Mrs Kuro Kur here miss mcari here Mrs mzik here Mrs Smith Dr tomasini and myself Mrs Shields is here the New Jersey open public meeting Act was passed to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provision of the act the Rockway Township Board of Education has caused notice of the date time and place of said meetings to be published in the Daily Record The Star Ledger and to be posted in all schools in The District in the municipal building and the town of the township and the LI Township Library does any board member wish to object to the conduct of this meeting for the purpose as stated in the public notice all documentation materials cons Ed by the Board of Education as part of this agenda are available for the public preview and comment members of the public are invited to come to the Board of Education building off Green Pond Road during the regular business hours of 8:00 am to 400 PM Monday through Friday if they wish to inspect any of the reference items can I have a motion to wave the flag salute sove second show of hands please uh resolve that in accordance with open public meeting at the Rockway Township Board of Education will meet in close session to discuss matters involving Personnel litigation security negotiations receipt of government funds the content of said discussions will be disclosed to the public at such time and extent as required by law can I have a motion to go into close session so moved seconded no well show of hands please okay close session begins at 6:03 p.m. thank you [Music] spe [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] for [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] o [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] good evening can I have a motion to adourn close session please so move so moveed seconded Lisa and second by Allison me and close session ends at 7:33 p.m. can I have a show of hands please to end close session okay can everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge aliance to flag of the United States of we have a packed house tonight thank you all for coming um we're going to start off the evening with a a presentation by the Copeland Theater Company followed by a uh dbo student recognition so without further Ado I think it we are ready Miss spots Miss brandler bring it on and the theater company into the woods [Applause] Jr w for [Music] [Applause] thank you so much we have one more song [Applause] please don't bump into the cameras okay Happ to take [Applause] I about a nice round of applause excellent thank you so much Miss Branda when is this going to be when next week next Thursday and Friday at 7 and Saturday at 2 and tickets the link will be on the website I believe tomorrow if it's not already thank you so much M brandler very much thank you very much that was wonderful thank you Dr Corbett do you want to introduce Dr maragon yes we are we are so pleased to have um Dr maragon here this evening from dbo and we will be honoring some students uh from dbo and some staff thank you very much Dr maragon thank you everyone so good evening I'm proud to have been the Dennis bobine principal for the last 11 years and a Rockway Township employee for the last 16 years I'd like to thank the board of education for having us tonight giving us the opportunity to highlight some of the amazing students we have at dbo it would be remiss of me not to also thank our dbo families in attendance to tonight so thank you for coming [Applause] out and as you can see by pretty much the whole back half of the audience to the people who keep dbo going every single day who pour their heart and soul into what is sometimes a thankless profession The Faculty I thank you for all your dedication professionalism and service thank you [Applause] and this year our Focus has been continuing to promote and acknowledge our core values and seeking out and rewarding positive behavior not looking for the negatives which are easy to see but really striving to dig deep and and really find the positives in kids in addition we've explored many different Service Learning opportunities and projects as ways to impact our community in a positive way and all of this has been really to help in our goal of raising good kind children who'll beep preped to be contributing members of society with this in mind we created the dbo Citizenship Award uh not just a student of the month this this is a bigger award uh for this award nominees were solicited from the faculty and then a committee sorted through the nominations to select only one recipient from each grade who demonstrated our core values at the highest level in addition the students you're about to meet are positive role models show kindness daily smile put great effort into all of their school workor are always excited to learn new things are leaders in and out of the classroom and are always looking for ways to help others they continually strive to improve no matter the subject or Challenge and lead by example when it comes to being respectful and kind to their classmates and teachers they are true Role Models when for students and adults alike and make dbo a better place it's now my privilege to present the winners of the dbo Citizenship Award for 2024 so we will start with yeah we'll start with kindergarten I think yeah you ready all right so the kindergarten Citizenship Award winner for 2024 is Tyler [Applause] Stern he's dressed better than I am you going to keep him over there yeah we'll keep him over there and then we'll do a photo of everyone at the end yep in first grade the dbo citizenship winner award for 2024 he puts me to shame with what he's wearing as well Mr Finn Lago come on up [Applause] Finn man we got some well-dressed Deb kids now a man after my own heart who likes to be comfortable every single day he'd wear shorts I think if his parents weren't telling him to put on pants but um I'm very very thrilled uh to announce the next person because his brother has also done some amazing things at dbo was one of our chess Representatives as well um but I'd like to recognize in second grade for the dbo Citizenship Award for 2024 Matthew [Applause] Morgan all right and now we have something that made me really happy because I had nothing to do with the voting process I was given names by the teachers committee sorted through it um and this I'm sure makes this family very proud but we have a sibling of one of the students that's already up here uh in third grade the winner on his own Merit just as well-dressed as his brother is Corey stanlick come on up Cory all right to fourth