[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I call meeting to order please stand for the presentation of Colors by the afjc unit NJ 782 and salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all for this meeting is in compliance with the open public meeting law and has been duly advertised in the newspaper as an official meeting roll call Mrs Gardella here Mr McCarron here Mrs barokas Dr Osmond Mrs Rivera pres Mrs Cass president Mr PE Mary present I need a motion for approval of the agenda with addendums motion second discussion roll call Mrs gella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs baroas yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr pom yes I now turn the meeting over to miss pril for her superintendent report thank you Mr palmary and good evening everyone and thank you to our Junior RC for presenting the colors we are going to hear from a few of the cadets a little bit later on this evening looking forward to that as well so true to um our monthly board meetings we have our student board members here this evening to give their reports about the happenings in each of their schools and we're going to start with Jose today from Liberty good evening good evening sit on good evening superintendent porn B education members and guests it is my pleasure to be back here again to fill you in on some of the noteworthy events happening at Liberty this past month winter sports officially open up their seasons and are off to a great start the girls indoor track plays first in the spirit and distance met relay as well as in the 55 met at the Tom River Icebreaker meet the other teams forward to our official game starting this week but in the meantime there has been a great deal of talent off the courts as well home for the holidays was a big hit and really set the mood for the winter season this past week the Jackson Liberty choir came together with the drama club to deliver a captivating production of Elf the musical there were many who showed up to watch our gift their performers and it was nice to see them living with a smile because of the uplifting show if you didn't make it to the show you can help support their organization as they sell candy grams throughout the school there has been so much to celebrate this month and it's hard to highlight them all but there are a few we wanted to mention Liberty was chose to announce Anthony Master Marino as this year's teacher of the year additionally Anthony Myers took home the title of Educational Service professional of the Year congratulations to both of these worthy winners some students earn impressive Hors as well congratulations to Queen lean and William Bradley on being selected Liberties athletes of the month Dilan taco and Josh capistran were also selected as seniors of the month last but not least Miss Katherine Ferrara was named Lion of the month due to her ous work for the school congratulations and S a remarkable achievement this time of year is busy for everyone and our clubs are no different the Jackson Liberty girls who code played third in the State Engineering competition for the kid win held at tcj this team was the only old female group to enter this competition in place great job girls the leadership academy met several times and brought the Freshman together for another activity in their classrooms in an effort to help improve the school climate others learned leadership skills when the AP government class had a great day at the new YY state house for model Congress these experiences outside the classroom really help the students connect to the subjects in a deep and meanful way and we are grateful for the opportunity to continue our learning beyond the walls of the school speaking of connecting to the community Liberty is also very excited to contribute to the town through various Outreach events the sophomores are hosting a shoe drive while the Air Force unrc is organizing a food drive in toys for TOS the internet club and the National Art Honor Society help at the toilet event which was held at the Jack Senior Center and the Key Club is helping with gift rapping for those in need members of the NHS are riding Christmas card and organizing a potlock for multi language learner so that they can feel welcome in school the Jackson Liberty band hosted its 10th Annual vendor and craft fair in addition to the fundraiser at chickfila this past week if you are out and about at any of this events and feeling chilly you can support our jior class by purchasing the hot chocolate they are selling winter break is coming fast where we're still running full steam ahead we are in the middle of our 12 days of holiday spirit week to help spread sheer among students Walking Down the House of Liberty is an impressive experience between the festive outfits and all the door decorations that the home rooms are working on throughout this month it's hard not to smile for one final push the Jackson Liberty band will have its Winter concert before the holidays on Thursday December 21st we hope to see you all there as you can see Liberty is bossing with excitement and finishing 2023 off strong we are very excited to experience challenge day this week and know it will help lay the groundw for an amazing kickoff to next year I appreciate you giving me this platform to best represent some of the good news circulating around Liberty I hope all of you have a safe and happy holiday season and look forward to all we will accomplish together in 2024 have a good [Applause] night thank you Jose certainly a lot of things happening there at Liberty and so from Memorial Jamal can you come give the report please good evening Mrs pilly members of the central Administration staff and Board of Education members thank you for allowing me to speak here tonight regarding Jackson Memorial High School we have finally entered the holidays and there's much to update you on we have entered the last marking period of the first semester at Jackson Memorial High School it is crazy to think we are already almost halfway through the year college acceptances have continued to come in with Jaguar seniors proud to show the true hard work and dedication does pay off we have almost completed our holiday transition at Jackson Memorial High School the student council has worked hard to create spirit week which is arriving shortly Spirit Week will include Christmas Pajama Day red versus green day white out day ski day and flannel day Christmas movies will also be playing every day during common period in the auditorium until break the clue play was a huge success with many Jaguars showing in attendance to watch the murder mystery on this topic holiday Musical and chorus concerts are making their seasonal debut with performance levels expected to be at an all-time high I am very excited to see how these turn out candy GRS have made their way back into Jackson Memorial High School after being a huge last year candy Gams are special candies that jaguars can buy for their friends family or significant others hopefully this year I can finally get one the Jazz Band will be playing Christmas songs in the hallways next week to get holiday spirits to the roof I speak for everyone when I uh I say that when we hear the jazz songs they play nostalgic Christmas and Hanukkah songs the band has had success in other ways as well three Jaguars from the band have been awarded the honor of joining the South Jersey band Association All Region team Bloom Swindle Grace sakei and Nate Talon proudly represent the faces of the Jackson Memorial band and our music department the 782nd afj jrc has set up donation boxes around the school for the Toys for Tots and non-p perishable food item charity Charities they have encouraged students and staff to donate what they could for people in need winter sports have officially started with Jaguar is excited to