superintendent's comments Dr Joy okay thank you so I'm going to reserve some of my comments for the presentation um but I do have a couple of things that I actually need to report tonight um one of them which is on the agenda our Hib grade report which has become can everyone hear me okay uh which is a um we've got the official notification from the state this is something that we submit every year and it's a self-evaluation on our implementation of the anti-bullying law and process um and so we did um score a 78 out of 78 and just as a point of note several years ago when we first started this we did not actually give ourself full credit for it because we had some work to do with some of the pieces um some of the professional development for our staff uh that we wanted to make sure we were really doing the best that we could so the 78 out of 78 is uh us really carefully looking at at our implementation our Fidelity to the process the other item that I am pleased to present uh is that we did receive finally our official not ification of the results of our qac monitoring that we went through this year uh and we did pass uh you need to earn an 80% or better in all of the categories and so for instruction and program we earned a score of 85% and just so everyone's aware for instruction and program 60% of those points are based on things that we that that we have control over and and um provide them evidence on the other 40% is based on our uh student test results and so that is calculated directly from the state and from our um student assessment scores our fiscal management we earned a 96% and if you recall when we were going through the process Tim explained that where that uh uh Point loss comes from it's from and if you actually want to to say it briefly it's the conflicting orders piece that you get really the confirming orders confirming orders thank you nearly impossible to not have confirming orders and it's probably my protest to the state so we lose our four points and I don't care so um the board should be very proud that for governance we earned 100% for that category so nicely done uh operations was 95% and Personnel was 95% so that is done and we won't have to go through that process for at least another three years um and then one other item for tonight that does actually impact the board president and he doesn't even know about it so you can put this in my evaluation um but uh Mr Morrison shared with me recognition for two of our board members that they were not at the last County Association meeting to receive so I'm going to present them to those here tonight so two of our board members are getting the Milestone award for 10 years of service on a school board and these board members have served on other school boards prior to the wat young Hills Regional School Board the first board member Lisa dagio was a member of the Warren Ka board and now ours and our other board member Mr Michael bernberg was a member of the Milburn Board of Education president there as well and now a member of our board so you get a nice pin and a certificate so that is for you congratulations you're welcome thank you for your service surprise anything else that's it I'm done with my comments until the presentation and actually I do just want to thank Emily uh who just performed for us I'm not sure if she's still here in the audience or if she stepped out but she did a tremendous job so thank you so [Applause] much okay thank you well turn from my comments and I certainly was not aware of the award that I was getting I certainly appreciate it and certainly giving back to the community is one of the things I enjoy doing and certainly my fellow board members because as everyone knows although we are elected it is a volunteer position and uh I think I speak to my fellow board members and certainly board members I've had over my past 10 years we're certainly dedicated to the schools that we represent the students the staff The Faculty the administration everybody and we're certainly committed to doing the best that we can given what the resources we Pro we are provided for whether it's through the taxpayers or the states and we try to maximize our efforts and uh we certainly enjoy what we do and that's why we're here in front of you so again as much as it's not really about me it's about everyone else and working with everyone it's certainly been a pleasure and hopefully I can do it for several more years um as far as comments are concerned uh just want to reiterate that last night we had our first meeting a public meeting with respect to shared services that again Mr Morrison hosted um it was a video tape so it's on the website so anyone can go to the uh the Watchung Hills website I'm not sure if it's going to be on the other four uh sunding districts as well they're going to link to us so it's all there and there'll be some additional meetings going on there all the information on there we've discussed it uh numerous occasions publicly so all the information is out there if people have any questions or issues obviously reach out to us excuse me we are about three weeks away from graduation I can't believe it's coming up so quickly and I think this is the earliest that graduation is taking place in a number of years it's June 12th if I'm not mistaken so we're certainly June 13th I apologize but change my calendar so I'll actually be there since I'm told I have to actually sign the diplomas um so yeah we're certainly excited we're about three weeks away from that uh with that said uh you know I've spoken to my fellow board members and uh this is a joyous occasion it's an occasion where we're celebrating the students and we do certainly are not looking for any disruptions protests or any other type of activity activities which would frown on the students and the students achievements that will be uh rewarded that day we will certainly have heightened security and I can tell you this if there are any actions taken uh we will we will as a board and as Administration do whatever is necessary to uh make sure those things don't get out of hand and if that requires denying diplomas to certain students we certainly have that power because until a student gets a diploma they don't have a diploma and again as I alluded to I believe the diplomas are signed by myself and Dr JW and I will certainly withhold my signature and then we can uh do what's necessary after that but I'm not foreseeing any problem but I certainly just need to bring it to everyone's attention due to what's been going on in the last few months at various uh educational facilities uh but again I'm certainly excited about graduation because it's the time to honor the students again it's not just the four years of school here but it's 12 years of education it's certainly a chapter in their life that they're moving out to college and really taking steps forward and again it's about them and their accomplishments so look forward to that all right Mr sty business administration comments thank you Mr President just want to update the board and the public on the con the construction project we have going on right now um the nurses room is essentially about 95% complete there's a few more items that are coming in um but it looks great um we ordered the furniture we expect to have it in the summer uh so that went pretty well uh it looks like um we'll be up and running September one which is great um the trainer room new trainer room and the locker room by Gym 56 uh that project just started um they ripped they pretty much gutted all the walls and they're starting they got they did all the underground stuff and now they're starting to put the blocks up to form the the new walls that are going to be in there um we ordered all the furniture the equipment so again I think that one is going to be a little tighter on time I will tell you it's a lot to do in that room uh it will look great uh it's amazing to see these rooms without all the walls and things in them because you you're you're surprised how much space there is when it's empty of course when the walls go back up then it's not as big but anyway so that's that's going as planned so far and then the uh the biggest piece the steam lab that is also underway a lot of the demo work has been done um there's a few things that we're going to have to change here and there as we're getting into the project thought we would in that space But again that is going very well so far I'll knock on wood when I say these things but so far so good it looks like we're according to plan we are ordering our equipment our technology and then our um our furniture so I think we're on Pace but so far so good so right now it looks great that's it thank you Tim uh now we get to hear from our student representatives and I think there's one more after this for this school year and I'm being told that they will most likely be repeating for next year is that Cor correct so I will introduce I'm not sure who's going first I think Sophia lamb goes first and then Juliana Santos so take it away this month's student achievements are as followed on behalf of cooperman Barnabas Medical Center and comfort project D60 hi suster was recognized and honored for participating in the planning and execution of a reason to walk which took place on Sunday April 28th at the South Mountain reservation in Milburn hi is a part of the Comfort project 360 team leader program that raised more than $442,000 proceeds from this year's event will go towards the purchase of a new Comfort cart that elevates the patient experience on a daily basis by delivering a myriad of comfort items to patients receiving treatment in the medical oncology unit congratulations to Terry DeAngelis who won the New Jersey Council for social studies recognition for a high school student for outstanding achievement Central Jersey 2024 the qualifications are that the student should to demonstrate an exemplary cont contribution to the study and or promotion of social studies this may be demonstrated in the form of research contributions to Civic engagement video production classroom contributions leadership within the school Community such as starting a social studies based organization or taking an existing club/ organization to a new level we are delighted to announce that PR Saha is being recognized by the United Nations Association of the USA an interview in the 7th annual community service impact awards for community service impact and as an inspiration for other students to get involved in their Community this program open to all us students has been designed to connect student community service activities skill development and commitment to the sustainable development goals to transform our world the Kroger company is presenting the fifth annual Zero Hero Awards to students for taking actions to help create communities free of hunger and waste School events the much anticipated jazz concert held on May 2nd was an outstanding success under the exceptional direction of Mr Wyatt our esteemed performers took the stage and captivated the audience with their unparalleled talent and passion for jazz music from the moment of the first note filled the air attendees were transported on a musical Journey experiencing the rich tapestry of Melodies and rhythms that Define the Jazz genra the atmosphere was electric as each musician highlighted their virtuosity leaving an indelible impression on all who were present Additionally the club members ensured the comfort and enjoyment of the Audience by serving snacks throughout the evening the concert was met with resounding Acclaim from both attendees and critics alike it was a testament to the dedication and hard work of everyone involved in bringing this event to fruition continuing on with our school events congratulations to Cara uknes who received the coveted National Endowment for the Humanity's Fellowship Miss uknes has been accepted to participate in its workshop for educator sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities Hart Mountain Wyoming and the Japanese American incarceration will teach Educators about the conditions that led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans 2third of them US citizens at Hart Mountain Wyoming and nine other camps around the country the educators will spend 6 days learning about the Japanese experience in the United States the racism and Prejudice faced by the immigrants how their incarceration was