##VIDEO ID:gPOK8nYkXN0## flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation indivisible and justice for all call please Mr V Mr Chapman Mr Barella Mr G Mrs Miller Mr Pender Mr Berg here Mr Casio here Mr P here in accordance with terms of the sunsh law adequate notice of this meeting was posted in all school buildings the administration building B CLS office Public Library three new three newspapers and tap into on January 8th 2024 please be advised there's no smoking on school grounds inside or outside at any time please silence all electronic devices and pursuant to District policy number 0167 each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes duration and no participant may speak more than once in the same topic thank you have this report thank you Mr P it's big night for M mesta we have two uh presentations one is our data report and the other is a presentation on certified student safety so when you're ready everyone seated and ready yes um if I may I'm going to present C first since it's just reading off the numbers um we have to submit our safety data system report to the New Jersey Department of Ed this covers any incidents resolving results in students being removed from school or the class restraints and seclusions any alleged hips hip trainings and hip programs so I'm just going to P these numbers to everyone uh this is also tagged on the agenda but for South clean field high school there were 71 total incidents UH 60 of them resulted in removal there were three restraints uh we don't do seclusions so for restraint you have to think of um the program that Mr Brandon and the special Department have in terms of safely securing students if they're off of themselves or others so for restraints there are three alleged tibs are 26 um and then trains and programs are also 26 for South planfield Middle School there were 13 total incidents uh zero resulting in removal there were zero restraints or seclusions two alleged hibs um and then six trainings for Kennedy two overall incidents uh one was a restraint and another four hips there were four alleged 17 hip trainings and 26 hip programs for Riley school we had one incident one leading to removal there was excuse me two alleged hibs and then six trainings Franklin Elementary School eight incidents uh there were 20 leading to um restraint zero leading to removal 15 hibs alleged uh 23 Hib training and 32 hip programs for Grant there were 15 incidents uh none of those specifically leading to removal or to restraint there were 15 alleged hips two Hip trainings and one hip program for Roosevelt Elementary School there was uh one incident leading to restraint eight alleged hips 21 hip trainings and 29 hip programs and then the annex had two alleged hips so that includes that report and now I can move on to the data report for tonight I have a question yes what is a hip training uh hip trainings would be whatever we Implement in the building specifically for teachers or we also then have District wide dreams okay and my policy we hold um this is for staff yes I I thought I referring to children I didn't know you prrams we do have programs for the children so some of those would overlap only the programming training was sta fact okay sorry no thank you for asking what's removal are they suspended it would be a suspension thank you DR or thanks so much um so now we'll move on to tonight's data [Music] presentation I'm just opening this up here sorry okay so our presentation goals for tonight I'll be talking about the access for L's or the Vita assessment Dynamic learning map and the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment goals for tonight I'll Define the assessments and scoring practices identify the students groups who are assessed contextualize South playan Field student performance disaggregate South po student subgroup performance highlight our notable achievements and identify action steps to enhance student learning and growth so I'll start with the access for L's English language proficiency test the access for L's measures multilingual Learners English proficiency levels the test is given annually and this places our students in their English as a second language program so their performance here places them in whatever classes we have are programming for their grade levels it's scored on a 1 through six in listening speaking reading and writing oral language literacy and comprehension you can see on the scoring you have entering emerging developing expanding bridging and reaching so all of these are a Continuum for the students to demonstrate their skills so it isn't just a past fail like we may have seen in other assessments this is more as I said before for placement in programming and understanding where students are coming from when they enter on a district uh the scores are broken down in grade span so we have rades 8 through four um I think most notably instead of going through each of the scor for the levels I wanted to draw attention to the number next to each of the grades so we tested 28 kindergarteners 30 first graders 31 second graders 26 third graders and 154th graders I'll talk at the end a little bit about our increase in our population but I think it's most notable to see that we had 23 kindergarteners at an entering level so this is this indicates um trends for our student population we have a lot of multilingual Learners coming to our schools and as you can see here many of are coming at a level that is ENT thankfully when students come in elementary schools it's very easy to acclimate them to the population it's different if you have someone coming in a 10th grade so I don't mean to paint a bque picture in any way I just want to take note of where the increase in our population is um on the next slide you'll see uh grades 5 through 8 these numbers are pretty stagnant they're very similar to last year so there isn't much to note and then at the high school level 9 through 12 again we have um 17 and 9th Grade 8 in 10th Grade we have 10 in 11th grade and 11 in 12th grade so go to the next slide I just wanted to draw attention again to the multilingual population grow that we have in District so we had 46 testing last year in 2023 this year we had 130 testing when I talked to Mr earlier just to verify the numbers um he actually said that we ended the year with almost 180 in the elementary school so it's really um a population that's inlux so to better