see what each of our teams in play have in play this year hopefully everyone has seen the independent rankings that had Jackson Memorial High School ranked number 10 in its sports program ranked amongst more than 400 other high schools in the state of New Jersey most winter sports have had their first games and matches scheduled for this week or next week to carry on the amazing legacies the teams before have created I know the boys wrestling teams had their first match on Thursday December 13th against Tom's River South it is a home match my fault December 14th against Tom's River South it is a home match and will be very entertaining with the new Spotlight making its first appearance I would like to thank Mrs porm Milly and the board of education for your continued support and thank you for allowing me to speak here tonight I hope we all have an amazing holiday break these next couple of weeks and I look forward to speaking with you all next month on behalf of Jackson Memorial High School I wish us all a happy holiday thank you [Applause] thank you Jamal again for the comprehensive report as you can see there are just an incredible amount of opportunities and events that happen on a daily basis in our high schools um I said it when I first came to Jackson almost 10 years ago now uh just the amazing opportunities we have here for our students and we are fighting every day with our budget to keep them in place so thank you for those wonderful reports so this evening we we have a few other presentations uh we'll begin tonight with the June 30th 2023 audit report presented by Kathy Perry from jump Perry and Company Miss Perry good evening uh my name is Kathy Perry I'm the auditor from jump Perry and Company the audit partner we did the audit of the June 30th 2023 financial statements of Jack Board of Ed as part of the audit we come to the district and review purchase orders uh we read board minutes we read review payroll we report uh review the reporting requirements that are submitted to the state we review your grants bids uh required uh items on the agendas uh we review student count and all the testing and all the documentation that was given to us and provided to us uh we had no findings that you received an unmodified opinion on the three opinions that you have in your financial statements one on the financial statements themselves you get an opinion also on your internal controls and also on how you spent your grant funding all of them are an unmodified opinion which is a clean opinion there were no findings uh all the financial statements were due December 5th and they were all provided to the state of New Jersey and the county ba as part of our audit we review at the end of the year year your fund balances uh your budget be actual and review what you have available as free balance for use in your 2425 budget which That season will start soon so in that there is very small fund balance and we don't not believe that there's anything to to be used as Revenue when you do your 24 25 B uh uh budgets I'm sorry so but we' like to thank the board office they did a great job providing us everything we need need it and we thank you very much yes are there any questions from the board oh sorry yes so I guess uh is it fair to say that the district is utilizing it it's money wisely the books are clean we just need more money yes yes when you review your fund balance at the end of the year which is what is left after you know your revenues and expenses and profit loss it's different in a in a board of ed yes you had your all of the review of your expenditures everything signed off on approved you didn't overspend budget line items the things that I expect to see and then what happens is you look at it at the end of the year and go okay what do you have available for the future and that's where the limitations come in thank you anyone else okay thank you very much okay so moving on I said we were going to hear from some Cadets and it's now that time uh the junior Roc is here this evening with Colonel spare to present some information about their ROTC program come on up to the podium please and board members there presentation so you'll want to turn around to see the slides good evening board members I'm Cadet uh John pensat good evening board members my name is Cadet Drew baroas and tonight our goal is to uh give you some insight into our uh program at the memorial and Liberty high schools in our district who we are the afj RC 782nd dates back to 1978 this program was created by Colonel Roco p c asro the reason this program was created to help students to develop citizens of character and to to develop uh Integrity for our service for our s and next only we do which is our core values uh since the creation of this program we've created many outstanding citizens of character which allow which have gone on to serve in our military or go on to have successful college careers and careers after that as well this is our uh mission statement as you can see to develop citizens of character dedicated to serving their nation and community uh if you look over here in Memorial throughout the Halls you will see pictures of people who have attended the school and served in the military and uh a lot of those have passed through our RTC program and one of the things that we're actually looking to do uh this year with our Kitty Hawk which is our Honor Society within uh our RC program is to find out more information about those people uh possibly get names and blurbs of their service in the military um and really expand that so when people walk through those Halls they don't just see names or they don't see faces they're able to put a story with those faces and that's something that uh we think would be an incredible addition to our school our train of command so our train of command if you noticed all these names are cadets the reason we put this up here is to understand that these C that this unit is a Cadet run program well we have Colonel who's been a great teacher and also a mentor for us and helping us guidance throughout the year all decisions that are made throughout this unit are our decisions so it starts at the top with our group Commander Jared Brooks it goes all the way down to the bottom of that with command Chief Antonio mandik in all of that we work together to create decisions and help lead this program forward all right so what do we actually do um so we have quite a few uh outreaches for our program and one of the big ones that we stress most is community service um so at the beginning of every year we have to present goals that we want to hit by the end of the year um and one of them is 3,000 hours of community service this year I think currently we're at about 13 00 so far um heading into break which is good but you can always be better um and so one of the ways that some of the ways that we get this uh is marching in parades so we did the uh thas River veteran state parade for example um we did uh various color guards have every football game at Memorial and Liberty we did color guards as well as doing color guards at other events um one of the things that we like to pride ourselves in especially is that not only Jackson is calling us to do color guards we do color guards for all sorts of events uh even in Howell Tom's River things like that um which is really incredible to have that kind of reputation outside just Jackson um we do the Toys for Tots that's a picture up there uh last year as you can see created at barois there in an elf costume um I'm in a hockey jersey and then uh we have Jarrett Brooks right next to us so that was from last year but uh we're running that program again and that was one of the best programs that we have that we get to run uh just because of the Outreach you get to see people personally and hand them the gifts and that's something