good evening everyone adequate notes of this meeting was provided by sing ex to the Asbury press the mown patch the Middletown Township Public School District website and the posting of such notice at the or minor administrative courances in each elementary middle and secondary school of District Mrs cavan here Mrs Harley here Mr fitzg here Mrs mines here Mrs skolaski here Mr Co here Mrs W here Mrs tobacco here Mr K here I now need a resolution for executive session to discuss matters of litigation contract negotiations and Personnel matters so all in favor oppos exensions see you L while good evening everyone please stand for the [Music] pledge conratulations to the flag the United States of America to the [Music] I'm sorry I'm going to stand for a moment of silence so sadness that we shed the passing of I Lynch on January 14 2024 Miss Lynch was a teacher at new M school for 35 years before retiring in 2020 on behalf of the school Community extend our deepest condolences to the Lynch family it's also a sadness that we are sharing the passing of Edward Hy on January 23rd 2024 Mr Hugh was a maintenance work in the district for the past 22 years we extend our deepest condolences to the [Music] H thank you we now going to invite our high school student speaker no you're Pro I am I have much experience with this you do you're good evening under of the pride our student and staff member of the month's recognition program celebrate taex serves in our school Community Foundation last month's award recipients include our nth graders Sherry Franklin and N Sal our 10th graders Ryan and Edy Lopez our 11 graders Conor Dan and Aiden mcken our graders AA Murphy and El Anna cor and our staff member social studies teacher Mr R reverse praise referrals provide opportunities for students to nominate outstand standing staff members who go above and beyond the Call of Duty to provide support and inspiration throughout the month of January more than 100 students submitted forms to recognized staff members pH before winner for the month of January was Mr bar our math teacher we have developed a super Council consisting of elected ambassadors from each of high school L 74 co-curricular clubs this leadership group meets on a monthly basis to discuss strategies for schoolwide improvement exess activity of the curricular promotion fair for nth grade students which was held in our media center on Monday January 22nd on Thursday January 18th new members of the French Italian LA and Spanish societies were inducted during our annual ceremony and Auditorium these inductees have demonstrated scholarship service leadership and character interviews were conducted in late December to select students to attend to this year's hob conference at L University this prestigious youth leadership seminar includes students from across the state who have exemplified leadership posing the decision making and problem solving and service to others that's scho nor attendees are Jason wood Min m and Lina today Mar High School North's first installment at bdale Community College apply bag which took place in the media center over 50 students submitted online applications and decisions will be communicated within a week our guidance department is hosting its annual parent college application information night on Thursday February 15th this important session will feature strategies insights and timeles for our class in 2025 senior scholarship should be be uploaded to n on a weekly basis members of the class of 2024 are encouraged to Reg this platform and apply for these opportunities congratulations the forign musicians for being selected to the allshore Jazz Band they are H Boer col mcnicholas and Anthony M also miss line are instrumental music teacher is chosen to be the allour Jazz Band conductor the Senior Open campus program has been successful since its information on Monday January 8th bday Bingo a new initiative will be held in our Auditorium during block board beginning tomorrow Wednesday January 31st this provides additional Choice activity for students every other day during lunch and will feature the distribution of high school NS related prizes to our winners two short films from our TV and Film Production class with nomin for Independent Car movie awards one was nominated for death atmosphere and the other for death har C on campus was also nominated for the spirit award at the top 80 Film Festival thank you have a good night thank [Applause] you and now going to turn our attention to High School South Mrs Sophia CCO [Applause] [Music] good evening I'm Sophia C and I'm speaking tonight on behalf of jasi to start seniors have their first open campus program day on Monday January 8th this is a senior privilege to leave the blocks room Bo with the permission of their parents and or Guardians all seems to be going very well the first annual winter noral will be held at High School South on February 15th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the High School South cafeteria Mr kac's spy award- winning play Then won foggy Christmas Eve which he wrote for the South's fall 2022 production had just been picked up for publication by Elder's publishing and will be available for production starting this summer his Short play the Michaelson model his take on the Danielson teaching evaluation model was published in December in the best 10-minute pH of 201 23 and he has monologues featured in the National anthologies the best men's and the best women's monologues of 2023 I was selected to attend and represent High School South at the New Jersey state Els association's peer leadership conference it will take place this weekend February 2nd to the 4th at the ocean PL Resort in spa in Long brdge Juniors David Stalker and Pastor tsey have been chosen by South faculty to be South nominees for the very stes New Jersey Scholars Program 39 students will be chosen to attend the five week interdisciplinary college level summer program at lawrenville school good luck to David and P play unified cheer started last week we have about 25 athletes all together from North and South they cheered out South games on January 27th and the 30th as well as the north game on January 25th and the upcoming game at North on February 2nd the winter sports season is in full swim with teams finishing regular season competition over the next few weeks the ice hockey team held two events the first of which was a game against the Bri starts an ice hockey program for Children and Youth with young adults with developmental disabilities where raised over $2,000 for the program then in partnership with Middletown North the team competed in their annual gold acum for Pediatric cancer on January 23rd versus a page the North and South Hoy combined to raise over $7,000 for the infinite love for kids fighting cancer organization senior draft Runner Rosie Shay won the 3200 met race at the indor mom County championships Mighty H finished second in the cha and Peter chalia finished third in the PO westers GI R andit oilly will Crown sh Conference champions at the shore conference wrestling tournament on January 15th the field hockey team was presented with the shore conference official sportsmanship award for the 2023 season on January 24th Middletown South will host the quarterfinal of the boys and girls Shore Conference basketball tournament on Saturday February 10th in The njsa District 17 wrestling tournament on Saturday February 17th the winter sports season is under underway with over 350 students competing in basketball wrestling Ace hockey Bing women indoor track and competition cheerleading Junior bowler gari recorded a perfect game of 300 in the girls bowling team win OB Regional earlier this month the ice hockey team competed in a chair game against the brick stars on Sunday sorry January 21st at 8:00 a.m. in the how Ice Arena the B Stars once again is an ice hockey program for children and young adults with developmental disabilities the girl St team completed in the momm county Championship over the weekend finishing in fifth place as a team the boys and girls indoor track teams competed in the momth county R finishing eth and fourth place respectively the second annual student teacher cornhle tournament will be begin next month with team competing for a set of cornhole boards designed and painted by South students each team will also be competing on behalf of the charity of their choice with the winning team presenting a check to the organization at the finals congratulations to James kley Adriana