e e good evening and welcome to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education meeting May 20th 2024 during this meeting to oper opportunities are provided for citizens to make comments in order for a citizen to make a comment they must be physically present at the meeting during the first opportunity early on the agenda comments regarding agenda items are invited the second opportunity will occur just prior to adjournment when residents May address General comments to the board persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise and state their name and town of residence comments shall be limited to issues if personal remarks or discour statement are made the presiding officer shall require the speaker to sit down Mr Yami roll call please Mrs Faris here miss Calderon here Mrs Swang Mr Lisi here Mrs Martin here Mr Stanis here miss stepin here Mr Weaver here please rise with me for the salute to the flag and the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing said of by mailing copies of said notice to the record record filing copies of said notice with the municipal Clerks of Hillsdale Montville riverville and woodcliffe lake and Publishing said notice in the record on July 21st 2023 first we have routine matters and our monthly reports by our students uh we'll go with Olivia G from pasak Hills High School first good evening everyone my name is Olivia G and I'll be presenting the pasak hill student report for the month of May for co-curricular item number one on May 3rd the pasca hills Community came together for the world cultur cultur celebration a day dedicated to highlighting the diverse cultures on campus and around the world presenting this annual event forly called International Day were members of the student immigrant Alliance siia Asian Culture Club ACC Latin and Hispanic culture Club lhcc World Culture Club WC CC Jewish Student Union JSU and Muslim Student Association MSA the event was a success taking place in both Courtyards and the amphitheater at Hills during designated time slots throughout the day each participating Club showcased a wide variety of foods from their own cultures and gave out free samples to students some Cuisines included empanadas and tacos by lhcc various Ramen Styles and Asian snacks from ACC falafel sandwich wies and baked goods from JSU European potatoes and cheese perogi from WCC and donuts and Chick-fil-A nuggets from siia the students were also immersed in several cultural activities that included henna designs arts and crafts games and a photo group photo booth the Sia also featured a large M map in the amphitheater where students and staff were able to put stickers on the places of their Heritage during this event Hill students were also invited to watch a special performance brought by the preschoolers under the instruction of Melissa Zabo Jane comboy and their High School buddies their songs included a French piece encapsulating the SE the spirit of the celebration co-curricular item number two on Wednesday May 15th Hills hosted the spring graduation concert with Incredible performances from the Jazz Band chamber choir ARP Bros percussion Ensemble and concert band and for co-curricular item number three congratulations to the chemistry Olympics team for winning the Platinum Crucible as the most outstanding team for the second straight year at the New Jersey chemistry Olympics on May 16th at NJIT in New York for athletic items number one boys track set a new school record for the 4x100 relay congratulations to Anthony D Fury Jordan Morel Jake bugy and James Foley who ran a 4396 at Saturday's County group meet for athletic item number two congratulations to boy tennis for securing a division championship with one game left in their divisional season this is Hills fourth straight division championship and if they won at Hills at uh Westwood today then the Broncos would have their fourth straight undefeated division championship as well and for athletic item number three on future Bronco day when the softball team brought in players from the Montville and woodc Lake Elementary and Middle Schools they won their seventh game of the season against a Midland Park team whom they had struggled with in a preseason scrimmage and for my joke of the day how did the phone proposed to his girlfriend yes he gave her a ring thank you so much thank you Olivia and next we have mat Gibbs for pasak Valley High School good evening my name is Maddie Gibbs and I will be giving the PV student monthly report for May for classroom items item number one on May 15th Mr Sherman and four video production students attended the student production Awards of the Mid-Atlantic Emy chapter at Temple University pbtv was nominated for four Crystal pillar Awards and W two pvtv won the best high school magazine program for the second time and Junior jadden Martinez won the best long form project for his documentary Bergen encountered Jayden was also nominated for best editor and the program was also nominated for best live sporting event or game when they filmed the pasek valley versus BAS pasak Hills boys basketball game back in February this is a Monumental achievement for the video production program and congrats to all the award winners for item number two Dr bachenheimer visited honors anatomy and physiology to demonstrate intubation techniques and the students to try inating a patient on their own the Hillsdale volunteer EMS visited all classes and gave a tour of the truck showing students the different materials they carry and the instruments they use on the job thank you to Dr bachenheimer and our local Ems for the demonstrations and help item number three during the week of April 15th pasic Valley hosted a delegation of teachers and students from the ks YK School in Hony Finland this was the culmination of a year-long activity between the K between KS YK and PV students in Jeff Jasper's US History 1 class and Ken Sagan's US History 2 class as a result of the relationship that Miss arene Safari initiated during her Fullbright Fellowship semester in Finland Jasper and sarajian had Google meet sessions beginning last June with teachers there to plan the activities both groups of students were grouped to produce presentations comparing and contrasting various aspects of education and life in in the US and Finland to accommodate the time difference our PV students often came to school early to engage through Google meet while also working collaboratively using other Technologies after the inter International nature of the program was concluded select students and teachers from ksk were able to come to the US and were hosted by Safari Jasper and sarajian during their visit they participated in various classes and clubs