incredible um and then we're running a food drive currently right now as well that we hope to uh even do more of in the future um another big part of our program is the academics so the way that uh the class is structured is it's an elective and there are two courses within the class you have a uh Aeronautics side of the class which is handled on Mondays and Tuesdays and then the management side which is uh Wednesdays and Thursdays so for example in Aeronautics this year I believe it's um it's about is it pressure temperature um the science behind flight itself and then for like the management side um last year for example it was about personal finance and things like that that um can really help people later in their life as well as now to set up a future and then one of the big things we harp on in that management class is leadership as you can see um this program is very heavy on leadership it's Cadet run completely so the idea of leadership is very um impressed upon upon us and then uh by our uh staff especially from last year and then one of the other big things that we like to do is field trips everyone loves a good field trip um and RC is gives you the opportunity to go a lot of great places last year we got to go to Lincoln Financial and do a tour of the eagle Stadium um as well as doing flight simulators we got to do an academic Bowl uh the past two years uh and this year actually I was part of it they actually said uh we're holding another one in December we hope you guys come um so things like that are just incredible the tunnels to Towers we did uh it was a little after uh the anniversary of 911 this year I believe it was 22nd 3rd um where we get to go to New York and they run a 5k uh every year where it ends right about where the uh Tower memorials are and we uh have banners that we hang of uh people who uh have passed in service uh following the attacks on September 11th um and event is incredible you have all these people running this uh 5K and just to be there is an incredible uh experience and then we got to go to the Maguire Air Force Base the closest Air Force Base um and we get to see how that functions go on some planes there it's a really cool experience big plans for the year so we have many big plans for the year as we you know go throughout the year so the first one up is our Military Bowl it's look to to be about April 14th what that is is kind of like our prom and what we get to do is girls get to wear dresses boys get to wear a modified version of their service dress and we get to go and just have fun and just enjoy being around each other's company and it's just a great awesome event just we get to be around each other the next one is our first annual RC car show which happened around October it was a great success we had around 65 is cars there and we got only positive feedback from everybody there it's the first event we run and we plan on running it again next year we love to have you guys out if possible uh our unit inspection so this is our biggest event of the Year this is going to happen on January 12th and what this is is our regional director is going to come down and take a look at our program our Logistics our Personnel everything that how how we tick and just to make sure that we're doing everything we need to to be successful and finally is attending a Raiders competition and what that means is that uh we have a Raiders team which is a very uh physical which is a team that uh attends events and does physical competition such as Ruck runs uh push-up contests and there so much more there's we've only done one last year but we tend to do a bunch this year and those are going to happen around the springtime so we have a lot of great events that are going to happen this year and then we hope that will lead into next year as well which it's very exciting time to be in RC one of the biggest events and uh opportunities that this program gives is the Private Pilot Academy so our group Commander now uh Cadet Jarett Brooks got to attend this last year and the program it's not like a guaranteed get in but uh this program gives you the opportunity to apply and what it is is you apply uh for the program if you get it uh you get to fly you get taken out to Walla Wala Washington everyone's favorite Town in Washington uh and over there they have a college and they run a summer program where you can go from having very no very little to no experience of flying to having your private pilot's license by the end of the I believe it's two months three months uh program so it was and it's in free of charge as well which is incredible I mean I don't know how many of you have tried to get your private Pilots lessons but the amount of money it takes to just uh get the opportunity to fly for a couple hours um so to do this all free of charge was incredible um and you can see some of the pictures there uh it's all he talks about now it's getting kind of annoying but uh he he loved the experience I believe uh Jose over there is applying for it this year um we hope he gets it it's going to be awesome um but it's probably it's one of the best opportunities that our program gives to uh the cadets that go through it uh thank you guys for having us out tonight it fantastic to be here and tell you guys about our program one last thing I'd like to mention that I will not be wearing the elf costume again that was a terrible decision and I don't know why they keep talking about it I don't know about that I think it was a good decision you got people excited and and ready to to to donate and participate so any comments or questions from the board thank you guys that was an awesome presentation and you know it's exciting to have such an awesome I'm saying awesome toight you got me saying it um opportunity for all of our students and you know thank you for sharing your excitement with us of course thank you keep it up you guys are doing a great job and I love these presentations so thank you thank you and I just want to say the same thank you for your leadership among the other Cadets and in the in the buildings as well and demonstrating um Community Service uh academics being a priority uh so thank you for your leadership and everything that you do and Colonel spare thank you for everything you do for this program again I will say we have many wonderful opportunities here in our high schools and we are working hard to keep those programs even with our state cuts and you demonstrated that again tonight thank you boys thank you thank [Applause] you thank you so we have reached the about the midyear Mark uh in the school district Believe It or Not time flies very quickly uh this is the time of the year where I give the community and the board an update on where we're at with our goals so I'm going to go to the podium and share some information about where we're at okay so for this evening can you hear me okay okay so for this evening I will provide some information of just a sampling of some of the things that we've done to address some of our goals obviously there's a lot more that we do but we don't want to be here all night hearing about every little um aspect of what we do to address the goals and there's lots of people behind the scenes working towards these goals so tonight I'll start again as I always start with our mission statement it helps Drive everything that we do in this District to have strong program programs and ensure that we are um working with students to create a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and that they are developing in their abilities um higher level thinking independent creative engaging and motivated to learn these are belief statements you've seen them before uh again all working towards that mission statement to ensure that we help our students develop holistically as well-rounded students and Learners um and good