influenced by the treatment of the Chinese community and the multigenerational mental health trauma that many members of the incarcerates families still suffer today Miss yukes is one of the 72 Educators selected from a group of more than 275 applicants she will receive a $1,300 stien to cover her travel and lodging costs now moving on to our sports update as Spring State tournaments prepared to get underway here is the current standings for our Warrior teams so starting off with baseball but having Advanced to the county semi-finals the team will start their state tournament at 100 Central on Thursday softball Advanced to the finals in the county tournament falling to immaculada with a score of 3 to1 the team will host Lyndon on May 22nd in the first round of the state tournament Boys Tennis they enjoyed a seven- win streak only falling to the winner of the Blue Devil tournament West Windsor Plainsboro South so stay tuned for state tournament info boys volleyball the team is enjoying a great season advancing to the semi-finals of the Skyland cup they will play at Carney on Thursday in the first round of States girls lacrosse they will travel to Hillsboro on Thursday to play in the state tournament boys lacrosse the team advanced in the county tournament with a win over Hillsboro only falling to number three seated pingry in the quarterfinals the team will host Hillsboro on Thursday in the state tournament Spring Track our track team has enjoyed many school records and PRS this season as they continue to compete they have some big meets coming up check the schedule to see where you can cheer them on girls golf the girls golf season has completed advancing two players to the state individual tournament boys golf the boys golf season has completed with the team advaned in the State team tournament and finally the ultimate fris me team will participate in the boys state tournaments this weekend at tamax Park in Westfield and that is all for our student report thank [Applause] you thank you again you're more than welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting I know we have a the next item on the agenda is the Strategic Plan update which uh Dr J Will introduce in a second I'm sure no one wants to miss that but you're more than welcome to head out with that said Dr Jud are you going to introduce I am and I actually just want to mention for everyone as well that at our next meeting that will be our student rep's last meeting of the year because our um meeting after that is after the school year is over so we will be recognizing them as well as our retirees uh who will be coming to the meeting so which will be wonderful okay so we are ready to go with the presentation and as we have we've we've made some updates throughout the years in terms of our process um with what we share in this presentation today's presentation is focused solely on uh the actualization of our strategic plan um and you can go to the next slide if you don't mind Andy I'm I only have two slides so I'm not going to go up to the podium um I I'm leaving it to everyone else to speak to this you guys hear me talk enough um one of the things that we've done in recent years is we've actually taken the focus off of the adults presenting the information and thought it really is more valuable and and relevant and meaningful for the students to actually speak about their experiences that um really exemplify the the actualization of our strategic plan goals we have four goals as uh everyone is aware um and the they're centered around uh our social emotional learning Pathways to educational success for all imagination creativity Innovation and critical thinking and uh diversity equity and inclusion and so what we've uh asked are various students or groups of students to speak to experiences that are related to each of these goals um if you go to the the next Slide the model that we Embrace here uh is the model of continuous Improvement and so you know it's sometimes I guess it can be exhausting to think that your work is never done but uh I think just looking at how different the world is now from I'm not even going to say 10 years ago I'm going to say three years ago um and all of the new jobs that we didn't even think would exist and again that used to be you know in 10 years jobs you didn't know would exist will will be here I feel like now that's more in the next two years jobs that you didn't know before existed or have been created um and so really continually reflecting and assessing and monitoring our progress is crucial uh and just in our conversations in the past few weeks um some of the items that we've been talking about for next year and for the next strategic plan plan um have been really we've had some very inspiring conversations uh educationally and and I'm really excited about the work we're going to continue to do to make sure that we provide exceptional experiences for our students so without further Ado I am going to bring up our um presenters to speak on the first goal and basically for each goal we have the co-chairs speaking very briefly about some highlights of our progress toward the goal but as I will put this presentation in the board folder they're not going to go through everything on the slide um they're just going to speak a little bit and then turn it over to the to the student or students that will be speaking on the goal so Andy if you can go the next slide here we go so I'm going to introduce Mr Jason Sabino and miss Patricia Tobin uh who are the co-chairs of this goal and Miss Tobin congratulations uh as her daughter just got married this past weekend so I can set the tone hopefully for brief for everybody um good evening it's a pleasure to be here and uh provide an update on progress on this Goo uh of course as Miss Tobin and I will highlight uh we are remain committed to delivering professional support to all students in the realm of social emotional growth and wellness through the past four years of the Strategic plan we have been committed to the offerings uh through a tiered system of support model so I won't spend a lot of time on that model right now but it's uh that that's a little bit of a a graphic that shows that we're looking to both provide uh delivery through the classroom for all students students the diverse range of students that we have but also additional enrichment for students but also remediation for students who need more support so that's a little graphic that I've uh this month is my new favorite graphic if you want to turn on to the next slide please thanks uh oh there is thanks so whether districts are whether students and families are in need of uh assistance regarding embarking to the transition to high school are in pursuit of additional academ mic strategies to excel through rigorous coursework while they're here exploring co-curricular enrichment or post-secondary opportunities uh Beyond uh or the range of social emotional concerns that come on while they're in high school we have a dedicated team of professionals available here at wat Chong Hills to assist so again that includes our school counselors which every student has access to we also are fortunate to have Student Assistance counselors who provide that second tier of support for students in need um and then additionally we have a partnership as know well through Rucker ubhc that provides additional clinical Mental Health Services when families uh and students need that support we routinely collaborate and communicate with teachers in the classroom utilizing strategies to both uh support the diverse range of students there in the classroom and additionally this year things just to highlight we had uh through the district's crisis response team provided a training to staff on some recently established uh behavioral threat assessments for ways to identify investigate and address concerns that arise throughout the school year that this District needs to address um we also uh are continuing to as Liz mentioned get feedback routinely from stakeholders including students staff and families on our work and our effort efforts uh we use the New Jersey Sky the NJ Sky survey for that annually which I hope some families here were able to participate in but we had all students and a number of our staff a good percentage of our staff also participate this year and I think we'll report more out on that in the fall um so that's the work we're doing here the school counselors are also utilizing best practices um there's a national model for data driven School counseling programs and we continue to use that for professional development for the school counseling staff so that's a little bit of what we're doing through social emotional learning and I know that also miss Tobin is going to hit some some additional points good evening so one of our focuses for our goal is to empower students to make ethical ch choices and the teachers have spent a lot of time increasing communication with students regarding what constitutes a breach in our academic Integrity policy in order to help them now and in the future in college also each department uh took a in-depth look into issues in each of their departments to make changes to assignments and assessments uh in order to bring out authentic uh student learning and we can say for the last three and a half years our numbers have significantly gone down in the number of academic Integrity violations that our students have had so uh we're communicating it they're getting it we're getting better learning more authentic learning and that's really our goal thanks so we we wanted to take some time this evening as as Dr J mentioned to highlight some of the programs we have here for students that we that are part of the Strategic plan uh we want to highlight the Empower program which uh as you may have heard of previously represents a number of the district strategies for supporting students and again I'll say a diverse range of our students and also preparing them for post-secondary Readiness and success so as we know collectively uh engaging and dynamic teachers make all the difference and the Empower program is no exception to that so it's my pleasure to introduce this evening wat young Hills Regional High School teacher Mr Dan scalin to come up who will speak in Greater detail regarding this very successful program [Applause] Dan right thank you for having me um so I just wanted to take some time and talk about the Empower program and how it's benefiting a lot of students here um so it really covers two tracks there's the credit recovery track and then there's the proactive AC ademic oh the proactive academic support track to try to um help students you know during the year while they're struggling to maybe prevent them needing that credit recovery track um so it's students with academic challenges and core classes that they need for graduation and then also in that second bullet of range of students Ser served um you know just kind of like unique situations students coming from out of States um from a different type of schedule um where maybe the courses they were taking don't really align to our course and giving them the opportunity to get back on track um and I think in addition to the academic part of that there's an added benefit to that situation where students are in that small setting that um flexible classroom where they're able to transition into a big school um in a small setting and have a little bit um more time to make that transition easy for example this year um just thinking of two students who both came from much smaller districts this year who were in empow um I was able to connect one to the theater department and one to the wrestling team um because they weren't really sure how to even go about doing that being in such a big school so as much as the goal was to get them on track academically we had that added benefit um and then I really see um two really big benefits that Empower has for students and one is the focus on growth and learning the other is the community that's around these students helping them find success um so the program is personalized it's a self-paced environment um students are setting their own goals every day as to what they think they should uh be completing and doing and then they're working with me and reflecting on those goals thinking about if they met their goal what did they do so well like what do we want to keep doing to make sure that they