call to order the Highland dep Board of Education hybrid regular public meeting uh 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 the public bodies at which any business affecting your interest is discussed or acting upon in compliance with the open public meetings act the H pack 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 tribute and Star Ledger and post 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 JS for the evening have a roll call Mr B M here Dr Coleman Dr Coleman say here PA say here here here go here miss mcen Dina Miss Cruz here Mr R Le here miss vardan miss bores here okay we uh are going to recess the executive session V resolved pursuing to the sunshine Act njsa 10 col 4-12 and 13 the Highland Park Board of Education will now meet in its closed session to discuss matters related to hi and this student discipline these exemptions are permitted to be discussed in Clos session in accordance with the mjsa 10 4-13 information regarding the board's closed session discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists okay so I make a motion that we recess to Executive session s all in favor Ive that we Rec to regular session [Applause] iedge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic stands one nation God indivisible and Justice all we had a number of communications this mon um from Abby urg Community matter summer child for p we had um comment from Angela h about identify your address for public comment um stand about paperless of being paperless um we had a number of emails related to school start times school start times and um and the data on tties and um considerations times so we do need to approve minutes we have minutes here of the hybrid regular public Mee executive session from November 6 November 20th and the hybrid special voting Workshop meeting December 4th so I move that we uh approve minutes second M Castel yes Dr colan yes m m g yes M Cru yes Mr leage yes M Gman yes M yes okay our student represent reports okay so starting over at Urban the students and their families enjoyed a holdown complete with country Lins and new craft currently iring is looking forward to their wines s alongs this week with their families in kindergarten in the first grade uh they are expecting a visit from Le VI who will be working with their students on mindfulness and resilience as well Irving is wishing the entire board superintendent and high school reporters a wonderful holiday season over at ble fames had a lot of fun at the Family Fitness night on December 12th um they'd like to thank the hpaa for the fast grant that paid for the event and their Winter concert will be held at borrow tomorrow December 19th at 7 yeah over at the Middle School uh one student came to provide suggestions for oh that was the uh what M asked for um report back on for the uh feedback session that they had and one student was able to go and he had great ideas and suggestions and Mr br will meet the student advisors to review and discuss how to recruit more students so true uh student Congress is back at it again uh in the month of December they planned a spirit week which began today A W decorated contest which is created based on students period one classes like in that class they door the wall um that's that's going to be held on December 20th which is going to be winter them so fun and a PPP rally uh on December 21st the spirit week schedule looks like Monday which is today the students dressed like their favorite future tomorrow they're wearing Johns on Wednesday they will be wearing white on Thursday they will have their color ws and the pep rally sixth grade wear blue seventh wear green eighth wear red and on Friday everyone will wear their ugly sweaters for the wall decorating contest it's a winter themed the wall will be judged on creativity it's used over recycled resources and how visually pleasing is and the winners will receive an ice cream party I am jealous uh for the pep rally there will be competition events uh the competition will will include all three gr levels and the teachers uh the contests include a potato stack race musical hula hoops cup stack competition and a basic race uh there will be points awarded for the wall decorating Spirit participation and the winners of the pep rally competitions if the winners are the teachers the second place winners will be awarded 15 minutes time inad that's including over at the high school the red coloss Club had a successful blood drive on December 8th with 34 donations um and the club plans to host another Drive in March um they encourage the community to sign up for the blood then or for the drive then if they didn't get the chance to um onate they like to thank your school Community for the efforts to support this important Service uh HP DEA held workshops last Friday in the Middle School uh English classes on writing letters to the holiday elf where each letter written gave a dollar to the m Wish Foundation HP DEA is also proud to announce that they have qualified for the Thrive workshops at the national level and will be able to send two students to the workshops held this year in Anaheim California continuing with the high school we're not done yet uh the high school music Department's Winter concert will be held this Thursday in the High School auditorium beginning 7 p.m. the concert will showcase the combined efforts of the band Orchestra and choir students this first semester mission is free so consider turning out to support our musicians also an update on the production of Puffs that was two weeks ago now oh my God two weeks ago uh it is officially the most profit profitable play in the recent B of the club maybe over $6,000 most of which will be reinvested to the upcoming years of foot uh also it's class Spotlight time this week we will be focusing on the high school's introduction music theory course throughout the semester students have move from learning about basic music notation to rhythms to pitches and keys and Beyond students train both their brains and their ears to better recognize musical intervals and are currently learning to compose their own short forart compies by the end of the semester students will either analyze an entire piece of music or will compose a fulllength piece of their own an a music theory course will hopefully Run next year that will go more in depth last the entire year and provide students an option for college credit through V exam come and that's all for high school thank you so much questions or comments for student Representatives adding something new um okay we're going to move on to our secur tiance report Cisco thank you good evening everyone it's great to see so many uh amazing faces in the crowd um tonight is a really exciting presentation uh first I want to begin with our student Spotlight so I'd um ask Miss Brady to come up to the microphone and then I'll join you for the certificate good evening everybody so when I have the honor of coming to the board meeting and nominating um a student I reach out to all of the teachers to the guidance counselor um to all the stakeholders in the middle school and and ask for some feedback um this time there was not even a hesitation unanimously the teachers wanted iene ju to have this to have her showcase at this meeting so um very honored here to be here tonight to read what the teacher said about you um because you 100% deserted this without without question so I wanted to just say that before I started so E's English teacher Miss ponia said that she possesses an an amiable demeanor strong academic focus and understated confidence she respects her peers Works diligently and enhances the Rapport of the El classroom M janetti uh Spanish teacher says is always very respectful toward her classmates her schoolwork and contributions to classroom discussions are insightful and show great maturity and intellect she is also very involved in sports and in her Church community Mr ohir says Eileen is