##VIDEO ID:1dWHjxg6zC8## okay we start this meeting call to order like start with Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all ad up notice that this meeting was advertised Park Press and the beacon of January 11th 2024 and as amended on October 3rd 2024 by posting the notice in the for River and lo Harbor Post Offices and by filing a copy of the notice of the lece Township Clerk as required by the open public meeting act roll call please Mr Bell here Mrs armado here Mr conned here Mrs Walker she right outside she's here Mr armado here Mrs Claus here Mr Peters pres all right we're going to go into private session be it resolved that an executive session be convened for the purpose of discussing confidential student matters including but not limited to harassment intimidation and bullying confidential legal matters including but not limited to the current case load and confidential Personnel matters the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides the length of the executive session is estimated to be approximately 60 minutes after which the board shall reconvene and proceed with business at 7 p.m. action may be taken motion motion Peters second all in favor okay I have 7 o'clock off the pledge please PL allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all yeah give me one second we going to start off with um student representative comments please good evening everyone so SGA met on October October 2nd the juniors are currently planning um a Thanksgiving themed volleyball fundraiser which is set to take place on November 22nd from 5: to 8:00 p.m. and more details will be announced soon the executive board is currently um preparing for the October 2024 homecoming dance and Associated events and also working on a grades 9 through 12 winter formal which will be held in January and last of all the next sgaa meeting will take place on November 11th up next we would like to recognize October's unsung hero T febles perz who may come [Applause] up for the month of October the student government Association of lacy Township High School would like to recognize Tatiana febles Perez as unsung hero Tatiana is an exceptional student and a Val member of our school She's a member of the St STEM Academy and takes numerous challenging honors and AP classes throughout the year Tatiana has been a part of Surf Rider interact and Robotics clubs furthermore she is currently a member and executive board officer of in the student government Association she's also a part of both the swim team track and field and girls volleyball additionally Tatiana is the junior drum major for the lths marching lions and is a member of both concert band and Jazz Band outside of schools he seasonally plays in the Tom River multigenerational Orchestra and has played in the South Jersey Orchestra as well taana is an extremely talented student who always works her hardest in everything she does despite her incredibly busy schedule for these reasons taana febles Perez has been selected as October's unsung [Applause] hero congratulations next we're going to do uh report of superintendent please thank you Bo president Peters thank you K and Eric um I just want to point out too that uh we've had student Representatives on our board for probably over 25 years if not longer we were one of the first district to do so before it was required yeah before it was required so thank you for coming as always we do appreciate it uh to hear from our student body um the school year is often running uh academics sports clubs uh I know the student body you guys look forward to homecoming uh this weekend so that's always a big event uh that everybody really enjoys uh tonight's Focus will be our um annual October student achievement presentation our district supervisors are here to uh discuss the assessments that were administered in the 2324 school year um we'll see Ela and math and science scores to grades 3 to9 we'll also see High School sat and AP scores discussed um I want to go over real quick before we get to that uh we have our uh annual hi presentation uh it's very brief we do a self assessment of how we deal with harassment intimidation and bullying in our schools the maximum score that a school can get is 78 so the high school Under a self assessment which assesses from how you do programming to how you do uh hibs in a timely manner to uh about eight different factors are in involved um out of a possible score of 78 the high school scored a 74 the Middle School a 75 the uh milpond Elementary School a 73 um the L caror School 73 Forin River of 73 and Cedar Creek School of 73 so this is part of an annual reporting procedure I'm required to do so so I will post these grades uh and their Associated details on our website okay so without further ado we're going to have uh in order here we have Dr Dow we have Margaret Malloy we have Michelle Amos and I think taking a piece of it up mallerie you're towards the end of the presentation mallerie kovski they are our curriculum people M as they come down Mr Dow is responsible for grades uh 6 to8 uh more specifically he's also responsible for ELA and social studies at those grades Margaret Malloy who's in the middle here is responsible for Math and Science and Miss Amos is responsible for the elementary grades uh K to five miss kovi you didn't get out of her seat is responsible for preschool okay she's also responsible for special edit the elementary level okay they're going to show us their our annual October presentation we will also post this on our website either tomorrow or on Thursday that'll be up for everybody to see you're going to see our numbers State numbers you're going to see some comparisons uh and they're also going to tell us what we're doing about those numbers in uh you know one way or another and how we're we're trying to adjust ourselves and really get ourselves better State Testing remember is is one snapshot of our students uh we firmly believe it's not the only snapshot of our students um we believe the end result the end product uh coming out of our high school is excellent uh I think you'll see that in the presentations we go on as well uh and