##VIDEO ID:zT7tl4o9MKQ## thank you good evening um welcome to this public meeting of the Princeton Board of Education the board is an elected unpaid group of 10 citizens who set policy and make decisions on educational financial and Personnel matters for the princ public schools on behalf of all residents we are always pleased when members of the public attend our meetings the board and the school district operate under applicable New Jersey laws and under regulations of the New Jersey State Board of Education each meeting includes a opportunity for those attending to comment on items on the publish agenda or other matters of interest to them the board reserves the right to limit the time allotted to public participation law limits discussion of individual personnel and confidential matters we hope our meetings provide useful opportunities for communication between the board and the community thank you for attending as required under the open public meeting act njsa 1046 at sequentia adequate notice was given for calling this meeting it was authorized by the Board of Education and forwarded to the municipal clerk princip packet and the Trenton Times on January 6 2024 it was also distributed to the schools and others on the standard distribution list the board reserves the right to enter into executive session during all meetings of the Board of Education board policy 168 recording devices requires that we inform those attending this inperson meeting that the proceedings are being recorded this meeting is being live streamed the representative the sending district has authorized to vote on such matters that affect sending District students or affect the governance of the princial public school as more specifically designated in njsa 18a 38.1 uh 38 8.1 sending District votes pertaining to Personnel actions refer to high school Central administrative and districtwide staff only votes otherwise are considered abstentions in the event that the statute is amended the law shall take presidence over this bylaw thank you Mr Balden would you please call the RO yes step kendle here Betsy Bago here Beth Baron here Adam Beerman present Debbie bronfeld here Mar franches here Helen Robert here Susan caner here we have a quorum thank you Mr Balden can I get a motion for adoption of the minutes for July 16 2024 Debbie second [Music] Mara D Kendall yes Betsy bag wheel yes Beth Baron yes Adam Beerman yes Debbie bronfeld yes Mar franceski yes Elanor hubard yes Susan caner yes motion passes thank you Mr Balden uh welcome to this meeting uh welcome to the 2425 school year um School actually began uh yesterday uh and we will be welcoming students next Tuesday um this morning um a convocation was held for new and returning staff members and it was really a very pleasant um morning everyone was in good spirits um and I just want to share a little of what I said to the staff um this morning Dr Foster will be providing uh some additional information but it really was a great morning so thank you for setting that up um so I just said I thought I would spend a few minutes uh speaking about our mission statement it's right around the 10th anniversary of the statement and was the result of collaboration between the district and its stakeholders um and this is what our community wants for all students our mission is to prepare all our students to leave lives of joy and purpose as knowledgeable creative and compassionate citizens of a global Society so to break it down uh we want all students to be happy and we want their lives to be meaningful and we want them to be well educated but also understand where that information is fits in so critical thinking skills are important so for example we want them to know that in the Ben Affleck JLo Saga they should be team JLo uh we want the students to be creative we want our students to be well-rounded we don't want them to be one-dimensional we want them to shine and finally we want them to be compassionate and all of this in a global society and what that means is that we want our students to have the skills they need to function in a world that this full of people that are different wow that's a tall order and we know it's not easy being a teacher or staff member uh last night I read an article that said teachers ref flee in the profession mainly because of behavior issues that they are seeing with kids and we we are see see that here as well um and whether it's due to the isolation of covid national politics s social media we have seen an increase in kindness by students towards each other at every level um but as as with everything else we'll get through this teaching kids to be compassionate is just as important as teaching kids to be knowledgeable ultimately our students won't flourish in life if they lack compassion um and I said the guiding principle for the board of education is doing what's in the best interest of students sometimes we're not sure how we're going to pay for things but it's important that you know that board values teaching and learning above everything else as we should and I finished by saying as you begin the school year please just keep doing what you're doing and keep the students at the Forefront that's why we're all here so um it was a pleasure just to be part of the atmosphere it was very joyous uh this morning and there were a lot of jokes to be had um but moving on now uh to our agenda the first this is a late edition and uh we have Mrs Russell uh who is our world language supervisor who is going to provide um a brief update um also uh celebrating a 10y year anniversary of the DLI program and um Mrs Russell is going to just give us a little overview please come to the podium um but I did want to say um you know the board is very uh proud of this program 10 years now um and we believe in the current iteration with two threads um that it will continue uh long after all of us have left the board um and we are proud of the program we you know uh we're proud of the kids and we're proud of uh the teaching and learning that goes on and so with that Mrs Russell you could just give us a little update thank you right and as dap said she asked me to do this yesterday so um um it's a good thing I had a free afternoon and uh and I usually talk with my hands but I can't because on this Podium the papers fall off so oh should we send someone do you want me to come hold it no I'll just I'm happy to come hold your papers that's all right dear thank you so um I said yes she DNA asked me to talk a bit about the program tonight and um it because it's starting its 10th year which is pretty amazing and I recall 12 years ago when Steve C um asked the board for approval to start planning a dual language immersion program for the district uh one in Spanish and English at community park and with Denine gas at the helm and even before that I recall the excitement when Judy Wilson and Bonnie leot called me in to um give me the green light to go ahead to start planning to find a leader to find a school and uh that was a long time ago a a long time and many struggles and many triumphs ago so a lot has happened in those 12 years and I'd even started maybe five 10 years before then thinking about the program so here we are at year 10 um our first cohort is entering 10th grade um some will take AP Spanish and one native English speaker actually took AP last year earning a five as a freshman right as a freshman yeah uh and um let's see and we have others who are preparing to enter AP next year some are taking a science class in Spanish at the high school LA orur or as we call it there the laort um and um are very much enjoying that and these kids started in first grade um or later and also weathered the vicissitudes of the pandemic so they didn't have a terribly easy time but they and their parents were just so excited and so dedicated our second cohort uh enters Princeton high school next week and it's even stronger than last year having started in kindergarten our high school teachers have been excited these two years to go over to the Middle School to meet each DLI student um to talk with them to ensure proper placement and uh to welcome them to the high schol school it's I just love it when the high school teachers go over because they get so excited um look at all the things these kids can say so it's pretty neat um at the middle school for this year we have needed to retool after the loss of one of the two courses which uh comprised our program so we got um we have work to do there uh and at Community Park our fifth grade has two sections of 23 students each on par with the fifth grades at the other schools and our fourth grade has somewhat lower uh enrollment but again on par with the other schools in The District Two grade levels have three classes each and um two have two sections each with healthy enrollments so Denine and I are hearing that our incoming kindergartens have recently been a Hot Topic uh specifically their size number of sections and the lottery that has excluded some interested families folks should know that we Denine and I and the teachers are moving forward and have moved forward with the classes that we've been allotted and we are eager to welcome the new students but frankly we're not so happy because of course we want the program to grow and be as big as possible the number 22 the size of this year's kindergarten uh seems to be a touch point but to give some history in our initial planning for DLI we were advised that 22 um as the target class size to use 22 as the uh target class size because nationally attrition was a significant factor in not being able to keep up enrollment that number seemed a bit high but was mitigated by the full-time instruction assistance in each [Music] classroom these IAS I always want to say AIS IAS um these IAS are as amazing as our teachers are and happily sizable attrition has not been the case here except during the pandemic and each year there is a small bless you but steady stream of newcomers to our district and our program in fact just today I received a letter from a family in Madrid and they are arriving soon with a fourth grader who is Spanish speaking so I'll be talking with them soon and I'm excited to welcome them so 22 has remained The Guiding Target for the kindergarten although only in the first few years were the numbers close to that the students have thrived that said we do need to acknowledge the perspective of a parent who sees 22 in CP and 15 to 18 at other schools and yes we're aware that new students are arriving weekly if not daily to our district to fill those classes but maybe just maybe some will want to have the opportunity to learn in two languages and we have no room for them but permit me to switch gears teachers often talk with uh their students about a glow and a grow when their eval kids are evaluating a project when they're learning how to evaluate a project and I think that's quite apt here through the years Denine and I have had the opportunity to visit many DLI programs in the area and around the country while each time we return to community park with some new ideas we always return with smiles appreciative of and thankful for the teaching and learning that are happening daily in our classrooms with our students our teachers and our instructional assistants but always we have grows as we continue to strive to strengthen toward strengthening the program to name just a few grows we wish for more opportunities for Spanish during the school day for example that some of the specials might be in Spanish at the middle school this year we wish the return of our Spanish language Social Studies classes the DLI program has been cut in half there and at the high school we wish to add a culture class in Spanish to team with the Cante that's um Spanish-speaking film class that we have there so as you see we have many glows and we have