e e e e welcome to the meeting of the Board of Education please be advised that this and all meetings of the public are open to the public and media consistent of the open public records act chapter 231 laws of 1975 and that in advance notice required therein has been provided this is a regular meeting of the Board of Education of what the Watchung at which formal action has been taken this meeting is being live streamed on the district website where a recording of this meeting is also being posted the public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda at points of the meeting provided for the public to address the board recording or photography other than private personal use requires consent of parents Guardians whose children may be included miss Karen Mr Johnson may have a roll call please yes this is AG Arrow here Mrs Amadeo here Mr fras here Mr Gonzalez here Mrs Harvey here Mr angia here Mrs jet here Mrs Santos here and Dr vincis Kua here all here thank you at this time we're going to call for um Mrs Gwen thoron for a board of education self assessment good evening it's a pleasure to be back and nice to see all of you uh I apologize for the late notice in getting it out to you um but I thought it was important to have all voices included and so I sent you this morning if you did not see it a revision to the one that I sent last evening um my goal tonight in talking about the selfie Val I really just want to highlight two pieces of it um because I know you have a lot on your agenda to do in addition to goal setting so I want to be mindful of your time um and that is looking at what you identified as the major challenges facing the district and then what you identified as a board of education you think would be appropriate board goals so if you look on the last page of your evaluation the self- evaluation um what you will see is that you I thought it was wonderfully interesting that you all really had the same perspectives um when it came to identifying those challenges the majority of them were around um the budget Financial stability um making sure that you have a sustainable Financial footing moving forward um I know that that has been a challenge for this past year but becomes increasingly important to ensure that moving forward you continue along that path of sustainability around your financial resources um also um equally as important was around academics around the curriculum and instructional program professional development transitions for students um those were the two pieces um that you really highlighted and that in fact the majority of you all agreed upon um the other was piece was around um moving forward with the Strategic plan which I know was one of the district goals this past year but in light of everything that was taking place it was not able to to Really begin But continuing that goal perhaps um would be wise moving forward so those were the highlights from your board self-evaluation around the challenges of your District in terms of board goals um the areas that there seem to be some consensus around was um roles and responsibilities understanding the difference between over oversight and micromanagement um again doing uh perhaps a review um around ethics and confidentiality and then around Finance having a better understanding as individual board members around what those financial reports actually mean um so that you have a greater Comfort level when you're doing the budget and when you're approving the financial um reports on a monthly basis so um those were the kinds of things that came up um along with perhaps continuing to have um one of the three goals or four goals that you had this year um moving forward next year around treating each other with civility respect and kindness at the board table um so those were the four areas from the selfie Val that jumped out that you all a lot of you talked about those very same things um and so those are things that I think you need to think about as we engage in goal setting this evening um questions I mean we can go over it in great detail um but I think for the sake of everything you have to do tonight um we need to focus more on goal setting moving forward if that's okay with the board yes okay so um for those of you who have not done this before um annual goal setting is a process that most boards engage in um we did it late last year just because you had a new superintendent starting and with the the transition so it's really wonderful to sort of get back on schedule to be doing it in this timeline um in the summer and it's really about education and keeping your students at the heart of what you do your major focus and the time that you spend should be predominantly spent around curriculum and instruction what students are learning what they're doing what their needs are um there are other responsibilities obviously the boards of Education have however keeping that focus is really a critical piece to the success of the district so as we begin to think about next year it's really as we set the course for Student Success what have we accomplished this past year what needs additional Focus moving forward and what are our priorities that reflect our core values around what is important um to be doing in the school district so in terms of gold development just for those of you who may be new in understanding the district between District goals and board board goals District goals refer to all of those pieces that Boards of Education are responsible for program instruction staff development um facilities Finance they're around the operations the Board of Education says what they would like to see happen but the how it happens the people responsible for making it happen are your administrators your educational professionals board goals are around your processes and procedures what you as a board go can do to be more effective in supporting and having your Administration achieve the district goals and how you can be more effective as a board of education um and we'll talk a little bit about those board goals are owned by the board they're your responsibility to work on they're not the administratives responsibility to work on the board goals that's on you the district goals are the responsibility of the administration to make happen the board goals are your responsibility to make happen Okay so there is a cycle to this and as I said a little while earlier um we got a little off cycle but we are now back to setting the goals in the June time frame that allows the summer um for your Administration as well as your board principles and super um supervisors um to work on action plans to implement the district goals which gives them that time when there aren't students in the building every day with buses running and bells ringing um to really have that opportunity and then over the course of the board year um you're going to measure progress as you move forward by receiving updates around what is the progress that's being made around those District goals and establishing those dates to receive updates so that it's not a once a year thing where we look at it when we do the superintendent evaluation but it's we know through the course of the year um having District goals is a wonderful way to communicate with your community with your staff these are the board's priority this is what our focus is on this is how we determine what the budget priorities are because one of those very important pieces is if you haven't provided the financial wherewithal for your Administration to accomplish the goals how can you hold them accountable and so while it is off cycle for the budget by setting them now and thinking about that as you move forward to the 25 26 school budget year because 2425 is in place um you'll be able to continue those priorities until the following June okay so um and again sometimes there are things that may pop up that can take you off of your goals um typically they are things that you don't usually have happen natural disasters um when Hurricane Sandy hit for example there were a lot of districts that had to relocate their students and so progress on District goals that year got pushed back while they relocated students put them in new buildings repaired from the hurricane came back um but again you can always revisit your goals and if an adjustment is necessary you can make that determination which is what those districts would do okay so they become the objective criteria against which to measure um and evaluate your superintendent the progress that are made toward those District goals so they're very important okay why do we set them for Equitable policy development for moving closer to the achievement of what your vision is for the future of the Wong School District um again it establishes what the priorities are um it also should provide for implementation of curricular programs and professional development and again it provides for that periodic evaluation of where we are do we need to recalibrate and adjust if necessary um I know that that happened this past summer when you needed to look at where the budget concerns were and how you address that um and the transportation issues that popped up that took I know a great deal of time to resolve um and so sometimes there are things that may happen in a district that could take you potentially down a different Road okay they also provide for effective communication and collaboration among your board members your administrators your staff your students in your community and then of course they provide for that accountability Factor through the CSA your superintendent evaluation so we know through research um that clear goals for student achievement and classroom instruction based on high expectation for to the achievement of all students um is something that helps to drive districts forward and that's an incredibly important factor as you think about goals for next year okay so what should your focus be um what will most dramatically accelerate student learning and address perhaps opportunity gaps for students um for your educational program to make sure you're meeting their needs both their social emotional needs as well as their mental health needs um again you know what data do you have that identifies an improvement Focus perhaps for next year um and and what will help all students to be more successful and then again aligning your financial resources and budget to support that student achievement um also it's a little cut off here but developing 21st century skills um in addition to academic achievement thinking about those other skills that you want all of your students to have in terms of being collaborative thinkers um critical thinkers collaborative problem solvers digitally literate civically responsible um to love learning to make sure they're moral ethical empathic and compassionate human beings um those are all the kinds of things um that 21st century leaders are going to need to know as they move forward um again make sure that they are effective communicators that they can work together that they're creative um that they have time management skills all of the kinds of things that they learn through the um educational process throughout the year that you may not be thinking about but as important in many ways as academic skills are important for students to have to okay so we're going to just take a moment and review the progress from this year um and then um perhaps hearing from your administrative team um what they believe would be helpful to continue for the following year so here were the goals uh I know you're just finishing up on the supal and you saw these goals but I put them in here developing and approving a sustainable balanced budget