##VIDEO ID:mVaaWNMW9jo## app e e e e [Music] test e e e e e e e e e e e e e one time I should have worn a jacket I didn't wear a jacket oh no yes that's why we there okay Andrew are we ready okay Barbara are you ready yes okay we're all ready all right the board met tonight in executive session we're now ready to start the public portion of our meeting we did not have any public correspondents since our last meeting which was on September 10th uh uh the president's report is a bit of a a popery um first of all we board members uh attended all the various schools back to school nights and I we had wonderful conversations on a number of topics and we were able to introduce our new superintendent to various segments of the population so it was it was great great for us I think great all the way around the reception which some of you were at that for Mr Arlington at the Women's Club was also a great success and our thanks go out to the home school for making all the arrangements for making it seem seamless as they always do and to the Glen Ridge Women's Club for providing a great space for the festivities uh we'll be having our first mini retreat which some of you have heard about in this venue before uh next Tuesday night from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. our friends at the library remind me to remind anyone who has not filled out the library survey yet that they should do so immediately when they get home um the kitchen tour will be October 20th uh from 11: to 4: uh tickets are on sale now at the at Glen ridit tour.com and the um proceeds will benefit Future Ready learning um and also I wish everyone who celebrates it a blessed Rosa Shana and that is the president's report I'm up yes yes it's your turn good evening everybody I'd like to begin by thanking the community members who took the time to attend the superintendent's welcome reception on Tuesday the 24th it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with so many Glenn rdge residents in one place and share more about my vision for teaching and learning I'm currently considering ways to uh share some of that information with the broader community in the coming weeks so stay tuned as Miss Ginsburg said a special Thanks goes to the home and School Association for hosting the event with particular gratitude to Elizabeth com Tower Arnett and Stephanie holler for going above and beyond in organizing the evening I'm excited to expand on the details of that Vision with an eye on special education and student services at the October 16th meeting of the Glen rage Association for special education the event will begin at 7 p.m at Forest Avenue school and I hope to see many of you there uh there's much to celebrate about the opening of our school year I've enjoyed the opportunity to get into classrooms to learn more about instruction in Glenn rid I've been particularly excited to see capturing kids hearts in action our August professional learning sessions yielded a high level of excitement and engagement and I've seen firsthand that engagement sustained at the building levels I'm thrilled tonight to have principal Murphy and Dr kyll here to share more about the launch of the program early successes and next steps so without further Ado I turn it over to my two colleagues good evening everyone I'm Matt Murphy I'm the principal of farest Avenue school and I'm here with Dr kyella from Linden Avenue School uh we are very excited to share the progress that we've made in implementing capturing kids Hearts across our three primary schools uh the program is already making a big difference for our students and our staff Dr Harris at C uh is not able to be with us tonight uh but she did uh contribute a nice video presentation uh to help us share what is happening in our classrooms with all of you uh we'd also like to take this opportunity to thank the Glen Ridge Education Foundation for their trust and support um Dr Carabella Dr Harris and I are incredibly grateful uh for the uh partnership with uh greff uh to make this happen and I know that we have uh Fran and here uh so thank you both so what is capturing kids Hearts it's a social emotional learning process designed to improve School Culture by building strong connections between teachers and students it helps students manage their classroom Em I'm sorry it helps students manage their emotions uh improve behavior and make better choices at its core the process is about creating a positive supportive classroom environment where every every student feels heard and included teachers are engaging students in meaningful conversations and building trust we've implemented social contracts not only in every classroom but also amongst our staff members where we collaboratively set clear expectations for Behavior respect and accountability across the board uh connection is a key for us every day teachers are greeting students at the door to help them feel welcome and positive affirmations are used to encourage and support them students are also Al learning important skills to manage their emotions and make responsible decisions empowering them to thrive both socially and academically so far we've completed uh full staff training and next we'll be training our leadership teams uh at process Champions training also our maintenance custodial and transportation staff will also receive training through the culture Shapers program to ensure that everyone in our schools is a part of this effort