##VIDEO ID:xq-mPDmOyHM## to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all do you notice that this meeting has been provided to the retr and The Courier Post as legal ads on January 5th 2024 M billingley here M Dey here Mr Kendall here Mr Le here Richie here miss Rodman here miss SC here here section two can I get a motion to approve item 2.1 the regular meeting and work session minutes from September 19 second all in favor scull do we have any correspondents no we do not all right we are moving into section four this is our first public comment section of the evening this is for comment for members of the public for the board of education on items included on tonight's agenda you have a comment pleas state your name and address for the record seeing none we'll move into the superintendent's report okay I'm going to just turn it right back over to our our Architects and our construction management firm Bruce and Scott um this discussion was TBL in work session and they're going to present to the board on the state of the referendum projects will be question and answer as well good evening everyone um so the presentation you have a couple of handouts um the first of which is is uh the one with the newer logo on it um I'll try and be brief because I know you have a lot to talk about and please jump in with any questions whenever you want uh so this handout in particular uh represents the overall reference project um it's all the different components um as we are pursuing them right now um on the first page you'll see that uh some work has already been completed we had the drainage pro project and the uh sewer pump station were completed already the flooring project in the elementary schools is complete except there's a little bit of painting they're going to come back during the N convention we no reason the school to finish that up was it good thank you they did a really nice job everything came out really nice which is the one with the dividing one which has div uh JS and Edison both them um so that there's um the the next uh couple Pages um there are things that were showing quickly uh that that are a slightly higher priority that we're trying to get the design and uh bidding uh completed for those so that we have more flexibility and more options for the district as we move forward um the first of which I'll talk about is uh the tennis courts so the tennis courts are um we're looking to bid them out uh a lot of the design is mostly complete right now we got all the due diligence all the earth work um investigative work is done um we're hoping to F that out shortly you know before the end of this year or No Award before the end of this year as well um we've already received our Soil Conservation permits so we're ready to go uh that's going to be done through a co-op because it's a a particularly unique um construction we need to make sure that we get people that are qualified um did you want to go over the test I go back okay um the next issue is the uh the the as the football field um we're pursuing that aggressively as well uh we're currently working on some more due diligence there's some more earthw testing that needs to take place as a matter of fact it's happening tomorrow um we have designed uh well underway for that the hope for that is to have that out to bid later this year before the end of the year um for an award either the end of this year or very early next year um we're we're pushing aggressively on that with the um the objective to have that done before summer um the next item is and please jump in uh the next item is the high school middle school so this is kind of a catchall uh this is the the bulk of the referendum Pro I didn't go into any detail on that um design is still happening on that we're hoping to potentially go out to bid before the end of the year on that um but that has State approvals that we have to get that we have no control over so that's going to dictate where we're at with that the hope is that we start in early spring on some work that can be done that's not going to um disrupt the regular school uh curriculum uh so that we can work while students are here um we'll go into much more detail on how that's going to play out as we get closer um the next item goes with the uh Stadium uh which is the sports lighting right now I have that kind of scheduled for summer but we we feel like we can expedite that and get that done I don't think that'll be very invasive um they'll just kind of come in the the the length of time for that is really in the fabrication and the ordering and the delivery they go up relatively quick so it won't be too disruptive um and we can do that whenever we're kind of uh we're kind of dictated by whatever their fabrication scheduled I ask the question how many lights are going to go around I don't know yet we haven't gotten that far in design so the the vendor that we talked to is going to do uh a lighting uh investigation and and determine their proper candle power make sure it doesn't bleed off of the site or anything like that so that's all part of that package the engineers the engineers have worked with them we're just waiting for their feedback right now and then you know go is exate that so we get it done soon as possible and then um the next item um is summer projects in 2025 so these these projects will start construction after school ends uh after uh for the 2025 um so we have two simple projects one is reconfiguring the the road in front of van skyber and creating new parking um we're still working on that the intent is to do that in concert with the high school entry which we have prelimary designs on both of those projects we're going to bid them together for better economy scale um to one site work contractor and do those both and and they should be relatively simple jobs um that we should be able to get done in in the summertime um there are a couple of there are a couple of different design options we're looking at for V Sky we've interact a little bit with the town ultimately we have to approve it and we're looking at those options uh we should have more on that probably by your next year and is the anticipation having that done before school starts yes the row away yes that's that's the goal so we want to start as as early after school ends as possible so we can get that done is the I know that you guys run a lot of stuff in the summer months is that going to are you just going to Pivot someplace else M yep um there's also some other work that um is taking place in the schools mostly H creation see a little a few cosmetic type of things um uh one of the things we're looking at right now that we're working with uh the district to do is um expedite some of the the purchasing of some equipment because the uh delivery delays are the most difficult thing for us right now especially when it comes to HBC equipment I mean they tell you that it's going to be delivered you get a week before it's supposed to be delivered and they say oh it's going to be a month later so we're always dealing with that so anything we can get done sooner rather than later is to the district Advantage so there's multiple things uh for the high school middle school and the elementary schools that we're going to try and purchase ahead of time so that we don't have to rely on somebody else's delivery schedule when we're trying to get done at the end of the summer um and then the final project is the lower uh lower Rino Fields um right now so we've done a lot of due diligence work out of the site um mapped it out um we have to go because it's a large site we have to go to DP and get a determination from them on what their requirements are we're in that process right now I believe the uh applications above them filled out so it's just a matter of submitting that and then getting the answers back to that that'll dictate how we move forward on that um so that's basically everything I know went through that really quickly but that's kind of the the hierarchy of everything that we're doing right now and what we're I don't want to call them priorities but for right now the priorities of of the PED the ason to get things out but everything is being worked on we're very far along I should say Scott and the engineers are very far along in design and um we'll moving forward with that shortly um I know did you want to talk tennis yeah you also have a presentation there related to the tennis courts so um as we're close to being in a position to get that price uh want to show you what we're putting out there so there's three images basically the first one obviously the existing courts are being demish uh the second one the new courts that come back in will be a post tension concrete structure as we' talked about much more durable much more long lasting and becoming the norm when it comes to Denis Core Construction because they do hold up better than the asphalt courts do um the profile is slightly larger so the courts are being spread out a little bit more currently your courts are about 9 ft apart um the layout that you see there has them 12 ft apart which is the minimum per US Tennis uh guidelines and um but that requires a slightly bigger footprint and that's why there's a um some improvements to the drainage sale there's going to be retention uh short retention wall that would be at its about 78 ft at the highest deepest if you will um that will be necessary because we're going to push into that sale as it exists right now a little bit and um you know we should be in a position we are pricing that several contractors through the co-op because the post tension is a fairly specialized uh type of construction so we want to make sure we get somebody who's got experience in doing that with tennis courts and um we should have that ready to go uh fairly shortly over the next couple of weeks are we locked into this yet I know had discussion today about varying views on how far apart the court should be spreaded are we completely locked into this or do we still have time to kind of sharpen our pencil to get the design kind of if we decide to change the dimensions when is the time well if we if we need to change the dimensions um we'll have to look at it obviously we would have to adjust the drawing okay um you know locked in we're not locked in until going on the ground no potentially uh potentially uh closer together so design spreads the court out more according to the USDA recommendations um but the courts that we' have we haven't had