which you did obviously that was achieved um so you can feel very good about that um finding solutions to address and solve Transportation concerns I know that that's been an ongoing process um and and I do believe you have pieces in place to address those concerns um and beginning the development of a strategic plan so I think that that may be one that you want to carry forward because you didn't have an opportunity this past year um to to have that happen um just because of the press of time and the budgetary concerns and the transportation and so forth um but that's certainly something that you may want to be thinking about so okay goals can be carried over from the preceding year I would tell you especially in the area of teaching and learning or academic achievement um that goals often times are multi multi-year um they're not all accomplished in one year necessarily education is developmental um it takes time um and for example I know a lot of you have pointed out the need to have more up-to-date programming and material materal and textbooks um but that's a goal in and of itself if you want higher levels of student achievement you have to do the research and the work to make that happen if you continue along the same path that you perhaps have been on without any significant changes you may not see the kind of growth over time that you want to see happen um and so I would implore you to think about it from that particular piece as well okay so Watchung District goals for 20242 I would ask Julie if you have any thoughts um and I know you have your administrators here um they're back there hiding being careful um but we're glad you're here because you work with the kids every day you know what their needs are um and you have a perspective that board of education members can't possibly have and so when what are you asking about that you want a recap of progress on this year's goals I'm asking you if there are any you want to see carried over from the preceding year and then perhaps what you and your administrative team have been thinking would be the focus for the coming year and if they want to come up in so I think that strategic plan piece right is critical because the Strategic plan is the overarching umbrella right that everything else comes under the district goals the board goals the building goals what whatever those goals so to me that goal three would be one that um I think should continue um Gwen said something I was I actually wrote it down because it resonated with me um to develop and approve a sustainable balanced budget was this year's goal but what I wrote down that I thought was really important um along those lines we spent a lot of time in the budget talking about what we needed to restore what we needed to add what we wanted to maintain um I know I can't see you guys over the podium but you came to two different um curriculum meetings talking about all the things that had been cut all of the programs that um were cut short in professional development that was interrupted to me this budget goal needs a little pivot right we um have identified a lot of things that we need to do this budget is just keeps us going right we didn't add very much if you remember but of those things we identified um and you guys feel free to come up and chat in the microphone um but of the things that we identified that we said were really important if you go back and look at the district goals they were really you know and building goals for for each Bayberry and Valley View you're you're looking at professional development around problem-based learning researching a new math textbook because ours is so out of date we know English language arts right has changed dramatically and we're getting new standards and we we put the curriculum writing back in to be able to look at all of those things so it's not really developing an approving the balance budget it's it's looking at what we've identified and understanding and I believe me I am the most grateful right we passed that budget April 25th passing the budget doesn't change test scores right it just doesn't as much as I would love that all of those things that Nicole and Denise and Karen I've identified in the meetings and that have been reported you know in the minutes and our meetings those have to happen in order to move to that next level so I'm not you know when I look at this budget goal it's yes it's critical right we have to continue down that sustainable path but we also have to look at how do we do the things we identified you you don't just buy a textbook it takes research and piloting you don't just take the new Ela standards and say okay these look pretty good right we we have a lot of research and work to do and again feel free to join in I see your thumbs up but I know you guys thoughts the board what do you think so what I wrote from what listening to you is to develop a sustainable budget that supports identified curricular changes and implements program initiatives and the professional development to support such wow you did well that's I don't even think I could have said that back hey years of practice rning did it sound you guys yes can you read it one more time sure sure I'd be happy to develop a sustainable budget that supports identified curricular changes and implements programmatic initiatives and the pro professional development to support both I said such but I like both better correct and and so what I would tell you and I would tell the board is often the discrete steps in the action plans to achieve it would be outlined there to include such things as um reviewing the schedule um and and looking at different ways whether it's block scheduling whether it's whatever kinds of initiatives you think would be beneficial for the students learning um and that would be included in the thank you that would be included in the action plans that you would be putting together those very specific pieces but this is just meant to broadly identify what it is the goal it would be and I I know I've said this before and again um please any of the three of you want to step in it takes a change to make a change we have to do something different if you want a different outcome right we can't use the 10-year-old textbook and think we're going to meet Targets in math we can't not upgrade English language arts right and think we're going to suddenly accomplish something new we we need to be able to make that change to accomplish what I think we all want to accomplish right which is improved outcomes academically so does this become our academic achievement goal in in from a planning perspective or do we also want to have a goal around academic achievement for this year knowing you know everything that Dr Glazer has said you can H you have to have one that would obviously be a student achievement goal longterm I mean it's not the short-term piece that you're talking about um you can have more than one there's but you shouldn't have more than three or four most District goals because then your efforts become so diluted it's impossible to achieve those in a given time frame and remember this this team you're looking at our entire implementation team Danielle are you going to work for the district now you going to come teach no but all I was going to say is anything if you um for academic achievement we H we we don't we're not getting any more out of this budget so yes we're going to tweak we're always looking to improve but we're really not going to be able to do anything that's going to change drastically this coming upcoming year that's something that we would have to really work on and budget for and do the research so I would stay away from something that was specifically measurable like that right just for now yeah I I agree with that too I think we should at least give it another year and then if we build stuff into the budget that then helps support programs then you can put a district goal on there to try to measure that success right so that's more specific to academics I I disagree with that um from our training through the njsba uh they stress the importance of having smart goals in the training material and this is what I spoke of when we were approving our goals last year so I kind of lean more towards what Danielle was saying maybe have a separate goal that's U more directed on how to look at building the next year's budget and having a separate one related more to academic achievement sometimes the smart piece the specific measurable attainable time bound piece finds expression in the action plans as opposed to in the actual goal statement itself um and that is something you know that we have this I will tell you we've had this debate internally um among between field service reps and general staff um because people coming from the business World deal in smart goals all the time which I understand um however you're dealing with human beings um students and um and education is developmental so progress and growth for kids comes differently at different age levels and that's not to say that you shouldn't measure student achievement or growth um but perhaps looking at a growth model over time or identifying a specific cohort and looking at their growth over time or measuring students against their individual performance over time and using mult multiple measures as opposed to just one standardized measurement such as the New Jersey student learning standards would have greater validity um you know again that's one measure of of student performance but there's a lot of different ways to measure student performance um that teachers use both internally within the classroom um they're not all Quote tests um a lot of times they're it can be oral recitations I mean there are a whole host of different ways um having students do projects portfolios um again you know there are a lot of different ways to measure student progress Beyond just the New Jersey student learning standards which I am not diminishing their importance it's a measure that the state requires obviously um around the New Jersey student learning standards however um given that um it's up to it's up to of you but I would ask you to think about it in those terms as well and really looking at the growth model of student progress and achievement as opposed to looking at some of those standard in other words individualizing and personalizing education to be able to look at where Johnny started here at the beginning of the year and where he finishes on multiple measures of performance rather than just one standardized assessment well could we do both that you you you certainly can objective you you certainly can do that and I would encourage you if you're going to think about an academic goal that that might be a a pure I see the one above as an academic goal actually because you're talking about improving the curriculum of improving what you're offering to students in terms of um programs initiatives personalized learning experiential learning Steam stem all of those kinds of things that I don't think have been looked at very closely here in quite a while and so for my perspective as a former teacher um that's as important as saying well you have to reach this level on a particular standardized assessment um but again um that's not to deny the importance of looking at all of those pieces collectively and using multiple measures as opposed to a single indicator would Gwen problem oh go ahead I was just going to say Gwen we could if you know if if Mr Ang Gracia wants a Smart goal we could make one based on the professional development and the support and the materials that we offer the staff also correct okay thank you I and at the last meeting that we discussed these goals I did suggest