very positive addition to the music classroom she always arrives on time prepared and greatly contributes to the success of the band Mi Perez said ien Guan is a student who leads by example alen is consistently prepared for class and when giv feedback she takes it to heart she is constantly striving to be better on her instrument and is playing a few pieces with the high school orchestra at the upcoming concert Ian is patient with her peers and is always ready to help a fellow Orchestra member Miss fringo is a conscien conscientious student who gives every assignment 100% she has great learning attitude shows respect to her teachers and peers and positively contributes to the school Community Miss maroon said een is a very hardworking student and always gives 100% she's a is eager to tackle challenging subjects and is not afraid to ask questions one of the strongest qualities elen possesses is her desire to fully understand the material and to do her best even if Eileen only guess gets one question wrong on a test she will follow up and make sure she understands the mistake seeking clarification and mastering the concept before moving forward her commitment to learning from errors showcases her dedication to continuous Improvement and academic Excellence Miss Washington our PE teacher said I is a pleasure to have having class each day she's a great athlete classmate and an even better person Al has the ability to accomplish great things both in the classroom and on the playing fields during her years in HP Mr mck is new to the Middle School um uh this is his first time doing it and he was so excited to nominate I so he said I is always at the top of her game in Geometry our little Pond is is full of big fish and there are so many exemplary students get iene stands out she is respected deserve they so and expected by her classmates to usually achieve at the highest level always inquisitive she works to understand the material in her own way she also clearly puts in extra practice and study time in addition to her active participation in co-curricular activities and sports Mrs Al said I is an active member in The Advisory Group she participates participates in our discussions and gives great insight and ideas alen is a member of both student Congress and students in action she is a reliable member in both clubes and helps out with as much as she can excuse me and Miss biano who I think might be your biggest fan uh said that eileene is an all-around Allstar not only is she an academic Powerhouse but she is a Star tennis player as well she has been want to help out her peers every time they ask she is mature a mature young lady who is often asked to take on responsibilities and will invariably volunteer to be a leader in her after school activities she is someon we are very proud to spot um and what will Ed and I I do say this um but I I hope you hear this that these contributions to you may seem small but these are major and what you do for us the adults in this building is tremendous so I just want I know you heard it from your teachers but here for me too that every single thing that you do is what makes our school work so thank you I one congratulations come on [Applause] yes thank [Applause] you thank you Miss Brady and congratulations so I'm gonna speak the rest of my um superintendent report from the podium because we have another big uh recognition and I'm G to try not to cry it's a it's a really welld deserved uh night of recognition um so I have have something prepared so bear with me good evening everyone I stand before you tonight with a mix of emotions as we bid farewell and express our deepest gratitude to mark creger an Gowan Rober levich Michelle mcy Nia and Christopher Woodward who are or have retired from their positions on our esteemed Board of Education today marks a poignant moment as we recognize the immense contrib tions dedication and unwavering commitment these individuals have brought to our school district mark an Rob Michelle Chris your tenure on the board has been nothing short of remarkable each of you has played a pivotal role in shaping the educational landscape of our community your passion for Education tireless efforts and the countless hours invested in ensuring the success of our students has not been unnoticed as a member of the school Community for the past seven years I've had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the positive impact you have had on our schools your Visionary leadership strategic thinking and advocacy for excellence have set a standard that will continue to inspire Us in years to come beyond the meetings and policies you have been the driving force behind positive change your collaborative Spirit dedication to fostering and nurtur learning community and your ability to bridge gas within our community have made a lasting impact the countless students have benefited from your decisions and initiatives stand as a testament to your commitment to educational Excellence while we bid forwell to your official roles on the board we are confident that your passion for Education will continue to resonate within our community your legacy will endure through the policies you've championed the programs that you've ini initiated and the positive culture you've cultivated within our schools as you embark on this new chapter in your lives please know that your influence will be missed but the mark you've left in our district is Everlasting on behalf of the entire School Community I extend our deepest appreciation for your service and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors I also wanted to take a moment to thank your families your partners your children your loved ones your family your friends friends the amount of hours that our board members have to put into reading a lot looking over a lot and making some really tough decisions it takes a lot of time and effort and I know they sacrifice their time with you so I really want to thank thank spouses and and thank family members because it's it's your support that allows them to do the wonderful work that that they do so tonight is also to thank you all so again to our our steam board members and their families thank you for your unw unwavering dedication and may your journey ahead be as enriching as the impact you've had on us congratulations so I'd like to invite Mark and Rob and Michelle and Chris to come on up to get your classs and then I'm going to pass the microphone over to maryn to say a few words as well and invite the other board members to speak please Joy being and congratulating them again I now like to have them remain standing and open up the floor to Marilyn to say a few words thank you um I I'm I'm the Practical side of this all things that I I was not able to express but I did look at the longevity and the history of the board members that are standing in front of you and from what I could put together a little help for my friends I believe there's a total of more than 43 years of board service standing standing in front of us we can B your efforts and then I thought well every Co year should really be three years and you all lasted for three Co years so it's well beyond your 42 total um Mark served the longest as not on a program but Mark was board B from 1987 to 1993 left and came back in 2016 and stayed on until uh 2023 and during this term Mark served as president vice president and chair of finance and negot ation Rob an and Michelle came on the board in 2015 at a very challenging time in our District's Administration they joined garcy working to make Board of Ed an effective functioning working body and digging into a little bit of the history I think we have them them all of you to thank for the systems that we have in place now that work that work on our board education um Ann also served as president vice president during her time she's chair of personnel all three of that all three of you were part of the negotiations team was an