was talking [Applause] saw yes yeah good you yeah last week your son doing good luck thank you that's good I miss here completely expect to I'm BR call Mulo here M Garo here Dr Epson Hayden here M gunderman here miss clay here M Moro here Mr Walsh you have a quarum please join me in the flag salute i al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all this is a public meeting of the Board of Education of the Bureau of New Providence adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with PL 1975 chapter 231 in that a notice was made in conformance with Section 13 of the ACT whenever possible the business of the board requires it to convene to close session the session will begin no later than 9:30 pm at the conclusion of the need for closed session the board will reconvene to the public portion of the meeting at that time the board will complete any other business that may be before it and the public will then be given an opportunity to be heard before the meeting is adjourned the following change notice was posted on March 27th 2024 the New Providence Board of education regular meeting scheduled for Thursday May 23rd 2024 at 700 p.m. in the New Providence High School Middle school media center 35 Pioneer Drive has been cancelled and rescheduled for Wednesday May 29th at 7 pm so good evening everyone always nice to see everyone um I hope everyone had the opportunity to enjoy the long holiday weekend we're in the home stretch few more weeks to go uh many of you have heard me say that this is my favorite time of the year as a board member in the past few weeks I've sat on Capstone presentations that have amazed me attended senior Awards night where more than $66,000 in scholarship money was handed out to our seniors by very generous alumni community members and businesses and was able to attend the Union County teacher recognition breakfast with four teachers of the Year Leah Bramley Christina CA Lin Kowalski and Ben Rubin there's always a lot happening at this time of the year and I'm happy that so many of you are here to celebrate your children and their accomplishments I would be remiss at this point if I did not take a few minutes to celebrate the career of Dr melli before he retires from our district after 18 years as the superintendent and 20 years old together in District Dr fiser from Rosel referred to you yesterday Dave as a unicorn something that is rare and hard to find 18 years ago Amar and Zano saw something in a very young Dave that proved to be the right decision for our schools and our community it has absolutely been my honor to serve on the board of education alongside of you for all of these years I would like to take the opportunity to thank Cindy and your kids for sharing you with us over the last few years people don't realize how much time you spent away from your own family while taking care of ours thank you doesn't seem like enough I wish you all the happiness in the world and as you embark on your next chapter so thank you [Applause] Dave and with that AJ you're up all right hello everyone thank you so much for having me as always it's a pleasure so For Better or For Worse I think that this is probably going to be my longest report of the year so let's jump in um to start off with some good news I'm happy to announce that all AP exams and NJ SLA testing are complete so beyond finals for Su the year is finally winding down with that said thanks to the PTSA and our generous Administration the high school has been hosting a variety of events to celebrate and recognize our seniors on May 3rd we held the PTSA senior breakfast where students shared their postsecondary plans and took some pictures and it was a huge success moreover last Monday we had our annual seed senior Awards night where where nearly $67,000 in scholarships were distributed thanks to many generous sponsors from our town our senior's High honors breakfast is also coming up on Wednesday June 5th and we are excited to recognize a number of our seniors one more time on their academic accomplishments to look back some more the high school Arts Festival was also a big success on Wednesday May 15th as was the spring Coral concert on May 16th and the band in orchestra's instrumental concert on May 21st senior internships in the new high school Capstone Pro program also began recently on May 20th so good luck to all of our senior interns and Capstone participants in addition the every 15 minutes program for juniors and seniors was recently held on Wednesday May 22nd and yesterday Tuesday May 28th again thank you to all of our student participants and everyone who helped make this program meaningful and impactful to all of our students and community members including the local police and EMS um as always it gave a great blessing and message about the dangers of drunk and distracted driving um on a more positive note um to add on we send our congratulations to the Art and Science Honor Society students who were inducted earlier today into their respective honor societies looking forward the Junior and senior prom are on Thursday so we're really hoping for some good weather tomorrow night the high school class class is also coming up on Friday June 7th and though a bit less exciting final exams are following right after from T Tuesday June 11th to Friday June 14th the senior barbecue is also on Monday June 10th prior to the high school graduation on Friday June 14th so congratulations to all of our senior senior students on their upcoming graduation and for the positive impact they have made in this school and District um to give you some athletic updates we had a variety of State Games hosted today um starting off at 1M the boys tennis team competed and following that at three boys baseball competed at Verona and boys lacrosse um competed at haddenfield at 5:30 today I don't have the um updates from them as of right now but really hoping that our teams showed everyone else what it means to be a Pioneer track and field is also running in sectionals tomorrow um Friday and Saturday and recently celebrated a few school records so congratulations to Sophia espot who threw the javelin 129 feet as well as the boys long jump relay team who set a record at the Union County relay championship ship to end this on a personal note I wanted to thank Mr Henry and Dr melli as well as the entirety of the board for being so supportive of me this year and welcoming me with open arms as the senior representative I'm beyond grateful that you extended this opportunity to me and Mr Henry I'm still thankful for that meatball sub you bought me when we first met to get to know each other in September as he'll be leaving just like me this year I wanted to add on and also specifically recognize Dr Michelli for all of his contributions to this District um there's so much that um there assist saying there's so much that has already been said but your commitment is truly unrivaled and I believe we all owe a big thank you to you um when I was young you know um when I was younger I feel like I had a few disagreements with you based on when we close s close for SNES or not but you know I feel like we've come to an understanding now so I truly hope that we'll cross paths again whether in town or in Philly so one final time it's been such a pleasure this position has really helped me build my voice um in public presence so I truly appreciate it and I'm excited to see where New Providence High School Heads next in the years to come so again thank you so AJ a few things one I want to let you know that Dr zery has been schooled in the art of closing school for snow days it's been a topic of conversation and she realizes it's one of her most important jobs um two all of our sports teams won today and we'll be moving on um so congratulations to them and lastly I want to take the opportunity to thank you from the board of education for your time here with us this year it's been our [Applause] pleasure thank you AJ I just echoed that you have been uh a absolute model student and we couldn't ask more for you and um you know for those who don't know AJ is our class of 2004 valoran so we'll be celebrating him in a couple of weeks and he'll be attending the University of Pennsylvania so congratulations AJ thank you so much words truly could not express my gratitude for you all okay uh Dr zerle enrollment at Al Roberts we currently have 679 students at saltbrook school 589 students New Providence Middle School 416 students New Providence High School 643 students for a total of 2,327 students we currently have 35 out of District placements for a grand total of 2,362 students thank you uh I do not have anything else Mrs C Carl thank you Dr melli at this time I'd like to ask council president Pete Taro to step to the microphone I just talk L for home you got okay good evening folks the educational experience provided in New Providence is something that is truly special and a great source of pride in this community soon our graduates will walk across the stage to receive their diplomas this is not only represents the culmination of a great deal of hard work and perseverance by the students but also years of successful ex execution and guidance by our faculty our staff our Administration our board and the leadership by our superintendent who I'm here tonight to recognize in the mayor's absence as new Province Boro council president I have the honor of reading the following Proclamation whereas Dr melli is retiring after 20 years of service to the New Providence School District and 18 as superintendent and whereas on this occasion it is fitting to pause and reflect in appreciation of Dr melli and his dedication and Co and commitment to the New Providence Community and the New Providence School District whereas in 2012 new New Jersey magazine ranked New Providence the number one high school in New Jersey and whereas Dr melli has served as president of the Union County Superintendent round table and whereas Dr melli received recognition from his peers when the Union County Superintendent named him the 2014 superintendent of the year and whereas Dr melli has been described as widely respected and highly regarded throughout the county and the state and is student- centered educational leader who was passionate about his work and has served as a mentor to new superintendents and whereas Dr melli recently a recent work has focused on social emotional learning and providing mental health programs for students as well as the improving the cultural uh competency of staff students and improving academic opportuni for all students and whereas Dr machell has dedicated his career to the field of Education through the many examples of achievements