e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e and pursuant to njsa 10 uh colon 4-12 the minutes of this meeting will be released when the need for confidentiality no longer exists um we'll do a roll roll call Mr Donnie oh he was here he's coming uh Miss quack here miss MC here Mr mmud here Mr Donnie here miss Brogan here please join me in a flag salute for it stands one nation God indivisible jice for all pursuant to the requirement of the open public meetings act advanced notice has been given to the Star Ledger the record in the clerk of the village of Ridgewood in addition notices were posted in the office of the board secretary in all school buildings welcome everyone um we are GNA just go off the agenda for a moment and we are going to start with a presentation uh for one of our students and I'd like to invite Mr Kish from West Point to admin to uh to share with us an important award Mr Kish you can have a seat right there with a microphone or if you put a stand feel free you don't mind I'll Stand Miss Rogan members of the board Dr Schwarz thanks for uh having me back again my name is Steve Kish I'm a resident in Washington Township former Army officer at a 1982 graduate the United States Military Academy at West Point I'm here today representing the West Point Society of New Jersey which is an organization of graduates and Friends of West Point who live in New Jersey every year we sponsor the Dwight D Eisenhower leadership award at about a 100 high schools throughout New Jersey the purpose of the award is to recognize an exceptional High School junior who demonstrates outstanding performance in the areas of academics Athletics community service good citizenship and Leadership the award is selected by the school principal and staff the award includes a portfolio with a formal certificate of recognition for the student and display plaque for the school Ridgewood High School has been presenting this award since 2006 this is my 19th year presenting this award at at Ridgewood I like to read the previous Award winners because I think many of you probably recognize them and understand the significance of the award the first awarde was Kristen Dees in 2006 Michael halwagi Matthew levitzki Jacob litzky Timothy Cox James Lee John Bayan Gabriella brilio Reed simini Claire Andrews Justin klatzky and Karen towerer Katherine Sean Zuckerman Edward o'keef ran Chan Samuel sarino Emily Schmidt and last year was Maya Grant this year's awarding is Jordan ceros I'm gonna ask her to come up and I'll say a few things about her so we like to talk about why the students are receiving the award so you get to know them a little bit better Jordan is an extremely active and respected leader in rwood high school she was elected as our class president sophomore year she was reelected as president junior year and she's going to be president next year so congratulations uh she's been heavily involved with the DECA competitive Business Club and excels in mainly two areas project management and Business Solution which is great I was actually a project manager uh she's involved with interact grow up Ridgewood and is a member of the new players company she's also a member of the Spanish Honor Society outside of school she's active in her Church's youth group she's a summer camp counselor she's a part-time cashier and has been supporting food drives for several years so congratulations Jordan I'll leave the award so it's the Delight D Eisenhower leadership award awarded for excellence in leadership character academics Athletics community service and citizenship congratulations and if you all want to we have a nice backdrop over here if you want to take a picture over here thank you congratulations and thank you since 2006 that's a that's a long run yeah all right congratulations again and next we have a retirement recognition from Willard School we have with us introducing our retiree principal of Willard School Miss Carolyn Hoffman good evening everyone tonight we honor second grade teacher Lori Pani Lori has been a staff member at Willard School for 25 years teaching kindergarten second third and fourth grade anyone who knows Lori knows what a unique and special individual she is Lori is a passionate educator who is committed to helping her students be the absolute best they can be as Learners and people in her 25 years participated in PD courses graduate classes even teaching a graduate class curriculum committees and spent countless hours collaborating and refining her instruction for her students she is truly a learner she loves to research collaborate with others and explore new approaches to best help you understand the person Lori Pani is I have gathered a few antidotes to share each year I ask teachers to consider an experience to auction off at our yearly auction for parents to bid on this year Lor's list included taking a group of students trick-or-treating on Halloween and a night of babysitting on a weekend this is Lori bani Lori has a room at home filled with her teacher attire not regular teacher attire but school spirit and holiday wear from October 1st to the 31st Lori dresses from what she calls Mild to Wild to show her Halloween spirit and just so you know the stripe tights spider jewelry pointy witch shoes and a collection of witch hats are considered more mild than wild this is Lori Pani for each student birthday Lori picks up a myar balloon for them on her way to work at 7 a.m. as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years of her career Lori had a special tradition of hosting a lunch for her kindergarten class in the spring of their fifth grade year to celebrate their Journey this is Lori Pani as someone who Embraces mindfulness Lori has brought endless strategies and practices to her students well before seal was as commonplace as it is today passing her room one will often see a dim and peaceful environment with the light hum of music and students meditating this is Lori Pani last year Lori hand delivered a blanket to one of her former kindergarten students who was graduating from Ridgewood High School when I asked her why she went on to share how this student had such a hard time parting with her blanket in kindergarten in Lorie's class Lori remembered this 12 years later and wanted her to have a special blanket as she headed to college this is Lori Pani Lori thank you for all you have done for the children of Willard your funloving presence and genuine care for all will be greatly missed there will never ever be another Lorie Pani on behalf of everyone you have touched at Willard in your 25 years we thank you and wish you the very best in your retirement I personally can't wait to hear about all of your adventures thank you for those beautiful words I just uh I vividly remember at the age of seven sitting in my mother's opal uh driving down Lake Street uh we were from P County and uh my grandparents lived in Waldwick it's before 287 was uh made a a Highway uh and as we were driving down Lake Street I said out loud to my mother mom Someday I'm G to I'm going to work at this in this town and fast forward 20 years later maryan Williams gave me the chance to become a teacher at w school um where I have grown as a teacher thanks to Ridgewood and thanks to the Board of Ed who has given me the opportunity to just be the best teacher that I can possibly be with all of the uh professional development that we were that we've been given and uh a master's plus 30 so I thank you very much I can't wait to uh to go on with new and exciting Adventures but I thank you for the time that I had here and Lord Miss congratulations all around but don't leave yet pict e and congratulations again miss Pani Miss Miss Pani excuse me and thank you everyone for coming and supporting too it's so nice to have session audience sorry again to make wait so long but thank you for sticking around and next we have our student representative report from Miss Sarah bronstein Miss bronstein is this your last support um are you going to join us on the 24th I think I'm I think I'll be here this is my second to last all right awesome I that is commitment yeah that's why I keep coming back um well to begin in March students from rhs Spanish classes participated in the National Spanish exam offered by the American Association of teachers of Spanish and Portuguese ARA students were very successful earning a total of five gold 15 silver and 11 bronze medals the rhs prep class and bfms students unified Partners attended a Rockland Boulders baseball game on May 29th rhs had a very successful celebration of the Arts day followed by an artb performance at night Richard students got to perform with their bands in and outside of school in jimm Wood during the day and on the front lawn and after school the Shrek new players cast had a field trip to BCC to perform part of their show and also share the Arts with other schools art just stud students got to enjoy food trucks this past Wednesday on the 5th from places like Empanada trucks ridland and ribs Kona Ice Sunrise Delight EDS The Head and the dog and kimchi smoke the Federated HSA is providing free ises for all the seniors for the yearbook signing on June 5th so everyone got a free voucher for that the Latin club went to the 2024 New Jersey Junior classical League State Convention and came home with 71 Awards seniors had a very fun college teacher day and Senior Sunrise parent volunteers and teachers got bagels snacks and candy for all the students and also helped set up Raffles raffle prizes included rhs t-shirts water bottles gift cards to various places in and around town during lunch seniors went outside to the front lawn and took pictures with friends to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments this past year the FTC robotics team had an end of thee party to celebrate Tyler laap Club president made 3D printer trophies for each of the FTC robotics team members in early November green Club removed a patch of grass by the tennis courts and planted Wild Flower Seas these flowers are now in full bloom with beautiful colors of red and blue if you wish to pass them RS class of 2024 senior banners were hung around town by a group of rhs alumni by the rhs Alumni Association the banners were hung on fences in high traffic areas at rhs Stevens Fields GW Middle School BF middle school and Gren Park the rhs dance classes performed on Friday the 31st to friends and family there were a total of 16 dances with 24 amazing choreographers the performances went extremely well with fun costumes and lighting done by senior Jack tessman um Bridgewood Apes students have had their long-term sustainability project and even got a bike lane past at on Pleasant a seniors had their prom at the Grove in in Cedar Grove it was a lot of fun there was scatered food and there was a photo booth as well and a great DJ and it was a very fun time choir had their endof thee concert on June 4th and the orchestra had theirs on June 5th both in the Campus Center at 7:30 the rhs band had their Tunes in June concert in the bandaw on the 6 at 8m and this was all their final um concerts the rid seniors have their award ceremony tomorrow as for sports the girls track team just got second at sectionals and the boys got first they both participated in groups this past weekend Boys Baseball unfortunately lost Monclair and States but had a very successful season nonetheless and girls and boys that qualified for track Nationals will will start running this Friday thank you thank you lots happening at the high school right yeah and winding down uh when do finals start Wednesday final start this Thursday Thursday periods four and eight and then um backwards this time so 37 2 six then one and five yeah at least you can remember all that yeah as a parent it was sort of confus confusing um I'll um open the microphone for public comment um please remember to um state your name and address and um keep comments to um four four minutes or less that would be much appreciated and I'm sorry again for the wait thank you good evening everyone Brian Ward 35 centry Court in Ridgewood thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all here today and I would like to discuss our vibrant music programs and Facilities our teachers and students have to learn practice and perform I'm a 20-year resident of Ridgewood father of two daughters who went through a world-class school system jambur cast member for eight years and a 2019 producer active member of Ridgewood Emergency Services band parent for eight years which includes the last four years on the board two years as Treasurer and I'm the outgoing president I will soon be joining the board of friends of music to continue my service to the music programs that have meant so much to me and my family I love this Village and I'm a very engaged partner with you all and many of the people around here Jason Kelsey the soon to be Hall of Fame center for the Philadelphia Eagles in his recent retirement speech thank several people for his incredible success but what got headlines was his emphasis on thanking his high school band director in many public speeches where he mentions his world class skills with a baritone Sachs he reminds his audience that music develops many critical skills including coordination spatial awareness problem solving communication and teamwork we obviously could not agree more these are skills you take with you your whole life the Ridgewood High School music programs are treasure gems of our community colleges don't even have these kind of programs these programs make every event better football games downtown for the holidays parades Memorial Day services and on and on we go here is the tough news and some numbers Ridgewood High School has three great music programs the band the choir and the orchestra but they only have two rehearsal spaces Orchestra does not have a dedicated rehearsal space at all rooms were built in 1964 when there were four classes of students two choir one band and one Orchestra for a total of 150 students now 15 classes of students five classes for each of band choir and Orchestra so 200 kids in band 100 in choir and 120 in Orchestra so 420 total when the room was developed for 150 back in 1964 and they're growing so approximately three times the size the amazing thing is that there is 1,200 kids in sixth through eth grade music at BF and G and GW in band Orchestra and choir the music program is about 20 to 25% of the total student population in rhs 15 crcular Ensemble periods to fit 16 periods only one of the rooms is free for one period of the day giving staff no access to get in there and clean it up more than 20 co-curricular ensembles 12 in band five in choir and four to six in the orchestra and the last renovation was back in 2001 basically 25 years ago there are five practice spaces for 400 students to try and share this is in addition to two rehearsal spaces but so everyone knows these are like little closets that can fit maybe a piano and one to two students so the practice space is okay but we have five for 400 kids inadequate rehearsal space for 20 co-curricular ensembles who meet before school during sorry and after lunch and after school there's always schedules overlapping as teachers and other students try to use these spaces to rehearse and practice hold auditions Etc additionally organizations outside of Music Department use these facilities as well in all these spaces the quality of sound is affected by the wall and seal materials and low quality and low ceiling height there is simply not adequate absorption diffusion or reflection which are quality performance indicators for any musician it's like the football team practicing in a bowling out it's just not adequate storage space already undersized classrooms are packed and the equipment uh is all over the place and we invite you all to go and tour these facilities so you can see them for yourselves so this is quite the problem very limited and lowquality space for an independ program but the lack of music class classroom space is not only impacting the musicians it affects the whole student body it leaves the administration with extremely limited options for any scheduling flexibility too many seemingly unnecessary choices are to be made by students who would rather have many more choices like flowing water through a valve the original valve was engineered for a low volume you're going to put too much pressure on the system and has to be released and I know the time is up so I'll finish it up in a second or if you'd like to to send us the comments that would be great with your statistics I will I will so I'll just end by saying I have hopefully I've demonstrated the value of these programs and the enrollment numbers should be evidence of that and I invite you to conduct a study tour the facilities get to know the teachers who are teaching in these facilities I think visually seeing things is always helpful it's very hard to describe things without the visuals but um I think you'll understand 20 to 25% of the students going through a a small little space like that is worth your time to understand more thank you thank you good evening I'm Stephanie Stern dly 15 Lennox Avenue thank you so much for the chance to speak tonight when my husband got a job in New York I had no idea where to live we were just outside of DC and I said to a co-worker of his if you could live anywhere in the area and commute to New York where would you live and without missing a beat they said Ridgewood is my dream Town Ridgewood is exceptional and maybe because I've only been here a couple of years I'm still in awe of how exceptional it is but as an artist as the parent of a musical kid one of the things that makes Ridgewood so special is its love and support of music you can't walk through the village without seeing live music everywhere the high school band plays holiday events and leads all our parades we have marching band flags outside our homes and Friends of music signs in our long so it baffles me that we aren't currently supporting our student musicians in an adequate fashion I know it seems like high school is far away when you have a young child but I have an elementary school kid at Orchard one at GW and one at Ridgewood High School and it is Will here in the blink of an eye currently slightly less than one-third of our entire student body at Bridgewood High School is involved in the music program in some capacity 420 students in the curricular program this is includes not only our Band program but our Orchestra and coral departments these students also choose to participate in Afterschool programs such as our percussion quartet which just performed at Lincoln Center and the acabellas at Town Hall in New York City our current band with 200 students Orchestra with 120 and choir with 100 students shared two classrooms just two our instructors managed to fit 15 classes into 16 periods a week this means there 's only one period where these classrooms are open to be cleaned our students at the very least deserve clean classrooms to learn in this also means there's not enough storage for their instruments and equipment we store things on a truck our classrooms do not currently meet our fire codes to keep our students safe as they were re last renovated nearly 25 years ago this past Thursday our band students were set to open the season at the cashow memorial Band Shell her Ridgewood tradition I love our traditions due to the lightning and rain these kids had to pack up the trucks with their instruments and hurry back to the school where they then set up chairs platforms and instruments in order to have their final concert these kids mobilized and shook off the weather and yet another disappointment of an event being sidelined by rain they rallied and they performed an incredible show our music students always rise above but they should not have to they did all of this in the Campus Center because our students don't have an auditorium even as a makeshift performance space the Campus Center is unacceptable the students have to move very large and heavy instruments up the stairs and onto the stage this is a liability most importantly for our students safety