many grows and we hope that you will support them our students and our teachers thank you thank you um and um Kim could you just talk about the uh DLI program being cut in half I I believe it wasn't cut in half we just had a teacher leave um so um we have collective bargaining agreements um and teachers are entitled to take um a leave in the contract um and so unfortunately we received late notice about this leave in June for an entire year um so Priscilla was unaware Jason our principal was unaware we were you know so long story short we know this is a very difficult position to fill um we've been looking all summer long um and have been unable to secure a person so we have a backup plan is it ideal no um but with the additional um ep's exploratory program in Spanish language we're trying to just up the Spanish minutes with the hope that um this teacher returns next year and if they do not return um and we do want her to return return and if she does not return then we have a 10-year track opening and that we feel that in the spring we could really get ahead of the hiring um timeline and find a great candidate for the middle school but in the meantime is that position open yes it is currently open and so if we were to find someone yes it is a leave replacement but it is uh for the full year y okay so the program would be that class would be restored once we have someone to teach it yes we'd have to do some shuffling around with the schedule so it wouldn't be immediate but yes okay thank you thank you uh Mrs Russell and I would also like I think 38 years in the district is that correct well I thought it was more um Dr ceso Sten check your records yeah how many years do you think it is we'll just update it I thought it was 40ish 40ish we'll check again because I I I hear 40ish you get an apple is that's what you're looking for we can work on that no well we we we are like as I've said to you uh we appreciate your stewardship of the world language program very much uh we're lucky to have you thank you all right moving on to the next and also I didn't drag you here you'll be here for something else um we'll get to that uh next up is um so we spoke at the last meeting about an establishment of an ad hoc uh search committee superintendent search committee and the superent superintendent search committee update that is a mouthful Mr Balden uh this is a consent it's consent the ad hoc okay so can I get a motion please um for it's consent oh it's consent oh my gosh it's been like six weeks since the last meeting I totally forgot never mind uh then next up is uh superintendent search committee update um so um as we mentioned we're going to provide as many updates as every time we meet in public we will provide the board with an update um Betsy is leading um that that search and so the committee the committee sorry not the search uh and so she's going to provide an update okay hi good evening everyone since our last monthly meeting the board has launched the search for a wonderful new leader to follow Dr Foster's tenure on July 1st 2025 as njsba States the selection of a superintendent is one of the most significant decisions a school board makes and a systematic process requires month of months of careful planning well organized steps and and and well organized steps in screening the most qualified candidates so this process is now underway and we'll be providing the community as Miss Kendall shared um with updates at our monthly meetings until a new superintendent is named so the search officially launched on July 29th with a full meeting of the board in closed session to discuss two things the hiring of a search firm and the creation of an ad hoc superintendent search committee of the board we agreed to draft a request for proposals an RFP for a search firm and to form an ad hoc superintendent search committee which is on tonight's agenda as you'll see in this resolution the purpose of the committee is solely to handle the logistical aspects of the search uh the full board will participate in all aspects of the search uh on the committee or Not by reviewing documents such as a revised job description but we can only have five members of the board working without a noticed meeting at any time we always ask members of the board to sit in when a member is unavailable just as we do with our other committees so the 2024 board we just want to be clear about this will not take action on the approval of the next superintendent per board Council this work must begin now as it is hiring season but the appointment must be made by the 2025 board please note all 10 members will be involved in interviewing superintendent candidates when we get to that part of the process and these Clos session meetings will be noticed to the public that's for the 2024 board and should interviews continue into 2025 the same would happen all 10 members of the board would be involved as background candidates don't wait until July 1 uh I'm sorry January 1 if they're looking to make a move on July 1 and many sitting superintendents have a 90-day notice uh clause in their contracts so working backwards for our district to have someone in place for July 1 first it means our executive County Superintendent needs to approve the contract in time for the March 2025 meeting so we need to start now so far the superintend the superintendent search committee it is hard to say has worked on three tasks we created an RFP for a search firm that was issued by our business administrator on August 1st the deadline for search firms to apply is Wednesday September 4th at 2 p.m we encourage if there are any firms out there watching we encourage you to apply we completed a draft of a revised superintendent job description and we plan to take action at a as the full board at a special meeting on September 11th we also may name a search committee that a search firm that evening as well finally we met to draft interview questions for the search firms as this work starts next week so the full board will have an opportunity to review all proposals from search firms prior to those interviews but it will be a committee of five members of the board interviewing search firms finally just to update the public dap and I are meeting with candidates for the board this Thursday to answer any questions they may have about the search and their role within it we'll update the community monthly and we'll add a page on our website next month regarding our superintendent search we look forward to engaging all members of our community in the process in forms of surveys and focus groups and with this final goal of identifying a wonderful new leader for our schools thank you thank you than you Betsy um okay and uh the next thing up is a referendum project update I think Mr Balin his pictures is that right yeah I was asked to just put together a few pictures of the various construction projects um most of which are from um the January 2022 referendum and the um November 2023 referendum uh one of the project uh is an ad hoc project funded uh partially by Grant and partially by District uh funds uh so I'll just go through some of the pictures um this is from the high school and middle school roofing project as you can see um on the left here that's not good um it it's a little dark here sorry up on the screen um maybe you see a little better but um excellent thank you um so they they've passed some of that they're in the process of of wrapping it up I would say this project is is probably 85 to 90% done um obviously uh very important to get this done uh ahead of the winter season um not you can kind of see the roof there um some more of the roof work at the high school they are white roofs um why are they White because they're not black um well so uh the white roofs do reflect on the Sun so they're U more um sustainable um during the warmer seasons of course you know the the cold seasons are a little less and you know with climate change that is constantly changing so um they save energy um in the warmer Seasons uh because the light reflects off the uh what's that I joking you know like oh they're not a sistern no we have no sistern roofs now that is very popular in the Caribbean so that's a good thing so they're making very good progress here um some more uh White roofs um Middle School um coating work on the Middle School the roofs were in good enough shape to do a uh 20-year coating um a lot of space there for solar which we'll be hopefully working on um for next summer um you see some of the mentary Roofing projects um both these two projects were funded through the January 2022 referendum um some more coding there and uh you can see uh on the left there um a new rooftop HVAC unit that project went uh very well uh there is uh there are I should say supply chain issues still um out there um I know it's a it's you know commonly heard and and people you know it's getting better but uh one of the units in that project is on back order should be delivered uh somewhere around uh September 30th um excellent contractors should be able to handle that install um over the weekends uh this is one of the projects I mentioned that is funded through Grant and uh that's kind of a before picture of the athletic training room as work's being done um so forgive me for the that's why it doesn't look as good so this is as the equipment is being put back in at the end of last week um so everyone's really happy uh you can see the uh new floor outside and the new lighting much brighter everyone's very happy um still in the middle of prepping the high school for the first day of school um the day after waiver day um the Middle School lighting project um is still being finalized but these were the basic uh new lights put in they are putting in some additional high hat lighting um and there is more work to come uh with the pool they are uh the pool has no water in it now they're refurbishing some of the tile work um polishing uh some of the stainless um some you know ancillary equipment and then um there will be new starting blocks uh at a date in the future um as anyone who watched the Olympics saw the uh Omega was a sponsor so the blocks are uh what was that I said hopefully after the after the water yes we don't want people diving into the pool with no water that would be bad um it'll be Omega starting block uh there's only one rep uh uh for all of North America so it's been problematic at first they were at Olympic trials and then they were at the Olympics um but we are working that out as we speak so we're very excited um let's see this is the uh this was part of the 2023 referendum it is the um and this will be tile um on the outside here the security vestibule at the tower entrance uh coming up along nicely um the the glass should hopefully be here um you know right the first week of October um the actual you know the armored highquality glass uh the factory actually shut down for um quality issues it does happen um of course you know with stuff like that that's better they catch it fix it and get the right product so um there are always delays when it comes to construction projects um it's an inherent part I mean you think about it a very tight timeline to uh do work like this in 10 weeks um so it's progressing well uh this is the back uh pack entrance framed out um some doors in Hardware at the high school and middle school which has uh really had his Genesis um in work with the Princeton Police Department a few summers ago um High School cafeteria coming along well um once again to to refurbish the kitchen uh area serving area and the uh the U seating area in uh 10 weeks is a high is a tall order uh we're hoping to have um inspections come through uh next early next week um so we we've been working with our new food service provider pomptonian um for uh plans for uh preparing meals um not in this kitchen the first week or so so you