important J role Chris was appointed to the board I think in 2019 and then elected to positions he was an active member of finance and facilities and chared it as well as Personnel Rob served on every committee at one time or another in your in your years on the board personally I learned a great deal from each one of you um and you have all been dedicated to this District to our staff and our students I also thank you for your leadership your time and all the skills you brought for the betterment of the high Highland Park School District you will be greatly missed thank you so much and I'll open it to any other board members that want to say a few words or St for pictures no arguments or I don't know I mean you said a lot already uh but I would add that just uh for me and my time on the board um I just want to make a little comment about each of you I just feel like there's so much that could be said but a couple of things just came to the top of my mind for each ofie I mean I think about Mark being this kind of walking encyclopedia for the school for the school board um and so I know for me and for most of us you are you were the person we go to we had a question whether it was like a historical context we needed related to uh something involving the school district broadly or the school board specifically certainly any questions about Finance facilities you are the guy and so and I will say too that you know when you left here you said give me a call anytime you have a question you're still there for us and I think we you know I know I appreciate that tell tce right so you absolutely are leaving huge or have already left huge shoes to fill um but I appreciate just the fact that you left making us feel comfortable with the fact that we have new people coming on the board that are really ready to kind of take up the charge and no one can replace you but we certainly will'll do the best that we can so thank you so much Mark um and you know Chris I just think about how whenever you would speak at the at a board meeting and you had a question or a comment said let's just listen because Chris you know you have something to say you don't have to always say something but when you do say something you know it's going to be really thoughtful adding another angle that perhaps wasn't already a part of the conversation so I really appreciate that about you and you're just really um you know easy to work with and get along with here it's not always easy when we're talking about really complicated issues and complex issues um and sometimes polarizing issues but you came in at a critical time and you really provided a i an important perspective on many issues for us and Michelle what can I say um we' served together on curriculum in equity and excellence and um you obviously are so passionate about the issues of curriculum particularly when it comes to bringing us to a place where everyone in our district from no matter what their background is what their um belief systems are are valued and reflected in what we teach right and how we teach it um and you know certain young equity and Excellence you always sort of zoomed us out and made us look kind of at the bigger issues and like the bigger picture as to what we're doing here and how it connects to our world and sometimes people don't want to hear that right at a at a board meeting right it's all about what's on the table like what's in our agenda but I like the way that you did challenge us sometimes think about what what we're doing here and how connects to the global Society essentially and that and we see this in the news now all the time how critical it is this work of being on a school board it is because we're so connected to these really big issues happening in our world so I appreciate you for always keeping us kind of grounded in this truth as hard as it could be to sometimes confront and figure out well how do we fit that with our work here um at the school district level so thank you so much for that um and and you know my partner here at the table uh you know what can I say I really appreciate you so many ways and I think um you know you're just you've been a cheerleader for some of our for for many of our youth who are most marginalized in this district and people may not always see it here the public board meeting but certainly our committees you are a champion for um students who we know may not have the voice to think and so I think part of that is just just who you are and you always bring that it with the level of commitment and dedication and um and I think you do it in a way you Advocate it's always in a way that we can only appreciate and respect because you come off in a way that you're not trying to be antagonizing or put now we appreciate your that's what I would say I appreciate the whole when you're really advocating because advocacy can sometimes be perceived in a way that um people fill it off right and I think you're at the board level at this table whether it's here or executive or session or a committee meeting you have to be able to have of different conversations and kind of stay on positions and what we're advocating for and why as we are students from the school district and how we do that matters so I just want to kind of thank you for that and there could be I can say so much more and Rob you know what I have to say Rob Bally again all these years you've been on every single committee and what I appreciate about you the most I don't know if anyone else has noticed that but notice this but when you have question there's always like a probing question sometimes very like specific it's particular man that no one else has ever thought of so I really appreciate that okay Rob you know that really makes sense or maybe we don't agree with that but I'm glad that you brought that to the table so I appreciate that about you it's just always like something you bring up that really no one else may have brought up so and that's what it takes right being a part of this kind of body that we can show bringing our different um kind of perspective and ways of looking at the same right whenever that isue is so I could go on and on but that's all I had to I will miss [Applause] you thank you yeah so we're gonna pictures yeah so anybody who is on Zoom just give us a few minutes um we have some guests in um in the room with us uh we'd like to pause for family and the board members to take some pictures so give us a few minute interlude and we'll be back shortly sorry I have no creative um messages or commercials for you but just wait patiently thank you no thank you thank you pict pictur oh 20 no keep no know you know all right wait I change of change all right make real laugh tonight he brought a picture from running we're gonna sorry on the party on the party starter and the party Ender that's how it works today all right thank youu that completes my superintendent report very okay three board members have to stay for the [Music] night they want by Mark all right we are going to move on to um board committee reports and recommendations on the agenda we'll have public comment and then as we're voting meeting we'll come back and vote um after public comment so curriculum and instruction Alison yes okay curriculum and instruction on December 5th it was myself Dr Susa Miss Rodriguez dry um and stman and Miss B um first things we discussed were new course proposals which are on the agenda tonight for approval introduction to computer science and programming computer programming and web design uh we reviewed the three courses and um they were all revised or generated based on results from a student survey so the introduction to computer science course was reved to include a little bit of programming and then there was also a computer programming course that students wanted to uh be able to take and also web design um Dr baty provided Miss Rodriguez with materials on course progression and Equity computer science and if