including the this weekend politics Club ran by Jasper and sarajian and observed after school activities Miss Safari also LED them on a tour of NYC from Central Park to Times Square the UN and Ground Zero they also spent time interacting with staff and students at pasek Hills across time time zones and cultural differences what the students discovered about each other was laughter and joy from hanging out together and the teachers found the same joy for co-curricular items item number one the PV band spring concert on May 9th was a huge success highlights included a performance of a concert piece lightning field that featured a visual display of PV photography artwork as well as high energy performances by the PV jazz band who were just off their strong performance at the NJ State Jazz finals at the end of April in related news the PV Panthers band will perform at the Hillsdale Memorial Day Parade on May 27th the chamber Jazz Ensemble will perform at the riverville Farmers Market on June 6th at 4m. and the symphonic band will perform at the High Note Festival on June 7 7th item number two its award seasons for PV theater the Spring's production of High School Musical received five nominations from the Bergen pack high school music musical awards for four of our actors and outstanding Scenic Design the lowood Metro award has nominated us for seven Awards including four of our performers student pit musician Tim NY on keyboard an outstanding achievement in costume and lighting design finally our 2023 Musical Chicago and our 2023 fall play Peter Wendy are nominated for six Awards each at the Montclair State University foxy Awards congratulations to our all of our nominees and everyone who participated in these shows item number three Abby comr Lyla doof Olivia Glasser Angelina Graham Sarah mastowski meline woo Marcus Koshi Anthony lcai Kevin mcnamer Tyler Miner Nathaniel V and wch poosi helped organize and host our our first stem League Challenge on April 16th at pasek Valley Eight high schools attended including pamis Jonathan Dayton pic County Tech pasc Hills walkill Valley New Providence Northern Highlands Northern Highlands and Bernards the students competed in a challenge entitled turbulent turbines students had to design and fabricate a floating barge that was anchored to a water TR the goal for the challenge was to have your turbine spin the greatest number of times in one minute while maintaining stab stability on a barch we were also joined by 11 judges All Professional Engineers including Mr Mark Wallace Miss Sarah Doty Miss Leah U Mrs Laura linos Mr Patrick byn Miss Maria Somerville Mr Chris musanti Mr Mark Ramirez Micha Bramley Mr Eric Wescott Mr Dominic patella and Mr isan Patel due to our success this year the PB stem league club will be hosting another stem League challenge during the next school year lastly our students will be competing on May 22nd at the northern Highlands High School final challenge that will be held at the Ramsey municipal pool for athletic items item number one PV spring teams are all having remarkable Seasons as they head into state tournaments We wish all PV athletes and teams good luck in the upcoming tournaments um for our fun fact the final competitions for this year's Valley cup will be on May 31st at our Valley cup assembly the events include a performance from a band a pickleball tournament a floor hockey tournament Dance Crew competitions and musical chairs and we look forward to culminating Valley cup assembly for the entire school and good luck to all of the grades with the final Valley cup week and now for my joke why couldn't the bicycle stand up by itself because it was too tired thank you thank you meline okay next we have to resolve the uh minutes from the meeting on April 29th 2024 the regular and the executive meeting can I have a motion please so moved second any discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Mr louisi yes Mrs Martin yes Mr stanus yes Miss Stephens yes Mr Weaver abstain Mrs Vargis yes next we have the staff and student recognition uh first we're going to have the 2024 Tera North Jersey stem fair Awards whereas the following students from pasak hills high school and pasak Valley High School took part in the 2024 Teran North Jersey stem fair Ashley Diaz from pasak Valley for the Karen cray Memorial award the engineering category fourth place Amanda penc from pasak Valley for the genius genius Olympiad award for plant science category second place Maya Newell from pasak Valley the geoscience award Ben gulan from pasc Valley for engineering category fourth place oh I apologize I skipped over Jolie Jolie Ross for the geoscience award sorry Jolie Zoe Green P from pasac hills for the animal science category first place human genetics award first place Wonder Women in science award Olivia G from pasak hills and suhani Mahal from pasak hills for the plant science category first place Prisha meta from pasak hills and Fred Lim from pasak hills for the plant science category second place the 2024 tjs fair is a high school student competition in all stem fields in which students individually or in groups present a wide variety of projects it was held in March at Kean University there were 142 projects invited to exhibit including 158 students the judging carried out by professional scientists and engineers and resulted in awarding 82 of these projects now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recog ize and commend these students for their outstanding achievement [Applause] spe pi [Applause] next we have First Team all count girls bowling whereas Hayden Hopper a senior of pasak Hills High School was selected to the first team All County girls bowling now therefore be resolved that the pasak Val Regional High School Board of District Board of Education recognize and commend Hayden for her outstanding achievement next we have all state treble choir 2025 from pasak Hills High School whereas the following students from pasak Hills High School were selected to the All State treble choir 2025 Raina Alo Camila Ambrosio Eva fredman and Sophia Padilla now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognize and commend these students for their outstanding achievement next we have all state mixed choir 20125 from pasak Hills High School whereas the following students from pasak Hills High School were selected to the All State mix choir 2025 Anderson Moss Colin Barry Caitlyn Buckley ion Swain Elijah Chen now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognize these students for their outstanding achievement next we have the award for National School communicators day whereas Friday May 10th was National School communicators day which recognizes the incredibly valuable work of