we're really proud to say that we've achieved strong staff buyin and we're already seeing the benefits for our students they're more engaged and our hope is that each child will feel that they are a valued part of the community and we will be finding that out as we collect data at the end of the year uh our ongoing collaboration with CK as we call them and their Consultants is helping us to keep momentum going uh and we're committed to ensuring that every student in our schools feels support supported and connected so thank you now Dr Caravella is going to say a few words thank you Mr Murphy I'd like to thank Kyle for inviting us to uh do a brief presentation it's always a pleasure for us to be in front of the board and talk about some of the great things we're doing in the schools and I would like to also Echo the sentiment about gref thank you guys so much the support is really amazing there was a time that Mr M and I could draw a big crowd but as you see this is so we'll make it brief Jen right we're going to move on with this um I really and Matt and I were talking about I don't think I've ever seen the teaching staff so excited about a program because when we bring in an initiative it's always like us really trying to convince them to get on board uh and and even having them come to two days of training before school started we thought that was going to be impossible but with within an hour of the first day they absolutely loved it the the people who were complaining the most on our first break at 10:00 in the morning August 28th three teachers came up and hugged me and said thank you for doing this that's how good this this program is so basically uh one of the I'm just very I'm one minute um the model that we uh we use to um uh to engage the students and and the staff they call it the uh capturing kids Hearts called it the EXL model Exel all stand for something engage explore communicate Empower and launch so we begin engaging the students very early in the morning at the door when they come in whether it's the door to the school the door to the classroom with a huge smile and a positive tone and we do that with with each other as a staff the x is we explore we we listen to the students we try to convey our empathy and we probe with open-ended questions one of the ways we do this is we start our day by asking them to share good things say tell me some good things in your life and we share that as a class and administrators do that too a good thing that happened today a teacher came to my office and she literally had tears of joy and thanks in her eyes because I wrote her a little note on a blue uh index card and I thanked her for something she did yesterday that's an affirmation that we do when capturing kids' hearts she said I cannot thank you enough this little note made my day and that made me feel good and this is the program this is what we're talking about with this program uh in communication the sees for communication these are the positive affirmations that we talk to the kids we build them up we build them up every single day every single period and we do that with the staff and it really has made a big change in in our staff members in all the schools the E is empowered and when we talk about empowering We Begin uh our school school year by creating a social contract all the teachers did a social contract with their classes they had a big chart paper we did that as a school we did it as a staff we did it in our training and we write down a bunch of words that we're going to live by and how we want to be treated by each other and how we're going to treat each other you know some of the things in kid-friendly language respect no put Downs be kind be nice welcome hands and feet to yourself and we live by that contract and then we launch and when we talk about launching that means at the end of a class period the end of a day we give leave the students with a positive message you guys did a great job today how great was that lesson pause up you pause up means you know do something great without being told so that's the Excel model for the caption kids hearts in a nutshell and it really has transformed our schools in in really such a short period of time and we are very excited to continue our work with the group uh and again thanks to gref and we're going to have a presentation that Dr Harris put together for us it's very brief but it's very powerful because it has some of the pictures uh of some of the things that we're doing in the three primary schools with capturing kids Hearts so if Andrew can help us with that that would be great and thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so that's that's all we have but thank you thanks guys thanks I'm glad that we've gotten back to the idea of the social contract I wish you could export it to the state house uh they might not be as receptive as our youngest children but it couldn't hurt and thanks to Fran and Linda again um you know the foundation has always been so good to us and this is just the latest example so we can't thank you enough Matt matter Joe do you mind just talking a little bit I think it'd be helpful to see how it like it's a thread to pull across the year how each month I think has a different theme and how that helps to sort of concretize the big ideas of the program yeah so uh our three schools have always had monthly character traits and activities um and it's something we strengthened uh to try to