an incident report in 50 years I think we don't play doubles we just might want to put maybe put some signage that doubles play shouldn't occur on courts that are next to each other you know but if you're just playing singles you have more than enough room between singles court and singles Court I think I think if there's wor some conversation I you know I asked our solici to look into it too from a liability uh lens in terms of you know what's our liability you don't spread them out more but spreading the more we spread them out the more we're going to have to move the fence do the retaining wall the costs are go significantly higher if we have to do what we have to do it um but I think it's something that we need to proceed cautiously on in both directions is it a recommendation or is it a requirement it's a recommendation then I mean my humble opinion is that we're not what's the bank for the buff then right is if it's a requirement let's do it if it's a recommendation and it's been working become a requirement though then we have to redo it yeah but we' only have to redo it if we change the tennis court right so yeah so it's a recommendation right just to clarify I believe but I will clarify that okay yeah I'll make sure cuz it seems like an awful lot of expense to gain a little bit based on a recommendation and what is the the distance um between what we have and what the recommendation is we have about almost 9 ft and they you have 9 ft I can from that um recommendation minimum is 12 uh the US dentist Association obviously says you that's does it restrict the type of competitions we could have on the courts no I I don't believe so the one thing that I I would if we kept the footprint that we have okay so first the first question you need to ask is why is it 12 feet they want 12 feet from outside line to outside line of the doubles alley okay when we do our match play my recommendation would be that if we kept the courts as is we we would not play doubles on ajacent course we would go doubles singles doubles singles that's the case you have your 12 between the end of The Singles Line and the start of the doubles line so I think it's worth looking at a little bit more before we go I think that the diagram the Great Scott and Bruce have done incredible work um you know what that was slated for you to report on later in this meeting you know how fortunate we are to have um these guys working on this project and the attention to detail has been excellent but I do think in this area consider same that would also simplify like the timeline too have to be building all that so A get short the construction Scott we have to make changes to that retention Bas based on this so what you see there it does if we keep the footprint the same I'm not sure we have to make those Chang is there anything with the post tension concrete that requires extra square footage is it the install or anything else that doesn't require extra square footage they obviously have to have a couple of feet of work space outside of the court but you're going to have that anyways um regardless of how you PR to save the money put that in their back pocket in case CU we know we're going to need it for other things I think it would be helpful to know those different yeah well can we work on a cost differential for us if we set same putot and that's we have a meeting in two weeks right determination there and in the meanwhile we get if we're assuming additional liability from our solicitor to see what his recommendation would be and this is I'm just putting this out there for no other reason is just for conversation I was with the mayor of Cherry Hill last week or two weeks ago and one of his biggest complaints is pickle ball and pickle ball noise in the neighborhood yeah I'm not saying good or bad right or wrong I'm just saying they had to shut down courts in the neighborhood because of the pickle ball noise so yeah I'm not for it or against it I'm just saying from a neighborhood perspective is just a so here here's what U by Design the two courts that we designated for pickall are the fur away from the houses they're not true pickle ball courts cuz it's a tennis net so I don't think this is going to draw 100 players right the lining is also going to be a light gray which will allow for some play but and we could put signage like no pick ball before this time of day or after this time of day you know dust in or something know also building I have no dog in fight I'm just saying like maybe go there first cuz they'll be done yeah didn't realize it was that big of a dividing topic passionate topic School are differents the ns are lower so it's it's not as easy to play on a tennis court this is going to draw like some recreational again I think it's just one of those things that you know my house on cuper is noisy as heck so I hear all nothing but noise so I just don't want the F folks in that neighborhood that if it's a complaint then we're going to hear it so just courteous or just thought okay any other questions Scott is there anything by the way this looks great that part Marie mentioned that is there any thought on doing something similar to the front of this uh even if it's just shadow letters on top of is this we could we could chly look at that so we're working on a a final version of thiss great we'll have a rendering for you shortly yeah cuz that I mean that makes it look like it's new right yeah so what we're what we're moving towards which would make it a little bit different than what you see there is U is basically think about a mesh screen U which is which will really be metal with a lot of perforations in it perforations would be varied to show the notes the graphics but it's a simple construction we think it would be much easier put out so forth so we're looking at that right now we'll have an update thank you Jim I feel like it was you at one of the meetings that was talking about like adding Flags or something right like to like the top like just almost like something like to represent like the hanging hanging down like this yeah like a a vertical ban that maybe would just even represent different activities we have you know have here at the high school just something to maybe add to that that entrance I just think if you're going to do this entry point we should do something on that just to even if it just says Hi in Township High School so CU as you drive around the col stack you're like oh here it is where's and now that I follow the signs from down the road to get to the high school that's yeah can look at that any other questions okay um again just want to acknowledge for the pleasure working with our architect and the construction management uh firm on this exciting project and good things are com uh next week I'll be Distributing to all hand Township parents a flyer that was uh developed for a virtual HIV presentation what's unique about this presentation is being delivered from organization called njpsa that's the New Jersey princip principles and supervisors Association historically njpsa does professional development for school administrators this is a fairly New Concept that they're doing something specifically for parent parents on bullying and it's going to be we're going in concert with two other districts haddenfield school district and Berlin burrow we're splitting the cause with them um so this will be specifically for our parents so parents can understand the hi laws and um student rights and the responsibilities of school districts uh Etc we've not had a lot of bullying here uh in our school district but these things pop up from time to time and awareness and information is good so that's coming soon next challenge day um some of you participated in challenge day was a huge success Mr greeway and this this Rising did the both of the work for the planning implementation of challenge day uh and Kevin is here tonight and he's going to speak about his experiences and highlight some things that he believes is uh import that the should be aware of K you're up Kelly's here too I I saw your head off sorry stick out a little bit so um to talk about challenge day we kind of have to go back to almost a year ago November of 2023 Miss Kellenberg who advises Our Hope Club at the high school and I took 12 students underclass students over to Philadelphia for the ADL youth uh Leadership Summit and we've attended that several years in a row now we'll be attending it again this year the goal of the Summit is to raise awareness among students and Educators about ways to combat bias in schools and we listened to a we're fortunate enough to listen to a holocaust Survivor and hear their her direct message which was fantastic but then we break down into workshops eventually culminating in the day where we meet just as a school group both the two adults and the students to talk about what we can do at our school and the and they guide there's a moderator who guides the discussion but we were talking about you know what issues we're facing at Haden Township and what issues the kids were facing and they didn't really pinpoint anything specific where we had over overwhelming issues of racism sexism or homophobia or anything like that not that they certainly don't exist but um they really focused on just students interpersonal interactions with one another how they treat each other how they converse with one another and they just thought that we kind of needed a Refresh on generally how to treat one another and how to try to understand where all each student is and where each student is coming from so I came back from that and I immediately uh called kelly because we both participated because initially my my first thought was to bring challenge day in and Kelly and I had both participated in challenge day at our previous District so it seemed like a really good jumping off point it's not it's not you have challenge day and proof everything is fixed it's a start it's it's initiation it's a way to begin the conversation so we thought it was a really good fit for us um so again that's going back to November so we started having conversations last December January it it's uh it's a full- day seminar for students and adults uh there is a cost to it so we started soliciting uh donations because there wasn't anything in the budget very grateful all the donors who who uh contributed their money to this particularly uh had of Education Foundation uh we were fortunate enough to get a grant from them so we're