continue to meet goals if they don't meet their goal what are what do we need to change like what isn't working what new strategy should we apply um and then when it comes to identifying knowledge gaps and developing academic skills and healthier habits um you know this isn't just about recovering your credit and moving on or getting your classwork done and moving on um there's a lot of work students are doing about trying out new strategies trying out new approaches that maybe they haven't used before thinking about like maybe a new note-taking strategy or a new um organization system something that's going to help them find success and um continue that success and a big part of that is also making sure they take those strategies that are being successful for them in Empower and bringing them to all their classes moving beyond just the room and EMP power and saying okay the strategy worked for you in here let's bring it to your other classes let's you know continue and capitalize on that momentum um the other big part is the community that goes into Empower um the counselors specifically to give a shout out to the Student Assistance counselors Miss jisco and Mr rice um they are pivotal to the Empower program they come in on a weekly basis just to check in with the students ask them how they're doing get to know them um that's also an opportunity for them to identify if maybe a student needs to talk to them one one um beyond that they also come in on a frequent basis like a monthly basis to do um some more like wellness lessons like they'll help the students talk about things like positive selft talk like how to be a little bit kinder to ourselves when we're struggling um how to manage a schedule and how to um identify if we're feeling stressed from a schedule and how we can work around that um so they do a really good job of both working with students one-on-one and as a whole class and then I think the other major part of the Community is um you know I'm in pretty much daily contact with the school counselors and the students other teachers to make sure that we're all on the same page as to what students need to be successful um what is going on in other teachers classes so that I know how to help a student um in the Empower room and you know talking to counselors about you know what I might be noticing what kind of support a student might need and on top of that there's you know regular contact with parents to make sure that they're aware of both the challenges but also the successes that their children are experiencing so you know students are suddenly you know they've been practicing a skill for a while and suddenly they're finding success with it you know I'm making sure the parents are aware of that um so yeah there's be you know I think you know as much as students are getting work done they're getting their credit back what's really important what I'm really proud of is that focus on learning that focus on taking those skills and transferring them to other classes and then the community that is around empower and Mr Sabino is going to come back and just talk some about the numbers with that so again Dan is doing some great work in there as I'm sure he was able to highlight a bit here as well um but it's it's really a team some of the communication some of the correspondents that I see either verbally from from parents stopping by to speak to me or reaching out to me reaching out to Dan and he shares with me it's just it's great things to see when a student is either again uh having some success you know some some challenges in high school and then they really come to to find the support that they need and really make a turn for for making sure they get that results uh but then again there's students who come in who are quite High performing by a lot of me metrics in a lot of ways that are may maybe be facing some barriers during high school that came up that that caused them to need a little bit more support uh so it's really you know you can't put one type of student in your mind when you're thinking of this program and and I'm proud of that piece the most so because it really is a it's a great program for our students and again thanks to Dan for for coming out tonight and and for all he's doing every day in there um I just also want to hit on just real quick numbers and I this is supposed to be brief I think so uh we have last year about 150 credits were restored through this program for students uh this year we had over 60 students in the program at some point throughout the course of the Year again for either Credit Recovery or for proactive support and uh we had very real the numbers of five students who graduated last summer because of this prog program and if we don't think we had this program we may have five five less watch Young Hills Regional students with diplomas last year so again uh I'm I just can can speak about this all night but I know I got to move on so uh thank you everybody and we will have with the support of you all this program coming into the summer as well for for additional students this summer so you'll see it on the signage as you walk through the building so I will uh move the next slide over which I can do myself I've learned and I'm gonna ask uh Miss Michelle darer and Mr stepen seros to come up for the next goal okay good evening we're here to talk about strategic plan goal number two Pathway to educational success for all okay so we're going to be brief I think um a little bit briefer than Jason um we are going to highlight two sorry um two programs that um we think are valuable um and that have grown so we want to give them their due um time however you know as you can see as our evidence of progress you know we have continually adding new courses each year we reflect we work with Mary Ellen um and the teachers and the academic Council on where we need to grow and where we can grow programs so each year we're looking on that and trying to add you know also based on interest of the students um we have expanded our career internship program and we continue to try and um grow that you know it's really um a program for students that academically may have met all their credit requirements and can now go out into the workforce if that's really what their post-secondary goal is so giving them time and giving them support in that um for their future goals we've always uh continued to do our learning walks with our middle schools which are very helpful um both for us and for them really with the collaboration and the communication um we will get to peer Outreach in a minute and then I'll let Mr suros speak so I want to uh talk a little bit about something we're pretty excited about um and that's our career day so in years past we started a career day with maybe one or two uh companies from the community and they would go into the pack up on stage and the kids would an ask them a lot of questions they would deliver presentations about their specific Industries and you know that was a start for us the kids found it useful the community people enjoyed coming in but I have to say this year we are really doing something pretty Dynamic we have almost 200 vendors coming in we have the entire uh gymnasium blocked off with a schematic of tables all over the place the kids take a their phone they are allowed to use their phone for this Believe It or Not uh they they hit the QR code and it tells them exactly which particular uh businesses and companies are located at what uh table in the gymnasium um it's open uh right after lunch basically we decided that it would be smart not to include the entire school but just the sophomores and the juniors seniors are pretty much heading out on their own freshman might be a little bit too young for planning ahead that that soon so we thought that the freshmen and the seniors could remain in classes all day and then after lunch the sophomores and juniors will split time with this program so when the one group will be with the gymnasium going around to all the different tables uh and getting uh information that way the other group will be in the pack and they'll be getting um a little bit of that first type of uh portfolio that I talked about earlier where the the the kids are asking questions there's a panel of different companies with speakers up and the kids will be able to um you know ask questions and get information in a more onetoone uh basis so we're very excited about it it's uh Anita Beck one of our supervisors uh did a great job with Brad cumerford another one of our supervisors putting this together and uh we're really excited it's going to be May 29th and uh we look forward to uh hosting it and one of the things I just want to add is we also I believe we have all of them filling out a Google form so that we have their contact information so that we can further expand the career internship program so a couple of um outgrowths from what you'll hear tonight will actually be on the upcoming Ed committee agenda in terms of next steps and next levels of work for some of these things so we'll you'll hear more on that next week okay great any questions about that all right I think we have to m s us sure um so the um the companies that are coming in are these for uh opportunities that are immediately available after high school or are these also opportunities that students would need to go to college for to get some or some additional education or I really think it's a little bit of both I think there's so many there are are 102 different vendor tables and they not only cover you know possible Majors that kids would take in in in college but I think they also cover um you know the the businesses that are in the community that kids might have an interest in in getting either uh internships or you know full-time employment after graduation for for our kids that that want to I I'm happy to share the the since the list was just finalized I can share that with the board and you know I can tell you that there are um we look this came up actually from the board a number of years ago of wanting to make sure that we had a variety of careers represented trades um versus um you know managerial positions Hospitality so I Anita did a fantastic job in um in working with the rest of the leadership team in getting a really wide array of representation so and you know this is the first year we're trying this so I'm sure we'll make changes for next year based on how it goes um but I'm glad you brought that up because there should be something for everyone well I think it's important you know particularly in in this day and time that um we continue to emphasize opportunities for the non-bound learner um there are tremendous opportunities for those students to be able to have successful careers uh and and and be able to have the kind of living that they may aspire to and it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go out and get you know several hundred, doar of college debt in order to do that so I think that there's um it's an important opportunity for us to make sure that we showcase those opportunities because not let's face it not every student is cut out to go to college nor do they need to go to college nor do they need to acquire that level of debt moving forward so the more that we can uh demonstrate alternative opportunities for those students I think the better better we will be serving no absolutely and and this year more than ever with 102 tables they're going to find something that really interests them and that yeah that's great they can pick the brain of the people at the at the table and at the panel so you know we're very confident that that's this is truly something for everyone as the old cliche goes great thank you any other questions okay um yeah I think okay now we're going to introduce Miss Amita zwiki who is our transition coordinator to speak um about peer Outreach with herself and two of our students no clap for Amita come on [Music] [Applause] guys good evening everyone um my name is Amita swii and I am our school's transition coordinator I've been working in Special Services here for 13 years and a proud graduate class of 2004 um oh thank you for that um I don't want to T talk too much here um two of my students from this year's peer Outreach class are here and they're going to share their experiences in the class and I have to say it was a tremendous privilege uh for me to teach this class I have taught it in years