Deno Julia Alexandre Franchesca ji Kaya ma Nick MCH Luke Roberts kol Andy perner B aler GG May Luke 7 Joe Kone Wilson isella Kate cashion kst prefer Demitri Joe DeMarco Shan Grayson Hardwick and iano seven of their films were selected to be screened at this year's Garden State film festival in Asbury Park and there were over 100 entries from around the world and many seven films were selected thank you thank [Applause] you so we are going to um briefly do a presentation as promised on our strategic plan as you may or may not be aware we are in year four of a 5year strategic plan so next year will be our last year in this 5year plan so that also means that next year we will have to start to convene and create a new 5year strategic plan that would take us through the year 2030 so we wanted to provide an update um I do believe the last one was uh 2021 um so I we felt that this was important just to provide an update to the community about our progress towards um the six overarching goals that the district had set alongside with um Community stakeholders in the process of strategic planning so these um this first slide does represent those six overarching goals that were decided upon um if you were a part of that process um at this point four plus years ago um there were many committees that were established we had many meetings um where we had input from the community where these were the the common themes that threaded through um some of the discussion that these stakeholder groups and committees had so the first one was commitment to Student Success by promoting social emotional Wellness um the second one was increasing equity and opportunity to ensure learner needs are met um the third was a commitment to Student Success Through personalized learning the fourth was the fostering of Partnerships with the community as well as strong parent student student and educator relationships five was the financial stability to provide a quality education for all students and finally the investment in stewardship of our infrastructure for Student Success so I'm going to talk about the first four goals um very curricularly driven um student service driven and then Mrs doy will come up and talk about um the final two which are more um infrastructure and finances so the first goal which was a continued commitment to success by by promoting social emotional Wellness you've seen we've done um by this slide and it we'll continue on to the next slide and I'll get there in a minute um all of the things since our last update that have um come into play that align with moving forward with progress towards achieving this goal um we've ramped up through a lot of different vehicles um some of it are in these board meetings where we share information um we redesigned our website um certainly a lot of information comes out from Mr Kirk Patrick's office cuz the um you know social emotional Wellness sits under the umbrella of student services we've worked with our Sachs for increased awareness and uh education and prevention programs um working with them on proactive strategies to promote um you know positive pro-social behaviors among students within the schools we have have also partnered with effective School Solutions and the YMCA to provide some degree of counseling support that certainly um you know at times our students do benefit from as you may or may not know the state has rolled out a new behavioral threat assessment requirement however I'm proud to say we were very very much ahead of the curve and already having a behavioral um threat assessment process that just needed to be fine-tuned so that way when a student um is in some type of need we have the ability to get them the support they need through a variety of different mechanisms and channels we've had ongoing professional development over the course of I would say the last two years related to social emotional Wellness some of those examples are um the trauma attune model and the nurtured heart approach we have re-energized our lifelines program which is our suicide prevention program and that is embedded within our health and physical education curriculum we have held a variety of parent sessions that effective School Solutions has hosted in conjunction or collaboration with us and they have been um very well received and they have to do with a lot of issues that Center on supporting social emotional Wellness of students um in the school environment we we've also really um focused on proactive and preventive strategies um you know to align with our beliefs and values on anti-bullying and increased increased awareness education and prevention programs by our new anti-bullying Specialists which are present at the secondary level their number one goal is really prevention and proactive work with students in trying to help them to develop the skills and strategies so we don't get to a situation um where students are you know at odds or um quite frankly you know not treating each other with the respect that they deserve by being a part of the school community so go ahead Chen you can go on to the next slide this is goal one continued um we have lots of programs and activities within our school particularly our elementary where we have our social behavioral support Specialists and they do a lot of social emotional Wellness activities with their students a lot of you know character development lessons we've also infused our positive action which you may remember as our social emotional learning curriculum that was adopted last year um and this is year two of implementation um we talked about Lifeline Suicide Prevention um many of you may have seen some of our most famous attendees of school and those are our air dogs so um they tend to be the fan favorite in many of our buildings we have a number of therapy dogs that have been trained as such and actually you know come to school a few days a week with their owners and they do provide um a definite measure of social emotional support for many many of our students um that program has been extremely well received um we've done a lot of awareness and prevention things like red ribbon wheat student of the month programs um and you know our goal is always not only certainly sometimes there are consequence for behaviors we also believe that's a dual approach consequence for actions at times but also there's a restorative piece we want our students at all levels to learn and grow and develop skills and strategies to be able to handle some of these challenging situations that they may encounter most often times in their social environment so you know our approach is very whole child and driven by um you know lots of different lessons and lots of different skill building that um really the people that work in our um you know mental health field our school psychologists our our um School social workers our Student Assistance counselors and our social behavioral support Specialists all have a really really big role in providing this type of support not only for our students but for our teachers who are working with those students um you know during the course of a school day so those are the updates related to goal number one um goal number two and a lot of these you're going to find are crossovers into multiple areas with multiple you know kind of applications to the to the different topics that are in these goals so this goal was about increasing equity and opportunity to ensure the needs of all Learners are met and when I think about this I think of a phrase that we use in education and we often say we need to have children who are available to learn right when we talk about academics and instructions that that is all very important um but we have to have children in a mental space and a social emotional space to be able to receive that instruction um so you know when we talk about the importance of social emotional learning in schools it really is to generate that availability to learn for students so um when we talk about it and opportunity a lot of that opportunity not only in things we offer but providing the support students need in that social emotional capacity to generate the ability for them to be able to thrive in the educational instructional environment so we talk about social emotional stuff first on here and it's obviously effective School solution we have a partnership with them they offer tier three clinical counseling services to students across our district we also have what we refer to as tier 2 counseling which is more of a shortterm