##VIDEO ID:CpfXHGEyp_k## seven seven that's a seven um I'm called to order the Highland Park Board of Education hybrid Workshop voting meeting today Monday December 16th 2024 the New Jersey open public meeting Act was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in compliance with the open public meeting open public meetings Act and the Highland Park Board of Education the Highland Park Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting setting forth the time date and location to be submitted for publication to the home News Tribune and Star Ledger and posted on the board's website at least 48 hours in advance of this meeting members of the public who wish to address the board will be given the opportunity to do so before the board adjourns for the evening may I have roll call please Dr batty here miss Calon here Dr Coleman Dr Pixley miss pruce here Dr scholman Miss Danio here miss baman miss Bor here we are now going to recess to Executive session be it resolved pursuant to the sunshine Act njsa 10 colon 4-12 and 13 the Highland Park Board of Education will now meet in close session to discuss the matters related to Hib and discipline these exemptions are permitted to be discussed in closed session in accordance with njsa 10 Co colon 4-13 information regarding the board's closed session discussion will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exists I move that we recess to Executive session second all in favor I I e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e proceed to right all right I'm I move the reconvene to regular SE uh session second roll call please Dr batty here M helun here Dr Coleman Dr pigley Miss puce here Dr Swan Miss Danel here miss baman here miss bhe here let's stand for the pledge I to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible liberty and justice for all okay we've had one communication since our last meeting um from the Highland Park cpeg um requesting a dialogue on the special education evaluator decision um we now have our approval of minutes for the hybrid Workshop public meeting meeting on November 11th 2024 and the hybrid voting public meeting and executive session for November 25th 2024 I move that we approve those minutes second Dr batty yes Miss calun yes Miss pruce yes Miss stano yes Miss vardaman yes Miss B yes all right we're going to move on to our student representative report okay um from Irving Irving looks forward to um their kindergarten and first grade sing alongs this week to welcome the holidays lead you will be joining Irving this week for assemblies on being a great friend and upstander and Empower our students to be the best they can be and thank you to all the families who donated for operation snowflake to support families in our school so for ble operation snowflake is happening right now please sign up to help a ble family in need for the holidays the Winter concert will be held on Thursday December 19th at 7:00 p.m. in the ble Auditorium for the Middle School The Plan F fundraiser was a big success the parent group running it this running this event was able to raise enough money for a DJ and a photo booth For an upcoming Winter Dance the middle school is appreciative of all efforts and cannot wait for the dance the middle school also has started a National Junior Honor Society program for the eth graders the information for this program is posted on the website under menu and National Junior Honor Society the information includes the bylaws of the middle school and the selection description invitations for students who qualify have been sent out on Friday please be sure that your child fills out the form so that we can review their application the ptso hosted their third meeting of the year last Wednesday the meeting focused on ptso fundraising and there's a presentation from the Ruckers Fame program the middle school students had a wonderful wonderful time decorating their first P doors in a winter theme the winter pep rally is planned for Monday December 23rd the middle school will celebrate all the winter sports teams and grade levels will play games and compete against each other to an extra recess and lastly for uh the middle school they will have a locker opening game that that will be played on Monday uh December 23rd students will open their lockers and there'll be little prizes hidden in lockers throughout the school the middle school has been practicing using their Lockers More which helps students stay organized with their things and their work and that's it for the middle school and now for the high school winter sports have kicked off we have wrestling um girls and boys basketball winter track and cheer please come out and support our teams the full athletic schedule is accessible on our website the high school is already um program planning for the 2025 2026 school year we are excited to offer three new classes next year at the high school we're developing our program of studies that will be shared with students and parents/guardians in January our band Orchestra and choir had their Winter concert on December 12th at the high school auditorium the school had hosted students from Bartles so they could too could share their fantastic Talent of our students coming up we have a holiday fundraiser offering babysitting services on Wednesday December 18th all proceeds will benefit the junior class also teachers and administration have been decorating their doors for the annual holiday door decorating contest on December 23rd the high school will also have its holiday assembly with performances from band Orchestra choir Spanish Honor Society and our K-pop Club lastly a fantastic highlight from our service day Highland Park Global awareness created over 100 bags to donate to an Interfaith rise