past and we hope to continue uh to grow this program and um again you you'll hear firsthand from Ava and Ana so thank you for the opportunity thank you Mrs SII and thank you all for being here tonight and allowing us this opportunity to speak my name is Avidia Moore and I'm a graduating senior here at Wong Hills and I'm currently enrolled in a full year of the peer Outreach course throughout my four years at Wong Hills I've had the opportunity to take classes of all academic levels see P to AP and I'm fortunate to say that I will begin my first semester of college with several credits under my belt in light of this I am incredibly proud to say that peer Outreach has been the most rewarding class that I have taken thus far I'm not going to tell you that this class is academically rigorous because it is not but it isn't meant to be however should each student dedicate and fully immerse themselves in this course the way that it they were intended to they will reap the rewards the same as we did for those of you that are hearing about this class for the first time as I'm sure a few of you are its agenda combines General and special education students promoting teamwork relationship building and supporting students throughout their high school and post High School careers working alongside our incredible Educators Mrs sukii and Miss Sketchman um we are given ample opportunity to be transparent about ways that we as as individuals inside of our community are different from one another and it really gives us that opportunity to embrace our differences and to learn to love each other group work is a really significant part of being in the workforce and it gives students the opportunity to work with new people and the chance to learn how to adapt and to accommodate new or unfamiliar environments being a part of this class has made my passions and hope for the future all the more clear um the relationship I have built and the appreciation that I have been shown for displaying patience and care for my fellow students is something that I will never forget and something that will guide me throughout the rest of my life I hope that other students who are interested in anything really education any type of therapy or just learning to build your social skills I hope that everyone knows about this opportunity and they are enthusiastic just as we are [Applause] hello my name is Ana Shaw and I chose to speak today about the amazing course that is peer Outreach this past year I had the privilege of being accepted into this class and has truly had such an impact on me with this year being my junior year I have been mulling over what I want to do with my life contemplating what field I want to go into in college my first day walking into peer Outreach I had no idea I was about to discover my passion the moment I stepped into Room 2 I was overwhelmed RO with a sense of joy and acceptance Mrs SII our teacher greeted us with a welcoming smile expressing to us how excited she was that we were there in peer Outreach we are able to work with our neurode Divergent peers who are either postgraduates or current students at watching Hills we participate in a number of lessons and activities and I would love to share with you some of my favorites one of my favorite activities that we partaken is filling out our day to celebrate worksheets Mrs SII likes to highlight every day with their unique significance an example was National Oreo day on March 6th these worksheets allow us to express ourselves answering the prompts and share our responses with one another on this National Oreo day we had to write about our favorite cookies and why we like them so much mine was Nestle to House chocolate chip but after sharing with our friends and our peers I ended up diving deeper into conversations and going as far as to look up kinds we've never heard of even making additional suggestions of other types and this is exactly why I enjoy these activities so much they prompt so many different conversations allowing us to grow closer as classmates and as friends some of the worksheets come with even more of an activity one of these days being National guidance counselor day on this day the work she had us write a letter to our guidance counselor expressing our gratitude towards them however it did not end there we were also able to take a trip down to the main office to distribute the letters ourselves and witness the smiles on their faces additionally another one of my favorite activities that we do in peer Outreach is our morning greeting every morning we start off the day with some form of a greeting whether it be a rock paper and scissors greeting where you greet whomever you play or a game of telephone where we send a positive message around to everyone in the class these greetings allow us to loosen up and just be ourselves for a little while relaxed and detached from school and engage in conversation with our friends and that is truly what I have gained through this class my peers and peer Outreach and I always wave hello to each others in the halls or whenever we may run into one another and this makes our school experience that much more enjoyable for the longest time I thought I wanted to go to college for marine biology however I never got excited thinking about it nothing ever felt right until I thought about pursuing special education I love working with people and knowing I along with my peers are helping them and are a reason they wake up and are just excited to come to school recently I was accepted to work at Harbor Haven a summer camp in West Orange for children with mild disabilities and it's all thanks to Mrs swii and her class peer Outreach thank you so much for your time and I hope you love the class as much as I [Applause] do thank you for that any questions at all I will like to say that going into next school year we do have a wait list now for students to get into peer Outreach because it has become so popular and that sense yeah I I just I just want to say that you know those were both incredible stories that the students shared and the teacher has done such a great job with them um you know our role as a school district is to create opportunities for students to find their passion something that they care deeply about that's meaningful to them that they can then find a pathway to for a career and I think that you just demonstrated in Spades how that happens here in our school by creating this opportunity for those students and now she was thinking about being a marine biologist and now she's going into special education because we there was the opportunity for her to find her passion and that's one of the you know 18800 stories that we tell here in in the district about ensuring that we provide opportunities for our students to find their passion so I appreciate you sharing that and to the students I appreciate you sharing those experiences with us tonight so thank you Mr Emer before you step down I actually just want to thank you for your role in all of this U Mr rer is leaving us for another opportunity and you've done tremendous work in building this program uh so I really appreciate that and I'm sure you've told Anisha the same thing that uh the special education world would be very lucky to have you so thank you in advance um but really thank you for for your service to our stud students you've been a tremendous member of the leadership team and uh this is you know certainly evidence of that so thank you and we wish you all the best thank you my honor to be here okay now we get to introduce for goal three Mr flacker and Mr maluso all right thank you good evening so um those are those are uh tough tough to follow those for sure so goal three is uh about imagination creativity Innovation and critical thinking and I think this year has been um critical uh part of of the The Five-Year Plan we've been working on because we're we're beginning to see the culmination of a lot of planning and a lot of preparation uh becoming real um Mr sty talked earlier about uh the construction project for the steam lab uh so it is is actually becoming a real thing uh Dave don't want to forget the all these slides we prepared um so but along with the that physical structure we've also been planning and working hard on uh creating uh Innovative and uh um uh opportunities for for teachers to learn how to create Innovative um instruction in the classroom and to use that space once it becomes available for us so we started the year with some uh professional development centered around design thinking um which will help us uh deliver uh that that Innovative instruction that uh we've been planning for for so long we started with uh some training for the leadership team and introduction to design thinking and continued on with several opportunities for faculty to participate in that um in that instruction uh Mr Carnes from the world history from the history Department uh took some uh took part in a lot of that training and he uh took advantage of of time in his world history class with nth graders to um to to try out some of the the things he learned uh from uh those professional developments so I've asked three of his students to come up and shared their experience we have Leah Hensen ashwaria n and Isabelle [Applause] walk um hello good evening um so in our freshman history class with Mr Caris we have developed a design project over the past few months and we weren't actually able to complete this project because of the timeline of the school year and the um time of the professional development um however we did map out a template of this project um just to get an idea of what it might look like and to implement some of the design thinking components um so this project consisted of coming up of groups coming up with an environmental issue in our community that we are passionate about and we developed an action plan to tackle that issue locally um for example my group chose food waste as our issue and we had the idea of implementing a compost bin in the lunchrooms for extra food waste um at the end of the lunch period but this project had a big impact on our class as it taught us how even at a fairly young age we can still make a huge impact on our community and it also demonstrated the thought process of identifying an issue and being able to apply it and find a solution that we as students can [Applause] tackle um going off what Leah said um I think that throughout the school year many people um especially students they come into school with a mindset that many of the things that we learn in school um may not have an impact on our lives out of school such as like calculus or like if you're not going to be a mathematician why should I learn this however I think this um process and this new project um really helps give students tools skills and the mindsets of becoming Future Leaders and being able to take skills and thoughts and processes that can help us make a true impact in the world because at the end of the day we're the Next Generation that's going to have to be um tackling all these conflicts whether it's environmental or human are um I think it's an important skill to establish and I think that our ninth grade class really got the best out of it um and I think it's a important thing that we should establish forward um so prior to the project we discussed a lot of um topics such as like ethics and empathy um generally in education ethics and empathy are mainly ignored they're not really mentioned um so kids don't really know about them they don't know they don't really understand them um and this is important to recognize because these topics can really help guide people to trust themselves to make reasonable decisions and help others along with that um they also play a big role in people's daily lives along with the decisions that they can make in their future um and on top of this it also contributes to history and um how much knowledge you can have towards history like for example um people who are less knowledgeable about ethics and stuff like that tend to have a more simplified like view of History um while people who have a more developed understanding tend to understand it on a deeper level and can kind of relay it into their life and see how it improves their life um this was out this was like shown in the project outline um not only did it make us think about ethics and empathy but it also made us think about the stakeholders involved