on an as needed basis type of counseling situation um these are clinicians which are different from people that work in schools that are certificated by the department of Ed so these are actually you know uh mental health professionals that work under their clinical certification and do provide counseling um to some of our highest need students in each of our buildings we have established School climate teams that do work with um stakeholders parents students administrators Board of Ed members in you know ensuring that the school environment is as positive and supportive as it can be um that's actually part of the anti-bullying bill of rats every school must have a school climate team um that meets at regular times during the course of a school year to to evaluate um the the school climate and also look to identify Trends and patterns in data that we might be seeing with behavioral incidents bullying situations um General feedback and then brainstorm plans for addressing some of those things um in a proactive way so also going back to some of the things we've done to um kind of support our anti-bullying effort creation of those anti-bullying specialists in our secondary school so we do have our anti-bullying Specialists that work in our high schools and our middle schools and their main focus is prevention while they do conduct investigations and work on specific cases that may come up that could potentially be a bullying situation their primary responsibility is to really work proactively with the administration and the teachers and the students in um getting them to grow as I said those skills that really are necessary for them to have those pro-social behaviors that are preventative of a lot of these things um that come up through these um you know these potentially potential bullying situations um we have analyzed data and school Community feedback we are currently working on um a series of potential surveys that um we would roll out to get um some feedback additional on our school climates and our environments so more to come on that before the the spring kind of ends and this we break for the summer and we have um tried to increase our Education and Training for our staff members in total um because you can never have too many Tools in your toolkit when you're dealing with um children and social situations because it is dynamic it is complicated um so we want to provide our teaching staff members and our other staff members in the district with the tools they need to be able to support and remediate things um in a really really proactive way um on the academic side of equity and opportunity we have really spent a great deal of time and energy in um creating a robust model of tiered intervention for academic social emotional and behavioral support that is is seated inside of our intervention and referral services process um this is different from special education these are academic supports and social emotional supports for all um and they really come through the process of of intervention and referral um at any point in time a student may be eligible for other escalated services on the special ed side of the umbrella however this um tiered intervention model is really really important um in intervening often and early with our students um in handling a lot of things that may just be temporary gaps or temporary needs um in hopes that providing an intense dose of some support will close that Gap or Shrink that Gap in a way that the student can be successful um in the general education environment the final thing on this slide is our expanded professional development and support from njcie NJ cie is the New Jersey Coalition of inclusive education and we have um really done what I believe is a a fantastic job of moving the needle on inclusion across the district um we still have a long way to go but I do believe we are in the right path um and we are starting to see um this this true belief and inclusion across the district and as time goes on we will continue to develop and Foster that um you know and in this situation I'm talking about inclusion for special ed but broadly speaking we're talking about inclusion for all right inclusion on a lot of levels um our partnership with njcie really speaks specifically to special education um but you know when we talk about inclusion as a district we're talking about like Global inclusion so um we're really really proud of our efforts there and um you know that I am hopeful will continue in a positive direction um for all of our students the third goal had to do with personalized learning and how do we focus in on the academic needs of each individual student in a way that provides progress for for for their needs at at the given moment or or where they are from a um skill skill deficit or skill strength position um we have partnered with Ru University for um an early reading literacy Grant and that is being run through Harmony and Fairview that is going extremely well um we have in conjunction with them been able to roll out the dibles 8 um which is an early literacy screener and also a screener for dyslexia so that has replaced our other um reading inventory assessment for K to2 students and the feedback that we've received from our teaching staff has been fantastic and really dialing in to the specific needs of students at a really early age so that way we can intervene um it is really Critical with basic early literacy that we get a handle on that um you know prior to them getting into the years of education where they need to apply those reading skills so K to2 is really where we're focusing those efforts um and that partnership with Ruckers has allowed us to really move that quickly for all 11 of our elementary schools K to 2 um we adopted linkit intervention manager to Warehouse our intervention plans for students who are getting that tiered intervention that I spoke about before and that is critically important because those tiered intervention plans because they are warehoused electronically we have the capacity to roll them over BAS Bas on new rosters each year which means if you have a child that's receiving intervention and they're moving from third to fourth grade or fourth to fifth grade or even into a new building their plan and all of the components of it follow them electronically so their teacher gets that information on day one um you know when you pass paper around a large place there there's a lag right it becomes a lagging statistic and an intervention that is not something that we want to see happen consistency is key when it comes to intervention and this tool allows us to you know carry that consistency over year to year and basically pick up right where we left off when students have some type of transition um we also for the first time this year implemented the cognitive ability screener for students in second and fifth grade this is um an additional layer of information that has to do with analytical and critical reasoning and thinking skills it is a different piece of information than other assessments that we run currently um our other assessments are standards or skill-based assessments this assessment is more about abstract reasoning right potential for abstract reasoning so um it is another piece of the puzzle and examined in conjunction with those other assessments that we have really provide a comprehensive view of each student as a learner we created as we were revamping our Intervention Program a multi-tiered system of supports guide book for staff so that everybody across our district had a common understanding of what tiered interventions goal was and what it would look like across the district um that has been really successful and in conjunction with that we did a lot of professional development about everybody's role in The District as an interventionist we all have a shared responsibility regardless of the subject or our role to intervene as a what we refer to as a tier one interventionist it's really just good instruction across the board and that goes from academics to social emotional components but that has been a mindset that we've promoted that we all have a shared responsibility for intervention it's not just the math teacher it's not just the literacy teacher but everybody can do their part in supporting students whether it's academically or social emotionally um this year we also rolled in our I ready program across the K TOA Continuum as our benchmarking assessment if you recall we used to utilize links standards based benchmark