years ago our school purchased shells to help with the Acoustics so that the music could be heard over the very loud hbac system in the Campus Center they purchased 12 10 in total my apologies 10 in total today they're are only three that are still usable I sat on the committee this year that helps award band scholarships to our students and one of the questions we asked them is what would you change about the band program almost every single one of them said we wish we had a place to perform just today in the state of the school survey one of the questions was should we allocate money for a better performance space at Ridgewood High School the answer is an emphatic yes we are one of the only schools in Bergen County that does not have an auditor and an auditorium would benefit not only our Performing Arts students but all of our students at Ridgewood High School research shows consistently that students involved in music programs score significantly higher in math English and science standardized tests music education also plays a crucial role wrap it up I prise in graduation rates and it boosts attendance rates yeah Beyond academics music Fosters essential well-being boosts self-esteem and reduces anxiety and depression in our students if you could if you could just yeah of course great thank you sure I'll send the rest of this that would be great that okay that would be great to send your comments thank my Stinger is that we have an insanely High rate of return from our Ridgewood High School students far above the national average our kids go through the public school system they go to college they come back here to raise their kids more than that we have an insanely High rate of return for educators who have gone through our system go to college come back and teach here including several of our current band advisers so by investing in our current Ridgewood High School students music program we're investing in our future students and our future citizens of Ridgewood a place that I am blessed to live at and never want to leave so much time thank you all right uh I'm Matt kofina from 141 Westend Avenue um thank you Miss Brogan Dr Schwarz and the rest of the board for giving me a chance to speak to you today um so we were fortunate enough this year I'm here with my wife LTE uh daughter Alysa Mato who's a fourth grader at Ridge and Michaela who's our exchange student from Italy maybe put them up here stand with me for a second um I'm here today just to encourage that we be uh more welcoming to exchange students um Michaela is part of a program called AFS and uh I believe AFS at least has only sent one other student to Ridgewood High School uh in the last 30 years they've taken 10 Ridgewood High School students abroad but we've only uh welcome to here um uh I was an exchange student myself in high school I went to Brazil for a year and I can tell you that it's a lifechanging experience I think not only for the exchange student but also for the school community that they're in Michela was an honor student every quarter that she was here she made a great group of friends great impression on her teachers um uh AFS overall brought about 20 students to New Jersey this year and they came from all over the world um turkey we had a blind student actually from Turkey uh this year uh Jordan uh Slovakia uh Italy Germany uh Japan all over the world um but all these other 20 students uh their local high school didn't charge tuition so that's the big difference here I don't know the exact numbers but my understanding is that we charge close to $20,000 tuition uh which you know in Michaela's case she was able to get a scholarship um and AFS Italy and afsusa were able to split the cost of the tuition um but uh it's prohibitive for students from especially lower income countries from you know Africa the Middle East Latin America their programs can't afford to to pay that kind of money so um you know again my request would be that we consider accepting you know not a lot but maybe one or two or three students either without the tuition or greatly reduced tuition uh the last couple things I'll say is um there's a difference between J1 and F1 Visa status so I think our our tuition program may have been designed with F1 in mind J1 students are here really just for cultural exchange purposes they're not coming to the United States to get an education uh the F1 Visa requires that the school of charge tuition the J1 Visa does not um and uh it through a program like AFS AIS is taking responsibility for finding the host family all the paperwork all the Visas so it's really not much incremental work for uh Richard high school you know other than she's attending classes and taking a seat uh and I also have I don't know if I'm allowed to submit exhibits but uh a letter from uh Secretary of State Anthony blinkin encouraging schools uh to to accept exchange students and he says American High School exchanges are a fundamental part of us diplomacy public dis diplomacy efforts so he's just basically strongly encouraging schools to consider accepting these students and now if I don't know if I get another four minutes or not Michaela was just gonna say a few words thank you thank you um hi everybody I'm Michela I just wanted to say that during the past few months I learned about different cultures sharing moments with other exchange student hosted in New Jersey and I strongly believe in the importance of trying new things and being able to to be open to new experiences to grow as individuals but also to build connection with the people around us now here in rud I have a second family mat and leet my parents mat my little host brother and Al sorry my H sister um I open my word to new possibilities but also my family did I had a home 4,000 miles away from Italy and every day I got to know more about this country and I accepted to be in a reality sometimes similar but sometimes different from mine what I appreciate more than anything about United States is the diversity of people living here a mix of cultures and languages that shapes the identity of this country young people here are the heart of the community and the high school I think is its Center I'm grateful to have had the chance to share my culture with students and teachers at R high school I had the chance to attend different classes that I would have never taken in lead like law constitutional or US history or painting school here is very different from school in Italy and I appreciate it the way teacher here are willing to help their students and the role the sports has in the everyday life again I just wanted to say that I'm really grateful for having having had the opportunity to live this experience and I hope that many other students will have the same chance in the future thank you very much much hi uh Susan Madison 428 Lynwood Avenue uh I'm here tonight because I know you're speaking about the math program and I really just wanted to come and thank you and to thank Dr Schwarz and Dr daring and especially Miss oimo um it's uh it was was really really um good to see all of the work that you put into it um the very very thoughtful analysis that you did I'm very happy for our students in Ridgewood that you're going to be making these changes I also want to thank Mr Donnie who's been a champion of this um so anyways I've come here a lot to complain so I just wanted to come and say thank you hi Kristen plumbley 169 Cottage Place I am here to talk about the facilities at the high school for the music programs my twins are graduating in nine days from the high school so you would think that I don't have any more skin in the game just let it go but um I won't because I believe in everything that both Brian and uh Stephanie Stephanie said sorry that's live theater folks our music uh departments are are very important of course I think that uh but again as I said for all the reasons that they've listed I couldn't say anything any better so I'm going to sing about it and you are welcome to join in with me it's very simple I know this board will support us I know this board will support us I know this board will support us I know this board now keep going like that keep going just I know this board will support us I know that music means too much an auditorium and more classrooms I know this board will support us keep going I know this board will support us I know that music means too much an auditorium and more classrooms I know this board will support us last time I know this board will support us thank you very much thank you any other comments from here I'm just going to check to see if anyone I some hands raised here um our first is Annie or an good evening An Loving 342 South Irving Street can you hear me yes thank you uh good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak to you remotely I wanted to say something about the subject of having parents sign a waiver when their children are going to play on one of the bard of Ed artificial turf fields this was brought up at a recent meeting by a member of the public as well as two of the trustees and I think it's a very very good idea it has been firmly established that Turf is got a variety of Hazards parents sign waivers for their children for things like possible concussion or this that and the other this wouldn't be a problem to add one extra line saying something along the lines of I am aware that there are such and such hazards with astro turf and I will permit my child to play on these fields what really surprised me was that at a Fields committee meeting subsequent to the board meeting I heard the superintendent basically poo pooing this as something that would be unnecessary and unless I didn't understand him correctly I believe he said that it would be an additional cost I really can't see how it would be an additional cost it's been many years since my own child was in any sports in Ridgewood but I'm sure it's the same basic thing that there's a sheet of paper that you have to check off or initial various points so this would be one additional sentence and I was quite surprised when the superintendent said this because two trustees had supported the idea so um I would like you to move forward with that again the hazards of playing on these fields are very well established with all sorts of scientific studies and it is the responsibility of the Board of Education to make sure that parent parents are informed when their children are going to be at risk and this would be a risk thank you thank you so Christina you're on hi Christina million can you hear me yes my address is 530 w West Saddle River Road in Ridgewood um I just wanted to take a moment to also go back to uh the last meeting that was had on May 20th and um ask about the njde application that um Suburban Consulting engineering made you know summaries and assessments about nearly every Boe uh field being at maximum capacity for expansion and it was mentioned in this meeting that you know that contradicts the cmx report um residents also uh were thankful to hear that uh the Boe has hired an architect or maybe Architects I'm not sure to identify just you know where boa properties potentially could be expanded or enhanced but unfortunately that um detail wasn't included in the application when I think that's very important to highlight that and um I just was wondering if if the Boe could tell us when residents will hear from that architect and also just um better understand why that wasn't included in the application um and then also you know would you consider writing to the njde clarifying um the state of the Boe properties um and how you were or were not involved in the application and the reason that's important is because Optics on this look as though the Boe signed off and is totally aligned with the summary statements presented in this application and that will directly impact Haw and Benjamin Franklin Middle School School families um and you know certainly I try to stay on top of things in town but obviously I miss a ton so I was also just wondering if you could let us know like was a public meeting um was a public Boe meeting held where this was discussed and I just basically need to catch up um it just would be helpful I just feel so confused by a bunch of things after reading that application and your role and so I just would appreciate further Clarity on it uh there was also a lot of sports numbers in that application and I also would appreciate a refresher on how the facilities uh charges for field usage I believe that you know the Boe Fields have a daily fee rate and an hourly rate for additional time and so has that been collected and um you know for the sports numbers that were touted in the state application and if you could also tell us what total amount was collected and then also I have no idea like where the facility's money goes but um you know I also support the Arts and potentially you know is there a possibility where with all of this money being collected with all these sports groups uh it could could potentially go to Arts Andor music thanks so much for your help I appreciate thank you jacine you're you're on hi can you hear me yes we can uh Jacqueline 30 Carriage Lane I'd like to follow up on my concerns that remain unaddressed in the previous Board of Education meetings I've spoken several times and I'm still waiting on public dis disclosure for the board of education's Physicians position on artificial turf I understand that the Boe physician opined on the matter what is his position after receiving the mount sin letter that outlined all the risks and also provided detailed studies on the matter and then secondly I'd also like my question answered as far as at the last meeting the public was told that the board Council would weigh in on having a at the very least a disclosure in addition to the waiver maybe a waiver maybe a disclosure maybe both um and we understood that the board Council would weigh in on the matter for field users and the associated risks related to posos outlined in the same Mount Sinai forever chemical letter so if you could please provide an update on that and lastly adding to uh Miss Weiss comment which is I had previously also asked for the income from field use the fee schedule it wasn't detailed in the budget where I could see and I'd like an outline or or maybe it already exists if you could just point us where to find it of the fees collected for all the field use and also the fees that are projected for 2024 the policy says that field use is due in full prior to use so that would mean that we not only have what we've collected in the past but we should already know what's um we should already have monies and accounts for 2024 so the master Library shows that most fields are scheduled to capacity so there must be quite amount of money that was collected for all of 2024 and the previous years and I to would like to see that money go towards other projects that were spoken about today music programs auditoriums um things of that sort but if we could please have an itemization or accounting audit of some sort of the amount of money that's coming in through the thousands of field users that we have in town thank you thank you Megan hi can you hear me yes we can hi I so Megan beerley Orchard Place I wanted to thank Dr Schwarz for his presentation and conversation with the cpeg on June 3rd at our information meeting I'm calling is just a parent and Community member I'm not speaking on behalf of the cpeg um so Dr Schwarz presented to our cpeg community regarding the state of schools and I'm hopeful that his transparency and focus on valid data to make informed decisions and seemingly genuine approach to understanding the needs of our district and Community can be viewed as an opportunity for district and parent communication and collaboration to improve he started his presentation sharing his experience both personally and professionally and how these experiences influence his leadership here in Ridgewood he spent time highlighting key areas of concern that were raised by parents following his original district presentation on the state of schools on May 16 he spent exensive time in his presentation inviting parents to join the conversation with regards to looking at where we are as a district what areas do we need more information how can we as district and parents improve how we show up prepared to work together for our students and acknowledging we all have a lot have work to do and this will take effort from both sides so I just really wanna want to highlight the effort that's being put in um by Dr Schwarz Dr Fen excuse me Dr Fenwick and um miss m for adjusting their schedules to stay for the entirety of the meeting responding to the parent concerns and questions as well as parents ideas for improvements when the meeting went well over the typically scheduled time we know this is a busy time of year for everyone and I want to acknowledge that parents in the district showed commitment to working together um I'm also just highlighting so grateful to all the parents that showed up um and that were either able to attend in person or sent messages and use this opportunity to share their voice concerns and the goals that so many of us share as parents of children with unique needs in our district and if any parents or community members miss the meeting um that recording can be found of Dr Schwarz presentation on the cpeg website and if parents have continued concerns or questions or ideas they'd like to share I'd invite you to use the cpeg um feedback form that's right there's a link on the website or to join Dr schwarz's coffee chats so that you can speak with him direct directly I think the next one's scheduled for July 18th um and I just really I I think our continued um sharing of our comments and discussions are helpful for all of us as we continue to understand learn and advocate for our children and their teachers so I just wanted to to highlight that not it's a busy time of year I know there were a lot of parents that wanted to come and the meeting went very well and I'm very hopeful for um continued collaboration between um the cpad community and the district as we move forward so thank you thank you Susan you're next um hello can you hear me yes we can all right great um thank you um my name is Susan Ruan I live at 705 Kingsbridge Lane um I'm just going to piggyback off a few topics um that some people have already discussed which I agree with having parents sign off on a waiver um for kids to play on a turf field f um as I have previously mentioned my daughter did play on various turf fields and I realized that now that has jeopardized um our safety and I think that should be highlighted to parents especially if they're not in the um especially if they have kids that are vulnerable or if the parents themselves are vulnerable um the next is I attended a re recently attended an open space committee and um field usage was discussed and or over usage um and a few of the members have um voiced their concerns about um as I'll quote somebody putting the breakes on Sports and someone had um mentioned that there was an agreement between sports clubs and the Ridgewood High School to play um Sports and designated Seasons such as um football in the CR Ross during the fall I mean football and um soccer during the fall and Lacrosse in the spring and I'm hoping to Google that um agreement and I want to know exactly what phrase or how to Google it because I um want to know exactly what was agreed upon between the sports clubs and the Ridgewood High School and when did that agreement go into effect um and this is lastly I am a parent of a special needs child and I I ployed um the the recent school board and um Dr Schwarz to to um trying to improve the special needs Community um because I've had to battle unfortunately Ridgewood in the past for my son's education um but what was disheartening for me recently was I discovered that um and I know when you know we have the trianal and I don't want to get too technical um for evaluations tri-annual evaluation for kids on the Spectrum and in 11th grade they usually occur and parents were asked we were asked so I know other parents