citizens this evening I did want to just refresh the board's memory of um the maso's hierarchy of needs that we have focused on in the last two years again uh last year knowing we needed to really spend a lot of time um ensuring that students were engaged and focused um and that they're feeling safe in school and addressing some of the um you know the issues that we saw in students returning back into the schools um with struggling some of the things that have happened through the pandemic we had a huge focus on that we continue to focus on that but now in addition as you see we make our way up uh the hierarchy and really focus in on um the self-esteem needs self accusation which is really about setting goals working to your full ability and pushing yourself as a learner and prioritizing your learning based on what you see as your strengths and weaknesses um in learning so one of our goals uh this year is around the physical uh facilities and feeling safe and connected I will not read all the goals to you again you have seen them before so I'll just you know pause for a moment let you to refresh your memory about some of our security and safe goals on the next slide you will see again health and safety and connection but now on the emotional mental health and again establishing relationships with students and the goals that we focus on this year so by way of update you'll see here some of the things that we've done to address those goals this year the director of security and the assistant superintendent of operations conducted Security Site assessments at all 10 of our buildings in the month of SE September and October debriefed with the teams um and continue to strengthen our uh security and safety protocols we conducted staff training on security protocols in September at all 10 of our schools as well as our transportation department and we continue to work with our SRO on a daily basis to address any safety protocols or School District issues that we see um that have Arisen and as always we do our monthly drills our security drills and we do observations of lockdown we're constantly working to always strengthen that's not something that you can ever stop working towards um and we always do our annual trainings as well our anti-bullying Specialists meet on a regular basis they met in October and again they um also attend trainings to strengthen and learn more about how they continue to be can continue to be proactive with our students our school climate teams do the same they meet they look at data they look at areas in which um they see trends of areas whether it be around uh behaviors or um harassment intimidation and bullying and they address those and again work to be proactive in the approaches to reduce the amounts of behaviors that we see and a very big initiative that we've had is the required policy and regulations for school threat assessment teams um in Jackson we've been at the Forefront of this um in Ocean County at least and we see that in SE several of the state meetings that either Dr Taylor Mr binsky have been in um or Mr Palumbo that we really have a very strong threat assessment process here an extensive threat assessment process in fact other school districts have asked us for it um and we've done a lot of training around those areas uh last year and this year so by the way of academic growth and rigor goals you'll see some of the goals listed there for this school year primarily focused around again um supporting students and through differentiation and addressing their needs and individual needs through growth and through rigor as well and by way of update in those two areas of academic growth and rigor you'll see some of the things that we've been doing to address those goals um I'll just point out a few things on this slide we have uh used uh an extended Home Room period in our middle schools we have we currently have an advisory period that happens in home room um and sometimes it's a short period and you can't do some extensive advisory lessons so this year in the Middle School they've extended home room once per month to provide additional time for those advisory lessons uh in our October 9th in service we focused on professional development in the areas of MLL which is our multiple language learners for all levels we not only worked with our our teachers but we've also worked with our administrators on training in those areas as well um this fall and we've always focused on grade level and Department articulations as well this uh in service day we particularly focused in on our mlls and also how to um really strengthen an articulation around our win block what every um what I need block within our elementary schools so through the school-based mental health grant that we received we're also adopting the multiple tier system of supports platform and using that which really takes data uh student data uh behavioral data whether it be academic behavioral and creates a team of um problem solving and decision-making to support students through that and we will continue to do training around that this year we are in year two of our common lunch which provides students the opportunity to take control of their learning this year we are implementing a signing in process through Genesis when they go for extra help so we can now track the number of students who are going for extra help who who's going for extra help and we've also uh put into place a protocol of making sure that parents are in the loop of when students and teachers well when teachers are requesting that students come for extra help in common lunch and as you know during common lunch we also offer plethora of experiences whether it be guest speakers coming in um an opportunity to hear from college Representatives or vocational representatives and opportunities for vocational um careers so we continue to expand those opportunities as well during common lunch again um we talk about that student learning how to prioritize and how to monitor their own learning this is a really big part of that and learning that experience um and we continue with ongoing professional development around AI artificial intelligence as you know that's a big deal moving forward we'll continue to do that and I just wanted to point out that we do have we still have the opportunity for virtual conferences we did do our conferences as fall in about 80% of the parent parents attended those conferences so in the areas of rigor uh we continue although it has been challenging you've heard me say it a few times this evening uh with our budget and also with the teacher shortage for certain certified areas particularly we are trying working hard to maintain our various levels of courses across all disciplines in AP as well as our electives and business family and consumer science technology and the Arts we this year are working Mr Palumbo's been working with the um his guidance counselors and Department staff to explore ways to expand and strengthen course offerings at our high schools for the 2425 program of studies um and meeting with Ocean County College we currently do have dual enrollment but they are in AP courses and we're looking to um create opportunities for dual enrollment in more associate degree align courses as well this year um and again I'll just mention the cross uh School and level teacher articulation meetings particularly in math we know that that's an area of challenge for US based on our test scores so we're really vamping up the articulation and better aligning our curriculum across levels uh continued ongoing uh supervisory meetings with the assistant superintendent of curriculum Mr Vante to address the needs of necessary curriculum updates in the areas of literacy and math we're looking at adoptions based on our 5-year curriculum review cycle and this year we're also working on our middle a