we will um show you those things okay oh and we didn't do seniors of the month put on of me I messed this up do you do you want to skip or they'll they'll I would like to do seniors a month let them get out of here because I'm sure they have I want them to see the achievement presentation of course they want it's up to that what do you think seniors of the month yes do it now yeah it's only my second board meeting I messed it up yes sorry Tom seniors of the month I apologize can you regroup that quick abolutely okay thank you I'll slow Tom Li is our very expert uh IT director of the uh many things including the lecture hall all right good evening everyone Board of Education Mr Kane I'm sorry yes that's fine I'm here I apologize thank you for not an issue not an issue at all I'm here to celebrate our October students of the month our first October senior of the month is Sarah Rush Sarah come on come on over come on over a round of applause for her family who's here as well Round of Applause for that hi I'm Sarah rash and I'm proud of to be named October senior of the month Sarah Rush congratulations on being named the October senior of the month at the high school I'm a member of the Jazz Band I play center saxophone and I really enjoy being a part of that and I'm also a member of the national owner Society Sarah when thinking of you and why you're so deserving of this honor of being named senior to month there's lot of things that come to my mind for instance your drive your focus your will to want to be the best at what you do and all the time you spend practicing to be the best at everything that you want to do outside of the high school I spend most of my time playing soccer I really enjoy that I play for two different teams and other than that I spend most of my time studying and preparing for my classes so Sarah with thinking about an experience with you or just in general all I can think of is jazz band and watching you grow as a soloist through the years we would give you the opportunity to solo and you would take it and you would run with it and you would keep refining it and keep working on it and working on it until it was absolutely the way that you wanted it my favorite memory at the high school would be at a jazz festival at Toms River North when I won the judge's favorite solo Sarah just want to wish you the best of luck on the rest of your school year and in your future I know you're going to be successful my future plans are to hopefully get accepted to Rowan University to work in the music industry [Applause] all right our next senior of the month is Francisco jimz Francisco come on down before we go over his senior of the month award which is certainly deserved he is also a commended National Merit scholar oh yep Applause for that for those of you who aren't sure being named a commended National Merit scholar means that Francisco is one of 34,000 students who placed in the top 50,000 of all students who to the PSAT last year for reference 1.5 million students took the test so he's in the top 50,000 of 1.5 million wow as a spokesperson for the National Merit Scholarship committee stated these students represent a valuable National resource recognizing their accomplishments as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation we hope this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success so again congratulations s Francisco I'm being an October scene of the month a commended Merit scholar which is also amazing and certainly good luck to all our students who be taking the SAT and PSAT this Thursday so Francisco I'm Francisco gimz and I'm proud to be named October's senior of the month at Lacy Township High School Frankie congratulations on senior of the month I cannot think of a student more deserving I know you're probably humbled by this honor because you don't work hard for the recognition you work hard for the results some things I do at lths are the STEM Academy the robotics program and also participate in the fishing club NHS and track Frankie every project you've worked on over these four years in the STEM Academy has been filled with dedication and hard work every project you want beyond the amount of effort you put into your academics outside of school doesn't go unnoticed your desire to understand and the effort you put into your schoolwork is awesome you're uh not just books smart you're truly work to understand and apply all your knowledge some of my favorite memories at this school are the out of state competitions that we do for some of the projects like Lego robotics and underwater sea perch we don't always win but it's pretty fun for the first day you introduce yourself to me as a freshman I knew from the start you're going to be a standout in the stem your maturity always being present in your learning and your just awareness has made you a leader among your peers outside of school I like to watch movies read comics and mainly hang out with my friends and play things like D and D Frankie I know your future is uncertain but there's definitely a college out there that doesn't know how lucky they're going to be when you commit regardless of where you attend your success will continue and you'll leave your mark After High School I plan to pursue a degree in engineering and then go into the field of prosthetics [Applause] wait can I get a picture with your commended scholar thing I put on social Med certain indidual who not here I want to put it on soci we'll share it that's the one yes you [Music] all right job nice job very good very [Applause] good his family's in the tense as well so please a round of applause for them coming out this evening all right nice job everyone that concludes my presentation I just want to stress jazz band right oh yes jazz band robotics club and all those really interesting things you know all part ofal High School right really great stuff nice job everybody good job congratulations thank nice all right parents and students if you would like to leave now I suggest do it now we have a very interesting meeting I know you want to stay oh this is the best part coming up what are you saying about our