know we we felt like that was a definite possibility um a probability really so coming along nicely um is that the same picture my bad how many pictures do I have did that kind of fast so this is uh the technology infrastructure project um I can't tell you what these doing I I wouldn't want to put Matt on the spot over there either but he's been a really uh big part of all the work that's going on in this District uh Matt Jones um one of our Network managers really uh and this projects and many others been a u a big part of them and uh we're very thankful and he comes here uh once a month or more sometimes to help us with the meetings um security cameras and access um here at the high school so excellent uh security cameras uh all over the district seems like I duplicated a couple here and that is uh summary of some of the work there are more projects that um are going to be worked on as we uh continue um next summer there are some larger projects planned uh we're continuing to work on playgrounds we've actually uh made a lot of progress um in the last month with our professionals and so we continue to work hard to um improve the district's facilities all over well thank you Matt for your stewardship of the projects we know it was a very busy 10 weeks for you thank you um and thank you to the community we think it's important the board thinks it's important to provide you with updates of how we're spending money that you've given us to improve our facilities thanks Matt you ask question you're welcome um what about um August the general anything keeping you up at night right now and uh also questions about change orders these projects I know you all the construction projects keep me up at night um especially as you know we close in on the opening of school um also uh since a lot of work has being done at the high school we've worked really closely with the High School uh Team principal Burge and her team um a couple of which members are are friendly new really everyone's been involved in um selecting things but really uh helpful in working through um any issues this summer with moving around programs at the school you know when you're talking about roofs I mean it's super important and you know we were overall fairly uh it wasn't a a wet summer um so we're able to get you know roofs necessitate um we did you know we did have H A rainfall uh with some water did come down but the uh floor was replaced so does happen what was your second part of your question Adam well just change ORD are they um how a lot or under the acceptable rate whatever that percentage might be I know that's a very variable yeah they've been uh very reasonable uh so far on uh most of the projects sometimes uh you know a few things that we've done uh at the elementary schools uh added a a few ladders to access uh the roofs were replaced at CP across the street and there was no access ladder up for that high roof that we see um says on top of the gym um so things like that so uh pretty pretty fair you did see the picture overall that's uh what we were calling foreseeing condition on the high school roof where that masonry had deteriorated once they start to peel back that um so that's obviously super important to fix that while they're up there um so yeah acceptable in my opinion Susan um I just wanted to un behalf of the operations committee I mean Matt's had uh 18 projects in work this summer many of them that have many different parts uh for those of you who like the operations meetings they're open to the public we received about a 50-minute update on all of these projects He just did the brief update you're going to have your chance for your report but um now I I left it to this I'm not gonna bore everyone but I do I've never seen I've been you know part of this district for over 20 years I've never seen this many projects being worked on at one time and I really think for the students and the staff it's they're going to notice a really big change so we're very excited so we just want to say thank you for the work um and I'll just add to that um go ahead you go ahead well I I just want to say uh happy fifth anniversary Matt because it's his fifth anniversary today and there was a board meeting on my first day many of you were here the board thank you no well I know last uh was it the last convocation you're like I just got tenure two two it was two ago it was two ago right and I was like exactly I was confused but he's like done now um but when I was I went to the high school for a convocation this morning um Brian dubinsky the athletic director was so excited we literally he had we had three minutes and he had me run through the training um the new training office and then also through the hallway those lights are very nice and also the floor and the painting I mean so when you say staff are excited they're they're excited and that's great yeah there's many the cafeteria is going to be awesome I mean that may be one of the biggest changes to the high school that I've seen in a long time to have such a bright and pleasant beautiful beautiful what's that yeah that took a few years yep a lot of people involved you mentioned when you went playgrounds what did you find when you went dug into those old playgrounds like a little Brook the cement you know the camont whatever the materials called yeah the uh we did get geotechnic um Consulting Engineers involved in doing uh core samples of the asphalt areas at the playground to you know um assess whether you know how far down they uh most of them were in were in uh very good shape good to know that's good to know decent shape so probably won't have to go all the way down but we're continuing to assess those results with our um engineer thank you all right anyone else thank you mat I appreciate you're putting that together not to add another project to your you're welcome projects but it's important for the community to see absolutely yeah so I appreciate it thank you you're welcome all right and with that uh I'm going to turn it over to you Dr [Music] Foster so I'll try to yeah let me move over a little so I'm not in the way uh so good evening everyone um so it is such a privilege uh to serve as interim Acting Superintendent um for the 2024 25 school year uh I'm confident that this year will bring the promise of infinite possibilities and a myriad of opportunities for our students as we encourage them to explore innovative ideas pursue passions and find joy and purpose as our mission States we I know so I want to just highlight um some of the wonderful pictures thanks to Christa uh who took them this morning this morning we hosted the annual uh Princeton Public Schools convocation with all our returning staff members the convocation opened with the national anthem and the PHS Alma maters sung by the PHS Acappella group cats meow so it was such a wonderful moving moment and it reminds us of why we're here uh we're here for our students and then Matt if you want to go to the next slide uh so as we welcome students on sep nember 3rd we're very excited uh we're going to choose kindness as a commitment this year I've had the privilege to serve Princeton in many capacities and most recently uh as acting in terms superintendent and what I have found genuinely is that Princeton public schools and this community is oneof a kind unmatched original and yes a very special place to be and learn so this year we will continue to be one of a kindhearted community and although kindness is can be misunderstood and may appear superficial and often misused as a synonym for nice it is much more complex than that now don't get me wrong being nice is not necessarily a bad thing but kindness encompasses much more including compassion Trust gratitude forgiveness and yes courage and there's a wealth of research on its benefits kindness has been shown to increase self-esteem empathy and compassion and improve our mood it can decrease blood pressure and cortisol a hormone directly related to stress levels people who give of themselves in a balanced way also tend to be healthier and live longer kindness can increase our sense of connectivity with with others decrease loneliness combat low mood and improve relationships it can also be contagious encouraging others to join in with their own generous Deeds so let's hear from the experts okay we're going to hear from two experts we can go to them what might kind of sound what my kindness feel like and I feel like a nice feeling that everybody you know enjoys when there's have one more expert tonight hey my friend Louise what does kindness mean to you that that mean that that you're showing toys and you being kind to somebody and if you want one of your toys you want to give it to if you want you want one of your toys you just can give it to them and then can get one to to you what my kindness feel like someone's happiness what might kindness sound like happy so they're they're just a few students um and that was was a delightful um we we did some interviews of students to find out what they already think about kindness so we'll be exploring that uh throughout the year uh and so this year as we begin to incorporate kindness in all that we do we can build deeper and more meaningful relationships with each other and our students so that students again can find joy and purpose in learning and understand that Princeton Public Schools is one of a kind so much more to come on that thank you uh and then I just want to highlight a couple other things in my superintendent report uh this past week Princeton Public Schools hosted new staff orientation which was a resounding success we had over 42 new staff members join us for a week of professional learning uh we gave them time in their building so they can meet with principes and supervisors while getting acquainted with new spaces new staff members participated in various workshops including Le with care training Equity training understanding of students IEP and they even took a guided bus tour through Princeton led by our very own Justin Matthews who is a teacher uh at Princeton Middle School uh we'll continue to provide support throughout the year for our new staff members and I want to just um extend uh a deep uh gratitude for uh to Dr Angelo ciso Sten who ran um the new staff orientation many uh she had lots of support uh many ad admin Le workshops but thank you for all your hard work and also for the convocation this morning it was just spectacular so I really just want to recognize you and thank you for that um you will notice on the agenda as well uh our 2025 26 Calendar uh is is on uh for uh for your uh for the approval of the board uh tonight um fingers are crossed um I had a very promising conversation with Raina uh from our Township and uh we think uh that we may be able to uh you know have have school on election days um they are working the township is working with us uh and on behalf of us to um you know move the the two polling locations out of um uh Riverside and Little Brook so thank you okay um thank you Dr Foster um I just did want to say something about the calendar um as Dr Foster mentioned new staff orientation was last week um and this is all um uh a result of our collaborative relationship with our labor unions um there's studies that show that children learn better in September than they do in June and this has been an initiative of the board to move the school year um as early in September as we can so that requires um our staff to come back to school before Labor Day uh which is not common place in New Jersey um but our staff also agrees that children learn better in June uh in September than they do in June and so we're just grateful um for that partnership so thank you um Dr Foster I saw there was a a couple other things what did I miss access update oh yes and and so I was just waiting to oh now I I'm gonna uh reintroduce um uh