##VIDEO ID:c9-Y7GQtmJQ## e e test one 1212 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e call to order let's rise for the flag salute pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you roll call Mr to yes Mr B Patel here Mr Romano here miss Pang here M white here Mr Schneider here Mr Rivera here Mr Vel Patel here miss Ana Patel here Mr Lugo all right Showtime thank you opening statement yes in accordance with the open public meetings act the Edison Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted in the Board of Education Administrative Office copies of this notices were sent to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger thank you next we have strategic Plan update by uh is it Dr toi or Mr Goan is Dr Thomas toi here he is making a grand entance well good evening everybody and thank you for the opportunity um Dr A's got me on a clock here this is really exciting stuff and I can talk all night so I know you have business to get to and we'll try to be quick number one uh the wellness pillar of our strategic plan really was a group effort if you look at the individuals that were on this committee we have everybody from central office administrators building principales supervisors parents uh local Physicians so a lot of the input that's reflected in this plan does come directly from that group and as we'll talk a little bit about tonight um even more individuals from throughout the district have gotten involved as we've moved forward so at the end of the day Wellness was identified um as one of the second highest responses on our survey and the way the district intends to approach that topic is by setting some goals associated with um addressing the the wellness of our students and staff number one our primary responsibility as Educators is to ensure that all of our kids and all of our staff um experience a physically and emotionally safe environment um number two we really want to take a look at how to alleviate some of the Stress and Anxiety that we're experienc as a community families students staff and then finally just like every other District in or every other school in the nation we are struggling with uh with um Recruitment and Retention um and how we can look at our processes to improve retention throughout the district so it sounds like three little things but when you get into the Weeds on it the strategies that we have established to address these three goals are actually pretty expansive there's there's a lot to do what we wanted to do tonight was pull out of a few pull a few out that three months into a 5-year plan we've actually made some progress on we have a little bit of traction but before we do and I know Dr Al delli plans on talking a little bit more about this tonight just to let the Board of Education and the broader Community know that all of the pillars in our strategic plan are going to be tracked publicly on our dashboard that's located on our website so um you know just from a transparency standpoint you can see how the district is making progress towards the identified goals and strategies um there are just some Snippets from from ours but again District website under our district and strategic plan I think it went live today um and anybody in the community can see where we go so the ones we pulled out number one a big push from our committee was the expansion of the guidance department at the elementary level primarily that's because we're looking at roughly a 1 to 900 guidance counselor to student ratio in our elementary schools um it's also because that really everyone including myself need somebody they can rely on you need somebody to carry you when you can't carry yourself right and our guidance counsel at the elementary level aren't really able to do that because of the administrative responsibilities they have they're involved in hi hip investigation behavioral threat assessment and the way we've been supplementing that as a district is using contracted agencies um these are licensed clinical social workers that uh directly address the mental health needs of our students we can do that ourselves so what you see up here is a draft job description in no attempt are we trying to to preempt the board here but something we intend to propose which creates a separate designation of guidance counselors that we've named a student wellness and support coordinator it's individual carry a case load and work directly on issues that are affecting students in their classroom big one I'm going to cruise through here because we have a few at the end that are that are really exciting Dr Alder said it multiple times and he's not wrong a happy staff room equals a happy classroom um there's research from all over the country to indicate that student outcomes are better when our teachers are well taken care of so we've just started this process um but we're looking to leverage existing our existing PD structure and also uh provide voluntary incentive based programs for our staff so we can help them wherever they may need it now we have a wheel up there whether it's occupa occupational or like PD support uh physical wellness initiatives um emot emotional or mental health support or man financial support as a as a new educator I certainly would have loved to to know how to navigate like the pension system and um 403bs things of that nature but again um plan for this our staff development and admin training and winter of 25 our staff development office has has been pretty involved in this so far and although we're just going to be dipping our toe into this initiative um in Spring of 25 we're really excited about it there are models throughout the state that we're going to try to turn around and replicate in this District but like everything else the scope here in Edison creates some unique challenges but I'm confident with the people we have working on this that that we can get there another item that came out of our plan was an idea of um not only in for student mental health needs but embedding the interventions through our mtss program and our mtss program is multi-tiered systems of support typically when we say mtss we think academic support but we're learning pretty quickly especially in the postco world that just as an example if you have a third grader that's struggling to read we can throw all of the literacy interventions in the world at that child but if they're struggling with trauma or they feel un safe in their home um they're not going to be able to to learn that skill so um providing these uh these mental health supports through our multi-tiered system support is is something that's really crucial additionally uh the committee discussed doing a um a universal um Anonymous screener which you'll see this reflected in our plan all the time our first step is to evaluate models in other districts and in doing that work we learn very quickly that very office often Anonymous screeners don't really yield the data um you're looking for in order to address these needs on the mtss pyramid so enter Mr really appreciate he put a uh with portra