help students to not bully one another uh but the great thing with capturing kids Hearts is they have uh a wonderful model uh with monthly character traits uh it's not it's a piece of the program it's not the core of the program uh but we're already utilizing um these monthly themes in our classrooms um amongst the staff amongst the students uh we have uh lesson plans uh that are associated with each of these traits uh that are already made for us and and ready to modify uh for our school um and and it carries us right through uh the end of the year uh a different trait every month yeah thank you what October obviously respect it was not respect in the curriculum it was responsibility but uh and November was respect but we decided to make the switch because we have our New Jersey week of respect in October so we thought that we better change that character trait to respect board members anyone else have any questions for either uh uh Dr Caravella Mr Murphy would it be possible could you circulate the slide presentation because it was going I just would love to be able to go back and look at the and the details yeah we'll find a way to make sure that we get that out no problem fantastic thank you it's so powerful that the the training and the mindset is not just for teachers and kids and administrators but for the whole school community so to have your custodial staff trained your substitute teaching staff trained I think is really really impactful in a different type of wh School approach that that's unfortunately not that common so that's an exciting piece to me we've explored over the years a lot of the social emotional learning and uh character programs out there uh but one thing that really appealed to us with capturing kids Hearts is that it's uh about the the whole school culture um and everybody's involved um you know and that uh everyone can play a role in making our community stronger so it was very different so we're glad that we went with it thanks guys thank you I'm sorry no I just it made me think is there a tie into the the families as well as as part of the work that you're doing like how how are you communicating with families about the program so we in our initial implementation uh we focused uh first on the administrators then on the teachers and the roll out and now we're you going to use those monthly themes to have uh home connections uh and to also share the language that we're using with the children um especially uh the reflective processes when children make a mistake and we want to help them make better choices uh we think that'll be helpful also for family so we're putting that together to to send out and uh you know sometime later in the year we may set up a parent night or something like that so that we can you know further explain it to the parent Community either at an HSA meeting or even independently that's great thank you no problem okay board members any other questions or comments okay thank you thank you you're welcome anything else from superintendent that concludes my report okay we've now come to the public comment period for for questions or comments on agenda items I think well you know our protocol you have two minutes to speak please if you have a question or comment come to the lectur uh introduce yourself uh confirm your Glenridge residence uh I believe my friend Kristen will time can you time thank you uh and if you have a whole host of questions please uh say them all in advance so that we can answer them hopefully in the order in which they have come uh any questions or comments thank you okay board members let's go on to our business um okay um committee and liazon reports it is the very first meeting of the month uh so let's go uh start with our student representative you can speak from there mag thank you um so last week we had the club Fair which went very well we had over 40 clubs show up to promote themselves a highlight would be the voter registration table where around 20 seniors registered to vote student council also hosted rer day two weeks ago which was very exciting and successful the senior class voted on the project graduation theme last week which which is The Lorax our sports teams are in the middle of their athletic Seasons where they're seeing a lot of success the girls volleyball team is first in their division boy soccer is has a record of 82 and one and girls soccer has a record of 73 and one both teams seeing big wins tonight and the football team had a really big home win this weekend with their new head coach College visits continue including some schools like Vanderbilt University of Vermont Syracuse Villanova and many more and the college fair will be on Friday the 18th the PSATs are coming up with Juniors taking it on the 16th and sophomores on the 17th yearbook portraits for grades 7 through 11 will be taken on the 15th and peer leadership classes will kick off this Friday and I think I speak on behalf of the rest of the peer leaders when I say we're all very excited to meet our eighth graders the homecoming dance will be on Friday the 18th and is being organized by the student council and will be followed by the game on Saturday at harell so a very busy month ahead very exciting events thank you thank you moving around the circle uh Heather I don't have any updates okay Darius hi so um so H's H school had their first meeting for the school year on September 17th Dr Harris principal of Central School shared the Fantastic