school public relations Professionals in our district we are fortunate to have Paul Zeller director of technology and Communications Michelle Ramirez confidential secretary for technology Communications and business office and our interns Vincent kogan and Andrew Welsh who work tirelessly to ensure effective Ive communication to students families staff and our community now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognize Paul Michelle Vincent and Andrew for their commitment to telling the story of our district and our students day in and day out for serving as a strategic partner to District leadership and for always working to amplify our message [Applause] next we have the award for 2023 to 2024 outstanding support staff member at the district offices whereas the pasak Valley Regional High School District has commissioned a committee within the district to establish a selection process to choose a support staff member of the year to be recognized for the district offices and each high school and whereas the nominating committee has selected Maria Valentino for distinguishing herself through exceptional contributions in her work efforts to the district and now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognized the nomination of of the 2023 to 2024 outstanding support staff member of the year for the district offices Maria Valentino information and systems coordinator next we have the 2023 to 2024 outstanding support staff member of pasak Hills High School now where whereas the nominating committee has selected Paul hildum for distinguishing himself through exceptional contributions in her work efforts to the district and now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognized the nomination of 2023 2024 outstanding support staff member of the year for pasak Hills High School Paul hildum special education power [Applause] professional next we have the 2023 to 2024 outstanding support staff member at pasak Valley High School whereas the nominating committee has selected Jamie Taylor for distinguishing herself through exceptional contributions in her work efforts to the district and now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognize the nomination of the 2023 to 2024 outstanding support staff member of the year for pasak Valley High School Jamie Taylor executive secretary next we have the 2023 to 2024 teacher of the year pasak Hills High School whereas the nominating committee has selected Corin gamor for distinguishing herself through exceptional contributions to her students and now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognize the nomination of the 2023 to 2024 teacher of the year at pasak Hills High School Corin gamor business teacher [Applause] next we have the 20 23 to 2024 teacher of the year pasak Valley High School whereas the Bergen no I can skip that whereas the nominating committee has selected Christopher neelen for distinguishing himself through exceptional contributions to his students and now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognized the nomination of the 2023 to 2024 teacher of the year at pasak Valley High School Christopher neelon science teacher next we have have the 2023 to 2024 Educational Services professional of the Year pasak Hills High School whereas a nominating committee has selected Jennifer Zimmerman for distinguishing herself through exceptional contributions to her students and now therefore be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognized the nomination of the 2023 to 2024 Educational Services professional of the year at pasak Hills High School Jennifer Zimmerman student assistant [Applause] [Applause] counselor next we have the 20123 to 2024 Educational Services professional of the year at pasak Valley High School whereas the nominating committee has selected Stephanie daasi for distinguishing herself through exceptional contributions to her students now therefore be it resolved that the pasac Valley Regional High School District Board of Education recognize the nomination of the 2023 to 2024 Educational Services professional of the year at pasak Valley High School Stephanie daasi guidance counselor [Applause] next we have the resolution of appreciation for Olivia G pasak Hills High School student board representative whereas Olivia G was selected by her classmates to be the pasak Hills High School student representative to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education and whereas Olivia provided input from a student's point of view to the board of education and whereas Olivia has completed her term as student representative to the Board of Education now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education whiches wishes Olivia G continued success in her education and her pursuit of other activities we also have a resolution of appreciation for mateline Gibbs pasak Valley High School student board representative whereas for meline Gibbs was selected by her classmates to be the pasak Valley High School student representative to the pasac Valley Regional High School District Board of Education and whereas mateline provided input from a student point of view to the board of education and whereas meline has completed her term as student representative to the Board of Education now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education wishes mateline Gibbs continued success in her education and her pursuit of other activities [Applause] [Applause] I would like to personally thank the both of you you've given us great joke of the day but more than more than that you've given us great information about both schools and we really appreciate the both of you thank you okay next we have a presentation by Dr Sean stris it's the anti-bullying Bill of Rights self assessment report 2022 to 2023 oh do we need to move say good evening everyone I am here this evening to share with you the results that we received from the New Jersey Department of Education pertaining to our school and District scores from the anti-bullying Bill of Rights Hib self assessment from the 2223 school year the names of the individuals that appear on the screen before you are very much at the Forefront of our efforts to rid the acts of HIV from our school schools and I would like to acknowledge and thank them for their ongoing efforts at pasak Valley High School our anti-bullying specialist Christy rossig at pasak Hills and one of our honores tonight Miss Jennifer Zimmerman and myself as the district supervisor of School counseling and District anti-bullying coordinator okay we continue our efforts okay to rid Hib from our schools for more than a decade now our district has conscientiously implemented the requirements found in the anti-bullying Bill of