Miss prilla Russell and she is going to to um share the access uh data uh and this is for our multilingual Learners um and uh she'll kind of explain what access is and the results so thank you very much and I'll first say the PowerPoint has 34 slides but we're only gonna look at like six of them so um welcome so um so what is access um as a refresher it's uh an assessment that our multilingual oh okay a thank you come stand next to me um so suppose I could have stuck it onto here somehow with tape so it's an assessment that are the word we're using in New Jersey now is multilingual Learners M LL and it they everywhere else they're still called L's English language learner which is so much easier to say than Ms and um and I and you'll hear me say L's quite a bit because this test is called access for L's but uh again uh every multilingual learner needs to take this it doesn't matter if the student arrived the day before uh um the window closes on the test and if the student arrives the day before with no English they still have to sit for the test also if um a student's parents have declined services for the year ESL Services the students still need to sit for Access until they reach uh an exiting score so there there's some pretty little graphs in um amongst these 34 slides and um we'll look at a couple of them but you should know that um there are six steps and um a 4.5 is the score that the state has set for students to exit but we don't just say you're out of the program if you get a 4.5 we we look at multiple measures especially at the elementary level the ESL teachers are always talking with the classroom teachers so the other thing about this access test is that it's mostly online not for kindergarteners but for just about everybody else um so it's a big deal oh look what happened okay oh dear so on the next slide please now this is not part of the um all the data that's come from the state but to me it's pretty interesting and I gave it the uh exciting label of some District numbers so um but you can see that um if you look at the total tested for this past year it's pretty much the same as the total tested um for 2 2 23 but there are some significant shifts in the numbering so um for instance especially if you look at the 912 how that's uh those numbers are 13 higher than before but also then look at the elementary schools how two years ago Johnson Park had 50 students to test in um ESL and uh this year had 30 while two years ago Riverside had 30 and this year had 50 so um again I should say the numbers tested are not necessarily those in the class because in Princeton it's pretty common for children in special education not to um be in ESL classes uh however they still need to take the access test uh and then on the right are uh just three of our biggest groups um Asian Hispanic and then European you can see those numbers so okay and now let's see so if if we go to slide seven please Matt okay here we see the beginning of the pretty graphs and the bar that's the most interesting to us is the fourth from the left in each one the pale green um yeah because that's level four and so in the middle of level four comes 4.5 and if students uh get that score then they can exit uh from the program you see very little um to the right of that because um well students get 4.5 and then they're out they don't have to get a higher score uh than that there are a few of them because maybe one year a student didn't do too well on the test and then the next year jumped up into the fives or once in a while even to a six so does that make some sense that trending yeah okay um so then I think we should go um yes abute number in the high school um this past year there were 79 okay um yes as I had said the high school numbers had gone up this year uh okay so let's see now so the next whole set of slides U Max uh Matt if you could go to nine we'll just there are a whole lot of slides that look like this one so not it's not too interesting but they go they break down by grade um grade and by schools uh and then can I just add in Priscilla I'm so sorry for interrupting over here um we have to um suppress the data if it's less than 10 students that's an identifiable piece so yeah every year the district is required to report out to the community and to the board our test scores however if it's a group that's less than 10 it's suppressed and we have to do it within 60 days of receiving the test score so that's why Priscilla is here why I'm here yeah exactly and and that's yes I was going to say you see a whole lot of less than 10 um because our numbers are really quite small when you break them down okay so then Matt would you go to um up to 25 please and I'll go to okay so okay that's just sort of the ending of that that's showing community park and then if we go on some demographic analysis and here are these pretty bar graphs again um so you can okay see these I I assume you weren't all sent this um yes the board was this was shared with the board and so one the demographics are also required from the state so we have to report out on ethnicity groups gender and if students receive um special education free and reduced lunch or 504s yes so these last few graphs um Matt if just go through them please are different categories and again we're mostly interested in the fourth from the left the green okay so let's go to 33 and just to talk a little about our program what our areas of strength are that we have strong strong District district support and I'm as the supervisor of ESL I am so grateful for that um at the high school we have a team of three teachers um it took years to get the third teacher but we do and um we have so many course offerings for our ESL students uh that's only come about from strong administrative support at the high school uh at the middle school um we have uh excellent we've had excellent for several years co- teing in English language arts um and then areas for growth they pretty much remain the same from year to year we want to continue to expand um support for our kids outside of the school time and also we want to bring their families um in more and and we've been doing that with Community night um Festival Latino um so okay and the one other thing we're working on been very successful at the elementary levels um is to have more teachers used to be called scop train it's now called SEI sheltered English instruction trained and we have access to free online training and one of the ESL teachers um facilitates this works very closely with each teacher we would like more high school and middle school teachers to be trained it's 15 hours of training it's a slog but it's pretty good so um and then uh finally um uh what are we're doing what our next steps are again the SEI training and we're so excited uh and appreciative of the board and of Kim because I know you made it happen uh to have a second ESL teacher arriving shortly um at the middle school she should be here in a couple of months and so that uh yeah 60 days um uh she will be able to give support in science and social studies to our ESL kids where they haven't had any support before so we're excited about that and um we want to continue to leverage our community leaon um to support our families and um support our students in many ways that we cannot do uh in the school so do you have any questions thank you you're welcome wait wait wait hold on question I'll hold oh Su can leave all right thank you sue uh thank you thank you so much for this information I appreciate and I like your colorful graphs that it breaks it down but one thing I did notice is there's a there's a significant disparity between the the girls and the boys overall across the district it looks like the girls are having a lot more of those fourth green bar than the boys I don't know if we can show that well one reason is that um at the high school um many many many of our new students are Latinos um coming and they're they are there a term called scyth or S which is students with limited or interrupted formal education so we have many boys coming who have not been in school for a while or um have not been in very high quality school and they're arriving they're they arrive all year we welcome them and start working with them but they come with almost no English in uh many cases and a weak background so we have a long way to go with there's a disproportionate number of males yeah thank you goad just I'll just thank you just to say thank you Priscilla for all you do for for these learners for our entire Community um will these slides be public for the for the public will they be on our website put them great that's what's the answer is it yes um Family engagement is always very important um how do you find working with the the parents and how how do you try to keep them engaged I know a lot of them probably work too and they're very busy um I was get a kick at the high school because our uh ESL teachers and our two AIDS have every kid and every parent on speed dial um on their cell phones and uh they don't hesitate to pick up the phone and call if somebody's late for school they'll call the parent they'll call the child um we also have the community leaon who work very hard to help the parents um so yes and yes they are working a lot uh but we when we we had for instance our Festival Latino bless you in bless you uh c table in June we had a very good turnout um it was at dinner time and many families made sure they were there I just want I do appreciate what you do because it is you know it's America right they're coming we educate everyone and these students are coming in some probably don't even speak some probably speak native languages too if they come from Central America correct speak yes we we do have mum speakers and so Spanish is their second language English is their third yeah thank you so thank you Priscilla we appreciate it welcome Drive ride home safely are you staying okay um so now moving on to our first public comment wait we have one more I'm sorry it's a marathon but we've got we have um Dr two is going to just present an update on the AI Summit and what's next good evening everyone I'm reading the room I'll go fast okay and you'll see there's only nine slides um so thank you everyone we thought it was really important to do a public presentation about the AI work that's being happening throughout the summer in the district especially as we have a first read tonight of our generative AI policy um so Matt you can advance the slide um so we held an AI Summit over um the summer we were waiting for direction from the New Jersey Department of Education and it wasn't really forthcoming um as well as our policy provider but that kicked in so we're very supportive of that but we know that AI is here and it's been here and we have to address it and sort of the theme of that Summit was sort of we don't want to go back to a decade or so ago when social media kind of really started coming on the rise with smartphones and then it sort of we saw the aftermath and the after effects of that and so how can we put some guardrails in place because we know that when students are leaving us to be successful in the workplace they're going to be using AI so we can't ban it but how can we use it safely um so we thought it was really important that we had board member representation from um sack and policy so Betsy and Beth were um amazing and gave up a lot of their time um to do this work um we had PTO leadership high school students um you know they're very busy in the summer so we had one dedicated student sheina shout out to her for being there the entire time she was wonderful and she wants to do AI for her career um so it was really really impactful and she should uh to hear from her um we had technology department members teachers Librarians and our College home career counselor so I think we had a nice