very thankful to them for awarding us that Grant allowing us to bring this to uh had the township just Municipal Alliance also worked with us um so the mayor if you see him or are friends with him um they also gave us this substantial amount of money towards this so that was a huge help as well so the the I guess i' say the limitation of challenge day is that we can't involve the whole school the way the the program is designed it's unwieldy if it goes over 100 students the participants just don't get to have the intimate deep conversations that you get when you have that smaller group so one of the first things that Kelly and I decided to do was to look at what types of people we wanted to participate in challenge day the adults we were very fortunate obviously we'd love for all of our teachers and and and all of our staff to participate but that's not the goal the goal is not just for the the school to benefit but it's also for the Greater Community to benefit so um we called other schools we had representative from neighboring high schools we had community members board members uh members from HTF uh PTA Elementary School staff uh some Middle School staff came to the high school vice versa so it was a lot and that's just for the adults as for the students that's where it really became tough in in trying to determine which students we include at the high school level we really wanted to focus on the 10th and 11th graders because they're kind of right in that middle of high school and again it's it's a jumping off point so we wanted this to continue on through having it in October we didn't know the ninth graders yet so we weren't really sure how they would be uh how they would respond to it so we focused on the 10th and 11th graders and along with some 12th grade student Leaders The Selection was done with impa uh excuse me input from counselors teachers and administrators and then students were invited to participate it was certainly wasn't mandatory in fact when I talked to the students I said if this seems like it's not for you it's probably not for you and and and we'll give respon somebody else but I'd say the majority of kids that were invited were excited to participate the middle school we basically did the same thing the program is not designed for sixth graders so the youngest you can go is seventh so we focused on seventh and eighth graders uh for the challenge St program at RMS but we kind of just look to take a cross-section of the student population um so it's really you know we tried to make sure that we had kids from every demographic and that we were participating in various types of activities throughout our school so students from the musical but also students who participated in broom ball or tennis club and we're more on the athletic side um yeah so then um so we were fortunate to get maximum participation like I said it goes up to 100 students and 25 adults and we maxed out participation in both of the sessions but what is it what is challenge day it is I'll give you a super brief synopsis but it basically starts there's some Icebreaker activities the the presenters there's two professional presenters that come people have asked me like why couldn't you just run challenge day I could not do this it's it's super strategic how it's done it starts where the they make us they made us dance um but they make the the adults they make the adults dance but it's to it's to show the kids that it's okay to be a little silly to start and then as the day goes on it goes from it's okay to be a little silly to it's okay to be a little vulnerable and be open in and to share and then as they and then the presenters really start to open up and they share their personal stories which really kind of models for the students it's okay to be real and be honest they present the iceberg model of uh Behavior where the iceberg above the water the 10% that you see that's what you see when you when you pass people in the hallways or or see them on the street there's a whole 90% of every person that you don't see that's below the water line and then the rest of the day is really the goal they say is to lower your waterline to allow yourself to be honest and be real with in some cases strangers and it's pretty unbelievable I did both days so I did the Middle School day and I had a group of middle schoolers who were fantastic and they were very very honest and open with me they don't know me at all um so hearing their stories hearing what they're going through uh was really really it's eye opening for me but but it's even better for the students to see what other students are going through uh and and and the just the idea that everybody has their own story and everybody has so much going on behind below their waterline and I'd venture to say too that it's good for the students to see that as adults like we can be vulnerable so the staff also participated in some of those activities and opened up and it enable them to see that even though we're the adults in the room right we all have things going on too and there's 90% below our water line that they're not always saying and so really the challenge is for them not only to lower their own water line but to acknowledge that there's 90% of of what you see in somebody that I'm sorry 90% you're not seeing of someone's personality and to recognize that in your interactions with them you know and to really hone in on treating everybody with kindness and respect and empathy because you don't know what that 90% is that you're not saing so again as I mentioned it's a jumping off point because from here it's I know some people had asked me afterwards they're like well what happened everybody was crying it it was good crying it was it was it was a realization and and not everybody but it it was an emotional day and I think part of it is you hear about things that people deal with you know discrimination and um you know mental health and things like that but then when you actually see one of your students or one of your classmates who opens up and there's various ways that they do this um it's it's very very real and it's very tangible and it's very right in front of your face this is what people are dealing with so uh after challenge day we met as both high school and middle school staff uh this past Monday during our inservice and really was a brainstorming session how do we get this message from the 100 students at the high school and the 25 adults out to the other 500 students at the high school and the other uh 200 or 300 students at the middle school so we're looking at planning some activities uh some messages I think eventually High School when we when we do have everybody in the auditorium together I think we will kind of try to pay that message forward and do some uh initiatives at the high school and working with the middle school as well I think we're going to plan some things together Middle School is planning a bulletin board we're hoping to work with the high school students on some of that who participants from RMS and participants from high school and maybe they can do something together um and then immediately following that day just so everybody's aware we didn't just like send them all out um we met as adult participants with each of our home families which were four or five students we made sure that they were okay before they left for the day and then the adults met with the two facilitators and um in both sessions we had counselors that were there and members from Child study team and so we discussed whether there any you know students that we were concerned about and then our counselors are currently both high school and middle school following up with those students that participated in the day so it's not like we have this emotional day a roller coaster and then sent them out into the world we are following up with those students as well so yeah it's one day but we're hoping that it has I mean I I would almost say with certainty all the participants in one way or another are impacted and changed in some way but we would like it to be more than that it would be great to do it in the future but obviously there's an expense to it and and I don't know if it's an everye thing it's it's a heavy lift and and I don't know if it is best suited for that but it's definitely something we want to keep in mind in the future if not for future sessions just kind of that message and keep that message carrying [Music] forward nice questions about that or do I have to wait uh H yeah we probably should no public no question from the public but at the end of the meeting I think you can make a comment and if you have a question sorry it's just that's okay rules rules that's all right good thank you thank you folks just Kevin and Kelly should be acknowledged not only for challenge day but two remarkable assistant principles Vice principles uh they Tak upon board this year than ever U addition the workers about equity and challenge day and school culture um they are co-chairing as school safety Specialists um and they're articulating very strongly now between our middle school and our high school so acknowledge the work that both them have done and you can see the quality of the adors that we have uh in our district so thank you for coming out tonight folks for the work that you doing all right uh Joe and Mara uh welcome back to Second eting pleasure getting to know you it's your time to talk to the board about some things that are happening from the student perspective in in in the district so floor is yours I guess uh first off just building off of what Mr gu and U Mrs ryzen said um about challeng day um from a student perspective um just like talking with different students and just people that I interacted with at challenge day um the general feeling was that it was one of the best um assembly type events that we've ever had at the school I feel like in terms of um just like the overall um impact it had um just the engagement of of the students participating and like the enjoyment they were all just like exceeded all categories um it was I'd say almost everybody was completely engaged in it and um were just like really responsive to like the messages of the two presenters and just like the overall meaning of the event and I feel like if the goal um or if one of the goals was to bring the student body or at least the 100 people there closer together I feel like it definitely did um just talking I was talking to miss miss Burke earlier