Rights during this decade plus of implementation our schools continue to make progress in addressing harassment intimidation and bullying we continue to work to improve the school climate and culture by creating and implementing programs for students for our staff and of course celebrating the week of respect amongst many other the data on the next slide suggests the ongoing efforts in the implementation of the Hib laws the data you see before us is from the Department of Education and and was released earlier this month what you might be thinking do these scores mean and to place these scores into perspective it's helpful to know okay that there are eight core elements in each School self assessment with a total of 26 indicators in the core elements with a range of scores from 0 to hence the maximum score is a 78 it's very important to note okay as you can see historically the longitud longitudinal data suggests that both pasak Hills pasak Valley and of course pasak Valley Regional High School District continues to implement okay and take acts of HIV very seriously with that being said okay please understand these eight core elements what the Department of Education looks for okay in the self assessment they evaluate schools and of course districts on their HIV programs training staff instruction infusion into the curriculum and instruction Personnel School reporting District reporting and how we investigate acts of HIV there are a total of 26 indicators with a score range of 0 to three hence the maximum score that any elementary middle or high school or District can receive is a 78 on that scale of 0 to3 a zero for any indicator indicates that the school did not meet the expectations laid out by the Department of Education A1 indicates that a school partially met the expectations of the state of New Jersey a two means the school Andor District met the expectation and of course a score of three or above indicates that the school district exceeded the expectation I am pleased to share at both pasak Hills and pasak Valley High Schools okay that not only did we meet but we exceeded expectations from the Department of Education and all of these areas with the exception of a couple where we met the expectations we did not exceed them okay so we are very proud of our ongoing efforts and the key there is that they are ongoing okay with that being said I think it's even more important to identify how we got there what are the programs what are the services and what are some of the things that we are doing in our schools that achieve these scores first and foremost student centered initiatives okay one we've identified a common pattern with our incoming freshman that the majority of our HIV allegations are with the freshman class so we've made a concerted effort to focus our attention with the Freshman Class okay we have Freshman Class meetings during orientation activities including our SOS which is a signs of suicide program we've introduced mindfulness in all of our freshman PE classes and have implemented seal lessons throughout the year some of those there you can see in front of you of course we implement the week of respect and we've expanded those activities throughout the course of the year that it's just not a onewe program also during health class our student students participate in Bergen County's alternative to domestic violence workshops which focus on healthy and harmful friendships and relationships we have both co-curricular and extracurricular clubs advisors other organizations on campus on both of our campuses trying to emphasize inclusivity and acceptance of all of our students and of course we continue to provide resources to our parents and kid caregivers excuse me and families to support our social interactions amongst our students and for staff okay each year annually our staff is required to to complete safe schools training on a variety of areas including harassment bullying and bias our side the suicide curriculum trainings for the wellness counselors and they turn key that training to other members of the department myself and members of the the anti-bullying Specialists excuse me at both schools have ongoing training each year under Hib we continue to use hipster which is it software program that helps us monitor okay the allegations of HIV year-over-year and to identify hot spots in other areas of concern that should be brought to our attention we're continuing trying to increase staff awareness of students of at risk and marginal students we've made concerted efforts to connect students to their interests their activities opportunities and Community Based supports and of course our Student Assistance counselors and student wellness counselors have studied and implemented conflict resolution okay so in short that is the 2022-23 last school Year's anti-bullying report thank you thank you Dr shanis does any of the board have questions Dr shes okay okay so next we are going to move on to comments from the public usually at this time it would be on agenda items only but I'm going to make an exception for this meeting as we have an executive session and it can be agenda and non-agenda items uh citizens are invited to make comments regarding agenda and non-agenda items and are limited to 3 minutes according to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education policy number 0167 persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise sign in and state their name town of res town of residence and which agenda item if any they are referencing thank you first congratulations to the award winners Michael Fox Hillsdale it's going to be a non-agenda item today I sent a letter to every Board of Education member regarding the midterms and finals discussions I've had with the administration for the past 16 months I am dismayed by Dr backen heimer's presentation to the public and board of education on April 29th I met with Dr bachenheimer Miss Graziano and Dr Russo on January 9th 2024 requesting data on student averages before and after midterms despite follow-up emails on January 26th February 15th I received no response this lack of acknowledgement and data is unprofessional and concerning to me in his presentation he made several points he said in quotes if if the student does not do well it will not hurt them too badly again if the student does not do too well it will not hurt them too badly which admits that students are indeed hurt by these tests he claimed we have data to support that students do not see a real major change yet this data was never provided despite my requests he mentioned a massive dive into student feedback by his team but there is no evidence of this data or its outcomes and no student I spoke to was ever