grade and this is the second time this family again talking of families because we are a dbo family this is the second time that this family has been here at at a board meeting to recognize one of their children so again um at parents if it was me I would be very very proud of all of my children but the fourth grade winner of the dbo Citizenship Award for 2024 please welcome Mr Devin dmer come on all right Devon you can breathe it's okay now you're good you're good you got it you got it and my final uh Citizenship Award winner is someone who is just done so much since she's been in the school um she's getting a different little award than everyone else she truly is like uh Wonder Woman because she's here and the longer I talk the more upset her dad is getting cuz she's late for basketball right now in the gym um uh but she she walked in with a bag I'm like what are you doing you're not sleeping over you know I've got to get changed I've got basketball how long's this going to take so very committed to every every aspect of everything she does and so I'd love to welcome up Miss Olivia Lopez [Applause] congratulations for and again I just want to thank the Board of Education and the administration for giving us an opportunity to come for families for coming out and for the wonderful showing of teachers to support our dbo students have a great rest of your night good uh and now to celebrate this very special occasion cookies cookies have some cookies we're going to have a cookie break thank you faculty dbo thank you so much for all you do too and making the school a great place and students please have a cookie take some home thank you I don't [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we're on the education okay together welcome back really is want me to I can do it okay go ahead um ladies and gentlemen we are pleased and thank you for staying around just for another five minutes uh Miss Lisa Harland is here Lisa would you come forward please Lisa is the president of the Rockway Township Education Foundation and I am so grateful to all the work she's done over the years and how she supported our schools I'd like to give her a couple minutes because she has some um some news and some very good news that I think will be interesting to all the schools in The District in the gym too but I don't think he goes to the gym much any this is one of the the best parts of this job is awarding Grant Monies to the schools hopefully everybody can hear me so um I'm happy to announce tonight that we are funding some projects at all of our district schools for Copeland Middle School uh we are funding some gym equipment including replacement volleyball standards um the ones here are worn out so we'll be replacing those um as well as harnesses for project Adventure which if any of you have middle school kids yet um even the elementary school kids are probably talking about it I know it's a something very exciting for the students here uh for Birchwood Elementary School we are funding light sensory technology these are portable light tables that have um different accessories that help uh develop sensory motor cognitive cognitive skills um and these are going to be used for preschoolers um and students in grades 2 uh K through 2 we are also for dbo funding calm Corners um these are going to be created in um the primary some of the primary classrooms um we're funding 10 of them so um Each corner will have tubs of fidgets and sensory items for the for the kids to play with for Stony Brook we're doing uh it's called growing knowledge I understand understand that Stony Brook is undergoing a re renovation of their Courtyard um so the teachers have all gotten together and there will be some Garden bends going in there with soil and different um activities depending on the the age group they'll be growing different things so we're happy to fund that for KDM we're happy to fund the treps program and bring that back um it's an after school program where they learn uh different Entre entrepreneurial skills um I have to tell you those kids were amazing the last time we did it I couldn't believe the ideas that they came up with so definitely attend that if you can Dr Corbett um and then last but certainly not least one of my um favorite projects um ideas that we got for for these grants was this outdoor story book walk up at DWI um and I don't know if any of you have heard of this but they actually take pages from story books and they usually laminate them or or maybe make them bigger and they post them outside so the children will walk along a path and they'll read a couple pages of the book they'll go to the next stage and read that that section of the book um it's become very popular I think during the pandemic but it's a good way to get outside um and read at the same time so the total of all these grants comes to $13,800 and we are happy to hand that out over to Mr Smith uh for funding these projects um I also want to mention I am the outgoing president I am coming down on my last days as president of the RTF um Michelle pra is stepping up as well as some other volunteers so it will be a new organization uh I hope if you guys have a few minutes to give that you would consider volunteering because the more hands in the um on the RTF the more funding you can raise and the more you can do for your schools so thank you very much thank you Thank you Lisa we on behalf of the board I I will say that we appreciate all the work and dedication over the past years and $13,800 is a lot of money and the school is going to go to very good use for our students uh if if you're interested in helping to continue the good work of the foundation uh please let me know and I will make sure that Michelle the new president uh contacts you it doesn't it's it's not awfully timec consuming at all but your contributions can be very valuable to to the work of the district so thank you again Lisa for all that you've done thank you Abe uh Aaron's having he has says he has no audio and he can't hear anything we're muted is that why Aaron can you hear us that's a little bit better I heard when you directed The Bike okay great thank you during the course of the board meeting the Rockway Township Board of Education offers members of the public an opportunity to address issues regarding the operation of the Rockway Township Public Schools the board reminds those individuals who take this opportunity to identify themselves by name and address and to limit their comments to items listed on the agenda and or items directly related to the operation of