who had a a big Parton challenge name is Kellenberg and um I was telling her that um just like noticing people that I talk to in my group like I I still um like I speak to them like even after the event like I see him in the hallway I say hi to him like ask him about things that like I like people I would have never interacted with before and I've noticed that with a lot of other people but yeah I thought it was a great success from that standpoint I agree I think it was just very moving to see how vulnerable people were but how okay they were to be vulnerable with one another I think that was super powerful and to create such a like a safe Community was um super important and it it went a long way at the end and um it just it made it the HTS Community stronger I think and it didn't just end at the assembly like Joe said I think people are talking with their friends about it but also spreading it throughout the school and they continue to um and it just makes you more appreciative of other people and empathetic which I thought was a great opportunity for us to grow on that um the next thing we were going to talk about was just that sports are in full mode right now and we're um showing up for each other the boys have a boys soccer team has a hat and field night game on Monday that's getting a lot of excitement um senior nights for all sports are going on soon and uh field hockey has their uh traditional AML game coming up which brings a lot of things together and then the Performing Arts they're rehearsing their fall play right now so that's also really exciting and Broadway night is coming up and those are the main things that are happening currently at school yeah I agree with there's a lot of um in the the fall is very um like student event heavy so I feel like um especially for for me and Mara as like student council members we've been trying to just push um like involvement and just like General school spirit um just cuz like there's so much stuff going on we just try to get as many people um involved as possible and yeah especially especially in the fall just we have a lot of things like um we have Homecoming coming up we have um a few Spirit weeks coming up in the fall and then there's a lot of junior senior events like um P the Powder Puff football game um crazy Olympics as well but yeah and then there was also um me and Mara today like if you want to speak about this now um our we spoke to Mrs AR or Mara spoke to M Arabia and Mr Styles about the who are the we working teachers and um cic yeah and ceramic ref Chang yeah so I this is my third year in wood shop I took it my freshman year sophomore year and then this is the I just took a break my junior year but this is my first time having Mr Styles he's great though he really walks us through everything I'm an advanced right now I'm making a treasure chest but it's a little bigger than a treasure chest WR context here for the board so when we met earlier in the week I asked we talked about the B FR projects I actually ironically talked about getting more St student voice into these projects to talk about some of the open field that we still have particularly with the um emergy Technologies lab um and some other and the media center uh so so as school leaders they're getting us some information about what the students would like to see in the spaces yeah so um Mr Styles and really the students in general uh would appreciate some new newer tools we're using some older machines right now but um so our Joiner is pretty old and our um our planer is also really old those two are main ones that are might need an update soon and then other things we talked about is a new 3D printer would be a good addition because it wouldn't just um incorporate the wood shop but also if we wanted to build on more stem classes that could be a good addition and then finally another thing was the utilizing the old auto shop and um he talked about involving new trades for the school because I know we talked to Mr fiso but um just trades are continuing to grow and it would be a good opportunity for more students to be experienced to that and then a sorry I'm sorry I also talked to Miss Arabia and she talked about utilizing the kind of Garden area that we have outside for an outdoor classroom which could be used during school or after school kind of like how the media centers use for kids to go out to and it would be a good place to put um to like the students artwork and she talked about making it a sculpture garden which I thought was pretty cool and also involving both the Performing Arts and visual arts to outside to kind of bring those two together whether we were going to make a theater kind of um set up out there or something like that you know traditionally we meet uh the week of the board meetings but we had some discussion in work session tonight about other areas that involve student voices in particularly for the senior class so if I can get on your calendar next week I less than me you give me one slot 7:45 a.m. but uh if you get back to me or Mrs Ruda look for at the end of next week we can slot me at 7:45 some other things we to talk to about thank you all right all right one of the things that we've uh discussed is the previous years the student report has focused primarily on 12th grade and um these folks are giving more the vertical you know 9 to 12 perspective but at a few meetings ago somebody said you know what about the eighth graders right you know are we going to get information from our middle school students so we've identified two middle school students B shedaker and faven Jackson who our board reps are going to be kind of mentoring uh behind the scenes so you could also make a student report from the Middle School each month so this month I have their report and I'll just read couple few things briefly U but going forward you'll provide a voice from the middle school as well um so uh Bella and fav are excited to start the year we talk about all the activities that are happening we speak fondly of the character strong Program Camp dark Waters the water I social which had very strong attendance um there excited about the Fall Dance that's going to be scheduled on November 1st and they're mentioning some field trips that they're also eager to participate in they are very excited about having Friday music in the in the cafeteria which is something that the high school has right Friday playlist uh of Music in the cafeteria and uh they also gave me a suggestion they said things to work on for the school district heavy traffic in the eighth grade hallway so a lot of them are carrying heavy backpacks I don't know why kids aren't going their lockers especially in the middle school but I mean they're carrying heavy backpacks so we have to do something about that so something to maybe some investig work you guys sounds good yeah and I might add one of us at the table is homecoming queen both both both homecoming court but congratulations thank you thank you I think I think that's it for my report thank you folks [Music] oh is that seven that's in seven y okay the data score data yeah moving into section six presentation so we have our test scores presentation short I might have to turn off the lights so that you can see the screen a little bit more and I might have to put my rers on see I just want to do a quick little is that clear to you guys or do you think we need to turn the lights off not the margin sh the highlights no the highlights are they're very clear only to I think Ally and me Ally his like supersonic Vision but do you want me to turn the lights off I think so yes Jimmy can just keep the keep the um the camera on the screen if that's okay yep okay [Music] okay so each year and I will try to give you the highlights and um if you have questions just feel free to to jump in so each year we present on the previous um State assessment data so we look at multiple benchmark assessments look at the Statewide averages our district Factor groups which I'll get into a little bit later and that's comparing us to similar districts to ourselves and Str and Improvement opportunities so bottom line up front or a little preview for you um we are outperforming the state and most districts as I've said in previous years our goal is it's nice to outperform the state but we want to outperform ourselves so that's really what our focus is on um amplify we implemented at the middle school for our Ela and that has really shown us some great benefits and our students are writing every day I is our math curriculum at the elementary school and the students this is the second year we're entering into there was a pilot year so we're really getting acclimated with our I ready curriculum student cohorts so same students different grades looking at that from a longitudinal perspective math we're trending in an upward Direction Ela we are definitely having growth as I stated before with our amplify um curriculum we do still have some continued work in informational text and writing and as Dr physico stated earlier there is a transitional period that we're seeing obviously from fifth grade to 6th grade students going from not receiving grades to receiving grades going from longer periods to shorter periods more courses switching classes so looking at that we have some continued data analysis that we need to do and some groupings and provide some additional support as they transition from elementary to middle school and we do have some growth in the Science assessment world all right so looking at math we're 2024 for the New Jersey student learning assessment so the njla the highlights on this screen it's a lot of information the state does require that we present on all of this information but just to provide you with the highlights you will see grade six here if I can get my to work is there a pointer on here Jimmy yeah the little red butt the little there's a red oh never mind do you answer your slides so you can no it's okay I'll just talk to it but thank you um so grade six so our we're at 44% um meeting or exceeding so level four or five in our mathematics those scores the previous years previous year when the students were um fifth graders we were at 64% so that is what I'm saying about that transition year so that's a little bit of a decrease for us obviously looking on the opposite side of that a highlight grade seven for math we are at 63% previous year we were at 51% so we have growth there and this was the outlier that Dr physic Cara