consulted most glaringly Dr bachenheimer also stated midterms and finals would not exceed 7.5% of the total grade on his first slide of his presentation but his slides show conflicting information with uh one indicating the next slide only 5 to 7% of impact on the final grade I have multiple syllabuses I could share with you in multiple areas that account for 15% 7.5% for the midterm 7.5% for the final of the total grade in some courses and I'm only tip of an iceberg I didn't really look that far I just found a few easily additionally some courses do not specify the weights of these exams on the overall grade he suggested that because we took exams 30 to 40 years ago they are valid assessments today however in math and science supervisors use other assessments like benchmarks link it test testing and njsla scores so why are midterms and finals necessary science and math did a nice job on their presentations when it came to assessment and that regard Dr bimer claim colleges predominantly give midterms and finals yet there is no data to support this colleges do not give tests on five months and 10 months worth of material like PV Does He also mentioned a feedback day at the end of the year which seems to be ineffective for providing real feedback as the year is over I'm asking Miss balot to pause these exams for the 2024-25 school year as they negatively impact pasak Regional students other competitive districts such as bermies Ridgewood creskill Northern Valley do not administer these exams that harm GPA student gpas PV students are at a disadvantage as they are competing against these same local students for college acceptance and Merit money as Board of Education member members it is your duty to ensure the schools are acting in students best interests I hope you will look into this matter I appreciate you for your time thank you thank you Mr Fox anyone else good evening my name is Jerry dogen I'm a parent of two children that have attended the past gag Valley School System I have never felt it necessary to speak out regarding the way the school system operates overall I'm very satisfied and extremely happy with the education that my children have received and that is a credit to all of you recently this has changed regarding the subject of midterm and finals I don't think there was anyone in this room that enjoyed taking midterms of files I should had but it was part of life just the way things were but I think that has changed I want to share my personal experience with the board in watching my children especially my youngest go through the school system I've watched him navigate his high school career and preparation for applying to and getting accepted into college I'm extremely proud of his accomplishments as a result of his experience at PV the past four years I've watched him and his friends prepare themselves with the key elements that help them apply for college and get accepted I really enjoy listening to them talk and I I think the majority of them have expressed the same concerns to me they've all worried about their grades their gpas their activities their clubs the rigor and classes in which they take sat College Prep the sports volunteerism and many of them holding down jobs my son particularly took great pride in checking off all of these boxes as did most of his classmates and Friends he worked hard in his classes attained good grades thus a good GPA participating in countless clubs and school activities Junior and Senior year he took multiple AP and honors classes attended SAT prep courses improved his score each and every time he took it participated in cross cross country and track volunteered in many community and local charities and as I said held down a job these were all things that he and his classmates all did then came the application process wow I don't remember it being that challenging and that competitive the process is brutal many of the students have similar in all these categories that I've mentioned and even more so now that many schools have become test optional so many times it comes down to GPA just a GPA sometimes students are separated by 0.01 0.02% and that's fine if it's a Level Playing Field we can't control what other states or counties do but we can't control what our area does our children are competing against students from the surrounding districts that do not give midterms and finals and speaking with my student each and every year midterms and finals would roll around I could see how he would become anxious uh and he's not that type of kid because after midterms and finals his grades never improve improved they always stayed the the same or went down and his friends seem to have the same uh experiences like I mentioned earlier if it was a Level Playing Field that's life many of the surrounding towns that do not give these large I'm sorry uh like I mentioned earlier if it was a Level Playing Field that's life many of the surrounding towns do not give these large assessments because they've been determined not to be best practice I come from a career in law enforcement in where we talk about best practices schools also follow this Mantra best practices are methods or techniques that generally accepted as a superior as Superior because they produce Superior results I would like to believe that we here at pasak Valley Regional School Districts follow best practices but after a little research we must not because the majority of school districts surrounding us have stopped giving midterms and finals we are putting our children at a disadvantage when they competing against surrounding towns not only may it stop them from getting into the school of their dreams it also stops them from getting scholarships and Merit money a few points uh because of the GPA I just think that we have to give our kids the tools to succeed in life and be able to compete against surrounding towns thank you thank you Mr dargan would you would you mind writing down your town oh I'm sorry Hillsdale your name in town gerro dogen write it down on the paper please Mr dargan thank you very much thank you anyone else who would like to make comments okay okay so we are done with comments from the public thank you for your comments uh next we are going to enter into executive session which will take approximately an hour to an hour and a half board member interviews can I get a motion to enter into executive session so moved second okay we are in executive session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e can I get a motion to elect the interim Board of Education member from riverville so moved second second yeah motion to elect I need a motion to elect Katie Keller to the board of education spot in Rivervale please so moved second you any discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stefins yes Mr Weaver yes Mrs Vargis yes next we have policy we have for consent agenda items can I get a motion so moved second any discussion B call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Mrs Martin yes Mr stankis yes Miss stepin yes Mr Weaver uh yes I'm one abstain two three and four Mrs fares yes next we have a education for which we have two consent agenda items can I have a motion please so moved second discussion we call Please Mr usami Miss Calderone yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stepin yes Mr Weaver yes Mrs Vargis yes next we have human resources for which we have 12 consent agenda items 13 13 I'm sorry I didn't see the supplement 13 agenda items uh can I get a motion please so moved second discussion full call please Mr usami Miss Calderon yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stepin yes Mr Weaver yes Mrs bares yes for finance we have 28 consent agenda items can I get a motion please so moved second any disc discussion B call please Mr Yami Miss Calon yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stepin yes Mr Weaver yes Mrs Vargis yes next we have old business yes please um I share concerns with the midterm and final testing for some of the same reasons that Mr Fox and Mr dargan brought up this evening um I do I would be very interested to see if there is an uptick in the wellness visits at this point of of the year um from what I'm hearing they're pretty packed um as is the need for all this additional tutoring which I think is aligned to the fact that these kids have a lot of anxiety with the midterm and finals um so it's it is something I would like to take a look closer at and I do think they make a very good argument that never again even in their college will they be asked to memorize things from 10 months of material um so you know semester course is over in less than half that time so I I I really would like to know what we're using the data I think it's gotten a lot better over the last three years um I do think that they're preparing the kids better cuz I know when my son went here they had if they were lucky they had review packets they wouldn't give him answer keys and it was on your own so he didn't even know if he was studying the wrong thing so I do think we've come a long way I just don't know if we are moving in this direction just because it's what we've done in the past um so it is something I'd like to look at and I really want to look at it from a wellness perspective as well I would like to say something in relation to that I think um I think that I agree with you 100% I'd like to see more data regarding this um uh I also like the fact that so it was mentioned um you know finals um midterms I I think the midterm assessment if you know I'd like to see the difference between the both because the midterm assessment you're kind of you know midterm where are we you know maybe maybe that assessment versus the final where that additional excuse me stress um and um you know just the difference between the two exams um I think would be beneficial to examine I I'd like to voice my opinion on it as well midterms and finals I think are important uh as an AP instructor you have an exam which summarizes the entire course that's the equivalent of a college course and that is almost an entire year so those final exams or AP exams are vitally important they do mimic what is happening in colleges and uh recently they are returning to standardized test uh for um sat act uh colleges are returning to that as a measurement so um I would like to see uh midterms and finals in there I think they're necessary but I think we can realistically look at the weight of those the impact of those but I think to abandon those would put our students at a disadvantage I know my children have benefited from midterms and finals because it has mimicked some of their college experiences where they have to study for long-term studies so I I again I don't think we have to go all or one I don't think we have to abandon and I don't think a final should be like 30% of somebody's grade uh that that's you know it's somewhere it has to be mitigated somewhere has to be realistic somewhere the impact can be minimal and yet still Supply our students with the experiences that they need in long-term studying and how to do that yeah just to if I could um just offer uh some thoughts on that topic I think uh some of what we heard this evening I would like to know kind of accuracy um and how that lines up because if we're saying one thing and in reality there were other things happening um I would hope that we're being consistent in our messaging and our practices um across all grade levels and departments and buildings I think one of the things that I'm hearing too it's it's not just about the fact that it's a final um it's the fact of how things are scheduled and the crush of them at one time and I think that's a separate conversation because I hear that also throughout the course of the year and I see it with my own kids like having three exams on one day having multiple assessments within a very small window of time and you know when when you look at how we've come out of covid and to Miss Martin's Point though the wellness perspective just how can how can we as a district maybe do a better job of of communicating and scheduling assessments so that students aren't bombarded because when you are bombarded and you're feeling overwhelmed that's what creates that stress um and I think it goes hand inand with midterms and finals because you're saying you're going to have all of these assessments now at one time but I think the reality is that also exists throughout the course of the school year when you speak with parents and students you know they they have those those those waves um and so I I think that's a hopefully an area that we can look at as as well and and I think that when we use assessments as Educators to inform instruction and to maybe tweak what we're doing and give kids additional like I know they do in the math departments give them additional opportunities to learn from the areas that they're not so strong in that's one thing but when you have 50% of your kids failing in exam and then have this huge curve and it's happening year after year after year I really question that we're tweaking what we're teaching or the way we're teaching it so that the majority of the kids are finding success in the class that we're not youing using these curves to just push them through so that's where I get concerned if we're going to do these big stake tests then the kids the over most ofly kids should be successful in those tests I agree with your point I think that