well-rounded group and you know what was really interesting is we spent a lot of time at the beginning sharing our views of AI and we are all not United in them there's people who are terrified of it there's people who are like let's use it all the time um and so how do we as a community and a learning community work with our students with it um so the goals were twofold one we have to develop a policy because we can't do anything without sort of a guiding document and a guiding framework with that and then also a professional development plan um the professional development plan we really need to know that it's not just teaching teachers and I always joke like the kids are here and the teachers are here and the admin are here so how do we get the admin in front of the staff and how do we get the staff closer to the kids of where their expertise layer is so that we can be ahead of knowing ai's limitations we know there are biases we know there's copyright infringement age restrictions hallucination and inaccuracies and we really playing around this summer learning some of these things in livetime and knowing that it's not fallible it's not Google and it won't always give you the best information or the right information so what can we do as staff members and students to verify and to check sources and do some of that critical thinking we know is really instrumental with our portrait of a graduate skills then we also had to think about I'm so sorry Matt can you go back one sec our academic Integrity policy like what needs to get updated uh student data and privacy acceptable use and then instructional practices so you know how do we work to create AI resistant assignments and clarity about when students can and can't use AI one of the things that we learned I don't know if a lot of people realized this is that um you know people synonymously use chat gbt with AI chat gbt is a tool to use Ai and and a one tool and you need to be 13 or over to um use it with parental consent so as a district we can't say to kids hop on chat GPT without having parental consent involved um so we want to provide a safe sandbox for them um to play in which I'll get into in a minute and so um we split into two large groups this is very hard to read um but we're going to try to kind of blow it up and have posters and things like that and we're working with staff tomorrow to really overview this this would be more for the high school but really having clear boundaries for students so that it's clear to them of H we have a writing assignment what can you use AI for so teachers can say zero you're not using it for any piece of this assignment that is the expectation or you know what you're going to write your first strap and you're going to run it through AI for editing for clarity purposes or we can do a level two we're going to help you revise your process and your thinking in your writing or I'm okay with a level three where you're going to use it for brainstorming and an outline to get you started and then four is sort of an AI for partial task completion they kind of give examples of what that looks like how to write lyrics for an assignment or something along those lines and then five is AI is writing it and then you're editing it and they all have different purposes right and then you'll see a stop sign at the bottom which is pretty small right now but basically it's saying AI without any human lens is not okay that you can't just say write me a ter paper about blank and then submit it to your teacher so we're working with staff so that clear as kind as we were saying with staff this morning saying to to students this is okay and this is not okay when using AI so that they feel set up for success and then also challenging our teachers to say why don't you try it for a brainstorming tool and let the kids say this is good or this isn't so good because we know that AI is human uh generated information and we're not infallible so why would AI be um so it's kind of going forth and you write something in your own voice in tone have ai write it what's missing what's different um there was a lot of controversy this summer there was a Google ad about um using Gemini which is their AI tool and it said uh it was a dad saying that he was writing to one of the track stars a fan letter from his daughter so instead of the writing the fan letter he had AI to it and there was such backlash about taking away that human element of connection and saying I really aspire to be you I really value you that Google actually pulled the ad um so we don't want to take away the human voice and the human element in any of our production but also know that we have to kind of get kids ready to think about using this tool can I just add one thing to this slide sure what's also wonderful about the slide is it meets us our staff where they are yes so if I'm not ready as a staff member to involve any AI I still can use this language this is an AI zero assignment um but as I maybe have a more of a comfort level or or decide how to use it with the classroom you can refer to that as well exactly yeah for the high school that's for the high school yes and we're thinking about a simplified version for the middle school there's all different kinds of Graphics out there like a red light yellow light green light you know but clear information um when we were working in the summer a lot of the tools were 13 and over um what we are looking at um our chief technology officer Tom McDonald and I we vetted two different um uh platforms one is school Ai and one is Magic School for teachers and staff to use um and it goes through all the Copa compliance fura compliance for privacy sake and it also um creates some guard rails for lack of a better term for students so that we determine what they can use it for and what they can't use it for and there's all kinds of fun tools so it looks like we are moving M forward with school AI we're getting the quote this week and then that will be the approved vit Tool uh for our district um and just so the board and the community know um we won't be like we're not doing consent form like until the board policy passes in September we're not using any other tools because school AI is under our safety umbrella it's vetted through the district so any other tools we are telling teachers tomorrow no um because you would need parental consent and we have to update our acceptable use policy and things along those lines so we'll talk about the communication plan as well it gets tricky I can reach out to Todd about that it's hard to kind of create some kind of filter um for that but that is something that we can work with our technology department to see what we can and can't do Adam and then I'm going to move on okay just curious um do you learn from students too because this so way at least they're so way ahead of me yeah yes um absolutely 100% And I think while this as Betsy said sort of opens the conversation between staff and kids of what's okay and what's not okay and what they feel comfortable wise we often you know kids teach us all the time and I think since they are ahead of the game we want to leverage people like we had um over the summer and there's a lot of talented students who know a lot more about this than I do um so they just couldn't come to the summit this summer uh so yeah we will be continue to leverage our students as well uh so next steps for policy we have a first reading tonight the policy is a policy it's sort of a you know uh it's a template that stra Esme has recommended that we gave our princ and lens about what we value in our schools and then there's a draft AI plan that goes along with it that AI plan will be up with the second reading of the policy in September that's more of like a regulation it's the nut symbols how are teachers teachers and students learning about this how are we handling privacy concerns how are we handing uh handling data copyright all of those things so that will be up for second reading at our September meeting with the um the policy itself and then um working with Todd McDonald we are looking at our updated acceptable use forms for students as well as parental consent form so unfortunately a lot of our families already signed an acceptable use for the 2425 school year so we want to tweak it and then send it out again because once again we wanted the policy in place before we do that and sometimes you know the timelines from the state and our policy provider don't match uh school year timelines um but we also want to think about um having a parent night and that will be in the the next slide um to kind of share some information so the next steps for professional development so that's uh the uh we were already talking about it today um a little bit uh with our convocation and staff are chattering because they know it's here um so that we're doing some deep work uh with staff tomorrow we have the policy review so once it's adopted in September working with staff to review the policy and the AI plan the use scale and the committee uh the summit also develops really cool disclosure statements so in work cited you say I used AI for X part of the assignment and really think about meta cognition and say this is how it helps this is what I would do differently and so that we're learning from the tool not just using the tool and moving on but really thinking about the thoughtfulness and intentionality of the tool itself and then um we talked about forming an AI task force to review the district plan and PD opportunities and tools throughout the year and the forthcoming years and then winter and spring we're going to be a adding AI strands to our PD days we do fall and spring um institutes for professional development this is a topic that I know staff are going to have a high interest in are going to want that PD so that they feel prepared for students and there's also a lot of great AI tools for staff I do want to make it known that we have made it clear to staff and we'll make it again tomorrow that we will not be using AI for grading that we don't want that bias Le leveled in and that there's a human element there and they have been in full support of that because you know we want to make sure that we know our students the best and that we um provide them the um the time and the energy of our staff to give them good feedback and then communication um so talking with Christa gallan you know a newsletter to share share the work and solicit feedback on the policy uh the board news summary will'll be talking tonight about this presentation with a link to this presentation for the full community I would love to do something like a PTO lunch and learn I know we're always looking for topics about that in PTO meetings and then um we have some parents who are connected with Common Sense Media who have been really helpful in Sharing resources we have a call with them the first week of school I would love to see if we can partner with them to do a webinar for families this fall um about AI uh because there is a lot to learn and then you know once I think Elanor hit on the head what are they doing at home versus what they're doing at school and what should they be doing how they should be doing it I think is important the parent parent consent for will be coming and then we want to launch an AI tab on the district website we've started that work it just isn't live yet um about what it is our philosophy and policy um how parents can monitor the use of it tools they can use at home and the risks of AI because we want to make sure that um everyone is well aware of those as well and then here our summary of the goals so as I shared of school AI we're Todd and I are calling it a sandbox it's a fun place to play um it's a safe place to play there are walls um but there's a lot of cool things you can do in that sandbox um for students and staff