presentation okay um so this is as uh Mr Linsky said this is the student achievement report that we do every year in October it encompasses standardized testing but we also talk um about some of the assessments that we give locally and along those lines we are focused on our tiered systems of support and really individualizing instruction and so a lot of these local assessments Drive the individualized instruction that we provide for our students once we have the opportunity to measure their strengths and their weaknesses in areas that we can help them to grow um nwaa is something that is probably the assessment that our students have been taking the longest because you know the state has changed uh the name of their assessment multiple times and the way they measure things multiple times NWA is really our opportunity to celebrate individuals student growth because the test itself is self-leveling and so it moves to the point where the students um are ready to learn and we get a measure of the of the things that they understand and what they don't and we can use that to drive instruction this talks a little bit about what the map is we're giving it um the the measures of academic progress are given in grades k through eight three times a year we get give it to them um we're actually going to start giving it to them this week and then they'll take it again in the winter and in the spring and it gives us the opportunity to measure their growth to see where we can individualize instruction and help them learn uh it's a it's personalized as I said it's self leveling and so it really helps to meet them where they are and move them forward it's an opportunity for celebration because if you look um the blue line indicat this is last year's achievement indicates their fall level the black lines beside them always indicate the normative data this is given um to over 16 million students across the country so this is a nationally normed test and in most circumstances our students are exceeding the national norms and the scale is a little off so it's hard to tell but we're doing that pretty well across the board that's K through2 nwe EA math from last year and it's not moving there we go um grades 3 through four nwaa reading also you know still exceeding the national Norms grades 3 through four nwaa math fifth and sixth grade we're hanging right in there with the national Norms um it's a little bit closer in those grades same thing with math sixth grade math though we really starting to see that jump above the national Norms in the spring of last year then in seventh and eighth grade reading and 7th and eighth grade math um I think we'll probably talk a little bit more about math when we get to the njsla so when we get our scores back we are measured by the number of students that meet or exceed the state uh or the meet exceed expectations and we're compared to the state um you can see in in grade three we're lagging behind the state but we have a large number of students who are in the approaching category which is the category right before meeting and they're within 10 points of moving to that meeting expectation so we are really focused on that this year we are um we had PD day yesterday we took apart the EV evidence statements we looked at the standards that students were struggling in we identified areas that we can work with them to improve so that they're able to meet the state expectations um in fourth grade we exceeded the state expectations and in fifth grade we were behind the state expectations or the state uh scores but we grew more than they had grown the year previous I got ahead of myself with my nwaa slides njsla grades three four and five subgroups for us to report on a subgroup there has to be 20 students or more in that subgroup and so we have to ident identify those students and how many of them met or exceeded expectations we don't have any state comparisons here because they don't share that with us so we only know how our students did if we're looking at njsla math scores for grades 3 four and five grade four scores are above the state average and the state in grade five only grew by 2% % while our students grew by 4.1% last year again we have a large number in that approaching category that we're looking to move to the uh meeting or exceeding category if I look at the math subgroups um again 20 or more students identifies as a subgroup so that's why in grades three and four we didn't have 20 or more students with a 504 so we did not um identify how many uh students met or exceeded the expectations I ask a question sure is there a reason why um third grade eh fifth grade Spike fifth grade down is there any data behind that do you my gut on our third graders is that they were our student students that did kindergarten and first grade either fully or partially remote and that's why we have a lot of Focus right now going on on Phonics and pheic awareness because that's something that's best taught face to face and so um I think we're making up ground there is is what I believe um I think I and I do I think it's not something that I can prove with Statistics but I do believe the fifth grade being in the elementary setting for another year is going to to to gain us um great strides moving forward I think it it keeps the the focus um with one teacher a little bit longer and I think you're going to see some uh great things with the growth that was coming at the middle school so that's that's my my gut that's not and we're trying you know all different strategies to get us there are we seeing incremental growth every year even though we're not at the threshold yet are we seeing I wouldn't say significant growth but at least enough of a number that says hey we we're trending in the right direction we don't have the course correct just stay to course so we're constantly evaluating whether we're moving in the right direction the most difficult thing about this is it's not it's not a cohort to cohort comparison you know it's last year's third graders compared to this year's third graders so we really are trying to pick apart our um curriculum to see if there are like when we looked