of a graduate put a um a nice meeting together for us the other day and right now we're leaning towards looking at more of a skills based assessment to determine where our students function are fall in terms of executive functioning skills um so more to come on that item but knowing that we're linking sort of the academic and social emotional support side of our district together is great this one's done this was great um our committee asked for a link or I'm sorry not a link but a resource hub for State local and fed resources if I need help how do I get it um we were able to combine a number of documents that we already have and kind of poach from the uh the county and got this together it's ready for publication I'm working with Miss Daniel right now to find a good spot for it on our site we talked about staff retention earlier again our St our um our plan over and over again talks about how we need to re review what we currently have and in terms of mentorship and orientation our staff development department has actually put a pretty robust structure together but it requires minor tweaks um and I'm I'm my department our department our special services department is probably the biggest culprit what I mean by minor tweaks is that when we onboard people with highly specific roles child study team members teachers of the DEA behaviorists par professionals their onboarding and orientation experience should should look different than a than a fourth grade general education teacher or an AP Cal teacher um revising those initiatives are something that this department or I'm sorry this uh this plan is uh calling for these are the two two big ones that we're really really excited about number one getting a group like that in a room together um we very quickly identified that our enrollment department and in particular our um attendance officers are immediately in touch with some of our most atrisk families and one of the issues that they run into is they don't have the resources or the expertise to connect those families with help so again we have a a draft uh job description borrowing from the law enforcement model of a co-responder to put um higher credential higher credentialed people in our enrollment Department um to go we're our enrollment department is the only people that knock on your door right and the person that knocks on your door should be able to get you help if you need it so that's the thinking there and then finally tele Health um it's the direction of healthcare two fate to our kind of two prongs here number one tele health for student students um we're currently forming a committee to evaluate appropriate teleah Health Resources for students to provide counseling either during the school day or outside of school but more importantly for our staff now what's really interesting because I'm learning about this right now we're we're in the process of talking to our Healthcare Brokers and existing providers I wish I knew some of this stuff right now as an Edison employee you actually have 247 access to a nurse um there's a nurse line uh this information is also on our website I wish I knew this it would have saved me a bunch of trips to the emergency room I have two little boys um second if you need a higher level of clinical care we already have a portal that you can log on to and perhaps if it calls for it uh be prescribed medication or again get a higher level of clinical care both uh both mental health and and physical health um but what we're trying to do here which is really exciting is create seamless access to a tele Health environment for all of our staff members and what I'm learning is that the resistance typically is on the provider side um based on reimbursements not too many General Practitioners really want to engage in this because the juice isn't worth the squeeze financially but given the size of our organization and given our unique um setup with our health insurance uh we can actually make something very very special happen here I'll speak only to myself I get a science infection every year right and I hate taking a day off work to go to my doctor so they're going to write me the same prescription and blah blah blah I'd love to do that on my lunch more importantly um this will give some of our instructional staff time back what I mean by that is the person that shows up for work on Tuesday morning with 25 kids in the classroom that got to spend time with their loved ones on Monday night uh or do whatever it is that they need to do to Monitor and and and support their own mental health looks fundamentally different from the person that left work ran to a doctor's appointment scrambled to get dinner done and fell asleep before uh the day even started right so this is a way for us to give our staff time in a lot of ways and provide another option that again is completely voluntary um I really do see a light at the end of the tunnel for this some of the conversations we've had with local providers and our Brokers have been really promising um so more to come on the Wellness Plan and there's plenty left to do so I was cautioned that giving myself 10% at this point might be underselling it a little bit but I really do want to point back to the dashboard Dr alderi is a pretty smart guy right now he's got a bunch of central office administrators with their names on plans and a public dashboard associated with the percentage I feel like this like my fourth grade science project is due at the end of the month so um anybody in the community can go out and and take a look at this and see what we're going in terms of the plan but um Dr I know you plan to speak a little bit more on the dashboard at the end of this and uh just appreciate the time I know you guys have business to conduct so thank you [Applause] thank you so much Dr toi and Mr Rick Kohan for putting everything together a wonderful job and this speaks about our commitment to the strategic planning the whole initiative that Dr Al Ali had started last year and you know completed this year so good job Dr Ry and your whole Administration team um that being said we don't have much today a light agenda we had meeting last week and U we have a very good Thanksgiving break coming up so wishing everyone very Happy Thanksgiving break um the best part of today was we had two ribbon cuttings at our woodro Wilson Middle School gym and Success Academy so both are again our commitment to investing in the infrastructure and the facilities for benefit of the students so very proud of all the achievements that we have as a district and thank you to everyone who had involved uh Mr kibas and Mr Toad and everyone in the team thank you right that being said I will pass on to Dr Ali thank you board president Patel uh good evening ladies and gentlemen members of the Board of Education uh I just want to begin by uh you know thanking Dr tuy for the presentation um you know it is our commitment here um as an administrative team and as an organization to report out on the Strategic plan at every single board meeting um to make sure that