programs for the students this year including capturing kids hearts that you just learned about um plus the level up village where the um where the second grade was um was connected to a school in Zimbabwe looking forward Central's Fall Festival is scheduled for for um this this Saturday October 5th from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. um and that will be at herel field Central's second annual M and crumb is scheduled for this um Friday October 4th from 2:30 to 4: p.m. in The Learning Garden uh school pictures are scheduled for Thursday October 17th and um Friday with uh the makeup day Wednesday October 23rd and finally the next home and school meeting is on Thursday October 24th at 7:30 p.m. okay thank you Anthony no F okay Joselyn oh here so should I update on the uh personnel and policy Committee just just that we're there yeah since David's not here we're meeting uh next week on the 9th at 1M um the negotiations committee does not have any updates and no update for us but Grace as Mr Arlington mentioned is having its first meeting of the year on the six at 700 p.m. in the Forest Avenue Home in uh multi-purpose room so please join and and you'll have the special guest to to listen to thanks okay the grd is having quarterly meetings rather than monthly large group meetings they have committee meetings in between so nothing to report from them um down yes oh dual your turn oh great sorry I was just looking at my notes uh Forest Avenue Home and School Association met on September 11th right after our last meeting um and Mr Murphy of course gave his capturing kids capturing kids Hearts update to the parents uh he also revie reviewed um security and safety measures the Hib process how parents can help at home um quite a number of the events that were discussed in our meeting have already happened such as the book fair um back to school night school photos Discovery has started and um actually today the costume Drive is beginning at Forest Avenue school so if you have any Halloween costumes lurking in your Corners that are too small um they'll take them uh their next meeting is October 8th which I'm just realizing conflicts with our um mini retreat I'll work that out um last night the Glen Ridge Educational Foundation had its double header of its annual meeting and it's regular meeting and uh um we elected our new crop of Trustees which were actually our old crop of Trustees they just renewed and our officers as well were all reelected so we have the same two of them right here in our audience um the same uh uh list there um we had a lot of administrative items quite honestly and the biggest headline is that the Ashton felter race is coming up and we are looking for family sponsors and we're also looking for corporate sponsors so please have a think dig deep in your pockets we're also working on some special perks for corporate sponsors that will be new this year and um uh yeah we'll be working on that now thank you thanks Kristen thank you um the Glenridge Visual Arts Association is looking for new members and parent volunteers for the school year as REM reminder the grva is a parent-based organization focused on supporting high school students pursuing Visual Arts careers and their focus um or their fundraising efforts help provide Merit Scholarships Awards and art supplies to um to those students interested parents can reach out to grva a.info gmail.com if you'd like to get involved um for the Gaslamp players rehearsals are underway for the uh fall shows stay tuned for information on how to purchase tickets for their bigf show Folly performances are scheduled for November 22nd 23rd and 24th uh the lynon Avenue home and school met a few weeks ago um Dr Caravella kicked off the meeting with um a welcome to parents and a recap of um of everything happening at the school level um the HSA um had a um a great recap of their fundraising efforts for the year all of which are dedicated towards uh their playground Renovations um for events there's a lot of overlap with forest and Central um the book fair went well they did note it was coupled with a fun and engaging author visit from the authors of dragon girls um many thanks to um our local community partner watch Young books sellers for their help in organizing that event the homet school also hosted a fall movie night last Friday at Freeman Gardens with inside out to candy popcorn and um other fun snacks Discovery classes start next week um the annual M and crumb fun fundraiser is underway um I believe the cut off for pre purchasing is tomorrow the second they are offering eight and 10inch mums in a variety of colors and they're planning a bake sale and other funfall activities for um the day the mums are picked up which is next Friday the 11th um also similar to Forest they are hosting a um annual Halloween custume Drive um with accepting new and gently used costumes masks access accessories and pales that's um they're partnering with uh New Jersey cares and and moving forward they're um planning for school photos next week or in two weeks I'm sorry the Pumpkin Walk on the 24th which is always a lot of fun and then the Halloween parade of course on the 31st and then their next home and school meeting will be on November 13th so lots of fun stuff going on in Lyndon thank you Tia thank you the middle school high school um HSA met this past Friday morning um let's I'm let me hit the ones on which Maggie has not hit or I don't want