have been asked to wait to 12th grade for the evaluations um when 12th grade came which happened to us our our case manager scheduled a normal IP meeting and I qu quickly corrected her and said you promised us evaluations and she then did the evaluations I have since spoken to various parents who never had the senior evaluations which they were promised and these parents are applying to colleges and now those colleges are asking them for evaluations and these parents are having to pay out of pocket thousands of dollars for evaluations that Bridgewood should have conducted and I don't think that's fair on the parents so again that is something that I just think that should be corrected if if rual wants to do the triann evaluations in the senior year then they should follow and execute on that all right um thank you bye no more hands are raised there um no one else from the public that's sitting here we'll close public comment we do have a second comment period at the end of the meeting um Dr Schwarz do you want to M bran before the commenters leave I just have one one comment for the before you leave yeah commenters if you can just stick around for one second please yeah I I have one comment about the the High School auditorium and the um band requirements okay I think they are leaving but yeah I just have one we're just gonna comment about the comments right so um I'm on the facilities committee and one of my requests to you would be to also reach out to the building administrator uh Mr Nas uh with the requirements related to classroom space rehearsal space so the way I'm looking at it I'm looking at two different issues that you brought up one is uh a larger space for performance the auditorium and the other request was the rehearsal space the upgrades of the instruments or upgrades of the equipment in in the existing space uh that was classrooms right the overall classroom and uh that was last renovated in 2001 so those um we usually get at the facilities committee we get uh priority list from the building administrators and uh I have seen Performing Art Center as a requirement but I have not seen anything about the lack of rehearsal space or uh need to upgrade the exist existing space so if those requests go to Dr mras I think every principal and every building administrator they prioritize their requests and they send it to Dr Schwarz and Facilities committee so I think if that comes from there um that can be handled depending on I I don't even know how much what is what it entails but depending on what type of budget and what is the priority over there um those can be handled even before uh we have our Dream Auditorium so those two I would just request those two to be separate and if you reach out to Mr Nas with those uh asks thank you and I would also say thank thank you all so much for coming in in over 10 years of regularly attending board meetings that was the first time that I've had a public commenter sing so thank you that was that was a delightful first so thank you so much Miss Plum I know oh well so she's a repeat offender well it's a first it's a first for me and I appreciate it because that was definitely a nice I added a nice little little little fun fun parts of the night so thank you for that Miss Plumley um to be clear I think the high school knows about the issues here um I know Mr H and took Mr nias and I on a walk to see the facilities and definitely there's lots of we're definitely undersized and there's definitely more space optimization that we can do I think that some there was such a big conversation a while ago for a big Performing Art Center I think sometimes it like even some basic improvements are getting lost in that whole project and I think that's the point that you're making right so even so that when we did a crowdsourcing kind of like or one of the most important things it's like it's almost like yeah it's almost like it's all Performing Art Center we probably but there's there there are things that we can do in the meantime so yeah yeah yeah so let's be let's be let's stuff that we can get done like sooner than later right so I appreciate that sentiment appreciate those thoughts and um and we will pass that along but I definitely recommend um that whatever you share with us do copy Mr uh I know you have some comments please copy Mr nias in those comments also so thank you so much for coming tonight I appreciate you so unless anybody else wanted to talk to the music folks I'm not going to make you stick around for the rest of my comments but thank you so much all right but now and in addition we are doing we have budgeted and the board has been supportive in our conversations about doing a comprehensive facilities assessment for the whole District so that that would include um General improvements uh to the existing space as well as potentially some sort of you know moonshot ideas about which I think we've already pretty much established with the Performing Art Center but even just some basic basic improvements to spaces to make them more optimal for what their purpos is uh the the high school music Wing would certainly be a part of that next year will be will be like an assessment year and then by like this time next year we should have a very comprehensive hopefully sooner a very compreh hensive itemization of what all those different projects are that we really should be thinking about and planning for yeah great and I um I do understand just just today I um received an email um that the homman school is looking at um what kinds of improvements could happen in the um Campus Center so I I think things are beginning to move forward um but it will take us some time to just have that evaluation and see what we can do how to afford it yeah yeah thank you all so much appreciate you thank you and Dr schz I also wanted to comment on two other topics from the public comments um one was uh Miss Madison mentioned my name but I think she's the f one who initially she's the first one who brought this issue to the attention of the district that the policy change and students were failing and she was persistent uh um on on that request for last five years because before before she brought it up I as a parent I was not on the board I as a parent was blaming my child to be failing in math or not doing enough in math and then I realized that a lot of this stuff that she was and she was the I think the first batch uh that she did not have the concepts of uh what she needed to do in that that class so I realized that from those public comments I think in 2018 or 2019 when you started bringing those up uh so um that was a long journey from your side and the second one is U I think one of the public comment ask if board ever discussed this or the facilities committee ever discussed that and I would uh um deny that that we never approved or provided input in the report that was published uh or that was sent and on my behalf actually I sent I uh notified uh our liazon who is liazon for the board with the Village Council that the Village Council submitted a report uh using Board of Education field on the first page um and uh a lot the information that was mentioned in that report was uh probably does not reflect what uh the Board of Education stands so I didn't notify that um and uh even after that they submitted in the second application uh so I don't know if anything was communicated to them or not but uh I did my part so uh running down the list of uh the folks who who spoke just want to acknowledge a few so I think we spoke to our music folks um there's a commentary about foreign exchange students and I I just pulled the policy while we were here um I think it's a it's an interesting uh it's an interesting differentiation between F1 and J1 visas um I'll for that conversation the policy committee so we could just have a quick conversation about that and look at that policy because I think it's a point well made um if a policy committee agrees with that um this has come up uh in the past the difference between F1 and J1 so I can look through that uh my one comment is as we look through that issue um is are some of these companies profiting like you know we charge tuition to cover our cost so that's something to be mindful of yeah it's we also have to be mindful of the fact that we have students who find themselves in circumstances where they have to leave Ridgewood and they would desire for their kids to continue here and we can't we we would we would be overburdened if we allowed that so it's a little hard to say that students from another country can come here for free when our own students aren't always able to continue here with us but I but I think the sentiment I think the Thing Worth looking at is particularly with the J1 if it's on a temporary basis and it provides some level of enrichment to have that temporary experience and it's not some no one's profiteering off of it and it's not it's a clearly different situation we can maybe discuss I I I don't know off the top of my head all the parameters so we can maybe talk about that I I just think it's worth the discussion right let's start with the discussion and then I think all those things will come out so I agree with you great 100% thank you okay um Miss Madson thank you so much for joining us tonight we're looking forward to hearing miss an nimo's presentation Miss Animo uh thank you so much for your patience we're going to get to you shortly I'm just going to do a couple more acknowledgements um uh Miss loving commented on uh on a some comments I made at a field committee meeting I just want to just want to just say a couple things in general first of all um there's a lot on the table here and I know lots of people are very appreciative and lots of people have questions I just want to just point out to everybody that this is absolutely the busiest time of year that we have trying to close school so some of our turnaround times some of our responses they might be a little bit slower at the end of year there's just kind of everybody wants to get in their last concern before the year closes it's a normal phenomenon so we are trying to get to everybody we're trying to be responsive to everybody but some of the some of these things might push into the summer a little bit but um but and in as so far as that Fields committee meeting I actually was taking it from my car uh trying to do try to do my best to participate even though I couldn't physically be there so and I did provide some comments I honestly don't recall exactly what I said um sincerely as far as what our process is regarding the waiver request we did have that conversation and we have proceeded um after the meeting it made more sense to me to start with our to get a really clear position we have had some informal conversations with our um District physician but I felt like the request is to have a formal position that's what we pay a district position for so met with Dr yanis and with Dan who is our supervisor Wellness to talk about what would be a logical approach to really understanding the issue better and then we can make kind of then then then we could take District's position on the medical component of it and then take that to the attorneys because otherwise we're just asking the attorneys to apply on a on a legal issue without necessarily the context of the medical experts there so I asked Dr yenis to get in touch with Mount Si I know he's made several attempts and hasn't been able to connect with anyone I'll be following up I'm sure but even even so it's become clear that the contents of that mount sin letter that's been shared with me are actually on the Mount Si website so it does appear that this is their official position so um so that's helpful so we'll move that forward and we'll we we'll bring that to the attorneys uh and their actual take once we have a clear clear uh position with the phys mark can I just ask a quick question on that if mind so I just I think that's a really good approach I would just want to be clear that Dr yankis is fully qualified to o on what we're asking him to opine on because he's a he's a school position right and I think we're talking about some environmental science so I'm not clear that he's necessarily the one to address that um I guess he would probably be the one to tell us if he is or he isn't but um I just think that we need to proceed in the most comprehensive way that we can on something like this we just need to make sure that what we are relying on is reliable I don't think I from my position perspective I'm not asking him to opine on any environmental facts where P going in the Stream has any impact on the environment or not uh my only position was the mount CH letter specifically mentions impact on young kids playing at that field so that's where he needs to opine and if he's not qualified we need a qualified physician so then that's right so long as you know so long as we have made sure that we have addressed that question and we've got the facts in support of it then we go and we do what we need to do I'm fine with that so what and clarify what I'm saying is that Dr yanis is one physician right and I'm a big believer in collective intelligence so I would i' be I would be I told him I am most comfortable if I would know that he had spoken with some of the folks at Mount C who who are who are pretty pretty forward about what their opinions are regarding the topic and to be clear I'm not putting on any kind of false pretenses that there aren't some very real natural concerns stemming from from these artificial materials particularly Crum rubber but also other P containing materials so I think this is an important issue I we have a high demand for using the fields um it is a problem that they're that they're they present problems to potential health problems but it all comes down to the the degree to which it is a health issue and does it rise to the level of waivers does it rise to the level of decommissioning a field like I and this is where I'm not a medical professional so I think it's important to just have the medical professionals come together and we will work with their position agreed I I think we're on the same page I just want to make sure that they're able to give that that opinion that we're going to rely on that's all and that we're comfortable that they are I think Mark there were two parts of the the puzzle one is Dr Yan's opinion that the residents requested and you are coordinating one on that but I think what M Quack and I requested last time was an opinion from the attorney that do we need to add this waiver in our standard waiver forms that we do we need to add a line saying there maybe some known concerns or there are some concerns raised by residents and you we just want you to be be aware of it and sign a w on that right so that is a request that needs to go to the attorney and um I think we already formally requested that at the last meeting yeah um I I thought that the process say given the policy was that um if uh any board member if there is a a question on on a policy and this is a a policy and a process uh if we could get um a written um advisory to that effect of Simply the the waiver not necessarily an opinion on Turf versus natural grass that's outside of any um at least mob's firm what we're looking for is more advisory aspect of what would such a waiver look like and what kind of indemnification would it provide for the board yeah I agree and to and just to be clear coming out of the meeting um I didn't necessarily think that there was an expectation I might have misread it that you expected a definitive legal opinion by this next meeting so I took the initiative to make sure that we tightened things up on the medical side first and then took it to the attorneys okay all right so so that will be the course of action I think we're we've I think we're we've basically done the medical side to I think we're gotten as far as we're going to get there all right so there was uh some other so some other comments there was a uh Miss Millan had had documented an email I believe to the board many of the questions that she shared tonight um I'm not going to shoot from the hip on answering all these questions but I will say from my experience no I mean we we were not a part of the um of the uh I think it's probably the best thing to say is as the superintendent of schools there's some level of coordination that I get involved in with the with the village but um we are two separate legal entities and we do not have um we're not accountable to each other under as most people would consider there's some there's some some some mild ways in which we're accountable to each other but for the most part as a school district um it's not it's not really my purview to uh to to be taking positions on the actions of the village or the Village Council that said if the board has a different position they want to be involved I'm certainly happy to help and support them in any way shape or form but to the best of my knowledge um we were not there was not any public conversation or private conversation on this specific topic among the board um and I certainly have not weighed in on this topic um oh wait I have a question on that so um so I think that's pretty clear um there seems to be some conception that maybe uh not conception an impression that the board may have had some either public or private discussions and I'm public everything has been public um Miss Bren you're the president of the board um have there been some discussions that have occurred that you could speak to regarding regarding the application no I mean we we were informed when the rest of the community was informed that an application went in we didn't see it before and we didn't talk about it yeah thank you um I'm grateful for Mrs berley and her attendance and everyone who joined us at the cpag meeting thank you for your kind words here I certainly think that we have a lot of opportunities for being able to uh to really work together towards um to establishing some positive trust through transparency with our special needs Services Mrs ran thank you so much for sharing uh your sentiments with us as well um I'm not sure miss R mentioned something about some an agreement between rhs and some sport sports clubs I'm not sure what that was a reference to so Mrs Ruan if you want to um if you want to just share that with us via email um we can we'd be happy to take a look at that if you could copy um Mr Nas as you email me as well then we can uh we can get you we look into that and get you a response I would think that would be the um you know Junior lacrosse and kind of so I was at that meeting because it was a it was that's why I'm jumping in so it was a um it was a joint meeting of parks and wre so I was there you know my capacity is Park parks and reais on and the open open space committee and there was a large discussion about the incredible Demand on all the fields and the fact that we have more demand than we really have ability to accommodate everybody um and there was some conversation about putting this the breaks on it and someone mentioned um someone who's on the field committee and I don't remember the gentleman's name that it used to be um and that could be like 10 15 years ago I don't really know that um it was understood that the the recreational sports calendar followed the high school sports calendar that's what it was not now I could be wrong but I don't I did not understand that there was a specific agreement it was it was that it was understood that for example the soccer uh maroon soccer would only play soccer in the fall because that's when the high school played soccer and not throughout the rest of the year and so there was some discussion about how that may not be um the current practice um I think that's what she uh Miss Ron is is referring to um I don't know that there's a document uh the only document that I know of is the you know the famous Fields committee policy committee um so I don't think that there's a specific um agreement there I can try to find that out um but that's I think what she was referring to that helps I appreciate that and if that's the case then that's