it is first uh and foremost in our minds as we move forward towards uh United Vision at 2020 uh 2030 um so thank you so much and wellness is you know all great organizations have employee programs that Focus On Wellness right um in relationship to uh staff efficacy feeling great about your jobs providing necessary professional development and training um in order to be successful because at the end of the day um if our staff is performing in tip toop shape then so will our students so I I thank you so much uh Dr Tui uh Miss gausman for your leadership and relationship to this as well as all of the members that of your committee that are uh supporting this endeavor and um that kind of Segways into uh our dashboard I'm going to have um uh Miss Daniel kind of help me out uh in relationship with this if you look up on our screen currently right now uh we have a live dashboard that can mon Monitor and measure our progress towards our strategic plan uh with each individual uh goal and indicator as well and and listen our our our purpose for this is is is you know twofold number one it's to provide accountability and transparency as to how we as an organization are operating towards the collective goals that we set over the course of the last year and it's also to make sure that um you're informed of our decision-making processes to keep us uh accountable to the commitment that we made to this community and to our students uh as we go through each of those five pillars and there are a bunch of Milestones here uh as well as key performance indic IND indicators that will monitor our our ongoing process and as you can see we're Miss Daniel flips through those pieces you'll be able be able to kind of view some of the components that we've we've actually made a lot of Headway with uh within particular areas um and others that um are at the at its infancy right now um so I I'm I'm happy that we have this it's something that we can look at all the time uh our website is fully and totally redesigned right now we are making it One-Stop shopping for everything so um greatly appreciated to um not only the uh the members that are uploading data to the dashboard but uh for Miss Daniel to kind of spearheading these P pieces as well and and we're going to stick with the the theme of the website as well too because uh amidst all of the great things that we're doing in Wellness we're also doing a lot of stuff in relationship to school expansion and Improvement also we just had uh two ribbon cutting ceremonies just now at our woodro Wilson um middle school as well as our Edison Success Academy they were wonderful events uh just a celebration of the commitment and the vision uh that this board and previous boards have put together in relationship to addressing overcrowding to it um improving the um the spaces that our students and staff uh occupy and in in order to keep the public apprised to the status not only from a um uh an individual school basis in relationship to where they are um based off of our long-range facilities plan but uh some images too because the you know the pictures you know will will provide a great visual to all the hard work that um you know that uh our uh buildings and grounds Department uh has done uh in concert with our building leadership as well too see as you can see right there we have Herbert Hoover um who just had an unbelievable expansion their gym is absolutely beautiful um we did a tour of that we did a ribbon cutting uh a couple weeks ago in relationship to that as you kind of scroll down too I think we had um I can't see that school that's a Jack that's Thomas Jefferson right there um just a beautiful beautiful space um we're looking at the hallway out there where students um will be able to uh sit review uh work charge a laptop uh as well as an unbelievable gym and office area there too just the the entrance way to that school really transformed the appearance so um anybody that wants to monitor the progress this is up this is live it will be updated as we move forward it will tell you where you are in relationship to um expansion Pro uh progress too so if your school hasn't been completed it could tell you where it is in the process right it could be in you know document design it could be in architectural plans it could be in the infancy uh phases of development as well too so uh I encourage you to visit the site click on any school or location um because we're really proud of what's going on here in Edison Township and last but not least in uh keeping with the website theme right because we're extremely proud of it um we're we also wanted to uh and it's also a board of education uh resolution agenda item tonight um our district uh has gone through um the qac process which is basically the accountability process in which the state um will uh monitor your uh areas of you know fiscal accountability Personnel finance and Facilities curriculum and instruction all of those pieces I'm pleased to say that Edison Township has passed all of those particular areas uh with the help of our chief academic officers our assistant superintendants our curriculum supervisors our teachers our building level Administration everybody that's involved has provided documentation to support the great work that we do here in Edison Township um you know much like we tell our students though too is that there's always room for improvement in relationship to this right you know scores of 87 or 85 we'd like to get a little bit higher um we got really good critical feedback uh from our monitoring uh program here at the county level and uh the next time we're monitored I can I can assure you that those scores will be um higher than they currently are but again they're passing we're we're proud of that and uh I thank everybody that was involved in that process and and last but not least uh as we come uh upon the uh the season of thanks I wanted to extend on behalf of the Board of Education um a uh a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday I hope you have uh a wonderful time have some time to enjoy this with family and friends and loved ones uh relax and rejoice um and get ready for the holiday season so uh that concludes my report for today uh board president Patel right thank you Dr Al and the website is really promising it has pretty much all the information that the parents are seeking right now everything is in there at the school level at the district level and I don't see anything missing out except I got a question last week from a parent where they say there is a bear spoted near Stephenville Parkway so can the school what are the protocols about school closing early sorry we don't we don't track the bear and we don't capture such information on the website which is other than that really uh if a parent goes to the website it's all the information including the context of the school the security everything so uh there is a app out there uh Daniel did a great job with the app and the website there is AI feature in the website there is thought exchange for the survey providing input