mentioned earlier grade 8 math you'll see we're at 24% and then when I looked back at grade seven like oh wait a minute we were at 57% I literally panicked but then I looked I'm like okay there's an outlier here with the state obviously the state assessment was more rigorous the entire state was struggling here we are still outperforming the state we're at 24% versus 20% in grade 8 math but again we're not competing with the state that's not you know our end all to be all um but that was an outlier so I'm not going to um you know we're going to obviously focus on our curriculum and align it with our standards but I was able to calm down a little bit um after looking into that a bit more I'm sorry shant did you say that the eighth grade test changed for this year can I speak to that absolutely if you look at sixth grade level four do you see that 4 44% yeah okay so no one's thrilled about that 44% go back that sorry it just it's like very sensitive okay but if you dig a little deeper and look how the remainder of the state did the average score was 36% that means that was a much more rigorous test than the third grade test which is the state average was 48% so something in that test either the way it was scored or the actual questions were more rigorous because it's the 12% less achievement across our state so we're not pleased with the 44% there but to put it in perspective you have to look at the state average the same thing is true in eighth grade math but there's another variable there besides that the test appears to either be scored more rigorously or is more rigorous the other variable is we have a high percentage of students in eth grade that take alra one they're in the algebra one results they're not in the GR8 at math test results that's correct right Chantelle yes so be careful of drawing conclusions that may not be true you really have to understand how to utilize the data there's no alarm on this uh is in terms of what I see our students are see our performance seems to be going up or down along with the majority of the state depending on the Dynamics of the test that's that's what I'm looking at right now yes that's correct and um poor Mr siki had to get like a couple of phone calls from me I'm like Andrew can we talk about this again so question question so just really quick so I see the 29% for RMS taking the algebra one and if I'm not mistaken that 2324 cohort in Algebra 1 of e8th graders was even higher than the 2223 cohort so that could be yet another confounding factor for that dip on the eighth grade test yeah is the 79% derivative of algebra one the kids mean it seems why everyone else is 99 and 70 what's the why only 79% because they is it the 29% that that they're taking yeah there's a divide there because they're not all taking just gr map 21% taking one so it's definitely interesting to look at the different facets and to look and kind of Del into all of the data and look at the different stories um but overall which is why I wanted to kind of do a bottom line up front this year um I was really very pleased with where we are we definitely you know have some things to work on but we have a lot of things to celebrate as well when I was a young School Board member we used to say the test tests with the test tests in other words you know they're all different it's for a specific thing these tests if you know what I mean like so there's so many variables as you say and that used to be we said 32 years ago the test test with the test test it's kind of like a wise guy way to say it well and just take that a step further with our new so we've switched over from link it and they have phenomenal uh data warehousing we switch over this year to encourse which gives us our data an analysis for different benchmarking or the data warehouse I should say so we can analyze and it's a little bit more user friendly for us to dig in there to see the exact questions on benchmarks and um different pieces of the puzzle this year and then can analyze different test questions break it down are students struggling with open-ended responses or certain ways that certain questions are worded so that we can address different Trends as we look into Benchmark as assessments and things like that down the line so yes the test does test what it tests but exactly and you can't blame one group that they bombed or something because the test was different no if we not being clear not teaching to a test by any we always want to we were going to align with the standards and make sure that we are growing our students making sure their graduation ready but it is important for us to make sure that they're successful and they understand what they're going to be presenting absolutely so if we look at El Ela here um our highlights on this slide for 2024 our grade four um earned 73% in level four and five so meeting or exceeding versus themselves the year before at 53% um grade six again that transition year 55% this um 2024 versus themselves the last year at 66% again that's just them coming from elementary World longer classes different set of standards um increase rigor in the middle school so I'm not surprised by that grade seven these students for ELA 68% um meeting or exceeding versus themselves at 62% the year before and grade 8 they're 59% versus themselves at 58% the year before in English language arts and again our amplify um curriculum resources is really serving as well the students write every day and have access to 700 um text in the library so we're very pleased with that we're still in Pilot mode with amplify um just to our due to our budget but we will be solidify solidifying them as our vendor of choice next year sh look at that fourth grade again on the right hand what's that fourth grade up to 73% from where were they in third 53 that's remarkable growth for them to grow 20% as a cohort and B 22% points above the state we should probably look into that was were any variables there that we could differently pilot anything you know we might want to have a conversation offline about that okay the other numbers on both of these slides that I think are remarkable and I would be remiss if I didn't note is the percentage taking the task like those 100% don't just happen like that's a lot of work on behalf of the administrative team support from family is following up with kids who weren't there on test day like so that's something that I think sometimes it's easy to just be like oh yeah all our kids took it that that doesn't just happen so that that's truly commendable that's a good point and I honestly don't Focus so much on that part but you're right because that doesn't happen in every district and it does take a lot of effort for um for teachers and admin to follow up for those who are sick or you know not available that day um but we have a very determined and dedicated staff so thank you for mentioning that all right now if we look here for 2024 20 2023 24 math here's our proficiency comparison so where we were 2023 versus 2024 so again we're still outperforming the state and ourselves and we've discussed there are some improvement opportunities when we transition from elementary to middle school and then um there is some opport opportunity also in grade five that I want to explore a little bit within um the math world and then if we look at Ela same outperforming the state and ourselves I'm going to actually skip over this one I want to look at 2024 school and grade this just gives you a breakdown of our elementary schools middle school and high school um just gives you a snapshot in a little bit more detail across the bottom you'll see the district compared to the state um and it just goes through each of the school levels can I ask a silly question why algebra one in geometry and not other math factors say that again well this says it goes to gr eight it says algebra one and geometry but why not other ma it's school right I mean is there could you take other math in nth grade well that we have later on there it gets into like your statistics and things like that they're on other slides the state this is everything that the state provides us with and then for the high school specific courses or later on in the in the presentation they don't I I could add them here but they're on a different flag just asking question yeah yeah there's an AP stats and that's further down standardized test school yeah no no understood I just I'm just asking the question other than our Benchmark transition we're not doing any nwea map testing in middle school at this point correct no we're doing we did link it last year and we're doing on course this year okay so I'm just looking at those algebra one p numbers and I know that the map scores in the past have been a significant factor in determining who moves into that particular track in the middle school and we're showing pass for those kids at the end of sort of that stream I mean that seems like a pretty good predictor so I would want to keep our eye on that with the transition to link it like now that we're seeing those other cohorts come through to make sure that that's a fully strong predictor yes so we switched over from map um we didn't have map last year it was the year before last year we did link it and this year we're doing they're providing all course is providing us with the same assessment benchmarking assessments as on course as I think it was okay and then if you look at 2024 Ela again outperforming the state I'm going to keep saying that amplify really is um showing his benefit I keep saying that I will continue to sing those praises and then the other thing that I want to highlight is here you'll see in grade nine um our students were performing at 60% meeting or exceeding versus themselves the previous year at 49% so I definitely want to celebrate um our high school nth graders and then if we look at the math proficiency comparison so this is the cohort um same students different grades so 2023 compared to 2024 and it's across the board in major content additional and supporting content modeling and application mathematical reasoning and overall we are outperforming ourselves if we look at Ela the cohort we're for the most part outperforming ourselves however we still have some work to do um there were slight dips when it comes to informational text and writing conventions that we still have to work on and written expression I mentioned this last year this isn't a surprise as you know the art of conversation isn't always