middle school committee to uh look at the schedule for middle school and see if there is a better way to schedule our students to better support them and provide um ample opportunities we continue to use our uh pbl model a problem-based learning model um really actively engaging students in a process of learning and problem solving and again taking responsibility for what they know and they don't know um in order to solve those problems at the elementary level We are continuing to use fraction sents that we began to roll out last year providing continued uh staff training on that area again helping students to better be prepared in math we also use that during our wi time in our elementary schools and we're expanding opportunities for g&t students in Odyssey of the minds so those were some areas in which we're addressing our growth and rigor with our students in the areas of Finance facilities and transportation you can see some of the goals focused on this year I'll leave that up for a few seconds for you to just refresh your memory on some of them okay on updates for those areas you will see we continue to have have discussions with the county superintendent and providing updates of where we stand in our budget in fact this week we've had some meetings and last week as well we spent time educating our community on the special question that was on the November ballot provided lots of information via Flyers Q&A presentations individual attending uh several Community meetings and we also attended the the Jackson day Booth um unfortunately as we all know that did not pass uh we look for every Grant possible I'm sure you see it on the agendas and board members I know you're always um on the lookout as well and approving the grants for us on the agenda we've had many grants approved over uh this past year we'll continue to do them just I only you know listed a few there but there is plenty more the mental health Grant and the HVAC grant that um we were awarded as well in the way of facilities we did have a d project uh with the tanks the fuel tanks over at the memorial Transportation site it has been a long road but we are at the end now I know Mr Bruno is happy about that so those fuel tanks are in ready to go we're just looking for the final approval in December we are in constant communication with the township about the opportunity they've provided for us to replace our playgrounds which are in great need of replacement uh the first proposal came in a little high so we did a second proposal and we have a verbal acceptance of that and we're just waiting for the final official approval so that's a exciting as well and as you can see with safety right safety is always a priority so when safety things come up we have to address them these are just a few things that we've had to address thus far this year the memorial gym floor uh thankfully was covered by our insurance the uh and some HVAC work we need to have heat obviously and when we have an issue we need to fix that in the way of an update in transportation um as you well know board we and Community we Chang the schools start times this this year um and that has always obviously been implemented uh up and running and these changes in times have really allowed for on-time transportation and the availability of late buses at both our middle school and high school which we struggled with last year um so we're seeing a a much better ontime arrival and dismissal time and certainly having that availability to have buses late buses so students can participate in more programs is is very important so we're we're pleased with that the culdesac rerouting and changes it's completed uh we did communicate that out last spring and now we we have successfully implemented it we are looking to roll over to new software updated software for our transportation department so that we can address some of the issues we've been having with the tablets and the scanning on the buses and scanning off the buses it's because of the the software so that's in the works we're looking at some training happening soon and implementation in the spring and as you well know uh um we board members we are beginning our enrollment committee review uh we have our first meeting in December in the area of goals focused on human resources and operations you'll see some of the goals listed there and by way of update you will see that we uh do participate in a CJ CJ Pride uh which allows us the opportunity to to um Pro um seek out diverse candidates and also partake in some of the job fairs that that they offer to us and we continue to post everywhere you've seen even some of the email blasts we put out to our community for positions that we're looking for it's really helped us when we put things out to the community we've received a lot of uh good applicants that way of people who maybe perhaps weren't aware of some job openings we continue um you know Staffing is hard that's for sure and we continue to uh see creative ways uh to recruit here we also have approved a policy um on sick leave that was required in August that expands the opportunities for staff to use um their sick days for their sick children um and such or sick family members and that was a policy and regulation that was required so we've implemented that successfully and communicated it successfully to our staff also in the area of human resource um and oper ations this year just in November uh we have implemented a central registration process we used to have one years ago then it went back to the schools and we found that we uh really needed to implement it again it has been very successful thus far it really helps to streamline the process to one area um and I want to thank Mr binsky for his work in that area it's really been um it's been going well so in the area of goals for homeschool connection action you'll see some of the goals listed there and by way of update so as mentioned before we hadle uh implemented a multifaceted informational campaign for the special question you'll see some of the things listed there that we've done uh Miss Irwin is busy uh collecting the data for the website survey by the way that closes on the 15th so please provide your feedback to us about the website we are looking to uh to roll over a new website uh Sometime Late Late spring and as you know MRN puts the slides up every board meeting we'll continue to do that um and continue to um also inform our community of things happening in our schools uh via email blasts and other forms of communication those are just a few of the things that we we've done to address these goals thus far this school year we do have our um board goals as well so I'll provide an update on where we're all at there as well so you'll see again behind you a list of the goals that the board has that set rather sorry in regards to fiscal areas curricular and extracurricular areas and communication as well as the progress of the board goals meeting one of these goals right now and by way of update you'll see here some of the things that the board um and the district have done to address the board goals uh there is a newly formed board advocacy committee that has been working they reviewed several bills and they have reached out to other Schoolboard members to inform and discuss some of those bills as well as writing a letter in regards to Bill a 4512 um to ask for some clarification on some of the things that are listed in that non-public school Consortium bill so we'll see if we hear back some information right Miss gella and we'll see if uh if that will help us move some of the things forward the budget process and Analysis will begin with the board committees in January the board has approved several grants as I mentioned before and will'll continue to focus on that the board participated in educating the community in a special question