plan an AI information night and roll out that acceptable use policy form and we also as part of the draft AI plan have an improved resource list that Todd is working on and then of course plan the professional development of the tools because we want to make sure that we're investing in the tools that Staff feel like they have the support to use them and know how to use them and we know there's going to be early adoption as soon as we say here's the link like we know that there's going to be some uh staff that sign up right away and others are going to wait for that formal professional development opportunity and I think that's it thank you Kim sorry um thanks Kim I know that uh you had 57 people participate in your AI Summit and so I want to thank you and and all the staff members who attended um and also want to thank Betsy and Beth and um Elanor also provided substantial input um so I appreciate all your efforts because it's very important and it's nice that we're actually almost ahead of something yes and has the New Jersey uh Department of Education come out with anything yet there's one web page that has links and that is it there's no guidance toolkit there's no formal resource yes North Carolina Chicago Public Schools just published something last week we're still waiting okay that's a good thing we didn't wait the other thing too is um once we we have uh partnership meetings with Princeton University as Governor Murphy has shared that Princeton University is this AI Hub of New Jersey how can we leverage some of the tools and Partnerships or resources and Partnerships that we have through them to kind of um link our students um I think that would be helpful that's great thank you thank you so much Elanor um I was wondering if we could develop something for parents of uh elementary and middle school students who you know where the students may not have learned really strong writing skills yet who may be concerned about what having AI programs on the school devices might do to that learning uh if that we could have an opt out um procedure where they could decline um that unless it's linked you know precisely to learning necessary learning standards um I think we would have to really think about that because I think when you do a blanket opt out then you might be missing out on some opportunities of of utilizing the tool um so I think we have to think about how do we use it judiciously and wisely because it could be used for brainstorming and they can kind of compare I think what we really want to emphasize with staff is when students are generating something from it whether it's editing or brainstorming or revising that they're looking at their current whatever they have to input because that's really important with the problem generator what you're putting into it and then what comes out and sort of evaluating it and synthesizing it um we don't that was one of the things that um when we were talking with school AI I said I don't want like what are the what is this going to do for kids if I just keep saying I don't know I don't know are they going to just give them an answer and that was not the case um so I think we would have to kind of keep working with staff to kind of determine what are some of those boundaries because we shouldn't be saying to Elementary or middle school students you know here's an idea write a paragraph It's not like chat GPT it's much more defined it would be great if it was if if a blanket opt out isn't going to work if um you know I know that the Chromebooks have all kinds of you know sort of control built into them right where you can sort of block certain pages during certain times um if we could make sure that the teachers and parents you know are fully apprised of how to make sure that um the students don't have access um to school AI at times when you know they're not supposed to or it's not desired that they have that access a th% and um I should have said this earlier and I neglected to the teacher also sets the parameters in school a so if they're giving an assignment they determine what kids can and can't do okay on it so it so it it really is um it's not a free-for-all for lack of a better term it really is this is what I'm asking you to do use it to do X and kind of do the tool it's much more controlled so um that's something I think when we do our parent night we could do like a demo of of what does this look like for sure um but you make a good point that we we don't want when they leave here without that guidance from the teacher and parents don't know what's going on that they're utilizing it for uh way more things than they should be Mar um yes I was wondering if perhaps we could also consider um giving guidelines I'm sure you already have considered it for the elementary school levels like how much time should be spent on a screen just in general um you know how much of your time period are we spending on a screen and then and that you know that should be obviously lower for the elementary school grades and moving up as we go forward thank you all right thank you all right and now um we're going to move on to that previously mentioned public comment um thank you for sitting uh Patiently by we try to have public comment within the first hour so I apologize for the front he heavily loaded meeting tonight um so we have public comment please uh we have a signup sheet two people signed up after that if there's anyone who would like to come and speak um just please come up state your name the street you live on uh and if you could please keep your comments to three minutes we'd appreciate it so first up is Benjamin bradlow hi uh my name is Ben bradow I live on Hamilton Avenue um I'm a parent at CP um of an incoming first grader um and I I wanted to comment today just about um what I think is quite a troubling issue with the oversight of the uh after care um I I think I wrote to at least some of you about this and I suspect others have as well um but you know there was a whole set of issues with the after care last year um you know many of us parents registered very early in the summer for this after care we're hearing very late uh right before school starts that we may not have after care um it actually you know um Lauren Samra in the district has been fantastic really communicative based on what she's been saying it sounds like the district has provided an option to the YWCA um but my understanding is that as of late this afternoon the YWCA has not taken that option on and um while while certainly this is a problem uh that the YWCA is responsible for for not planning properly with with the Staffing I'm I'm also concerned about the oversight because this is a new contract and you know I want to know across all levels where the accountability is because I don't think that parents who are really kind of on top of what should be happening with uh our kids in after care are being left in the Lurch thank you very much so um thank you for your comments on your email and I just want to say um you know we are very sorry um for what how the Communications being handled by the why and our administrators are going to speak in a minute um but we changed uh providers based on feedback we received from the community and we'll change providers again if the Comm if if our parents are not happy with the Aftercare program and if these hiccups continue um represent representations were made to us uh and it doesn't seem like they're being fulfilled um and we do still have hope that that's going to happen but um we understand how important this is for working parents and um we're our Administration is doing everything they can to support the why to make really to make sure that our parents have what they need so that their kids can go to school on the first day and they have coverage so with that I'll pass it over to Dr Foster or two both of you yeah yeah we uh we've been working together although I want to say you know actually um Lauren Samara has has been fantastic she's a brand new supervisor and it's been working uh really closely with the Y as well as Dr too um we can definitely say that uh we have lots of different ideas that we pitched uh we were on a zoom call uh this afternoon uh with um the Y um coordinators and uh we got some more information so um 61 uh CP students are uh registered and covered and and um uh you know are are uh taken care of with the Aftercare program and there are 35 um that we are working with um so Dr to had and please chime in if I you know do any um had a great idea of uh letting the the why for the first month um part of that reason by the way too is apparently um they had uh employees that um then resigned uh sort of last minute so we um suggested that we could um again Lauren was fantastic about getting some of our own staff for the month of September to help trans position uh so we may um be kind of partnering in a sense and and serving almost as a satellite uh while um they uh continue to search for employees um so that we would cover um some of that overage um Riverside so 61 uh students are covered at uh CP 59 uh students are registered at uh Riverside uh what is it I got to put my glasses on 30 at JP and 55 at Littlebrook and so um there it's you know we have about 35 students that we're um we're working on and uh you know we're thinking of splitting grade levels um to help with that so that they might take the preek to first grade and then we would um uh find some staffing for second grade through fifth grade yeah did I miss no nothing I think that was perfect so I I really I'm a working parent I I empathize with you and I know just please know I know we can't it's not really us but it is us so we've been trying to work behind the scenes to provide a variety of solutions as Lauren um had shared um what's difficult is they have a certain licensing agreement like through the the state of New Jersey and so finally it was so many Roo and hurdles we just said well why don't you do the younger ones and we do the older ones and we'll cover Through the month of September and then the goal would then be for you to higher up to capacity uh to eliminate because I I know um we've had families register this week and and and listen we've always had a weit list in in some of our Loc but families who registered in July should have child care secured um so um our goal is to wipe off the the July weight list um families those who have registered through um as much as possible um and so uh you know there was emails going back and forth as this meeting started um just about numbers and communication um but we have could not have been clear today with the YW that we really want better communication and more communication with our families because when there's a lack of communication then you know that's when people get frustrated right because if we know we're interviewing this many people this week and we we secured a candidate There's Hope and there's growth when we don't know anything it it it gets a little we get a little bit um upset and desperate and and I you know it's school starts Tuesday um so the time is ticking we have made our um uh frustration I guess for lack of a better term known um so please I I I I keep saying this like if you just give us another day uh I think there should be something coming out in the next 20 24 hours from our YW provider about what next Tuesday and next week um look like you'll see names on the agenda tonight of our staff members that the district is paying to help cover for September that is what said last yeah I know yeah I know and um it is not our provider and so we we only can do so much and this is where we talk about contracts and you know fulfilling contracts and we've made our um our thoughts and feelings known very clearly today at two different meetings and I think they heard us loud and clear and now we're ready to move on with a solution