a goal of increasing student achievement by raising academic Proficiency in math and Ela by 5% across grades 3 through as measured by the 2024 at the time now 2025 njsla so I would still be for that goal but I guess what I'm saying is that we have had in training from njs njsba that the goals be specific measurable attainable relevant and times sensitive and so while I do understand that that can uh be detailed in the action plans I think that we should still strive and I appreciate that uh suggestion to have the goal itself be clearly uh a smart goal so I I that's my I just wanted to ask that question because for me we we've had this conversation so this whatever goal develop and approve a sustainable balance budget not a smart go right but what is written into the is the line on the action plan what's the outcome for that right realistic Board of Education approved 10 ative budget March 18th board approved budget April 25th staff reappointments May 9th so specific measurable right time bound realistic so it it is meeting all of the indicators of the acronym I think my and I will just repeat it um more for me I think than anybody to achieve what asking what are we changing to get that outcome that that am still not right like I understand I think we all want that kind of outcome I want that kind of outcome but I don't think it just happens right so when we're talking about investing in professional development or piloting a textbook or um writing curriculum to new St whatever it is I I understand the change what what is it that we're going to do differently right because the Test's already been taken the measure you want to use the kids have already taken the test we're going to get those outcomes in November we have done nothing different right so I don't understand for me if we have that as a goal we perhaps already failed before we started is is my challenge need to develop the plan first and I you have to it's not even just the plan it's the measure you want to use has already happened the students have already taken the exam and we did nothing differently to impact that outcome that that's what I'm struggling with right because the the test are from the year before guys I mean it's like holding Julie to a standard that she's never going to be able to meet and I agree with her I mean if we want to put in academics in the way Gwen suggesting it whereas if we're implementing new things like we're going to develop a program or what not those things can be measured and those are still academic goals it's just to put a percentage on something I feel is is unfair to our superintendent when nothing I agree and nothing worried about your principes and even the students too I mean what have we changed for them so if that's why I suggested that we should potentially give another year so that they have time to work with us to develop what things they want to implement and then we have to give those things time to actually work too right to see how we're going to then see the change in academics right and if everybody's so concerned about Tas scores I just hope everybody realizes that's not the entire child I mean you can have a child who doesn't do well on standardized tests but can play three different instruments can speak four different languages so I mean that doesn't necessarily explain the whole child so I just want everybody's kind of focused on test test scores that's a snapshot in this kid's life and it's not like Gwen saying it's not that it's not important there's just so many other things that happen in a school day there's so many other programs that kids are involved in that should not be ignored just because people want to make sure that our test scores go up 10% but it sounds I'm not saying that I don't want the scores to go up no everybody wants the scores to go up it's just we got to get to that right you have to do something to impact that and again I kind of only see your heads but I see you're dying to say something I I just wanted to remind everybody that for the past four years I've been here because of budget concerns we've cut programs the students went in met Middle School from having a double period of language arts to a single period this year um we've cut Staffing so I think it would be very unfair to judge our children and our teachers on what has been cut for years I'd rather us start building back and putting back the things we need before we start creating a specific academic goal I think our goal should be to try to restore what we've lost and put things in place that will support our kids and our teachers now that sounds great I'm just bringing up what uh was discussed that maybe you have a separate uh budgetary goal and a separate academic goal and you know if the um if the 5% is a sticking point for this year it's it's really just the the example uh proposed goal that was read to us did not have a lot of the specific measurable attainable relevant and time sensitive elements that would be included in the action plan against which you're going to measure the superintendent's performance so I don't quite understand the hangup of not having it in the language of the goal as long as it is included um in the action plan because our training is give me one more give me one second you can have a smart goal without the 5% right that's what I'm saying and and also maybe the academic goal is an is a a touch point that uh you know brings a lot of other elements into this discussion the the other example I gave the last time we had a board meeting discussing the goals was about the transportation so maybe this is a better example because I felt that the transportation goal was a bit vague and so I had suggested uh rather than how we had it worded to say plan and execute a proactive and fiscally responsible Transportation plan that addresses the safety accuracy and efficiency concerns of multiple stakeholders by August 2024 and so here you know that didn't that change wasn't made I felt like that was bit lackluster but sure enough you know I think that I wouldn't say that the action plan was inadequate or that we weren't making good progress on it so I'm not you know it's just I think that we should try to have uh the goals be uh something measurable and um I think you're I'm sensitive I think I think you're a th% right so read read your suggestion because I want to read something back to you okay well I just only because the outcome for that goal right in the action plan the goal says just so everybody knows sorry we're talking about things you guys at home can't hear um the goal is find solutions to solve Transportation concerns you're right not a smart goal on its face right but the outcome consistent efficient Transportation plan for the 2425 school year that addresses coordination route timing and safety so not that different our language is really not that different it's just where it appears I think right and that's where I think when we have these only three or four goals we should try to make those uh as clearly smart goals as possible right I couldn't have come to this outcome without the action steps is is what I guess I'm saying sure I just don't understand what you're not getting I mean you we put the language for the goal and then there's steps in place in order to try to achieve that goal do you not understand the difference between the two or that you know that one compliments the other like you just keep asking for more language to put in this the the specific goal itself then do we just not put that in the action like I don't understand what your what the hiccup is here well it's it's just that um I I don't think vague goals help our district and I I think that having them uh through our njsba training being smart goals being a recommendation we should try to word them without any impact on the action plan but to have them be uh specific measurable attainable relevant and time sensitive okay but the to measure them that's what the action plan I mean we we were all able to measure the goals that were set and for this these past couple months I mean those are smart goals so I don't I don't I still don't understand what what you're so so if you look at the sample Anthony seriously um here of an action plan it would outline the major activities include board or staff who was involved depending upon what the particular goal was what resources were necessary what are the timelines for accomplishments and then what are the indicators of success so if it's about communicating to the community a specific smart goal and and I will tell you that your emphasis on smart is you are attributing it to njsba and and I thank you for that however misplaced it may be um because most of the goals that we set are not smart goals because we understand that those pieces find expression in the action plan and by making it a less specific goal you provide a broader app opportunity for your Administration to develop those plans that will most specifically meet the need that may be broader than the goal that you want to write I have something specific that might be helpful um so the test scores from this year talked about certain areas where we did better where we did worse perhaps we can you know make sure the administration is looking at through their ideas and planning addressing some of those issues um so that we can then be focused on measuring that later can we attach can we use the older test scores as a way to make this a smart goal and make sure that we're going in the right direction can I just um oh gosh that's so loud so sorry I was gonna say finally ready to say something um yeah so Danielle we actually use the test scores and other points of data at the very beginning of the school year for plc's the teachers analyze multiple sources of data to identify weaknesses that they want to build their own sgos on and then team goals that they work on um so we do do that so again it's built in and and their sgos are smart goals um for an example I have my teachers do a reading goal and a math goal and like I said they have to look at multiple points of data and they pick out those weakest pieces to really Target so that can fill out the goal we make sure that it's smart based on that that I think we're looking for more objective things to look at and that's a hard thing to do I do understand how Dory I understand you were saying that it's not just academics uh percentages and such like that there's more to the child's growth I understand that teachers know that and that's what they try to get across to the parents when they come in to talk about how the child is doing but I think we just need a little bit more specifics um that we could work towards everything sounds right but I really need something to compare to like we want say we want to compare to this past Year's uh scores you know and you're going to look at compared to you know how they do next year we'll see how they're doing could we do something in line with both the subjective and the objective part it it's not that it's not objective it's that you're not tying it into one specific measurement which again to to Julie's Point things haven't changed anything so if you use this year as the Baseline to look at next year when the programmatic changes may not have been implemented yet is going to give you it's going to set the district up for failure and I I don't don't see any purpose to that the idea of a goal is again if you want to go back to being smart right it should be attainable and if you continue to do the same things because you haven't implemented the kind of changes that need to be implemented programmatically to address those areas of shortfall and performance for students and the teachers are already doing that