charity event as a part of service day the students also conducted re uh workshops about refugees and the challenges they faced coming to the United States and students created cards with well wishes to families additionally students in global awareness interviewed one of the founders of tech Nation a nonprofit that offers vocational training to refugees in the United States to understand how nonprofits can started to help people in the United States thank you so much any questions or um comments for our student reps you all right thank you and we'll move on to our superintendent report good evening everyone I have two exciting members of our community to recognize tonight so I'm really excited about that first I'd like to introduce and bring up up the principal of ble Elementary School Miss Jennifer knp to uh share some information about our student Spotlight hello everyone it's always an honor to be here to shine a light on one of our students so tonight we are here to honor Mina and we always like to choose a student who really embodies our school expectations of being kind being responsible and being respectful I'm going to call up her teacher Miss Leonardo and she's going to share a little bit about why Mina was chosen so Mina sat quietly here for about eight minutes and then said where's the rest of the class so it's just really shows Mina doesn't recognize how special she is the rest of the class isn't here today are they it's you right so I wrote Mina is such to stand out in our class she always puts her best effort into everything she does whether she's tackling a tricky assignment or sharing her ideas in class she's super focused and does a great job working on her own showing how responsible and hardworking she is what truly sets Mina apart is her kind and caring nature she's always willing to help a classmate in need share a smile or offer encouragement her positive attitude creates a welcoming and supportive environment for everyone Mina's hard work and dedication has paid off in remarkable ways she has made tremendous progress in her academics and her personal growth it's inspiring to see how far She's Come Mina your determination kindness and growth are a true inspiration to all of us keep up the amazing work you're a star for Miss lipstein and I make sure it's face the other she's like where's the rest of the class yeah congratulations Mina all right next I'd like to invite uh the principal of the high school Dr Christina Donovan to come up and share some words about our middle sex County Coach of the Year hello everyone thank you so much for having me this evening as we celebrate coach Harrison so congratulations to coach Sean Harrison on being named middle sex County Coach of the Year Mr Harrison began his football career as a star athlete at Highland Park High School and returned to the team in 2019 as head coach Mr Harrison embodies the owls Spirit he is hardworking dedicated encouraging and always positive the owls finished their season with their first winning campaign since 2016 if we could put a round Round of Applause for Mr Harrison congratulations coach you deserve it I don't know a terrible uh amount about the football program other than I think there was a small amount of time where we either didn't have one or had to run JV program or something like that so I know um there's been some ups and downs in our athletic programs especially our football team and it was uh just to give a reference when we renovated the the turf out there we have these beautiful candle lights that do some really amazing uh exciting things when you know you score a touchdown or something like that it's like super professional so the first year we had the the new lights I went and I'm like oh I'm really excited we're going to get a touchdown no no no I go okay well to to our athletic coordinator Mr gerin I go what if we get a first down I go can I see the expensive lights for a first down he's like okay so he does it and I think the officials got a little bit mad because that's not protocol they're flashing the lights are dimming they're flashing for a first down I was so excited for a first down and then he made a comment he's like that was H the request by our superintendent and what she says I have to do like that's right so I and honestly it really just means a lot going out and seeing football games this past year you can see the hard work and dedic ation that not only you have for the program and the sport but for the students you are not only a coach but you are a mentor to a lot of them and there's a lot of students just so that everybody knows that you know come to school day in and day out who who might not feel connected to school itself but come because of you and because of the work that you do so it's it's more than just a sport it's a way of life it's a connection to the community um and so from the bottom of my heart thank you so much and congratulations for a deserved honor thank you and that concludes my report a great a great night to to sign us off for the holidays you're all more than welcome to stay for the duration of the board meeting however I know that you have other things to do so feel free to feel free to leave and thank you again all right we're going to move on to public comments the Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this time for your comments board policy number 0167 establishes and regulates the right of the public to participate in public meetings um Angel how many do we have online okay is there anybody on Zoom that would like to comment and with no hands raised we are going to close public comment and proceed to our board committee reports and recommendations I'll start with curriculum and instruction um so curriculum instruction met last