um because they know we have five days until you know we have to communicate but so Dr two you you you're confident this is going to resol we have some um resolution by the end of the week I would defin I don't want to make any promises because once again it's not under our control and that's what's so frustrating for the district however I would hope that yes that should have something tomorrow okay yeah thank you I appreciate your work on it both of you I know that we have our own problems with Staffing so appreciate your work on it all right thank you uh next up is uh Thomas [Applause] perk good evening my name is Thomas perk p Paul ERC and I reside on chess Chestnut Street in Princeton um I have moments ago taken my third covid test uh in in as many days all with negative results so I'm happy to report thank you for sharing that you're welcome um also I have also submitted an Oprah request for the petitions submitted by Mr Chan at the March 18th 20124 meeting the uh dear sah Madam as an eligible voter and homeowner residing in Princeton New Jersey I'm requesting the entire petition with any contact information rejected of course that was submitted on March 18 2024 by Mr Chen objecting to the intersectionality portion of a curriculum facilitated at our schools it is my belief that some candidates for the Board of Education and perhaps current members of the board sign this petition this submitted petition and citizens in Pro and in Princeton would benefit from this information prior to voting for candidates vying for seats on the board I look forward to your response um as we prepare to choose the candidates to elect to the Board of Education it is critical that we citizens know who sign this petition which objects to curricula taught in our schools it is my belief that two candidates for the Board of Education have signed this petition namely Lisa Potter and shenu Xiao it has been clearly stated by this board that this curricula are state are State mandate and will be taught at Princeton Middle School regardless of who facilitates it signing this P petition will prove to me and should to others uh and should to other voters that these candidates refuse to understand processes enumerated and repeated involving the Department of Education of New Jersey this board of education and the staff and pupils at our schools signing this PTI petition shows that these candidates are simply exercising a political agenda aimed at our members and of of our community that have been deemed most vulnerable and at organizations in town that have borne the brunt of malicious campaigns seeking to intimidate and undermine their efforts if these individuals are indeed included on this petition the citizens of Princeton should not trust their judgment when allocating our taxes as members of the board as submitted previously Mr mentioned a website elaborating his position yesprep.org either this is a cruel joke or pathetic mistake prep for many years stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis a medicine that can reduce the risk of Contracting HIV for people who do not have HIV but may be exposed through sex or injection D drug use prep is highly effective when taken as prescribed reducing the risk of H HIV from sex by about 99% and from injection use injection drug use by at least 74% it can also be an option it can also be an option to help protect pregnant people and their babies from getting HIV it should be noted that the use of prep is encouraged for sexually active individuals and that the use of this name for this initiative is extremely ironic it is clear it is a clear demonstration of being Dangerously ignorant and shows that the signers of this petition are unqualified to be board members thank you thank you Mr perk um anything any opena request that you submit where we have uh documents to provide they'll be provided thank you so much yep okay is there anyone else from the public who yes come on up just state your name the street you live on hi um Abby kbach I live on Orchard Circle um I am I come came here tonight because I've been sending a live emails um to various administrators and I wanted to speak more publicly about how to strengthen um DLI at CP I have two children at DLI or at CP in the DLI program a third grader and a rising prek child um I've been feeling with a third grader I've been in this program we in the school for three years now and I feel like we're almost there we're almost getting it to a point where it's good but it's it's still as um vice president har as mom says like it's still kind of half ass right now like and we shouldn't be doing things um we need uh more immersion in the home base in the non-home language at earlier ages the preas um for the English home kids should be 9010 in um Spanish and for kids who are exposed to Spanish at home should be 9010 English Spanish for them right now at the CP we have an English prek and a um Spanish DLI prek and so we can really make use of the English track melding with the um Spanish track um hopefully by increasing the immersion earlier on our kids will be able to have the English language kids who are learning Spanish would be able to have better conversations with their classmates um in Spanish the Spanish um languages in this um Spanish curriculum can be um at a higher advanced um or at grade level um for sciences and math um if done if they're not doing remedial Spanish um teaching kids remedial Spanish at the same time as trying to teach Math and Science um I also think that we should consider a prek to8 DLI program um with the community park if by increasing the size of the school at Community Park why not make it um fully through 8th grade so that you can really have great immersion by the end of the um you know the eight years nine years 10 years in the program um right now as we um Miss um Russell spoke about earlier you kind of fall off a cliff in sixth grade there's no more DLI um and we've invested a lot into having our kids do this um there also should be an increased focus on having more bilingual communication um last year I really appreciated our PTO members who are actually Boe um candidates um at the orientation they took the time to translate everything into Spanish um and no one else has done that really at CP school at CP um and so I think that we can really make this a more inclusive environment that's more two-way by upping the amount of Spanish that we're teaching our kids earlier and by making sure that all communication is bilingual um and then we also need to require that all new hires are bilingual um we have a new art teacher who is not bilingual we're not doing a 5050 day as was promised in this we're doing a 40 40 60 day 40% span um English because of all the specials and I get that there's a lot of tenured special teachers and administrators and stuff like that but as we hire new people to have bilingual be a qualification for the Bilingual School would be great thank you for your time um is there anyone else for public comment oh please come up just state your name the street you live on and oh thanks yeah cut the line um my name's Andrew Langan I live on Murray Place uh I'm not going to say anything you haven't heard already I am also a parent at C uh and I'm here to just um reiterate uh uh concerns about the uh after CARE program and the way things have gone this past year um I totally understand that the YW faces a lot of challenges in uh in hiring staff and and that uh um and that that's complicated process and and there are a lot of uh a lot of facets involved but also want to say uh just put it out there for uh you know once again to be said that these are programs that uh Working Families really rely on for their kids wellbeing uh it helps prevent our kids from being atomized in their own homes uh after school keeps them connected to their schoolmates um and whatever resources it takes for uh the YW to hire after care for these kids uh it would cost parents collectively a lot more uh I think these are really important programs for uh fairness uh broadly for people to have access to and I hope uh that I know you all are doing a lot of work to secure uh to secure these programs and keep them supported um you know I I would really just like to know what support they need uh and what um we can do to ensure that these are available to everybody that needs them uh because it really concerns me that that there is such uh this is a very predictable need um you know we registered in July um and anybody could have known that there were going to be a lot of families that were were needing care from from all the schools and so uh just um you know I I want these services to be available to everybody that needs them and and hope that you can uh continue the good work that you're doing to make sure that that happens thank you thank you Andrew and again we know how important this is uh the contract was provided to the why because they assured us they could meet the needs of our district and if that turns out not to be the case we'll find another provider as soon as we can is there anyone else who would like to speak uh for public comment no and I would also like to say to those parents um you know again we apologize like we know how dist distressing this is um I'm also working parent um so you know it's a high priority in the district and we have our best people working on it so thank you okay there's no one else for public comment we're going to move on now to um okay item H1 semiannual student safety data report are you reporting on that uh I think do we have it yeah okay very busy meeting tonight exactly so yeah um I I yeah so you can see uh that there is a dramatic in increase um for um this reporting period uh for and and violence would mean a fight um between students um you know pushing shoving so um that that piece uh and and um what you will also find if you dig a Little Deeper is that most of the incidents occurred uh at the Middle School uh not at the high school uh and so um one of the things that uh we look at internally is obviously we don't like to see that we want things reported so you know uh some of the questions we rais is is it because more things are being reported that could be a positive thing um however still too high um we are finding um that Middle School uh we need to have uh more support in prevention understanding um what it means to be respect ful of each other so we're working on social emotional I know um Mr Burr uh Mr mccan and uh Miss Carsdale uh are working on some uh programs for kids um it's about education um how we treat one another understanding Hib in general what what um uh in constitutes a harassment in intimidation and bullying and also how we respond and support uh in the the learning um so the restorative practices afterwards uh so uh there's a lot involved uh another piece that um we've added is we've added some more Port uh support with behavioral uh supports in uh a new Bridges program at the middle school and we are hoping um that's like a a tier two or a a higher level support for those students um uh that may need some more strategies um and um uh for uh their behaviors so that's where it is we put it all out there and and we're working on it thank you Dr Foster and and like we said like this is retrospective right so we're aware of it and uh and that's why you kicked off the school year with a focus on kindness so thank you for that thank you okay um then we have uh H2 harassment intimidation and bullying report and then we're moving on to the board committee highlights um reminding the board that we've been here a while now um um for those at home we started at 5:30 so it's been a while so I believe do we have an we have an equity report is that correct with we have a comment Debbie bronfeld with a Post-It note so it's gonna be it's going to be brief Equity will meet Monday