in terms of using multiple measures for their sgos right looking at Ela and looking at mathematics which are the two most most important tested subjects um they're already doing that however um you know looking for an overall score for every student um when they're doing it individually for students within their classrooms right that's the important piece that gets done that you don't necessarily see and if I may um unless phis you had an additional thought I think what I'm hearing so far are two things one is that we're anchoring on this goal setting and trying to operationalize it um and it can be done whether it's smart or whether through an action plan so I think it's not necessarily something to get tied up in the second piece of what I'm hearing is that really we are all aligned with the fact that we want our students to continue growing and thriving there's multiple things already happening as is but we have to be clear about the sequencing around how that happens and if if we just simply say we want academic achievement that is like the end goal we need to be clear that there has to be something developmental along the way so if in fact we want to get here which is to increase scores in multiple ways then we're really going to have to do something at the front end and what I'm hearing is that it's building you know uh the selection of curriculum and doing the research behind that I'm hearing the programmatic changes that need to happen so that is more of a feasible goal than being able to say simply 5% increase in test scores I think our that's what we want or you know just minimal but before doing that we can't think of it in just one year we're going to need to take a few other steps to being able to get there and then our district will be able to see the incremental growth and change beyond that I I don't think it's um it's not a fair practice one and there's going to be a lot of discouragement on top of that because we're seeing phenomenal work already happening with both our schools right now and I I think that's just not the proper developmental way in order to achieve what we want so that's just my perspective at this point in time and I think that if we just take some time to really think sequentially what do we need to do to ultimately raise scores we're going to have a feasible goal for 2024 and 2025 I completely agree we can't start at the end we need to start at the beginning I I appreciate your words there Jen also because um I was under the impression that things were improving this year and changing and so that's where I don't to say that nothing's changed this year it's been a full school year I thought things were changing for the better also and um to your point one I mean if it's not the njsba I guess this is the New Jersey Department of Education collaborative teams toolkit with sample smart goals that I was looking at for an example for a Elementary example uh it says for the current reality last year 85% of our students this is just an example from there it's not applying to our district 85% of our students met are exceeded the target score of three of our states uh writing prompt in May and then the smart goal this year at least 90% of our students uh swim me will exceed our Target goal so they were giving and and again maybe the you know I'm not arguing for the 5% but what I'm what I'm just uh what I'm looking at is uh also if maybe you could explain the process uh to us that we're we're having this meeting to discuss our goals and the district goals will then be voted on in Thursday at the Thursday meeting and then we have our board goals right and the board will develop the action plan correct their board goals but when it comes to the action plan being developed for the goals that we uh set for the district that the board will not uh what what role will the board have in that action plan it's done by your Administration they're the responsible for the how so they are generally shared with the board so that you can see what they are look like um they're not required to be approved although some districts will approve them but it's not required to approve them right and so that's all I'm saying is our as a board our major input is in our suggestions for the district goals we're not going to be uh down to the level of the um the action plan as much as we could uh suggest these goals so and and Anthony you you are spoton in what you're trying to accomplish I don't want to take away from what you're saying the goals that you were reading are um typically so remember strategic plan District goals building goals Department goals so when I think it was Denise was talking about taking the test scores right and going into plc's and looking at you know growth and how to make change when you read one of those goals 85% of students will be proficient I don't I'm trying to remember but proficient on the May assessment that could be the I ready assessment that could be you know reading and writing work shop demonstration authentic assessment it there there's nothing out of line I think I think what um and and I am trying to to listen and process it so I we can get on the same page we have made great progress this year I I could not be more proud of what we have been able to accomplish this year and I'm looking forward Thursday night to that year in review do I think we have continued our professional learning to improve teacher practice instruction whatever you know we said we were going to do no did we look at our math textbook or curriculum or right curriculum right over the year that can be implemented for next year no we just are adding that so I think that's maybe the difference when I'm listening yes to everything you're saying but to what Dr vinc vinis Kua said that sequence now we have to write the curriculum we have to identify a textbook or Pilot that we have to um train staff on that new curriculum or the instructional practices around whatever problem based learning or individualization or whatever we're doing without those steps if you will I don't know I think we might have accidental Improvement right because we're consistent I want to see us have real change real change to practice real change to outcomes I guess that's I hear yeah and look we just it was just the first reading of the goal so my my input is I'd like to see it be more specific I I don't know if this would be relevant in time a district goal but um just with the amount of hibs that we've seen and sometimes the main topic of what a lot of those those hibs are um I don't know if this could be factored in somewhere to a goal or just like an action item or something um but just for us to know from you and the principles is there's something that needs to be developed and identified in certain you know seal or guidance programs um to try to help lower the amount of hibs that we're getting um and then you know maybe that could be it on its own is that those things are being identified especially if we have to incorporate certain programs or something in the budget for the next year like I think that's important as well just for the amount that we've gotten it seems like a lot I don't have the data in front of me you the principles and you would know more than us but you know obviously during covid we didn't have much of anything cuz kids weren't together and the more and more they came together right it seems as if they're on the rise so I don't know if it's something that you see in your buildings and you're identifying but I think that maybe should be a focus if if that's what you guys things should be a focus to yeah I mean we we talk about this a lot I mean to be honest some of it is just having more people to help cut things off and be proactive where a lot of times we can't we're just reactive you know like a vice principal or sometimes we need I feel like sometimes we need three counselors or psychologists or all these people we yeah so we do see that and um but sometimes there's just not enough people like I said to take care of the small problems before they get bigger I I think it's really important right I don't think I can I don't know if it needs to be a district goal but no but I definitely something that we've all seen yeah and again we talked about strategic planning I I would Advocate your decision but I advocate to keep a strategic planning goal I think those conversations those big conversations identifying Focus areas like like that because over a long period of time are important right because what you're saying is okay the district's going to create or establish or evaluate right we're going to do look at those programs or look at those policies that are supporting right health or mental health or well-being or whatever that is of our students and frankly our staff so if by doing that right we need to increase whatever that is how we're addressing that right then that becomes a focus and a year-over-year plan not not that we don't need that to to Denise's Point look we we just made the count we restored the counselor to fulltime we made the social worker like we are we are mindful um and and I think it's again I think that it is critical I think again that the conversation the same is with that with the health and wellness piece I'll call it that social emotional or mental health learning is not that different than curriculum in programs all the same words I would use all of those same words right we need to be evaluating our existing offerings we need to look at how we're doing curriculum development or implementing instruction and best practices we need to create maybe and deliver assessments that that give us the information that we want to phyllis's point right if it's not just the NJ NJ s s that's the two s's sorry it's out of my mind but if it's not just that and if it's not just our I ready should we be doing more professional learning on for ative assessments or on performance assessments right how how do we ensure that relevant learning experience for all students so I see the district goal like I can distill a district goal out of that but I also distill a bigger strategic again strategic plan conversation so to Anthony's point that's specific right like I think they're they're important important things we have to look at but if it's a district goal it has to be more distilled or more specific I think I think okay that's me right could you read again what you came up with so far from everybody develop a strategic plan in the 2425 school year right that's pretty specific I I mean that that's fine right that is develop a sustainable budget supports identified curricular changes and implements program initiatives and the professional development to support both I think that ISF you're you're saying we're we want to do this we need a budget that supports it right that's I like it are you good with the two goals I am I think we have to we almost should be doing this next year after we see what's going on we have to do it every year yeah well sting occurs every year I mean it's part of it's part of that it's part of that cycle right I'll be back and and and next year we can debate that's something to look at right are you good everyone is comfortable with that yes mhm yeah then we get to move on no same comments as before is there another goal is there room for another goal is that what we're moving on to or is that yeah I mean if someone it as a thought this is your opportunity to I I would like to uh just put forward uh in the process of uh before there was a referendum there was a long- range facilities plan and a lot of that work got rolled into the referendum MH so I think that um there should be a goal to uh and I'm I'm not sure I've seen any updates uh that this is occurring