##VIDEO ID:nK6te6a-5mg## good evening everyone thank you for joining us this evening pursu to the open act notice of this meeting has been provided as follows by having time date place of posted on the board and the administration July 11 2024 by sending a copy of noce to the St Ledger newspaper and the local Source on July 1124 and by fing a copy with C Hillside and Public Library July 11 2024 we have announcements our super [Music] report buses good good evening to everyone evening Welcome to our August 2024 board meeting superintendent report is as follows first of all I hope everyone is having a good evening as we are closing out the summer months recognizing that this is a very joyous time for many of our students and families as they prepare transition back into new school year would like to say before we begin thank you once again to all community members parents staff those who came out to last night's Community Forum that took place at H Edwards Community School I hope that the session in time was very fruitful that you gain some information that can help you as we launch this new school year I would say we have a little over 100 folks in attendance I think that that collectively speaks values to folks who are preparing to get their children and their their families back on the track of coming to school 180 days of school that's how much you do here in Hillside New Jersey I'm definitely confident that we are going to make this great year for our Scholars and they prepare for their life as postsecondary Citizens in this great Township and beyond our report is always as follows our commission and vision of our district our priority goals reminder that every month we should be thinking about some of the things that impact our communities whether it's health related or other for those that did not know remember that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and it's also Suicide Prevention you look at the current research out there suicide is on the rise many of our communities a lot of it has to do with the mental health needs that many of our folks in our community are [Music] experiencing this year the district has made a commitment to making sure that we are aligning our work to these three core values core values that may in nature seem simple but core values that speak values to how we should make sure we are operating as an organization and alongside the five priority goals these three core values are going to be rooted and held with a level of high expectation across all aspects of our organization from the central office level District level department level School level all the way down to the class level for those that have been here long enough to understand sometimes it may not seem like it but our priority are the students clear communication what we should aspire to have in all aspects of our organization I will acknowledge that we internally realize that there are some challenges in this space while we know there are some growth points there are still several areas that need to get better and integrity Integrity speaks to levels of transparency accountability having the community feel that can trust their children and their emotional intelligence with us so those core values you will see often in fact on September 3rd we hopefully have a surprise for all of our staff 500 plus that operate in our district where you will get a chance to Showcase this these core values will also be visibly displayed throughout our district in a variety of ways so again students first clear communicate clear communication and integrity during the July board meeting I put forward the expectation of how our students should perform when they leave kindergarten through second grade I won't read them but I'm going to say that this aligns to the instructional academic goal that was set forth last year for our first grade classroom and this year kindergarten and second grade are going to be held to the same expectation of meeting a bench a standard of not growth but proficiency and Mastery the one goal that I want to draw everyone's attention to is second grade in the second grade we said 85% of our second graders in both the content areas of language ARS ly and math will demonstrate Mastery superintendent how do you have that goal where did you come to arriving at that goal well last school year our first graders left meeting approximately 72% Proficiency in Mastery 72% of our SEC our first graders that tells me that if they continue to grow we should be able to hit the 85% Mark relatively easy it's going to take work but it should happen relatively easy so these will be also mentioned every month we already have strategies in place to make sure it happens we've had some great conversations with one of our vendors that we've been in Partnership for years but we Double Down in another way and that's Scholastic we began with Scholastic live camp this summer and we also now have we be bringing mentors into the district to work with our students we have tutoring services that will be taking place during the course of the school day and we also have family to to School connections that will be taking place so we're not going to let this be a goal we reached by chance we're going to double down to make sure that we do it in the most efficient and effective way for our students this is some announcements I want to share with you I'm pretty excited about the first one thank you Hy the first one H for summer school participation might be a little small to see but I just want to highlight something I'm very proud of and I received a phone call this week from several parents who were already asking about next Summer's stem offerings this year as part of our cares our money our final installment of the money we used it to engage our student in stem activities and offerings and I'm very proud to say that the participation was very high we have a dual enrollment agreement with Thomas Edison University based out of Trenton New Jersey where we are doing