there's supposed to have been a site inspection today by a representative from the state um in order to approve our facilities for for the lure process um uh so I believe that's going to be moved till tomorrow um but the uh the process seems to be and Denise you can correct me if I got this wrong but um once our facilities are approved by the state then we can submit an application for lure um at that point our staff would need to have a whole additional level of background checks that the state requires um and that would be like the next step once we've submitted our application for lure lure is separate from the subsidies issue so um Colin and Dr sesa have been working on um getting this lure process moving along and it definitely is the state representative will be available for questions the day of our inspection so I I think is tomorrow um and so we have uh some board members and Dr cesco will be on to talk with the state representative um when that happens to ask questions about the lure process and then we'll move on to the subsidy issues the difference is the lure comes from the state subsidy process is a county process um and that's something we're still working on getting information on they've reached out um Coles have reached out to a number of other districts hard in the summertime to get responses and get information people are in schools not everybody's working as hard as some of our people are working in the summer so um but more to come on that but it seemed uh like we're heading in the right direction there um under facilities uh we were given a uh an update on all the many many many summer projects that John and his staff have undertaken um you in in your minutes you received a a link to a list of you know everything from pipe insulation to Roofing to camera upgrades to R Ovation in the B the bathroom at ble all the things that can be done the summer some of this money um is um remaining AR money so that it needs to be spent by the end of September Denise and John are meeting regularly each week I believe to review this list and keep it moving so we get as much as we can so that much as as much as possible gets done over the summer and and then covered by these funds that we have and we want to spend every penny um the update on the walkway was we're still waiting for waiting for estimates um we're hoping that it will be would be feasible it looks like it's feasible is what I wrote down to just eliminate the door and the walkway if that was feasible then that would be a less expensive option than doing major repair uh major uh rebuilding in that area so more to come on that we're waiting for um on our agenda tonight we're approving additional um time uh for DMR to uh to work on on these estimates um the good news was the Irving sign is finally ready to be installed we've got the money from the um a uh grant that the burrow has and they're providing uh $3600 PTO is providing a thou 36 right PTO is providing a th District's providing a th there's going to be a Irving sign on each Corner in the front of the building so it should be really lovely so that's ready to go um and actually my notes were talking about still that John and Denise are still following up on the baseball field renovation but in fact um we have on our agenda approval of a conditional Grant agreement for the renovation of the baseball field so that is moving along as well we'll do that when we do the agenda um and in finance we talked about the purchase of network equipment that um is roughly $100,000 but 60% of it is being covered by E rate which which I understand is a school libraries Grant so we are paying for 40% of that $100,000 um which is great and also um there's a purchase of a lot of cafeteria tables where they've been going a building by building to see what the needs are um and that's being paid for through um the cafeteria fund um and at that point Auditors were in this week they'll be back in September and that was our overall agenda our overall meeting on the agenda for tonight for finan and Facilities approval of the bill list for May 29th through July 22nd approval of the board secretary's report um that no budgetary line item has been overextended approval we're voting on the um certification also Board of Education certifications um that sufficient funds are available to meet the district's financial needs the remain dur of the year and nothing's been overextended um approval of budget transfers travel and related expense reimbursement reports a number of uh contractor approval for contractors for Professional Services athletic training leaders to leaders Mentor um other contractors for professional development um en Vision implementation uh full day coaching for administrator as part of administrator professional development vment um leadership training this all through Janna Le Consulting that's that's going to focus on data analysis protocols and planning plc's um also full day planning with identified teachers PLC facil facilitations all under Jan Le Consulting and we have some contract service providers that are on the agenda for um Pediatric Speech Therapy ABA therapies and uh some of the other Staffing that we may need in the course of the year I think is how we do this for speech and OT and nursing and so forth um we're voting on accepting um the approval of membership in the New Jersey inter Scholastic Athletic Association uh number 10 is three additional added District placements that are on the agenda for three students that need to go to one of these schools um number 11 is what I was talking about for the DMR Architects to do further evaluation and create a proposal for the the needs of a um mechanical room and adjacent to the mechanical room at ble the network equipment that we spoke about is number 12 um the Irving sign number 14 is the um recommendation to approve an Ida Grant application and the amounts are there uh basic and preschool um we're going we need to do a um it's done every three years I believe um Drinking