the school district issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights offered by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected or identified in the comments and be aware that they're legally responsible and liable for their comments in accordance with board policy 0167 public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a three minute per member three minute limit per member of the public the board president shall have the right to modify the length of public discussion as she deems appropriate can I have a motion to open public comment SM seconded Lisa and Noel show of hands please okay if anyone from the public would public would like to come up I yeah I asked her to read okay hello good evening how are you good if you could just state your name and address please my name is Stacy Dowling and my address is 567 herck Drive okay I just wanted to um speak on some positivity um as I stated my name is Stacy dling I have been employed by the rackaway Township Board of Ed for for over four years I work at Copeland middle school as a staff assistant parah and I enjoy my job immensely in the past I have been assigned to self-contain classrooms with Children of special needs this year I am mainstreamed and have been out and about the building I would like to speak to the positive points that I have observed while working in this building the building feels very safe and secure with Hall monitors in every wing as well as a full-time uh Rockaway Township police officer the policies and procedures along with the dress codes are being followed there is a strong sense of structure and accountability for both students and staff the administration Educators counselors staff assistants custodians and cafeteria staff show and exemplify heart they are leading by example I know and I believe the children know that they have unlimited resource in this school they are never alone I have been in several subject classrooms and the education and creative ways of teaching that I've observed are grade A I don't believe we hear enough about the education our children are receiving at goela middle school there are also several after school clubs offered extracurricular activities for the children to get involved in no matter where their interest lies I have a fifth grader and and I'm looking forward to him entering copela next year Middle School is a big transition and it can be very intimidating especially for the new sixth graders this is why I believe that the children entering copelan should be informed of the positivity this school has to offer so thank you very much for your time I just wanted to throw out positive vibes because I think it's very important that you I give my experience very much appreciated thank you uh thank you Stacy I just want to say I appreciate the good news and I'm sure Dustin and the administration does it's it's a real compliment to the administration as you said to all the teachers in the staff at Copeland um and the students too and we have a great school here and I think as you did come up and say it publicly let's spread the word Copeland is a great school we're not perfect we're working hard but it's a great school right so thank you so much for that anyone else from the public wish to come up okay can I have a motion to close public session so moved second and Noel show of hands please okay Communications there are two that are not listed on the agenda uh the board received a handwritten note today from zap abdalah and also on March 4th there was a email from Jamie Beretta barita in regards to Transportation thank you big help uh approval of the minutes can I have a motion to approve the minutes so moved seconded chrisy and Allison yeah I just wanted to call there's an error on the um absentees it says that um Noel is absent but I was actually absent okay right we will make that correction can you take a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson once the changes made yes Mrs C Laro abstain miss m m mcir abstain M mzik yes Mr Smith she's absent today uh Dr Thomas cini yes Mrs Shields yes okay superintendent report thank you Madame President I'll begin by welcoming um Ron Smith to the Rockway Township School District Welcome Ron he will be serving as interim business administrative board secretary while uh Megan slam is on maternity leave and speaking of Megan I would like to congratulate Megan Ray and Eloise on the new addition to their family Jack Peter slam who welcome into the world on March 6 so Megan if you're listening and Eloise and uh and Ry congratulations welcome Jack to address the water concerns at KDM our architect has recently submitted a design to the Department of Environmental Protection after the D approves the design we can begin installation unfortunately we have no timeline for approval our architect is also completing the survey of the facilities and expects to have a report ready for the board by mid April the specs for roof repairs at KDM Copeland and Birchwood have been reviewed by our attorney we expect the bids to be issued approximately two weeks in approximately two weeks and awarded in April speaking of April April is the month of the military child it's an opportunity to celebrate thank acknowledge students from military families living in pitini we hope to spread awareness and recogniz these children for their sacrifice and bravery on the home front since many children from military families attend dbo they will be highlighted with activities events and a specialist assembly members of the Board of Education are certainly invited to attend the Special Assembly to honor and recognize these students it will be held on April 15th from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. as you just heard after a lengthy Hiatus the Rockaway Township Education Foundation um met on March 5th their goal was to reestablish the foundation and pass on the responsibilities to new leaders I am impressed at that meeting 11 people showed up we could still use more people to support the foundation a new slate of offices were elected Michelle perola is has accepted the position as the new president of the foundation so on behalf of the Board of Education our principes and teachers and students I would like to thank the foundation for supporting education in our schools and as you just heard $1 13,800 in Grants were just distributed allocated to the different schools the next Board of Education listening session is scheduled for March 26 the topic is policy 5756 transgender students it will be held here at Copeland and begin