design and Engineering with a focus on carpentry we have been in partnership with drones and several of our students have receed some drones and we'll be continuing with drones as part of the work around engineering and science he have engineering your way that we participated in our early childhood students participate in bbx which is a form of coding micro bits similar Lego steam Park if you did not get a chance to see the designs that many of our students made just using Legos but it's a part of engineering and design and a lot of mathematics and Brent Hall was targeted for our student students who are multilanguage Learners making sure that we tap into something that was very unique to them and they felt comfortable in that space brick motion was similar to Lego scratch Jr and scratch scratches and scratch Jr are Amazon Partnerships that we have Amazon BW up we just were brought into the scratch family and part of an international group of schools where we were participating in collaborative efforts but this is coding and this is coding where if you got a chance to see our students last year participated in coding in our early childhood grades we're going to extend that out now through our fifth grade classroom but this is introducing our students to coding that by the time they get to the middle school and high school they've already become very familiar with coding something else that's not on here but we just finalized the purchase order in the last couple of days we have had project way which has been a lot of CAD work that has been in our high school we are upgrading that lab to where it's one of the stateof the Art Labs in in the state of New Jersey I can believe say and when I say State art when you see the lab you'll understand why but to make sure that pathway continues W will also be receiving the same devices that will be at the high school he a very high powered high speed cat like used for design and engineering and hi Hillside innovation academy so we're trying to create a pathway that starts in our middle school goes to our high school this is just one we have another announcement hopefully we can make in the next month or two that speaks to more offerings that we're going to be giving our students in the area of steam stem and as we embark on the new school year I'm asking that parents you look to our district website and the school websites to get information all School leaders have been informed and there's an expectation that any key information you want to know about the start of the school year it's posted on the website what time does the school day start how do I know if my child's bus is going to arrive what's the schedule who's the teacher all of these key data points expectation that is on the school website by the time school starts you'll be getting inated with a lot of messaging coming from social media we do believe in posting the great things that are happening text messages Sunday announcements so at some point in time it may feel a little overwhelming however it's better to be well informed instead of less informed so it may get to a point where you feel like a lot is coming in I ask that you do not opt out but just make sure you're being mindful that we're doing it so that you hear all the information and time man this year we also have a communication plan in the month of September during committee meetings our board members will be presented with a communication plan that communication plan will represent internal and external communication strategies goals and priorities it aligns to the current policies of the district but it also extends out to make sure that we're having more effective communication internally and externally we're going to skip cell phone and artificial intelligence for just a second and just to give parents an update the New Jersey njsla New Jersey student learning assessment that was given in Spring of 2024 the results the preliminary results have come back however they're not ready for release to the public that's usually going to be somewhere in late fall when they do come out you will be receiving was called individual student report that outlines your child's academic performance on the New Jersey student learning assessment so we do have the preliminary data I'm excited several grade levels in our district demonstrated significant gains and growth Kudos and shout out to the sixth grade students in Hillside we surpassed many of our Union County you think about the schools in Union County surpass many of our Union County and demonstrate a lot of Effectiveness our Middle School teachers should be quite proud of the students walking in the door this year so kudos to those sixth grade students who are rise in seventh graders we were well over [Applause] 60% holding my tongue till I get all the significant data on my high school because I think I'll be able to say a percentage that has not been said here in a while about our high school some significant games happen this year in our high school that the community should be proud of and definitely speaks to the leadership of multiple folks in our high school definitely principal Willard but his team Educators in that building so September maybe doing the first presentation I'll let you give a shout out and highlight the great things that happen especially when it comes around the data artificial intelligence policy the state of New Jersey is coming out with a policy that all boards will be looking at is around artificial intelligence and the use of it folks we use it on a regular basis already if you own a cell phone you're using artificial intelligence but now we need to put some guards and make sure everyone is a little more uniform in his expectations so over the next three months the board will actually be looking at the policy with the Hope by early winter to November December a policy will be adopted so just want to share that with you the last one I know I'm going to probably hear a lot of concerns and questions and I I'm