at the Forefront of um everything in 202 24 but now with our amplifi program and our writing that is occurring daily and our fontas and panel program um I do think that this will continue to increase it's not a significant dip but it's still you know a dip um that I would like to see change the challenge day to kind of loop that in a little bit that was the day no one could have their devices and it was a I felt like I was back in the '90s we were able to have a conversation nobody had access to their phones if you had to step out you could but it really um was nice to see that level of conversation so I do think that um that also translates into you know written word so I do think that we can increase this as we continue to get deeper into amplify all right I'm going to go into subgroups it I bolded and you might not be able to see it just wanted to highlight a couple of things here so this is the data where we look at who is um meeing and exceeding level four or five um in our subgroup population so a lot of our students with um 504 plans we are meeting them where they are and they are um performing very well grade three um at 70% so students who have a 504 plan they're actually exceeding even our our district level and so I just highlighted a couple of things there here's where I think we still have some work to do um are economically disadvantaged our students with IEPs um our Hispanic and Latino population and this is where we talked about earlier in our meeting how we meet the needs of some students who show academic gaps We are continuing with our after school instruction program we're continuing with our summer enrichment program and making sure that these gaps are addressed and continuously addressed throughout the school year in the middle school as well for example they have not only the after school instruction they leap and win where some needs are addressed we have um tutoring program so there are some celebrations here and then some continued work to do and then if we look at Ela same thing um we have our 504 plans third grade 60% of those students uh are meeting are exceeding 63% in grade 6 and 63% up from 59% in grade 8 so some things to celebrate also in our Hispanic third grade population um we're at 73% meeting are exceeding and that's above our district which is 60% for that particular grade level now this is usually where I paint the story of the Science assessment is given it's usually you know an assessment that we have to take it's usually you know some sort of a sample assessment traditionally New Jersey does not do that great on the science so and they'll in years past it's because of the pandemic because of lab exposure because of um access to rigorous um heat so all of those things you know are still in play however I was excited I'm not going to hang my hat on it but I was excited that our district did perform um again yes we're better than the state but that's not where we you know where we're going to get super excited but from last year we at 30% in grade five and this year we're at 43 3% so I thought that was you know exciting as far as the Science assessment because usually it's not a story of an increase grade 8 we're at 26% versus last year 16% and grade 11 41% versus 40% so again something to celebrate there we have not arrived but we definitely um making some strides there and then the DFG data so this is where I could get long in a wormhole and I'm going to try not to bore you to death um so This Is Us compared to other districts similar socioeconomic status so we compared ourselves to nine other K through 12 districts and the data is from 2223 so it's always a year delayed I don't know why and it's they don't update it you know as regularly as they used to you kind of have to go through a back door to get to it but I do think it's information that is helpful so I did Apple to Apple so us 2223 versus the other districts 2223 so we're outperforming yes the state and most districts um this slide goes through Ela grade three and math grade 3 all the way through grade six I want to highlight the next slide so in 2122 so I know that's Tak us back a little bit um we were at 41% in ela grade 8 and now in 2223 went up to 49% okay I'm curious to see and I know I have to wait for it but what the 2324 data looks like now that we have amplify I think it's going to just continue to be an upward Trend um so I'm excited to see that okay before I get into the multilingual Learners and I'm going to go pretty quickly from here there any questions so far just more of a statement 20% of eth graders in the state are barely sufficient in science one it's a reading test it's not a science test no it's just but it's just a shocking number I mean all the talk about stem doesn't seem like that it gets down to that level right I mean and maybe I I don't know anything about these tests so I have no idea but it just seems kind of almost defeating like you can't I mean we're 20 we're over 20 but the state is under 20 I mean so and I think like I said science is always it's honestly that has been a concern um it is a reading test it is a rigorous test but you also have to think like in elementary school we do science and social studies we're dividing our time so you know that's another what is the science test isn't it the last test that we give yes there's some test fatigue in there there's a lot like I mean I'd be happy to talk about it CU we just analyz it all in my district but but Jim right down to like honestly as kids are trying to navigate like their iPad or we have Chromebooks there's first of all the test is data it's it's it's reading interpreting data right it's not necessarily the actual science concept um so yes reading plays a huge part in that but there's also tabs things that kids like you have to like click on this tab read here so the questions here there's like two tabs you have to like taco back and forth with me that a lot of kids don't even it's a matter of Lear learning how to actually take and navigate the technology of the test so like so many factors um you know trust me like we we go through this like you know and and also for the eighth grade test it's 6th seventh 8th grade so it's material from 3 years so it's not just like 8th grade you know what I mean so I could keep talking to you all night about this I will not I won't take over your thing but I I totally get like there's so many factors that go into and test fatigue as well you know as being like the last test and there is something on one of the last slides that talks about again not teaching to the test but teaching test taking strategies and the computer usage so we actually just for kindergarten students not related to science but um with our I ready there's a personalized my path but you have to use your iPad to you know do your diagnostic well our kindergarten students a lot of them aren't you know ready to do that so we're doing paper pencil and then we'll do the technology portion to get them on my path in January once they're a little bit more acing it but that takes you know time it's really having them be familiar and comfortable with whatever that testing environment looks like so but that's where we are in 2024 um so it's and there aren't a lot of you know options and I went to take my mom to get her driver's license when we moved and I she's 85 you know this was she was probably you know 77 at the time renewal is there a paper pencil option for The non-tech Savvy farm girl no you have to do the iPad I'm like she might not do well so we had to do a tutorial on that and they're like you can't help her I'm like I'm just trying to tell her where the on button is so there's a testing environment you know that we do have to account for for all Learners so the next piece is the multilingual Learners so this um this these are ell students the new term that is used now is multi lingual learner so MLS and we have 27 students um they take a test for speaking writing listening and reading in order to test out of elll services or ml Services you need to score 4.5 um so this is the range of scores our average score right now is at 3.3 um for students and they our ell staff or ml staff is doing very well we have several students who are at like a 4.3 4.4 so we have a lot of students who will um test and increase that throughout the year and we had several test outs last year I actually had a high school student called me over the summer uh because she received a letter state just with her report saying here's your report she called because she said no I'm sure that you know the teacher told me I test it out and I don't have to take it anymore and I'm like I'm so glad that you're being proactive and an advocate for yourself um but you're you know testing Outlet is a separate letter that goes out in a different time frame but um the students are excited to get to that point where they reach that 4.5 and uh just can focus on their their other courses so that program is going very well with an um elementary elll teacher and a high school middle school elll teacher looking at Dynamic learning Maps this is the dlm so this assessment is given for students with the most um significant cognitive ability so they do not sit for the regular um njsla even with accommodations so it's a different test we had seven students take this test three in District and four out of District you can see the range of scores there on on the bottom so Ela It's a combination of emerging or approaching the target math is a combination of approaching emerging or Advanced and science is a combination of approaching and emerging so those students are showing progress as well all right so everybody in here is familiar with the PSAT let me just show you some quick data from here our 10th graders um our head in Township mean total score is 939 which is the differential is 37 above the state and 38 above National levels and for 11th grade we're at 993 the differential is 46 above the state and 17 above the nation SATs again um this is changing slightly um I what I wanted to highlight here really is the percentage taking the test um did decrease from last year to this year because it like schools are test optional now but our scores were still above the state and above the national levels so in uh reading and writing we're at 5:31 differentials 30 above the state and 41 above the nation and for math we're at 546 27 above the state and 36 above the nation we're typically top toward the top of the county right yes