at those evidence statements then we compare those to our curriculum and we say you know is there a standard that they're consistently not scoring well on that we're not heavily enough focused on in our curriculum and we're trying to adjust that we're trying we're doing the tiered system of support where you identify the needs of the majority of the students and then you you um give them a dose of intervention then tier two we're going to give them uh you know a smaller group maybe 15% of our students that are deficient in a certain area they're going to get that intervention plus the tier one intervention and then the um bottom 5% that are really struggling we're going to try and give them intensive intervention along with the tier 2 intervention and the tier one intervention so that hopefully we help bridge these gaps and get them to where they need to be um and and that's somewhat new this is the start of our third year of the tiered system of support and really trying to focus our resources um carefully and thank you third grade that's the first time they've done a test on the computer correct yes that's a great point that must have some kind of okay yes yes that is the first time that they take the njs also like to add that we lost funding we lost our data coaches you guys AR doing curriculum work we're also doing informational aspect searching where weak points are and what we have to go after when our data coaches we do that we don't do that so we also have a focus on small group instruction we're having the teachers develop plans and really carefully Focus that um daily instruction in grades that we probably in the past had not needed phonic symphonic awareness we have that ability to focus our teachers there um with Orton and sips and fast forward uml is being heavily used across uh K to 12 um specifically though at the middle and high school um we are really digging into the njsla items and when we were working with the evidence statements and we identified an area that we were struggling or we weren't as strong as we wanted to be we went in and we got questions from the released items so that we're sure that not only are we teaching the content but that we're asking questions in the manner that the state's going to ask the questions um because some of those are a little confusing the way the state poses them most of them are two parts and uh a lot of details we implemented standards-based report cards um and this is a big deal because implementing standards based report cards meant that we were also implenting um common standards-based assessments so our teachers are giving tests that are aligned to the report card and make sure that we're measuring the standards that we're we're saying that are on the report card so everybody's getting similar assessments the same assessments so that they can compare it their report card aligns with the standards and their Gradebook aligns with the standards so we can really identify where students are struggling um formative Loop is well-received and old school it's um really just math fluency getting them to solve problems quickly on paper kind of like when I was in school and you did your times tables test and that's not exactly what it is but it is the idea of fluency paper and pencil um getting that automaticity so that when they get to the test they're not hung up in that portion of it and then our tutoring programs um that we do across all of the elementary schools and and middle and high as well all right I'm going to get out of the way good evening everyone so with grades six seven and eight for ELA our njsla scores we can see uh that some grades are closer to the uh State average uh than others I think there are some important things to highlight here as we talk about uh each of these grades uh grade six in particular while uh our percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations is at 42.2 um that grade actually saw a year-to-year growth of almost 7% uh and I think that that is actually really great growth and so that uh so 2 six grade two different sixth grade groups our most recent sixth grade group last year did better uh 7% wise and I think that that has something to do with getting the sixth grade in the Middle School more cohesive instruction more cohesive plc's our seventh grade uh students that cohort that moved from sixth grade into seventh grade they grew 16.1% in their proficiency that's tremendous and so while you know we always want our scores to at least be at the state percentage uh we would be remissive we didn't celebrate that achievement and that growth we can't meet or exceed the state average without having growth so these are very encouraging numbers for us um the state cohort of students for that same group only grew uh 5.9% and so we see our students especially in that group moving up uh much more rapidly than the rest of the state obviously for 8th grade uh we want to continue to close that Gap and uh I'm going to talk about uh some measures that we're taking in grades 6 through 12 in ela in particular uh in order to address uh these concerns here are our subgroup scores for grades 6 seven and 8 good evening um so you'll see um in grades six seven and 8 we are also slightly below the state however um looking at year-to-year growth we do have some things to celebrate in these Middle grades um so our sixth grade year-to-year saw actually a 6.9% growth um and it's worth noting too that the state only saw a 1.9% growth so what that means is that we are closing that gap between how our students are performing versus the state something else worth noting is um kind of to ech Echo what Miss amamos said um we do have a large percentage of our students in that approaching category which is right below the meeting category um if you look at our scaled score our average score our sixth graders are actually above of what the state average score is which is really just showing that we have so many students that are right there that are very close to that meeting expectations our grade seven also saw an increase in year-to Year from the previous year grade seven so two different groups of students we