prepared for it we began some analysis last year looking at the cell phone use policy as it currently sits across the state of New Jersey and as recently as two days ago the current Commission of Education put forth a new expectation that all districts take a look at their cell phone use policy as there is a concern in the rise and use of cell phones ining the course of the day those who have been following the research and what it says about the use cell phones in the course of the day and how it's impacting our students it's becoming an academic and it's being research and study so much of how the cigarette commercial and utilization was targeting young people I have already began exploration of what we can do here I know it's going to cause some concerns and alarm but how we are going to do this is have several conversations first with our students and then with our parents collectively before we Institute any policy I know there are several districts across the state who have attempted to utilize a strategy that I'm also considering presenting to the board and it's we had some push back so I think there's enough research to explain the concerns that parents will bring for us to be able to be Forward Thinking before we just Institute something but I will have to say with a great deal of transparency I'm concerned about the number of students that I seen on their cell phones ining the course of this instructional day and while I know cell phones have a value in the classroom when done correctly I also know that many of our students have used it to keep up with social media there are experiments that we have done I did it with a group of friends recently can you go five minutes without picking up your cell phone if you look at the research our students can't even go a minute a lot of times the word is oh well I have to be in contact with my parents so I need to well the parents if you're in school know where you're at they call the main office well they don't phone in the main office well just about certain that all of our phone systems bills have been paid and if your child is in the this classroom and they're actually paying attention to the things that are most important and effective so we're going to have to have several conversations But ultimately I need us to understand that any policies that come forth that have already begun at the Department of Education level and end up in our schools specifically our middle school and our high school is me to help our students not to harm them it also has research has shown cuts down on the amount of bullying that takes place during the course of the school because now you don't have time to see what's happening on your cell phone and share well what about something happen those cell phones become evidence in case something happens Hillside High School has spent well over $300,000 in the last year investing in upgrading our surveillance system and so I'm confident that there's enough cameras and angles in our buildings where we find out anything that may happen that may be negative in nature so again I'm just prepping you there'll be a lot of conversations but I would like to believe that we as a community can see the value when coming up with a policy that supports our students who does not harm them I've had this up before made a little change the last few days but it's still speaks to our new Pathways new possibilities and new PRI take these dates these dates will appear on the board District website they'll also be shared but I'm giving you notice had our first day CER meeting community meeting yesterday parent did ask for us to have these at least by anually I believe that as we still try to build out a healthy strategic plan that is a little more frequently ma sure we need to have these so the next one will take place October 29th 2024 think we're in school I think on that date I do not have the location I'm trying to mindful to spread it around so we're not in the same spot and then the final one will be just before the holidays December 17 that concludes my report for this evening I'm president oh no it doesn't I apologize I apologize one other the last board meeting there were some several questions that were brought forth and I just wanted to be on record that the responses to two other the concerned citizens that were brought forth and also shared with the board secretary were answered they're a little lengthy in nature so I don't think it would be fair to the public to read them all but doing public comment at the end of public comment if certain sections need be right to the public to satisfy the question that we def thank you superintendent may I now have a motion to go into public comment residents are requested to State their names addresses and subject matter in the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting Mak 15 minutes presiding officer and limit each statement made by a participant to 3 minutes restation issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming and if and when appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments properly move the second all in favor hello board me MERS public my name is Hawaiian Thompson at 1480 stanle terrorist I just have a couple question the first question on motion 28 I just wanted to know what um if what schools will these um teaching Hawaiian Thompson s480 Stanley ter good evening board members and public I just have a question on 28 on the Labor Relations number 28 just wanted to know what school is what schools of Le um teachers be working at if needed when they needed CU I know the home instruction they have to be certified teachers so that was my question and then um thank you Dr Glover for I Mr Glover for answering the questions um answering my questions I did have one question in regards to in regards to um your response with the teacher the homebound you said that you wasn't sure how many students would be um how manyan stud would be in the um home would receive home instruction so I just had a question