I could not find the county score it has been published at well it's coming yeah but um our students do well and I you know still appreciate them you know obviously taking the assessment we don't know how long a lot of schools are test optional from here on out a lot are saying okay it's definitely for this year next year so we'll see where where it goes um from here but our students are doing very well all right this was where I got a little bit most excited and I'm sorry for testing you so many times but I was just super excited um our AP highlight so bottom line up front here additional enrolled students in AP courses we have 74 additional students from last year to this year additional AP test taken we have 107 more tests were taken and then with a score of three or better we had 92 tests with a score of three or better higher than last year so 83% of our students earned at least the three or better on their AP assessment so I think that it's something to really be s I was super excited about that I can see your level of excitement out there too like everybody is just may not be exciting as challenge day I all right and what I wanted to highlight here for AP um US government and politics definitely still a huge interest we had 24 students taking it last year 55 in 23 24 you know 2223 versus 23 24 100% scored three or better and and uh Jim to your point here's your AP Statistics we had 27 students in 22 23 23 24 there were 32 students and our score through better went from a 63% to 81% of course we have more students taking it but they're also doing well while they're taking it and New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment math data this is just who graduation ready our 11th graders took this in March 66% of our students were graduation ready at that time we make sure that our students were graduation ready before graduation obviously um if for some reason they need to have a prep course or some additional support we provide that in the ELA World 87% graduation ready and as far as our graduation rate we're at 95% um sorry this should say 23 24 and last year it was 94% so our graduation rate is increasing and here's our our summary I am going to kind of skip ahead a little bit so now what are we going to do we're going to identify our patter any patterns and Trends Target those learning opportunities utilize the on course data to do our data driven instruction with our teachers and our admin we just had a whole encour session during our PD day of how we can dig into that data more and create small groups and look at all of the um testing combinations question combinations to make sure that we're meeting our students where they are and then make sure our students are well-versed in test taking strategies so that they are comfortable when they're taking an assessment we're going to create continue to create engaging learning environments Target that data do our data driven small group instruction continue our learning extension programs after school to during summer programming uh and if I look at the high school it's pretty much we're doing the same pieces of the puzzle throughout our district engaging learning environment small group and whole class of for making sure everyone's ready for graduation obviously tailoring our math exposure and skill-based instruction and ensuring we have robust literary experiences so that informational text we spoke about vocabulary writing conventions and written expression in Middle School we're going to continue to utilize encourse data to create small group success provide that additional support when needed whether it's Exel ation or Remediation in leap and W skill-based instruction targeted PD and um increased amplifying keep saying it increases our growth the teachers who are utilizing it um to the fullest extent are having the greatest growth and we're going to solidify that relationship and make them out of you know get them out of the pilot mode and sign that contract for next year and then in elementary continue to utilize I ready the my path learning and personaliz the learning it meets the students exactly where they are gives them a lesson specifically for what they need optimize learning environments with building thinking classrooms that's what a book study we did over the summer to make sure that students are thinking first before they learn and really getting them engaged in the learning process continue to focus on measurement data fractions and modeling and reasoning and then language arts we did grow and our literary character development theme and main idea which were goals for last year so we're going to appreciate that and then continue to work on our information and literary text writing and writing conventions we're piloting mystery writing this year so that help would help should help with our writing and professional development we're going to have some small group guided reading ping and then we are also going to throw out the peer observation opportunity so I because we don't have grade level schools so we may have a single you know um second grade classroom so I if I'm interested in seeing a another classroom let's say I'm a second grade teacher and I'm teaching a great lesson on um in my Ela class I can post it and then if someone else is interested and they're available at that time they can come over and see my my lesson it's not going to be a requirement but this is something that we are looking to create the opportunity if someone's interested just so we can see what other people are doing because we may not have the luxury of just peeking that store um because we may only be the single grade level in that building and it any questions just a comment I think that you know we're continuing to be really proud you know we're not satisfied but we're really proud um you know like we said the test has limitations but it's really the only common measuring stick that we have and when you see our students continuing to increase in proficiency um you know I think it it gives it gives us all um C that the students are receiving quality education um and you know that's the result of quality implementation quality leadership at the school level quality teaching staff dedicated work force so all the the nuts and Gos in the effective School District seem to be kind of working together to produce solid outcomes and outcomes that seem to be going in the right direction each year that we look at this data again we're not satisfied but we're very proud good job shot they very deep down excellent this might be you guys want over you did a great job okay thank you but here's the thing the state requires that you go through all these levels so maybe I shouldn't have put my time on there because I could have really met my time if it wasn't a requirement you know I'm a rule follower um but no I appreciate and I appreciate all of our admin team because they all help with painting the story and um all the day to tell the story so I just appreciate all their support so thank you echoing Bob's comments we all agree I think thank you yes thank you CH thank you do you want this all right moving into section s Financial facilities uh did the financial facilities committee meet this month we did I have to get my eyes pre focused uh we talked a few things mainly what we discussed uh already the turf um just gave the update on the the the construction part of it uh the only thing that to to highlight would be that there was the PSG audit is being finalized for Energy Efficiency so we should get that we'll bounce that back off of what is in the referendum to see what we're doing right now yeah um and I are working on that and then anything else John I missed kindergarten oh the UN the unused funds for that part for 300K where you guys are 292,000 under 300K I have it written down under 300K uh but they're coming up with options on how to utilize those funds but yes not on uh Personnel uses enrichment yes thank you and we will approve the transfer of those funds for those say in item 7.1 yes great all right can I get a motion to approve item 7.2 through 7.13 second any questions roll call M Billingsley yes M Desi yes Mr Kendall yes Mr Le yes Mr Richie yes M rman yes M yes yes moving into section eight instruction program I will over to mrsy for the thank you so um professional development took place on October 14th some of the things that were the focus were I ready presented to teachers to review features of the program and allow for questions teachers unpacked a new module for the inquire Ed program and plc's focused on data exploration for subject and grade level um back to school night went really well um between um you know Dr kakaro and Mr shter they actually either combined or separately attended all um seven of the back of school nights and the feedback from our brand new teachers to the school district was very positive that they're adjusting well and that they're you know overall their their school year is also a great start um intervention services all students who qualify have been identified we have about 147 students who are receiving um services that qualify through our elementary schools um let's see um our district has decreased um a need for support starting in our grade level three so that shows us that any of the you know the service I'm sorry after grade level three right so four and five we've seen a decrease in our number of students that have required um intervention services so that just tells us that all the measures that we're putting into place are working and the supports are are helping our students for cultural proficiency um continued planning is ongoing at the staff and student levels um I know that they you know uh they talked about challenge day and that was you know a huge part of of going into our um cultural proficiency um our HIV information I know um Bob these said a survey or a flyer is going to be going out for the virtual par meeting is November I have November 13th and it's Zoom right it's going to be on Zoom um but we did have uh staff members from each school did or will be attending an anti-bullying specialist training to go along with um you know to tie in with the parent night and uh let's see report card indicators so Mrs shter um has met with our Administration and they are streamlining streamlining comments based on teacher feedback for our Elementary uh report cards that's it great thank you all right we have no items to approve in Section 8 so moving into section