in different decisions and how they are affected and how they affect decisions um so for example crucial decisions such as like mistreatment of Amazon workers um issues revolving around like laborers during the Industrial Revolution water Purity around the world all of those things like have many different stakeholders and this like we were really brought like this was brought to light during this project um and just overall this project helped us to understand the complexity of issues today and provided people with a great opportunity to get involved with the the community and help other people around them [Applause] so thank you Leah ashwaria and Isabelle um and I'd also like to thank Mr carness for for being brave and trying new things and uh working really hard to to provide these opportunities for our students thanks Mr Caris um so one of the other um objectives for this goal was to produce uh videos that would be featured on our program of study website so student students could maybe visually and Audy uh hear what uh these classes are really about rather than just reading a description of the course so I have uh one video here for wood Arts but we have currently have four of these videos Incorporated in the program study we have I think seven more currently under production and this is through the help of um both um Mr Martin's class and uh the pack um W hrhs pack has been working together over the last few months to put these videos together so I thought this one was a a pretty good example to highlight um what this will look like when it's a finished product um hopefully next year Watchung Hills offers three exciting wood arts classes foundations of wood Arts intermediate wood arts and wood Arts honors foundations of wood Arts is an introductory course for Gres 9 through 12 no prior experience required explore three-dimensional wood projects learn about wood characteristics and master basic hand tools and machines ideal for those interested in Woodworking and construction careers moving on to intermediate wood arts for grades 10 through 12 building on the basics this course focuses on Advanced machine and power tool usage students work on complex projects using tools like the shaper miter saw and wood lathe for Creative expression finally finally wood Arts honors a year-long course for grades 10 through 12 for those passionate about woodworking this course emphasizes craftsmanship design and advanced Machine Tool practices students May create Legacy projects for donation and instructional videos for future classes whichever course you choose our wood arts program is your path to unlocking creativity and exploring woodworking careers join us on this artistic Journey thank you for exploring wood Arts with us [Applause] one second to switch back watching Hills offers three exciting wood art thank you the the last thing that I'd like to um to share with you is um back on March 13th we hosted our second annual steam Fair uh right here in this space um and I've asked two of our students who participated to come and share their their experience with you Aaron um Aon harat and Noah s Toro would you come on please um hi my name is Aaron harwat I'm a junior here at Wun Hills and I first want to thank the board for giving me this opportunity to speak as well as Miss heinan and the other science teachers who were involved and uh working towards putting the science for together this year so over the past two years I've had the opportunity to particip they participate in both our uh school science fairs as well as the state science fair uh last year I was able to explore a project involving uh identifying biomarkers for Lupus which is an autoimmune disease uh and for this year's science fair I was able to participate in two projects um a personal project of mine was examining the socioeconomic context of the state of Washington and the effects different socioeconomic variables may have on the distribution of electric vehicles um as well as electric uh charging stations and this project was in collaboration with an environmental adjusted Professor from the University of Arizona um the second project I was able to pursue was in collaboration with the sophomore here um and which we designed durable furniture made from environmentally friendly bio material um rice husk which is essentially the outer layer of rice grains um and the aim of the project was to address the large uh carbon footprint associated with the furniture industry and especially through the second project uh I was able to receive much feedback uh from peers and teachers uh and about strategies during the presentation and the structure of how to present itself and I believe the teachers guidance as well as the logistics of the steam Fair really made the fair stand out and resemble aspects of the State Fair which has been going on for 40 plus years and what really stood out to me this year were like many of the underclassmen were able to participate in the fair and offer some very Creative Solutions to a host of problems both General and Niche um and it speaks to the culture of curiosity and the increasing interest in science by underclassman as well as other Juniors and seniors uh the logistics of being able to have more of a discussion with the judges um and judges didn't judging didn't feel like a burden of pressure um as we were able to work with the teachers and faculty to pick apart our project and the panel of three extremely intelligent scientists and their ability to speak to pinga field in science was a really strong part of this year's science fair and this year's steam Fair reflects the time and effort both the students and faculty made and to the success of the event and highlights the promising potential for future Years thank you hello I am Noah Santoro and I am a freshman at watch Young Hills I had a great time participating in the science fair it was a really amazing opportunity to learn about something new and to meet other people in my school who share an interest in science when preparing for the science fair the workshop sessions really helped out a lot to help bring together the entire project um one great thing about the science fair was that I was able to learn more about and share things about something that means a lot to me my science fair project was about um the clinical trial that I am a part of which looks to cure type 1 diabetes so in my project I used myself because I have type1 diabetes and I conducted an experiment to see how my body reacted to food without insulin 1 month and 3 months post the treatment and then I was able to present my findings this was really important to me because the science fair allowed me to spread some awareness about type 1 diabetes and to connect with other people in my school working with the upper classman who had done the science fair before was also very fun because it gave me something to Aspire to and a goal for how I wanted to be able to present my project and my findings in the future one of the most fun parts of the actual science fair day was the panelist presentations each of the panelists had really interesting experiences and I learned a lot about options for a future career and different types of scientists being done right now in the present I would definitely take part in the science fair again and I plan on taking part of it all the way into my senior year and I hope that more people are encouraged to try it and to learn something [Applause] new I you know I I think the Common Thread that I've noticed now with the Miss wikii students Mr cares' students and and the all the teachers that helped out with the steam fair and those students there is uh you know these are all opportunities for the students to uh dive into something so deeply they don't even realize they're working so hard U which it's been really amazing I think I heard the word fun uh when the last student spoke so uh holding up any further I'd like to introduce Bill abrera and Mary alen faen to talk about go four [Applause] good evening uh before I begin I would just like to thank all my colleagues and especially the students for presenting so far earlier today or tonight Sor it is hopefully for you guys it's a you know you know an opportunity to kind of look behind the curtain of really what goes on here every day and uh the students and the caliber of students that we teach here is really amazing and it's an hon honor to be a part of this team and to be serving them as we navigate into the next uh stage of our strategic plan um and when we're going to go into strategic plan four we have two amazing students that are going to continue uh that Trend uh first as um evidence of progress of things that we have tried to continue and progress in uh in regards to uh strategic plan four is the first two are dealing with professional development of increasing our capacity our confidence level and our comfort with you know new new curriculum items and new audiences that are appearing in our classroom so to make sure that the curriculum and and the instruction is hitting the students that we so richly and accurately need to to teach and to benefit and to help them grow to their best selves we uh been here before talking about using the AP potential reports to try to increase the pathways and access to all our courses to ensure that our students have the ability to take courses to show their abilities and to promote students where applicable we've been using that in our AP Computer Science with Outreach and seeing increasing um group performances and U populations in our classes um as we just indic as we just spoke about we continue to extend further than just the classroom with our Focus that was some great insight to the steam Fair we've spoken about our Hills hacks we continue with model un tedex just to name a few of really understanding that education exceeds just sitting in the desk uh when we we get passions as everybody's talking about here it it Spurs interest it Spurs motivation um and opens other doors that maybe we didn't even realize that uh we had interest in um we understand that we have a a larger role in our whole District meaning that we want to help out our transition of eighth graders and and the middle schools coming up to here so we have continued to try to partner with um the nth grade orientation program and also try to Foster experiences for our eighth graders to come up here uh one thing that they just had last night they just had a movie night here with all the students coming up last night uh we have opportunities in later uh this month for some of our eighth grade students to come up and speak with some of our high school leaders and also this year we actually started to bring some of our har school students down to the middle school so that they got to talk about the transition with that we're continuing to try to work with our uh increasing our interns and teaching assistants in some of our K to8 districts and lastly that I'm going to talk about here we're really looking part of what Dr J was talking about uh through our Ed committee we're really looking at revamping or tweaking our um Flex program to bring in some character education program especially for our ninth graders so that they can become um you know part of the fabric and leaders for the future Generations that come through here um but more importantly than what I'm talking about we have two great students come to come up and talk about their experiences when in response to um strategic plan for first is Ilia and then G so Ilia want to come [Applause] up uh Miss miles was sorry not to be in attendance this evening because she had such fond memories of last year so by way of introduction she asked me to read a few words of support uh Ilia joined watchong Hills Regional in September of 2022 he was born in Donas Ukraine and moved to maripol when he was just 15 years old Ilia and his family planned on moving to the United States just before the War Began however they only had a few days to say goodbye to friends because things escalated quickly his family traveled to Lavia was there for about a month sleeping in cars handling multiple requests for health checks and forac vaccinations they then traveled from Lithuania to Poland and then to Germany from there they came to New York City to stay with a relative Ilia still talks about walking onto the New York city streets and encountering homeless people snarling cars and endless