in academics the Arts and Athletics and whereas it is entirely proper to state that the quality of Education in a New Providence School District is appreciated by its students and their families and maintained in in part because of Dr meli's dedication now they or be it resolved by the mayor and the burough Council of the burough of New Providence County of union state of New Jersey that it hereby honors and applauds the many accomplishments and unquestionable service of Dr melli be further resolved that the mayor and bur Counsel on behalf of the entire New Providence Community to hereby Express deep appreciation for the many years of community involvement and service Dr David melli has offered to the New Providence School District and extend their best wishes in his retirement for New Providence and his future endeavors thank [Applause] you and it's actually one more one more thing that's that's the car keys I'm sorry ah we have an official this is official key of New Providence for Dr melli thank you very [Applause] much so I'll only just say a few words because I think I could probably go on for the next couple days um but uh thank you councilman dno and the mayor and Council and everybody um it's uh it's a little emotional right now uh after all these years but uh I guess I have nothing but gratitude I couldn't have asked for a better place to work it is absolutely um the epitomy of a community that values education and sees our schools as the asset of the community um it has been a privilege and an honor to to serve as a leader of this community and uh again I have nothing but gratitude and I couldn't have asked for a better place to work for all these years and I couldn't have asked for a better Community to serve and couldn't have asked for a better Board of Education and and administration and and teachers and everybody who has been so supportive along the way um I've always felt the support of the community I've always felt the support of all of our community members and I just go back to 2004 there were a number of our founding fathers who embraced me back then and welcome me to the community and my focus has always been around the kids and trying to enhance and improve every opportunity for our students so I thank the community I thank you for every opportunity I've had and uh again just nothing but gratitude and couldn't have been happier with my entire career here in New Province so thank you for everything you have done and and all the opportunity that you have given me during the past 20 years thank you [Applause] Mrs clay would you be able to present the certificates of Excellence got it all right hello everybody I did ask for help because I think it would be run much more efficiently than I've seen in past years maybe Joe but with that said this is such a special night tonight we're happy to recognize the 2023 2024 school year recipients of the certificate of excellence to start I would like to recognize this year's Scholastic art inv writing gold key winners will Isabella deuca Harper gold Ava dling and shayen Steinberg please come forward next I would like to recognize those students who received a Scholastic art and writing silver key award Rose Shell Mo Ava kisy ranica sabova Emma Barry Rya Malia and Maggie Lou please come forward [Applause] just make sure we give you the right [Music] one I can take some too we recognize these talented students for their artistic achievements during the 2023 2024 School students who excel in Art and Design routinely think outside the box to create new and exciting works these skills in creativity and Innovation are essential for success in college and in the workplace the Scholastic art and writing Awards a national competition Awards Regional recognition to students who exhibit originality technical skill and emergence of a personal Vision through their works for the year 2024 over 4,000 works of art were submitted in the northern New Jersey region New Providence is very proud of these students achievements and encourages them to continue with their Arts education [Applause] congratulations congratulations thank you um oh they might have had to get a second one second yeah we'll figure it out okay will The Following students please come forward Audrey Kai Roco dardo Ernest Fang Ronan Flanigan Alex gigliotti Julia how haldorson Megan kuo Mia Paro sedon Ry Christian Raymond Dan rosika Nicholas rosika Sophia Scott Jasmine S shavas James tan Emma tempone Natalie Tom Lauren venturella carer Wood Naomi woo Calvin zoo and Rachel Zach let me help you with that [Applause] Conor iomi you but not I want Oh shoot what was her name Olivia Olivia Salazar oh sorry about that you Sal yeah mhm y okay along with regional ensembles the New Jersey music educators Association sponsors auditioned All State honors ensembles at the elementary middle and high school levels every year hundreds of students throughout the entire State who are sponsored by their school music teachers prepare an audition only the highest scoring applicants are accepted membership is hard one and prestigious in collaboration with njmea the New Jersey chapter of the American coral Directors Association sponsors auditioned All State honor choirs at the elementary and Junior High School levels every year this year haly guo Sonia kerki and Olivia zelar were selected for the njmea elementary All State Choir Olivia rang Alex jigli Naomi Wu and Calvin Zoo were selected for the njmea intermediate All State Orchestra Amisha bodden Abigail bosart Mia franois Tamar herel Zoe Lazarus Caitlyn lock Shrea Roo and Gabriella selo were selected for the njmea junior high All State Choir Dan rosika was selected for the njmea All State jazz band Sean Krueger was selected Ed for the MJ mea All State band and Miriam Adams Ronan Flanigan Julia haldorson Jasmine S rasan and Emma tempone were selected for the high school all state chorus these students have all earned special recognitions for excellence and music Performance New Providence is very proud excuse me we are very proud of their achievement and encourages them to continue with their music talents congratulations now I'm going to ask [Applause] you I'm going to ask everybody to stay up here while I read the next list of awards because there are a lot of you that will be getting a similar award and I know that some of you are up here too so we're going to hand those out will The Following students please come forward Audrey Kai Roco dardo Ernest Fang Ronan Flanigan Alex Jato Julia Hors Megan kuo Mia Paro sedon Ray Christian Raymond Dan rosika Nicholas rosika Sophia Scott Jasmine shavasan James tan Emma tempone Natalie Tom Lauren venturella Connor wood Naomi woo Calvin zoo and ranel Zach so you want to give out the rest of the awards we're going to try to do this right now so just bear with us he doesn't have make two lines Gabriella hey all right [Music] okay students who excel in music exhibit a high level motivation and work ethic to develop their talents those who perform in ensembles become outstanding team members and experts at collaboration New Providence takes pride in providing opportunities for young musicians to fully develop this musical potential within the school program as well as an auditioned honor honors ensembles the New Jersey music educators Association divides the state into three regions the central region cjmea sponsors auditioned honors bands orchestras and choirs at the intermediate and high school levels every year hundreds of students throughout the region who are sponsored by their school music teachers prepare an audition only the highest scoring applicants are accepted the New Jersey Association for jazz education provides similar performance opportunities for students who audition and are accepted into the honor jazz bands and Jazz choirs this year Ernest Fang Megan Co Mia Paro Naomi wo and Calvin Zoo were selected for the cjmea intermediate region Orchestra Roco dardo was selected for the NG nja J intermediate region jazz band Audrey Kai Alex gigliotti Sid hant Ray Christian Raymond Nicholas rosika and James tan were selected for the cjmea intermediate region band Moren venturella was selected for the cjmea high school region symphonic band Natalie Tom was selected for the cjmea high school region Orchestra and Julie haldorson Sophia Scott Jasmine sasan Connor wood and Rachel Zach were selected for the cjmea high school region chorus these students have earned special recognition for excellence and music Performance New Providence is very proud of their achievements and encouraging them to continue with their music education [Applause] congratulations congratulations again what a great achievement you guys can all sit [Applause] down thank you for your help okay it's a lot l okay at this time I declare a public hearing on the 2022 23 School of self assessment for determining grades under the anti-bullying Bill of Rights Act thank you Miss kakaro um so just to um inform the board in October of each year I do report out the self assessment grades by school as per the anti-bullying Bill of Rights at each of our buildings our school safety teams go through eight core elements um element one hi programs element two training and Boe approved Hib policy and procedures element three other staff instructions and training programs element four curriculum and instruction on Hib and related information and skills element number five Hib personel now element number six School level Hib incident reporting procedure element number seven Hib investigation procedures and element number eight hi reporting we then do submit this to the Department of Education and we await for them to approve it we have gotten our approval letter that our district average is 74 and as per the state we have posted that to our website um by May 22nd 2024 and at this point um I am reviewing that again at a public meeting and letting you know that it was approved by the state thank you Dr Zury I declare the public hearing on the 2022 23 School assessment for determining grades under the anti-bullying Bill of Rights Act closed at this time I would like to ask Dr Lauren zery and John Keeny to come up and present the Dei report and before we start I just want to thank everyone for all of the work that has gone into this presentation and and unpacking this report that was put together last year thank you Miss kakaro um as the board just gets themselves comfortable I just want to bring to your attention that in your board packets we did send home this folder which is our um entire presentation inclusive of all of the data today we did put at your seats the actual presentation that we will be doing this evening so the only difference