meet the needs of our elementary multilingual population we continue to train teachers in sheltered English instruction so that they can differentiate their lesson planning and instructional practices um we're also implementing a new curriculum platform called elevation this will help uh bring teachers together in terms of co-planning and articulation from k12 and then offer more strategies to support our students um our next assessment is the dynamic learning map this is a very customized and individualized assessment it's specifically for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities for whom General State assessments are not appropriate even with accommodations the test is given in math English language arts and science in grade A we actually have so few students taking this assessment that I'm just doing an overview K 12 and I did not include science at all because we have so few students ging science the fear of the is that you would then be um essentially reporting on an individual student's performance which we can't do so I did not include science in support for that reason this is scored on four different levels emerging approaching at Target and advance so this is very similar to what I mentioned with access for eles it's a Continuum to show us student growth over time so we only have 13 uh total students to bla and math and as I said we have three to science I did not include so across the district we have most of our students um in emerging approaching um and then at Target we only have one student in advance for ELA and we don't have any students in advance for mathematics again I'll stress that this is very different than the New Jersey graduation efficiency assessment that has a Hardline pass fail uh this is really just to show a Continuum of growth for our students with most so as said before is incredibly specialized um special services department is working with teachers to review students individual score reports and adjust classroom support systems as needed and the CSC will review data to ensure I match with necessary program implementation so next up is the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment um this is something that's given to uh 11th graders and it is our first pathway for graduation so it's score um 725 is passing that's can you go to the next slide thank you so this is considered our first pathway and you have to have a 725 to pass if students don't pass the 11th grade graduation assessment uh New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment these are the alternates that they have so something I want to stress even if our students did not meet proficiency levels to say that they're Bal ready to graduate we have systems in place to ensure that all of our students meet the assessment requirements so we have portfolio appeals that are developed throughout the course of the year so that when that opens in January anyone who may need that they're prepared to submit and then we also offer most of these assessments ongoing throughout the year so that students can Bank their scores through the different subject areas to ensure they meet this requirement so a simple breakdown for the New Jersey graduation proficiency we have students who are graduation ready um for 2024 we had 89.6% of our high school 11th grade students to graduate as per Ela you can see your the state's average with 81.6 and then for math we uh the state was at 54.7 and we were at 63.5 um as you scroll through the next slid these will be on the website this is all the subgroup data broken down um for ELA and for mathematics um you can just scroll to the last slide we heard NJ GPA data Trends and action plan so one thing I really wanted to focus on last year when I gave this presentation I remember talking about the math scores and being so hesitant to even have to report out on them because after Co days like plummeted so poly and so I just want to show that from last year to this year we went from a 56.7% graduation ready for mathematics and we're now at a 63.5% so I think that's a pretty happy increase and I really appreciate all the work the teachers Administration and everyone does support our kids and help them get there we still have a long way to go to get back to our preo scores but I think this as an indication for our 11th grade class and future graduates it's really positive and I'm really proud of how everyone did this um one other thing to note historically underperforming groups are actually excelling south field so if you take a look at that subgroup data those groups that as I said historically underperformed were really targeting instruction appropriately and so you see that those historically underperforming groups are SEL so a lot of our minority um groups that are identified through the state that's that's a huge accomplishment for us for those that still need support we can Target instructions to strengthen students individualized areas of needs we would do that by using multiple data points to analyze benchmark assessments to ensure comprehension levels we can collaboratively review student performance and assessment materials with administrative support so that we can contextualize and Benchmark progress um to set performance goals moving forward and then also implementing the altern assessments as I talked about so that those who didn't pass this assessment are still ready to go through their assessment criteria um and similarly to have those portfolios ready so that when it opens we'll have that third line ready for our kids that's everything I have to thank you thank you appreciate it thank all right we just have a few other things to to go over a reminder to our parents and Guardians that the Genesis portal will be open to our parents and Guardians and students on August 23rd at 300 p.m. you'll be required to update your phone number and email address if you've made any changes uh in addition you will be required to complete the paperwork within the system for the coming school year please take a few minutes to complete the breakfast lunch application this is important because the information must be submitted annually if you are receiving if you are receiving meals through the state or federal lunch program please apply so that we can ensure your child continues to receive any benefits that they're entitled to as you know the district is undergoing a re-registration uh campaign to make sure that we