traffic for the first time it was not what he had imagined America to be it wasn't until he and his family moved to Warren that everything changed for the better Ilia began began high school knowing very little English and no other students tonight he is thrilled that we asked him to share his experience highlighting his journey at wung Hills and how he became such a strong contributor to our community in the fall he will be pursuing a degree in the theater program at Ramapo College like other Warriors for Ilia he also has our very best wishes and we believe the best is yet to come for him thank you so much I'm so appreciated of this the first time excuse me the first one I'm standing my name ISAT shinka um if you pronounce my first name last name correctly this means we can be a good friends because you've already overcome the first Challenge and before this I could stand before you to give it a speech many people know me from different Sid and many have a heard my heard my heart story today I'm here to share my journey at watching Hills Regional High School because it's my honor to share my story with you all I was born in Ukraine how you heard before an amazing country with an amazing history this is country is famous not only for in the culture and the people but also for the important political and historical events which are happening before our eyes this event became an important still getting Point both in my life and the lives of s of others my past America was not easy I had I have U I had to spend a months in two different countries I and around and to take seever vaccinations Al so that I could stand in front of you when I got there the feeling and of Adventure still did not leave me but it felt more like in a summer adventure and we want to return home and everything will be normal but in the summer I went to school my first day was truly amazing I will never forgot how I founded in search of my English classroom for the word s like and now I can help anyone find of this place in this school but TR was literally lost in the simple um intersection of corridors and the S is he um this will be my first and the last trip to school and I will never find a way out of this carridor but as you can see I still found a way out thanks to my knowledges of geography and themselves that I still wanted to eat I found a way out into the atum and was a to make into the class on the time afterward I remember how I often was late and when the super intention Dr Jaan helped me find my biology class and then I went to lunch every day the first weeks were terrible I wasn't lonely and I didn't know how to find new friends when you are sitting in an unfamiliar place and don't understand what you should do next you have a wild desert to run away somewhere somewhere um so thatas doesn't happen to you but it's not easy for all of us and I took all my determination and I F it to be best and one day I was able to meet my first friend who saved me from my less I decided to join the SED Club again but in a new place it was an amazing experience and when I found it out as a Mr Martin like me when he the first year at the school I was even more pleasant I want to lie he like no one even understood what I was like to be in a new place and literally resemble yourself piece by piece I can say this completely confident in the S is not just a drama club this is a holy family in which you can feel like yourself and not be afraid of judgment from the outside but they will be help you discover your talents and Mr Martin became my first American teacher of theater film studies and acting and I hope then I became his the first Ukrainian student it helped me to choose a measure to which I am ready to divide my whole life when I took when I look back now I know this is please help me find myself and what I wanted to do in this life when when I came to this place I could be say I learn to study this school again in Ukraine I had a different education system for example when was surprising I knew chemistry from the seventh grade and I took Anatomy as a biology course in the ninth grade and before that I study botony zo zoology then anatomy and also microbiology this is was all um and this is was all the like Basics you had to study and the biggest surpris is you have the choice to live after n9th grade but with some conditions when they entering the others places but the only experience that I accommodated for the first time here was entering another education institution after school it was an interesting experience which I will greatly share so that others can walk this path and easily I was also surprised by the fact you can c not discover many of your results leave with them completely secret and in general the idea that you can take many actions by choice sh me than in this country when it's such a details people see for free choice step by step I'm building my new life but the older life continues to remind itself um at the most exitting moments the first touch moment was in the news about the lot of people close to me in the war I can't say um I can say that it BRS me back to reality am my inner child or sit in this new reality afraid to again be so s and be F and horror yes this is are complicated topics that are difficult to talk about but they are a part of me in my life and all these moments did not paralyze me I did not stop I was walking on the will continue to move forward I took all my traumatized mistakes and happy moments into my own hands and how and now I am who I am already 90 years old I was excited to valun racism immigration and War I understand as some may not see me as an adult but let me assure you that I have lived many lives I want to become someone great and give this world of something that everyone has been missing for a long time but something simply namely simply human understanding compression and respect for of each respect for each of us because you and I only have one change thank you if you have a question ready two [Applause] anwers and definitely not last uh she is last but she's not least um we have a very talented artist in our Mists uh we call her uh Gigi and according to Kate Griffin one of rap art teachers the mural uh GG completed was her passion project for induction into the National Art Honor Society each year nah members must conceptualize plan and execute an independent project that benefits the local school Community students speak with teachers and administrators they seek approval before starting their project and the the project must be completed to be assessed by miday Gigi was very proud that she finished on Thursday night when the project was due on Friday students are require required to manage their this responsibility and find the time to complete their project during a study hall lunchtime or after school to be inducted into nahs members must earn membership by attending meetings conferencing with instructors and volunte volunteering their artistic talents to help our entire Learning Community beyond our own High School in all the years Mrs Griffin has been working with other aspiring honors art students Gigi is exemplary she impresses all of us on a daily basis Kate and the other art teachers applaud Gigi's ambition her aesthetic Vision her work ethic and definitely her independent style as you can all see for yourselves in this Photograph and you can also see the real deal on your way out GG has set a very high bar for future members of nahs she has shared a lasting work of art that highlights fun friendship inclusion diversity and a culture of belonging she's going to talk a little bit about how she generated this idea and her tribe that helped fill in all that green behind her figures [Applause] hi um I would like to say thank you to miss Phillips for having me here I'm going to talk about this mural um so for this mural I wanted to Showcase diversity and unity through my unique part style during this process I have connected with many new students and teachers many people have volunteered to help thank you during this process I have connected with many new students and teachers many people have volunteered to help or just watch that included strangers making this really brought other kids together which was the my main goal before this concept even made it to the paper and while this is still standing many years from now I hope that it still has the same effect as it has as it is now yeah that's it thank you [Applause] so that brings the presentation to a close I know it's a lot to digest uh Dr J did say you just want to share one of the other important tidbits that's on the slide since you're up there another example of our involvement is tonight's Refreshments are provided by our new culinary under the direction of our new culinary teacher Miss andand of bonell so everything that you're having there is coming from our uh culinary room and program that uh we uh we're proud to have you guys help us support with the new referendum uh a couple of years ago so thank you so much so as you're eating those hopefully you're you're recognizing the the fruits of your labor so to speak um but like I said there's a lot here to digest pun intended um so um if there's any questions that we could ask or answer collaboratively um that you might have um also there's a lat time you might have them we can also do our best to um you know go through the proper channels to get you those answers as well but if there's anything that I could address now um please just let me know yes sorry so I'm I'm actually was it Jazelle that was just up here G yeah I'm sorry Gigi Jazelle but we goes by Gigi yes okay and Gigi uh what year are you [Laughter] I'm a junior and uh are you are you interested in pursuing um visual art as a career most definitely yeah and have you started looking at at colleges yes I have slightly slightly and did you see the um I was I can't wait to see the the uh uh your work in person the the mural okay perfect um and and it just reminded me of the new mural that they just uh went up in Jersey City on this I don't I'm not sure if you've seen it on the side of a brand new building uh that just went up I think it was in the paper just today uh but a spectacular mural uh that is now gracing the you know over top of Jersey City itself so um between that work I'm looking forward to seeing your murals and other places around the world in the future as well so much thank you thank you congratulations really well done and same thing Ilia really well done as well I thought you were uh you I'm sorry I didn't mean to get Force you guys to get up and down with a question I'm sorry I'm ready for listening yeah but I just you just say something sorry just like just make sure just congratulations so much I'm appreciate an excellent excellent job with your presentation and an incredible story uh and it's there and and the other thing that has again has come up time and time again is Passion the passion that they've been able to to to find here were you involved in in theater back in Ukraine yes um before to Mo America I did the theater and it was not just like a school stat it was outside special like program but I learn and also learn before to America special program this name like um how's it correctly like the study of the of all artem like this and this mean when you lowering Arts um uh the of course um Building architecture so you learn every of arts and then you took exam special and you have double education so we can and use for in the future for like for Creative or something like this so it's double points I'm going to say like this excellent well congratulations and good luck in your studies in the fall thank you so much IIA I do remember helping you find your class which I just so you know that's one of my favorite things to do because when I first got to this school if they were watching the cameras they would see me in the middle of the hallways looking around not knowing where to go but I do also remember how much you inspired me because you were brand new not knowing your way around not knowing a single person here and you had the absolute best attitude with a smile on your face anytime I encountered you in the hallway and it it just it I it really made me stop and think okay this is somebody who's been completely transplanted to a different world and you had just the most positive attitude you came to school with every day um so I and I think it you know certainly rubbed off