at 6:00 p.m. everyone of course is invited I have attended each of the school's PTA meetings regarding the possibility of a referendum I also met with several parents yesterday to begin what will we hope will become a sort of referendum action committee Mrs mzik will soon provide information about the public relations firm to assist with informing our community regarding referendum options in the student services department Dr moleno is working to develop closer ties with the community he also is attending the PTA meetings he began last week at birwood by providing Vital Information about the Department's initiatives and services on March 2nd he pres I represented the district at the Elks of Morris County they were having their annual leap in the lake and I did not leap in the lake but I did receive a that a generous thousand donation which will be used to provide additional educational opportunities in our district for students with special needs the student services department remains committed to inclusivity as evidenced by the ongoing success of the initiatives at dbo and the Birchwood preschool program CPAC meetings are a priority an important part of the Department's community outreach efforts the intent is support parents and provide information regarding programs and services recently the department introduced daytime CPAC sessions to accommodate those who work evenings there is an open invitation to join CPAC as a community as a Committee Member you do not have to have a child in special education receiving Services anybody can join the recent districtwide celebration of social emotional learning on March 8th was a wonderful success our dedicated school guidance counc councelors played a pivotal role in ensuring a positive experience for all participants notably this year marked the first time central office staff and administration were involved in the seal activities finally Dr molo Mr ganella are spearheading efforts to equip counselors and building principles with the necessary training for the upcoming imp implementation of character strong theal program for next year and I think Mr will have more to say about that and some news from our elementary schools at Birchwood students enthus enthusiastically participated in numerous activities as part of re Across America student council members launched their second service learning project aimed to donate items to support 11th Hour rescue Birchwood families and students also enjoyed a fantastic make your own pizza at home the fa the favorite event of the year is paint night which took place on Friday March 88th over a 100 students and parents joined in in for an enjoyable evening of painting indulging in delicious chocolate chip cookies following a busy month the Birchwood Bulldogs are looking forward to spring break as we all are the kickoff read Across America at dbo the Morris nolles future Educators Club read to students and join the students for recess the high school students seem to have more fun than the dbbo kids thanks to the dbop PTA the cereal bowl raised over 600 boxes of cereal which will help multiple families in our community the PTA was also instrumental in making the book fair and family night a great success the monthly heart award was presented to the custodial staff who work hard to keep the schools Clean safe and accessible dbo is looking forward to the upcoming talent show and continuing to work with the New Jersey inclusion project KDM celebrated Black History Month with various activities students learned how African-American innovativ political figures and artist shaped uh America and our modern society KDM also launched an online signup for eight after school clubs which are filled with over 100 students currently they are using an online platform for spring enrichment program focused on math and Ela KDM also celebrated re Across America with activities celebrating students love for reading the PTA hosted a family reading night which was well attended during the districtwide sccl day students learned to stop drop and relax alling activities also promoted care and awareness of mental health currently students are participating in gather the LA lather an initiative which will bring toiletry items for rise up Rockway in fact all the schools in the district are participating and gather the lather so remind students remind your parents to give you soap to bring into the schools students who bring in the most items will choose either to have the principal join them for lunch or grab a friend and have lunch in the principal's office finally KDM is proud to report that to date over 370 positive office referrals were sent to the office for students demonstrating heart at KDM k does matter on Wednesday February 28th culen Middle School hosted the principal's list breakfast for all students who scored an average of 95 or higher on the second marking period congratulations to over a 100 students who were invited to attend on Thursday February 29th culpa Middle School went red for heart health month and raised over $500 for the American Heart Association on Friday March first all staff and students set aside their electronic devices and participated in the global day of unplugging I just love that they should do that every day CA Middle School also participated in the social emotional day on March 8th and as you know the culpen theater Department's production of into the woods will take place March 21st to 23rd baseball tryouts and softball tryouts will be the week of March 25th Stony Brook welcomed author Joe McGee for an inspiring assembly where he shared his journey as a children's book author offering valuable insights and inspiration to our students the successful conclusion of the readathon underscores the incredible support and commitment of our school Community it was heartwarming Waring to see everyone come together in support of literacy and education the community is looking forward to the annual Stony Brook talent show which requires a lot of planning is made possible by the PTA and all parent volunteers who help make Stony Brook an exceptional school expectations in academic achievement continue to evolve students benefiting from small intervention groups are demonstrating Mastery by applying skills in the general education classroom St Brook students have demonstrated dramatic improvements in comprehension read and re written expression and we are certainly proud of all the students and staff and now I will move on to the the HIV report currently there are 14 hibs under investigation or the investigation is