are uh ensuring everybody who's attending our schools are residents of South planfield so we are re-registering all 2nd 6th and 10th graders for the 2425 school year All Families have been notified multiple times through emails and phone calls all families who registered who are registered in the uh system to attend those grades but still have not submitted their paperwork we're contacted individually and re-registration is required to attend our schools in September a reminder our open houses we have several open houses scheduled for our kindergarten preschool students please check your District uh registered email for those days and times and uh we're excited our new teacher and staff orientation is scheduled for this coming week it starts on Monday we are welcoming a number of new teachers and staff into the district teachers and staff will participate in professional development meet with their colleagues work with District administrators and spend time with officers and member representatives of the pea we are excited to welcome them to our district um all principles will be sending out their welcome email to our district families in the next week the email will include information specific to the school including drop off and pickup procedures information on the breakfast and lunch program uh before and after care which is available in the elementary schools and Grant and we will continue to work on finding staff for the preschool along with other information that pertains specifically to the school we're looking forward to a great school year and welcoming our students back for September 4th thank you thank you thank you very much uh board member comments on presentations I mean it's usually um there because we have student presentations but since we have Mar two presentations are there any questions on B and C hi Mary um great presentations always um can we see so for NJ GPA specifically can we look at a 5e or 10e cohort model to see cuz I know we're acknowledging that the scores are improving but can we see what it looks like over a period of time to understand the trends a little bit better absolutely I can send that home to the board in the Friday packet and then includ it on the website posting for the pration perfect and then one more question in terms of um access for L's I'm looking at how we're not I know there's a scale that we're looking at um from entering to reaching but I know no one's even touching reaching um can you expand a little bit on like the scale and and cuz looking at the criteria for reaching its Nos and use a social and academic language at the highest level measured by this test so I'm trying to see where that Benchmark is for the highest level measured by this is it reachable is the question at the end of the day I think that it is reachable something to note about looking at these scores K through 12 it isn't standardized coworks like we might see for the New Jersey student learning assessment a lot of our students are um coming and going so we have a transient population sometimes who are are multilingual students so the influx that we have in kindergarten you know you would hope in looking at this that between K through four we would see more of a cohort progression but I think we have to flip outside of that mindset because all of these students have been with us for a long time and so therefore it's hard to push them to that final level where they would really be graduating out of multilingual instruction and the ESL program and be completely I don't want to say unsupported but they would be mixed with the general population without those specialized ESL classes thank you Bill yeah um it's great to see the numbers are including are increasing in uh getting better o over time period but I just wanted to commend that the teachers and the staff and everybody who are working on the ground with the students who are developing uh the programs and working with the students to really get those numbers up so please pass that along thank you you know I think it's also important to to note that in addition to our growing um ESL population we are seeing a number of students entering our district um throughout the year that have uh they're entering in let's say grade nine and they hav't been in school and whatever their home country is since maybe fourth fifth or sixth grade so it's difficult um for for the district it's difficult for the teachers that they are still trying to follow the curriculum and do what they need to do as far as what the state's telling them to do and they're working with students who are facing a language barrier but also facing the fact that they don't have those skills so anybody El I just want to thank Mary for a job well done you always give us good information I really appreciate it we it's important for us to know how our students are doing and it seems like um you know everybody in the district is doing a good job we're we're starting to see improved test scores the pandemic really hurt us um and it's really good to see that our students are progressing nicely at this 25 teachers that's suggest thank you anybody else all right um it suggested that um so we go and exec and everything instead of waiting till the very end to have public comments on anything that I would open it up now for public comments on any item um that would mean at the end of the meeting we wouldn't have public comment there so s up for any comments on any item good evening everyone good evening good evening everybody I'm Cheryl Hughes I am a health and possed teacher in the district also coach I was Don panella's assistant coach this year um and last year and um I would like to start by saying I'm so thankful to be given the opportunity to teach and coach in Southville for the past 24 years I am also grateful to have played for and coached with the S Legend Don Kella although I was hesitant to speak tonight being concerned about retribution I could not leave without speaking about what transpired during the 2023 and 2024 SLE Seasons the coaching staff and I experienced parents of players being allowed to call us into meetings and berate us without any defense or support from administrators parents questioned us about coaching decisions we made we were making in various games at one game in particular a parent was pacing outside the dout and yelling and making comments in front of the athletic director and trainer again a parent