Water Analysis and so that's on for number 15 to to uh to test our water in our buildings um renewal of the lease in the modular classrooms um as well as um uh just just letting the St know that we are using class using modular classrooms for four kindergartens at Irving and that also we're using um some spaces at ble room 231 in particular is being used with a divider in order to house two smaller group classes so we need to report that each year to the state so that's what 18 is about we have a contract for a mckenny vento student um and that's a student who is um whose family is displaced and that's to the New Brunswick schools number 20 two students coming to us um from d one from dellan one from South Brunswick and we're um approving tuition contracts for these students to attend our school and our um autism program replacing the cafeteria tables is number 21 number 22 is a very long um uh approval of disposal and sale of surpress property it actually relates to a postage machine machine that we need to move on so state has a process for that that's number 22 I have two readings number 23 is um and you each have in front of you the conditional gra gift agreement so we are moving that we accept um that we approve this conditional gift agreement between the Highland Park athletic team boosters Sports care and the district for the renovation of the high school baseball field as per the attached and you all have that um that recommendation and number 24 is um approving a contract to replace the flooring at Irving Primary School in certain particular classrooms and Highland Park High School um and the company interior Solutions and the amount of what that bid is um $5,850 one that's number 24 and that's my report any questions quick question just under um [Music] the uh approval for contractors of no sorry not that one number eight approval of contract service providers and related services for 2024 25 of course Sun Bel Staffing I'm assuming the list of um in the contract for compensation column the list of ranges of rates here do they coincide with each um actual service in the second column or no I was trying to see if so in other words am I assuming that the special education services School Contract Services is going to fall within that 95 to $125 hour um per hour rate and then speech therapists are do you know if that okay thank you Denise Denise is gonna check on that yeah I'm assuming it probably is but I just want to see how to read that I see what you madean this is way way it's listed on here so speech and language Pathologists are 95 to 125 social workers are 70 to 90 so they do coincide occupational therapists 80 to 100 adaa 55 so they're not lined up on here but they're they're in order they're right okay so when they copy the table it didn't coincide but the amounts are the same in the order that they're there right we'll correct that'll it out oh thank you thank you question Finance just a question about the uh baseball field do you have an idea when Renovations might take place is it possible it will be done before the spring season that's the goal however there's um several issues of approval that have to go through have to to go through the planning board it also has to get doe approval um and we need an engineer to do c sealed plans in order to to give that thank you for telling [Laughter] me so hope hopefully that's the intent um but we're we're going to be at the mercy of certain approvals gotcha thank you I had one oh good so I I think this was in the committee notes but I don't believe you mention it Marilyn unless I missed it but that the um State grant for the new playground in Irving and that that would be um done this summer I was just thinking about aby's question yeah I don't think it come up with Finance this time it came up last time was the uh Denise was an update on that um it did so that's also included on that spreadsheet that shared with everyone on the updates so the purchase order has been sent the um playground equipment has been ordered uh we're just waiting for it to be received by the vendor to schedule installation um the goal is to get it in installed by the end of August but again it's weather permitting and um we're at the mercy of the schedule of the vendor so uh John reaches out to all of our vendors for all the summer projects that we have going on including HVAC and flooring um and he reaches out to them on a we weekly basis and then we report together just to make sure we we stay on top of all of the projects that we have going on and there are many projects if you look at the um the Google sheet that's shared um the ones that are in green are projects that either have been completed and or started um and then there's also notes in the field uh John's notes from each vendor thank you thanks yes very thorough chart okay okay personnel and Communications thank you um personnel and Communications did meet last week on July 16th um there are notes out in the board Drive I realize scrambled to get them together but didn't let anyone know that they were available so feel free to review because we can't um discuss the Personnel items so we went over the a lot of various Personnel items in addition to some exciting Communications discussions on on um improving communication of like good news throughout the district and how we might better share that with um with our you know our own District Community but also the Highland Park Community um those that might not have kids in District um but it's still you know very exciting news and we we'd love to share it as widely as possible um we brainstormed on how to better utilize the app we have a really great HP schools app um pretty much it's it's left up to the individual schools to send information out but we'd like to also send send a little bit more out at the district level um we're also going to take a better look at the the calendar and how to share that with the community I I keep asking for a way to subscribe on Google because my whole