is is that what was sent home has some more graphs and data associated with the uh landscape so thank you very much to the Board of Education um for having Mr Keeny and I here tonight to present to you on um our Equity landscape and diversity equity and inclusion as the board recollects back in October 2022 um the administrative team embarked upon diversity equity and inclusion we began that just as an administrative team with book reads and the like and that began to expand out we then did come to the board last year uh during December um I think it was actually November and during December usquare did present and we did approve usquare to do a landscape which did happen last April 2023 so the intentions of our presentation tonight are three-fold the first is to highlight the findings and the recommendations from the landscape that was conducted by us squared during the Spring of 2023 I just want to be clear that this first portion of the presentation where we are going to present the findings data and recommendations are the recommendations that were provided by us squared I'd also like to point out that this is a 476 page document and so this is going to be a working document that we work from for years to come and tonight is really just a snapshot of the work that we did this year and we will continue to go back to it as a committee and pull out more of the findings that usquare did find the second is to present the Dei District goals these are the goals that the committee themselves came up with as a result of our analysis of our report and then finally we are going to present the 2024 2025 belonging and Community roadmap which will really work through all of our professional development beginning in a August and go through next June so as an overview we are going to introduce you through video to our Dei committee um we are then going to speak to you about the mission statement as well as definitions that our committee worked on establishing for our school district we will talk about the report framework and the framework that us Square delivered the report to us as we'll talk about who took the survey so adults our students our community as well as their demographics specifically the student demographics and then we will go through the summary of recommendations there were 10 recommendations that us Square made we did take some of those recommendations and put them together for example under curriculum we took identity divers diversity Justice and action and put that under the umbrella of curriculum and then lastly we will talk about our belonging and Community Equity road map so here is our district committee there were 24 committee members including myself Mr Keeny and Dr Harvey you can see that there is a range from awr the middle school saltbrook and the high school we would like to share this video with you so you could just get a look at each of our committee members um during March we did put a video together uh which will be this video um and we did that so that our entire faculty and staff could see the work that has been done throughout the year in anticipation of a goal that that that would be placed in their summi lives for next school year so that was the purpose of this so it will be a little past tense but it'll give you a nice idea of everyone that served on the [Music] [Music] committee I wanted to be a part of the DI committee because I wanted to be able to take an honest look at the US squared data and then also see what our community members thought and felt uh it's an issue that's dear to my heart um when I was in high school I experienced Prejudice and witnessed a lot of prejudice and uh kind of like a mission for the rest of my life to make sure kids don't have to suffer what I suffered or saw um and I wanted to be a part of making really actionable steps that people feel comfortable with the Dei initiative was born from 2020 when as an administrative teach um we were still at home um it was during the time of Co and it was during a time within the nation that there were some things that were happening in which there was a need to start really looking at what diversity equity and inclusion meant within our organization we're always trying to you know make ourselves better right as professionals and as teachers we're always looking for ways to do that and sometimes we have the ability to reflect on our own and able to carry that out but sometimes we receive feedback from others that help us you know identify things that we can do better as teachers as an administrative team we began to discuss that we began to discuss what we think it means and we decided that we were going to um do a book read and actually together start learning more about what diversity equity and inclusion meant so that we could get a broader idea for our district and our community how we would possibly begin to implement um types of strategies around Dei we did decide that we were going to partner with upen um and upen did offer a series of workshops that over 70 of our staff members in the 2021 2022 school year we a part of I really wanted to be a part of initiative that would be able to um support a space for dialogue around um what Dei is um in order to really support the Comm the community for feel um valued um to not just be valued but to really feel that um we did ultimately decide that we wanted to use a third party that it was important that we did some type of audit or landscape as we um framed it we wanted to to use an external outside organization who didn't have any relationships with anyone in the district didn't have any unconscious biases about what was going on in the district and can really give us a very neutral um perspective on what was happening in the district to allow us to progress and move forward we did a couple of sets of interviews with a couple of companies uh with regards to really trying to find out and to get a feel for how they would approach the subject and so we we decided between the two of us in our consultations to all members of the admin team uh to reach out to us squared or to us squared uh with regards to doing an equity landscape they had experience doing it they had experience doing it in Jersey with different schools uh so in our relationship ship with the members of that team we felt like we could form a good working partnership good working relationship with them the committee was there to number one begin the work of becoming uncomfortable a little bit um starting to really talk about diversity equity and inclusion and what those words mean and how they apply here well we were given the test of going through the uh Dei report uh which was put together by us Square so so we broke up into buildings and went through the report Page by Page and pulled out the main findings uh that the report came up with we split up into different schools and each School some committee focused on the data for that specific school I thought that was valuable because we were able to pull out school specific data and start identifying and targeting goals that might be specific to our schools we were then able to reflect on its findings uh from that analysis we were able to create a mission statement around Dei and then put it together and try to come up with a um action plan for how we can improve on improve equity and inclusivity so I think one of the things that has been very gratifying in this process is seeing how much of the work that needs to be done with Dei how well it dovetails with the social emotional learning work that we have been implementing throughout the district over the past several years so the goals and expectations of the D committee are intended to give a sort of a road mapap and once we started to identify those we put them into some smart goals from the smart goals we put them into go trackers and then we started to work as a committee with coming up with the APR coming up with some questions and making sure we finalized those goal trackers so that we had uh the opportunity to move forward from there as an elementary school teacher I've really seen the transform effect of putting books in kids hands where they either see themselves or see their lived experience so I think that it would give everyone a space to be reflective to have space to collaborate um I hope these goals are a to communicate to students staff members families um how valued every person is and how we want to do everything we can to really help support um everybody in their educational Journey so our our purpose is to ensure that the practices that we have in place makes everyone feel like they belong as a Committee Member we are here I am here to help you through that Journey we're here to help enhance what you're already doing great in the school district I really think that an opened an open mindset a growth mindset is really our goal for the district to want to grow and learn from the past when we back together as a whole Community we really develop that this is more of a global um go so a building goal I feel like I want to be an inspiration for my team for my students um for the parents in the district and for the community at large we would like to introduce to you what our goal is going to be in our APR for next school year the 2024 2025 school year we will have a Dei goal um it will be a broad goal um because at this point we are looking against to see strategically where we're going to place our goal trackers and whether or not those goal trackers are going to be districtwide in the first year are they're going to be based in each individual school they will take place over the next several years so some will be able to be implemented immediately over the course of the next year but others like a review of our curriculum and and adjustments made to the curriculum may take longer may take 3 years or four years to get through it's important that we work to the best of our ability to get it right even if it takes a little bit extra time so that's where we've been for the last month or so and so here we are uh March 2024 and it was important for myself and Mr Keeny as well as every member of the committee that we were able to get in front of all of our faculty and staff so we could explain the work that we had been doing and where were headed moving forward Mr Keeny and I would like to thank our entire committee they worked very very very hard with us on this they really dug into their school reports really analyzed the data that was there um and we really look to try to make sense of what works and what will work here in New Providence and so I do want to thank every Committee Member uh for their work on this um as we look to you know