on other students around you so I I just I notic that and I continue to notice that every day I've never seen you not smiling when I pass you in the hallway and you always say hello so I wish you all the best thank you so much I'm my just goal into this life to be positively don't make a focus something bad just go for whatever you want to do and just enjoying your life yeah it's a lesson for all of us absolutely yes question oh thanks hi thank you um incredible story yes I'm interested to know about your language so when did you learn English oh good question um I know TR to back and I can't see you sorry um so in Ukraine you learn English as like double language but mostly when in a different country how I know you learn as a British so I sometime kind of speak like an British accent talking bad but you can't understand thanks and when I moved I have no zero point like how to speak it correctly but quickly just talking with friends luring things to my teacher Mr Robins really appreciate of her for pain and understanding me uh I every like every time you know you learn something for me it's like d you learn language culture and this mixing and I'm really enjoying to do it for example yesterday I learned simply something uh and my friends um help me with this and so appreciate it because they understanding me and I'm so happy to do yeah yeah thanks yeah but it's for the artist [Laughter] Gigi yeah he just s hi hi thank you this it looks beautiful the picture of it do you know off hand the the total dimensions of your mural um it's fine if you don't uh it's around like 117 to I forgot the other one but it's okay thank you um I noticed all of your figures the legs you have really highwaisted people yes is this your kind of signature um I took a lot of inspiration from a band called gorillas what repeat that gorillas I took a lot a lot of inspiration from many things and they were my main inspiration so okay thank you I just noticed that on all of your figures [Applause] high thank you to everyone who was here I know that um not everyone is still here because the students that we had present tonight are are probably the students with the most also to do at night um so thank you so much for everyone for taking the time to come the for to the staff who selected the students to come and represent uh various aspects of our school tonight you chose wisely um the students did an absolute outstanding job I don't think we have any better representation or spokespeople for what we can do than our students um so thank you so much for taking the time and for the family members and uh friends and and uh everyone else who came to support them thank you for coming to join our board meeting we always appreciate having an audience when we're celebrating our school and our students so thank you very much [Applause] thank you Dr J and thank you for all those presenters uh it was certainly uh a great opportunity to see what's going on in the school and as Bob had alluded to I think it only uh just touched the surface there's so many stories that even though we didn't hear about them tonight we're certainly proud of what's taking place with on our on our campus and as also alluded to the passion and the opportunity uh that are afforded to the students and uh and what the students take from that is certainly great and uh quite admirable with that said first opportunity for public comment first public comment period will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only the second public comment period will be open to any topic all comments are limited to five minutes if you have a public comment again we do have the signning sheet um put your name and uh where you're from are there any comments with respect to agenda items agenda items only okay seeing none board discussion do we have any board discussion this evening it you want to do that now okay under seven okay fine great discussion of addenda items then we have okay Tim Mr okay for the members of the board um so what I put before everyone's uh setting was the resolutions that we we talked about last board meeting and usually you know most of the time when I'm going through the minutes usually they're pretty self-explanatory um Brenda and I Brenda is my assistant and most of you know Brenda she goes through them and then we try if if it gets tricky we have to go to the video last meeting was tricky on steroids we kind of went through a lot of different gyration in the vote and things got a little confusing when we split certain policies out and when I went when I first went through the minutes I thought that one thing happened and then she pointed something out to me and we literally watched it about eight or nine times to try to figure out exactly what what we were voting on so it was when we split the three 1500 policies out where it became a little tricky so what actually happened when I looked through these minutes like I don't know like I said eight or nine times the board voted kind of an odd vote um to have a vote to um table these three things we probably didn't need to do that we probably should have just went right to the tabling of them uh so that second vote was to table those three policies and That Was Defeated so technically we should have went back and then voted on those policies that's what we should have done we didn't do that we kind of and I think we were exhausted at that point that's probably why and it was confusing because like I said I really literally went through those minutes like eight or nine the video eight or nine times just to figure out what exactly we did so that being said what I'm suggesting that the board has to do is you've defeated the motion to table those three so you really should be voting on those three as they are and then you know whatever you do from there is what you do so I'm just I'm trying to go by the procedure we're supposed to follow and that's kind of where I think it is so that's what A8 is that's it's really literally the same policies you talked about last meeting no changes but you really should vot do that vote because you didn't table it does that make sense yeah sort of Tim um as an aside do you now stand by the minutes as they were written I do I do but I I will admit even reading them it's hard to understand what we did but I do stand by the minutes because when I read the minutes my first reaction was the vote minutes down because it didn't seem to me that it reflected what happened but perhaps I misunderstood what happened it was I got to tell Carol I went I literally went through eight or nine times with Brenda and we were trying to figure out and parse the words what exactly did we do because there were two votes back to back on literally almost the same thing but the wording was a little different and Michael brought up he said um we're voting on a motion to consider tabling or something that it just was probably was one too many and I apologize if I'm saying that that way but that's kind of where it got a little jumbled up so we used the word amended because we didn't quite know how to word that one and that that emotion actually passed so then you voted on to table it and then the tabling was defeated that one I'm sure of the tabling motion you absolutely said it was absolutely said that was the motion second it and that's what was defeated but what we didn't do is defeat the policy correct okay right which so what well we never voted on we never voted on it so the Board needs to vote on that all right and then you can move on and I apologize it took me so long to figure it out that's why Brenda's there because she's smarter than I am well this was going to get Revisited regardless so just and just so everyone knows what what I did in between then and the next Personnel committee meeting was I took those of you that had sent me comments on the policies I put all those together sent them to Mark to have him take a look at them and give comments why don't sorry yeah I can wait till later if you want me to what I'm gonna suggest that we have certain motions for a Who and A8 be a separate motion then we have a discussion and then at that point discuss what changes or what was done and then we just have a vote on yeah there's no changes here but I want everyone to know what was done because we didn't anticipate this like this was you know so there there's another process we have in place that I'll I can explain to everyone okay Mr President I'd like to move items A1 through A5 second any comments or discussion with regard to A1 through a 5 roll call please Mr maio Mr Gall yes M Lee May yes Morrison yes sober Potter yes pra trur yes and M Burber yes motion is carry Mr President I'd like to move items A6 and A7 any comments or discussion with respect to those two items roll call please Mr sty Mr maio Mr G yes Mr Lee me yes Mr Morrison yes M obber Mr CA M trumpour yes and Mr bber yes motions carry Mr President I'd like to move item A8 second uh Dr jid if you can comment on what's transpired in the last week with respect to the comments that you received and discussion that you had with the board thank you so I just want you to know um that I took the feedback that um folks had emailed uh shared it with Mark he responded with these changes he's okay with these things he's not comfortable with for you know and he um explained why I put that all into the policies and it's all highlighted and Nicole has that for personnel committee um which I believe we just sent out the invitation for for next week so the plan was to review that with Personnel committee and then the board will get the the policies again with those changes depending on what comes out of personnel committee um so that's what we were planning on um just so so you're aware so the policies that are on tonight are the same that were on for second read last time no changes have been made to those just as a matter of procedure and I I thought about this also when we approve a policy on the first read and then it comes up quite Changed by the second read I don't think technically it's a second read I think at that point it reverts back to being a first read again because the concept of the law is to give people two opportuni ities to approve something and if it changes significantly between the two I think you understand what I'm saying yeah so last time I don't think they did change significantly but it but I think that's a good discussion to I don't know are you on Personnel committee I am not no but the chair of personnel committee is hearing your comments um and what we can do is talk a Personnel committee if there are changes made that Personnel feels are substantially different than they could recommend to the board president and to me that we do it as a first read um again I think that's certainly a good point I think that's really up to the board go ahead B yeah I don't and and respectfully I mean I certainly understand the point but when there's a first read we go through the first read if there are any changes or or adjustments that's the why you do a first read so that you can then go back and see whatever adjustments or changes need to be made uh and then it comes back up for a second read so it's the second bite at the Apple even though that there are changes the the the the the item itself is still the same item it's just a language surrounding it might have might have been different so I don't I don't you know I would certainly defer to our attorney on whether that would be appropriate or not but based on my experience that's never been in he hasn't I don't think advised us to do that before to go back to a first read but I can ask him like because I I guess my point is at what point does a change become so substantial to a policy that it really doesn't represent the first read at all and I I'd like to defer really it's also I have a feeling the attorney's going to say it's up to the board because we've had when we've been in in a position before where we've had the let's say the state doesn't give us a lot of notice to um Implement a policy and so we don't have time for a first read and a second read and so we've talked about what to do and this board actually generally has just said let's still do the first and the second read and it's their fault for not giving us adequate time to do this um which I kind of agree with um but what you know the attorney has said is the first and second read is the that's the purview of the board