so I think that there should be a renewal of the long range facilities plan because uh so there is there has to be yeah but there that's required so I just I'm going to see if I can find it because I know Frank BBY the architect had to submit that maybe I don't know where but I'm going to look cuz I'm I'm sure that we have an email about it yeah um and to look for strategies you know to uh address them as quickly and efficiently as possible it may already be a hold on I'm looking because it's required I don't know if you want to list it as one of your goals because we already have to do it you don't have Choice all right thoughts I mean it's a requirement to up to annually update your long range facility plan Department of Ed requires it to be inputed so I'm assuming that if you're doing um construction projects referendum projects the your architect is in the process of doing that if he hasn't already done it I think it's I I haven't I'm not doing a whole search I will do that but just what came up quickly in March was Frank going to Karen and Denise looking at their numbers their numbers of classrooms he needed to update self-contained preschool um um he needed to update [Music] um all to fourth grade so that was Bayberry and uh which classrooms and which rooms I see Denise answered that he also um and I I'm sorry I'm not finding it as uh as maybe Frank maybe it's just long range facility plane but I am almost sure that he had to have filed that in I'm almost sure I'm going to find it for you in the past we had those facility assessments with the photos and the description of the work that needed to be done that I don't know what that is part of the I haven't had that as part of a long range facility right so it's those items were mostly covered by the referendum so maybe there could be a new survey taken uh to take a look at some of that work and maybe it is part of the Strategic plan I know that we anticipate getting additional demographic data from our regional ation study Grant and uh so that could be part of it also thank you I'm going to find it anything it's going to drive me crazy well we can do that offline too I just what I'm say I will find it I promise thank you because I remember thoughts from the board is that something you're interested in carrying as a goal if we have to do it every year then I don't see why it needs to be a district goal it could be something that we work on in committee or just look at in committee it's up to the board it's not well this way we make sure we do it you have to do it it's a qac requirement it's a state requirement I think it would just be the level of detail and in depth and like I said maybe additional information being brought into the to the study but um that's fine um that was my other suggestion if there's we're still only at two right we are um only the only thought I have on that Anthony is that it may actually you're probably not going to like this but I would suggest that's probably better served for next year only because you will have completed all of the referendum projects oh from your mouth to God's ears where's wood to knock on I'm sorry so that then you really may need to to look at okay here's where we've gotten to now what else is there here's what's in the long range facility plan it's already proposed right because you've updated it from this year but by next June you will have completed I would think all of the referendum projects and it ties in also to the to the budgeting goal in that what can we start putting towards our Capital reserves well that'll be in the long range facility plan because it will include things that weren't included in the referendum will still be there right whether it was reing a building or you know different kind of Safety and Security whatever you had identified that wasn't put into that referendum will still be carried in that long range facility plan the stuff that you didn't do doesn't disappear right there wasn't much you couldn't that you couldn't do right will be carried forward anyway so okay all right unless someone has another thought I'm going to move along to board goals okay um so was the third do we have a third goal did I miss it no pardon me I had two I was going to say did I miss a it's just a two have two fine just fine just asking I think so my question was do we typically have three some districts have two some have three some have four there's no requirement other than the one state requirement is that you have an academic goal which this addresses and that's the one requirement that the state has for goal setting and I can tell you I can make almost any goal an academic no I'm kidding but um you can because most things are tied to academics whether it's social emotional learning or whether it's even a facilities goal because if you're improving your facilities adding science labs you know space for small group instruction you're improving in in a real way academic performance ultimately okay so um board goals are around what you can do to be more effective typically they're around policy development ensuring comprehensive curriculum instruction ction Communications is always a big piece both internal and external um enhancing your governance skills and performance um whether it's professional development that the board additional professional development that you want um supporting the administration to achieve District goals um and then addressing those things you identified as board challenges okay so um again we start with looking at what you had this year um and then what you think may need to be carried over um or expanded for the upcoming year okay so here were the 23 24 board goals um to find and appoint a new board member to fill the vacancy you did that successfully completed uh achieved um fostering a more positive and supportive working environment I'm not going to read the whole thing to you but you can see that um and provide support within our role as board members for the district strategic plan again I think you can carry that one forward because will be doing that for the next school year can we just thank them and let them go so they don't have to stay so they don't have to stay for the board goals can you just thank them and let them thank you thank you guys being here and for your input thank you I'm sorry I'll put it in later no don't wor do what you have wouldn't have you go okay right we back in business okay um so again um do you want to carry the third goal I'm in favor yes think would make absolutely Good Sense means and I still think we need the second goal too especially since uh election season's coming up water we know how it gets in this town almost every town these days unfortunately I don't know I like the idea of a uh of um board members requesting to get more maybe professional development in um in the financial part of understanding the budget I know that njsba offers specific trainings in that and I didn't know if the board agreed or if it could be grouped into more of a professional development goal and then adding in there things to help train the board on understanding confidentiality um understanding the relationship between the superintendent and the board uh all those things if we could if that could be rolled in as action items or measurable items underneath um a goal that deals with professional development if that's what the board wants you certainly can do that that's a good idea Dory I like that we we've had a goal like that before and it helps and then we as a board work a lot more with with Gwen to try to either bring her in or people from njsba to come in and train us at our meetings or um she's really good in making sure to let us know if there's something that's coming up that fits our our professional development goal um to try and get us to if if we're available right to attend it and because I know there's there's an extensive one for finance that um I I think too what is that is that year three Gwen of training or is it four it's um I think it's one of the last ones SC three right SC three is the finance component however excuse me um we now have internally which is really very exciting um a ba in Residence who is a former executive County Superintendent as well as a long serving business administrator who but believe me can answer any Finance question you have answers me when I have a finance question for things that are so obscure I don't know and there are still Lots I can always learn new things um and I do regularly um so he's someone who's available as a resource that we haven't had here to for um so that particularly in the area of Finance um is someone that that would be very um beneficial for you all to have in to better understand um and will work obviously and can work in collaboration with Karen um to help you um better understand those financial reports and what what does that look like and so forth and so on so that's very doable and I'm very excited to say that we have that now available we always haven't had that available but we do now um and so I'm very excited about that so you could have a a goal that the board would engage in professional development and then if you can just articulate um those specific areas that you're interested in you know you can plan for that whether it's advocacy for public education whether it's roles and responsibilities ethics um that's a required piece on an annual basis but beyond that um there are lots of other areas that you might be interested in and it might be helpful and beneficial to the board that one we're a fairly green board five new members last year members here I I think it's really helpful um and we're happy to do that that's what we're here for um we really are happy to help in that domain so um we're going to keep provide supportive yeah the supportive role in The District strategic plan that you carried carried for next year um and then if you want a goal that says the board will engage in professional development you want to say quarterly do you want to say as needed you can be as flexible here as you want yeah I'd say maybe the most quarterly just because sometimes some of the training doesn't take place at the time that we want it to but you know and then sometimes it takes us a bit of time to um schedule yeah schedule you guys to come in and help us out maybe we don't need a Time element to it but just to to uh identify certain topics and then try to plan those out across the air whenever we would make sense M okay that seem reasonable or is that a bad idea oh that it's a fine idea you can do it however you like completely flexible on that I would imagine the board goals also have like the action plan component right you'll have to develop an action plan for each of those and you can then outline if you want we don't have to do that right this moment but you can outline through your committees however you want to do that perhaps each committee can think about it and and if they have a topic that they think is gerain and be helpful for all of the board to have more information around like operations clearly the budget documents and the finance Pieces come out of that um but if there are other areas you want to explore in your committees then you could just put those in your action plan great okay are you good with those two goals three I was going to say the three right we're good with that I'm sorry I misspoke Dory keeping the second one yes continuing the second one [Music] there so here's the it looks exactly identical for a board goal the action plan right it's just these are what you're responsible for okay okay all right I will give back to you with a memo on the goals you identified that you wish to have as District goals as well as board goals