then maybe we can provide some more feedback thank you very much Miss Brogan you want me to do a superintendent report is that next would you like to do the superintendent report presentations first let's do presentations yeah thank you so I'm very very very very patient Mrs nembo um is uh is here with us um to to give a presentation um on our math scop and sequence and the work that she's done to uh to uh steer Us in the best Direction she possibly can I think I wouldn't be um alone on the board to see if we could get a a paper copy of that not tonight oh you okay um so maybe at the next uh meeting it's I I know some of us are still paper yeah you're welcome yeah I'm sorry do you want a paper copies um we don't need it right now I can I can run I can run a cop oh yeah you great oh great so that that I think that's helpful there are some of us on the board who still like paper and to the few me to the few members of our audience who are here there is some fresh baked bread over here if you're hungry you may feel please feel free to help yourself SA me a piece made by DR Schwarz so should I okay okay so tonight I'll be presenting on the Mathematics Curriculum and program review for the next five years so I figured I would start with what The Five-Year Plan looks like so the first year of the math curriculum review is actually our current school year 2324 so this year what we did we looked at Best Practices we reviewed our current curriculum and program offerings we completed analysis of data student achievement based on njsla but then also how students are performing in the classroom and we collected feedback based on staff parents and students to develop our departmental goals moving forward with our math program for grades 6 through 12 so the second year of our math program actually begins this summer with curriculum writing and so what we will do we're doing curriculum writing for majority of our courses grades 6 through 12 and we'll also be researching professional development opportunities and instructional support materials to support the implementation of our math curriculum for the years three and four 25 to 27 we'll be monitoring the effectiveness of our curriculum through data analysis as well of our njsla scores and how students are performing with the rigor and the sequencing of our units and we'll be making accommodations and recommendations to our curc um over that time as needed for the final year of the program review 27 and 28 the math department will be collaborating to analyze our progress over the last few years and to recommend new goals for the upcoming program review following this one so for year one is our research study process what we did was we researched the current math programs and offerings that are available in surrounding districts and comparable districts so primarily what I had done is I had looked at our district Factor group to see the types of programs and sequencing that they offered in their districts as well as Burgen County school districts we evaluated the um current math sequence of geometry first we also explored a new textbook for our Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 courses at the high school we we reviewed student achievement data in correspondence to the current curriculum some of that we were actually able to respond to right away as I presented in November we had looked at our evidence statements and we were able to identify specific units in the curriculum specifically in our Middle School where our our state results were falling either on or below State average and it was very interesting because for example our sixth grade curriculum had 10 questions on the State Testing last year and seven of those 10 actually fell within the same unit so what we had done is we evaluated what did those questions look like what standards do they align with and it it was very interesting to see it was more not the content it was how the content was being presented to students so we re-evaluated this never happens um we re-evaluated how we're presenting the curriculum and the types of questions we're presenting to students when we're covering those curriculum units we also collected survey data from teachers students and parents which we use for our recommendations moving forward so the standards guiding the study are the New Jersey state learning standards which are which have been revised and to include climate change education opportunities um for 6 through 12 they had replaced the word fluency with accuracy and efficiency to shift the emphasis away from speed and accur from speed to accuracy we um they also added foundational work with radicals that were actually moved from Algebra 1 to 8th grade math typic students are not introduced to radicals simplifying radicals until they get to Algebra 1 so the standards have been pushed down to 8th grade so that students are exposed to radicals that they can go more into depth in radicals when they get to Algebra 1 and some of the other revisions were designed were designated additional plus standards primarily for the high school level courses and as well as we are incorporating the mathematical practices which encourage students to make connections communicate their mathem IC understanding reasoning perseverance and representing math in a variety of ways this is our current Middle School c um our current middle school program which our textbooks for six and seven are Big Ideas Math modeling real life 8th grade geometry uses discovering geometry and Algebra 1 uses big Ideas Common Core our current math electives that are available at the middle school are math activities 7 which is more of like a probability and data course that runs for a quarter for seventh grade students that they elect into for our courses that we have at the middle school it is the traditional pathway would be sixth grade math seventh grade pre-algebra and currently all of our eighth graders besides the double accelerated are in Geometry The Double accelerated math track currently is pre-algebra for sixth grade geometry for seventh grade and Algebra 1 for 8th grade our program at the high school so students are required to take three years of math at the high school which is 15 credits but approximately 96% of rhs students actually enroll in a fourth year mathematics our current AP offerings are AP Calculus and AP Statistics and our recommended class sizes are a maximum of 25 with the enrollment at the high school and Staffing we do our best to maintain the 25 however sometimes we are required to go above the 25 depending on the recommendations for the different courses so collecting feedback we had surveyed parents 6 through 12 students and the math department to collect feedback on our current program which we used towards our recommendations for moving forward so the middle school student survey so on the right hand side you'll see the total percentage of this of the agree or strongly agree so 87% of the students who responded had said that they enjoyed their math School experience in their middle school experience in mathematics 79% agree or strongly agree that they felt appropriately challenged in their math course 93% agree or strongly agree that they send they spend a sufficient amount of time outside of the classroom doing math and 91% agree or strong agree that they are successfully prepared for the next level of mathematics So based on the parents who responded to the Middle School survey we had 81% agree or strongly agree that their child enjoys math in the Middle School 90% agree or or strongly agree that their child has been successful in their math courses 73% agree or strongly agree that their child is appropriately challenged and 74% agree or strongly agree that they're satisfied with the Middle School mathematics program so a summary of the student and parent feedback at the end of the survey student parents and students were able to provide written comments into the survey so this is some of the feedback that was provided parents would like to see a greater focus on real world application integrated into the lessons both students and parents had expressed Express the desire for increased enrichment opportunities within their grade level courses several parents shared feedback about the concerns about all students being accelerated for that eth grade mathematics that some students might need that additional year to prepare for the high school mathematics both students and parents shared concerns about the current geometry math geometry first math sequence and many parents and students shared positive experiences and appreciations for their middle School Math teachers so for the high school student survey we had 78% agree or strongly agree that they enjoyed High School mathematics at rhs we had 86% agree or strongly agree that they are appropriately challenged in their math courses 86% or agreed or strongly agreed that they spent um an appropriate amount of time on math outside of the classroom 87% agree or strongly agreed that they feel successfully prepared for the next level of mathematics So based on the parents that did respond to the survey we had 66% agreed or strongly agreed that their child enjoys mathematics program at the high school 77% agree or strongly agrees that their child has been successful in their math courses 81% agreed or strongly agreed that their child is appropriately challenged in their math courses and 77% agree or strongly agree that they're satisfied with the options the course options being offered at the high school so a summary of the student and parent feedback students and parents would like to see increased opportunities for student access to higher level math courses there was a lot of comments about students feeling like where they are recommended for an eighth grade or in freshman year they're almost stuck in that track and they would like more opportunities to make movement to higher level math courses throughout their time at rhs depending on how they're performing in their classes students and parents suggested um additional courses that can be offered at bridgwood high school and there were comments about increased Hands-On learning activities real world connections and student engagement with the curriculum again parents had shared concerns about the current geometry first math sequence and there was also many comments from students saying expressing an appreciation for the level of preparedness and challenge by their teachers so the staff survey for the staff that responded we had 48% agree or strongly agree that their students have a high level interest in mathematics 81% agreed or strongly agreed that their math education in is a priority with ridard Public School schools 66% agree or strongly agree that they're happy with the current math program offered at Ridgewood High Ridgewood public schools for 6 through 12 100% agreed or strongly agreed that adding in the math eight into the middle school would benefit Student Success for future math courses 91% agree or strongly agree that they're engaged in the math content that they're teaching on a daily basis and 95% agree or strongly agree that the math department has the programs and resources needed to be leaders in math education so a summary of the feedback from the staff was very similar to what we had seen prior for both middle school and high school as teachers had expressed that they would like to integrate more real world application into the curriculum they shared that they're looking forward to the new envision math program that we're going to be introducing next year for the algebra 1 and Algebra 2 courses there suggestion for more math electives at the middle school and some teachers had expressed concerns again with the current geometry first math sequence and student preparedness for a course in Geometry prior to Algebra 1 recommendations for moving forward in the middle school is to offer math eight placement for e8th grade students which we have recommended and will be beginning in the 2024 2025 school year so if you look at the graphic on the right side you'll see that the new pathway would be sixth grade math for sixth grade 7th grade pre-algebra for seventh grade and from there based on student Readiness and and um performance in seventh grade they can either move to eth grade math or accelerate by one year to Algebra 1 if you look at the Double accelerated track students would be in the pre because we had recommended to move back to the traditional math sequence students in the double accelerated program would be going from pre-algebra Algebra 1 to Geometry another recommendation is the implementation of the proposed eighth grade elective math applications which would be taken by majority of eth grade students and it would align with the corresponding standards between 8th grade math and algebra evaluate for a new textbook sorry would that be a a quarter class yes that's a yeah it's a quar CL grade okay it's a quarter class for e8th grade students but you had one in seventh we have the math activities in seventh thanks evaluate a new textbook program for the middle school so our current program expires in June 2025 so next year we'll be bringing in different samples and evaluating different programs I believe K through five will also be up for a program evaluation next year so I've spoken to Genie O'Neal and we're going to collaborate on potentially if we can find a program that would work for our district K through 8 for the consistency for students it would be great so we are going to collaborate on that and hopefully be able to find a program that would fit for K through 8 and then continue to research and evaluate potential course options for the middle school so recommendations for the high school is to continue to research and evaluate potential course options at the high school so for next year we'll be implementing an AP pre-calculus and we are considering a proposal for AP Calculus BC for the 2526 school year currently we have calculus CD which is a blend of BC and also multivariable calculus so what we're going to be doing as a department is looking into the programs that are offered in other school districts what does their sequencing look like what does their curriculum look like and what can that look like here in Ridgewood based on how our current sequencing is and our current curriculum is written begin the process to offer dual enrollment opportunity for calculus honors course we have begun this process I am hopeful to have it completed for our students next year I've been working with Ramapo College to start getting that approved so right now we're in the process we have five teachers who teach calculus honors all of which would need to be approved by Ramapo College and we also need to submit a syllabus to be approved so as long as that is approved over the summer we'll be ready to offer that as dual enrollment next year but the issue with this part is we are also are adopting a new calculus honors textbook so our curriculum is being Rewritten for that so we're almost doing it simultaneously with the goal of having it ready for next year um Implement envision math program for Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 beginning the 2024 2025 school year evaluate and find the math math course recommendation process to increase student ability to improve to move between levels of mathematics I've already started meeting with teachers who have had some ideas of how we could begin to allow begin to work towards coming up with a system of allowing students to get to higher level courses if they're performing well at their current level and return to the traditional math sequence for the 2024 2025 school year of Algebra 1 geometry and Algebra 2 and I'll be sharing more information of the data that we collected that supports our recommendation to return to the traditional math sequence so overall recommendations for the math department 6 through 12 is to increase our professional development opportunities provide additional opportunities for Teacher collaboration between courses and articulation between schools um jeie O'Neal and I have already started sending out surveys to the fifth grade teachers and sixth grade teachers to collect information of what they feel like would be beneficial to share with each other and then over the summer we're creating a nice layout of how that could look like next year for the articulation from 5ifth to 6th continue collaboration with surrounding school districts ma with the math supervisors the surrounding school districts to maintain a competitive program structure and course offerings and increase the communication with the community about the math program Pathways and opportunities so this is something I've been trying to improve this year and I think I I obviously still have work to do with it but what I've been doing with the letters that I've been sending I've been including the graphics of the math sequence I think for the progression all throughout high school I have found that it can be confusing there's a lot of different courses there's a lot of different Avenues you can go depending on how you perform in the courses and so I think the graphics are helpful for parents and I've also started including a video in any letters that I sent regarding placements explaining those pathways to um so next year I'm going to recommend holding like a math parent night or anything that's going to help parents know what's to come because some of them it is their first child going through and a lot of times you don't realize until you get to high school what the opportunities are so the next set of slides I'm going to be sharing the analysis of our current geometry first math sequence and what why it supports our suggest our recommendation to return to the traditional math sequence of Algebra 1 geometry and Algebra 2 so in evaluation of the course sequence what we found was high school teachers did report that they felt that students were more prepared for Algebra 2 curriculum when they completed Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 consecutively we did find that the enrollment in math analysis and AP Calculus had increased over the past two years about 1% of the population at the high school so that would be approximately 17 students data shows so I pulled data for the last five years of all the levels of Algebra 2 and what I found was the classroom performance of Algebra 2 following Algebra 1 immediately actually remained consistent over the last five years and we also looked at the number of students who were dropping the honors program to see if Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 running consecutively had decreased that and that also had not decreased it had remained approximately the same we found that the state test results in Geometry had decreased significantly while Al Algebra 1 had remained consistent our geometry linkit Benchmark which we administered in January and April of this school year and it's supposed to correlate with how students will perform on the state testing and it's indicating a similar Trend in state testing for the 2024 school year so that was going to be a nice indicator if we were seeing we had made our curriculum adjustments for the geometry first taking that blinket Benchmark in January showed we weren't even with those curriculum adjustments we weren't seeing the growth we were looking for and then again in April the same the same thing we still weren't seeing growth with our um curriculum changes the so as I mentioned earlier the recommendation for math 8 to return to the middle school with our current math sequence and I will show you a graphic for that in a few minutes it impacts students PL science placement in the high school and then the current math sequence of geometry Algebra 1 Algebra 2 also limits opportunities for future math acceleration so here is the njsla data for the last five years so if you look at geometry from 2016 it this is before we did the sequence change so it was 76.7 74% 73.4% and then 60.9% and then for 22 2022 and 2023 it had dropped to about 35% for both of those years and both of those years represent the