um bring this out to our entire faculty and staff and start implementing these goals thank you so I hope that that gives you a bit of an overview of the work that we have been doing um I just want to emphasize that during tonight's presentation you're now going to see that all the way through right so we're going to be able to on the back end of this discuss with you what our goal trackers are as well as them what our goals are and our Equity Road mapap for next school year I do see some members of our committee in the audience so I just do want to say thank you to you all for being here and for all your hard work and for those of you I hope at home watching this thank you as well because this committee truly has done a tremendous amount of work even today for the full day that we spent with them planning for October October August PD good evening so we've always felt like it was important with any initiative that we have in New Providence that we come up with a mission statement which is used to guide us through the process so we have a mission statement up there that was developed by the committee and I will read it to you and I will try and emphasize some of the most important points npsd Fosters an equitable environment where our community of student staff and families feel valued respected and have a sense of belonging for who they are as individuals and are supported as diverse and inclusive members of society try to keep it as simple as possible as factual as possible and that guides and directs Us in the direction we're going it's also important for everyone to be on the same page with regards to what we mean by some of these terms so we tried to come up with simple definitions that everyone would understand with regards to diversity the range of human similarities and differences Equity the fair treatment access and opportunity for people and inclusion a sense of belonging to be seen heard and valued again try to keep it as simple as possible so that we have some direction and everyone's on the same page so the report itself as Dr zery said very long we will not be dealing with every every single part of the report tonight but the structure of the report was such that it gave an overview of the process and the report to start with the report started with a District overview it talked about District themes there was a summary of District recommendations for us as a whole and there was a compiled series of District data the same thing happened for Alan W Roberts for saltbrook New Providence High School New Provence middle school so together that accumulated to the 476 pages of the report what we're going to do tonight is to pick out the most important things that we identified over the course of our research and over the course of our work as a Dei committee that's going to influence what we do over the course of the next 12 months and into the following years as Dr zy mentioned it's important that we treat this as a living document as we make progress we're constantly going back to it to look at what has been previously reported to to examine again what was in the report to help give us Direction moving forward so us squ collected a tremendous amount of qualitative and quantitative data the first thing they did was do a lot of self assessments and we all in different schools completed self assessments including the district administrators and that was data that was submitted to us squared they also did a variety of different on onsite focus groups and there was a total of 377 people who contributed in those focus groups at the different schools when they came in last April we also had 2719 people complete surveys all the way from our K through five students to board members and then when they came in April um they also visited 79 classrooms an average of 20 classrooms per school so all of that data was then accumulated together and analyzed and presented to us and our committee has gone through that data to to decide which are the most important points for us as a community in New Providence so what we thought was very important uh to bring you through are the demographics of the students who were a part of the survey and the collection of data that us squared took to evaluate us we also thought it was really important for you to see from New Providence High School down to the elementary schools how the race of our students is Shifting and is changing right now you'll see that we have New Providence High School up and you could see that there is a very equal distribution of students grades 9 through 10 who took the survey you'll also see that the majority of our students at the high school their race is white with second and third being Asian Pacific Islander and then Latino Latina and Latin X you'll also see that primarily the language spoken at home is English however you will also see and this will be replicated in our other slides as well from our other um schol schools that Spanish Russian Hindi and Arabic are also spoken I want to emphasize that the other is an was an option for students to choose if they did not see their language their home language spoken um in that area of the survey this is New Providence middle school again a very equal distribution between the seventh and eth grade and again this does replicate a lot of the high school although you can see that there is a shift with the Asian Pacific Islander population at the middle school being a bit larger the way that a squared broke down the survey was K5 and then 612 so they did pull six out on its own so this is Allen W Roberts um and you could see again that when we go over to that race side you could see that the um white students is getting smaller whereas the Asian and Pacific Islander students uh population is getting larger this is then K5 for alen w Roberts again it replicates that and then we're going to move on to saltbrook school again you'll see here that saltbrook school for the sixth grade is a little bit less than 50% and then when we look at K5 again when we look at the race it's about a little bit more than 50% of our white students and then we have a large percentage of asian-pacific Islander and a smaller percentage there of uh black African-American and Latino Latina and latinx so the point that we want to make is that our landscape is changing and we did know that our landscape was changing and a part of and you'll I'll probably bring this up again as we get into the presentation but that was also a part of putting the ad hoc committee um together for our calendar and making revisions to our calendar knowing that the landscape in New Providence is Shifting and changing so us squ summarized their recommendations into 10 main areas you can see them Illustrated up there um on screen we have condensed some of those together for instance all the curriculum recommendations those curriculum areas we've brought together into one and we've included that with instruction but what we'll do over the course of the next section of the presentation is just to highlight some of the relevant pieces of information that we picked up from the recommendations those which we feel are particularly important to New Providence and the community of New Providence those which we think are particularly important for for showing growth through this process so that's what we're going to be doing over the course of the next couple of sides we'll start with classroom culture us squ came in and looked at five different criteria or concepts to do with classroom culture and it's kind of encouraging to see that we have been addressing some of these already over the course of the last uh three or four years for instance um excuse me for full classroom setup when we had our new furniture initiative that that was part of what we were doing there promoting shared inquiry and dialogue was part of our personalized learning uh initiative and the promoting social and emotional safety has been something that we've been doing for a number of years with oural initiative you know so quite a lot of that classroom culture is something we've been looking at before and and and working with we're also uh exposed up there to honoring student experience and discipline within a values based approach there were certain data points that came up um that we thought were particularly important the classroom culture questions are shown there for you and these are questions that were were asked of our various constituents our parents our students our community members and then the data was was analyzed and and compiled so we could make some decisions two particular things I think are important for us at this stage as we work with our teachers and these stood out to us question one students are valued as Unique Individuals within new governance interesting that the staff 85% of the staff thought that students were valued as Unique Individuals but then when we look at the average of the students the students only 53% of them felt like they were valued as Unique Individuals so part of the process we're going to be using going forward in our professional development is trying to look at that discrepancy why is that discrepancy taking place what professional development do we need to give with our teachers so that we can get into a position where more and more students feel as if they're valued as Unique Individuals the second question was question three students are encouraged to share their thoughts opinions without judgment again a little bit of a discrepancy between what the STA thought staff thought was happening in the classroom 82% of the staff thought that they were encouraged whereas only 55% of the students did so again discrepancy between those two data sets and something that we as a professional development committee we as a Dei committee want to make sure that we address and look at different strategies to bring those numbers closer together so that's an example of some of the little data points that we pulled out which then drive the professional development that we're going to do so the next section was family and Community engagement and this is really a section where um it talks mostly about us as school administrators as well as the Board of Education and so it talks about things like culturally sensitive communication inclus inclusion of family Community wisdom engagement with Community issues and problems increased connections among families and use of local resources so again on this portion of the survey that was asked to all of our constituent groups these were the concepts that we were examined through by us squared these were the questions that were asked there were nine questions within this area I'm going