and then I will send you blank action plans that you can copy so that you have those to be able to fill out so again I would encourage the board um to make sure that you you do that um because absent an action plan a goal without an action plan is a wish okay and that's all it is so you want to make sure that you have action plans for both the board goals which you're responsible for the administration will address the district goals anything else questions my question is totally for you guys I know that when we were developing it was during the budget so it got a little crazy but when we were doing the um District goals on the action plan you guys created an action plan for the board goals yes are you you want to report I know I'm talking about a year in review are you guys going to talk about that um you you don't I'm asking more for agenda development than any are you asking me specifically asking every I know I'm asking everybody the only reason I'm looking at you is I somehow I thought the drive was no well we talked about it in policy and we said you sent it to everybody right no no I know but I mean like we talked about if the board was going to report on it at our meetings in policy but I don't know if anything came from that I think the policy committee said that we would like for uh it to be reported on I just me said this Thursday is the last meeting of the year right you're voting on your new goals so and it was just a you don't have to it all it's just a question cuz I'd put it on the agenda I'll just say for everyone it looks like no one's thought about it so no was gonna say fine it was only when you were talking about the action plan and that that made me think you did all that work right at the beginning I wanted to know Gwen if you could um just go over especially since we have a goal on there for the board to support in the fiveyear Strategic plan if you could go over what the role and responsibility for the board is in that part so that there isn't confusion between what we do and then what is expected of the superintendent or a facilitator if you hire a facilitator right and and typically my answer to you is to encourage members of the public all segments of the public to come and participate even if you have to pick them up in your car you want wide broad Community participation and you all have different um constituencies if you will different groups of friends different you know if you have kids in soccer or you have kids in LaCrosse or you you know your children you may be parents from there whatever your particular soccer or may be running parents or you know whatever it is that you and your community your neighborhoods you all live in different places in the community you have different friends so making sure that you get people to come out and fully participate in that strategic plan is really the role of the board and communicating the value of their here's an opportunity for your voice to be heard we want to hear from you please come um encouraging and supporting that is really important okay and that's the appropriate role of the board and then for you to come and participate but not dominate okay because this is the community's opportunity to be heard you can listen you can throw in an idea or two but it's not for you to lead the process you want to be there to be supportive of the district and to listen because it's an opportunity you know the one thing we hear from boards all the time is there's not enough opportunity to dialogue with the community and this is really a wonderful opportunity um to to hear from the community and to be able to um interact with them in a different setting than at a Board of Education meeting which is constrained of course by your policy and the fact that a Board of Education meeting is a meeting in public it's not a meeting with the public but a strategic plan gives you that opportunity um to interact with the community in a different way um so that is the appropriate role of the board and then so it's our responsibility to hire the interview and hire the facilitator and then the facilitator kind of takes over so to speak and then and then sets up different opportunities to engage with the community to develop the 5-year strategic plan and and your staff I mean with all with all the stakeholders in the educational process not just the community members stud parents staff members students to hear from all of those groups you know your students are the ultimate consumers of the process and and when we do strategic planning in districts they have a wonderful perspective on strategic planning and it's always so helpful to hear from the kids and I don't mean just high school kids I mean middle school kids um as well to hear from them to hear their perspectives so you know there are different um ways to get that input but actually hearing from the kids is really helpful um and you'll be amazed at how articulate and smart they are when you least expect it so then after all that feedback is provided to us as a board excuse me and then how is the the plan actually created is it something that the board decides on or are there are there other people inv typically the facilitator will develop an entire plan for the board the board will adopt that plan um and then actually it makes goal setting easier because you can pull your annual goals right out of your strategic planning goals right and so it makes annual goal setting that much easier because again you will have have strategic planning goals and typically they'll be in four or five goal areas it just depends on what the input and the outcomes are to that input um typically we're seeing in strategic plans um the student experience which is more inclusive than just curriculum and instruction but includes seal um health and wellness um co-curricular activities it's looking at the whole totality of what the district does with their kids um and typically it's being called this you know the student experience um there's always typically a finance and Facilities goal in most strategic plans and typically there's a communication Community engagement partnership kind of goal that comes out of most strategic plans um and again it just depends on your district and there may be other things that I'm overlooking um but those typically are at least three of the main goal areas that districts tend to end up having a goal area around with specific objectives within each of those particular goal areas and Dory in my experience after you have that like plan goals Focus areas whatever it's called something different by everybody but you have say you have just for sake of argument four Focus areas um it's been my experience that you have a at least one board member if not not more than one board member administrator staff members people who are interested community members on each of those teams right goal teams and they participate also in working on those yearly action steps and presenting the progress on those goals so it's it can be a really great inclusive Ive process again you have you still need to decide what you want to how you want it to look but it I've always seen that level of engage like literally everybody engaged somehow and and and another way that many districts will do it is to invite everyone back every year that participated for the update on the progress made toward the Strategic plan whether it's given by the superintendent or the facilitate you know however that's configured um and say okay is there anything that's changed is there anything that we think we need to add has have circumstances changed like covid changed everything right so um a lot of strategic plans that were in place got put on hold and when people came back to schools they brought people back to say okay now what do we need to focus on in this first year back because the world has changed from what we knew it to to to a whole different place so um you know there are lots of advantages to it um and it is uh a wonderful opportunity your community will learn things about the district through interaction with other members of the staff with members of the board with members of the community that they might not ordinarily have an opportunity to sit with to talk to um and so they will learn wonderful things about the district and if you have kids there um they will learn wonderful things about the kids um helps control in some way rumor control around that that big bad Middle School I I'm kidding but do you know what I'm saying if you only have a child in early Elementary and and you hear things that well maybe this happened at the middle school and you're only hearing you'll get to talk to Middle School teachers as well as elementary teachers so you'll learn all kinds of things and that's the sort of intangible benefit that comes from strategic planning that you can't quantify that I can't tell you you know it happens N9 out of 10 times but it happens a lot and it's a wonderful piece to that strategic planning um process and we have a district goal that's a strategic plan goal and then we also have a board goal so can you explain to us what uh the superintendent's role is in in the strategic planning process as well because I think think that since we're you know it's a fairly new board um no one I believe on here has ever participated in the Strategic plan as a board member some of us have participated as community members um just so that board members understand what to expect from our superintendent and they don't have ideas that then they feel typically your superintendent will get um put together an RF p and talk to there a whole host of different folks out there that do this process a little differently you know again not dramatically differently but different component pieces and looking at what works best for your community will come back and make a recommendation to the board um based on cost based on what you're looking for you know what are those important salian pieces how much interaction Does it include um when is it going to be held what does it look like what do they provide as various from various vendors of strategic planning um and make that recommendation to the board the board can then review those rfps make a decision through discussion and collaboration as to which they think would be best in coordination and collaboration with your superintendent and then You' sign those sign that person up and move forward I'm and I was saying component of the interviews too yep and I I was saying to Phyllis a little earlier when we were talking about strategic planning you know it is not a process to begun to be to be started or begun in the summer because people check out right they've gone to the beach mentally or physically hopefully physically um but but people need time off right so it it you don't want to have a strategic plan that's running through the summer or going through that time frame again just because you want everyone to participate so you want your staff you know I would tell you if you were at impass on bargaining not a good time to do a strategic plan because you want your staff to participate fully right because they have a perspective that you can't possibly have that parents don't have they're with the children on a daily basis so they have a much different pers perspective that you want to help inform your strategic plan so you know those are just some of the like pieces that I think about um for all of you is that you really want to do it you know after school starts not right in September when everyone's adjusting although I do think if you're going to do the RFP and the interviews you could do that in the summer you can do that in the summer I just meant the actual oh yeah strategic planning