regards to how do you measure how many teachers you're going to hire or and you know we already talked about the $80,000 you know salaries I just want to know how did you come with that determination me that you don't know how many students are going to receive home instruction and the last question is for hiia will they be or is there my My Sister's Keepers program that I see you have for the boys so I don't know just did so those are my questions thank you Angel W 54 stre the new lights are kind of scary it's very bright in here my sunglasses um good evening um I just wanted to say that um the hilside Education Association had an opportunity the other day to meet with the new uh staff members that are coming into the district and I can happily say they are extremely excited we were excited to meet with them um they were very engaging they want to be here with our children um we explain to them how we are a family and that's how we treat our district we are small but we do take care of each other like a family so we did try to convey that message I think they received it um at least I felt like they didn't so I guess we'll see the poof is in the pudding but um you know I just want to say to everyone we're looking forward to a great school year a great opening on the 3 um hopefully all the teachers and staff are rested up I know the custodians have been working hard it has been working hard in the buildings trying to get everything ready for the students and staff to come back and we're excited to have everyone back and we're excited to be back so thank you motion to close public comments motion [Music] favor superintend Glover would you like to respond to any of the questions yes thank you very much first of all I want to say thank you for recognizing the work that human resource our teachers who are um new teacher orientation lead teachers as well as AA and and others throughout the district who are welcoming our new staff I also want to give a special shout out Mrs R there's a new teacher that arrived to us last she's not new but she arrived to us last year she currently works at Ola Edward Community School fifth grade teacher her name is Gabby Gabby is our unofficial recruiter Gabby has went to Mont Clair State University proud and throughout the time of this one year of her being here she has actually recruited and I might be short changing what about five teachers M about yes about five teachers to our [Applause] district that voles to how new teacher believed in the work that's happening here and so much so went out and brought other teachers here and whatever happened with Gabby throughout the time of throughout last year she felt that she still need to come back here continue to give service so thank you Mrs W for bring that up and thank you to all the teachers that recruit I only mention Gabby because I know for a fact there were three teachers from mon CA this year who were sitting in the room so thank you very much uh Miss s motion number 28 as you mentioned the location of the teachers varies depending on where the students are coming from they are currently based out of the office of student Support Services that's located in the high school but if we have a student who needs homebound instruction and they're out of ol Edwards they would be able to go and support that student right there ATA Edwards one of the based on the number of needs the number of teachers that we need it's better to have more teachers approved than less so a lot of the times we approve many teachers and as I noted one of the concerns we found last year it's just the reality of folks work schedule does not always permit them to have home instruction take place after the teachers who are working in the course of the day so it doesn't fit into the schedule so the need to have teachers work doing the course of the Daya support our students began to rise last year um we had several students who were on home instruction for a variety of reasons in the course of last year we had several students related to health have 504 needed 504 accommodations we had a student athlete who tours ACL and then we also had a student who had some challenging behaviors and needed some time to reflect and regroup so for that reason we want to have more than less and life happens um not to put it out you know as other person's business but in the last two days we've had two teachers injur themselves in the course of looking one broke their foot another one looks like they may have injured their leg so they may be out the beginning of the year so never going to have too many folks on the list and then the final question for hi yes My Sister's Keeper is available I think it may just be a matter of making sure the right person applies for is interested I think the the both our middle schools have just about similar programs for the cities thank thank you superintendent CL now we will have committee reports vice president Howard thank you m president miss harra would you please get a committee report for finance the finance committee met on Monday and bring for motion page thank you g did you report on education pleas good even the education committee met on this past Monday and we reviewed item 22 education would you give a report on policy sure good evening the policy committee met on Monday and review the policies [Music] it thank you Mr Shapiro would you get a report on Labor Relations sure the labor committee met on August 26 and discuss agenda and non-agenda items thank you vice president Howard may I now have a motion to go into executive session yes SRE yes couron GI yes Howard yes yes Mr Shapiro resolv pursu to the open public act at the Board of Education close the executive session at this time to discuss matters relating to Personnel pending or iated litigation labor contract negotiations attorney client privileges the board will reconvene in public session at the conclusion of the Clos session the matters discussed in Clos session will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer exist [Music] --------- ##VIDEO ID:AbodViLcqSY## [Music] member can we please move by next Finance agenda discuss CE yes yes Mr Howard Mr yes number listed on supplemental t71 w79 yes missort please take education yes I to move [Music] it yes yes G yes Mr Howard yes Mr M yes Sparks yes Mr Shapiro yes sircy I'd like to move items one and two any discussion roll call yes G yes Mr Howard yes yes Parks yes Mr Shapiro yeah yes um MERS hero you please take laor yes ma'am I move items number do have so number 58 there was an amendment for the security guard to be transferred from GTA to AP Mars [Music] we submit the [Music] motion7 uh yes but I'm abstaining from 41A M harra yes G yes Mr Howard yes with my concerns 281 and 58 noted for the are those exensions or just concerns concerns for the no Obion so what were the concerns we can't hear you sorry 2818 59 28 419 [Music] Mr yeah Mr Shapiro yes abstaining from 35 41 and 54 to 6 that was [Music] 3 okay president yes I'm say thank you all for bearing with us today it has been a long evening um but what I will take away from that is we spend that much time discussing what goes on in our district um it just just show that we do care and we are taking the time to talk about what our concerns are and I'm hoping that we get to a resolution and keeping our children in their interests um first um I would like to say I would like to make a statement in regards to recent things that have occurred um recently our mayor did make comments regarding the district over spending I'm not certain why those comments may have been made but some have speculated that it's because of the negative feedback throughout the town regarding um the recent tax increases but to be clear the board of education has not overextended itself nor has it had any overe expenditures proof of that can be found in a public recent audit report that shows the exact opposite of the allegations while it is not practic that we respond to every opinion that we disagree with it was of Paramount importance to respond publicly to the false and misleading claims because some members of the community may actually think that those comments bear some truth fortunately they are not true and we will continue to focus on our community's most precious asset the children and the students who we are charged to educate so that they become fully equipped prepared and ready to take on the world around them so I just felt that um as a board we felt that that was something that we should make a statement to everyone for those that were un questioning or or wanted to know um with that said I hope that everyone's had a wonderful um and fun summer and we are ready to start a new school year where we would continue to do the things that we're supposed to do and educate our children and we hope that we will have a very successful year there any more comments could you have something please share if you would like to share anything good evening everyone good evening promises a slightly littley but I'll do it in a very expeditious manner as we embark on new school year full of opportunities and growth learning and achieving personal Excellence i' just like to leave you with a couple of thoughts it seems that every time you're turn in your television look at your phone or visit social media you're bombarded with all types of misinformation rhetoric and inflammatory statements that are purposely meant to Define us as a people within my estimation is a more Insidious purpose which to take your attention away from the true intentions of those who are using that information as a shield or a smoke screen to distract you from their actions clearly as you can see this is not just on a national level a state by state or region by region level over here in our town as well please be guided by the following the nine people you see before you some are here are here to serve you not our own interests not any political party or political person but you the people the community and most importantly our children every decision we make we certainly make with the children at the Forefront of our thoughts remember we're also your neighbors we live here like you do we worry about our taxes the conditions of our schools the cleanliness of our streets and certainly the management of our town resources all of which need to be focused on for the record for that nice short 10 year in this board we've only raised taxes once and that was under direct rest but to be perfectly transparent it's a hard and tough decision but let's look at what you're getting for your 1% two new additions to our schools that are absolutely wonderful and will be very prominently displayed very soon programs and Partnerships with universities and with organizations that are far supressed any other school district or School leadership and is certainly a kudos to our superintendent who has gone above and beyond in my estimation and certainly my 33 years of educator again these programs were available but never at this level and never with this availability lastly you have school board is willing to listen to anything you have to say even if it's against What We believe We respect your right to challenge our views and our positions we don't run from it we don't hide on social media we certainly don't create falsehoods that will instill a sense of mistrust or a false belief in non-existent wrongdoing we receive no pay often very little thanks but our reward our Rich reward is knowing that we're doing the work for you and benefiting our children the parents in this town please use your judgment use your own mind rely on facts I'm a man of a certain age and in my day we had a say don't fall for the Okie dop right we have a lot of work to do we're here as a servants the people and the Servants of this community we're all just that despite the rhetoric one Community one people one heide let's get thank you for that all right [Applause] thank you excuse me thank you again and we wish you all a safe [Music] 7:47