to focus on questions 5 through nine so you'll see here I'm going to focus first on questions six and seven so this question asked our constituent groups if community members meaning parents Guardians caregivers teachers Staff feel as though they're encouraged to collaborate with the school and District on projects on the left side you'll see that this is the um representing question number six and on the blue side you'll see this is question number seven on uh the purple side it is has to do directly with school projects and then on the blue side it has to do with District projects so you could see again that these numbers are relatively low so this is an area where we do want to focus and potentially take into play some of the recommendations that us Square did make here are some of the recommendations based off of question five through question nine which really fell under that umbrella of feeling as though they belonged and they could participate and they were part of projects at the school or at the district level so here were some recommend that us squared did make and you may see on the back end of this through our goal trackers that some of these will resurface and things that we want to implement so including inclusive language and Communications I will share that over the past three four years we have definitely tried very hard to be inclusive of the languages spoken in the homes by many of our students and their parents I know that most recently we did move over to a new website and I know that there are accessibility features at this time in the bottom left-and corner of which um parents students can easily change the language into to I believe over a hundred different languages that are offered um another one is engaging with the community to resolve Community issues to utilize resources and to build a sense of community just a note on this um and I know that Dr melli can attest to this um in the past when we have had some rather large community issues we have called the community together do we do it every single time no but I most certainly can remember times where we have partnered with the burrow we have partnered with the police we have held a town hall on school security or whatever that may be um that may not have been in the most recent of years so some of these parents that took this survey may not have ever experienced that but we most certainly have followed that practice in the in the past where it is necessary or appropriate um again talking about the translation platform for more languages I do believe that we're headed down the right path with that and then um the last one I know that I I do believe and I know that Sunil is here from the diversity committee from town I do believe at one point they may have tried to get this off of the ground where we have newcomer families um and emphasizing on those families that are outside of the country and having some type of partnership program to welcome them and support them so that's most certainly moving into the future some something that we can go back to the um to the burrow diversity committee and start to discuss again so with instruction five main Concepts That We examined with instruction are shown for you there again it's encouraging to see that some of them we've been addressing for a number of years we have been looking at differentiated instruction cooperative and Collaborative Learning and also real world connections any of you who've seen the e8th grade Capstone project presentation will know how much of real world um examinations and connections we're trying to make so some of these we've been dealing with already but it's always good to get data to show the success and the growth that may have taken place so the questions that were uh the questions that were asked for instruction are as follows the one that that stood out when we looked at the results uh with regards to the instruction was the first question students are engaged with material and taught from multiple perspect perspectives when we started looking the data that came back from that um from the parent guardian and caregivers that was question one number 71% which is a little bit lower than we would like with regards to multiple perspectives for what we're teaching and then we look with the staff I think was 69% so those particular ones were a little low and we we started to think about that and how we can do some work on making sure that we include multiple perspectives as we are teaching a variety of different sub subjects so that leads to the recommendations that you can see there before you providing professional development and training for our staff to understand how to discuss Dei components in the classroom the multiple perspectives that come with that opportunities for staff to examine their instruction and identify opportunities for students to see their identities and the identities of others reflected in the content and the resources that we use and that's going to be that's going to come back quite a lot the the resources the content that we use in the classroom how does that reflect our community expand upon career days so we can increase the diversity and the identification there exploring possibilities for speaking series and possibly for a PM pal um program which we've had in place for a number of years and we haven't done recently my microphone seems to be going off and on can you still hear me yeah okay good and that then brings us to curriculum where we've combined the four different parts for curriculum this is going to be the the objective which is going to take a number of years because we have something like 327 curricular in the district so to then go and single curriculum is a is a mammoth task we have a curriculum cycle over five years so as we start to rewrite and revise and look at our curricula we just want to make sure we're aware we're aware of a variety of things are we promoting diversity identity Justice and action within our curricula okay and those are that's really the simplistic way of looking at it so the questions that were asked are up there for you with regard to um opportunities for students to see a various things to see themselves in the curriculum to see people who are like them so what we need to do now and this is what the committee is going to be charged with doing over the next five years is initially coming up with a rubric so we can start to identify uh and analyze our curricular to make sure we're addressing various themes so if you look here at students have taught Concepts around Justice and Injustice and students are imp to take action around Justice etc those numbers are a little low for us 57 and 48% for parent and Guardians and then if we look at the staff statistics uh even a little bit lower there so that's something we need to to address something we need to be aware of and decide exactly how best to address that need moving forward so then therefore so as we move forward with our curricula I tried to simplify the the four Concepts as much as possible into just simple statements identity do students have an opportunity to examine who am I do they have the opportunity to discuss and see how we are alike and different diversity do they have an opportunity in the curricula to to explore why some people are treated differently that's the justice and do they then feel as if they can then do something about that so there's a variety of questions that we need to ask as we put our curricula together I won't read all of those questions for you but I have identified and underline some of what I consider to be the most important points does our curricular allow students to see their identities reflected in the material that's presented to them does it expose them to diverse perspectives and experiences does it give them a deeper understanding of inequity does it allow them to see and break down maybe some cultural barriers and some stereotypes that you see and can they challenge those stereotypes and then as we move down to the bottom here we're really starting to look at the our mission statement as a school district with regards to creating Global Citizens and encouraging global citizenship are they engaged in their communities and do they feel as if they can make a positive difference in the world and that directly relates to our mission statement okay so those are questions that we'll start to ask as we put our curcular together and develop our tools for analyzing our curricular and make sure we're moving in the right direction recommendations I'm not going to read all of these to you but really we're looking to create a system a series that we can see how curriculum is written from grade level to grade level and coordinated to make sure that we're addressing everything at each level appropriately so those are the recommendations that really came from us squared let's just go down to the the bottom two expand action research projects again we you seen the the Capstone projects that we've done we're looking to expand that a little bit to get more real world connections more exposure to to diversity there and then create articulation maps and that becomes very important so we can see how a lot of these concepts are being addressed from one grade level to the next okay uh moving on to teacher leadership so again these are the five Concepts that we were examined through so staff growth through professional development speaking up and responding toe I'm Ione said this wrong way earlier to prejudicial behaviors and action spaces for discussions around diversity Equity inclusion engagement of professional leadership and development and support from staff members so these were the five questions that were asked you can see here that there were questions that were asked around whether or not explicit conversations around equity and inclusion are had within school also if staff members were open-minded and aware of their own biases and if adults in the community also were openminded and aware of their biases lastly it does talk about whether or not staff members do speak up when they do witness acts of discrimination as well as if adults within the community do the same so you will see here that for question number four and five where we do talk about witnessing acts of discrimination and speaking up on behalf of those acts of discrimination that those are very low numbers for us so that is an area of concern where we do want to focus on and we do want to ensure that both our staff members as well well as our adults actually know what they're looking for maybe when they are looking at acts of discrimination and that will be a lot of the work that we do and we begin with