sequence change with geometry taught before Algebra 1 if you look at the second row of Algebra 1 you can see that the scores had remained relatively consistent through the past five years whether it was taught before or after algebra 1 and these percents represent students who passed njsla that either met or exceeded the expectations for the nsla so our current middle school math sequence this graphic shows that students currently take sixth grade math 7th grade pre-algebra and geometry all students are currently INR enrolled in Geometry by eth grade which is a 10th grade math course and it puts stud all students on a track that's accelerated by one year to take calculus by senior year however data shows that approximately only 30 8% of those students make it to a level of calculus by senior year so this is one of the reasons why I feel like supporting the math 8 giving that Foundation could potentially increase because this 38% goes back five years so even before sequence change this is what we were seeing so I feel like by providing them that foundational year some of them might have the opportunity to get to calculus because they will be more prepared for their High School level courses so the recommendations for middle school is to implement math a so from seventh grade they will break off into either e8th grade math or accelerate by one year and go into Algebra 1 and return to the traditional math sequence of algebra 1 geometry Algebra 2 so the importance of math a so Algebra 1 is considered one of the most important courses in preparation for future study of mathematics and math a actually covers all of the essential prerequisite skills that prepare students for a course in Algebra 1 linear equations linear functions systems of equations so students taking math 8 would actually get to be introduced to them in eth grade and then when they get to high school when that course goes on their transcript when it's preparing them for all of their future courses they've already been exposed to a lot of those skills that they're going to see again and more in depth so our goal is to ensure all students have the strongest Foundation possible so that they can perform well in their High School level courses and potentially move up levels too from a CP level to an advanced level potentially an honors level so some of the benefits of the traditional math sequence is it increases math acceleration options which I'll explain in a moment enrollment in math 8 will not impact the ninth grade science placement if they are concurrently enrolled in Algebra 1 an anticipation of increased geometry state test results and it will also improve the math transition for students transferring in and out of the district so we have a lot of students that transfer into Ridgewood and sometimes it is difficult for them when we're not following the same sequence for a majority of the districts it does make it a challenge with SK scheduling and I've also talked to parents who their child may not have attended rhs and it created a conflict for them going to their new school because they weren't following a traditional pathway so like I mentioned before implementing math 8 in our current math sequence impacts student placement for science when they get to the high school so if you look at the diagram over on the left it says the current math sequence students who are recommended for math eight and if we stayed in our current math sequence they would go to Geometry for 9th grade by biology placement is based on completion or concurrent enrollment in Algebra 1 because Algebra 1 is a prerequisite for a course in chemistry so therefore in our current sequence any student who takes math 8 would go to Geometry which means they would not have the prerequisites to be recommended for biology as a freshman if we return to the traditional math sequence so if you look over on the right side students in math a would go to Algebra 1 as their ninth year course ninth grade course which means they would be concurrently enrolled in an algebra 1 CP and they would be able to take biology as a fresh as a freshman so as I mentioned before returning to the traditional math sequence also allows for more acceleration options at the high school level so most school districts do allow opportunities for students to take math courses and G geometry is typically the one that's most accepted so the benefits of going back back to the traditional math sequence is our students who are in math a who still want to accelerate by a year to get to calculus by senior year they have the option to take geometry over the summer or in their 10th grade they can actually concurrently enroll in geometry and algebra two at the same time putting them on track to get to calculus now another thing that I have talking talked to a lot of parents about is there's no other Pathways right now for the double accelerated program besides students taking the exams and recommendation process in fifth grade and sixth grade and there's a lot of growth in students in their mathematical abilities and just just preparing themselves for courses that happens over time so but when we switch to the traditional math sequence we actually create a third pathway for students to join the double accelerated program so if you look at the first two of the pathways we currently have so that's students joining in sixth grade and they go prealgebra 6 Algebra 1 geometry or some students will join in seventh grade by taking a required summer course from 6th to 7th and they would take Algebra 1 and geometry for seventh and e8th grade the third pathway by returning to the traditional sequence allows students to take sixth grade math take seventh grade math single accelerate for Algebra 1 and then either take a geometry course over the summer or in concurrent enrollment in geometry and Algebra 2 at the High School So the plan for transitioning back because it's going to look different for the different grade levels our current fifth graders our current sixth graders and our current seventh graders will all be following the traditional math sequence of algebra 1 geometry Algebra 2 our current eighth graders are already in our current sequence of geometry first so they will finish out the geometry and e8th grade and they will go to Algebra 1 for 9th grade and Algebra 2 for 10th grade for our double accelerated math pathway our current fifth graders who will be joining the double accelerated program next year and our current sixth graders who will be joining it for their seventh grade year will also follow the traditional math sequence so our current fifth graders would take pre-algebra 6 Algebra 1 geometry and then our current sixth graders would take pre um pre-algebra 6 is what they're currently in and then they go to Algebra 1 their seventh grade year geometry for their eighth grade year and Algebra 2 honors for their ninth grade year our current seventh graders who are in the double accelerated program are currently in Geometry they're currently in the geometry first sequence so they will continue in that sequence to Algebra 1 as an eighth grader and Algebra 2 honors as a ninth grader so recommended supports for students who have either gone through the sequence or are about to be going into our Middle School and High School sequence is the implementation of the math applications updated geometry curriculum to address the original concerns before the sequence change was made increase the collaboration between Middle School and High School level teachers some vertical articulation will be very helpful in preparing our students for high school level mathematics PR the SAT and ACT club that is currently offered at rwood high school and I would like to propose a new high school club to support students in their current math sequence in preparation for the NJ GPA and also their college placement exams right now we've have used the extended day program with Esser money but that has run out with providing the additional supports so by adding in a club we can actually still continue those supports for students who are interested and also seek access to additional support resources accessible to all students to promote student achievement in mathematics so a summary of the major recommendations is to return to the traditional math sequence Algebra 1 Algebra 2 Algebra 1 geometry Algebra 2 starting the 2024 2025 school year the implementation of math 8 increased opportunities for Teacher collaboration to support transitions between schools and vertical articulation between courses and also increasing opportunities for student support outside of the classroom thank this was just well done um and I appreciate all the work I know it's been two years of of really digging deep into this um and um and trying to make adjustments and then to finally decide to to move forward on on reestablishing um the curriculum as you outlined so I appreciate that do we have some questions from the board questions yeah I have some um no surprise so uh uh first of all I would like to thank you um thank you very much for this presentation and congratulations on all the work that went into this and um it's a lot of work and a lot of detailed work and I think your like one person's work and your team's work I would not just say one person but your ma Department teams work and a lot of us will be taking credit for that Mr Freedman will be taking that credit Mr Dr Schwarz will be taking that CR okay yeah like in in their time they supported you and oh in our time a lot of this happened right and curriculum committee we'll go and brag about it the board members will brag about it that oh we changed this we did this but it's it's your work a lot of that is your work and uh we all benefit from it the students will benefit from it and and it was a lot of work so thank you and congratulations on that because I know it was not easy to navigate the changes because change is hard change there is a lot of resistance to that change and you navigated that so a lot of people will just see that okay now this is changing but I you you probably identified a lot of these data point long time ago but then you had to go through and convince and communicate and sell that idea for the change which is also not that easy so so it was not just the work of collecting the data and and there Mr Mr Freedman and Dr schwar supported you and so it's it's a collective work but it was a lot of work so thank you for that um some of the questions or comments um in no particular sequence one is um I think uh with math we also have to just like what you started for that one quarter course for math 8 somewhere in our sequence we have to fit computer science and just like we do we teach uh foundational courses to all the students that we say Social Studies English math these are foundational courses I think at least one quarter of computer science just the understanding of what computer science is and what are the different career options in that um a lot of our students graduate from high school without knowing um the basics of computer science so that may be uh I think when you are doing this evaluation of Five-Year Plan we need to probably look at that I actually am in a fiveyear program a fiveyear review for computer science as well I'll present over the summer so we are recommending for required computer science courses at the middle school um so what I'll present in I think it we said August possibly but so okay so like yeah this school has those one quarter courses which are required so I think students need to know uh at least they should have some required flavor of computer science and then they can decide whether they want to do it or not but some the basic computer science um then on the um for the supervisors there was one uh task that was uh being done by all the high school supervisors was uh comparing the grading policies among different teachers for same subjects so if two teachers are teaching um honors calculus for 11th grade or honors calculus course or two teachers are teaching AP Calculus whether there's consistency between those two grading policies or not so I think this topic has come up a few times I asked last time Mr Nas and Mr Bailey when they were here and they said um the supervisors were working on it so I just wanted to know if you made any progress on that uh in it is an area of focus and it is taking you know it does take take time for teachers to adjust their the their assessments but I will say for the most part my department they share a lot of their resources they collaborate constantly um and and they do know that when there's not consistency it does create um more conflict too with that so we are working towards that it does take time especially as we have transitions of new teachers coming in too and learning their own teaching styles and developing assessments so the assess Ms are not necessarily the same but they try to keep the lever level of rigor the same between the assessments because they might be assessing at different times of a week or in the curriculum so they have to keep them somewhat different because they hand them back to students but they should be the same content and the same level of rigor so it is something that we are focusing on we started it last year and we are continuing to work on it this year like I know some schools do uh create a common exam for if it's a ma math honors like same subject two different yeah two different classes are being taught they would give the exam on the same date and a common exam is given to both classes and same grading policies so the midterm currently the midterm and the final is exactly the same across the board for every course even with different teachers even if it's different teachers okay and um there was one question that was asked from some people from this audience uh at the last meeting and I think you addressed that from clubs uh formation but not from from teachers or from Department perspective that we have students right now in 9th grade 10th grade 11th grade and 12th grade right those high school students who are going to go in the college and uh we know they missed on some of the topics when they were in the transition or they may have missed uh on some of the topics so what are what is our plan to enable them to do better in the next grade or in college like um the if these are the topics linear equations linear functions system of linear equations or anything that you are adding in the math applications so you have identified that as a gap that Gap will be fixed for anybody who is in eighth grade or below because in eighth grade we are going to offer them that one quarter course but from anybody who's in 9th 10th 11th or 12th grade I saw you mentioned the uh Club add adding a club promoting the SAT club and more collaboration between middle and high school teachers but that collaboration should probably already be happening for last few years because we all know about this problem but still those students are struggling so how can we help from board from from institution level right not just from a club perspective from for everybody across the board for everybody in their classes anybody who's anybody there are we hear a lot of examples of some examples where students are acing in all other subjects except math in high school so those students need help how can we help those students so for the geometry first students what we do see is some of the skill that they couldn't go as in depth within eighth grade they are integrated in later in their course sequence so pre-calculus they do revisit a lot of those um skills again um and a lot of the teachers are they recognize areas where students are struggling and they do tend to throw in spiral reviews to help support those students to depending on the level um to improve how they're performing in the classroom okay um for the recommendation with the math recommendation affecting biology versus environmental science do we need to plan for more students taking biology and less in environmental science or is that already is that a byproduct or side effect that may we should anticipate it will impact probably the sectioning for bi biology I think when students are Rec mened so that probably the sectioning that Miss Taylor would have for an environmental class would potentially shift over to preparing for a section of an extra section of biology so it just shifts where the students are recommended to so we we have a two sections of environmental science this year when we return to the traditional math sequence we might have those two or one or two of them might shift over to biology sections okay um then one item you mentioned was dual enrollment and I just I'm just suggesting from my experience that if you add a disclaimer there for for the parents that uh when when the suggestion form is sent to them about dual enrollment information that if the parents choose the zal enrollment for some of the professional courses these grades will count forever right so a lot of the time uh if as a if I'm just thinking that oh if the student gets a B+ or B in MA in math and we get a dual enrollment then we will be saving a credit or three credits in college and that so we are only looking at the monetary component at that point but that grade would also carry forward and some of the like if premit is an example if you're applying for premit then you have to submit grades from even from dual enrollment so if the child is not getting good enough grade then they may want to opt out of dment so they should they should just be aware of that I can put that wording in the letter that we send to parents I know you had mentioned that at a previous curriculum meeting too and so that is something I could put when we send out the letter whether it's next year or the following year right I can specifically put that in the letter right and even have the because students can even sign up for the course and then withdraw at a certain point so they should just know the that one is a a big Financial impact that if they are not planning any of those professional courses and they can they are happy with a b or B+ and if they are getting that then it's fine because they'll be saving money there they'll be saving one credit and they can take some other classes in college but if they are planning some of those courses they should be aware of both both parts the financial part and the impact um I think one of the big things that was missing from the presentation was your work on the advanced math test for the fifth to sixth grade because you revamp that and a lot of parents are really happy about that change that how only one test was determining how they were assigned for advanced math or not and now you have made it a process and it's not just dependent on one test so it's not a one day what happened to the child that determines their whole Middle School part so that was thing um and I think the big one from the numbers from the surveys is um 66% in high like a lot of the high school staff is saying that our students do not have interest in math or uh we don't don't uh solve uh we don't offer encourage math right so one is I'm happy with the current math program offered at graduate public high schools from 66% staff and then my students have a high level of interest in mathematics 48% of the staff how do we change these two numbers for stuff so I I think that I'm trying to get to that page um I think the 66 percent could potentially be from the current math sequence there were teachers that did not agree with the current math sequence so if they're happy with the current math program I had sent out a separate survey question for that do you agree with the math sequence and it was a 53% agreed with it and 47% did not um and that's across the board that's specialed Math teachers to our honors level Math teachers and that was prior to sharing a lot of the data I I had spoken to teachers after sharing the data at a department meeting about the current sequence and many came to me saying okay I you know I understand and I see why we would consider switching back I think sometimes without the data you don't necessarily see um the impact that