to duplicate so the guidance the parental guidance presentation happened on Wednesday or Thursday this week um I think uh Mr laa said there was about 300 parents on that or 70 parents on that call you know so it was a great turnout for the the guidance um presentation kudos to the GU the guidance team they laid everything out and it was a it was a nice turnout and a lot of questions answered um CL fa uh small group freshman meetings occurred um within the first couple of weeks of school uh there was a Noah NASA um representative um that came into the robotics engineering class so the students um got a chance to ask questions and learn about no and NASA um we hosted uh some Chinese students and I think they are leaving soon but they they've been here for a couple of weeks um so and they and we also had the Chinese Honor Society induction Thursday night um the leadership program not peer leadership but the leadership program in which Mr Phoenix has started this is started last year this is year two for him so so um it yielded some good results in the first year and he's looking for some um recommendations of some business book or leadership books in which he can share with the students so if anybody has any in their repertoire um reach out to Mr Phoenix small group class meetings occurred in Middle School um they're also doing a peer mediation group led by the Juniors Miss Mundy and Miss Riley those two U guidance counselors are spearheading that um more information to come about that if you have questions reach out to miss miss Monday and Miss Riley and Project Graduation 25 chairs have been selected and our very own Deval gram is one of the chairs for Project Graduation 2025 that's it okay thank you and congratulations toal's footsteps okay uh you have in your packets the minutes of the Board of Education meeting on September 10th exec session and regular session um are there any changes to either set of minutes does not look like it would you move the minutes Jocelyn I move M1 I have a second second second from Anthony uh Barbara would you call the role Miss Z and wandy I Mr Bonnet hi Mr Denard yes Miss gotle yes Miss Graham yes Miss O'Neal yes Dr yarus Ramos hi Miss Ginsburg yes motion carries okay we have some administrative items um terisha would you move the administrative items I move A1 through A4 okay may I have a second thank it from Jocelyn um Mr Harlington would you just give a brief explanation of the nursing Services plan sure it's required by the county and the doe so it's a document that helps guide and inform the way we respond to different different medical emergencies or issues or conditions across the district um our nurses collaborate on the plan and then it's approved by the county and the do okay uh the motion's been moved and seconded um Barbara would you call the role Miss Akim wandi I Mr Bonnet I Mr Denard yes Miss gotle yes Miss Graham yes Miss O'Neal yes Dr yarus Ramos hi Miss Ginsburg I motion carries Anthony would you move the Personnel items I move P1 through p15 okay thank you Jocelyn um personnel and keeping with our rules is uh discussed in exact sessions so that being the case barbar would you call the role Miss zakin wandi I Mr Bonnet I Mr donad yes Miss gotle yes Miss Graham yes Miss O'Neal yes Dr yarus Ramos I miss Ginsburg I motion carries and now the curriculum item I didn't forget hea would you move the curriculum item sure I move the field trips and see one okay may I have a second I'll second was that you V okay thanks to v um any question on this field trip engineering students are going to Montclair State it sounds wonderful okay Barbara would you call the role Miss zuen wandi hi Mr Bonnet hi Mr Denard yes Miss gly yes Miss Graham yes Miss O'Neal yes Dr Yos Ramos I miss Ginsburg I motion carries okay um business items um let's see who should move the business items Heather would you move the business items sure I move B1 through b okay I may have a second sorry plus the agendum on okay now you Kristen you seconded sure okay um and I would draw your attention to B8 donations uh upon the recommendation of the superintendent we accept with thanks the generous donation of uh supplies for a pollinator Garden at Ridgewood Avenue School soil container and butterfly weed plants and paint markers and all kinds of things from the Glen Ridge environmental advisory committee Amanda mccab and poly Murphy thank you to them uh very much for this the pollinators thank them also uh from the forest lyen and Central Avenue Central School home and school associations monetary donation for food catering for all Primary School staff for capturing the kids Hearts training Professional Day in August uh for a total of just over $1,000 so thank you to the home and school associations for that I know the teachers and administrators appreciated having some lunch uh and now um business has been moved and seconded Barbara would you call the rooll Miss zakin wandy I Mr Bonnet hi Mr donad yes Miss gotle yes Miss Graham yes Miss O'Neal yes Dr yars Ramos hi Miss Ginsburg yes motion carries okay it's now time for the second public comment period for questions or comments on agenda items or other items pertaining to the running of the schools uh the protocols are the same step up to the Lector identify yourself um give us all your questions up front and you have two minutes does anyone have a question or comment good evening my name is Charlie Brin I have uh one child in Glenn schools