actually concluded of the 14 two have been substantiated um these two have met all the prongs of course um the nature of the Hib in one case was mental physical sensory disability and the nature of the HIV incident in the second case it was substantiated with sexual orientation I would also conclude by speaking briefly about the tenative budget which is on page 14 of the agenda and is up for a vote tonight the adoption and the filing of this budget must be completed and sent to the county superintended by March 20th according to code so therefore at this meeting tonight Wednesday March 13th um it is on the agenda for the vote um the summary is as follows the general fund is61 Milli 32,990 the special fund revenue is $84,999 The Debt Service is $591,500 so the total is 62 m438 6 $69 much of this cost is reflected in the increases in health care Personnel cost special education costs and transportation which has actually R risen exponentially um the amount to be raised by taxes and the general fund is 52,2 7,465 Debt Service is $4 46,49 for a total of 52 million $773,000 revenues such as state aid incoming tuition rent budgeted fund balance and withdrawal withdrawals from reserves offset the amount necessary to be levied in taxes one offset this year is attributed to funds generated in the 2223 school year in the form of excess Surplus which comes to $929,000 following the governor's address our state allocation remain the same in all categories with the exception of special education Aid and security Aid we received for those from those an additional well 271,000 420 in security aid for the 2425 school year the percentage increase in the tax ta Levy for the 2425 school year is currently 4.5% this year we have elected to use additional spending authorization in the form of bank cap in the amount of 1,245 126 which allows us to exceed the 2% tax levy cap this is spending authorization created in Prior budget Cycles when the district did not use the full available 2% based upon the information provided by the Rockway Township tax accessor office this will have an impact on the average home which is valued at $437,900 C let's say $126 decrease from last year's tax Levy so taxes will go down on the average home assessed at $437,000 taxes will go down $125 this reduction in taxes may seem contradictory to our proposed increase in spending however because of a significant increase in ratables this cycle we would still see a negative increase per household over the taxes levied in the prior year we have $1 4,117 generated in the 2122 school year 1,141 145 generated 2223 school year and $122,500 generated in the 2324 school year as previously stated will will be exhausting the spending authorization in this budget cycle in order to combat significant inflation and increased costs depletion of essr grand funding and demands related to our fixed costs this will allow the district to maintain quality programs and retain the quality staff members necessary to deliver these quality programs there thereby ensuring Student Success health benefits were projected with an estimated 8% overall increase at 9,5 63,65 this projection is based upon current enrollment and includes a reduction of 1, 152,000 to account for employee contribution s there are no available Healthcare adjustments for this year's budget the amounts noted for Debt Service are in accordance with the previously scheduled and approved debt schedule The Debt Service tax levy has been reduced by 144,000 $145,000 $12 in debt service Aid keep in mind the approval on tonight is for the tenative budget submission only at this point the budget will be submitted to the county office for review you they will advise any changes that they deem necessary based upon the technical aspects and completeness of the reported data we will hold a public hearing on May 1st at 7 p.m. in coordination with the previously scheduled board meeting at that time a full budget a full presentation of the budget will be made thank you thank you are there any questions or comments for Dr Corbett Mr Smith do you have a Bo a minute just a a brief because the superintendent car covered the budget well I just have to say that Megan did an extraordinary fantastic job on getting this all together I just came in here about March 1st and I've just spent my time excuse me getting the the data into the state software she had it all done into the district software but but it's all done it's all been balanced it was fantastic job so thank you made it easy curriculum report Mr ganella please come on down good evening everyone thank you to the dbo staff for staying I've had the opportunity uh to spend quite a few days at dbo and see your commitment so I'm not surprised that you're here tonight so thank you I'm pleased to announce that the curriculum revision process is in full swing and the curriculum teams are handing off their documents to the curriculum revision teams beginning March 14th one of the main areas of focus during the revision process was to identify resources that support all Learners in the Rockaway Township School District and to ensure coherence in programming amongst all the schools Additionally the goal of the department is to provide teachers with training on new programs prior to the start of next school year I'm happy to report that all five elementary schools will have the science of reading program Super Kids Next school year the resources have been delivered to each building this includes our self-contained special education programs additionally each school will have a super kids intervention C all of third grade will be trained on magnetic reading through through through I ready on March 27th this will ensure that all K3 students will be taught using the science of reading all K1 Math teachers will be trained under the new standards alignment through I ready I ready Representatives have already met with the building principles and they are in the process of Hosting grade level data meetings in each of our buildings to support our teachers and students next year the district will move towards the linkit platform this will allow ow teachers and parents to have easy access to the most upto-date student data and eliminate the data dashboards the district counselors have been working together on the implementation process for our new curriculum entitled character strong all of these trainings will take place prior to the start of njsla testing in May great job to all of our district teachers and administrators for making this possible lastly I'm excited to announce that Kayla