Thursday um we discussed Benchmark data for ELA and math um so benchmarks are the uh periodic assessments that students take throughout the year to measure growth and so for this first round of Assessments what you kind of want to see is our students Main maintaining um the performance levels that they were assessed at um when they were last assessed on their benchmarks last spring um and to um for ELA very much so from K to 8 um those students are with the exception of first grade which did see some decline um we discussed some possibilities behind that decline um it could be summer slide which is a a colloquial term for when students lose knowledge over the summer months um or could be that we did receive an influx of students from other districts um teachers are anecdotally reporting that the students are coming in with fewer skills in terms of letter sound recognition um and uh you know the ability like those pre-reading skills that are necessary um so these uh Ela benchmarks um are used to place students into intervention and that's what's been done so we're looking forward to seeing the next round of ela inter um Ela benchmarks in the spring I'm sorry in the winter which would be late January and um we'll kind of see the impact of intervention at that time um in regard to math um math scores were generally higher um than the ELA scores especially in the Middle School grades with the exception of eth um the eighth grade benchmarks are always a little bit different um because students do um kind of split a little bit once they hit seventh grade they may go into pre-algebra and algebra or and then by 8th grade either um again pre-algebra or algebra um so the perform the benchmarks were concerning for eth grade so that's something that we did want to note um and definitely um keep an eye on um and again those scores were used to place students in intervention um and currently there's about 30 students in intervention for both Ela and math at the middle school and it'll be about 40 um for the next term term we also discussed uh field trips there are many many field trips to approve um this month uh they are attached on the agenda I'll just kind of review some um one of them is a Deca trip to Florida um and also to I think it was Atlantic City um we also have trips to the Adventure Aquarium um we have trips to the Liberty Science Center um so multiple trips the kids are going to get to go to a lot of places um be able to Showcase some of their skills as well so um those are attached we discussed two potential schedule B positions one is for tech crew which be a scheduled B position for the high school and the other is a Bartle Green Team um which currently exists and basically uh schedule will be would be to um you know create a compensation system for the position uh for the tech crew and the Bartle Green Team um and we also got a surprise visit from the New Jersey Department of Education for our pre prek program um the doe was very impressed and they noticed that the program was child-friendly um that it fostered a positive environment and that that was active student participation and teacher interactions and that the curriculum that we're using which is uh tools of the mind is being implemented with fidelity meaning that it's being implemented as it's meant to be implemented um and that the preschool program has a robust professional development system um some areas of growth included integrating some Global materials to support all students in the class such as sensory tools or calming centers um and differentiated play P planning and including more multi- language learner strategies and cultural tools like play foods from different cultures and uh stories from different cultures to really engage the multilanguage learners for our agenda items number one we do have our field trick requests we have approval of hip reports as listed a through H we have approval of two job descriptions one is for a culture and climate specialist and the other is for an hbac maintenance helper there is the approval of an option two program and that would be for an ed youer um for 202 um sorry that would be effective for a student for from December 17th through June 18th at the cost of $1,023 we have the approval of some interns um or Junior practicums and observations as listed a through J we have the approval of the 20 24 2025 fall School Bus emergency evacuation drill report we have the approval at number seven of the submission of the school self- assessment for determining grades under the anti-bullying Bill of Rights act so that's when each school does a self assessment on um their Hib protocols we have number eight the approval of a contract addendum for a district Personnel long-term substitutes for CST services for number nine we have approval for the collaboration for a seventh grade science Middle School um unit on ecology we have the approval number 10 for home instruction students a through G number 11 we have the approval of the acceptance for the New Jersey Coalition inclusive education New Jersey's inclusion educ inclusion project technical assist assistance grant um we have number 12 the approval of professional development um under professional development this is all from that New Jersey inclusion project and we have uh for number 13 the approval of Holocaust Remembrance Day assembly for high school and that concludes my report curriculum instruction had a lot of items today um are there any questions more just a comment and we've had this conversation briefly the uh I look at the field trip request list which is very extensive and pretty expensive and not suggesting anything going currently but going forward in the coming year I think we have to look as a board really closely at the cost of