process would not work in the summer not at all that's all you obviously you can do that it's a good time to do it because you want to be able to implement it so okay all right I wish you all a long stay at the beach if not really but at least mentally I have a question yes the next item though and I know it's not specific to you but I we have again A pretty new board um this year we did a narrative because it wasn't a full year of evaluation um I I have to be honest I haven't done the school board's evaluation in years I I it's been because of whatever covid or whatever hasn't been done um has anybody done the school board's evaluation here any of us you mean for the CSA yes to go through the whole July 1st to June 30th and all the evidence it is a big difference than what we did this year it is a big difference it is a big difference but it it is um it it has two pieces to it progress toward achievement of District goals which is what you focused on this year and then it has the leadership skills um it's available online to do in the same way I hit a button it compiles automatically um I'm not in the process or the business of evaluating anybody's superintendent I I don't read it I don't look at it I simply hit a button compile it get it back to the board president typically is the one who accesses that um and from that you write a summary um report that reflects the majority voice which is because it's the board speaking with one voice in the evaluation and when the full board meets to review the evaluation with the superintendent if there's a minority perspective on a particular piece of it that's the board members op opportunity um if they have a different perspective than the majority to be heard um and so it works in very much the same way as what you're doing this evening this is just limited to the narrative on the goals well and the evidence on the leadership standards yes there there are a number of those standards six we've condensed them which is good but it's still just from an adventur standpoint it's l um are you asking that maybe we try to make that as part of some of our professional development to help the board understand the next item is choosing how I will be evaluated on these goals there I'm giving you one the narrative you already know I I just wanted Gwen to be able to explain the school board's one I think it's pretty common even though I haven't been evaluated that way for a while it is pretty common I will tell you right now I'm in the in the process of I would call it evaluation heck um because I'm compiling for four different counties just because of Staff shortages right now so I'm doing the compilations for four different counties um and it it is very very common in its usage across the state just again before you left I figured it'll be easier for people to come up with an idea know what it is well and each of the six standards there are indicators um those indicators build to the accomplishment of the standard There's an opportunity for the superintendent to include in each of those standards um evidence indicators of evidence typically those are links to documents that are on your server in your District so it may be you know the demographic the Dem de demographers report it might be agendas from PD meetings you know as evidence that PD was undertaken in a particular area um and so that board members while they're filling out the forms can click on those links to remind them because of course the evaluation is an annual evaluation it's not just about one month or two months it starts July 1 and it runs through through um typically the end of April I mean it can't run later than that or you won't hit the July 1 timeline right to get it accomplished which is a qack requirement um and you don't want to lose points on qac for no reason um in they they're simple to get it's just finish it by the deadline which you all have been really good about doing in in previous years so thank you you're welcome okay we'll have a great summer if you need anything you know how to find me cuz I'm not going to the beach all summer so now it sounds like you're going to be did your Des thank you you're welcome my pleasure always thank you thank you thank you and you're going to send the goals to Karen or Manny we'll send them to to to Manny and to you and to Karen so that you all have them for the agenda and um for your meeting on Thursday I will be doing this tomorrow so thank you thank you okay all right have a good night we do that's up to you okay so this is my first time doing an evaluation of superintendent we go into executive session no no this this is how you're going to evaluate me next year oh so this year you determined we were going to do this narrative that's why I asked Gwen to explain what that one looked like because you can just say we're going to evaluate you on the Schoolboard document and then I know that because it literally starts July 1 and it's a lot like I I'm telling you it's a like a it's a lot for me electronic now not like a binder like it used to be um but it it's fine right like I do all these standards anyway I just you actually have to determine how you're going to evaluate and you can say we're going to do it like we did it this year or you can say school boards or I don't actually know what else there is I've only had a narrative for the last five years so I would prefer the full evaluation next year it's a full year for you and I think um it would be good for the whole board to be able to go through that and then you know if the board next year decides that it's not necessary or they want to change something they can but I think it's beneficial for all the board members to be able to go through all the leadership standards and to see what evidence is provided by the superintendent to support you know accomplishing you know those things for a certain rating so that that would be my opinion on it when does this take place it usually whoever the president is next year how we've done it is you have a conversation with the superintendent to find out when they're going to upload all of their artifacts for each one of those things said it's right after the budget it's right it's usually like April May right early and then we start looking once the superintendent has uploaded everything then Gwen releases it to us so we can all see it there's a certain time frame that we're given and then we have it's kind of the same setup as this one except we have a little bit more time to read through everything and to talk to each other in executive sessions about it and work on the document so it's you you got we all followed the same idea it's just much longer document and it's a a longer period of time than we get so got it we didn't go through this with George because at that time George was leaving when I got here right yeah well he still had to be evaluated under qac you still would have had to have submit his evaluation by June 30th if you didn't we won't get those points saying I remember doing that yeah I don't think we did I think he left asking about it you did well I can't think about it now but okay I think he left before it is a yearly requirement to complete it by July 1 and then we had inum so then they just right you don't have I mean even though I think one was willing I think one was willing but it's an interim and then when you came you know it just kind of so I don't I don't think the board submitted one last year okay well I'm gonna la la la that right now for this moment even though we're on the record um any other suggestions on um how we should do this I get that it's extensive but I agree that it would be nice for the board to see because we are all so new yeah and that's why I askers question just I think it's fine I think it's a very good idea I just need to know for me because it's literally starts July 1st yeah I think the njsba format's a fine way to do it agreed favor there you go need to vote is it like a formal vote do you know I don't know I guess let's do it anyway right just K Bishop Johnson roll call please not hurt can hurt cannot hurt okay uh Mrs igaro yes I assume we're voting on doing the njsba yes right it sounds like it I don't actually have clarify you need a motion in a second moved okay that'll help motion moved okay yeah what do you Mo I make a motion to use the njsba full of superintendent evaluation process 2425 second there there you go thanks guys takes a village right takes a village all right and that was second okay okay back to the roll call start over um Mrs agaro yes Mr frge yes Mrs Harvey yes Mrs jet yes Mrs Santos yes Dr Vince Kua yes Mr Ang Gracia yes Mr Gonzalez yes Mrs Amadeo yes all yes motion passes okay great so you all better just what get reelected we sitting here at this time next to you there you go all right awesome um now you can go to your so uh this time we would move to comments of the public seeing that there's no members of the public uh we're going you still have to read it read it there's nobody here we welcome input from the public there are two times during the meeting when the public is invited to speak the first opportunity to comment on the agenda items only is now second opportunity for the public comments is towards the end of the meeting total time allotted for public comments is 30 minutes before you make your comments my name before you make your comments uh please state your name Municipality of residence and if you're presenting representing an organization in the event it appears public comments portion meeting May exceed 30 minutes the presiding officer May limit each statement M by the participant to 3 minutes duration our public fors are not structured as a question answer session but rather are offered as opportunities to share input of the board with the board in instances where the board feels response response is needed presiding officer or superintendent will address the comments New Jersey statutes do not permit the board to discuss Personnel or hiring in public sessions name of students should not be used members of the public should consider their contents their comments in light of legal rights of those affected and identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for the comments that they make to the board the board shall not be held liable for comments made by the public okay so now we're going to move on to Executive session um the uh item of discussion is specific perspective or current employees unless all who could be affected request an open session anybody first so move move second second all in favor okay I I so should we just turn off the mics and stay here no Aaron you can't um but Aaron um can put you into Clos session remember I I'm not going to I'm not there you go into your room Karen's not there somebody's going to have to when you come out record the time and the motion to come back and to open okay that's fine shall we take just take the start time then the end time okay who is motioning to come back in and out okay okay that's all you have to do e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay so we got to come out of executive session you did right we did you're out now you're up to uh okay um so at this time we're going to move on to board business I believe there's something that we wanted to yeah I'll say it um I I would like to discuss the Strategic plan and what steps need to happen next over the next month or two to make sure that we are on track um to start planning come September I know I saw in the reports that MO is supposed to put um our R FP on the July agenda that's one important but you you have to know do we know at all what you are hoping for because you have to actually when you put out the RFP for strategic plan