providing feedback so we encourage every resident to take a look at it the Administration has spent a lot of time and efforts to put such a wonderful website together and let's make the most out of it thank you uh so I'll now pass it on to our student representatives from EHS Mr D DC hey everyone uh over the past few weeks there hasn't been as much much going on with the student council as there was leading up to homecoming however we did just host our annual volleyball for charity event we had 14 teams sign up with around 100 total participants on top of many others who just came out to watch so I think it's safe to say that the event was a success with lots of money raised and what was a total shock the team made up of most of the boys varsity volleyball team starting lineup won the tournament without losing a game and another news fall Sports have just about come to a close with B and Varsity Sports night coming up as well as tryouts for sports like basketball and bowling being right around the corner and overall we saw lots of success this fall across all of our sports teams the girls tennis team finished 13 and five the girls volleball team finished with a record of 15 and 10 and the girls soccer team started the season winless throughout 13 games after losing some key seniors from last year however they finished very strong by winning six out of their last nine games and the football team similarly started slow going 1 and three to start the year but turned it around in a big way going 4- two the rest of the way and returning to the playoffs the first time since winning a state championship in 2022 and coming up soon we'll have an event for battle of the classes as well as hallway decorating for the holidays in a few weeks and I look forward to more Edison Sports success up this upcoming winter season thank you uh from JB Stevens High School Miss uh svi buyam good evening everyone my name is sanvi buyam and I am one of the two presidents of student council at JY Stevens High School and I'm excited to share updates on our school last week the JP Stevens Theater Company hosted their fall play Much Ado About Nothing right here in the Edison High School auditorium it was a hilarious performance full of witty dialogue and clever misunderstandings that kept the audience entertained from start to finish the cast brought their characters to life with remarkable energy the crew beautifully ran the technicalities of the show and our theater teacher Miss Young did overall did a fantastic job also last week our vice principal Mr Robinson hosted a field of flag ceremony for Veterans Day in honor of those who served our country the event had a large showing with our school's marching band performing a flag hosting ceremony and an inspirational speech in terms of Athletics all of our small Sports have finished and have their end of season Banquets a notable achievement is girls volleyball who made it to both State's quarterfinals and County semi-finals with a record of 21 and8 being the second highest record in program history we are excited for our winter sports including boys and girls basketball who were division champions last year wrestling cheer bowling hockey and swimming we can't wait to see them crush it on the court and wish them the best of luck for their Seasons lastly the student council is very excited to host Homecoming this Friday our executive board has poured hours into planning decorating and setting up for this event and so far it's looking beautiful we are very excited for this event and we will be able to provide more updates at the next Board of Education meeting thank you so much for your time and hawks fly high thank you very much um next is we have public comments for Resolutions only any public comments for resolutions see none motion to and public comments for Resolutions motion Mr Romano Mr Sneider all in favor public comments for Resolutions has ended we'll get now get a motion to approve personal report motion to approve Mr Romano second Mr Vishal Patel uh roll call Mr to miss Ana Patel yeah I'm here was that a yes or no could hear yes yes okay she said yes uh Mr Vish Patel yes uh Mr Rivera Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes president Patel yes motion carries next is motion to approve Administration curriculum and instruction and pupil Special Services report motion second uh roll call Mr to miss Patel yes Mr visha Patel yes Mr AA yes Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes president Patel yes motion carries next is motion to approve Finance report I'll do a motion motion to approve Finance Mr Romano um roll call Mr Miss Patel yes Mr visho Patel yes Mr a y Mr Schneider yes Miss White yes Miss Pang yes vice president Romano yes president Patel yes motion carries thank you uh next we have committee reports we had one committee meeting this month curriculum technology and student achievement committee that was yesterday in attendance were myself Mr Lugo Dr Ali Mr Kohan uh Christine it was an hour meeting before a few minutes I told I declared that the website is amazing all the information is on the website so that being said this whole report which is five pages over here is also on the website is on the agenda I don't I'm not a fan of boring anyone with long reports and which makes people sleepy in the audience to consider everyone's time and to be you know respectful everyone's time for those who are here and those who are home I will skip reading the report it's all on the website and please feel free to reach out to Dr if anyone has any questions I'll spare some time and give you all your precious minutes back uh so that ends our committee reports all right uh the next is uh board member comments any board comments yes M something quick um so as the Bo on to JPS uh ptso I'm just happy to share the Thanksgiving fundraising event at summary Bakery so from now through November 25th just visit summary Bak in Wick Plaza and mention JPS ptso at check out 10% of your purchase is going to go directly to support um the ptso just want to take this opportunity to recognize the um GPS PDS for their contribution to our schools um their hard work has built a strong sense of um community and um give important support to our students each year they award uh scholarship to 50 students uh for their through to assist their um high school life and prepare for college so a special thanks to our um GPS ptso president M mature along along with the former and current ptso leadership team just for their volunteers and dedication that's all and um Happy Thanksgiving thank you any other board member comments saying none just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving enjoy it with your families have a blessed day thank you all right thank you right no more board member comments so now open it up to public comments we welcome public comments here public participation you could be not be here and watching TV at home a football game or a basketball game and having fun and especially too close to the Thanksgiving you could have done better things