assessments however we' decided to go to a more skill-based approach it gives teachers more and parents more granular information about students abilities it is a um Norm reference test which means it's compared comparatively a little bit different um it's not you know growth compared to a standard it's growth compared to students that are of the same age as others in that age range so um it does give us um like I said more specific inter information which helps us to run our Intervention Program successfully because then we know where to aim our efforts with intervention um at the high school we've implemented the U World program for ab courses this has helped us to provide feedback to students who are in those AP classes and getting ready to sit for the AP exam um I would say it's successful we just um did a recognition where we had so many of our students um lists and lists of kids um getting perfect scores getting Scholars with Distinction on have a large benefits and the feedback we've received from our students who are using this as a tool has been phenomenal so that has been very successful in meeting their needs next year we'll be rolling out our freshman Frontiers program at the high school where we are moving towards an academy driven driven scenario for our high school freshmen to get them acclimated to the high school experience so they will be a part of a freshman Frontier experience where there'll be opport opportunity for them to learn about the all of the different courses and Pathways and opportunities that exist as a 10th 11th and 12th grader versus what we were doing prior is having them come into ninth grade and really just begin to choose things so we really want to use their ninth grade year to educate them on these opportunities so that way they and support them so they can make strong choices which serve them well as they determine like what path they're going to be on and I'm not talking about a pathway per se I'm talking about whether or not they have aspiration to be College Bound or vocational bound or you know there's lots of different options for students as they leave us as 12th graders but what we found based on Direct feedback from students is that they want to know about that earlier on so we felt freshmen um they generally know very little right I own one I'll say that a million times um so it's important I think for them to get a comfort level with what high school is or maybe is not for them and making decisions you know in their 10th 11th and 12th grade years that impact them for a significant amount of time thereafter so that we're really excited about I mentioned njcie already um professional development um we have had a literacy consultant come in this year and work with our teachers the focus has been on small group writing instruction this p because it's job embedded teachers um Consultants come into the classroom and actually work with our teachers in action that is the number one most effective type of professional development in classroom job embedded PD um where teachers are getting coached in the moment and getting feedback in the moment with students that are really our students um it has the feedback from teachers on this is the best feedback that we've received um for professional development I would say in in in the last several years so that has been very very productive we worked through reading last year this year we chose to shift to writing um hopefully we'll be able to continue things like that in the F future um to create Equity between the two high schools with Arts opportunities we're developing two Arts Pathways that will replace the Arts Academy that was only being held at high school north um as a magnet where students from South put ATT 10 um we are going to dissolve that or two Pathways that will have the same courses within um but provide opportunity and more flexibility in students that not only want to be a part of the arts program but Arts students may also want to dive into other areas that unfortunately in a very stringent Academy structure they don't have the opportunity to do and then finally on this slide is the continuing training of of our Kat 2 staff in Orton Gillingham which is really one of the Premier um foundational literacy programs out there it's science of reading back it's got a very it's got a core philosophical you know backing um in how reading should be instructed but it's also programmatically strong because there is a a program that goes along with it um we are our goal is to get all Contin we have many already but is to continue to work towards getting all of our K to2 teachers train so that way they all have these tools because Orton Gillingham regardless of the program you use is an asset so a teacher really has a comprehensive and strong understanding of how kids learn to read so we are chipping away at it and I am hopeful by next September we'll have all of that K to2 staff trained to start the school year the final thing are some of the community communication efforts we've had to strengthen the uh home school connection um we have a partnership with the Middletown Public Library for SAT and ACT preparation resources practice tests webinars um we have a partnership with the Middletown Community Alliance um where we send representatives to those meetings we have established our parent University Series where we have a series of virtual presentations that are live we do record them and put them on on website for you know use later on about a variety of topics that are relevant across the district so if you've not checked them out they're great they're under the curriculum and instruction Tab and as they happen they're recorded and then we post them so parents can go back and review them if they couldn't make the live event uh you can see we have Partnerships with a lot of different um outside organizations the community y the Mental Health Association CPC behavioral healthc care including project Insight traumatic loss Coalition Crossroads which is part of the municipal Alliance um a variety of private providers that we partner with um and then multiple other um PHP and IOP programs um I from my office have tried to increase the communication that you're getting globally across the district with my monthly superintendence update which is you know celebration of good things but I also try to make it full of like information at a for the community CU I think it's important that everybody is hearing the same message in a really transparent way that comes at a regular interval um so I'm I'm hoping that's been beneficial the feedback has been strong so um we're going to continue along that path um thanks all right I'm going to turn it over to miss sty who will do the final two slides thank you good evening everyone so goal five Financial stability to provide the quality education for all students I just want to sort of frame this as Mrs alone said before we started this strategic plan uh in 2020 so the start of this strategic plan coincided with the early part of the pandemic and two years into the S2 legislation that has reduced our state aid here in Middletown by over $5 million to date so these factors have been challenges that the district has had to address over the past few years and we continue to do so what we've highlighted here are some of the things that we've done to bring more funds into the district district to provide resources for us to make improvements and and fund things that we may not have been able to fund through our regular budget uh one of the things that we appi for received in the 2223 year was a significant stabilization Aid award from the state and that was an opportunity to get funds to supplement our state aid and like I just said we've been suffering from reductions but the state has given some opportunities to apply for a one-year funding and we were successful in getting almost $2 million in the 2223 year which helped fund some things that we did not have budgeted funds for uh we also applied for the same stabilization need for the current year we're awaiting a response to that application at this point and you know we will see what happens uh we also applied for and this was a pretty competitive process for a federal cops School violance Protection Program award uh we did receive an award of almost $500,000 um we are using those funds and we are matching them 25% we had that budgeted in this year's budget to upgrade our access control system across the district so that was we were happy to get that