andreazza an eighth grade gate student working with Miss McAvoy has been awarded the or award the organization for autism research it's a 2024 peer education grant this grant will assist in facilitating Kayla's Capstone project focused on Autism Awareness so congratulations to Kayla um I have a brief presentation on our new SC program character strong so great night for the dbo staff to be here so if you need to move around see the screen that would be great so all of our schools have National School of character banners hanging at in their front foyers and on outside of the building and all these programs were homegrown made by the principes the teachers and the counselors um and they've and they're all based on building positive relationships within the within a school building so character strong is a comprehensive social emotional learning program designed to help students develop the skills they need to be successful in school life and relationships the program is based on the latest research incl and is designed to be um implemented in pre pre kindergarten all the way through high school so in our district it will obviously be K through 8 next slide eight please so the core Focus areas so our our counselors were looking at something that aligned to our core values of of heart and three big topics that we look at are corers of focus are being strong and this is a a big piece at you know our age demographic managing emotions setting goals and persevering through challenges being kind helping kids develop the skills they need to build positive relationships that's with each other that's with their teachers and adult staff members showing empathy and resolving conf conflicts peacefully the last one is be well this helps students develop skills they need to make healthy choices manage stress and maintain a positive outlook so those are the core Focus areas of the program next slide please so what I wanted to do is give a a sample a sample lesson that the the counselors uh would implement as they're pushing in to to classroom so the lesson topic is is courage and you know like good teaching many of these lessons all these lessons begin with a thought-provoking question so what do you think what do you picture when you hear the word courage so turn to a neighbor and talk the counselor would then introduce the courage definition and play what is the courage video now here's the the piece that important of all the programs that we've looked at the videos and the resources on lot of these programs are very Antiquated not relatable to students and it's kind of just let's get through this so what I wanted to do is part of this presentation is give you a glimpse into the types of resources that the program has to offer so a the next slide please uh previous slide [Music] please what is courage what courage means to me is accepting that you might be a little scared or worried but pushing through all that fear and like anxiety and overcoming it Courage is standing up for yourself courage is about taking pride in what you do and giving it your all or 100% no matter what the challenge is courage is choosing what is helpful right and kind even when it's hard or scary why does courage matter practice and courage builds your confidence courage helps you inspire the people around you courage helps you overcome challenges what does courage look like courage looks like to me when I was um doing I'm a figure skater so I was going on the ice and taking a big step because I really don't know how to do some of these jumps and I it was the first time I've ever done them I took a step forward and I did them and I did really well um sometimes at you may make up a new game at recess and you might be scared to share it with all your friends they like hey guys do you want to play my new game some of them joined some didn't want to I mean you have to have courage to be able to just go up to people and be like hey do you want to play with me it's your turn how will you practice courage because what we practice becomes a habit and good habits grow character and then we come to the applic ation piece what will the kids take away from the learning activities and you know the key that we mentioned in the beginning was goal setting so we call it a one two three reflection application celebration so students will one have one goal I they will have to grow en courage or emotional advocacy people their goal will impact and actions they will take to reach their goal and then students will turn and talk with the partner to share their one two three um and this is again something that will be embedded into our Academic Program um and our students will have across all of the buildings um another component that we felt was extremely important was the relationship between home and school so AB if you could please click the next slide at the conclusion of of each character unit the schools will send out a unified parent newsletter that will not only give an overview of the topic that was taught but also give parents tips and advice and things that they can practice at home to reinforce these themes in the household so we always talk about that it takes a village it's school and home and then the last piece thought we just might might share and it's great that we have an audience this evening next slide a each unit also has its own branded theme song you could click it a we know everyone's been anxiously awaiting to dance tonight [Music] thank you [Music] Dr Corvett was so excited when I was playing this I caught him dancing in his office to it so um Sobe want to try one of these that's a quick overview of the program and what a lesson what a lesson would look like again the key components are consistency across all of the schools Parent communication and relatable resources thank you everyone any comments or questions for Mr canella I was waiting for the dance you were ready to dance Miss mic for you to dance during the first lesson I will okay thank you okay moving on committee report courts I can deliver this Miss Smith isn't here tonight so I'm going to deliver the education curriculum committee report we met twice on February 28th from 4:45 p.m. to 6 p.m and then we met again on March 6 5:30 to 7 p.m at the central office in attendance for Dr Corbett Mr canella Mrs Shields Mrs Smith and myself um on the February 28th me meeting the committee discussed academic achievement and continued the I data review discussion from the prior meeting the committee was informed that the Rockway Township School District data was uploaded to link it