approved these these courses would be offered for next semester um as a side note I know there was a lot of questions in the community about AP Computer Science and um the teacher is working on that certification so it should be offered as a course in 2024 2025 the next thing we looked at was the njsla 2019 22 and 23 c-port data um we showed the data showed that 7eventh grade ELA and math as areas of focus uh Middle School Ela has one intervention class of sixth to eth graders learning more foundational skills through a combination of Wilson and level literacy instruction and R 180 and then the other Ela intervention classes are taught by grade level and are also using read 180 um in math intervention classes those are grade specific so they're groups by all sixth seventh or eighth graders um the teacher does several mini lessons a week on a skill that's being utilized in their grade level class um and then they also do uh work on math 180 mod which is kind of tailored to these student specific levels and needs we Revisited some other student support initiatives throughout the district after school programming for Dolphin tutoring and high impact tutoring began on the 12 um at the time that we met there were 58 brav students uh offered tutoring and 25 families had committed um high impact tutoring was expanded to include students performing one year below grade level the original estimate was going to be 1 and a half years below gr level so this allowed more students to be able to um qualify for high impact tutoring and dolphin tutoring was offered to students performing just under a year below grade level seven teachers applied to work that program and Miss r r reported that other options for Staffing are being considered including looking at student teachers as potential staff at Irving intervention is being programmed during the school day and there is going to be an after school steam enrichment program which I believe is on the agenda tonight at the middle school one teacher signed up to work in after school Intervention Program this Ela Intervention Program is offered to students meeting bench Benchmark data but who are performing just below meeting expectations on the njsla and at the high school two teachers have been hired to supervise and provide additional support as needed in after school sessions for students to access the paper tutoring program which is a virtual tutoring program that we discussed at the last meeting 109 students who failed one or more courses were invited to this after school session this may also include a drop-in model if turnout allows for it and Miss marguez is going to pull data from paper tutoring to see who's taking advantage of the program it's very possible that even though the teacher the students were invited to the program they may just be using paper tutoring on their own time enl interventions um there was a teacher hired at Irving 10 students were invited to an after school intervention um at the time that we met no families had responded and in middle school no teacher had applied for the after school intervention for enl students we also discussed curriculum revisions which are on the agenda tonight um they were in response to the New Jersey standards that were just um revised and approved this fall Miss saaka included a breakdown of changes in a document for all of the stem changes there was one question about a shift in math 6 Plus um and basically they had shifted some standards around because some standards might be more appropriate for a seventh grade level as opposed to the sixth Ela curriculum revisions will be made this coming summer we looked at two proposed new schedule B clubs the Middle School International club and high school buddy ball both activities are popular with students and those were also run through the finance committee now I'll move on to the agenda items new items for this meeting um there's another in on item number two for School counseling at the middle school there's the approve approval of the hip reports as listed the approval of the three courses computer programming introduction to computer science and programming and web design approval of the revised curriculum as listed that's it for my report any questions lot information thank you no questions for person we move on to equity Excellence to report last meting and finan Facilities is me so let's see we did meet December 5th right after our last meeting our last board meeting um and Ann and Jan and myself were the board members that were in attendance um Colin McIntosh John Flanigan uh Denise and Christina also were uh at this meeting um and Colin reported that um enrollments continue to grow in our after school program we were up to at that point they were up to 262 children um and he felt he feels things are going very well he keeps adding programs recently there was an Asian Asian culture story time which is something that had been done in the past and is has continued this year and he is starting uh maybe they started already manyi camps for kindergarten through fifth graders so that is like an arts and crafts program one hour for f I think for four weeks and five days a week basketball three three days a week are run by a former kind Park student um because are extra charge for those mini camps and he's gotten a really good turn good uh sign up for it he's also um said that they are starting evaluations of Staff in January they will be site managers will be evaluating staff and col will be evaluating site managers that's not something that's been done before and I think we'll you know um maybe challenging process but hopefully will result in in some um some good feedback and he continues to look at state certification it's still a goal but it's um uh certain Personnel requirements of the state make it make it challenging um uh so he's awaiting new regulations in January to see whether um whether anything changes but there's a lot of training required if you are certified by the state and training takes place during the day I believe off site which since many of our staff are also employees that's challenging I think it's challenging challenging in terms of the certification required for site managers so he's hoping some things change in January will make that a more doable process but it is still a goal because it would it would provide us additional source of revenue for our for our families who um are on a free induced lunch um the state would be sending in money to support to uh uh support their After School attendance so it's a good goal we'll see where it gets you know if we get there and when uh John reported on the the facilities update uh modu classrooms all the students are settled in there and things are going well he he commented that our regular custodians are cleaning those modular classrooms in addition to the othera work um there was a new leak that week I'm afraid to ask if there was a week this a leak this week after all this rain but it was repaired so it's uh it's been an ongoing challenge um at that point he was working on getting speak installed so I don't know where we are getting ad so that the students and the modular can uh hear the announcements and so forth something that he's working on he was also working on fencing in the playground area at ble um and we had a discussion about black fencing versus chain link and at that point they're awaiting proposals um so that will happen at some point oh uh just the module of classroom to reminded your board members to sign up if you'd like to get in on the tours that um that Dr Cisco put out uh for early in January so if you're able to sneak out of work for an hour to see the work of our prek teachers and modular it would be awesome so I know that that is plan for the beginning of January um and on the finance end I think is on today's agenda a change in the contract with um ESS for our substitutes so that our rate will coincide with the increase of the minimum