driving past a Dugout many times in the parking lot in an intimidating manner again a parent yelling directly at the athletic director in the parking lot as well as punching the golf cart which she sat with another staff member this intimidation and how we were treated was a complet lack of support and was wrong from top to bottom I would also like to address what occurred at the last board meeting some of the board members gave opinions about people making comments on social media regarding the articles of Coach pella's resignation you implied that they didn't know the whole story and that people should not make these comments and when they did have all the facts I would like to bring to everybody's attention that most of all the comments were true positive and many who are from past players in their experiences who have played for coach panarella and being a part of the amazing softball program here coach pancerella despite his desire to continue coaching felt compelled to resign due to these repeated and continuing circumstances being allowed from outside influences and lack of administrative support those are the facts it's only one story and that's the simple truth we're talking about a coach that had 55 girls 55 go on to play college LEL softball 20 players go on to coach softball both in high school and at the college level six of those players when being here tonight were named All American he's never had a losing season and none with more than eight losses in averages 20 wins of season it's crazy statistic 60 times coached the year being chosen by his peers and newspapers twice the national fed Federation of School coaches association and in 1997 was inducted into the New Jersey coaches Hall of Fame and in 2013 he had the Field named after him I just just want to ask the board members and a lot of you guys know me and you know coach pans who aren't necessarily connected right now to the softball program I understand that you chose to make comments about us while not really knowing the whole story instead we should be celebrating the man who despite Going Through Hell which he did he went through hell this season I can I can attest that cuz I was there coached the team to a 21 and5 record we won the GMC County championship and he also won he also was named Coach of the Year why aren't board members outraged that we lost the man who has given Southfield 43 record breaken years and has won more games than anyone in the history of New Jersey softball had to get that off my chest and thank you for listening thank you any other comments good evening I'm Sally y 2054 oan Avenue I came to this board 2 years ago to make you aware of an issue within the district and I truly hope and prayed that one of you would listen to my words and have heart to at least investigate what happened I often wondered if any of you ever took the time to investigate to look into it further I only came to you in the hopes of preventing it from happening to someone else but now I know that none of you did anything after I spoke because otherwise my former softball coach would not have resigned this board Administration should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this Behavior to continue in this District I did speak to the Observer because obviously the board didn't care what I went through the people of South planfield deserve to know what is happening to the dedicated Educators in our town somebody needs to stop this madness harassment and bullying is not okay anyway if I wasn't treated this way I would probably still be teaching today just like pan should be on the softball field next season I admire all of you that you volunteer your time being on the board however you also took an oath to follow a code of ethics and it appears that not everyone is following it South L is L one of the state's greatest coaches of all time you keep saying there's two sides to the story The tell us let here pans is one of the most loyal honest and trustworthy people I have ever met he has given 43 years of loyal dedication and he built the program from the ground up and for him to be so disrespected by the superintendent and board members proves to me that none of you took me seriously back in March of 2022 because if you did maybe this wouldn't we wouldn't have lost the number one coach in New Jersey please do something to stop this madness don't let this happen to more people in our district this Behavior should not be acceptable to the board do any of you care enough to stand up for what is Right nope thank you I'll thank you any other comments well my name is Nancy Cala uh 35 years teaching in Woodbridge Township School District at John of Kennedy High School I known Don since he started coaching softball in 1982 and I was coaching at JFK we've been friends and Rivals ever since I always respected the quality of his players How They Carried themselves on the field which is a reflection of their coach since 2010 I've had a front seat I have have been a volunteer with the program primarily keeping the book for him on game days and I came to appreciate an even more his coaching his teaching maintaining his field his senior night his end of the Year banquet the senior allstar game which he helped start and ran for years not every program does this the students and athletes here at South Playfield were blessed to have someone who cared so much and gave so much year in and year out he is tireless and he loves this program he loves this town I should be here tonight with Coach panarella because the board of education is honoring him with a resolution or a plaque or something for his unparalleled success as a coach his career of treating his players as athletes expecting from them the same loyalty and dedication that he gave to this program for 43 Seasons thank you any other comments public okay I close that so just just emphasize that when we come back at the end there's not going to be any public comments and our attorney just wants to make a statement yeah so um this board as members take their ethical responsibilities extremely seriously um we are constrained by law about what we can say about confidential Personnel matters in public um the law does not allow us generally to comment on current or even past employees in a public Arena uh The Only Exception would be if folks are willing to sign full releases um holding the board harmless for any comments that were made the board