award again it was uh it's a federal award it was pretty competitive we also and not every District did this but we applied for FEMA reimbursements and uh originally they were not going to give those to schools um but we were able to do that for some of our pandemic related expenses so um through that work and it's kind of arduous going through the uh applications and reimbursement process but we're happy to say that we were able to secure $536,000 in reimbursements through the FEMA program for expenses that qualifi pandemic related expenses but then that allowed us to utilize our own local budget funds toward the other important initiatives we were doing here in the district that are non- pandemic related so we were really just trying to highlight you know although we've been through somewhat of a period of uncertainty with finances between the pandemic and the continuing State a Cuts we have been very proactive uh in getting some additional funding into the district which has allowed us to maintain our programs and uh do some improvements as well goal six is our investment and stewardship in our infrastructure for Student Success so one of the major things that we've undertaken is a districtwide master facilities assessment and plan we're currently working on that with our architect that work will serve as the foundation for planning an eventual facilities referendum we really haven't had a large scale program Capital program here in the district in close to 20 years so it is time for us to start planning for that uh the bonds that we issued for the previous work are going to be maturing or they'll be paid off in a few years so it is time to look at all of the things we need across the district so that will include a process that involves our administrative team the board you know and eventually uh there will be you some Community discussions about things that are needed across District this will take you know some time to put together it's not something that's going to happen in the next few months but we are starting that process we also had an independent assessment of our district security environment we had a consulting firm come in uh last spring uh they went all around the district to take a look at our not just our Personnel but also the infrastructure we have for security and our procedures and protocols I will say that they were complimentary of what we have here in the district um but we are also using the report for any additional security Investments going forward you to give us a guide on where we would best use those funds on the agenda tonight this is very timely but um our major project that we're work going to be working on this summer is the replacement project of the Middletown High School North track and turfield we had budgeted for that in our previous budget last year uh there were some delays in getting that project going but we do have it on the agenda tonight to award the contracts for those and we are going to beginning that project in the spring you know pending the board approval so those are some of the things that we've done that directly relate to our strategic plan uh we do have a couple of more years to uh finish up our current plan but it will be very soon that we will start thinking about the next five years thank you think start [Applause] [Music] he before we get to the committee reports I just wanted to read an email I received today from our student um board member Jake debowski um I was a little touched by the email that he wrote me and stating why he was not able to attend meeting tonight I'm going to share that with everyone over the summer I was selected by the new Jersey chapter of the FBI NAA to represent New Jersey in a youth leadership program the program consists of one student per state and four International countries are selected to attend a prestigious leadership training program for8 days at the FBI headquarters in quano Virginia while there I gratefully graduated at the top of my class and was awarded a scholarship I chose to donate the money to the Special Olympics because I am a volunteer judge for their gymnastics program and a law enforcement scholarship organization tonight I am presenting the money to the organization if that isn't the most honorable touching thing that I've ever heard in my life for a high school 12th grade Jake is I mean that was just amazing we wish you well Jake and we are honored to have you here in Middletown representa us so thank you moving on to our committee reports curriculum instruction Mrs Harley thank you we did meet this month um just a couple quick things as both of our student speakers mentioned the Senior Open campus program started beginning of January and it's going really well the feedback has been very positive and everyone's doing a great job um and then also we had Elementary conference parent survey that went out and we had um really great responses to that so thank you to everybody who um took took the time to fill that out and they gave us some really great information about how to try to um reevaluate and restructure the parent teacher conferences in the elementary level for um next school year and I think that's really it for Mr T student services yes thank you we also met on January 22nd um I believe Mr phone's going to talk about the special ENT forums that we had with for three last week I'll just say U on behalf of me and our committee um we really appreciate the parents You Came the feedback we got um identifying some of the successes that you know were not necessarily aware of day-to-day but probably more importantly um identifying areas for improvement challenges people are experiencing because that's the only way we can work to address them so the conversations we have there were great for both the elementary and the secondary um so thank you to those who came and I encourage everybody to uh follow up with their you know buildings their kick managers cell phone offers uh to be available to anybody to keep those conversations going um the other things we there's a survey out oh right there'll be a survey going out thank you Jackie following up on what we talked about because a lot of people probably couldn't make it to those Forum so it's an opportunity to uh share information can be last um otherwise our committee talked about um the administration's working on next year employing more of our OTS and PT facial therapist phys therapists internally instead of Outsourcing that so that's we provide more consistency ideally and and hopefully even a cost saing um and also be evaluating um different fets of our partnership with ESS um moving forward and trying to adapt and adjust in light of the you know chunks of Co money that's lapsing now that was a big part of the program that last it thank you thank Mr Finance Mr the finance committee met last week we had a few topics that we discussed one of them I just mentioned during a strategic Plan update we did review The Cooperative proposals that we had received on the High School North Cal track project uh we are received proposals under the ES and J bids for this work from Keystone Sports construction AT&T Sports we in the process of doing this and before we'd asked for these proposals and in the interim between last summer and this summer we did look at our specifications and we were able to get more information on the site work and the drainage so we were able to reduce the uh the work there significantly so after we discussed the options and reviewing the turf and track samples with the committee um the consensus was to put the proposals on the board agenda for approval tonight but I do want to highlight that are original bid for this work last year was $1,967 th000 and with the reductions that we've been able to make in the site work uh the total of the two current proposals we have are a mil $28,000 so it's a decrease of almost $760,000 the funds that again we get at for this project in the 2223 budget so they've already been set aside we also went over with the committee an update on our current budget our 2324 budget U one of the areas we are looking at uh for the current year is health insurance uh we have had some claims that have been running above what we expected uh we do have reimbursements that come back in from our stop loss Insurance to offset the majority of those but it is an area not just for Middletown but across the state across the country really you know health care costs are rising so we are monitoring our claims you as we are self-insured uh