our staff you will also see here that for the first question it does talk about those explicit conversations um and it also talks about the open-mindedness of our own biases um as adults in our Community um you will see again that those numbers are rather low so that's something also that we do want to focus on as we move forward with our professional development for our teachers and our staff so some of the recommendations we're already working on um as I mentioned earlier we did meet with our Dei committee um today for the full day in preparation for August and so we are already looking to create lessons and workshops that are going to help our New Providence School Community to reflect on their own skill sets and their own biases um it's very important to remember that humanizing the concept that all humans have biases at no fault of their own and that's something very important I think in this work that nobody's at fault for having a bias and as a human being we all do have biases or a bias um one of the other recommendations for the board was to do listening tours so for the board to potentially come to the schools um after school one day let the faculty and staff know that and be open to just listening and having some listening tours around the district so that you could hear from our teachers as well as our staff um the other piece is communicating the expectations around the plan of action specifically around diversity equity and inclusion and again you could see at the beginning part of our presentation when we talked about Miss statement as well as the definitions were already headed in the right direction and be able to communicate those expectations to both our staff and our community um lastly the last two again fall under the work that we are currently doing and preparing for August is to implement crucial conversations and training for our teachers and staff as well as creating a PD calendar that integrates all of our initiatives so that our teachers and staff can make connections so lastly coming into representation again some of these Concepts here are risen to the top of what we're trying to do for instance classroom materials we've talked about that quite a lot already about the ability for students to see themselves and others in the resources that are being used in the classroom and books going beond Beyond superficial and non-stereotypical um instances or situations so those are the that's the concept of representation the questions that were asked were reasonbly quite simple you I like that first one I see adults who look like me at school I have other students I can relate to at school that's important we need for our students if they're going to feel a sense of belonging a sense of community we want to make sure they feel comfortable in school and they have someone to turn to in school so when we looked at the results of the uh on the next Slide the overall experience I have an adult that I feel comfortable talking to at school and we start to look at those numbers and you can see high numbers for always most of the time and sometimes and that's encouraging okay that students both the Roberts and of saltbrook feel like they have someone who they can turn to someone they can trust someone who they can talk to the numbers are not as high as we would like them to be and that's something we need to address but we've also got the no answer at the bottom which is close to 10% at S Brook and 7% at Roberts so those numbers are slightly slightly more elevated so that's an important concept that we want to make sure that every student feels a sense of belonging community at their school and feels comfortable having an adult that they can turn to it's a fundamental thing really okay then when we look at 6 through 12 some groups of people are treated differently at school okay on here we've got 20% Which actually means 80% of people feel as if students of different groups are treated equally okay so I didn't explain that very well I'll start again okay according to this data 80% which is the sometimes and never those are people that say that people from different groups are not treated differently okay they're treated the same as everyone else so that's quite a high statistic only 20% although we'd want that number to be even lower 20% of people feel as if people are treated differently okay so we need to that's an encouraging piece of data but we also need to make sure that we move forward with that when us squ came into the classroom they started looking at our classroom materials and they started looking at the diversity of the classroom materials and these are the statistics they found they found some diverse classroom materials in about 33% of our classrooms but they did note that we had no diverse classroom materials and about 66% so again coming back to the materials that we we are putting in the hands of our teachers the options we're providing for our teachers and the resources they're using that's definitely something that we're going to have to start examining and looking forward uh with an evaluation tool to decide the best resources to have in our classroom so recommendations continue to expand the class and building libraries to include more diverse text and authors incorporate diverse materials into the classroom and Implement observational strategies to support fellow staff with understanding preferences portrayed while teaching that's going to be a bit of peer coaching between our staff and getting into the classrooms observing each other teach and giving each other feedback on that so this brings us to the last two parts of our presentation which are to present our uh d EI District goals which was the result of the analysis of the data that we just presented as well as presenting our road map road map belonging in community moving forward so what you'll see here is an example of a goal tracker um as we said earlier and you heard in the video each one of our subgroups by school created smart goals based off of the analysis of data we then had those groups put those on goal trackers so you'll see here that the components of the goal trackers are the actual goal this is a district goal um one that Mr Keeny was speaking about when he was talking about curriculum this is going to be a three to fiveyear goal because of the amount of curriculum that we do have in the district but the goal is to develop a Dei curriculum rubric to guide C to guide the curriculum writing process and ensure that our curricula take into account diversity Equity inclusion representation Justice and action by May 2025 the May 2025 is that we have the rubric created not that all of our curricula has been Rewritten by using the rubric we then asked our committee to identify the theme that it related to uh when we talked about those 10 recommendations and then what was very very important throughout this whole entire process was the why and not just the why generally speaking when we talk about Dei but the why for New Providence why is this important for New Providence for our community for our students we then had them go through action steps as well as then a committee process with phases and deliverables and deadlines the idea here is that we created each one of these based off of our eight goals that you see here so that at any point when we're ready to implement any one of these eight goals we already have that goal tracker completed and we have that to guide our principles as well as the staff within that building to start the implementation of the actual goal here you'll see our eight goals that we did create you'll see that there are five goals that are highlighted in blue those are the goals that we are going to focus on for next school year an easier way to possibly see that is our belonging and Community road map where our Journey Begins so you could see that for our August PD which we have referenced several several times our goal is going to be to develop a collaborative environment that deepens and understanding of belonging equity and Community we are ALS also looking to develop a deeper understanding for our faculty and staff of the effects of inequity Injustice and the Dynamics of power and social issues through a process of professional development at New Providence High School they're going to focus on incorporating diverse digital and anal OG multimedia materials and resources into the school environment this committee spoke a great deal about creating a model classroom and making that the classroom that then all teachers could come through they could visit they are they're looking to create a rubric as well on what you can put up what you shouldn't put up what you what you should you know pass through the principal um and the idea here is again to create an inclusive environment so that all of our students feel included at the middle school goal for next year will be to create clear Behavior guidelines interventions and consequences to be consistently followed and implemented by all teachers and administrators this is a great goal for New Providence middle school next year as many of you may have seen on the agenda tonight we are going to be transferring Mr chrisell to New Providence High School and New Providence Middle School will have a new assistant principal so this will be a great goal for that new assistant principal to come in and work with the faculty and staff on to be able to create those clear Behavior guidelines for themselves as the assistant principal as well as the students and the staff at saltbrook and Roberts they're going to have the same goal although they're going to start in separate buildings because they do have two separate identities they may come together uh as collectively to discuss what some of the procedures that they're going to develop which will be implemented to create inclusive classrooms that value Dei together but what we made clear to the committee today is that it is okay if they are separate as well because they are two separate schools with separate identities and then lastly at the district level swinging back to the district level we are going to create a team it will be comprised of students teachers and administrators K12 we would like to also include parents as well as community members such as senior citizens to create guiding principles that we here in New Pro Providence and in the New Providence School District will live by so what we expect of ourselves as students what teachers expect of students as well as themselves as well as administrators Etc so that we have this we rnp type of guideline framework the last piece I did want to uh discuss as we are um getting towards the end of our presentation