wage so there's an increase in rates I think is on our agenda today also an RFP for um the company that monitors um compliance for maintenance and Food Services that's on the agenda um ler conversation about other professional contracts it will be uh approving or re re approving in January about changing when those contracts begin and end um so those renewals will be on our rework meeting we also have on the agenda today a couple of non-public school related items which are those are pass through funds not directly our funds but we're required to um have them on our agenda to vote uh so a security contract it's actually Personnel ID as well but on public also the same two uh scheduled be new clubs and the uh policy for second read is on Food Services um so we discussed it last time I gu the only additional um comment that I put in the minutes was that we are currently $36,000 in a rear for lunches at that point we were um and this this uh p and other policies say that we can't do more of them send letters home um which is understandable however uh there's impact to our audit when we have these outstanding funds and it's sort of a catch 22 we can't collect them or we start easily to collect and yet it impacts our budget um because we have that opening there I hope I explained that right and those are the minutes agenda [Music] items um okay we have we have a number of Bill lists that are new um for November 16th to November 30th we need be a bill list to approve also for December 1st through December 15th in the amount of 1,284 N9 we have a cafeteria Bill list for November 77,4 um we have a we have the uh recommendation superintendent to approve the report of the treasurer of school Monies as of October 31st we also are are looking to approve um preliminary reports by Secretary of the Board of Education um certifying that we've not over extended any of our budgetary line items um and another preliminary Finance report approval that is on our agenda also um sh that we've not that we are reading all of our district Financial Obligations just one short one I bet your we've got some budget transfers on here we have the approval to close inactive petty cash accounts it doesn't mean that there's not petty cash available for these these uh for the schools and the programs it's just not through these TV bank accounts which Haven protection in a while um contractors for Professional Services um we have a consultant for K through2 PE teachers um and um material for the w implementation remind me what waves is I think I asked this last time what's the waves oh that's yeah science professional development for elementary teachers okay science sorry on their Wes unit okay uh we also have on the a new a um contract with peer connect to do site visits um and conduct coaching sessions in the middle of the high school L on High School uh also a contract for literary strategy literacy strategies Consulting again on-site coaching services and professional development um and great minds PPC also professional development for Goos guessing that's science yes ohod yes no geod is Ela El as part of Foundations okay all right um we also have new items here um two out of District [Music] placements uh for regional day school and new two students who need bide instruction we have that on our approval our resolutions and add a district tuition for a mckenny vento student which that is a student who's displaced um a change in our ESA Grant amendments let Chang in the numbers here um an addendum to the contract for ESS oh that's the substitute teachers professionals they're on here as well and this is the RFP process for um our somebody to oversee our custodial and food services and that is Edo who's doing it now and also um there is z proposal came in that we'll be voting on today and there's non-public security items that I mentioned and the last one is um approving a contract with weather proofing Technologies for slate roof repairs High School okay questions on anything Financial facilities move on to personel all right personel I'm s but the personel minutes are not um I uh I sh shared with you uh what happened at that meeting last time so the right to the agenda um anything in bold is new as usual although I will mention again number one is not invol but still uh mentionable Mr Lasser is retiring second in August so thank you Mr I'm sure we'll do something to honor them com in the future uh number two resolution to approve and leave of absence we have another employee added at at Part B number three a new hire I believe this is also pass through funding um to uh pay a teacher non public school number four uh corrected motion um let's see I'm not sure what the correction is but the the recommended act action is to approve uh approve payment to this staff person for the the arer mental health Grant and that is m y see number five approval before after school staff there's sever many staff members listed um number six let's see here uh you'll see that there's a change in effective date from Rebecca Haley um and there's some changes in the amounts there couple write in items so let's see M ay uh excuse me I it maybe mind yeah we's number okay so Al here uh the corrected figures uh student Congress 50% should be $596 42 uh Sterns students in action should be $731 and9 cents and number seven Janet Burns bar is supposed to be at ela8 not ma 8 obviously thank you so much I found that I've recovered okay you did good wonderful okay so number seven is extra uh instructional assignments for certain teachers uh monque uh read the corrections and bar there's also um four other new staff members listed number nine is new number y so we're just going to be approving in house transfers of par professional par professionals uh's see uh straper Cliff Eric ywang miger Linda to 1 approval of title one after school paper tutoring staff change of hours um so we are moving to accept the recommendation of the superintendent to approve uh two staff persons for the title one after school paper tutoring program um which runs two days a week December 23rd to May 2024 not to exceed correction 37 hours at the rate of4 8 per hour with 1 hour training meing to determined um so that's that 14 we're approving uh title and wise connections accurac program monitor um this is Juliana Lea who's going to serve as the wise connection monitor January 8 who will serve once she is approved um as wise connection launcher January 8th 2023 to May 15 2024 on Wednesdays 3: to 4: p.m. not to receive 18 hours at the contracture rate of 48 per hour including 1 hour training meeting uh 15 approval of Bal parent committee family night staff number no number you know I feel that my allergies sure thank you so this hasn't happened in a while uh number 16 we have a new approval of t uh Title One a steam enrichment program staff um steam enrichment that's during the school day is that right after school oh that's after school sorry ah I see yes got it um number 17 approval of a title one steam enrichment program coordinator for the same program number 18 approval of a title three after school ESL enrichment program staff excuse me number 19 professional development ah this dender is going to be talking to our teachers about using chat gbt in the classroom the students have a someone is teaching them about that too um jacn fat using chat GPT in the classroom and Mr SAA I will be introducing teachers to edulastic number 20 we're approving a new translator from Mandarin Miss Stern M actually I don't know if that's a minister Mr Stern as staff member Stern thank you very much staff member Stern number 21 approval credit recovery program teacher in the high school that's Miss Paxton um that's all I have thank you thank you great team work over any questions for personnel we're moving to uh policies that's uh that's me again we did not actually meet um however uh there are additional policies on here so my understanding is that being that all four of our