saw a 3.1% increase so again we're closing that gap between the state um and the cohort of seventh grade students saw a 5.8% growth which is phenomenal um worth noting about our grade eight score we have about a third of our population of the grade eight taking an advanced um test so about a third of our population is either taking the algebra one or the geometry and of course assessment um so we're seeing lower numbers in our grade eight but that's not really representative of a whole grade8 population and also because we have such a low number of students that are taking that test the difference although it looks like about 7% between us and the state that's really only about s to n students it's really not a large number of students and this is something that we're stressing with the teachers too that every student counts right when we see those kids that are three points below the meeting score we really are stressing that we have to be preparing our students to do the best that they can on this test um here you'll see the math subscore um groups just a reminder if there's less than 20 in a particular area we don't report on it so you'll see some areas without a score some of the interventions that we're doing at the 6 through eight level in every class we're implementing small group instruction uh student conferencing is incorporated into every instructional block and small group instruction allows us to implement that tier system of supports that was mentioned um earlier where students are really getting instruction that is targeted to where they are currently um we've implemented a win period which stands for what I need um with taret tared instruction from not only the classroom teachers but also interventionists again to provide that tiered system of support uh we have common planning time implemented in our um schedule our principal worked hard to make sure that our sixth grade our seventh grade and our eighth grade teachers all have a period off together so that they have common planning time um we're infusing njsla digital release items in instructions those release items were test questions um and there's not a lot of change if you look at the 200 17 questions and the 2021 questions they're very similar so we feel confident that if we expose students to more of the items our students will be better prepared for the test as well uh we are using iel um it's a great resource to Target skills to personalize support for students um in math science Ela and social studies at the middle school um we've enhanced our data collection we're using the ISL realtime diagnostic which gives us really great feedback on how students are doing that feedback is updated week to week so it's really great when we're talking about getting information on our students prior to taking a big end of course assessment we're also implementing comment unit assessments um that our standards aligned we are uh we have instructional data coaches um for math science and Ela m m I just wanted to uh uh punctuate uh maybe two things she said there so uh with our sixth grade uh seventh and eighth grade scores in ela with The Gap that we have between our percentage of meeting or exceeding at Lacy and the state um the scores of students who range were just below the cut score also the cut score is 750 for the njsla uh we have students ranging from 740 to 749 so they're just below that cut score uh those students make up that Gap again so this targeted approach approach uh miss m said every student counts right of course every student counts but really kind of like when we focus on this assessment in particular as an aim to show our um academic achievement um that is absolutely a factor uh last year and this year as we continue to go forward um I'd also like to say too for our students in eth grade who are taking higher level math um for Algebra 1 and geometry we have um uh just about the highest population in the county maybe there might be two other schools in our County that have more students taking algebra one or geometry in 8th grade than we do so we have quite a few students it's also something to be very proud of um I'd really like to celebrate um grade n Ela we can see here that uh the district's meeting in exceeding is at 52.5% and the states at 58% um this is misleading to our growth and also the effort that went into this I think it's important to recognize that this is the highest level of percentage achievement that we've had in 9th grade since we've been State Testing since 2015 um it's also important to note that lazy Township grew this cohort of students uh I'm sorry year to year grew 17.7% that's a lot of students the state only grew 6% and so we're outpacing the state in a lot of areas uh we obviously want to capitalize that and keep that momentum going um one of the things to think about is that this 5% is really only about 15 students we have 38 students who are in the range of uh making up that Gap uh so we are so close and again the targeted uh perspective that we have on instruction and assessment um I think is going to be uh our our compass and how we're going to achieve our goals here our subgroups for grade nine so here are our Algebra 1 scores this encompasses our n9th grade students and our e8th grade and seventh grade students students who are taking the algebra 1 um and jsla so as you can see our district exceeded the state um which we're very proud of um we also saw significant growth in our students as well so not only did we exceed the state uh percentage that met or exceed expectations we also saw significant growth um that is something to celebrate and be proud of um our school district grew by 10.6% from the previous year and um the state only grew by 4.5% so outpacing the state and um it shows these are our Algebra 1 um subscores um these are our scores for our njsla geometry these are only our ninth grade students who are taking the geometry assessment so it's a very small number of students and also our eth our small group of eighth grade students that take the geometry assessment so it's a small number of students about 75 students take this exam um as you can see we