is that the committee today had a very lengthy conversation about where we started where we're at all of the work that we've done we do feel and we know that we started this process by calling this A diversity equity and inclusion initiative at this point after all of the work that we have done and the analysis of all of the data that was provided to us and looking at the outcomes and what we think is going to be best here in the New Providence School District we are going to change that to the belonging and Community initiative because this is that's really what this is what this is really about is creating inclusive environments where not only our students but primarily our students but our staff our administrators parents community members that walk through the doors of each of our schools feel as though they belong and feel as though we are community so moving forward you will hear us oftentimes saying belonging in community belonging in community um we do still know that the work is rooted in Dei and we are still going to use our mission statement as well as our definitions to guide our work but moving forward we are going to coin it as belonging and Community this is our professional development timeline um today we did meet with our committee we finalized our goal trackers and our PD plan for our faculty workshops in August in June we are going to have administrative Retreat one of those days will be focused on Dei and laying the foundation with the administrative team so that they are prepared and ready once our staff come back in August we then will in August be bringing back our Dei committee so that they could come into the high school facility we'll have rooms assigned to them because we are going to be cohorting our entire staff meaning our teachers our secretarial staff our custodians our maintenance to go through our miniseries during our October PD D so they're going to come back they're going to get comfortable with the lessons that they created today and they're going to practice for us as a committee we're going to give some feedback um to make sure that we're ready to go once our staff return back at the end of August um in August we will then Implement that miniseries and in October and February we will use department and grade level um grade level meetings to work on strategies that promote belonging we're also going to use our early missile days to also reemphasize our goals and to also see how we are doing and progressing forward and then finally in June there will be reflection on belonging in community um and we will start talking about preparation for the following school year just to give you a sneak peek into our miniseries um this is what it looks like our audience is the entire faculty and staff our facilitators are the Dei committee members there will be 12 groups like I said of about 25 to 27 faculty and staff members they will be mixed K12 the length of each miniseries will be about 25 to 30 minutes and these are the six miniseries topics the first is how do you identify the second is identify your bias the third is addressing community in our classrooms the fourth is equity and personalized learning the fifth is self-reflection prompts on diversity and the last is making connections who am I again i' just like to commend the committee's work today of really digging in deep and putting together these lessons that will make sense for our entire faculty and staff and that we're very hopeful on the back end of that October PD day that we were truly able to get the foundation set in order for us to do the great work um that we've talked about here tonight so thank you very much and uh we're open to questions and [Applause] dialogue I'll just start off I Mr Keeny Dr zly thank you so much for all of your time and attention and to all of our Dei committee members I know this was a very big undertaking um the curriculum committee has had the opportunity to sit uh with Dr zerle and and go through some of this I know we have not done it nearly steps you have and I commend you all and thank you all for your dedication and time and attention to this it's really amazing work and I'm really really thankful for all you've done thank you Miss gunderman I go um number one yes I Echo all that very very thoughtful I think I got asked in my interview to describe the district in one word and I said thoughtful so that just very much supported that one question but it kind of goes to the implementation of the recommendations so the Dei committee how do they get trained are they getting trained or they did I miss we trained them we trained each other I should say so we began our work um like I said February February 233 yeah and so we did a we've spent a tremendous amount of time together we have had full day PD sessions Mr Keeny myself Dr Harvey who's here as well as Leah Bramley who is the department head science department head in the middle school we have really LED those trainings um on that Min series that you see um and the idea was that because our committee has been able to feel so comfortable and vulnerable in the space to really do this work we wanted to replicate that and we do feel that the committee themselves are ready and able to be those facilitators so a large part of today was creating what those mini series are going to look like we did identify and we allowed our committee members to choose where they're comfortable in creating those lesson plans that they will then facilitate um a part of bringing them back and Mr Keeny is actually going to spend some more time with them on Google meets before we bring them back in August to just move them along further um a part of bringing them back in August is to make sure that they are ready to deliver those lessons and messages to the staff we also have the advantage of going through a whole online miniseries ourselves with the University of Pennsylvania Coalition and then we went through that and then there was a whole variety of different workshops that the whole variety of different staff went through and reported back so we really had a good Baseline of of information Baseline of comfort level with regards to this work that we could then pass on to the committee members as well and I just like to share also that I think that it's very it's a representation of who we've always been at New Providence right so we've always done our way and we've never really had these outside groups or Consultants come in and tell us how to do it and we felt very strongly that after receiving the report and doing this work we're very proud that we feel we're doing it our way um and I want to make that clear for the board as well as the public um that we're only going to do what's right for New Providence and there may be some things in the report that we don't agree with and so we're just not going to do them right those are going to be decisions that we're going to make as a committee and then there are also other very good points that were made you know through this landscape that we are going to use have anything we did not agree with yeah I mean I would so the question was did we have anything that we did not agree with I think the answer is yes and I think that we will there will continue to potentially be things as we continue to go back and revisit um the report that we don't agree with but I also want to say say that it was really important for all of us as a committee as well as the principles because they got their reports as well to go into that with an open mind it's very easy to become very defensive when you're reading information that may not be particularly swinging towards the positive but that was the reason why we hired us squared right to come in and assess us in a way that they weren't biased we knew we were biased and that was a part of why we wanted this third party um first I also want to thank you I was lucky enough to sit in in the initial portions of this on the curriculum committee last year so I know how much work has gone into this and how thoughtful the entire approach has been by the committee so I commend you on that um I have a few questions but just the top two are I will be incorporating a lot of these different changes I assume into to the next 5year plan and strategy that we're putting together so is this something that will be how will we be telling the community and keeping people you know up to date just you know through our own rubric aside from just how we're we're looking at you know what the teachers so I just want to clarify do when you say fiveyear plan do you mean our next fiveyear strategic plan or do you mean like our fiveyear plan no our next strategic plan okay so yes so I agree with big excitement news so how are you doing this so I do agree with you that probably a lot of this will be um you know uh intertwined and representative of what the next five years is going to look like um how that's exactly going to look I don't know because that's why we have to do the Strategic plan and I think that the way that we would communicate that out to the community is as we always have with our strategic planning goals and then supplementing that by doing things like this right at the board level where we're then having you know Mr or our principles or our department heads or even our teachers um presenting on things that are directly related to whatever those goals are got it and then are there any schools public or private that we would look to as like a good model that are doing things well that we'd be able to share with people so I'll share with you that in totality there were no schools or districts that came to mind I will share however that for example the high school goal where I spoke about that team really wanting to outfit a classroom with um you know imagery in the lake as well as multimedia materials um they did mention some schools that they were interested in potentially reaching out to and speaking with because of their own experiences of visiting those schools for whatever reason that was um but there is no model school out there right now that we know of um we most certainly would be happy if we did become aware of one um obviously to reach out to them and also partner with them on some things that they're doing that that does work um but again I just want to come back to like we want we want to make sure that we're always doing it our way right the way that is going to be right for New Providence if there if there are no other questions I just wanted to uh offer seil the opportunity to maybe ask a question or if you had any comments um seil has been the chairperson of the diversity task force in the buau we've been working collaboratively with