schools are now Title One um the this policy that we had for family for school for family engagement had to be specific to each building so in fact the wording is exactly the same on these policies um it's similar to we had in the past only now it just delineates Urban B middle of high school so that's up for first read and everything else here is up to Second read and we discussed it last time controversial here that I'm aware of so move to questions for policy public comment there and the Highland Park Board of Education welcome welc public participation and has reserved this time for your comments board policy 0164 and 0167 establish and regulate the writing of public par public meetings if anybody would like to speak um please raise your hand oh we have one person in the room so please uh come up to the podium give us your name and address and this is this is the time the public comment when we have uh three minutes time okay hi uh my name is Mary Vol and and uh I'm a resident here in Highland Park and a parent of children that have gone through every school and the Highland Park School System um my oldest is now a senior in the High School uh first I just want to thank um all the members of the Board of Education and uh the folks who can you just speak into the microphone I'm sorry thank you where do you need me to begin from the beginning yeah just so the people at home can hear you sure okay uh Mary ban uh I'm a Highland Park resident and I'm a parent of children that have gone through uh every school in the Highland Park School System my oldest is now a senior in the high school and I just want to thank the uh current members of the Board of Education as well as the folks who are retiring tonight um one of the reasons I really don't show up here very often is because I really have been very confident and very pleased in how uh the programs have been run so I really have felt not much need to show up here and thank you all for your dedication and for handling things so well well all these years for my kids and for everybody else's kids thank you um one of the reason I wanted to uh give a shout out to folks who are not here tonight Highland Park residents parents in the school system um as well as parents of private schools here in Highland Park several of these folks have come to me expressing concerns about uh the two marijuana stores on Woodbridge Avenue that are slated to come in on wridge Avenue that are within walking distance of Irving School uh so I volunteered to come speak here on everyone's behalf um and give some details about this information uh what is possible to try to do to address some of these concerns uh the first location is at 176 with RAV uh just Stones Throw from Irving School and literally right next to Corson Park second one 225 with rette right on the Edison border um the the 225 with reev actually violates the Edison Canabis ordinance so there's some concerns about um why why did this occur uh was there a failure to properly coordinate between the two towns on this zoning issue the location at 176 wbdf right by Carson Park and right across the street and loged up from Irving School um that is a concern that perhaps more private interests factored into the consideration of this approval um than uh perhaps more broad Community issues um specifically that location is owned by the recent mayor's son and also the local operator of that pot shop uh would be her t-shirt business operation manager so a lot of folks have concerns if there were more private interest factoring into these equations what um you can do for folks out there listening is we've developed an online form to uh address these concerns we will be asking the New Jersey office of public integrity and accountability to look into how these decisions were made uh for these two locations uh so approximate to Irving school and with these um potential issues behind the scenes uh the that particular office is uh charged with u investigating time you're actually at 3 minutes oh may I just give my phone number then yes absolutely yeah thank you just finish up thank you so much uh yeah that group is charged with investigating violations of public trust so for more information on this issue to sign the online form please contact me at 732 579 2979 thank you all so much thank you good night thank thank you for your kind words be the of Education members in the district as well thank you my pleasure um anybody else here to speak in the room like it anybody online no raised hands okay then we are moving on to um to our board action items and voting so um instruction remove your agenda items yes uh curriculum instruction would like to move items one through second Miss C yes dran yes Miss yes yes but stain on number three please MCA yes M yes Mr leage yes mman yes M yes okay for finance I move um items one through 22 second M Cal yes Dr Coleman yes Miss gow yes m m Anda yes M Cru yes Mr revich no 21 because I have an objection to guns in schools and yes on the remainder Mr yes yes uh and personel oh sorry yes I would like to move items one through one second please 1 through 21 second Mr done yes Dr colan yes M gow yes Miss M Anda yes Miss cruce yes Mr rosich yes Miss vman yes Miss War yes that policies right okay um I move um items one a through D and two a through L second Miss Cal done yes Dr colan yes M Miss go yes Miss mcf D Nia yes Miss Cruz yes Mr rosl yes sorry Miss vman yes M yes okay now we're moving on to board leison reports does anybody have information to share on one of these organizations agenes I don't but I know they're looking forward to having a more reliable uh human relations commission the aison have been able to be on Wednesday nights so the Highland Park Educational Foundation just sent out their end of the year mailer um they are looking for more funds as uh we discussed on previous meetings they have granted a lot of funding to our district this fall um let really wonderful trips and experiences the kids are going to be able to go on because of the hpes commitment to our district so if you are looking to get in any of those uh you know tax donation donations um please consider hpf as one of your um organizations that you'd like to give to thank you else as part of our uh reorganization in January uh we're going to be looking at these uh sorry burrow committees and so forth looking for new Representatives um and also um we'll reach out to the burrow to see which organizations really need our input to make sure that we're covering ones that we need and don't cover the ones that are either not meeting or it's not meeting very often so we can try to clean this up hopefully through January soon there after um president's report I do actually have some information that I want to share um uh this last meeting for 23 we there was a central leadership team meeting last week and I thought the information from there would be important to share with the rest the board and with the public um the central leadership team is uh made up of representatives from each School the HPA and the board um it's chaired by Keith pry who with us tonight Association president and Dr Susa um and this year the focus of the uh the work of the CLT is looking on looking at the impact on our district schedules the changes and the impact of changes our district calendar and what the community um needs in in our district calendar looking at abs ISM data and also facility needs those are going to be the big ones that we're looking at this year um at this particular meeting building Representatives shared attendance and late School data I like the word tardy bothers me late School data from each of their building they were comparing uh the fall September through November 22 to the same time period in 23 um well they also shared a lot of the initiatives that are being used to motivate students to come to school Beyond Time the data was very encouraging especially in the area of attendance at the high school