you'll get a wide right like Gwen said you could get you know a firm that wants to charge $150,000 and a firm that all do it all for 25,000 do we have budget set aside for this I wouldn't say you have $150,000 we're trading out we haven't received our um Grant allocations or you know the title grants right now everything is budgeted in the general budget so the idea was that when we get those allocations and they're late they usually come by now um we could look at that and see what things we may have budgeted that could be um paid for out of all one two or three M that's not I mean I don't know that in all honesty is somebody do get paid to do this you don't need to spend 100 so do do you're suggesting that the board comes up with the scope of what we're looking for for is it for the RFP or can you just put the RFP out and then we get companies to come in and then we can see what they offer and then decide from there combination right you could do it that way but then you're going to get some of those $150,000 right you're just going to because there's no scope but if you put out an RFP that said you're looking for a facilitator for however you I always call it a town hall but Gwen called it you know focus groups whatever you want to call it we want somebody to F facilitate that come to the goals bring us to those committees right the Committees that are going to do those steps or maybe you want somebody who's going to do that whole thing which will typically cost more I just that's what I'm asking you have to we don't have unlimited funds right I think you have to have a facil phis and I talked about this in committee I don't think you can preach in your own church I think you want somebody to come right and run it but you have to decide what you you know do you want Five Town Halls do you want you know what is it that you're hoping for well we I mean I guess we can discuss that and then from what I remember us experiencing before was they came with us with that but then also explain to us the different tiers that they offer so even if they come in at a lot it doesn't mean that that's the package that have to I'm saying you have to be ready then to say what can we do if you're going to facilitate the you know focus groups and get us to focus areas and goals then what are we going to take on right if you're at those different tiers I just want you to be able to think think it okay so the first step is to do an RFP an RFP once we get that RFP then we decide exactly like based on pricing and stuff exactly what we do who you want to interview yeah who we want to interview what and then from their scope of work that or based on their packages then we just go from there correct yes and we can going to have a wide range yeah we can spread that out over July and August right well that you don't have a committee until July so I don't do have to have a board resolution to put out an RFP do you know I don't I don't we might have to ask that I mean do we need to I mean we could just we obviously want you guys to do that I mean somebody could just make make a motion and say so I make a I don't think I don't know the answer yeah I don't hold on I mean even we don't need it but we do it who cares right I make a motion that if we need to I don't think you give us the authority to do an the authority to do an RFP based on the yeah I don't think I second it we have to do that Bas on the but I know we have to do an corre did you okay I'll just say say that I think the last time we were close to moving ahead with it before some of the administrative changes that we were under $10,000 for the yeah cost it so I know that it could go up and up from there but I think that's amazing CU I just I literally um meeting tomorrow with our um Elementary group and last week I met with the regional group and two groups are out for RFP currently and they shared um 25,000 was the lowest quote that they got just just for sake of maybe conversation could bring to the Ops committee the budget range that we have available yeah we're waiting that remember we haven't gotten our allocations you you have that yeah that can but even you know I mean it's over the summer even if all of the places can't come at the same time we can set different appointments no that's not what I meant I meant you still when you put out the RFP so you're asking for requests for proposals you have to be ready right for people to bid on your proposal right and then they after they bid and you figure out you know what it is that you really want then you would interview it I don't you have to you put it out sorry you put it out for a bid the same way we did like for the roofs or anything else I guess is my point and then do we want to do we have to interview the companies at the board meeting or can we interview like can it and does it have to be the whole board or does the is the board wanted to just be the operations committee or what that's up to you I don't know I I would be I would be up for the operations committee doing it so that it gets done quicker and then and then providing us with options that we could then vote on and details but it was definitely uh advertising requirements you know there certain amount of time it has to be posted it's long and and I do it's not two days when you're putting it something out for bid right you you obviously the easy part is saying yes we want a strategic plan right but now that out that specific outcomes we want Town Halls we want a survey we want you know what is it hoping for I mean it's hard to say without having been through it before I would really want someone like to tell me here's what you should ideally do here's what that will cost here's a I mean I think I think we should have multiple town halls and yeah and focus groups and surveys yeah because some people won't come to a town hall but they'll take a survey so and I like the idea of them you know combining everything putting it all together for us no no you have to do it all I mean you'll see you'll do it all we'll have to do just to be fully honest you can't expect everybody to come to us they won't you'll have to go out to them that would be more of the focus groups of them out that costs every time they come no I I I yeah I know no one want that's why I asked what are what are we and I'll include all of us what are we willing to facilitate versus you know something else what do you mean we willing to facilitate we can do it what are we willing to pay so you have no you have as part of your package you have three Town Halls on a survey just sake of argument I have absolutely no idea what people do but we decide we also want a zoom town hall and another one we can just do that you just just have to be prepared to do it but I thought you said we shouldn't what was your state you want a facilitator yes but that person's going to structure everything that you want somebody outside to structure it okay and to manage we could run some aspects of it ourselves okay because otherwise I don't I don't to do everything I I'm amaz and also too to combine if we ran something on our own I mean then we'd have to provide the feed all that feedback to the facilitator anyway so why just not have them do it right oh yes I we have to know how much there is to right that's what I was going to say you're you're down to really what is it but you don't need to necessarily know that to put out the RFP okay you need to know that when you're deciding who you're going to hire right so I wouldn't wait because those allocations but haven't come but you say you need more information on what we want to do right well I think and again this is going to be for Karen not for me to because when we wrote like the ads for the roof bids just to give you an idea it's varies you know we want this we want so maybe it says specific maybe it's not you know we want Town Halls we want a you know a survey we want a complete set of focus areas do do you know what I'm saying you want the whole the scope of service you want to break down exactly what we're seeking in this kind of consultation service it does sound like you want to you want to have people bid everything and then peel back is that what I'm hearing I mean if it's possible to do it that way I'm not opposed to that I don't know I think we should put maybe a limit on what that should I think so just because as Dan said since it's a fairly new board they might not necessarily know all the options that are available for a lot of these companies so they might see certain things where oh I didn't know we could do that during the Strategic plan part of this so that's interesting that would be great to do so and then we just have to figure out scale it back to figure out also would not put a limit on it just because we don't know how what our limit is currently so the RFP wouldn't go out until we know our limit right until we have need to know your limit put out the RFP okay fine could get F just by doing that commit to any right you don't want to like get your I just don't I don't want all the bids to be astronomical and then none of them are relevant doesn't so they're going to bid definitely get people that do this exactly you you might get like some like corporate executive kind of strategic planners but for the most part you're going to get I hate to say the same players that doesn't seem very nice but you're going to get school boards you're going to get hya you're going to get the universities um and I understand John kamgno um has a strategic planning group okay right and and I hear those are the names I hear right the different universities the um School boards obviously that's a big one and there are private there's like individuals that do it too great so then and is everyone okay with Danielle's suggestion of just having the operations committee weed through everybody or does the whole board want to be a part of interviewing everyone with oper I think oper it would be good to have operations choose maybe two or three people and then have them come present that the entire Board gets to vote on like what they actually see if you type strategic into the Google Drive for board agenda packets you'll see what we had from njsba and Kean University last time and that gives you a good idea but I think it was done in the operations committee last time where they uh emailed these materials to everyone to the full board to review these proposals or these brochures for the services and then maybe not for the interviewing and finalizing of a a proposal but it was that might have just been in committee but the documentation they provide uh gives a pretty good listing of the services that you yeah how they work with you and that kind of thing I think that makes sense M so are we voting yeah we have to vote on that was our discuss that was our discussion so now we have to vote Karen and this was just to approve RF authoriz if we needed an approval for the authoriz out an our I'll WR it down I don't think we do but I think what you do have to when you choose in order to advertise then we need that's what they want though advertise they're ready if we are ready they want you to advertise okay motion we did the motion and the second and now we discussed and now we're going to vote now it's roll call did not come with enough I did not come with enough roll calls today uh Mrs igaro yes Mrs Amadeo yes Mr fr yes Mr Gonzalez yes Mrs Harvey yes Mr Ang Gracia yes m jet yes Mrs Santos yes Dr Vince's QA yes motion passes okay this time we're going to move on to comments from the public seeing that there is no public members here to make comments may I have a motion to adjourn so moved second second all in favor I hi any oppos any conversation okay great thank you for