to make sure that you know we are still in our budget situation so it's just something we're monitoring we also talked about the 2425 budget Mrs alone and I updated the committee about the status of putting it together we have gotten all the information we need at this point from the schools and the Departments and uh we're looking at now going through those and and setting priorities and establishing you know what items will be included in the budget proposal and what items you know can either be deferred or perhaps do a different way uh to realize some cost savings so we will continue to do that uh our budget is due to the county office for approval by March 20th uh we have set a meeting date in March I don't remember off the top of my head which day it is but we have a meeting set to approve our attend budget uh so for the next several weeks we will be working on that and working through our committees and coming up with a proposal for the bo to cont great thank you Mr Marty and I'd like to say I am happy to see the Middletown weal track and field move forward it's very good especially saving almost $750,000 was a good thing and happy that everybody will be utilizing this hopefully next year which we have all intentions i' like now open up to public PR on gender yeah so um policy committee did meet last week um to discuss one policy it's a random drug and alcohol policy and uh we taable it for further discussion um the question is whether or not to abolish the policy and and um obviously keep our um other to suspect policy um but the r alcohol policy does only address um drivers and athletic participations with paration so we kind of just discuss it when we going have further discussion on it um it's also something that was suspended during Co so it's kind of hasn't really kicked back to its previous levels yet um and I also have a quick um update regarding um our litigation um from the state for um our attempt to amend policy 5756 um and the state law sued against us uh just to update the community we are um actually covered by our insurance company for our litigation cost going forward so very happy to have that confirmation um and also had a little bit of good news um haret Dylan's Law Firm her Law Group and the C for American Liberty um were granted their motion to participate as amus um they filed also filed agree supporting our position so they'll be on board for whatever goes on further so very happy to have them and very appreciative now they're open up for public comment on gender items only if you wish to make a public comment please step forth name and address record seeing no one that before comment um Amy Proclamation so January is New Jersey school board recognition month to recognize that we have a resolution on the agenda this evening whereas the New Jersey school boards Association has declared January 2024 to be school board recogn recognition month a time when all residents can acknowledge the contributions made by our local school board members and whereas the mown Township Board of Education is one of 581 local school boards in New Jersey which sets policies and overseas operations for public school districts and all the other items included in this resolution along with what we just read be it resolved that the Middletown Township Board of Education does hereby recognize the services of local school board members throughout New Jersey As We join Community Statewide in observing January 2024 as school board recognition month and be it further resolve that the Middletown Township Board of Education urges all Maj Jersey citizens to work with their local school boards of education and Public School staff for the advancement of our children's education thank all of our school board members and I thank this whole board for the services to Mid Town so thank you very [Applause] much superintendent update okay great um I guess first off um it's still January so I guess I can still say Happy New Year we haven't had a meeting since the new year started other than the reorg um so happy New Year um welcome back um couple of highlights from this month it's been a very busy month our district calendar committee met to begin the development of our school calendar for the 2024 25 school year um this committee is comprised of administrat ERS Board of Education Representatives parents um Union representation our goal is to have that calendar um for the public on our February agenda for approval so that way you know people will have it well in advance of um the end of the school year speaking about the calendar thank you thank you for your cooperation regarding our snow day a couple of Fridays ago we did not um we haven't had a snow day in quite a long time um and I heard there was quite a celebration at North when we made the announcement we had an event going on at the time so um it was a nice um it's nice to have a traditional snow day every once in a while I'll just leave it at that but I mention it because it will require at some point of shift in our calendar because we do not have snow days built in however we will not do any kind of shifting until we let the winter finish out because we don't want to have to make two changes or three changes I'm I'm hoping that's it but you never can tell in March can tend to be a tricky month so um but just be mindful that that end date now becomes a little bit of a moving Target but we will get that information out to the community as soon as we possibly can um as um Mr tul mentioned we had our secondary and Elementary special education forums um last week um I thought the nights were extremely beneficial I thought that the discussion questions were really important um really rich you know lots of positive things um lots of articulation of ways you know challenges and ways we can improve things but you know the commonality that threaded through all of those discussions whether people articulating a challenge or something that is going well for them is they're on board or everyone's on board with collectively trying to move the organization forward and providing supports and the best academic and social emotional experience for all of our kids and in my opinion that is the number one thing that we could hope for right everybody wanting to aim our efforts in the same direction um and sharing those challenges and those um ideas for a different direction or different things we could do um are really really important to move that needle and I do and I said this to both groups I do 100% % believe we are on the right path um I've been in this District you know a couple of times over the last 10 years and this is the this is the first time I can solidly say like I do believe our efforts in this regard are aimed in the right direction and we've seen some really really tangible progress um and some of the success stories are things that I know would not have happened you know 5 6 7 10 years ago so um we want to continue those conversations and um encourage people to share their stories both good and bad because you know that's how we continue to move that that need forward um thank you U Mrs Farley also mention the um parents who participated in the elementary parent teacher conference survey um we had a great response rate as she said that information was great because it will help us to reframe our parent teacher conferences for next school year um some of that feedback that was shared um and are under consideration is the elimination of the half day structure that was high on the list um expanded time frames for having a conferences to try to give parents more time um with their child's teacher um and certainly um when those conferences are placed to be in conjunction and in better alignment when report cards are released and when a assessments are are conducted so all of those things are being taken under consideration um I do have some plans that are rough sketched in my brain um that I do believe will be viable and that we will have you know support from the the greater School Community including the teaching staff on so our goal is to um get that really ironed out in the next few weeks and then put that information out to the school community and I think it's something that everybody at the end of the day will be excited about and feel like um the change will be a positive one um as Mrs do said I'm just kind of stealing everybody else's comments at this point sorry um it also um January also marks the start of when we really begin to dial in on the budget for next year as you all