life is on a Google Calendar I've met many Google Calendars actually um so I'm hoping that maybe we can do something similar to the way the sports um teams are communicated you can subscribe to each individual sport I don't know what's possible yet but it was just a thought that maybe if you could you know check on and check off ble Irving High School District and if there was you know just a way to kind of share that and then also have the schools and the district be able to see the events coming up we had a couple overlapping events this school year and we're going to try um our best to try to prevent that from happening some of the um schedules come out at different times where it's not always um easy to do that but we're going to look into ways to to improve at least um and then also look into ways to maybe work with the buau on um advertising some things for the school or not advertising sharing some things for the school um okay and then onto the agenda we have um an approval of four different resignations um approval of two leaves approval of five new appointments um approval of reappointments of HPA employees for the school year that's um an attached list um for all of our uh hbaa employees approval of adjusted stiens for schedule B positions um listed seal lab coordinator at ble global citizenship coordinator at the high school and the lead counselor for the district approval of stiens for schedule depositions uh for another one environmental Club um at the high school approval of movement on the guide for Rebecca tacis approval of paid administrative leave approval of staff for the summer teaching and reinforcement which is the star extended school year program um there's a long list of employees for that program approval of a reappointment and extra compensation for the power professionals now long that's the power professionals approval of curriculum writing um we have Ela grade four math grade five approval of classroom and office moves at ble and Middle School approval of a volunteer for the football program for alumni Affairs approval of volunteers multiple volunteers for football at the high school approval of home instruction staff approval of change of hours for title three um immigrant newcomer handbook revisions um someone at Irving and at the high school approval of changes to the staff for summer teaching and reinforcement the star program um list of four employees approval of staff for the summer child study team testing and IEP meetings approval of additional hours for a power professional at Irving approval of summer hours for the before and after school program uh first two staff members at the propor after school program approval of school program staff and that is it through number 21 any questions okay policy so policy did not meet um instead everybody was encouraged to take some time to read um we've gathered quite a bit of um actually Allison gather a lot of the um of Artic local articles and policies on cell phone use in schools so everybody had some homework to do on reading that um for to begin those discussions at our next meeting and the reality is that whole process needs to go through multiple uh uh School groups and leadership team and so forth so before before policy can do anything with a policy on it we really need to have a lot of input from a lot of people um or Dr cesco will need um so we just started the reading on that um so there was no meeting uh there are policies that we're voting on tonight the only new one is an a slight change to the organizational chart and that's a first reading um if you look at the organizational chart the change um is uh the business business administrator um is directly under the superintendent and then other administrators are on the next line of the organizational charts in fact when Dr Susa is out it's uh Mr Rosa that is uh kind of in charge as it were so we just kind of cleaned up that organizational chart for what actually happens and the policies for second reading are ones that we talked about last month um no no new changes on those that's it questions for policy okay um we now have our second public comment Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this right time for your comments there is nobody in person um anybody on our webinar how many how many six people any public commenters okay Abby go ahead hi Abby Stern Cardel again um I just wanted to say thank you for the clarification on the Irving playground um I wanted to just you know also clarify my comments on that a little I know I've uh brought it up um you know I'm sure there's a ton of facility projects and they're all you know very important for different reasons the one thing I wanted to emphasize about the Irving playground and I'm sure you all already know this um but if it's not done by the end of summer it would be incredibly disruptive for you know the whole Irving prek program because there's really no other space that is um permitted for those children to go they can't go to the other Irving playground because of you know the prek requirements so there's no real uh outdoor space so I almost would say if there's not an assurance that it could get done by the Fall it might not be a great idea to start it um as as much as I'd love that to get started and finished I would be very very concerned if it would overlap with the start of school so I just wanted to make that comment I would love to see it you know completed but um if things get pushed back I would almost wonder if there could be something over winter break or another break so that it doesn't interrupt kids having a safe space to go outside because I'm not sure there's much other space that the prek kids could go to um and again thank you for all the work you know especially Denise I know that it's all on on your plate and you're juggling a million different projects and you know I really appreciate that I just wanted to clarify um my understanding of the importance of having the kids have a place to go um uh outside every