um um it shouldn't just be about the names of a test either it shouldn't just be oh it's a midterm it's a final so it creates the stress it should be hey we're teaching something and we're assessing the students on what was taught and then afterwards okay look this is what the test results as a whole showed if there's such a curve on a lot of these tests well then where's the issue uh is it that the kids are just not understanding the way it's being taught or is it that perhaps you know the teacher didn't connect with the students whatever the case might be um I think we need to do a deeper dive into that and I do think getting the data is what's going to help us do that I'm just gonna say again um the College Board as far as the AP exam is concerned I think they do it the right way and I'm wondering whether following a certain pattern here for instance in the very beginning of an AP course you are presented with a sample exam well some some students are some some courses do give a sample exam so they know exactly what they're heading towards they also have a breakdown of how much is weighted in each area so all these things could help facilitate and take the stress off as the student is going through the year and they're anticipating that final and the areas that going to need to hit as they get towards that final exam see that's the idea of a final a final isn't just let's cram the night before but I think we've learned that through the years of of just natural practice that everybody oh it's finals week oh it's not finals week that should have been given to you at the beginning of the course and as we've gone through step by step I say okay this is where you're going to see something later on when we get to this final so there's a there's a whole learning process on how to do this in a way that I think would be beneficial less stressful and still provide that necessary EXP experience for them I I also think there's a trap we fall into sometimes where we say because I worked at the college level well we need to do these things to prepare them for College college is another game that is nothing like high school I mean so I I think in some ways we think we're doing things to prepare them for college that the reality is those things don't exist in college um so it's it's again having that understanding of what the expectations are at the next level and um sometimes we're too quick to say well we're trying to prepare them for the next thing but they're not at the next thing yet they're still in high school right well in elementary school we're preparing them for middle school but they're still in elementary school middle school we're preparing them for high school but they're still middle schoolers so like yes we're preparing them but we still have to be mindful of where they are developmentally I agree with you Mike and I also agree like and you know I went we we went to college and we know you know you didn't you weren't in school for eight hours during the day so you're able to study for midterms you're able to study for finals and devote more time so you you know it's it's just a different set set of circumstances and I know you you teach AP and that's different I feel like that's different that's not honors or regular uh CP classes you know we're we're we're dealing with a different I feel like that that maybe is you know that's a different M that's mimicing college so that's different um so I think we're talking about two different things possibly this is something that we have been looking into and will continue to look into so um we'll provide some updates the next meeting we're going to give an update on the departmental metrics that are being used uh finals inters will be a portion of that once we have the data from the final exams we'll have a report um to provide uh and share with all of you as well so thank you not to add more pressure but could we get information on Wellness visits absences because I think that some kids are getting themselves sick and staying home or they're feeling that they're going to have to stay home to prep for them so I would like to see if possible like what's going on with our wellness centers what's going on with visits to their uh case managers to their guidance counselors I feel like this time of year those people are getting ambushed by kids that are falling apart and I'll admit it my kids asked me to stay go to school late because they feel like they need to study let them go to school wait is this something that is definitely happening this year still for finals yes yeah so we're not we're not considering no not this okay I just we did make a lot of adjustments from last year to this year and from the year before to last year um so the final exam schedule that is happening in June for this year is adjusted from where it was last year trying to meet the feedback we got from students and from staff um and looking critically at you know how are we using assessment so that's a continuing conversation it's earlier this year Sor and I I'm my understanding is that the finals or the diagnostic end of the year whatever we're going to call them are happening earlier so there is an opportunity for children to review their finals so yes slightly um so it's not as early as it may be it's not realiz we may see it be in the future um but we're like kind of slowly adding up to that so there's a little bit more time for uh some review we have a full feedback day built in um and then also looking at how we restructured the extra Health um because one of the things that has come up is is there an opportunity for the teachers to help the students with that executive functioning and to try to build some of that in to give that as an opportunity because don't forget too that the final exam period really is only um uh uh the only classes that are participating in that final exam period are science and math even though the other classes are giving end of the year assessments it's a different format so kind of looking also at how do we balance that and I would love to see the data after finals just because I think science and math can be really intimidating for kids it's just one of these things that's usually one of those two subjects that oh this is so hard um so I'd love to see the data on that to really make some more data driven um decisions any anyone else any other so just in terms of of old business I had a couple things but in the interest of time I'll I'll share uh with Administration specific to theater um Hills softball field and the climate survey uh the only other piece that I wanted to offer is um I'd like to both thank and express my disappointment that PV athletic direct athletic director Mr spafford will be leaving us