nine Personnel I'll turn it over to your committee updates thank you so our committee met yesterday we reviewed most of the content of that meeting during our work session this evening um but just a couple of highlights um we discussed some staff needs of absence um and we have 14 policies and regulation guides on the agenda for first reading this evening the majority of which are mandatory revisions um so these were reviewed by our committee as well as draro and the leadership team um just to highlight a couple of areas they relate to code of ethics sportsmanship vandalism bilingual Ed um sports related sports related concussions and injuries um and right to privacy so we don't have anything on for um second reading for approval um but these will move forward to Second reading next month um the versions that are attached all have track changes so if you have any questions don't have thank you can I get a motion to approve items 9.2 through [Music] 9.25 second any questions M Billingsley yes M Desi yes Mr Kendall Mr L yes Mr Richie M rman yes M yes the SLE yes moving into section 10 student services and activities can I get a motion to approve items 10.1 through 10.13 move second any questions roll call billing FY yes M ji yes Mr Kendall yes Mr Le yes Mr Richie yes M rman yes M St yes Miss yes moving into section 11 policy as was stated we don't have any items to approve in 11.2 and so we are going to move to section 12 which is our public comment section um this is for comments for members of the public for the board on any item it does not have to have been on tonight's agenda this is where comments about challenge day um or any other topics that have come up or all people's minds would be relative if you have a comment please state your name and address okay than get my address too yes uh marielen Fitz Patrick T Brin Avenue in hav Township I have one student at the high school I have three graduates um and one subbing right now um so I have a couple points um the challenge day so I it does sound like it went really well my child did not participate and to be honest she didn't really seem to care about it I did have concerns because she mentioned a couple days beforehand oh you know on such a such a day it's challenge day and I said oh field day already like in the fall I thought they do it in the spring so we didn't know anything about it and then the things that I heard before and after were concerning and so my daughter said well I didn't get chosen only certain kids got chosen and I said well how did they get chosen well they were chosen for their leadership qualities is what so I don't know if that's what you said but this is what other kids were saying well I got picked for my leadership qualities so other kids were wondering how that worked then we heard that they did it because they got lunch from Chick-fil-A um if they participated then we heard afterwards that kids were crying in the hallway kids said they cried during the day that they were not allowed to talk about it it was confidential people shared secrets that no one could talk about so that was concerning for me especially when I hear about kids talking about mental health issues what professionals were there to handle that and then how is those uh the children's confidentiality ensured especially if they're adults from the surrounding Community which I didn't realize also participating so if that's going to happen again in the future even if my child doesn't participate I would still like to know what's going on and then what are the other kids who are not included what are they being provided that day because it does seem to kind of exclude a lot of kids too or at least they were maybe made to feel excluded by some kids who were saying well we were chosen and you weren't um and then my other question um and I'm going to go back to an old question for me is just that where does the district stand on Staffing our elementary libraries so I really don't know any other District around here that does not have librarians can you answer me or that's just you're going to put it on generically I will we love that probably not the best budget year to answer that question in uh you know we've had to make significant Cuts reductions in for the areas that we would probably bring back 23 years yeah we would probably bring these other areas that we just recently reduced back before we went forward um but it's just a matter of you know limited resources right we're fortunate enough to um live in a community where we can get volunteers from the PTA and we have a school media specialist that certified grade K to 12 that can go down and provide lard instruction but one specialist covering seven schools is really listen Str seven Specialists would be better right it would absolutely be better we can't afford it right now I have to be transparent honest with you and and I don't see a viable path to get there considering the recent reductions now if there were some type of Grant or a windfall of funding that came our way um Mrs Fitzpatrick I would tell you Dr Fitzpatrick Dr Fitzpatrick excuse me um we could certainly discuss it but the one thing that we have also learned in recent years is that when newon Falls of State funding come and we add programs it seems to just be a matter of time before the funding is then taken away and we have to reduce uh uh program so this roller coaster ride that we've been on it's been an accordion of we're going to add staff and then when we lose money we need to subtract staff has been a really uncomfortable um has been an uncomfortable way to manage um so no one is opposed to adding more sta in a lot of areas including Elementary School libraries and getting support yeah um but but this is the current reality that we're living in so I appreciate all that and I get the budget but like I said I've been here 23 years so it's kind of like you know when should I have a child there's really never a good time that you're going to be able to afford a child when's a good time to get a librarian um I think it would help with the informational Tech scores the media Specialists can help with research even at a young age those students benefit from having those Professionals in their buildings and having it as part of their daily curriculum um the other thing too and I know this comes from a different budget I get it but as a non-sports person myself and you know I come from a family of sports fanatics but I'm not a sports person I see all the time and effort that goes into the turf and the sports I would love to see that time and effort put into figuring out how we can get Librarians and maybe check with other districts and see how they're affording it with these budget cuts well listen I will offer you this though okay well we may not have a certified librarian at the elementary school level in those five schools okay when those students reach this building they will have a state-ofthe-art media center okay uh so you know we are putting a lot of money into this Media Center for complete renovation um and this will be state-ofthe-art 21st century Student Center space to meet those requirement those but the med specialist running it is going to still be covering the other schools too right we we that that's TBA every budget year is different but the actual space since you mentioned the sports facilities okay there's an equal commitment um across the board to provide holistic opportunities for all students okay thank you thank [Music] you any other comments from public any comments from members of the board yes I have a few I just wanted to say um this challenge day Kevin Kelly well from what you presented it sounded very very good and sounded like one of those special things that students will we all have probably had some experience going through high school it's one of those things that you really remember and uh so I can I can say probably you know uh from what I've heard from you it was really a great a great day and just please discuss with with each other as you move forward Dr Fitzpatrick's U statements here but um I think I think that kind of thing is really good you know I remember like special days special things we did one of the things we did was a fast for Hunger kids stayed all night fast you know and then the next morning you know because it was for donating to the cause you know stuff like that go hit McDonald's the next day but uh so good luck good and and then you'll go forward in the future and consider uh Dr Fitzpatrick's comments as well uh for the student reps do you know when when is the when are the dates of the Fall play and what is it um I'm not sure on the fall play I know this year they cut down on um like the the like the actors in are more um they're playing multiple roles this year but I cannot remember the title I know it's about it's noises off thank you Noises Off yeah and they're changing characters halfway through which is a cool thing they have this year they don't change they they're the same character they can I explain what it yeah please basically Noises Off is a play and in the front they do the show they do a whole show and then they turn the set around and it's all the actors what's happening while what's going on they're actually on this side doing the play and the actors are in the background doing all the stuff that they do when they're not in the front so it's pretty cool schol do you know the dates I think it's the week before Thanksgiving be advertis it's going to go out as part of the next District update and Broadway nights the 14th of November November 14 at 7 that's at 6 we start early for that one cuz we have food 21 22 23 yep 21 21st 22 23rd what's 21 November 21st 22 23d the Middle School play is next Thursday and Friday the 24th and 25th and that's the day the internet died that's [Music] the thank you for the clarification the fers um the other thing with the students here the visual arts and Theater Arts maybe musical mixing on this outside space that were were uh developing I think that's cool and uh I don't know if that can be incorporated in in like whatever the Extravaganza changes into it turns out to be you know coming up that would be something cool now not going to have an extra well it's going to be something different then they're donut pops okay cool this be a new way to combine Visual and this outside speak doing something different cool thank you thank you anything else from the board can I get a motion to all in favor thanks