September 9th at 6 pm on Zoom please join us thank you thank you Debbie um and then we have long-term planning with yeah I'll do it I promise policy is really short but long-term planning we met twice not too long we met twice in August August 15th we focused on local and state review of the proposed growth projects the plans were submitted to the doe in July and then shared with Princeton Municipal officials this triggered a 45-day period for a Princeton planning board courtesy review District Architects will present the plans to the planning board at its September 5th meeting for comments no approval is required the public is free to attend that's on September 5th and is that in person or on Zoom I think it's on zoom on zoom zoom and again they'll present the same Pro uh projects that we approved in April so it's kind of people have in this V you have seen it before but it's the opportunity to show it to the municipality great and do we have a time for that um I don't know and I think you would need to look at the agenda because you want to see where our part is because often their agendas are several hours long it's a 7 PM meeting but I think we're um near the back of the agenda we ask to be up our professionals by the hour to attend okay so we do encourage if people want to be part of that they can um local approval of the projects will be required only with respect to conditional use zoning at the school sites and only after a successful referendum vote so I just want to be clear about that this is a courtesy review they get to make comments it goes to the Department of Education it comes back to us with all the comments from the doe um and the target gr the target date for the growth referendum is now January 28th 2025 based on the time CL in of the required State doe approvals and time for review and approval of a ballot question by the board sufficiently in advance of the election date and correct me my colleagues if I'm wrong on that I just want to give that get that out there no I appreciate it that was the first time I heard the date so okay good I January 28th January 28th yep great thank you and on August 20th that's our second meeting uh we met with the representatives of Laura Bishop Communications firm who will assist us in providing referendum information to the community um the time talked about the timing of it we expect that initial FAQs and a website or basic information reflecting what we talked about in April will be available by September 9th in time for back to school with more detailed information and and info sessions being provided as the fall progresses and with continued efforts to address Community questions as they arise um communication efforts will be ramped up in November December to ensure that the community is informed prior to early voting for the January vote our next meeting is September 19th at 4:30 :30 p.m it's closed it's closed okay thank you Beth that wasn't too bad all right next up operations and I do appreciate so much all the work that you're shepherding I mean really you're doing a fabulous job and I appreciate you're keeping everything together and and keep giving a short report too at 9:15 on in August and we're volunteers so thank you and so but moving on now to operations with Susan Kenner who also has a posted note well we certainly are Miss Brian but we don't necessarily miss his reports tonight they're not short um but we met August 14th at 8:00 a.m. um as we mentioned earlier we got like a very detailed update by New Roads and spel on the projects uh currently in the district and projects that are being planned for future work and then uh as we always do sustainable prinston presented we heard about the initiatives uh that were so successful in the spring in our schools and we're looking forward to the fall to having those initiatives in all of our schools so that um the kids and the teachers can participate in the Energy savings that they found in that were so successfully found in certain schools in the spring and we also are very excited to start our conversations as the roofs finish for solo that's like one of our goals and finally we received um a very extensive report from um Brian dubinsky and Cecilia Burge concerning our athletic department and the needs over the next 5 years this is something the operations committee has been working on in all areas uh both maintenance and um so this was um highly detailed and I know the administration is reviewing what we heard um and then we're also looking forward to at some future date a technology report that will also and this will allow the district to be planning uh both for our maintenance and to continue to keep our uh facility up to the level that our students and staff um hope to uh see so our next meeting which is open to the public is September 11th at 8 am so please join us they're always very exciting thank you very much Susan uh now moving on to personnel with Debbie bronfeld yes uh the Personnel committee met on Monday August 12th we heard about a meet and greet at the middle school for all building substitutes we heard we discussed several Personnel hires for the new scho school year and several job openings and we also discussed staff orientation for new staff which as Dr Foster said was held last week for 42 new hires thank you thank you Debbie moving on to policy with Beth we have a lot of committees yeah yeah uh well and and we also we also met twice in August so we've had a lot we've been very busy this summer um we met August 14th and again on August 22nd to work through the policies that are on tonight's agenda agenda um as we've discussed the AI policy which is is exciting and was really some some hard work by many people and we appreciate Dr two uh initiating that and guiding it um we talked about the gift and talented Pro policy High School graduation requirements the class siiz policy um and then we had a whole raft of just uh ordinary course policies that needed to be updated to fit with the law on compliance and so you will see a lot of them on tonight's agenda it's just a lot of careful close reading of many different policies and we meet again next on September 19th great and we are also open to the public it's a lot of lot of fun okay 11: am. and finally uh student achievement with h Betsy thank you uh we met uh what date was that August 16th Friday at 11:00 am on Zoom um on the agenda this evening we have a trip to Cuba that's being approved uh priscila Russell who was here tonight came to speak to the the committee about that um Miss K Smith Carrington came to speak about some revisions to the pathways and pearl courses at our middle and high school and we thank her and all of our staff for the hard work uh on the curriculum revisions Kim 2 Dr two also discussed um curriculum revisions districtwide particularly in math and English language arts these are mandates from the state although math we were told we could hold off right we're actually ahead of the game um but they're unfunded mandates our staff's hard at work and we are happy to to pay for it to improve the experience of our students um we then adjourn to close session we meet again Friday the 13th of September it'll be a lucky meeting so please join us and your birthday I think we may have an in-person meeting on September 13th it um so I just want to thank Dr two and our entire staff for all of the tireless work we are really um eager to start the school year and we thank you for everything you've done this summer yeah can I just say the math was Rec called but it was recalled when I think it was August 8th it was definitely the first week of to the public to the government um we can't start things August 8th for yeah so we have spent time in this and that and yeah just to share okay um and with that we'll we'll move on to um policies for first read um J2 policies for second read um then we're moving on to K1 resignations K2 appointments remember stop me if you need me K3 transfer reassignments uh K4 Personnel items K5 substitute student placements k6 uh curriculum instruction K7 student services K8 leave of absence K9 six period uh compensation 2425 and I just want to thank um all the teachers for picking up six period coverage which is they teach another period um we had some uh late uh movement in uh some of especially our Math teachers at the high school and our Math teachers um have stepped up for a sixth period and some even for a seventh period so we're grateful it's temporary while we're waiting for people to come from other districts um we have K what are we looking atletic K K10 athletic appointments k11 um sorry I lost my spot what is it K uh non non-athletic EPS Elementary then we're moving on to L1 NJ SI and da NJ membership L2 overnight student trips L3 adoption of prek to 12 curriculum that's a big one um I'm assuming you discussed that in sack as well yes it is an annual adoption yes okay uh M1 professional consultant Services uh M2 educational placement of pupils and M3 tuition uh students children of Staff um and Mr Balden uh let us know that we have 97 students um of Faculty attending our schools in 2425 um and that's down from 111 last year we had 105 uh students with uh affiliated with staff 2223 and uh from 2122 we had 99 uh so we we're almost full circle um and we believe that's one of the things that makes our district special um by allowing our staff to bring uh their children to get educated here um and I'm some I'm glad that's something we're continuing to do um and just to clarify staff who are out of District we have live here obviously whose students are here who pay um for their children they they think so much of our schools they're paying for their kids to come here uh when they can go to their home schools um for public education All Right Moving On Now N1 is financial reports and that's an action item could I get a motion Beth second [Music] Debbie de Kendall abstain Betsy Bagel yes Beth Baron yes Adam Beerman yes deie bronfeld yes Mara franceski yes El hubard yes sus caner yes motion passes thank you Mr Balden um and two fire and evacuation drills and three Cooperative purchasing memberships and four 2425 PPS non non-public textbook security you want to talk about that very quickly Betsy oh sure the passrs Y so uh as part of a being a public school district in New Jersey we're required to manage some financial pieces for some of our non-public institutions in town so we are not spending the money on on some of these item security and textbook but it does take our staff's time um but that is a mandate that's something that all public schools that have non-public schools within their Town y uh deal with and we just happen to have a lot of nonpublic schools uh so it's a lot of work for you sorry Matt but thank you um and uh five is competitive Contracting pool management and six is 2025 referendum communication services that Beth mentioned and seven is the registration travel agenda and then we're moving on to our second public comment is there anyone who would like to speak to us that hasn't had a chance or would like to speak to us again no okay uh now we're going to move on to the um approve the consent agenda um can I get a motion Mara second Betsy Mr Balton dff the Kendall yes Betsy Bagel yes Beth Baron yes Adam Beerman yes Debbie bronfeld yes Martin franceski yes Elanor hubard yes Susan canther yes consent agenda pass all right thank you Mr Balden thank you Dr two and Dr Foster for all your work uh and all the administrators uh for all your work to get school ready for students next week um I was in Princeton High School this morning and the halls and floor floors are shining so thank you for that um and we'd like to wish everyone a very good start to the school year and here's to a great uh 2425 um can I get a motion to adjourn Beth first second Debbie all in favor all right thank you we're adjourned