um you know I know in some of my volunteer work that he is one of the most respected ads in the county and the state and based on what I've heard from a number of members of our communities um it's an unfortunate loss for the district so I'd like to thank Mr spafford and wish him the best of luck um in his future endeavors thank you anyone else one more thing um I know we had talked about course evaluations last meeting so and I know that we um mentioned that um that this is something that we're looking into and that it would be [Music] um uh optional optional thank you um so I was just wondering if we can consider U making that um mandatory so the thought after that conversation at the last board meeting Dr Becken Heimer talked to the supervisors about what that could potentially look like and the thought was to still give teachers that autonomy to be able to think about how they want to get that feedback and to provide a sample um so that there is a a scaffold for that it's you know something that we haven't really collected before for me I think I would love to be able to see a highlight reel of student comments Anonymous that um you know highlight their their favorite you know their favorite part of the year or their um their takeaway their biggest takeaway their biggest aha moment all of those things I think would be wonderful ways for us to be able to highlight student learning in the district um we're not looking at making that mandatory right now we're looking at making that optional still leaving it to teacher and departmental discretion but with the idea that this could really be valuable and could be something that could help us highlight the great work that's being done um in both buildings while getting some of that direct feedback but I appreciate that I do agree with Deb in the sense that I do think that um you know if we were a different entity we'd be looking for customer feedback um and who are our customers our customers are the students and they're the ones who have direct obviously are directly impacted by uh you know teachers and I I I think it is a great idea to consider that um because I think we always have you know I always say this we always have room for improvement so um I do want to second that motion that we think a little more strongly into having um mandatory course evaluation so just want to second that thought any other old business any new business I have one quick item for new business um I just want to let everyone know that um the New Jersey school boards Association Workshop uh will begin in October 21st through the 24th uh I put something in the briefing I'll just keep that in there um if you're interested in going please let me know by I can't remember the date but I think I gave it sometime mid-september um I need to know about how many nights you want to stay uh and then I can register you for the conference as well as um a hotel thank you Mr Yami and as someone who went last year I would encourage people to go because I think it's great okay so I think we just need a motion to adjourn have coms public no oh do we have okay so I apologize uh we have comments from the public and uh anyone wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise rise sign in state your name and town of residence go ahead okay hi my name is Debbie horn I live in Bloomfield New Jersey so I'm not a resident but I'm the current president of the pasac valley region Education Association the teachers union and after eight years of president of the PV I am stepping down so I'm here tonight to introduce you to Maria henrikson our soon to be president of PBR and Matt will are soon to be vice president at PV and they are fantastic and amazing um as many of you already know um so that was my main purpose and if you'll indulge me I want to just express some gratit ude um I have served through some of the most tumultuous years in the district I've seen three superintendents a total change in building Administration a pandemic and a divisive mascot change um and every single day of that I've been proud to work at pasak Valley Regional and to represent our teachers I've heard horror stories from districts near and far and I've always um counted myself lucky to be part of this one and and the reason is simple through it all we treat each other with dignity and respect um when other districts were calling lawyers we were having conversations when other presidents were bad mouthing boards I was I was praising this one um and the mutual TR trust and respect between the board and the superintendent and the teachers um I think is one of the Hallmarks of this district and um it took me a while to sort of realize that and to say like what what makes us different than all other districts and what and I think I've I've identified a few things that somehow without even saying them are the way we operate it so since I figured it out I figured I'd share it um first um go to the source if there's a problem speak directly to the person who can fix it and I think by going directly to the person it just cuts out a lot of stress for other people um you don't always need the peanut gallery second um try not to criticize people um and try not to go with their heads uh going to the source usually solves the problem and prevents the need to again bring in other people and lastly and um I heard I saw this I don't if any of you saw the John Adams U miniseries years ago I'm a history teacher so I love that um and so this was Ben Franklin's advice to John Adams which is um never criticize someone in public um badmouthing people breeds negativity and distrust and never Blindside someone even during the pandemic when I had to sometimes speak to the board I don't know if you guys know this um I always told Eric what I was saying before I said it because I always wanted him to have time to think about it and sometimes we would have conversations and I would change what I wanted to say so um you know just avoid making people angry um so I want to say I've been lucky to work with such a strong and thoughtful Administration and school board that shares my understanding on how to work together we know um Mutual admiration and respect creates the best environment for our students and I really enjoyed hearing your conversation about exams tonight that was um it was interesting to hear a different perspective so thank you I'm very happy that Maria and Matt will be taking over um and Maria this leadership position um there's no one better for this job and I'm excited to see what happens next so thank you thank you very much thank you for your service anyone else for comments okay so now I think we can do the motion to adjourn can I get a motion please so moved second we are adjourned