know um she mentioned and I'll reiterate March 20th is when our tenative budget is due to the county um currently we are collaborating the administration and the Board of Ed um to evaluate our current budget our cost projections for next year and how to streamline some of our services um and you heard we talk about effective School Solutions and some of the services we're offering um you you probably are very well aware that during covid we had an influx of of state and federal funding that was funneling into school districts all across the country and New Jersey certainly um was the beneficiary in our district was as well um those Co funds are termed so those project periods are ending um and that money is expired or we've used it for you know good cause however um with that you know we have to find a way to manage that and to provide a level of service but also balance the financial responsibility piece of it um so that's our goal um is to provide a level of service that we all feel is important but at the same time um upholding you know the financial responsibility that we're all accountable for um but we feel like we have a good Head Start and certainly more to come in the upcoming months um finally on the agenda tonight will be my recommendation um for my replacement as the assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction and special services um I will be recommending tonight uh Mr Kevin Cullen who is currently the principal of high school north um I just want to say that Mr Collins's qualification speaks for themselves um he has successfully been an administrator in this District at all three levels which is kind of an anomaly where you've been a building level administrator at both element at elementary middle school and high school and he certainly um has that um under his leadership belt and on his resum um and he's just done such an exemplary job at high school north um you know I have to say these are the types of decisions that weigh heavy on me um not because I didn't 100 % feel that Mr Cullen was the right person for the job it was because I knew that in the process of doing this I was going to be disappointing a school Community however I believe that I would be remiss in my responsibility if I didn't put the most qualified people in positions to impact the greatest number of students and I 100% believe that Mr Cullen will do that um you know I was with him when he told his staff and it said it all to me their happiness for him and congratulations but also midst emotions of you know we're losing him made me believe and know again that he was the right choice because that's the effect he will have on 16 buildings and not just one so you know um I'm excited for it he'll begin this new role on July 1st and that is purposeful because I also believe in continuity of leadership and ability so he will stay and remain as the principal of High School North till July 1 um and then he'll assume the responsibilities of the assistant superintendent I will continue to oversee the curriculum and special services department for the next five months until that transition happens and it will also give us time to really do a thorough search on a successor so um this was you know I think it's a good plan I believe that it's something that um will put the the right POS people in the right positions um and and certainly give North the opportunity to finish out the year with consistency in their leadership but you know I just wanted to make mention because that is on the agenda tonight and articulate to the community um the the plan for the next five months that's it thank you m moving on we need a motion to approve meeting minutes 11 a through C second discussion all in favor I right oppose [Music] exensions a motion to approve 12a discussion all in favor I oppose OBS we need a motion to approve 13 a through f discussion all in favor oppose exensions okay we need a motion to approve 14 recommendation of superintendent of school's consent again 14 A2 L minus l number 14 at the [Music] moment discussion all in favor I I am voting on 14a I will be voting yes for the unfounded and no for the founded I am voting no on the founded and yes on the unfounded I'm also voting no on number 17 we are up to 17 on this too right correct everything minus I'm voting y on number 17 the first name for the North softball assistant coach I'm obing on 14 l9h we a motion for a roll call for 14 L number 14 move seconde give us a roll can I just say something sure I just want to reiterate how important it is to find a replacement for high school north and I hope by doing that we're looking for some continuity um for the school community and I hope that we can find a really strong candidate to fill that spot that's all I to f just and we do that Mrs CTI yes Mrs far yes Mr fitzgeral yes Mrs minu yes Mrs scasi yes Mr T yes Mrs rght yes Mrs toac yes Mr yes congratulations Mr congratulations [Applause] we do have big shoes to F for Mrs Alon leaving leaving your best no I'll save you a lot of work don't wor the district is honored to have you representing all 16 school thank you so much congratulations I just want to take a second to say also thank you to Mr Al for handling both sport all three jobs basically and overseeing everything and handling it all and jumping right in and not missing a beat and the whole year the whole year and um we appreciate it and you know I do have the benefit of working closely with you and getting to see how it's 400 a.m. to midnight job for you you know 7 days a week I so we all appreciate all of your efforts to help us you know get through this and get Kevin on board for beginning of the school year next year looking forward very good we're now going to move on to some full anyway I I do could you give us an update where we are with the some concerns about Playgrounds and equipment for um our preschoolers and our special education students so part of the discussion so I'm hoping that that's where we're looking why we have that opportunity I completely forgot about it that night at the meeting we didn't forget as I thought about it I said oh my God you know there's our opportunity for um some input there where on on my old business anyone else for old business new business I just have a question uh when do you have on the agenda a shared service our next [Music] one [Music] it is right now scheduled for February 20th Tuesday which is the same night as our board meeting right so you're not GNA have it most okay can we bring up something to the town that maybe they can us with only because uh High School North plays uh tennis and they practiced at right anybody walk over something maybe tennis board tennis right here right across the street okay thank you I appreciate that just keep in mind the something dictation a being the winter it's the it's been for a while yeah it really needs to be addressed only it might even be because I remember tell me was about the parking I'm not sure what par they just did that new dog park there and um I thought they were turn in ten like redoing them and having like tennis and that's mess construction I don't want to speak for it so I that's why I'm bringing it up that maybe put that on your agenda just actually don't even need to wait for that I can just reach out to the administrator and get an update on that before we don't have to wait till February okay that would be great I didn't know where it was thank you okay I have old business but I want business right I mean new I want to start out first with an academic there's a young man at high school sou um Zach tansy who does vocational and he accomplished getting his license in welding this year and it opened up all kinds of opportunities for him now to continue to go on and get other licenses and he also has a job making really good money so I'm hoping that when we get our update on our vocational schools um I think Mr katrick said Lester he was going to be part of that um we find out how many other achievements our students have made but not only that find a way to promote it because there are opportunities there for our kids and um I'm not sure how many are taking part or how many are even really aware but it's an excellent thing and I'm so proud of this young man for doing that um you know he's already got a job and and he hasn't graduated yet and he's got a license and he's got lots of work so I'm we just saw playing we just saw playing hockey yep so I wanted to to do that before I forgot um on to the the ptas and the um events