it's having and that number matches so the number for staff where staff saying I'm happy with the current math program and where uh parents are saying in the high school my child enjoys High School mathematics program offered at RPS they both are said 66% so parents are also from the happiness index they both are that 66 person number um and there was somewhere we I saw 90% um that my child has been successful in mathematics courses so that's 90% agree or strongly agree does that 90% include um specialed students it's this I we had send a survey out to all students 6 through 12 so it's really whoever I don't know specifically which programs they were part of it's any students that responded to the survey so but then that 90% doeses not correlate with our njsl results for middle school if we are if parents are thinking that my child has been successful in mathematics courses and the results we had in Middle School were much lower and we attributed some of that to advanced math and we attributed some of that to special at that all of we we have integrated classes and uh about 15% of the number is for students who may should not have been in this class and we are adding the different course now right so that that this 90% number seems inflated I think when students are responding I don't necessar I don't know how many students even see their njsla score so when they perform well in math and they feel confident in math then then they will respond that they're successful in their math courses um and same thing with parents some parents you know see it as one day one test we don't know um if anything was going on that day that could have impacted their scores but overall on a day-to-day basis I I would assume that their their response was the overall experience and not necessarily one test that they took that year thank you so much and again thanks a lot for all the work you have done on this thank you thank you are questions okay no I'm just going to repeat thank you so much for your work on that I mean as as we alluded to even if I mean people have been speaking about this for years and years in the community but if there's no leadership from the school administration and the supervisors then change won't happen so in the end you are you're the person that leads that so thank you for that just a quick clarifica clarifying question um I think I think you said dual enrollment you said 10th grade or is it nth grade it will depend on the track that the students on so if the student is in 8th grade math and then they go to Algebra 1 for 9th grade they would do the concurrent enrollment for 10th grade but if there a student who is looking for to get into that double accelerated track performed very well in Algebra 1 that would come in ninth grade for them when they're taking Algebra 2 and how what would be pushed out would it just be instead of an elective like what how would that work if they're taking another class it would take the place of probably one of their electives or because they their core classes so for that year it would take the place of an elective which they would have to fill and then the other option you said is taking geometry in between eth and Ninth and then that's something we would offer over the summer or they do it on their own so they submit so right now students take courses at BCC Bergen Community College or we do have sections that run for geometry at rhs to and that's in between eth and nth grade in the past we have not accepted it for eighth nth grade because it was algebra 1 so so it kind of shifts when you have the geometry option it will shift our ability to allow th those courses to be taken over the summer because algebra 1's not one you typically want students to take in five weeks thank you I want to thank you uh very much I know this was a tremendous amount of work so um I I really really appreciate this information um I just want to say um I had a question ask me for you I think as well there's a transition class that's now going to be um offered for middle school students as they transition to high school with this explanation in terms of the the um opportunities in math will that be addressed as part of that Readiness program or is it kind of more other things more like proba okay got it okay that class is designed for other got it okay so we'll look at those things to infuse other ways so in terms of um having that um uh opportunity for the the parents and and and um interested parties to understand the new math curriculum I think you was saying math night which I think is a great idea um I do want to say um two things one is um I had heard in the past and I'm sure it's still a developing project especially in light of what you presented today that in terms of the double accelerated U math uh process eligibility signing up and all that that it was a little bit opaque one of them being that it was just an email that was sent to parents and parents who are new to the school district didn't know that there was nothing else but an email sometimes it went to junk and then there Happ been incidents I'm sure you're aware of where students will show up to take that test and they have been denied because their parents or Andor Guardian did not sign up so if we could make it a little bit broadcast it a little bit beyond just an email additional reminder yeah because it l just you know I have heard those nightmare scenarios through no fault of the child yes no I understand that any and it really was based on students were not able to take it if they weren't registered we didn't have enough tests to hand out right but any student who came and was like I didn't register but I want to take the exam they had I said tell your parents to email me and they were able to take it during the makeup exam okay yes so they were able to take it they weren eliminated I wasn't communica it's always like oh you know like this is what happened and you hear those uh scenarios um the second thing is also in terms of the optic um and and and I understand that this is a work in progress as the communication develops further um uh is that when um students have been notified about their placement and they did not um get into the double accelerated math um program that the email was a little bit abrupt a little bit um Curt not Cur but maybe because the news was not promising that the the recipients took it very hard so if it can be a little bit more more encouraging and you know there's now that there's other Pathways available I have the letter already ready to go and it does include the second page of it has like I said it has the pathways for Middle School the pathways for um the high school and then I also included a video explaining those different Pathways so the parents will be able to click on the video link and I'll be explaining the different Pathways that they can take thank you so much and on on that note I've seen a recent letter from Sono about um appeal decision when somebody appeals the eighth grade to nth grade um placement and or a teacher Rec recommends them different path they can appeal that decision and then she responds back uh I've seen one of those letters and it's very um individualized with that student uh not just their name like it's not a black letter that not a form letter yeah that you're not is deny it it it's individualized letter with that students name with the specific numbers the specific uh organizational skills all of the criterias that were considered um that would make them successful in that program and what which ones are missing for this student and why that appeal is being denied so it it was a pretty detailed letter they want because it is a very comprehensive approach it's very thoughtful in terms of how students are are um recommended for one or the other I mean you know there is a thought a a lot of thought that goes into that calculus the decision so um I'm glad it's been communicated in that manner thank you and um finally I guess this is more um a board question you know I'm looking at the data it's pretty compelling and you're Tak to a fact that when when um the district switched to the non-traditional literally is non-traditional format that there were known um I would think known um risks associated with this wholesale change so I think this is most of us weren't on the board but to to understand the rationale behind why it even happened then and could we be in a scenario where in a few years from now that we may switch back I mean can we have some kind of discussion on that I think you were here at the board could you talk a little bit more about why it was made back then and do you anticipate something changing where we may even rever back um you know I can't speak for our math department um at that point um I think what they were seeing were that um students not going through Algebra 1 and then into Algebra 2 were having a difficulty when Algebra 1 was in 8th grade then geometry and then Algebra 2 and there wasn't that continuity and there were a number of concerns about Algebra 2 at the time I think the hope and I can't you know I can't verify it but I think the Hope was that that would make a better sequencing for students and they' have more success in Algebra 2 and the higher grades the datas the data as you pointed out has not really done that then I think you have to look at the pandemic hitting just as we're making that transition and everyone going online and and whether in fact during that period our teachers got um enough support for that change I think could be debatable at that point um so I think there were a lot of factors going in and I really appreciate you taking this deep dive and looking at it because when you were hired there were two big concerns we brought to you and one was the fifth grade that one test that sort of seemed to say this is where you're going to be in math for the rest rest of your career and in in Ridgewood and the and the second were the concerns parents have brought to us about that sequencing and and and what could be doing so the Deep dive you did was really important so as I come at it um I think I hope we don't repeat the concerns of the past where um we had alge we have Algebra 1 then geometry then Algebra 2 and there was that disconnect so in in Geometry you're going to make it a very algebra Rich geometry yes and I think and and I'm not sure that was happening I think there was a disconnect in that way um at the time of the change I think at that point teachers are willing to take it as I said the pandemic hit and I think that that made a significant difference but now coming out of the pandemic we didn't see the increase in our in our scores in the last two years and so that's compelling so I thank you for that thank you can I just quickly jump in for one second and uh you know thank Cas you could I promise it'll be 20 seconds um thank you for all the work and also to kind of give the board an idea of you're part of a very exclusive supervisor Club it's almost a cabal of sorts and um they're very supportive of one another and then you you're the lead on this initiative other people are the leads on other initiatives and um as far as compit goes you also just got a $40,000 grant that will be coming to rid which is very exciting so um like that that's coming next and that was coming up later but I thought I would share that this evening so thanks for the thoughtful work it is not um it is not an easy task to pick up a very large heavy ball and move it from here to here and it's only done through thoughtful conversation which is time consuming because the other part of it is that the rest of your job doesn't disappear so thanks for doing this work we have a lot more work to do because now we have to actually implement it um you know but I I hope it's it's received well because your intention was certainly um well spirited and it came with a tremendous amount of effort and rigor and vigor so drive home safely and uh thanks for joining the board this evening and presenting your work thank you thank you Ashley great job follow up on a conversation uh that happened at the last board meeting about um e8th grade math uh BF about Mr lbac yes yeah sure we can follow up on that conversation the um I'm in the final stages of determining whether or not we can make that change I think that we can there's a couple of moving certification Parts but um but I'm looking at it and I I have High Hopes I would say um that it's a very unique request um and I'm viewing it through a very unique lens because it's not something that I normally um am open to because I think that you you know teachers can change every year teachers retire teachers move districts and I want students or I want the Ridgewood school system to be able to support each class and each section independently but I'm also aware that this is a very unique situation because we Chang the sequence um and there might be a way to continue that one aspect of it so I feel like we're going to be successful with that but I don't want to promise it out loud because there's one tiny little section thing that we're that we're trying to work out but that um that is my answer to that great query well thank you for you know considering it um and seeing if it's if it works it's possibility and I know it's a it's a it's you're looking at it through that narrow lens this is for this particular cohort of children to finish up this sequencing right just it's just for one section um that like the advanced math section for e8th grade seventh grade yeah would just be to continue their experience and uh and what I see as one of the biggest thing that these students will learn from this is um activism Works uh going and speaking for um their right or what they feel should happen works it will just give them some encouragement if it's possible to do that right so because they they took that initiative they came here they spoke about it they sent emails so if if you can make it happen um that will just be one of the learnings for these students that if they feel somewhere down the road that something is not right or they they feel that so I'm not saying it's not right but if they feel they need to speak up and they go and speak up U then there is possibility that they can change the world well thoughtful requests are received thoughtfully right um you know and with thought we we try to find a resolution so um as long as people understand that you know you present yourselves you present your position and then we try to work with what what's there but I to see what a sponse absolutely yeah all right thank you very much um it's getting late 10 o'clock uh you have a superintendent report short superintendent we just getting started might be the latest superintendent report I've given a short superintendent report so just couple quick items just the superintendent coffee was our last superintendent was it was state of the school's address so if anyone has not listened to that please feel free to do so it's just a it's a it's a I think it was a good first run at it um considering the fact that we had just really pulling these these uh these these v data visualizations and these data sets together for the first time um I'm looking forward to uh refining this year upon year um and we got had some really good ideas for how to enhance so we'll certainly be putting the we'll continue to do that analysis in next year but uh you know remember for everybody we we will when we get our njsla data from this spring we will analyze it and Report out on in the fall so there will be a pretty steady data trail there's also some some other things we have to follow up on one of which is the parent surveys so if you have parents if you're listening um you have a surve surve uh that is the state of the school's follow-up parent survey so uh some it's some of the items are sort of similar to what Mrs Animo shared hers was specific to math um we are and we are going to gather data specifically about math as well in there but not not to the same level of detail that she provided but please do go in there please include your comments uh I do read through them I read all the comments um I find it really educational to actually hear what everybody has to say about their experiences so please take the time to do that and then we'll analyze that data and use that and we're we're warehousing all this data as well so it's not just about U what's going on this year it's also about creating a a longitudinal view of how we're trending so please do provide some feedback um our we are Maroon newsletter is out so lots of great stuff going at the end of the year if you want to check that out and please note that the next superintendent coffee is June 20th which will be the day after the last day of school um and in and in very sad news I shared with the board members um I am not going to be able to attend my first rhs graduation because it conflicts exactly the same time as my son's eighth grade graduation which um is I've never missed a graduation before so um by haven't had a kid having a comparable competing ceremony at the same time so um hopefully this would not be not be a thing for my other son next year but in the meantime um I will be recording with speech um Mr fredman is going to stand be in my stad which I greatly appreciate um and I just I want to apologize to the to the the community for not not being able to be there in this this this first this first graduation that I'm that I'm here but I did get a chance to attend as a guest last year and it was an incredible event so I definitely definitely have tremendous amount of respect for for the work that goes into it and um and I wish everybody the best for a great end of the school year items regular routine attendance of conferences to move this along I will move second um on the attendance and conferences M bran have we considered on on the agenda adding the New Jersey School Board conference attendance for the October oh if I can follow up on that I did follow up on that the early bird pricing is good good through June 30th okay so so we'll set it up for the June 24th meeting okay yeah I'm sorry we didn't get it on this agenda who was the second I'm sor sorry I was thank you Mr Donnie yes Miss quock yes Miss mcau yes Mr mmud yes Miss Brogan yes uh attendant um excuse me admiss uh Administration someone like to move that I move Administration I'll second Mr Donnie yes Miss quack yes Miss M yes Mr Mahmud yes Miss Brogan yes I curriculum and instructions thank you Mr Donnie no are there any questions no nothing yes and I I want to mention um one of the items listed here the inquire Ed um that is inquiry Journeys k25 social studies curriculum and um our um many um residents have brought up science of reading concerns and uh that has multiple Parts uh it's very complicated and complex topic and one of the parts there is are all the students learning same content so then they can use that content to do classroom discussions and um writing so right so if they are all reading a same common topic then there can be discussions on that common topic and there can be writing assignments on that common topic and that can be common for the whole classroom so um social studies is one of the uh good topics to use for that common curriculum uh um and so this uh investment in inquiry Journeys will enable us for K to 12 uh sorry inart to fifth grade everybody will be learning similar for the one classroom level similar social is curriculum and Glenrock is one of the schools that has already uh tried it and um Mr fredman and our um Ela supervisor for elementary schools um Dr Walsh they visited that they've done a lot of interviews a lot of research and this was highly recommended program so this is one step in that science of reading direction that gives you the content knowledge content knowledge common content for all students thank you actually I did have a just one quick question which is um don't we usually when we're doing a new curriculum um buy the licensing for more than one year I'm just curious as to why it's only for one year there's some that are one some that are five um this was filling because we were out of a fiveyear cycle