day thank you so much okay thank you Abby anybody else online all right we're going to move ahead um to our action items for curriculum and instruction I would I want to move numbers one through five second Dr batty yes Miss cassal dun yes Dr colan yes Dr Pixley yes Miss puce yes Dr scholman yes Miss stano yes Miss baman yes Miss mores yes equity and Excellence I'm so I was thinking I'm so sorry um I move what page are we on here okay number one approval of the comprehensive Equity plan statement of assurance 2024 2025 second Dr batty yes Miss Calon yes Dr Coleman yes Dr Pixley yes Miss puce yes Dr scholman yes Miss stano yes Miss vman yes Miss fores yes okay oh sorry finance and faciliity um I move that we um approve items one through 24 just to clarify 23 because the readin is the conditional gift agreement for the renovation of the High School baseball field and number 24 is approval of the flooring replacement at Irving primary school and Highland Park High School so I move items 1 to 24 second Dr batty yes Miss cassal D yes Dr Coleman yes Dr Pixley yes Miss puce yes Dr scholman yes Miss stano yes Miss bamman yes Miss Vorhees yes personnel and Communications I move items one through 21 second Dr batty yes Miss cassal dun yes Dr Coleman yes Dr Pixley yes Miss puce yes Dr scholman yes Miss stano yes Miss vman yes Miss Vorhees yes and policy um I move one a uh one and two one a and two a and two B and C under policies second Dr batty yes Miss cassal dun yes Dr Coleman yes Dr Pixley yes Miss puce yes Dr scholman yes Miss stano yes Miss yes M Wares yes okay uh we're going to move on to board liaison reports does anybody have any reports to share um I do on July 11th I believe it was I attended the cpad group um meeting and uh one it was in the middle of the summer really quite surprising how many people showed up so I thought that was just a really nice uh you know I think they didn't expect it um uh but one thing that did come up uh from the group is the desire to potentially do some kind of audit for the cpeg um and and you just for for um that and so I think just bringing it up to the table it came up and and I think we should have further discussion in in subcommittees and and uh see what can be done there thank you anybody else have a report okay um my president's report is a reminder to please complete your board self assessment by the end of July um only two of us had filed it out so if you could please find some time um so this is so we can craft some board goals and get them into our um agenda for First Look in August all right and um secondly a reminder that the um petitions for running for board ofed are July 29th they are due um a candidate packet is available on njsp.org any old business uh so the hours hours late so I promise have to talk too long but um I wanted to Circle back to the two public commenters we had the first comment period um Erica and Del Sasso and I was just thinking about what they both said um because it ties back into the Strategic plan and you know Erica the first commenter talked about and I wrote down some quotes here that um at the middle school in particular and that was really the focus of her com ments that she said there is no differentiation in instruction and that she said no one is being challenged in the middle school and that was the source of her comment that we should make sure to you know pay enough attention to the academic achievement goal uh Del Sasso um also we and we had a you know long thoughtful methodical email from her um earlier this month um and she Drew attention to the problematic culture at the Middle School she said that was her Focus that's really where her mind is right now at the middle school and on the board certainly we've seen the middle school has the biggest climate problem in terms of harassment bowling intimidation and sometimes students exit the middle school and they come at the high school they arrive in ninth grade and they are they have a lot of uh struggles and we've seen examples of that pretty recently and I just think it's really interesting that both of those commenters said the middle schools where the problem is uh the biggest problem and you know we've talked in this board at this meeting today how these goals intertwine right culture you need a great culture to enable an achievement students who achieve feel better at themselves that increases the culture and I think the middle school is exhibit a of how these two goals need to reinforce one another and how the middle school they are not reinforcing one another and so the reason I'm drawing attention to this now is that it just it just really struck me that we have this great plan coming out I really do think I think it's a great plan I think it says the right things uh it reflects board values Community Values but a great plan is pointless without the right people to implement it it's worse than pointless because it gives you the sent that something's going to be done but if the right team isn't there nothing will get done and I think we have to look at ourselves the board and the top Administration Dr susuka I would encourage everyone at the higher echelons to look at themselves and say do we have the right team in place at the middle school in particular to implement this plan because if we don't doesn't matter what we approve what we publish things will not change at that school and there are certain administrators well-intentioned good people I think that this is is not appropriate on my opinion no it's General talking Personnel Personnel is not something we discuss in public the idea of a team needing to be there uh is important and I think we should ask ourselves do we have the right teams in place at our schools to implement this new plan thank you can I just comment on that real quick um both of the speakers however currently have students at the middle school so we don't know when these issues started they could have they could have been for years it could be new um I think probably