one child out of Glenn schools and um good evening um I wanted to rise just because I noticed that this is the third year that we have a student representative on the board um m twente who I happen to say I'm pleased to know personally as I've known I've been lucky enough to know the others and hopefully for a few years I'll keep knowing them and that I won't know anybody so more but I think one of the things that's been really great is that the representatives that we've had have been really great students who I know are very active in their communities so I just qu to question the board of you know where do you see that student voice coming in it's been three years and from the public standpoint it's like it's great to hear about like like the ridger day was great and it's a great day about the football team but if this is just a position that we're using someone to tell us what we kind of already know about all the good things is there opportunities for engagement between the board and our student representative is a student representative really empowered to explain to the board what the students are feeling at the moment I think there are no um there's no restriction on what the student representative can tell us and so we trust a little bit to your discretion to tell us if there's something on your mind um Beyond uh you know what you report to us so I think that um you know we would never put a student rep on the spot by asking a question cold um and we trust you if there's something you feel is necessary or your your uh corre that you would bring it to us but certainly we are always open to conversations with our student Representatives the student voice is very important I have to say that yesterday I was at in Trenton at a very contentious three and a half hour hearing and at the very end some very patient high school students who had waited for the whole three and a half hours to speak got up and spoke on the need for free access to library materials and they were so eloquent and so brave uh you you can imagine yourself as an 18-year-old High School 17 18yar old high school student standing up in the State House of the state of New Jersey in front of a senate panel and an a audience that had participated in quite a lot of Mayhem prior to their speaking and they spoke bravely and eloquently and it almost made the whole rest of the hearing worthwhile so it is the power of student voice so you are always welcome thank you can I just add I know that this is the second time this was brought up I thought you I think you brought it up once before um Charlie and we did discuss this um at one point maybe at our Retreat and um one of the recommendations or uh comments in which someone made I don't know if it was me or someone else is that maybe we can help the student Maybe by doing a little coaching so they feel comfortable and speaking about things that are happening within the school because I I do understand your point it is just like a recitation of all we are what we already see on the IG page and um what happens in the meetings so maybe a little coaching might help the student feel more comfortable and really discussing what's going on within these four walls um from the student perspective yeah in my two minutes but even just to say I hope that you could even bring her in privately as the case may be can I add to that please uh we certainly we could it's certainly a possibility can I add to the conversation sure I'm sorry um uh Maggie and I and Julia had the opportunity right before you your first inaugural meeting to meet discuss a little bit about like roles and responsibilities and functions and then we also talked about it at the communications committee meeting one idea we wanted to uh vet out was the possibility of the communications committee meeting regularly with a small group of students including Maggie and Julia that um Mr Lawler would help to organize we talked about Mr Phoenix's leadership group maybe that being the group that the communications committee meets with but that might be an opportunity to engage with your position and your role and then maybe in this forum report back on some of those conversations in that more intimate setting that we have uh I think when we met to Maggie we talked a little bit about how we can use some student voices into Infuse them into the cell phone conversation that we're looking to have this year so there's definitely a spot for you and your colleagues peers in that in that conversation too so we have been discussing how to leverage the role maybe a little differently and so uh we hope to firm that up or those ideas up over the next couple months as we explore new possibilities thanks TR okay any other questions or comments hi uh Fran Wong and I actually have something to say about this um last year during strategic planning there were two student representatives in in the group and they were very in in engaged in the process and spoke quite freely and oftentimes in front of their own teachers uh and I I was intimidated myself I thought they were so eloquent like the students that you were discussing and I I think that they um offered it and a great deal to the the conversation and um some of their suggestions were inde implemented agreed Fran thank you any other questions or comments all right that being the case may I have a motion uh to adjourn motion move by Anthony may have a second second by Darius thank you thank you all for coming