field trips a point of portion of it is the cost when when the past we've had conversations about how students are affording it and how we're supporting students who may not be able to afford it then there's also a pretty large course cost to the District um as as we have to pay for chaperon for paying for um uh their flights and hotels and nurses and other things which obviously we need to do but I think we have to really look at that given the the budget that we may be heading into in the coming year and um really thinking uh closely about how we we can uh maybe curtail that a little bit in the future if we need to budget wise the comment thank you any other questions or comments okay um did equity and Excellence meet is there anybody that can give a report we're meeting this Thursday oh you're meeting Thursday okay um finance and Facilities yes we did meet on uh my glasses there they are December the 10th um we had our finance and Facilities meeting I'll just cover some of the topics that we talked about and then um hit the agenda uh Colin was there uh to report out on before and after care um and he he told us that now we're officially licensed both as a child care facility and by the county for subsidies so that process is starting um this week I imagine uh starting with Bartle a columns arranged for translators and child care so parents could come in and sign up for subsidies with the to the county system he's also going to offer some Saturday sessions to help uh people come in and do that um staff at the before and after care has had special education training CPR and AED trainings um and currently he said that there were 292 students in the program last year this time there were 238 and he's been getting a lot of positive feedback from parents he put out some type of a feedback form um and he's been getting some positive feedback uh so things seem to be doing really well on our before and after care uh John reported out on facilities uh the ble walkway they uh we have a project manager who he's met and they're assembling a team including mechanical engineers to begin to uh get get that uh project going um also the project on the ble bathroom has uh is underway or will be underway the our architect speel Architects gave us tile samples so now John and whoever else are negotiating the colors of the tiles at ble um because whatever happens to that bathroom will then be replicated in other build bathrooms as we can afford to do them in in the building um the plans for the baseball field renovation have gone to doe for approval so that's also moving along um and uh John's been looking at companies for the our Greenhouse project looking at kind of I guess plans um almost like templates for what how green houses look at other schools and I'm making he's making contact with other schools as well to get information on what to do there um and then we went over Finance the schedule B positions as you mentioned curriculum or on our agenda um actually I can just go through the agenda might be easier that would make sense okay I'll go through the agenda uh we have approval of the bill list from November 26 to December 16th in the amount of $3,945 th000 about um we are going to be voting to allow allow our board uh business administrator to process an additional Bill list um honor before January 8th since we're not meeting until later in the month but bills still have to get paid um we have a pre treasurer's report as of October 31st our board secretary's report um as we do every month certifying that um uh no budget item has been overextended as of October 31st um same thing with um monthly financial statements that we have sufficient funds to meet the district's obligations for the remainder of the Year budget transfers travel related expenses uh here we have number eight is contractors and again we're uh look we're approving we're voting on outside contractors that can help us as we need it for par professionals or health aids so that's what is Home Care well Home Care has a lot on here also uh if we need a child study team uh fill inss um Social Work learning Consultants ABA and so forth um also a group that could help us with uh if we need we need to fill in a school psychology time Delta te group um uh some monthly training for help in the area of vaping pre prevention for high school peer leadership teams the lead you assembly which I think uh our Representatives mentioned and then we have com number nine is a long list of contractors for professional development for January 27th and also um going forward through the uh winter in Spring it's a very long list which is awesome number 10 is an ice maker at the middle school um which is being covered under our um cafeteria money um and the installation number 11 uh replacement of um the bleachers at ble so we've been we've doing this I think in four stages so we're at the second group of um bleachers to be replaced also the electrical upgrade so those bleachers can move in and out um the baseball field drainage to um we're approving those uh that to be go to go to the Department of Education from our Architects number 15 is a sidebar agreement um uh related to our health benefits when we changed health benefits we went from the public to a private um there was an issue over the summer when student when staff left and they were 10 months or 12 month um whether they had their summer benefits so um Denise and the association has worked out this agreement to take care of that that difference between the two health benefit packages number 16 is oh yeah so the grant these are the preschool um uh for us in order to continue expanding preschool we applied for two grants from the state um both alterations at um at Irving we are accept and we were granted