as well that this would be a one but I anticipate that it would get carried over okay and we're working with the school business administrator to make sure our multi-year contracts that they're done correctly okay thank you also that can this can be a pilot treated as a pilot right so if we like it for the first year then we can extend it Miss quack yes Miss mcau yes Mr mmud yes Miss Brogan yes I'm move human resources and I think we saw Mrs pan Pani second second okay are there any questions this is a lot of work again congratulations and getting all these hires done and um change of assignments oh we do have a resignation uh for the purpose of retirement in vonis who is in Administrative Assistant to accounts payable she's been in the district for 23 years so we wish her luck are there any questions Mr Donnie yes Miss quack yes Miss mcau yes Mr mmud yes Miss Brogan yes just scrolling and I wanted to ask actually on finance I didn't know if you were going to move the whole thing because I was looking at Finance which is E9 which talks about approving non-resident employees attending Rood Public Schools I just didn't know if that affected teachers and their children um children yeah and whether or not then I need to recuse myself from that small little bit so before we move the whole thing maybe we should just separate that out or you can if there's no discussion you can just say recuse from nine and vote on everything else I'm fine with that I I just want to make sure you do it properly and I I do it right if there's no discussion okay I think I think that would be fine if you would prefer to walk away from the table you can do that too that's that's fine I don't need to walk away I just wanted to make sure that I didn't vote on it that's all that it was clear close your eyes when we're voting exactly um I I so would um I did have a question on finance so let's move it and second it and then our so on on 12 on finance 12 I did want to just have some clarification so um I'll move Finance someone like to Second it second okay and on 12 I just for your consideration uh in the wording of it um which is um is the uh 12 is the authorization for the business administrator board secretary Secret secretary to make payments to contractors during the summer months and it says to make those payments um authorized by the business administrator board secretary um after review by the business administrator and with approval of the superintendent and both members of the finance committee and I wondered in the summertime whether that made sense or should we and this is just for your consideration should we do it as we do per Personnel where you know you'd be the first to contact but if you weren't available and this needed to go out could it be you know another board member besides Finance just asking the question but are are you not a will I think this is virtual this can be virtual Sorry not available virtually this was the standard that we used last year also give us at least when we've done this personal other stuff you give us at least 48 hours to yeah I think I think okay hope you're okay all right thank you just wanted to check on that one okay I have a question on number seven um do we need 7 a and 7B here so everything else doesn't change for there's no number for submission to an high high impact tutoring Grant so for that do we need a 7 a oh yeah we should we just do a 7 a and 7 B yeah amen so all other numbers will stay same when Mar refuses or if I abstain or anything okay mending Finance so that seven becomes 7A approval submission of amendment to uh EC Grant and then 7B becomes approval submission of an amendment to the high impact toring Grant corre and we're going to um just vote separately nine yeah so it's going to be taken out and we'll we'll just move and vote on that separately firstly I think we have the the amendment right no this is a technical question I move e finance second we already moved right so then so so the first move is everything in finance except for nine correct so this is the first vote and all all you're doing is renumbering the yeah seven A and B this a vote to amend just recoding yes okay this is everything except nine Mr Donnie I'm going to abstain from E2 e six and E6 and I'm a yes on everything else Miss quack yes Miss mcau yes Mr mmud yes Miss bran yes so I will move um e n approval of children of non-resident employees attending Rich of public schools second Mr Donnie yes Miss qua yes Miss M abstains recuses sorry recuses Mr mmud yes Miss Brogan yes okay um resolutions and motions not included in consent agend agenda which is the approval of the second reading and Adoption of revised bylaws 0174 Legal Services I move a second Mr Donnie yes Miss quack yes Miss Mau yes Mr Mahmud yes Miss Brogan yes approval of bills um so I should that right yeah so I I reviewed and approved the bills so um I would move 10 approval of Bills second Mr Donnie yes Miss quock yes Miss mcau yes Mr Mahmud yes Miss Brogan yes hey board member announcements so I had just a couple things that um I wanted to address so my my big put it that way so um thank you hju for notifying me about that policy conference um that was run by Strauss Esme which I attended I think it was last Friday and um it was really excellent and very informative and the reason why I'm bringing it up here is because um we're going to be on the Lookouts St SMA is going to be circulating a draft policy for us to consider on acceptable use for AI and um they had we had I think two and a half hours of sessions on all the considerations that go into developing an acceptable use policy suggestions that we have a district AI coordinator suggestions that we have a you know a large policy AI policy committee because the scale of acceptable use you know could change by grade by subject matter um I know having attended the HSA meeting at the high school this week that was I think earlier this week or um that they're talking about AI even with the students there so there's lots of good things going on in the district and I think it's probably behooves us to have a consistent policy so that's probably something we'll need to work on this summer um so I just wanted to let you guys know that that is on its way and it's it's actually incredibly interesting the other thing that I would just say um is one of the things they talked about was um AI detectors that using to see whether or not a kid because you're you know there's acceptable use and then there's obviously deterring cheating and I think the Research indicates that almost all of those are unreliable and lead to a lot of false positives so that's something for us to consider so there there's a lot a lot to consider it was really fascinating actually um so that's coming down the pike and I just wanted to I was asked to mention steag I'll just go right into that but we really did have I thought an excellent open honest sometimes difficult conversation with the cpad community on the third um I've heard nothing but great things about um the response that uh the parents got just from you Dr Schwarz and and Michelle Fenwick and um the understanding that an open candidate discussion is you know kind of the first the first step towards improving things and everything can be improved at all times so those are my announcements thank you very much great yeah I have um so um I just have a couple of updates from the green Rood meeting um I attended green Rood meeting first Thursday so last Thursday um at Village Hall and I think the the green R team and the subcommittee from the council continues to work on um some of the recommendations from Colombia school and the the Colombia students report and also the overall Governor's uh mandate for uh for New Jersey uh last year in 2023 um Governor Murphy signed three executive orders I think 135 136 and 137 that establish the road map for New Jersey where he's basically calling for an expedited uh timeline of uh zero emissions for New Jersey um by 2035 so that's about 11 years away so it's ambitious but by by 2035 he wants to be New Jersey utilities to be zero carbon emission and um there is a lot of money being um spent on converting um some commercial units and low-income housing whatever is is in States control those um uh buildings to Electric only uh move away from gas and then he also has a mandate or task force to review uh the png's gas program and what to do with that if uh electrification happens that fast if he's the way he's thinking of that um I didn't I don't see any money that's being offered to us to Electrify um and there are some conflicting regulations in terms of uh uh State wants us to Electrify but a lot of the uh ventilation regulations that are happening at the federal level um they are causing the manufacturers to delay Manu equipment manufacturing for next year because their refrigerants will um phase out this year so that the federal policies don't match with Governor Murphy's Vision at this point so to me it looks like 2035 is a little ambitious but but that's what we discussed and um there are um there were there were a lot of shoutouts to uh Mr Lou and his team the um AP environmental science team and the high school um that the work that they are doing they have I think several um teams of students four or five students in each team and they are doing a lot of good projects including um they submitted Grant applications and they've received a lot of Grants um and uh they're now going to put a new rain Garden in high school school and there was a a question about uh if they establish that rain Garden then who will maintain that and um I told them to reach out to Dr Schwarz because he's working on new um rfps probably now or somebody in his department for our landscaper contracts and armar contracts so it can be fit somewhere that okay if there's a l rain Garden then somebody needs to maintain that rain garden and they are also promoting um natural uh native plants or native flowers so if you go by the tennis courts um the one of the teams so these four student teams so one of the teams has planted native flowers um so they are basically trying to demonstrate that you don't have to have grass everywhere uh so you can have low maintenance and goodlooking uh options so they so there are a lot of a lot of good projects that High School AP environmental science team and Mr Lou's team is doing and so there were a lot of shout outs to them the rain Garden isn't new this year though right because they've been they've had that for a number of years but I think they by the tennis courts maybe no by the tennis courts is the uh native plants that they had a rain Garden there before and I think they're working on a new one or a new project for the rain Garden this year working on one by vets too by vets field oh yes I know that yeah that's great that's great yeah I I wondered you like to speak about very quickly um um students yes um wanted to thank the administration Dr Schwarz Miss Brogan um the BF middle school and ridgwood high school for welcoming 77 students from Inon South Korea um magnet Science school um 77 students and about seven administrators and it was uh incredibly enriching uh just to witness the excitement that the students had to come to a high- performing public school where the only um school that they saw on their um uh tours of um colleges and it was collaborative because um at the high school with Dr Labowski there was a very robust Q&A uh that occurred there was an exchange of looking at different projects so um I really wanted it was a lot of work it's a very busy time for us it's a little bit more relaxing for them which is why they're here but we were able to really welcome um those students and we hope to keep it going for next year and you know like I said I want to thank BF Middle School M broen Dr Schwarz Mr Freedman and um the county executive um superintendent Mr L deliso who also came to give a welcome for the students so it was really um and the and the goal is is that um potentially especially with the advances of technology and online collaboration that maybe they could be projects collaborative projects that could work between their high school and our high school um you know they work all the time so the hour time difference no problem so um hopefully it will be the this this is our second um uh visit and hopefully we can continue it going forward but um thank you very much for the support uh just um a a number of things so uh first of all thank you to the Ridgewood library that continues to be a partner um our community partner that provide and they're providing pizza and snacks to our high school students uh on June 12th uh during the begin for the beginning of finals so thank you to them uh they go through a box I I think it was 60 boxes of Pizza in you know 10 minutes or something um last time so it was an amazing amount thank you to the I um Association for the banners that are hung um across the town uh celebrating our graduates um it's I think that tradition started during the pandemic uh in 2020 and um it continues I thought it was a one year and then it happened the next year and I think now it's a tradition so I thank them for that um you know I'm I like to sell celebrate our students and I think we've had um a couple of a few students um who have demonstrated that they are participating in civil in in Civic engagement so we had four high school students present their ideas to the Village Council recently three of the students are from the environmental science AP class and they designed a plan to add bike Lanes to Pleasant Avenue they did a wonderful presentation I um watched it online um and their presentation was well received and my I believe the Village Council has agreed to paint the bike Lanes on Pleasant um once Paving is done this summer um and they and the students thoughtfully I think picked Pleasant because there's Haws along the way and uh Somerville the high school and then if you come up further um you know not too far to get over to BF and travel's around the corners so it's a nice uh thorough Fair um and it hooks into uh the bike lanes that um I think an eagle scout it might have been an Eagle Scout project um had designed that goes Grove Street um and across town so um I I thought it I thought they did a really well a great job and not easy to present and they did a very uh very nice job another student designed a logo for the Ridgewood access committee and presented that um to the Village Council which um they accepted so yay for our high school students right um and then um at the home and school meeting um last week at the high school three um graduates from Ridgewood High School came back um as they do uh as uh this is a program that happens each year um to talk about their experience in college col and the question always comes up how prepared were you for college and and did Ridgewood do a you know how was Ridgewood did they do a good job or not and you know that consistently year to year the students talk about their ability to write that that it's not a daunting task to write an essay to write a a research paper and the experiences they've had and and some had experienced it in middle school as well as high school and remarked upon that um and time management and a number of positive um responses um Federated continues to push out notifications to parents to sign up for Tech without stress so if you're out there listening um please um sign up for Tech without stress uh by July 6 if you've used that if you use that code you will have access to it you don't have to listen to all the um different components of it uh by the 6th of July but you do need to register July 6 to take advantage of the free um you know the ability to to listen to these um podcasts if you will uh for free uh but it is really well worth it um so I would encourage you to do that um I just wanted to acknowledge um Mrs Murphy for your um mcing of the the teacher uh recognition program last week um well done yeah it I think it was a great your remarks were great um but it was well done um some exciting news from the uh Ridgewood High School science teacher and adviser for the applied engineering club and you spoke about Dr Labowski well her 13 invent teams comp competed in the New Jersey steam tank challenge um this is a competitive uh competition with many teams from our state technical high schools participating all of the rhs teams made it to the Regionals and two were named finalist um Team safe waterer and team veritech in the final rounds um Team veritech came in third place winning $1,000 for Ridgewood High School um and veritech I didn't know what it was and so I asked Dr Labowski just to share some information the veritech team invented an autonomous watering system for house plants I could use that uh with cell phone with a cell phone app option wouldn't that be cool wa water I plants um they but I would not have all the steps I need to take do every day right uh they even Incorporated AI uh their prototype is to be is is finished and the judges commented that it is ready for Market this summer Dr Labowski will help the students to apply for a provisional patent for it um the students working on veritech are all freshmen and uh they want to continue their work on this project to bring it out and scale it up uh for Gardens and uh Farms so really congratulations to our applied engineering club students and and since they're freshman maybe next year they'd like to come and demonstrate um and talk about their um their project because I always think that's great to see the students and and what they have done so uh committee reports we only have one committee report and that's facilities and and uh we have long meetings um and we're still working we're still working um still um but a couple of things are have been happening and and so that's um good news um we've started to add the uh water filtration component to our bottle filling stations that will that work will continue into the summer and we'll be um uh there were some glitches and so we're working on those but I think um so far so good I don't know if there's anything yeah and I just add just as a follow to the meeting um we did have a there's communication going out through the schools right now just clarifying to the staff so they can inform the kids regarding uh which which ones have been which ones have been uh treated with these uh CH had their filters changed out these filters that actually filter posos some of the some of the water filt some of the bottle filling units they're compatible with the filters but they're they weren't the light for whatever reason on the older units doesn't register as changed so it's filtering there's no bypass so the water's going through the filter um but it still reads red like it needs to be changed so we're just educating folks that like still works we'll just monitor the the the bottle count and that and we'll change it based on the bottle count um yeah Mr Donnie had a really good idea just putting a yeah put just put like like just a little like sign in there are two two indicators on those filters one is the light that says okay this the filter needs to be changed and the second one is count since the last uh filter was changed and each filter is capable of about 14,400 uh bottles filled and that counter increases after a certain gallon or like5 gallon water is withdrawn so we can disable the lights by putting a label on top of the that that just says look at the count because if the count if the light is not working but if the filtration is happening then we are good change filter when count reaches the so everybody's watching and then we make sure they can send next filter oil change filter really I'm almost there um another is the our jrc meetings which had um really not been meeting um over the last probably year or so um or more um we're going to um we're going to bring those meetings back uh next poll um the architect and Engineers are um continuing their work at um analyzing um the the most really cost effective and efficient and meeting standard hva HVAC systems for uh Glenn and ridge so we don't have any recommendations now but we're we keep