but you came here we appreciate we don't worry about the props or anything at all here I really believe in democracy because public comments is all about democracy and free speech so it's all good over here you're all welcome and uh you know we encourage and appreciate everyone who comes here cuz someone comes at our doorstep that's a guest and we treat them with highest dignity and respect that's what that's what I believe in right so welcome everyone to the public comment section over here uh let's see who wants to go first Miss Conway Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle I don't even need permission to speak here either I just wanted to let you know you usually need permission at other places but anyway uh I just want to uh make two comments and both are actually positive that um I was enable to go to uh woodro Wilson today to see the addition which was fabulous and it's going to make a very big difference in the spread out of physical education and many other uh items that can go on in the school and seeing the Edison Success Academy seeing what it was before and what it is now is a complete turnaround and I'm just so impressed of what it is now and where the forethought of where it's going will be so it was very good uh the second thing was I appreciate that I have to now go online to find out about everything going on in the District it'll allow me to do it at my ease but I I appreciate seeing that uh the third thing uh Mr Patel I really wouldn't mind you talking about your committee uh minutes but it should be minutes it shouldn't be a five-page item so you can uh talk about it because some people you know even though you think computers are are fun they're not everybody's best friend so if you talk about the general items I don't think people would fall asleep to be honest with you and on another topic I am a member of the Edison human relations Commission in town and our um purpose or one of our purposes is to uh address any concerns that are in the um in the Township from any of the residents and at the um Halloween trunk retreat that we attended uh a number of residents had come and questioned what was going on at the Board of Ed and uh someone turned around and said you're always there so could you tell us we see you on TV what's going on so I tried to explain what was going on I said but I really don't know the facts you know we would like to have someone uh literally tell us the facts regarding that policy and when I uh picked up the phone and made phone call I truly appreciate that uh Dr aldarelli is going to uh come and speak to our commission on December 3rd and if anybody has questions or concerns we're not talking opinion we're talking facts of the policy so I truly appreciate and looking forward to uh you attending at the municipal building on December 3rd at 7:15 I had to put that in thank you very much and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you thank you next uh public comments yes Miss Bowski Carol Bowski 39 Jonathan Drive I'd like to thank the Board of Ed and everyone that worked on the Success Academy and inviting us in to see it this was like the biggest gift someone could give me now I listened to what Dr tuy was saying and I happened to know some of his former students from years ago and he has great ideas and great things but it took a lot of people working together to make this something that every District should strive to have and it was just mindblowing how wonderful we'd ask a question question and yes well we're doing this and we'd ask another question well yes we have this and that was just great for one often ignored segment of the population to have such a special place to learn and grow that they really need and professionals who are experienced and caring so thank thank you for that I consider that a gift thank you we appreciate that any more public comments Mr Mara good evening Anthony Mara 5 kto cord in Edison excuse me my primary purpose for being here tonight is to let you know you have not gotten rid of me I'm here of course to speak on policy 5756 the fact that the board voted to retain this policy is discouraging but the fact remains this policy is wrong it should be done away with and my hope is that the new board members that come in come January will come in with a mindset that this this policy needs to be revoked I commend those who voted to abolish it last time Miss Batel Mr Batel and Miss Shannon Pang um there needs to be some objectivity here you've heard me and others speak as I do you've heard the LGBT community but I've attempted to put in some objectivity what I mean objectivity is the one who has all authority the one to whom we will all stand in judgment his name is God his name is Jesus Christ that's not a sin to say that in fact he's the one who whom we will answer he said have you not read that he created them from the beginning made the male and female in other words there's only two genders male and female he didn't say male female in dozen other genders also pointed out that there is hypocrisy in this rule this policy 5756 I wonder if there's anyone on the board who wants to be kept in the dark but his his or her child changing gender your son or daughter says to someone in the school system I'm going to change my gender from boy to girl girl to boy and according to this policy 5756 you're not to be told I I wonder if there's a parent in this whole town or even this whole country wants to be kept in the dark but that's what that policy says that is wrong that is very wrong it dishonors Mom and Dad the fifth commandment honor your father and your mother you're persecuting the girls they go to the ladies room and you've got boys who can come in there no wrong so uh my primary purpose is just to let you know that you you're going to see my ugly face time and time again until this policy is is abolished my thank you for your time thank you Mr Mara I don't believe you have an ugly face you a very pretty face and uh I I really appreciate uh you know your efforts most importantly there your persistent efforts consistently coming to every single board meeting and trying for some cause that you believe in and that's that really goes a long way and really appreciate everything as a resident thank you uh next for public comments yes Lois rler 70 sagore Avenue at us in New Jersey um I was here September 30th about revising the school calendar to add Christmas and Good Friday I go on to the Edison website and I have not yet seen it revised and I'm wondering the status of whether I was voted on I believe at the last meeting so I'm just wondering and I did email everyone on Sunday but didn't hear back from anyone but so that's why I'm here again the inclusion of Christmas and Good Friday to me is important all of the other you know we have Dali and we have rashash shanam kapor I don't want to have to go through all that again um and I know sometimes Good Friday begins spring break this year it's in the middle but last year we had off in November and dewali was the Friday of that break and yet it's still