him for many years in the task force and I know you've been waiting for Dr zery and Mr keen's presentation for quite some time so just wanted to give you an opportunity to say a few words thank you Dr Michelli I just want to clarify I was on the diversity committee I was a chair uh I did step down last year but I I don't think any of the other committee members are here tonight so maybe I can speak unofficially on their behalf um I also founded a group myself called the New Providence Unity project with similar aims the first thing I would like to say is highly commend everybody um you know the work that you've done here um I think is impressive and that was a really good question that I man to ask you know are there other schools that are doing this that would be an interesting answer maybe us squ could help identify but I think that the steps that that I've heard this evening I can just say wow this is amazing and thank you for all the work and the presentation um I look forward to getting access to the report I would like to read it I know it's 4 465 Pages um but to ask your question I think my observations are I particularly like the changing the name to belonging on community that that feels more you know wholesome homely uh Dei can feel sometimes to some some people maybe um antagonizes them so I think that's a good choice I I highly commend that uh I think it would be beneficial to include groups like obviously the police department the council the adversity committee uh and ask them to get engaged I noticed in one of the slides you said you were reaching out to community members and Sen citizens I'm actually now a senior citizen myself now so I think that that's a really good thing that that you're thinking of doing um and making it holistic uh I think is is uh is would be good um I saw I was here a few months ago when you when you did the presentation on the way the classrooms are structured and I thought that was a huge step forward not directly related to Di and this initiative but clearly welcoming students into a uh immersive classroom EXP experience where they feel comfortable learning there was one particular Slide the way the kids were sitting like you know on the chair very informal I I thought that's that's really you know highly uh encouraging if the school cares that much about the children to spent the money and and created a a classroom that engages them I I think we're we're in good shape um what what I feel I think I'd like to come back maybe in a month or two and and invite some other members of the community particular diversity committee to maybe uh post some questions but you know my feeling right now is this is this is very commendable work and I look forward to being engaged more with the school we actually are celebrating a Unity Day event next uh next uh Sunday I know some of the school um class teachers and and students are participating so I think we can do more of those kind of things where people who are not directly in the school district are involved and you know they're giving some input of course is entirely up to the district how you use that information but engaging more people in the dialogue um I think is would be a really good step forward great thank you thank you s thank you thank you you want to open up to on this for anybody else okay great is there anybody else um in the audience this evening that have any questions with respect to the report okay now is an opportunity for the public to be heard on any specific agenda item anyone seeing none I I declare the public portion of the meeting closed um I would like to um 2425 school year annual resolution so I would like to move items 1 through 21 and these are items that are General housekeeping um for the board to be able to conduct business for the next school year second um for the board I just want to uh bring your attention to the meeting schedule uh there was a change it's highlighted in red um it conflicted with one of our first home football game so it was moved it was it it was because of your birthday um and then it's just who can sign checks and stuff like that um General business of the board bot call this hi M Karo hi Dr ABS Hayden hi Mrs gunderman hi M Kay hi M Morano hi Mr Walsh hi uh I need an approval for the minutes uh for business and close session on April 25th Amanda roll call I need a second oh sorry sorry Rebecca roll call M kiga hi M Garo hi Dr AB Hayden hi M gunderman hi m clay hi Mrs Morano hi Mr Walsh hi uh Mrs Morano Finance I'd like to a motion to put forward and approve items 1 through 16 listed below yeah um a few payment schedules such as our taxes and uh making a partial payment for the construction and installation of the HVAC and air conditioning and all buildings so exciting uh new iPads and a few um approval of donations from the saltbrook PTA and the Ed Foundation thank you roll call M kigo M car hi Dr emson Hayden hi Mrs gunderman hi M clay hi M Moro hi Mr Walsh hi Mrs kukar before we go on I just want to thank um The Academy of Our Lady of Peace uh for letting us use their facility this summer for extended school year uh to the our buildings being closed for the HVAC project um we really appreciate their opportunity to let us have our programs there thank you uh Mrs Morano facilities like to put forward item one school bus emergency evacuation drill for next year for next year uh roll call M kiga hi M Karo hi Dr abson Hayden hi Mrs gunderman hi m clay m Moro hi Mr wal hi Mrs gunderman education I'd like to move to approve uh items one through four as listed below anything want to point out no roll call M kiga M Garo hi Dr Hayden hi Mrs gunderman hi M Kay hi M Morano hi Mr Walsh hi Mrs kigo Personnel like to move items 1 through 12 listed below Amanda um I think there's some special uh announcements here in terms of moving around some of our um administrative staff um Mrs Kay will be going to saltbrook as assistant principal and um it was said before that Mr chrisella will be the um assistant principal at the high school we're excited for them and look forward to um supporting them in their new positions and then we have a very special guest um our new assistant superintendent um who I'm assuming I'll let you introduce welcome we are very excited um that Mr Joseph Yugi alaro is here joining us this evening um we had 46 total um applications for the position of assistant superintendent of Educational Services Mr um Testa and I looked at all 46 of those applications and we got it down to six a committee of nine folks um administrators led by Mr Testa um conducted the interviews and got that down to two um with our final candidate being uh Mr yug uglialoro I'm going to get it right um he comes to us with 13 years experience as a middle school principal prior to that he served as an assistant principal for four years and as a history te teacher for eight years um throughout the interview process Mr Yugi alaro continued to demonstrate his experience as a collaborative as well as an approachable leader and we know that he will seamlessly fit into our culture here in the New Providence School District so we are very happy and excited to welcome you as our new assistant superintendent and I'm also so happy that your wife and your son made it here also to be able to celebrate with you [Applause] roll roll call m k m Caro hi Dr Epson Hayden hi Mrs gunderman hi M Kay hi M Morano hi Mr Walsh hi [Applause] committee reports curriculum instruction technology um a lot of what we've recently met on was presented tonight um and then we'll be meeting soon to discuss goals for next year thank you uh Finance facility safety um nothing for tonight and we're meeting tomorrow morning uh to discuss goals for next year great and Personnel we'll also be meeting to talk about goals for next [Laughter] year thank you um old business Jim anything nothing new business anyone I just have I'm sorry real quick um I just I just want to thank everyone again the alliance and uh Joe narcisso and all the students and parents who participate in every 15 minutes um this is the second time I saw it live and when you walk up to the accident scene you just you're just it's so horrifying um and you know promise tomorrow and I just think it's such a great thing that our district invests time and money and energy into um if it saves one person what makes one person think um it's it's so valuable and um I'm just grateful that we do that here so thank you now's an opportunity for the public to be heard on any topic step right up just yeah sure uh good good evening Pat moset 50 sure with Drive I just have a couple questions and one comment um Mr tester I've in the past I used to ask this question you're the guy who had the answer um The High School girls softball team who where did they play their games home games this year and who made that decision for them well I can tell you that the high school played at Roberts for the entire year and that was a that was a decision made by the athletic director and the coaching staff okay which is typical of the years past yes yes um the reason I bring this up and there's a lot of new faces and people on the board and if you could offline explained the history of why the teams stay at Roberts and don't go to the softcore field at the high school and how the high school field was developed that would be a good learning experience for them to not repeat going forward I will do that okay uh my comment uh is to the Dr melli I'm a I have two adult children who went to saltbrook middle school and high school and I want to commend you for your time and effort you put into the district um your leadership style is very commendable and I think how you've leaded the team whether it's a students the staff Administration is a direct reflection of yourself and I appreciate that very much um I see a superintendent as a sports analogy as being an Umpire where you make thousands of decisions and no one says anything and then one or two times all of a sudden there's 35 parents in the back and you have to deal with that and over the many years I've lived in town um through talking to parents talking to students and also my children going through the system um you've always seemed to have taken the time to understand where people are coming from then coming up with some research and facts based not by emotion and things like that and the most part came out with the good decisions so I'm not here to represent the town but I would I felt I needed to come here to say thank you and good luck in the future thank you Pat I appreciate [Applause] that any other comments we are going to need a motion to recess to close session four litigation Hib and Personnel thank you