consider um speaking more publicly about this issue and this matter but at this point without those we are not able to respond okay thank you thank you okay resolve pursuing to open public meetings act that the board uh meeting Cod session to discuss confidential matters pertaining to Personnel student matters and attorney Clin privilege be resolved that the matters discussed in session shall be made public as soon as possible when the competion no longer exists can I have a motion mov second please Mr go yes mrus yes Mr Miller yes Mr Pender yes Mr cber Mr Casio yes Mr yes okay we're going to Executive session when we come back we're just going to go through the agenda um you're welcome to St um but there won't be any more public comments at the end about half hour than yes uh yeah I'd like to make a motion to amend uh the business on page three under the business office uh our second goal that the district will Design and cross uh will design a process and Implement uh to cross Trin uh District emplo I'm sorry process to cross train and Implement and Implement not just design it but actually design Implement process right words you want design by acclamation is everybody in favor of that Amendment yes yes yes okay any others okay moving on approval of board go for 2024 2025 year second any discussion K see none can I have a roll call please Mr both yes Mr gakis Mr Miller yes Mr Pender yes Mr cber Mr CIO Mr P yes moving on to 10 resolutions approved prior board un minutes so moved second discussion V call Mr vot yes Mr J I have to abstain I was I missed that Mee Mr Miller Mr Pender yes Mr cleberg yes Mr Caso yes Mr P yes curriculum a through n so move second discussion roll call please Mr Bo yes Mr Shak yes Mr Miller Mr Pender yes Mr tberg Mr Casio yes Mr P yes policy a a through D so move second discussion roll quot please Mr both yes Mr gakis yes Mr Miller yes Mr Pender yes Mr cber yes Mr Casio yes Mr P yes Personnel uh a through e so move second discussion Mr both yes Mr JIS I yes abstain on c53 Mrs Miller yes Mr Pender yes Mr cleberg yes Mr Casio yes abstained 13 D number 50 Mr yes and Finance 8 [Music] through so move second discussion vote call please Mr V yes Mr JIS yes Mr Miller Mr Pender yes Mr cleberg yes Mr Casio yes Mr P yes and a board member comments did public already um as most of you know my son with special needs graduated from our high school officially this this past summer or a couple months ago whatever it was and I would just love to commend our special education department because he was prepared when he stepped out all the documentation was in place um only thing we had to do is we had our ceremony believe was on Tuesday so Thursday my wife and I and Kyle went down to New Brunswick resent his diploma now how this usually works is for an individual special needs you're supposed to go on and Mary and I have had this conversation you're supposed to go out join the workforce to be as for the law states a contributing member of society we've done our job here again I commend our district the state is useless let me just emphasize to any of the parents out there with a special needs child get your paperwork together so you're prepared our son graduated in June we're probably not going to have a job coach for until November maybe December so what are you supposed to do with a 21-year-old adult son that will need a job coach to work thank God we have a great community in Town Senior Citizen Center is down there volunteering but again the state drops the ball here but our district did a great job and I cannot say enough about people that has helped them along his way thank you so much any other man uh as this is our last meeting before the start of the school year I just want to wish everyone a happy and healthy last few weeks of Summer um I I know it's it's it's real when it's almost over um but uh I wish everyone has a happy and healthy start of the school year and welcome back to our faculty and staff thank you other be sure thank you Tom go ahead I kind of want to Echo with you said um the grounds every year look better and better and better so thank you Mr Wiggins for that great job we have the best teachers anywhere in this district and a testament to what you just said over there Mr Bo and I want to wish them all including our Administration our principles our secretaries everybody in the district a great New Year up andc coming and uh let's just have a great great year thank you the others Tommy yeah a couple things um number one we got this email today and I I just want to commend uh Linda our new uh interim ad with this uh Sports recruiting uh platform they're putting for our students which helps them get some exposure to colleges and get some sort of uh I guess help them get exposure for some uh scholarship money and whatnot and I think this is a great idea and uh long time Comin I I commend her for this secondly um and I'm not trying to be Jimmy but I want you couldn't be I want to thank the U and command we've got a great work relationship with the town the Bor DPW Council and I know that over this summer there's been a lot of projects that have been going on and we appreciate their support with what we do because there's some things that they've done for us which is saved us a lot of money and we do things for them that saves them a lot of money and it's a joint meture it's all the same tax pool right so we should be doing that and I just want to commend them for working uh having great work in relationship with us so thank you that's it Sharon I just want to welcome all our staff to the district and hope they will have a rewarding successful working experience here um and just want to welcome back uh in September it's right around the corner um all of our staff who you know we highly think very highly of they do a great job every day uh to make this District a greater District than it is thank you thank you I have a motion to journ we move uh sorry yeah we're a Jour we we move yes yes hang on let's just explain we we move sir sir we moveed the public part participation session to the beginning of the meeting can I can I ask can I ask when that was done I'm sorry but your your schedule for public hearing hang on you can't disrupt the meeting we're in the middle of a motion here Mr P motion to adjourn disagree it's okay if you have vot I'm sorry finish the motion all in favor motion to adjourn seconde all in favor we disagree me