and the board enrollment committee as I me referenced before will meet in December uh the board heard the state of schools presentation in October and the board continues to use the committee structure and provides committee updates at the public board hearings so well on our way of working towards achieving those those goals for the board as well so this does conclude the goals update any questions or comments from the board Miss Gardella um I just wanted to reiterate that at the policy meeting we discussed the policy 2419 um which is the school threat assessment team and I just wanted to concur that it Jackson really doesn't have a nice protocol in place it's something that I never saw before and it's very impressive and I do believe that the Jackson administration and staff is doing a very thorough job of ensuring that our students are safe throughout the school day and address both their mental health and their safety for for each individual uh you know base basis item that comes up and I wanted to give you you know a Kudos on that I was very impressed thank you for that I want to say kudos to my team who've done an amazing job and the school staff who do take them through that threat assessment process as you saw it's quite extensive um but important thank you any other questions or comments yeah go ahead can I say something else of course um to miss Irwin she's behind just behind me so I was just thinking I don't know if this is the right place but um you know I was looking for an athletic calendar to download and put into my phone and it was a challenge to find so I didn't get to put that on my survey okay good I just want to tell you now okay good noted okay all right I'm going to return to my seat for the rest of my update I just wanted to point out as it's a requirement that we do approve every six months on the agenda um an update to the American Rescue plan the safe return plan that is tied to the SR and ARP money uh Mr rante has updated that plan again um not much has changed um it is a requirement and I just wanted to point out to the board that it is on the agenda for approval this evening so now on to some more fun more interesting things than uh the American Rescue plan as you know you heard from our high school students December is a very busy month with festivities there have been a lot of things happening some of the slides behind you this evening um highlighted some of the school plays um I was able to attend elf it was amazing I say it every time I see one of these high school plays it just the talent is amazing and the staff that work with them are just incredible um we also did have um testing happening in our high schools um over last week and makeup tests um as well um as you know we work on a block schedule so the New Jersey student learning assessment was implemented in the fall block to our ninth graders so we've completed that and wrapped that up and um in regards to to some of the slides that you saw behind us or some of the things even our high school students pointed out we did have um some Jackson Liberty girls who code take third place in a competition at the t uh tcj that was exciting uh three of our Memorial band students in South Jersey honors band out of 600 students were selected um 15 in the county and three of ours were selected so that's pretty amazing and then you also heard about the um Memorial Sports being ranked in the top 10 so just amazing things and programs that we have for our students you heard me mention the the website survey please make sure you complete that by Friday it's really helpful information for us and uh another slide that you saw behind us uh gets is celebrating its 50th Anniversary it's 50 years old so they kicked off that 50 years when they opened their doors in November with um a ribbon cutting ceremony you saw some pictures behind me so that um really just creating like the 50th time students walked back walked into that school so all the students walked in together and they were Co um had the the school colors by class you know they were wearing them a couple of board members attended it was a lovely event um and as I mentioned December's busy you even see behind me the stage is set up for concerts so lots of wonderful things happening across the district and um with that I just want to say I wish everybody a safe and happy holiday and that concludes my superintendent report thank you M permil at this time we will go over any uh standing committees that met uh prior to this me this board meeting buildings and grounds U Mr McCarron would you report please yes uh we met December I'm sorry uh we have uh updates for Capital Improvement projects and districtwide um Crawford Rodriguez the roof ridge vent was repaired it was missing some shingles Rose an hour the roof leak above kitchen was repaired roseen ARA had an electrical panel update all Breakers have been replaced Elms had a water pump replaced with new uh for domestic water supply homman had new electrical supplied for copier machine in the hallway Clayton and Memorial had a coil replace for the gym unit for the HVAC uh District all 21 bottle uh filling stations have been installed throughout the entire District forgets uh an update we have uh that we're still working with Jackson Township mua Edwards engineering and spel Architectural Group as of now we're in preliminary stages of the project we've received approval from the doe and are working with Edwards engineering the Jackson Township mua to then prepare the work scope and specs to put the project out for bid currently the project will consist of decommit iing and removing our two well tanks that service the school and have expired their longevity use for the building we'll run 850t water pipe that will connect with Jackson Township's main sewer line on Patterson road with the gets Middle School uh checks were sent out November 30th 20 2023 for application for gets block 2604 lot 82-85 application for tenative approval approval of utility services for gets block 2604 lot 82-85 application for renewal of preliminary plans for utility services for gets block 2604 lot 82 to 85 uh and review fee for tenative preliminary final application for gets block 2604 lot 82-85 um Memorial Fuel Depot repairs uh update Independence contra contractors has provided a timeline showing their progress on this project and what is anticipated ahead uh update the concrete around the tanks was uh completed 1211 the canopy installation will be completed 12:15 Stone grading and fencing will be 12:15 as well final inspection to be scheduled for the following week of 1218 and this will all be weather dependent thank you Mr McCarron we also have ad hoc committees that meet as needed the uh State and County School Board um representative uh is Mrs Rivera but that uh meeting is not until December 16th so we'll report out on that in our January board ofed meeting we also have some updates from our uh advocacy committee chairperson uh Miss Gardella hi yes um the advocacy committee collaborated together to um draft or send out an email to vested legislators on Bill number 54 a 5412 which is establishes a non-public school Consortium to assist with non-public bus mandate for our local District um our items in our email regarded um areas that we the committee felt were in need of review by uh the board the the policy writers um including an outline of the consortium's administrative resp responsibilities versus The District's responsibilities and the percentage rate of which the Consortium will keep the total 8en L um funds from the district uh we did send this out to probably about eight legislators who are bested on the bill um we didn't hear back from any besides an auto response unfortunately uh the advocacy committee did speak and we are going to take uh legislator assembly men um Mr zwicki up on meeting with