both but we are accepting only one and that one is going to be an interior alteration so that's number 17 to accept that Grant um and number 18 is the the other grant that we were approved for but we're not accepting because in order to accept a grant we have to have 60% of the share we have to have in you know in the bank as it were 60% of the share of that project we do have it but we need it for the ble walkway so we're only accepting one of the grants that we were offered um and that's number 18 and that's the agenda any questions okay I do have one question um the baseball renovation how long or generally does the Department of Education get back to us quickly on those types of things because it is it still possible the drainage might get in before spring season no takes four to six weeks for doe approval and it depends on the weather if the ground's frozen they can't okay and then you can't play on it once they either plant TH or or plant grass you can't play you have to what it the roots Germany German Germany you repeat all that I'm sorry typically it takes four to six weeks for the doe to approve the submitt um and then it's when weather dependent if the ground is Frozen They're not going to be able to work um and then once it is planted or it takes time for the sod to Germany seeds to germinate um and they wouldn't be able to play on it for the season so most likely no promises most likely no okay thank you uh personnel and communication did you officially call that I am now go go personnel and communication we um we met last week on the 10th um discussed a lot of personnel agenda items and then just one communication issue related to um absences and what constitutes an excused absence for Highland Park versus excused for the state of New Jersey um from what we could tell it looks like there were only two ex like officially excused absences for the state of New Jersey those are um religious holidays and take your child to workday that's it so the other ones all do add up you know ultimately toward that Trent treny number um and then we just discussed sharing some communication about that to families because it's it's still a little bit confusing um and then we have the agenda we have number one approval of leave of absences for a through c um number two approval of resignations a through c number three approval of appointments to resend a through c um number four approval of appointments a through U however we are tbling letter M um number six approval of additional instructional assignments um that's for US History one and two world history don't you number five oh and a tiny number five sorry approval of a sidebar for uh Mr Richardson at the high school um this is to Mentor mix Perez as the interim assistant principal for the high school from January 2nd to April 18th then we have number six um a through e number seven approval of professional development presenters for PD Academy that is letters a through J and it is um mostly annual dyslexia training and then um one about communication impairment and that's it for personnel any questions for um personnel and communication all right and policy uh polic policy did meet uh on December the 9th uh for the most part we met so that we could look at um two policies 0131 and 0155 um so that we could uh recommend to revise these policies to match the consensus that we reached at our board retreat on December 5th to move to three uh three Master committee model and one being a committee of the whole um so in order to do that we revised these two policies uh and they are ready for first read um and then beyond that we had an initial discussion about um gift grants and donations the policy and the regulations that we have related to uh when members of the public um uh gift the district uh either money or or an item so we didn't we only had an initial conversation it's definitely something that um we're going to keep an eye we're going to keep on our agenda I think also um there's discussions going on amongst leadership teams in the district uh to see what is the process in each building currently and how that matches policy and what might work better in the future um and then we breached discussion on the 2363 which is you I I say it as a the cell phone policy the privately owned technology um seems to be some action on the state level but it's G to move pretty slowly so I don't know um so it's still on our agenda and um conversations and discussions are going on within the district as well on that um so there's no um nothing on those on the agenda on the agenda are for the first read 0131 and 0155 which is our board committee policies her second read which we spoke about in the past is a change to the field trip uh policy uh which is related to shaon and also the timing for when um people apply for trips and then 8561 is the procurement procedures for school nutrition our school nutrition programs any questions um yeah I'm sorry I I meant to follow up with you about this before the meeting but on the state discussions about the cell phone policy are you talking about like the senator gopal Bill um cell the state cell phone policy is that the the legislation they literally were just gonna go to a committee to research I that was my general read on it do you have more information an oh I just think that that bill requires districts to have a policy and so we're already ahead of it oh okay right to um they they do that does require it but there is also discussion about creating a Statewide policy which the njsba is like please no um please just allow local districts to create their own policy so um you know we can still create our policy but it may be yeah usurped in the future I think waiting for leadership from the state from this it would not be