absences are down 25% and lates to school are down about 20% Middle School absences are also down and so are lates to school um at ble attendance has improved across the board one statistic that was shared was that 15% of students were chronically absent during Market period one this year but that's compared to 22.8% last year at the same time so a lot of data was shared I'm not going to throw it all out it's here if the board wants to we have can share it um at ble uh lates of school have increased however um one example that was given is in October of 22 6.4% of students were late as compared to this October it was 8.2% um at Irving absences were also down about 20 % in November but lates to school were up about 7% in November as compared to last year so overall the data there was a lot to celebrate uh in the data um and still pointing out of course areas to continue to work on and to watch closely um the fun part was that the administration of each building has really been planning a lot of great activities um to encourage the attendance and obviously it seems to be uh seems to be working um Mondays at Bartles they have not say any reg 10 T dances where they are actually literally dancing in the Halls to celebrate being in school on Monday morning because apparently Monday mornings particularly challenging time for attendance and to be on time so they're actually dancing over there at ble at the middle school um they're be giving out Dunkin Donuts gift cards uh I think randomly I'm not sure that's going but um for classes where where students are in in class on time one member of the CLT reported that at ble she saw students looking at a graph of attendance it was on Bolton board and talking about what grade was doing better so it seems to be like a lot of positive excitement um generated through these activities uh darra bck the middle school teacher shared with me that um when her class won the attendance award which also includes being on time students were thrilled because there they get to jump to the front of the lunch line for a whole week this is like a really big deal getting to Lun early and their teacher including Dar has wears a old chain around their neck so um I got the quote or the quote was given that a student said I didn't expect us to win I feel very proud of my team I always I'm the first person to be in the classroom every day um and at ble the motto is present and proud you can see it in the in the posters out in front there um so all over the district there's a concered effort to um make students feel good about being in school and hopefully on time as well um for those that are struggling B reported that the family lison is reaching out to individual families who are struggling with attendance or with getting students in on time to find ways to support their efforts um so like I said much to celebrate and still work to be done the other uh uh work that was done at the CLT was finalizing the wording of a survey that parents will be seeing in Genesis when report cards are available this survey just be three questions um two of them will be related to the impact of the changing start and end times what has the impact been on families and then the third question is going to be about religious observance days which are mostly living it to your family to help with future calendar planning so we don't love to we're going to get the data hopefully because families who want to get to the report CS have to answer three questions um it's might be the only way to actually get a more broad broad perspective of answers so hopefully we will get that the coming months because it'll be wed report cards become available to different schools the other update that I want to share is regarding our preschool expansion efforts um this continues to be a priority for the district for for the board um next year we will meet our requirements by adding two additional preschool classrooms and for after that we can we're continuing to explore options including looking at renting space in existing buildings in town um so that we can add a few classrooms in the coming years while we look for a more long-term um solution for the grow of our preschool so um more information in 24 but we're we're it's still still a major priority for us um and last thing I wanted to say is that tomorrow's for council meeting a resolution will be voted on to allocate to the school district 60% of the pilot money received the Walter Street pilot project um this has been a topic of many discussions for many years and we are very appreciative that's been resolved being resolved in our favor and we look for to continue to working with Bar Council to meet the needs of the entire community and with that I will end by wishing the board and our staff and um all the members of the public who are still listening a very happy holiday season and that brings us to Old business go ahead any old business or questions probably so um I was looking at the resolution that the town is passing and there's there's one section of it that I find troubling where they say in consideration of the provision of school services to the occupants of the project within the Redevelopment area and I always thought of taxes and the payment of the taxes you know it's like so the property taxes if they're getting anything on the land value you know that money the portion that goes towards schools is for anyone you know I pay property taxes I don't have kids in the school district anymore and I'm happy that my my money from my taxes goes towards the school district for educating students in routine you know for the future so this this one sentence in here where it kind of sidling up to the idea that well we're paying for children within that Redevelopment you know it I find it troubling because I I wonder like if there's some instance where they might say well there's only two kids in this Redevelopment why should we pay 60% so but I I I am ecstatic that that this resolution moving forward you know it's just you and I I for this individual project and maybe that's what we're working with I don't know I don't know it's clear that it's for this project fut projects will be get up for discussion we'll have to yeah have to do this again you know and it's like I would I would I think the next step would be for us to work with the town to have a res olution where it goes you know what we're not going to do this with every single project or we're going to have a resolution where we have to do pilots we we acknowledge that and but the what we will do is that we'll have a resolution that you know for any pilot that comes up we're automatically going to get 60% for the schools that's where I would like to see this rather than this is this deals with Walter you know that's because there's there's plenty of other projects you know I'm not you know I'm not sure what happened with the the previous ones on Cleveland you know I'm not sure where that you know if those had a pilot out think they did but you know it's like I know there's other projects that are coming along for the town and I I mean the B Council has been the mayor in our meetings has been committed to working with us and talking and discussing things coming along the way so we'll we'll take that as the link for now and go into it great thank you anything else can we ask more about what you I was just curious about the central leadership team looking into the school start times was that just to look at T andsen or we looking into Imagining the start times in general next year was it just based on that data just that data you we're not looking we're looking to get impact with changes with the change it just happen so see how how uh how things are going and then we'll survey that in the spring also at okay I I was very confused about that then I thought we were looking at it in general you know talking about potentially having start first you know that was a full years worth of work last