him to discuss uh the school funding formula which is something that he's pushing on the state level so those are our next steps thank you Miss Gardella all right I need a motion for approval of policy regulations second reading adoption motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs baracus yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr prary yes I need a motion for approval of policy regulations first reading motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs baracus yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr pom yes I need a motion for approval of the minutes official board meeting November 15 2023 Clos session meeting official board meeting November 15th 2023 Committee of the whole business meeting motion second discussion roll call Mrs gella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barus yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr promary yes I need a motion for approval of the bill list motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Mrs rera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion for approval of the treasurers and board secretary's reports motion second discussion roll call Mr Gardella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs baroas yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P Mar yes I need a motion to open the public forum on agenda items only we will hold another public forum during this meeting for other questions this public forum will be for questions on the agenda only motion second please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on a topic until all others have been heard okay seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I I need a motion to move Finance motion second discussion roll call Mrs gella yes yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs barois yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr pom yes I need a motion to move facilities motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr mcaren yes Mrs barus yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr Paul Mary yes I need a motion to move programs motion second discussion roll call Mrs Cardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs baroas yes Mrs Rivera I need to abstain number seven yes to everything else Mrs Cass yes Mr P Mar yes I need a motion to move students motion second discussion roll call Mrs gella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs barokas yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs car Mrs Cass yes Mr promary yes I need a motion to move Personnel motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr mcaren yes Mrs rokus yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr promary yes I need a motion to open the public forum on any topic pertaining to the Board of Education motion second please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on a topic until all others have been heard good morning or good evening um I'll try to move fast but during the presentation I actually heard a lot of things I want to talk about uh first of all I was really impressed um that some of the items that were brought up even a couple years ago like the transportation called toac issue was actually being brought up and and really being resolved so I do appreciate that things aren't just going to the Wayside they're being addressed um the transportation technology it's a great idea because again I think the students realize that um our technology level at our school schools at our at our um Transportation uh system should be at the highest level ever um and glad you're addressing that and also that the PTO is uh um personal time off is being addressed as well so that teachers can balance work life um as well um one of the things I talked about wanted to talk about was standardized testing but I'm going to go through kind of my uh my list here and again stop me if you want to ask questions or you need more information um maybe some ideas to attract teachers to this uh town since unfortunately and I did vote for the increase um in in the budget because I think it's important and it wasn't a large sum of money but it was definitely going to help us because I've already seen the changes in my students um special events and different things being being cut out so if you take a look at the students Sports Pages you will see a lot of blank spaces there so um it's it's definitely having an effect and it's starting to to they're starting to feel it um how about offering some new teachers discounts on their property taxes for three years call it a bonus if they leave in a certain amount of time maybe they have to pay it back but you can bring certain people you know at the highest level into the town this is a great town to live in um it's very safe it's very uh you know family oriented so again trying to get some additional uh people that want to move to the area maybe the salary isn't as high as they're going to get in Bergen County or Essex but they they want a better quality life for their family so maybe some different ideas like that um the idea about the website fantastic but again I'm going to remind everyone that students andot lot of you know young parents that are here are in Tik Tok they're in Instagram so uh my my kids always remind me that Facebook and websites are for old people so again keep trying to use that new technology I see someone laughing over there because you know you know what it's like the the young people they're getting their information at five minute intervals and but sometimes that's how you reach them um and that's unfortunately maybe why the um resolution got got uh voted down um I want to talk a little bit about um the um the numbers before I get to the standardized testing so according to uh one of the articles that I read recently Jackson has um had a 11% drop in enrollment but a 33% state aid cut now again that could have changed because his numbers are changing but it seems like the direction is is not linear or it is linear but it's not the ratio is not the same 11% and 33% so um certainly we're we're seeing that effect um and also we have over 5,000 out of District students so that number probably is again even higher so as I read these numbers I'm sure every time I'm up here those numbers are changing in different directions um so I want again remind everyone who's listening who's watching that funding is the issue um and and it's going starting to affect us U but I do want to celebrate our successes I attended also the um Jackson chorus and Jaa um elf Jr um winner uh celebration and it was amazing I mean I really couldn't believe how many talented people we have in our in our District who are managing that their music their education a lot of them in the stem programs so again what a great success to them it was amazing and if anyone didn't see it please try to get a copy of from someone because you will be blown away um so I want to talk about standardized testing and I don't know that change is going to happen so quickly I think it's going to be a very slow turn of the ship but if you look at a couple of examples I'm going to read from the um heckinger report this is for March 2022 um heckinger is kind of a block for Education if you don't know that's a great report to read standardized tests in their current form are incredibly Antiquated that's where an or boser who's from the center of American progress okay so I know we just finished this testing and the reason I'm bringing it up is I wish my son was here but he was too tired from track practice he was telling me the other day that the test they had an issue they had to retake the the test again he's missing so much class time because of the standardized testing I don't see the benefit of it and again I'd like to this group to look into it further I think Mark train once said you know lies