ideal um because I think we're we actually are ahead of what the state might be willing to do um and so if we want to go further than that which I think there's a consensus that we do um we should just go ahead and do that not wait for the state okay we're going to move on to our second public comment um the Highland Park Board of Education welcomes public participation and has reserved this time for your comments uh Angelo how many do we have on Zoom seven is if anybody would like to make a public comment please raise your hand and Angelo will tell me to call on you okay and with no hands raised we are going to close public comments all right we're going to go back to our board action items for curriculum and instruction I would like to move items one through oh before I do this a quick question Denise if someone wants to not approve a trip he going to ask that question a specific trip is there a way to do that um just tell me the trip and we'll know it in in a minute thank you um okay I'd like to move items one through 13 second Dr batty um I'm abstained from number five and yes on everything else I'm sorry I didn't hear you I'm abstaining on number five okay that's it and yeah yes on everything Miss Calon yes Miss puce yes Miss stano abstain from number 10 and yes and everything else thank you Mr bman uh I abstain from number two and yes on everything else thank you Miss bores yes on everything except number one um so I can vote no on particular trips then uh so no on Adventure Aquarium and no on medieval times thank you okay uh finan and Facilities I move uh numbers okay this number one two sorry number one to 18 second Dr batty yes Miss Cassel done yes Miss pruce yes Miss stano yes Miss bman yes Miss Vorhees yes uh personnel and Communications so for personnel and Communications I move items one through three items four except for letter m and then items five through seven second Dr batty yes Miss cassal dun yes Miss pruce yes Miss Daniel yes Miss gardman yes Miss vhe yes and policy I move uh numbers one and one A and B and two A and B second second Dr batty yes yes Miss calun yes Miss prce yes Miss stano yes Miss vaman yes Miss Vorhees yes okay we're going to move on to board liais on reports um I'll begin I attended the Board of Health um meeting last Thursday we I shared uh information on our Universal screening pilot um and the um placement of students into intervention after the um re you after analyzing the screening results um and oh anybody else want to share anything from anybody they meet with I have you I was actually able to make it to commission for univ Access and I think the only really pertinent piece was there were some Vehicles blocking access to buildings and there were some really good communication between the police and um the administration um and those seem those issues seem to be resolved um but they were blocking uh access for students with special needs I believe um and so those were taken care of and and so there's just some acknowledgement I think uh that there was really good communication between the district and the police department was seem to be addressed and um my knowledge those are continuing issues that's it oh no I said I did attend a the middle sex uh our our County School boards associ association meeting and they were talking about um the budget process they were highlighting think sville and another District um I was interesting but I felt that our our budget process was as you know as uh uh uh transparent and open as theirs is they talked about administrators reporting out on each of their budget areas and um and they went through their process I I was comfortable with what we're doing even though it was interesed to hear the others that was really it I have something for the human Relations Committee um want me to share that there the New Jersey Division of civil rights is offering multiple free virtual trainings um and they're aimed at preventing and addressing discrimination um and I can send the link so we can send out the information uh there the bulletin and the other thing is that there is a youth um what is it a youth competition for no Hate In the Garden State um where middle schoolers through high schoolers can either individually or together as a group um create a campaign um to Showcase how you can combat uh bias in your community and I can also share that link with you as well okay um next I think is the president's report um we received a notification that um there there are invitations for public comment on school funding in New Jersey um these opportunities for public comment are um scheduled around the state um the 1 is December 17th if you're not busy tomorrow from two from 2 to 4m um it is at the New Jersey Department of Education in Trenton um and then there's a date on January 8th uh January 14th and January 16th um we can actually share this information in our board bulletin um you know if you have any feedback on you know adjusting how schools are funded in New Jersey this is a great opportunity to share that feedback with um the Department of Education are they all two to 4m the other dates as well no there's one that's 6: to 8 um there's 10 a.m. to noon and another one that's 6 to8 and I do think that there is another method of Outreach as well um there are comment forms seems to be I wonder do you know if students could submit a form or not POS writing campaign yeah I'm not I'm not positive on absolutely have to be 18 un no it doesn't it didn't say that anybody couldn't no they absolutely can yeah that would be awesome yes it would be awesome okay um that concludes my report any old business any new business okay in that case I move to adjourn second all in favor happy holidays everyone happy New Year see you in January