year two years years right so it's not something it's going to happen in the short term right it's not to if there was an issue if there was a significant right significant issue year we don't everything for 8:00 and after just as it go that it's been on the table right now we're wait to see how things are going and because you know as Christina said today when parents it's such a complicated process it's taken so long to get here and there is so much good and we'll leave that see where the concerns are and what know what maybe did you want to say more yeah no I mean yeah so that's where WRA I know that you know we we made the adjustments the central leadership team is reviewing the data like we said so even the leadership team reviews um multiple forms of data and then you know the surveys will go out in February for Middle High School and Irving semester one and then fe uh March for trimester 2 for ble So at their report cards what we're going to do is we're going to lock down Genesis unfortunately we don't like to do that but this is the best way to get enough survey data um so if we restrict Genesis to review report cards until a survey is completed in any language of people's preference so they can select the language and then we can at least collect a lot of data that way because our what we found is our surveys are really only completed by the same people over and over again we really want a a larger sample size across the whole District not just ble and Irving but we'd like to see the impact at middle and high school as well from caregivers so we're going to have that survey and that will come so we'll have the data completed um by February in terms have in our hands and then the central leadership team will be able to review it and Report out for it um the transportation and all of that has to go to the Commission in this early spring so in March our transportation goes to the commission because we outsourc our transportation we don't own our own buses and so that has to go forbidding so it's a that's why it's a process if you want to do anything that might impact Transportation it has to happen a lot earlier so that that can go out so based on that data we'll review it we'll of course report out on it and if there are significant impacts that it's having significantly to you know a large majority of our families collectively across the district we we'd like to look at all four buildings and then see what we can do for the following year if that's a possibility but things like everything is Tiny because things are a little bit more complicated so once that data comes in we can then review it and analyze it and then if there are significant impacts we can then figure out what we would need to do the following year is it changing the times is it providing more supports to families because I don't know what they're going to report on and what we're going to need to do so I'd like to have that data that first so that the team can look at it to make informed decisions about it and in the meantime month by month you're looking at day that each building is dealing with so far is pretty good where there's concerns they obviously started to put in place instant you know to help families but I guess there was just thinking of like the in general benefit of students starting a little bit later I know that it's a huge benefit to teenagers older but I think in general it then get all students to start Poli um so I don't know I guess I'm kind of surprised that we were only looking at that data just the absences and and targets to continue having Central leadership team work into it I'm not sure okay talk to you about next steps if I'm concerned about doing something more um and then just one more question about the survey what about the kids that are just getting in the paper PSS so that they would probably get I'm I'm assuming that they' probably just get a paper copy of the survey we can print it out on Genesis and then they can complete the paper copy and hopefully give us back and then we can enter the data so they yeah if they request paper report cards they right I mean that's yeah unfortunately I can't the best way I can force the survey is to lock down Genesis until they take the survey I'm not a big fan of doing that I don't like to restrict access to student data but again we want to get a robust cross-section of all four buildings and Caregivers for from the majority of our um our student population so we just thought that was the best way but there's very few no only if it's a request for a paper copy but those are very few and far between so we could print them and then hopefully get it back but if they don't do it I can't force them to no we have it no yeah many many years ago we've changed over since Genesis is really robust and does everything online all four buildings do everything online unless the paperwork copy is requested the report home yes but report cards are Genesis that's why we chose to do it for report cards because that we can um I have a question as well as to the data that you're looking at for the central leadership team is looking at for absences and attes um as far as I can tell it sounds like you're comparing it to last year are we comparing any of this to 2019 are we are we because there's going to be a natural change I'm not trying to what we're doing is really positive and you know look and what the schools are doing in order to promote um kids kids coming to school that's all fantastic but comparing uh last year to this year uh there's just natural changes and what's going on with people's um sort of Co tolerance and things like that and so comparing this year's data to a preco year would actually you know show us uh more information about how things are going there's just some stuff that's going to be environmental so that would be an interesting thing to of 2019 um you have a few months you have six months of data from the 2019 2020 year anything else for old uh new business we could be same then we're moving to public comment once again and again paration welcomes Public public participation and has reserved This Ti for your comments so um I see a hand up online Rebecca hi can you hear me yes yes you can oh hi um Rebecca give my address or not sure you doing that oh um felt M me Park um I just wanted to say that um you know celebrating the data on TES requires a very selective look at that data and willfully ignoring the data from the elementary school students um it's extremely disappointing to hear that we're going to be waiting for the central leadership team survey that will conviently provide results too late to make any changes for September I think that the data that we've seen so far is alarming for bville kids in particular I think these kids are suffering and I don't think that dance parties and lawn signs get get them to come to school on time um really doesn't mean if they're not still going to be sleep deprived and not learning at the level that they needan and deserve um there are real deficiencies in the performance of the ble kids and they mean all the help that we can give them um I really implore this board to seriously consider the health and the learning environment of these kids and doing everything possible to make start times later for September 24 not to waste another year asking 500 ble kids to be sleep deprived un L able to learn when they're already struggling academically and the data shows that clearly and it shows it clearly compared to other districts around us like our kids are doing works and you know there's there's no need to wait to implement a districtwide policy stating that all children need more sleep and all schools should not start before 8 a.m. it doesn't have to be a zero some game we can do this for all of our kids that's all thank you thank you anyone else for public comment I see no other hands so um I make a motion that rejourn all in favor thank you very much happy new YearOne 2024