stated teachers convention SL veterans day/ deali So Good Friday can be included this year in the spring break it's at the end but it's again it's important to me and the Christians in this community and again I see again the logo We Are One Edison I don't feel I feel excluded where I should feel included thank you thank you so yes uh that comment that you and Beth and everyone made was very well you know acknowledged and then that's why we passed a resolution to add that and I think Dr Ali this is is it added yeah I think if you check the PDF Miss Daniel if you would mind connecting with Mr Ren just a shower should be updated okay all right all right thank you thank you all right yes Beth Beth taly 15 Midwood Avenue I just want to take this time to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving and take time you know with your family and friends and loved ones just to reflect and be grateful for what you all do have and I just wanted to bring to everybody's attention this weekend I was honored and pleasantly surprised to be able to watch um New Jersey Hall of Fame inductees it was um aired this weekend on Channel 9 and I was happy to see that one of our own former teachers who's passed on Andy D Cola was recognized and inducted into New Jersey Hall of the fame first educator in the state of New Jersey public school teacher who was after his 50 years of phenomenal teaching and a mentor and a role model for thousands of students who um passed through JP Stevens and he was also a graduate of Edison High way back when um so if you guys get a chance I would you know I'm sure you can YouTube it and see it it was the last one he was recognized by Dave Rosenthal who's a you know musician who was one of his first students back in the day when um Andy started teaching here um and also there is a plaque and so forth because I guess they opened up New Jersey Hall of Fame at American Dream mall so one of our own who's dedicated his life to us you know unfortunately he's not here with us is recognized there and you know kudos to Edison and the good things and the teachers that we have that even after his passing his legacy still lives on and we should be proud of you know one of our own thank you thank you that's a great news thank you so much for bringing it to our attention uh next for public comments yes tendra tendra lenar 192 Evergreen Road Edison New Jersey uh I'm a professor educator mentor and work for minority students in New York City I brought one of the issue 8 months before and I'm following every month every meeting and I want to know what is the status of that mission I'm coming for yes yeah so yesterday we had a curriculum meeting and you saw our email today right so um Mr Cohen this was presented to Dr Al and Mr Cohen and your requirement is to include um remove geometry as a criteria for application so goal is to just let students apply for the STEM Academy correct yes yes so Dr Ali and Mr Cohen will be able to meet with you we were we on an email today where we were going to schedule a meeting sure so we'll we'll schedule that meeting with you so the objective is to why I'm again maybe repeating to no other board members here and who also I sent email previously and not responded to be inclusive so why we should eliminate uh 80% student not even apply forget about uh selecting don't worry don't select if they don't have that talent but let them apply to the program and if the success and they pass your assessment test which may be a question on Geometry that's fine if they pass the test let them go to the college don't shatter out the dream because at sixth grade they did not have Al pre-algebra or seventh grade did not have Algebra 1 or e8th grade did not have Al geometry kids can learn any time and we saw that from kids can become smart any grade so I want to request all the board members to understand that let's be inclusive let's not follow the pre-colonized kind of era where you geometry only you can come in let everybody come together apply the program and let's select thank you very much I appreciate thank you so much so also in the on the agenda in the committee report I have put it U last night after our curriculum meeting that the committee discussed the concerns brought up by certain residents about not having a requirement for geometry in the application process for getting into stem program and recommended the same so essentially allow all those who did not have geometry to apply for the STEM Academy um concerns were discussed about the standards of the program and this will be reviewed further by the chief academic officer Mr Cohen and superintendent before a final decision is made on how application process will work for the upcoming school year uh and if this change criteria can be accommodated so this was very well discussed and uh committee on top of it we also discuss option for starting the STEM Academy at JP Stevens High School and uh providing more opportunities to students for stem courses and Dr Ali is um has some updates about that that it's too early to disclose that right now but Dr Al in the committee promised he is look working with the administration the principal on exploring that the stam Academy at JP um and Mr Cohen and the team has uh really encouraged to read this report and that's why I didn't read the whole thing in his entirety because it really bores some people who are not into this but for those who want to get into details of the curriculum um the placement criteria has AP economics the computer science path F and placement there is increased freshman enrollment in the EHS stem really Kos to Mr Cohen and the whole Administration for including all those things and there is a introduction of Summer hybrid biology course now that is starting at the STEM Academy which is for the first time which is a significant achievement and there are certain modifications based on the grading for engineering and other courses so it's really a um an honors Java curriculum development all those things are in place as of uh yesterday so uh really very very um big robust agenda going into the next year's um development of the stem program by the supervisors by Mr gohen and Dr Al Ali pretty much everything that we can imagine of in terms of stem is all included in this uh in this new curriculum if we can really also accommodate not having geometry as a requirement for application then it's all everything is taken care of it's a huge win for for the students and we really encourage everyone all the students to apply we wish they apply I wish them all the best because I can understand and imagine and this is the one of the concern we discussed yesterday if for some reason a student did not perform appropriately in a fifth or sixth grade or something happens uh we don't want to take away opportunities uh everything in we are increasing opportunities a lot more opportunities than that were before and every year we keep on increasing and this year is going to be wonderful for that so might as well do one more thing and you know let us make all the students