based on my own personal conversations with with some of them um I think it's been going on for a little while so it might not be these particular things may not just be at the middle school they may have started prior to that actually one more thing and also um is it the right team or possibly the right tools it could be that you know the Strategic plan will bring about better tools to help our team Implement some of these changes right and as a reminder our job is our teammate is Dr Isa so these are her decisions these are and yes we can discuss them with her um when appropriate but our role is to oversee and provide oversight to Dr Susa um not to teams um in the buildings and I just wanted to add when I was listening actually to um I believe it was Erica's comment about the lack of like no differentiation in the middle school and I that kind of perked my ears I'm thinking I I don't know how accurate that actually is um so I would and I know that Dr cesa was taking notes throughout all the public comments and I would hope that Dr CES would be able to speak to that um perhaps at our next meeting or in between that time to really clarify where the middle school is in terms of um differentiation of instruction because to my knowledge um that should be happening if it if it isn't then that and I believe we actually had it I think step one and Dr sisa shared this with me and I hope you don't mind me sharing it um as well is we need to be able to make sure that everybody understands what differentiation means that's right what does it look like what's involved how does it look from classroom to classroom um so yes it's definitely something of a focus districtwide um but we also need to establish that common definition to make sure that we're all talking about what we think we're talking about right right and the last thing we want to do here at the board table is to kind of create a situation where we're also kind of feeding into false perceptions about what in our you know like from a personal place I can say my child had an amazing Middle School experience in his middle schooler ways he would be like H it's Middle School um but you know anecdotally you will find every person has a story yeah you know so it's really important that we keep our uh conversations rooted in data and rooted in our committee reports um and you know make sure that we're taking feedback from our community and you know sharing it in a way that's most appropriate um I did want to add something to the discussion around differentiation in education because I I was happy to see in the Strategic plan that there was um staff development around um differentiation and education and I was just thinking whether um you know I know this is something that we that the curriculum department and the equity and Excellence has been focused on um you know but some sort of evaluation of actually where we are I know that's been sort of an ongoing discussion about how um you know that has been implemented um and some of the challenges that we've had with it over the covid years in implementing differentiation and education so you know just you know having that's just something to keep in mind about whether if we're going to you know invest in the professional development we could also you know see where we currently are and how that's being implemented I think that's I just want to say that yeah different ation of instruction has been a conversation of this board since I joined the board in 2018 so yeah and actually I think that is a good point about evaluating sort of where we are and there's always been and I think this is across the board differentiation again is very difficult especially when there it's not perhaps the same common definition of what that means um and it's not just kind of a oneshot professional development it takes a lot of resources and ongoing support so I do um appreciate you bringing in the idea of well where are we in terms of how we're doing with that process and that is a conversation that curriculum instruction also um typically kind of takes the lead on but it certainly dovetails with equ Nexus as well yeah because there have been some areas where it's gone better and some areas where it's not and you know just being able to take stock so that then we can um assign resources appropriately and you know sort of see where we are right and I know that we are taking that seriously so yeah I just wanted to bring it up yeah and I mean Mo can probably speak to this too but differentiation was a topic when I started teaching in 20 5 20 years ago before you did it it has changed in definition throughout the 20 years that we have been doing it I mean you know if if I were to do things that I was taught to do today back in you know from like when I was doing them in 2007 I would be ineffective because this understanding of how kids learn and the you know it has changed as new research comes out um so you know that's why it's so important that we establish a common definition and really like you said assess ourselves um you know and do and you know provide the guidance that we are supposed to provide through the appropriate board actions I think understanding differentiation and explaining that a little bit better would be helpful I think sometimes parents myself included if you feel your child isn't being challenged that's kind of the keyword that you use well then there there 's no differentiation in the classroom so maybe there's other ways to ask for help or other ways to describe what the challenges are but I think that's maybe where some of it's coming from you know there's no rigor there's no differentiation it doesn't really mean that but if you're frustrated feeling like your child isn't challenged that may be where we're going anybody else all right um no new business or is there new business sorry I didn't mean to make that decision for everyone is there is there new business okay in that case I move to a journ second second all in favor hi have a good night yes