a new data warehousing program for the staff to explore the U the data warehouse and assessment platform the platform was previewed by teachers and no negative feedback was received um also on that day we talked about um the fifth grade lead graduation moving up ceremony invitations were received at that's will be June 14th at 5:00 pm at Morris NES High School the committee discussed the possibility of the Board of Ed recognition um we'd like to recognize the director of recreation Dave DWI for his contributions and supports recognizing Mr Dyer on March 6th we met and then we discussed again the achievement data we discussed the need for multiple measures to be used to evaluate programming as per policy we continued to discuss the link at platform being piloted and we reviewed the aadience and fontas panel data and then we saw different lessons from the character strong they were interesting for the different grade levels the committee would also like like to continue a discussion on possibly an author day to be shared for all the schools so um we'd like to continue planning that moving forward possibly have all the the ptas come together to have one author our next meeting is March 28th at 4:30 pm in the boardroom thank you any questions for Mrs Anderson other Comm had his hand up oh I'm sorry Aaron uh we can't hear Aaron hear me now we can thank you okay great the uh the operations committee uh we met on February 27th at 4:30 uh think that we uh or excuse me in attendance uh was Mrs MZ Mrs Anderson Dr Corvett and myself uh we discussed several topics to include a referendum discussion and next steps uh what we're we're looking at moving forward additionally we also discussed smart pass uh looking into that for our our middle school possibly additionally we discussed a budget update and information on the budget status which we just heard uh all about uh we also discussed morning care and some opportunities that may be out there uh Dr Corbett was looking further and is going to advise with additional information and then we also talked about uh further collaboration with Rockley Township with our uh other Municipal Partners as well as our business administrator and our mayor uh in the near future our uh our next meeting I'd actually like to schedule it if we could I'm looking at two dates um I know the 26th we already have one event but possibly the 26th of March if not then uh I would look to April 2nd if the committee is a what date did you give in addition to March 26 April 2nd April 2nd during spring break yes spring break week April 9th um we have community outreach scheduled for um April 9th okay we could meet I don't know I before the listening session if you'd like yes if you want to do it before on the 26 before the listening session let's do that that'd be perfect that's March 26 at what 4:30 or 4 oh let's do four o'clock thank you any questions for Aaron thank you assuming you have something Lisa yes I did uh for community outreach committee we met on February 28th and March 6 at 11:00 a on the 28th and 4 pm on March 6 uh in attendance um obviously me Elsa McGary Dr Aaron tomasini and Dr Corbett um during the March 6th meeting the committee requested to see a minimum of two public relations Consultants at our March meeting the administration contacted eight firms four were scheduled to meet with the committee ultimately three firms attended the committee meeting the community outreach committee has had two meetings in place of the previously scheduled March 5th meeting to ensure we are able to meet with all firm scheduled February 28th at 11:00 a.m. was a hybrid meeting we met with one our consultant uh to discuss that proposal March 6th at 4M was a hybrid meeting we met with two consultants and the purpose for that meeting was to discuss the the proposals after considering the proposals provided by the three groups who attended the committee's consensus was that the Donan group has extensive experience The Firm works on fixed fee Arrangement build monthly with unlimited Services the committee feels this would be the most comprehensive plan with an expected reoccurring cost for the length of the contract the services included would be to provide assist assistance with all facets of the referendum engagement effort the anticipated contract start date would be on or around July 1st 2024 with the project concluding with a March 2025 referendum we obviously do not know what that is that would be the extent of my report thank you any questions for Lisa and just so everyone knows the um in the administration section it's page 13 we are voting on the uh PR firm the Donovan group okay and for negotiations uh negotiations will be meeting on Monday the 18th at 7 o'clock with our first joint session with the rtea and we are looking forward to it last call for committee reports okay moving on recommended for board action can I have a motion to approve Personnel items so moved second Noel and Christie okay they start on page four and go all the way to the top of page eight roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Mrs Cur L yes M mcgi yes Mrs mzik yes Dr thomasy yes Mrs Shields yes section B Hib determination tonight we're voting on one two three four five six s seven hibs one of them is confirmed and the rest are unconfirmed and I have a motion to approve the Hib determination so moved seconded christe and Allison and as Dr Corbin said there's currently 14 other hibs under investigation that will be voted on in the next uh board meeting can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Mrs Ker yes Mrs mcui yes Mrs mik yes Dr tomasini yes Mr Shields yes moving on to education can I have a motion to approve the Ed education recommendations so moved second in Allison and christe start on page nine go to 11 I can open to the public if anyone has any questions about the education section is there any board discussion okay can I have a roll call vote please on education items Mrs Anderson yes Miss killo yes Miss mcari yes yes M mzik yes Dr Thomas yes Mrs chip yes special education can I have a motion to approve the special education items so seconded Christie and Allison those are on page 11 and go to the middle of page 12 is there any board discussion I can open to the public if anyone wants to disc discuss these items okay can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Mrs Kuru yes Miss mcari yes Mrs mzik yes Dr thini yes M Shield yes Administration can I have a motion to approve Administration recommendations so moved seconded Allison and Noel on page 12 M Anderson oh