happy thank you and and just to piggyback on that too we're also we're also doubling the the size of the program too we're actually um we have a plan in place which was presented yesterday um to um open up uh I believe it's 24 spots we're changing that to 48 spots currently right now with the help of uh Mr Ross uh as well as Mr soy uh in concert with Mr Cohen too um and listen in relationship to being inclusive we we want to we want to make sure that we we we I think we pride ourselves on inclusives I don't think we're we're exclusive we do have to have a set of standards and criteria but there there's also things in relationship to the schedule too um that are um kind of a little bit tricky when you don't have geometry and you're taking an honors chemistry class um but we'll I'll talk about that when we meet as uh as well too um but I think what the Crux of that meeting that came out just in the curriculum piece is that we should probably do a better job of informing parents what the criteria is for the STEM Academy right at the end of the day um and much like we do in the area that I live which is in Mammoth County that has um uh magnet programs too for the specialized areas uh they have they have information sessions for students in grades six and seven to say listen you need to have these classes in order to apply for these programs uh I think the earlier that we do that that was actually brought up by one of our committee members the earlier that we do that um the better it will be because it'll inform parents of the process um and the requirements that we have for um these these programs too so your your comments did not fall on deaf ears you got it no no AB absolutely and I thank you Dr Aly for reminding about um that thing the communications for providing heads up to the students early on so if a student knows what's coming in fifth grade that will really help them and the rational for increasing the criteria was really to enable more students incre getting interested in stamp Pathways that's the whole purpose and and there is a foundational knowledge in biology which for crucial so the hybrid course which we are adding for the summer will really help and it also combines online modules with the inperson labs and offers The Best of Both Worlds it provides flexibility for the students to and their summer commitments and the opportunity to develop both theoretical knowledge as well as practical skills essential for the AP biology that is required for the STEM Academy and also uh there is a year-long engineering program engineering course right now that will be condensed into a semester long based on the feedback that the Academy students provided to to the administration this will allow the students to gain essential engineering knowledge while making room for additional cours work if they were to such as um you know Java programming course which is you know a semester long Java programming course that will be introduced in the freshman year now for the Academy it will lay a foundation for the computer programming and computational thinking so this course will be very much important for the students and will really help them to develop further studies in computer science which is a very highly desirable field right now so lot more good things so please read the report and reach out to us if you have any questions but yes like dry said your efforts Mr Mara I told him earlier the efforts never goes in vain so thank you so much thank you appreciate it tendra for consistent persist and effort really admire everything thank you any more public comments yes good evening everyone I'm Dr shaquila Merchant 248 West Locust Avenue and of course I'm colleague of Dr tar nuner and I do want to commend all of you for doing such a wonderful job as an educator and faculty this is beyond delightful to know too bad my kids graduated from JP Stevens but I'm so happy as a proud parent of Education Comm uh Edison Community to see this is happening and uh I can see this the schools districts here would be really ranked High when it comes to college readiness for our students and um I'm really excited to see that so much of emphasis has been given to engineering education computer science I'm also hoping that AIML ethics Beyond AI chat GPD is also included um because this is such a such a big um issue in a way good and bad good and challenge as well that we need to really hope that our students understand the the ethics Beyond this and and it is very important for them as they go to colleges um one thing that I wanted to really I'm curious to know um to see if our faculties are well equipped to be able to handle these courses AP courses and all um as as a cuni member we work with nearly 40 schools in the uh New York City public school system and we run a huge high school program so we know as University members we adopt our schools I was wondering if JP Stevens cisen High are collaborating or partnering with rgar or NJIT where their faculties can come and teach one of the AP science course so teach one of the AP Computer Science course I think that's a value added for our uh school system as well I just wanted to I know ask that this is a good best practice that has been very successful for us and I'm hoping that we can adopt something like that thank you so much for your time absolutely thank you wonderful idea and I think that's something that Administration is constantly uh looking for it to implement that and uh this uh everything that is done in the curriculum so I had asked Mr Rohan if he send a comprehensive list of all the new additions improve improvements and everything so uh Miss Daniel I will send it to her and she'll be putting in the news new news upcoming newsletter so you'll have all the information and that is a thought exchange so anything that is missing just always provide feedback and you know we that have the administration take a look at it thank you any more public comms Matt good evening Matt revnak ETA president first of I just want to comment was just mentioned many of the staff at JP Stevens in Edison High actually teach at Ruckers so they're doing that after school in the evenings or at middle sex college so they are very well prepared um I just unfortunately Miss taly took a little bit of my thunder with um Mr de Cola but I do want to mention very welld deserved I was a colleague of Mr de nias for 36 years and obviously a friend and we always have the same philosophy as I told my students beginning of the year you're going to learn a lot of math from me but it's the other things you're going to walk out of here with really developing you as a person and Mr Dina Cola was of the same mindset he'll tell you like a lot of music but I'm developing people and that's what we do in education so very welld deserved and I hope the board actually considers when JP Stevens Auditorium is done perhaps naming it the Andy D Nia Auditorium that would be a great tribute to him he's welld deserved 50 years in a district by the way it wasn't mentioned I know it was a couple years ago he was also