over at Thorne they're having a corn hole tournament if anyone's interested at the Middletown Elks on February 10th the doors open at 11 the cost is $25 per person and you get a free t-shirt so if anybody's interested in joying that please contact the uh Thorn PTA they're also having their gift auction on April 25th from 6:00 to 10: at the glamy $95 that includes a sit down dinner and tickets um I attended the nnc PTA meeting they're having their variety show at on March 15th at Bayshore they're also having their family Sports nights just for the navent community on February 9th at bore they're having a trivia night if anyone's interested on 322 it's a parents night out I believe it's $25 per person there's also theater week on April 15th and the show will be held at bore on 25 if anybody's looking to eat out they're having a fundraiser at claes in Campbell Junction all you have to do is place your order and mention the school name and they get credit I've done that for basore and it seemed to be a real success that night um they're also having their stem night if anybody's interested in going and their science night um that date is to on to 27 February 27th and the projects are going to be shown by the students and it's going to be interesting to see what they come up with at high school nor North their gift auctions coming up on the 23rd of February from 6:00 to 10 at jocks if anyone's interested I'm going to post all the invitations from these gift auctions on my Twitter account so if you follow me you'll be able to get all the contact information Bay sure is having their gift auction on April 26th I haven't gotten a flyer for that yet but I'm hopefully I will um Bay's gift auction is March 16th at the VFW $20 to enter $40 for tickets you bring your own food and no outside alcohol is permitted in there they um they will serve it if anybody wants it um let's see we talked about Zach um I just hope that everybody gets out there and can help support some of these fundraisers it's a great night out it helps our schools and I I just have to say I know that I've been like opposed to um us letting someone come in and do advertising through our community and this is the reason why all these fundraisers our community uh sponsors contribute to we take that away these PT have a hard time raising the money and if you look at the money they're raising and what they're doing for our students it's far more than an advertisement on the scoreboard can do it's just my personal opinion but um by adding all this stuff and everybody hearing what we're going I hope that they realize that that's how much our community supports our schools and local businesses so um and if we could go out there and support them and get a table get our friends out there it's fun nights out with good people that's all I have Miss Min I'm going to now turn to Sophia or Adriana is there anything that you anything you like to say or sure um so as a I've really been enjoying the open opportunity and I appreciate it um I sh new Option so there's lot to like still figured out and not set for certain things but just one thing I was hoping take into consideration was I think it was after our snow day it was a couple days later um there was still an ice concern so we found out I think it was second walk that day that we could leave which just said a lot of seniors had plan on even leaving on going home for lunch so it was kind of like they either like I'm hungry or didn't have a lot of options um so it would just be great if maybe from now on know before the school May begin just could Point ahead um but I know it's also a new thing so I know to be thank you I'm sorry oh no that's okay I just wanted to mention Mrs and I did go to the nut swamp PTA meeting this month and the nut swamp fundraiser is March e Friday I think it's at asur leans um it's I think $110 per person and it's going to be really fun night to have a DJ you know drinks food um should be evening so just wanted to mention that Frank I'll just mention something really quick so I attended the bore PTO meeting and their fundraiser is April 26 I have the Forum from Sandy L um so I can provide that and again you know asking if people can come out and support them would be great I think the other thing that was wildly popular that happened uh very recently I think at their winter uh assembly is all the kids got to tape Mr Curtis to the wall am duct tape and the pictures and everything were hilarious and he was such a good sport for doing it but let me tell you they really taped into the wall so it was a very successful fundraiser for p sure was he hanging or was he um he was hanging a little bit not not really way up high but he was hanging a little bit it was it was really great um it was all my son talked about when he came home that night so which just a lot of fun and tonight uh Joe and I went over to newth PTA meeting we were there a little bit earlier um unfortunately their meeting coincided with our executive session but we did get to sit in uh with the fifth grade uh parents committee and ready to fund raise obviously for all the end of uh school year opportunities and they're in the midst of through the week this week and their uh presentation their play is actually going to be here this Friday night at [Music] school else anything and I just left middle north south mayor cup hockey game with Mr miss and miss Min and I believe North was up 3 nothing when we left congratulations to and just happy to be there tonight that is over I have one more thing I forgot sorry um I did attend an and I believe mrone you did to the north um National Honor Society language it was incredible over 50 students got inducted into the foreign language um Society so kudos to them it's it's amazing to see so many kids get inducted at one time it was a great performance and I couldn't understand a word a lot of them said speaking in the languages but I got got the drip but um just amazing how many kids get inducted I think this was the biggest group they've ever had yes and I will attest to what Mrs alone said earlier at 8:00 when the news flash went out that school would be closed the cheers erupted from all the students so we thought they were glad they were inducted but it was day well Time s day you know anyone else had anything to say we're going to watch the public comment anyone has a public comment please step forward say your name and address for the record see [Music] hi name is um my kids we I'm sorry I'm sorry address record oh 6:34 pm. um my kids go to new mom and you were just mentioning that you were at the PT U PTA board I was just there too because I'm on the PTA board there so um if you guys needed like a list of our activities I can totally let you know of any and I I can give you any of that information um but the real reason why I was here um tonight was I noticed on the agenda that um for the I think it was um number 12 on the agenda the um sent [Music] to um just authorization to obtain the approval for the sale of the district properties I was just wondering is there a way to get any more information on to as to what the proposal is for uh that sale and what uh the spal Architectural Group plans for um it looks like that uh um the location is the the former Portland Elementary School so I was just looking at finding out any information as to what what that proposal that set was brought to us for a number of $2.5 million um that would be coming from the county we are aware of what their idea or or plans are for that property but that is not in our our that oh okay I did I actually I contacted them once I saw that was on the on the on the agenda and they didn't seem to have any information to that they weren't able to disclose so I was wondering while I was here that if they had that on like if you guys had any actual information that no I Know M already said I believe maybe two weeks ago was in the paper they put there that they before they actually notified us they right this is our first step of the process as it's public knowledge that they are interest in the property in order for us to even have the property available to sale we have to get permission from the New Jersey Department of Ed so this resolution was for us to submit the information they would need to approve us actually having the property available for sale so as as further information or if we had to get a formal contract that would have to be approved separately by Bo thank [Music] you get us we'll ad anyse comor have a great night every