the board can just vote to to approve it in one read and they can just say we're you know suspending our policy that requires two reads and vote it in um in the in the first read so I think with this I my assumption is he'll say that's really up to the board but I'll find out from from Mark what his advice is just to be clear state law requires only one read and it's our policy that we say it's a first and then a second that's my understanding from what the attorney has said I can't confirm that about the law but I know he has said that it there's nothing requiring us to do two reads other than our own policy which we can suspend if we want to and then you're also saying that any policy that we have we have the right either to a repeal or suspend at any time you're saying that as well is that correct just so everyone understands that just because we accept the policy or we have a policy uh next week or at the next meeting there could be a motion to repeal suspend uh a policy okay yes um you mentioned something about emails you received that had to do with change changes um I didn't know that there were emails I didn't really understand what exactly went on um is it possible to share those emails with the rest of the board yeah with the feedback on the absolutely we can put that all together with the Ed thank you what I can actually well we can I can send that this week to the whole board so that they can talk to people on Personnel committee if they'd like if they know it's going to be discussed next week that might be helpful so we can talk about that tonight okay Bob so then just for the purposes of this evening right so we are voting on this because it's an open item from the last board meeting is that correct right you the board didn't they you defeated the motion to table it so you really should be voting on it yeah you should be voting on it so we have to we have to vote on it as is correct and then and then you can do what you whatever okay so just to be clear we're voting as is and then next week the Personnel is going to look at some of the additional changes the additional comments additional suggestions provided either a by the board and then reviewed by our board attorney Mark and uh at that point there may be a situation where these three policies come back in front of the board for a vote to amend the current policy which we have current po these three policies exist already correct yes correct and these are just amendments changes to that policy so that would be yet another change with if that does occur would there be a first reading for those as well and then a second reading I think that's what we were just trying to get question gonna say let's not make Brenda crazy again for okay but we haven't done anything I'm just asking a question and and I'll resist the temptation to amend my motion so good okay any further question it's one further procedural question so is it possible that we will revert back to the original this original policy before some people apparently asked questions and we got our attorney involved to make those I all I did was ask about making edits and you'll see in the the revised versions it's just cross outs with the suggested language just so people can see what folks wanted to change some of it is is very minor some of it is is you know taking out some portions but everyone will be able to see what how the you know this version is different from any of the requested revisions so it's not like you're just going to look at a policy and have to try and figure it out it's very clearly you know highlighted in the the um markup okay so just to be clear there's currently three policies in our book one's 1523 one's 1530 and one's 1550 those exist right now is that correct what we're vote what the vote on for right now that's in front of the motion is to make certain changes and alterations amendments whatever as mandated one and as presented already whether that passes or doesn't pass personel is meeting next week I forget which day Wednesday Tuesday and they are going to further discuss these three as well again based on the comments that you were provided and the discussion that you had and at that point there could be a further motion to amend the policies that's where we stand right now so there is a policy in effect tonight's vote is to change the policy as presented that everyone has in front of them and which said more than enough times at any point policy can be suspended repealed amended and that Personnel is going to discuss it again and if it has to come in front back in front of us then we'll go through it again can we get reminded again the implication of not doing the updated that are mandated so there's a there's a couple of things um these policies are in place so and and the the changes that folks want aren't most of them are not to the updates they're to the the parts of the policy that that are existing and have been in existence um so if the policies get voted down the current policies obviously still remain in place um there's a couple of pieces one is you know when when we actually go through qac or something like that if our policies are not updated and up to date then they'll they'll ding us on that um when Tim gets audited there's certain things that they look for with regard to that um when we are in litigation um when we are you know involved in any sort of Investigation um one of the first things they always ask us for are policies because I know that we'll say a lot of the time well the law says this why do we need it in policy if we don't have it in policy they'll say well obviously your school district is not following the law They Don't Really Care that statute has it so those are just some of the you know different implications of why it's important to to have things codified in our policy thank you Carol Katherine sorry yeah I also have a question when did you realize about this issue with the vote it was late it was like um I mean the agenda was done it was after we sent the agenda out probably Friday so I was like and when we went through it and we going through it again and again and again and again and again it was right when it was literally when we were sending out like like five minutes or 10 minutes and brend and I just kept going through this and then we sent it out and then I reached out to um Liz and Michael we what are we gonna do now so why would let us know like then on Monday that this was happening I mean just out of curiosity yeah because we decided to do uh Walkin so I mean it's not again my apologies yeah no just it could have been done better but it it just just wasn't I apologize for belaboring the point about where we stand and Susan just to answer your question having to do with disseminating all the comments to everybody that does certainly present Oprah issues and normally when we're doing that we should be discussing it in public with all the comments cuz if we all comment with each other that kind of yeah that's defeats the purpose of what we're doing that's why we have the Committees look at it and then the Personnel committee uh they will address all those comments I can include that in the Personnel committee P um folder for those folks to look at that's what I'll do since the Personnel committee will be the ones looking at the edits also without discussion the only issue is it actually is board court because s it one way if I then send it to the full board it's almost like we're trying to circumvent the Sunshine Law because it came from a board member because it's it's a way of of a board member sharing something and then sharing it with a full board through like circumventing it's not like it's a Community member a little bit different anything further or shall we just call the vote call the vote oh sorry Bob one last thing so I'm I'm just curious um um you know obviously I know that there are some board members that have concerns over at least one of the policies I'm not sure that those concerns you know follow across to um 1530 and 1550 unless I'm misreading the situation so because what I was thinking about is um actually what would be the no what I'd like to do is what I what i' like to do is vote separately on each one of these items instead of moving them all in bulk well they can still be moved in bulk and just when you respond you can say yay yay nay fair enough that's what that's all I'm suggesting versus adding additional got it but I hear exactly what you're saying prefer them to do it separately wait Tim would you prefer them separate no I mean we'll just it'll just it'll be a slower vote fine it won't be so it's three want make sure I get this right so roll call yeah hold on I'm gonna write the numbers down so I don't 1523 1530 15 okay okay ready Mr maio you want me just to say like say policy or just well it's you could say yes to 1523 no but you don't want me to verbally Say it'll be recorded like in that order like I don't have to say 1523 all just vote no yeah okay I'll list them 1523 yes 1530 no 1550 no perfect so wa one a second I'm going to get this right 1523 yes hold hold on a second hold on a second I got to I got to make more columns here okay okay now go 1523 yes 1530 no 1550 no perfect okay Mr Gall no Miss Lee no Mr May no Mr Morrison yes okay Miss obber yes Miss Potter yes Miss pra no okay Miss trur yes and Mr Burber yes okay so with 1523 I have one two five six that that does pass other two don't uh and the other two are defeated one two three four five y the other 1530 1550 are defeated 1523 passes Mr President I'd like to move items C1 through c18 second discussion comments roll call Mr maio Mr Gall yes M Lee yes Mr mayek yes Mr Morrison yes M obber M Potter yes M pra yes tror yes and Mr Burber yes motions carry Mr President I'd like to move items D1 through D12 second comments or discussion roll call Mr maio just a comment on d8 thank you Mr SP for your response and explanation and yes okay Mr Gall yes Miss Lee yes Mr manek yes Morrison yes Uber yes Mr Potter yes rasa M chour yes and Mr Berber yes motions carry this is a second opportunity for public comment again this comment comment period could be on anything anybody seeing none I will close second opportunity for public comment is there any other business yes B just real quickly I wanted to uh once again thank everyone that uh came out or tuned in for uh the shared services regionalization um study discussion that we had last night to kind of kick off the public uh portion of this um as we mentioned last night uh all the information regarding the shared services regionalization feasibility study is on the Watchung Hills website there is a button on the homepage uh that will take you directly to it you can also find it under the um uh Board of Education um and the video from last night has already been posted to the website so you can go right to the website for those that didn't have the opportunity to view the session um you can go to the website and it's live there right now you can watch it right on the website uh the session uh presentation was about 35 minutes of presentation about 15 minutes of Q&A uh a lot of great information for those of you that weren't able to make it and I also especially want to extend our gratitude to uh the members of the task force that participated and each of the districts uh that we collaborating with both in Warren Wang Long Hill and Greenbrook as well as the municipal leaders uh that are participating and also attended last night from Wang Warren Greenbrook and lill we appreciate their support and if anyone has any questions about the study at all there's also an email address um that you can send uh any correspondence to which is Boe whrhs.org and that will be uh funneled to the appropriate person to uh respond back to you so uh again this is the beginning of what will be a um 12 Monon or so process uh and we are committed to making sure that we are open transparent and provide all the information that the public needs so they can be informed of this very important project on behalf of the students of our districts so thank you thank you Bob anything else just want sorry yeah just want to apologize to the board I had to run home my my six-year-old broke his arm so I just had to take care of that so got back as soon as I can best wishes are with him anything further motion to address okay all those in favor everyone have a great evening thank you everybody enjoy your holiday weekend