nominated a finalist in fact I understand he came in second when they gave the first Grammy award for a music teacher so again it shows the quality of of teacher and person at Andy was great friend and great colleague rest in peace okay second thing I want to mention um tomorrow is national educate support Professionals Day so that acknowledges all all the support professionals basically all the non- teers in the school district these are all the people that make the district run from our secretaries our Librarians or Library AIDS and assistants our power professionals and teacher aids our security guards our custodians people that aren't even members of my group I'd like to acknowledge our custodians our bus drivers and actually part of Education support professionals are our counselors our CST members Etc so first of all I'd like to wish them all a Happy National Education support Professionals Day um the work you do does go definitely is noticed and again these are the people that really make our buildings run the teachers get a lot of the credit because we're developing the students and you know getting them off to the great colleges they go to and everything else but our buildings wouldn't be the same and wouldn't run effectively if it wasn't for these people and by the way that includes the um administrative secretary at central office as well and finally the third thing is as everybody already has said Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there as Mo most of you know I'm sure out in you know the world uh busiest travel time of the of the year so if you are traveling please be safe but enjoy yourself have a great holiday give thanks to the people around you sometimes things are not said that should be said until it's too late so take the opportunity to say those things to the people you love and uh don't spend too much on Black Friday Happy Thanksgiving thank you uh speaking uh another reminder for this achievement by Mr diola uh M Daniel if you can put that in the next newsletter the state achievement that would be great thank you uh yes Mr Ross he good even good evening everybody um you know good to see a you know a less rambunctious meeting you know I'm looking forward to you know the Thanksgiving holiday you know and the Christmas holiday they say not a creature is stirring hopefully not even a mouse um but also I want us to as we get into this when you're leaving take a look at our lld students made a big turkey and it's kind of old school but it's what they put down what they're grateful for and the kids asked me they say Mr Ross we got this awesome electric sign out front why don't you put something out there so we got a big question what are you grateful for and first for me you know I'm very happy to be of service to the kids of Edison High you know I'm glad to come here every day and try to do my best support the members of the various unions including the teachers you know meet with the parents have those difficult conversations and tell the students every day how they can be better how they can be what's great about Edison High but I also want to give you guys an offer um we've got so many events that are going to be coming up at Edison High we're going to be giving out these little tickets and after 10 tickets get you a free sandwich at Tasty Subs because we're going to have about probably 20 to 25 events from now over till Christmas starting off as we go down you know and I'm going to jump back and touch on the STEM Academy and atie DEA Cola but just wanted to see what are some of the events that are going on at Edison High School what are some of the things that keep us National Honor Society induction is going to be on Thursday on Friday we have our dualit which is our Diwali dance sponsored by our peacock Society going into the next week we're going to have teacher conferences on Tuesday Wednesday is going to be the choir concert Friday is going to be the band concert um we'll have conferences in there we'll come back the next week and we'll have the varsity Awards night we'll have a Ben Franklin concert we'll end up coming and having a a little Christmas with Santa Claus for the students on the weekend Washington School will end up having a Christmas dance here we'll come back and finish up as our seasons start off with on um December 19th the annual johnp Memorial game anybody that knows Edison and knows Edison wck basketball knows John speci and the JP and the Edison girls come together every year try to raise money um for cancer awareness that's going to be on the 19th here at Edison High also that night after you're done with the basketball we're going to have an orchestra concert in here moving forward so the days just don't stop wrestling starts on the 20th I know I see Miss White our our wrestling supporter I know she'll be there on the 20th as I believe were taking on St Thomas somebody from um I think they're up there on one of those roads up on North Edison um and then on the the 23rd when we get to come back for a half a day that's when the boys basketball is going to start so there's a ton of things happening you see Edison High is the place that never closes and I appreciate everybody coming and looking to expand a STEM Academy I was happy to hear about and grateful for the movement on the addition to the high school that was spoken about at the caucus meetings and in ter ter of the stem and Andy deaa you know one of the things too and speaking with our you know band director who work closely with Andy is the concept of steam which is not just stem but puts arts in there because it's not only you know while Java and computer science and all of those things the one thing I know a robot's not going to do as well is play the saxophone and so being able to have our students and our our best students work together with you know our students that might be academically challenged if we're looking at at this another way to expand the STEM Academy make it the steam acad Academy make sure that our kids can get into these Arts programs so that they have those more balanced because no matter who you are in Edison Township you're going to have one of the best educations in New Jersey and we know New Jersey education as the njaa always tells us is some of the best in the country so that's what I look forward to from everybody I hope that I see you out I'll give you your cards the first day like I said you get to 10 events and we'll be able to get you a free sandwich thanks everyone I'm looking forward for the sandwich no thank you so much Mr Ross for for all that updates seems like a lot of events and um lot of parties after events thank you any more public comments all right saying none we'll have motion to end public comments motion to end public comments Mr Romano second Mr rishal Patel all in favor hi hi right um wishing everyone a very very Happy Thanksgiving and we'll see you all next month uh motion to adjin the meeting motion motion all in favor meeting is at John 805 that was a short one good stuff that paid that was a very fruitful hour for me