moving in that direction and Mr Donnie always has some good questions and so we are continuing um to move in that direction um wood shot dust collection um we uh bids were due but they did come in um and uh they were open last week and it's being reviewed yeah the lowest is is always about 50,000 over budget it was a $400,000 budget so we're pulling I've asked like to pull the finance the facilities committee together again just talk about this before we decide how to proceed um so we just expect to take shortly okay um you see and then we we did um talk a little bit about Fields fi Orchard field remains closed but work is going to be happening on it this summer yeah um and um Glen The Glenn school back field um there were some uh Community concern uh Community member concerns about that field um and and needing U Better maintenance um so so on orur I think there were two issues one is uh some of the patches that were that did not have grass and the the open um status from the uh pure department handles that that whether the remediation that remediation case is closed or not because our new Architects did some initial analysis and they identified that it was not completely closed but that's a technical error because when they sent out some of the paperwork that was sent to Mr bich email address and that was probably B bounced back or so now it was sent to the new ba uh and that work was happening on that so the the anything related to that open contamination issue was not related to contamination it was technical like closing the loop and just closing the project so just completing some paperwork and closing the project so that probably already happened or is happening and the second part was s and making the feel ready for sports I think that work will start on 19th or 20th right the day after school closes and then they need six or seven weeks it will be ready by August to play um I thought that the on the update I thought that um the work is scheduled to start the day after school ends so will not interfere with school activities like school kids but I thought that um the advice was to make sure that the grass has a chance to really weeks I think they just they yeah yeah there's we're there are some schools have thought that giving it like two years would be would be the best but I think but the their the landscaped architect the landscapers are confident that um that with a with a special treatment because it's like a small area um that they're going to give it like a lot of additional treatments that it should be should be up and ready to go at the Ballpark of something like that I was thinking September probably rather than a I mean it's playable in August but we don't expect it to be really actually seriously in use until right that would make more sense um and then um next year is um next school year um U we'll be um going out for our maintenance and pastorial service contracts uh and and looking at and Facilities is just looking at that so that's it I don't know do you have anything else yeah there's there was one um request that I had um asked our business administrator to talk to you for finance committee um on two facilities items that we have currently um esip loans uh from uh esip projects that were done for boiler upgrades a few years ago that we are paying from our general budget and then we have uh couple of uh lease purchase loans for Our IT projects from last two years because we do threee lease purchases so this year we uh if you notice we did not do lease purchase right we did outright purchase for for next year so we will not be borrowing that a million dollars because we're just borrowing 1 million every year and then paying in three years so 300,000 so we are not borrowing for for the upcoming year that's not in the budget because we purchase it from the money that we have but we still have that loan for previous year two installments and uh one installment from the prior year right so because it's a three-year agreement so that money and the esip loans so if we have um Monies to allocate to capital projects this year on June 30th then a consideration by finance committee that should we just pay off those loans so in the next budgets we will have money available for the new programs or anything that new we are adding yeah there's a tradeoff for that is that you know with the um spent money whether in fact um it is better used to go into the capital um because we do have significant Capital needs so just a consideration um discussion items I'm just looking at facilities because I had a discussion I don't why you because this follows with facilities um I forget I think there was an update on the tennis courts resurfacing was was there um bids have been received I I'm not I'm not sure if bids okay because so this is this came up at a Fields committee once uh we did not have a discussion it did come up I since I was unaware of anything I didn't ask fols um but uh there it has been this longstanding I would say understanding uh I don't think it's a formal contract or a formal Arrangement um that uh it's it the pattern is that the Village Council and Border ofed would trade off paying for the resurfacing of the tennis courts right we talk about we did talk about that um and uh I think currently our business administrator and the purchasing agent is getting courts okay and yeah we don't have specific bids right now right so they are getting codes because the last time like the bids were in them like no they're trying to get it so there were I think the The Village forwarded us couple of names from or somebody forers names from who did it last year or who have done other fields but Aaron is looking into whether they are part of the state contracts or not we cannot go with National cooperatives yeah we can only go with State cooperatives like there is some new Newan is I may not be 100% correct there but the right person is looking into that and trying to get bids uh if we can get it from the state contracts and if we cannot then they will have to go out for bed so they are he's working on finalizing this specs is working on finalizing what the contractors can be and whether they can be from the the state contracts if not if we have to go out for bids so he's working on all of that um but so in principle I I think we all agree that if there were commitments made we have to do that and we have the money for that it's just the process that we have to get to that point so that so the this uh but it's rather um a amorphous right just like whoever's sitting on the council or Board of Ed some people know some people don't it goes back and forth back and forth so I like it I think it need needs to be a more formal um process to identify the actual Financial commitment rather than this verbal understanding or whatever have you because you know I don't know most of us don't know correct because for this specific program for residents to play on these tennis courts Village collects money right so a village collects money uh there's a permit that is issued to play on these tennis courts um so maybe we should be getting part of the money and we should be fixing it all the times yeah instead of this like you do it your one year you know you do it the next time I do it next time and you know this kind of understanding by certain it just is just a little bit too nebulous uh for Comfort especially as the prices escalate you know one entity can't be on the hook for something that could be very well in the six figures with only certain people knowing about it but so as long as we're public about it as long as there's um maybe a written agreement it could be a shared service could it be a shared service it could be um in the vein of perhaps um a little something even more formulas uh that from now on um the resurfacing project will fall on the purview of the Board of Ed but to offset that would be the some um return from a percentage collected from the rental fees I think we have to look and see I believe that our freshman uh Team not sure may use the kennworth um tennis courts that are the village so are we going to pay the village to use the their courts if we should be using it well you know I just don't know who's saying for what like the idea that you know this to me came out of for the four of us who haven't been here with with this kind of understanding in place I had no um uh response in terms of um The Firm expectation that this was going to be done this summer and I wasn't going to be able to speak on the board's behalf and say yeah we're going to do it I have no idea so there needs to be some um and if if you know I think yeah whatever agreement is it should be documented yeah it should be documented it should be um it should be also um Equitable um in terms of both access in terms of Revenue share in terms of the financial obligation the maintenance um and if it's you know I don't know about this Kennelworth I don't know who which entity is responsible for it if but whatever it is it just needs to be a little bit more um uh I guess the word is documented and transparent and just to close it out I guess then the idea would be first to get the facts right so what what we use do we just use our courts or do we use Village Courts for our things like establish that find out what what's being charged you know who's paying for what how much it costs get all that in front of us because it shouldn't be that much because and I'm the newest right to this whole thing but as I'm listening to you those are the facts that you want to know and then if you want to change the arrangement you're going to have to try to negotiate that with the village or to memorialize it could it just be something simple as a is it would be a resolution if it's not a shared services technically I don't know but right but something like that so that that's there and then now everyone can go back and look at it exactly CU right now it's simply a verbal right understanding or prior practice and you were talking about significant funds here I'm not sure it was as significant when that when that uh started yeah but that's what I mean years 55,000 three years ago so to me it's significant yeah oh wow yeah that's but well the point being this is probably been going on for like 40 years or something don't no I don't think it's that long no it's not that long that's the other thing it's before us before the four of us yeah okay anyway get the facts and then we make an assessment on our end and then we address it right one way or the other I agree with you 100% And if it continues to be as expensive do we want to not not share that with exctly exactly we have to make this you know materials are more expensive than they were you know I I think this is a it's an every three-year deal yeah thing was that that the fact that there was a deal you know it justed before of us well I I hear what you're saying but I just think to be fair a deal could be it's just is an agreement right an agreement to work cooperatively like we shouldn't we shouldn't we shouldn't put more on that than what when there's money involved in the tune of 55,000 it needs to be documented memorize it cannot be a ver I agree it should be documented but I'm just saying we shouldn't cast dispersions on the prior agreement that none of us were no no there wasn't we just saying it needs to be documented that's yeah I I agree with okay we're good so on the discussions I have uh a question or a reminder for the policy committee last time I requested that the policy be reviewed for our Glenn school admissions for residents versus non- residents and priority for residents I don't know if you guys get a chance to look at that policy okay so because admissions are probably going on right now for next school year I don't know where they are on that then on that same topic I had a request from the communications committee um if you can um communicate to the community that how does the admission process work for the Glenn school when are the um applications announced uh what's the waight list process and what what are current weight list numbers which program are you talking about are L school okay oh you mean are you talking about program oh the reach yeah there's rise there's reach there's all grand school programs yeah infant as well all Glen school programs that what is the what is the admission criteria there current admission criteria when do when can a parent apply for that when does the application open when does the application close what's the weight list process and where where are we currently with the weight list process so that's a communication issue I think that needs to be communicated and I requested that at the last time so I'll probably follow up again at the next meeting that we need to communicate that yeah um then we um in the um our finance we approved a motion a resolution today for itc's increase rates so every year we have been adjusting itdc rates um based on the market conditions and based on our expenses going up because that's not a school program so we increase that this year and I remember increasing that every year um I don't see any approvals for the Glen School rates or any adjustments to those so does the board not approve those rates that what should be the rates that that should be charged for um reach rise and uh other Glen school programs and Rise would be uh special that that is a tuition that that we do approve when do we know when did we approve that we usually approve it um the end would usually the last meeting of June yeah um it's within the policy or regulation as well for the tuition so you know you we usually get a list of all the um um tuition charges updated once so K it gets updated and then yeah okay so yeah so we have ITC this time so I'm hoping that that the same in the same fashion though it's the same building the same type of weight list that will be revised um based on the requirement and weight list um then uh miss broen last time I had a question for you about a couple of your statements and there was a third one um I went home and listened to that so you had made a statement about um State average and County average so I requested if you can provide those numbers um and then another statement you had made was our um we were getting less number of applications for teachers so what was that number um if you can provide those three numbers you want stay so you had mentioned state in your statement you had mentioned County average you had mentioned State average as of that date and uh so which uh numbers you looked at because when I went back and looked at County I think I only saw two or three settlements by that time so which uh State numbers did you look at which county numbers you looked at and then you mentioned that we are getting less applications for our teachers so what are the numbers so what is less what was our previous number and what is less and like what time period did you compare so those were the three statements you had made at the last meeting so I can follow up at the next meeting um I think that's all I have for discussion items acceptance of minutes we're going to um pull the May 20th uh 2024 uh for uh and not and move that to the next um board meeting um but um are you all right with April 29th regular April 29th executive uh May 20th executive you move those um I don't I I um I just haven't had a chance to look at May 20th executive so that's fine uh tbling the May 20th Public public for sure so we can move ahead with okay have a second all in favor I'm going to abstain oh abstain from all yeah we are only voting for April 29th right no April 29th and um public and executive and May 20th executive actually can I um you know what I was under an impression we are tbling all M so yeah why don't we U for for yeah April 20 if if we could just table both the regular and exact on May 20th I think that would be um that would be appropriate yes so we are moving April 29th and I'm abstaining from both because I was not here okay so let's start all over again I'll move April 29th regular public and executive session meetings for acceptance second all in favor of that I I good so the 20th as you were absent yes the 20th will go to um the the 24th June 24th meeting okay all right um that's other business are we okay um we can go to uh comments from the public and then we're going to go back into executive session and it's 11 almost 11 o'clock that's not even the longest meeting so that's okay we can do this yes indeed so we're open for public comment can you hear me oh sure I didn't see your hand ra I'm sorry yes Jack ja yes jacn Helen thank you so much for answering a few of the questions that we had asked earlier um I understand that we will be getting uh a written position from the Board of Education physician um if if I didn't hear that correctly please correct me um and the only thing I didn't hear an answer to if if someone could please answer as far as the income for the field use the field schedule so um where can we get a copy of some type of accounting of the monies that are being collected and especially now after the conversation that we had regarding tennis um Court usage Etc we already have something in place saying that we are collecting money for field use and um I am unable to find that anywhere so is there a breakdown somewhere where can I find that the accounting of what has been collected from organizations from Village of Ridgewood um that use the Board of Education fields for previous years and the current year because like I said before the policy says that field use is due in full prior to being used so when they schedule it you're expected to to pay up front and so I don't see any of that so if someone can just please answer that and direct me to where I can find that thank you I don't see any other um hands raised so I'll close public comment and we will go to Executive session uh I hereby move that the board go into executive session P pursuant to njsa 10 colon 4-12 to discuss matters pertaining to personnel and student pupil Personnel um the minutes of this closed session will be released when the need for confidentiality no longer exists we may take action um when we come out of executive session and back into public um may I have a so I'm moved it can I have a second second all right thank you very much and we are back maybe later tonight and our next meeting is June 24th e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e the Richwood board of education has been meeting an executive session pursuant to njsa 10 col 4-12 the minutes of of this meeting will be released when the need for confidentiality no longer exists I have a resolution um that I'll read and then we'll proceed from there resolution affirming the decision of the superintendent whereas in response to a um serious violation of the code of student conduct on or about May 23rd 2024 committed by student number 9 03123 superintendent imposed a su a suspension for student number 9 03123 through the balance of the school year as well as prohibition from other extracurricular activities whereas the parents requested an appeal the discipline whereas the board heard the appeal the parents and their councel and exe executive session of the board of education at its June 10th 2024 meeting whereas after considering ing the positions of the parents and the evidence presented by District administration the board has determined to affirm the determination of the superintendent now therefore be it resolved that the Ridgewood Board of Education hereby affirms the disciplinary determination of the superintendent do I have a motion I make a motion I have a second second it Mr Donnie no Miss quack yes Miss M yes Mr mmud Miss broken yes motion passes okay all these cards right now you need a motion to go back into EX I hearby move that the board of uh the board go into executive session pursu pursuant to njsa 10 col 4-12 to discuss matters pertaining to Personnel the minutes of this closed session will be released when the need for confidentiality no longer exists I have a second second all in favor I uh no no action will be taken after this second uh this third movement into executive session thank you