damn lies and statistics so you can take these numbers and change them any way you want but I'm sure you can talk to teachers principles guidance counselors they can tell you what do students need to learn um if you're not aware the Pisa scores just came out December 5th that's the assessment for the entire world and of course the US did terribly again we're down 133% Singapore was up six and that's interesting because Randy we Gardner Who is the AF Union president who in 2012 was in Singapore and and love the school love their system what did she like about it the fact that it didn't constantly do standardized testing she said stop the testing Obsession focus on teacher training as Finland and China do so again I think it's important that this um group looks as another goal maybe for 2025 is do we need to perform the standardized testing so much the students are starting to feel it I don't know if there's any benefit um again I'll take any questions of anything I think my time expired but that's that's really why I'm here today this the standardized testing is becoming I remember the cat test I took the cat test years ago many many many years ago you're laughing I know it goes back forever and we sat in rooms for four days and the teachers prepped us on the test my son actually said that some of the information on the test this time was not even taught to him so what data are you getting out of that if he's has poor results on a section he never was even trained on because it's done in the middle of the year so again if if you're looking for information it's there I don't think standardized testing is the way to go and I'll yield back my time thank you thank you and I I have to tell you I do agree with the social media use I think you you're spot on with that um the younger generation is is much more engaged and active on the Tik Tok and everything else so I think that is definitely something we should be looking into and you're also spot on with the enrollment being down that 11% and you know our Cuts being some 38% compared comparably in terms of funding um and as the order had just spoke you know Jackson doesn't have and she she confirmed this Jackson doesn't have a spending problem we have a revenue problem so hopefully Miss Gardella working with some of our state representatives could push this issue further um in terms of standard I test standardized testing I'm going to defer to uh Miss permil thank you Mr palmary uh I also just want to comment that part of our website survey that went out is um asking the question about what's the technology platform you use for that purpose so that we can make sure that we are using the right platform so thank you for that feedback um I do want to comment about the standardized testing um that is State regulated it is something we're required to do um I am sure um our staff would agree that we would like to do less of it um and that the information and the timing of the test is also an issue so for example the the fall block of testing that I just mentioned earlier for ninth grade students is happening happing now and the semester is not over yet so sure there's going to probably be some information that might not be covered before the end of the semester um that they're being tested on we know we try to make sure that everything gets covered beforehand but again this is feedback that we continually give to um the State offices the Department of Education so that they can hopefully hear that feedback and make some adjustments so um the standardized testing when you're in a block schedule sometimes can be a bit of a challenge there as well so it is certainly something that I know Mr works with the supervisors the directors with and we're constantly providing that feedback at our County meetings that then that information gets taken to the state meetings but we appreciate your your input on it for sure tonight and one last thing so I have a friend she actually works at a board of education and administration in Southern Ocean County and she said that Jackson is the model that other towns look at for their financing and their management so she actually gave you guys Kudos because she said it's the way you do it is unlike anyone else so I think it definitely shows here for for the town and the students and like I said they're amazing students they just want to make sure that they have all the opportunities um that everyone should have thank you sir just so you know um you can actually sign up for New Jersey has like a state level school board and they send out an agenda monthly and there are times that the public can go and comment on just like this type of board meeting and I feel like you would probably be a great candidate if you have the time and it works with your schedule and you can sign up I did it personally yeah you're welcome are there any other questions comments seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I we will now turn with to board comments starting with Mr Miss Gardella it's always fun to kick it off um I'm sure I'll think afterwards of something I forgot I you know applaud the student Liaisons they really let us know what's happening in our student buildings all the exciting things um throughout the months and I always like to thank the ptn at this time I feel like they put on a lot of great events in the winter fundraising for all of our students to participate in activities in the spring and I wanted to say thank you uh the last thing I just wanted to recognize um on the agenda there was a parent donation of basketball uniforms to mcalli school and I want to thank the Lans that was really amazing and generous thank you I thank you every for attending in person and live stream I thank you for the RC presentations and the student reps um everyone have a wonderful holidays and safe holiday season hi everyone I just wanted to uh also thank our Air Force Junior RC for their wonderful presentation um I am looking forward to um attending tomorrow night I'll be with uh Miss Cass going to see the chorus at McCulla and I'm looking forward to see many of the other band and coral concerts over the next week or so and I'm wishing everyone a happy and healthy holidays thank you for attending just wanted to uh point out Liberty High School I was able to go to uh Elf the musical and saw the chorus uh Coral concert before it was a great addition to the show and I just wanted to uh uh congratulate them on a really amazing show we have very talented students here uh happy holidays to everybody and hope everybody has a uh safe new year um I too want to thank the RC they did a wonderful presentation as Mrs formell always says we do have some amazing programs in the school um and that definitely highlighted um one of them I I just think it's fabulous I want to thank the seniors for their presentations um they do always keep us a breast of what's going on in the schools and it's it's interesting to hear and it's great to hear it's to hear all the fun things that are going on um I too attended elf and uh it was it was amazing it was definitely festive the kids the talent just blows me away year after year um the the chorus was phenomenal they did some AC cappella numbers it it was just it was incredible the show itself was fun festive just a lot of fun so um with that I just want to wish everybody a happy holiday happy and safe holiday take care I'd like to take a moment and just uh mention uh that in a couple of short weeks our secretary to the business administrator Miss Rachel Miller uh will be retiring and I wanted to thank you for your years of service and your dedication to this District enjoy your retirement you deserve it I would also like to wish everyone a very happy Hanukkah a Merry Christmas and a very safe and happy New Year thank you I need a motion to adjourn motion by acclamation [Music] I [Music]