wait hold on one second start on page 12 go to page 13 is there any board discussion I just want to thank the El foration that's great they out by the way it was $1,000 to 16 different school districts you think if you would have jumped in the lake we would have maybe got a couple more I'll try it next year if you come with me time okay I can open to the public if anyone wants to discuss okay roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Mrs kurillo yes Miss mcir yes Mrs mzik yes Dr Thomas cini yes Mrs she yes yes okay next section is finance can I have a motion to approve the finance recommendation moved Lisa can I have a second second Allison thank you okay this starts on page 14 and goes to page 16 uh included here are the bills I did go to the central office yesterday and signed off on all of them and uh that looked fine also want to bring to everyone's attention that the uh budgets number item number three is on here as well uh is there any bless you is there any board discussion okay I can open to the public if anyone wants to comment on finance okay can I have a roll call vote on the finance items please Mrs Anderson yes Mrs Killa Ru yes misss mcgi yes Mrs mzik yes Dr thomasy yes M Shields yes next section policy can I have a motion to approve the policy recommendations so moved Lisa second second and by Christie thank you for discussion no we're good I can open to the public okay let's move on to the roll call vote for policy Mrs Anderson yes Mrs killu yes Mrs mcir yes M Mur yes Dr thomasy yes Mrs Shield yes in accordance with board policy 0167 public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a three minute limit per member of the public the board president shall have the right to modify the length of public discussion as she deems appropriate can I have a motion to open for a second public comment so moved second in okay chrisy and Noel show of hands please okay anyone from the public would wish to [Music] comment good evening Brian Adams rtea uh just a heads up we've got an event on April 18th from 6: to 8 here at the Copeland Cafe for canvas painting night for families a studio and enville is going to come and teach you how to paint a beautiful spring picture that you can hang up in your living room thank you bye thank you thank you anyone else from the public wish to comment okay can I have a motion to close public comment so moved second okay Allison first and then Christie second thank you you show of hands okay discussion items does anyone have any old business Lisa for old business I had mentioned at our last meeting that uh tomorrow March 14th would be the president vice president forum for the Mars County School Board Association supposed to take place in person it is not going to be in person it's going to be only um virtual just found that out I saw that too I was going to pop in quick if it was in person because I have a PTA meeting for Copeland so now unfortunately I don't think to make it but thank you we'll be another one one more thing um and as previously mentioned we have the Mars County School Board Association uh unsung hero celebration uh someone from every uh school district has been nominated for that for ours is actually Hannah Forest who is the daughter of our former board member she's been uh recognized for the unsung heroes award so just recommending if anybody can come um to County College is that County College when when is that it's on March 20th so it should be excited that's it any other old business any new business I have some new business I was following a lot of different um things for Stonybrook their Community came together and the kids participated in athon and they raised over $34,000 in pledge money for their reading program the kids seemed excited they competed home rooms against home rooms teachers participated and they participated in mystery reader nights and gave up their own time and did Zoom like bedtime stories I guess so that the kids could count that as their reading and they had a lot of participants and I just want to congratulate them that was a great job a remarkable amount of money any other new business do you think going forward we could pump the brakes on the fans there like my paper and my hair and everything all over you didn't have to wait for new business for that Lisa uh I just wanted to mention that I attended a webinar put on by the New Jersey school board uh Association today was about the CSA uh evaluation which is the C School administrator just reminding us of you know the timeline and and wanting to get that done okay yes let's get together and discuss that okay anybody else I have a few items um I have to add oh first because RTF is back in uh action I would need I need a board member to be the alazon between us and them so if anyone is interested please let me know or I will assign somebody when is the next meeting do they don't know that yet I don't know they usually meet RTF yeah I don't think the next meeting has been determined um they used to meet orderly like once a quarter I'm not sure if that's still going to be the case or not I think that might be helpful yeah I'd like to go but I just need to make sure that like the dates work out okay really like to be part of that yeah that'd be great I feel like can be your backup if okay excellent thank you ladies um also when I was at the substance abuse Alliance last meeting the mayor actually brought up a story he was at Stony Brook um for a government discussion and they had their heart assembly that day and it was a wonderful he said he W walked in all the little kids had little American flags because there were surprising one of the custodians there Jose sea I'm sorry if I butchered that name um he had just become an American citizen so they called him into the gymnasium to surprise him and all the kids were cheering when waving at Stonybrook oh that and waving American flag so I just thought that was such we talk about community and heart and I thought that was such a great example of it that's very sweet um and then the only other thing like we said our listen we have a listening session regarding policy 5756 on March 26th at 6:00 pm and then our next meeting is April 17th right here at Copeland and if there's nothing else thank you all for coming and have a great night I do have to adjourn hold on we don't have to return to exec session so can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved seconded chrisy and Allison show of hands please okay we are adjourned at 9:01 [Music] p.m. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]