are below the state in uh the percentage of students that are meeting or exceeding expectations but again we have such a large number of students that are in that approaching category that our um scaled score is only three points our average score is only three points below um the state average Qui question what's a determining Factor who takest you said small number of students yeah so every student is required to take the njsla the end of course assessment from grades three to nth grade so when a student is in 9th grade geometry they're going to take they'll take whatever end of course assessment they're sitting in so if you have a ninth grade student in Algebra 2 which we did have a couple of students a nth grade students in Algebra 2 they'll sit for that exam but we had less than the number to report on no I know would yeah they did they took it as seventh graders yeah yeah um so here are some interventions for uh grade n some classroom strategies uh you'll see some similarities with our 6 through eight um again we're implementing that small group instruction we really think any opportunity to provide students with um any kind of support that is uh tailored to their needs and also making that smaller teacher to student ratio can be beneficial so student conferencing is incorporated plus you in every um instructional block um we are using I Exel as a resource to Target skills and um personalize their support in ela and math again we've had enhanced data collection from the ISL realtime Diagnostic and our common unit assessments which are aligned to standards and worth noting is that we're also integrating in those njsla release items onto those common unit assessments um we're implementing small group instruction um and also we have instructional and data coaches for all of our core content areas so moving on to science students are tested at the end of grade 5 grade 8 and grade 11 in science um so uh as you'll see in grade 5 the state was at 27.6% the district was at 15.9 um the grade five scores from last year improved by 3.5 percentage points and the state only grew by 8 percentage points so making gains in a small way um in our grade eight we have a similar story our grade eight scores improved by 2.6% uh while the state only only improved by 2% so the state didn't see really any Improvement um and our grade 11 um St stays a little bit below the state so um we'll talk about some things that we're working on in a minute here are subgroups for science so some of our interventions and science are similar but then also you'll see some differences from math um we are reviewing the njsl I released science items as well and um making sure that our students have exposure to those types of items um something new that we are starting is administering the NWA in science in grades 3 through 8 so we have always administered in math and Ela but this year we are also implementing the science test um so that should give our teachers really good data in the fall the winter and the spring um to be able to analyze where our students are at and see how they're growing um we're increasing the vertical articulation among grades 6 through 8 and 9 through 12 science teachers so uh we'll take advantage of some of our professional development days and also some of our after school uh PLC meetings uh to make sure that we're connecting those teachers and talking about you know just the commonalities and the um challenges that we have with our students at the middle school level and the high school level uh we're revising all of our unit assessments um and we're implementing common assessments to make sure that their standards aligned and uh that they're at a level of rigor that is aligned with the test and we also have instructional data coaches in science um at grades 6 through 8 and at grades 9 through 12 so moving on to our SAT results uh excited to uh show you that our district average is above both the state and the national average uh so it's very exciting um I think we implemented a few different programs obviously this is a testament to our core areas of study in ela and in math the gains that we're making there uh and then also uh a special program that was created by Dr pery our supervisor of guidance uh we we working with uh students who signed up for this program um Miss Anita Soo and uh Mrs uh Melissa Gaff uh both worked in that program and uh we can see their results here so uh absolutely phenomenal work very excited about that we we did present this uh table at uh the August meeting but it's worth showing again in our achievement presentation um one of the highlighted numbers there the 368 in the top right shows the total number of exams that we uh that our students took uh last year 2024 uh this number is much higher than any other number in that column uh and I think also something that is worthwhile to T is as we expand access to AP and encourage AP and expand our program uh for AP um we are holding our percentage total of AP students with scores of three or better that score of three is considered passing uh it's also typically the Baseline for uh a score where a college would award college credit for a past exam in that course uh so this is also exciting uh right now uh ocean county is participating in uh what is called the AP colloquium it is sponsored by our Ocean County supervisors group um we have college board actually zooming in we have uh an executive from college board zooming in to talk with ap teachers in Ocean County uh tremendously proud of this program uh and one of the things that's really great about this is that no other counties in New Jersey are doing this in fact it was nice to and invite our partners from the North in uh in Mammoth to come down to OCC for this uh but college board when we asked them if they would present they told us that no one's really doing this and so uh it's really great to see that professional development come to our teachers our AP teachers are incredibly competitive uh they can't wait until their scores come out in the summer uh and then uh there's been a lot of Celebration recently so can you go back to the SAT slide one second so we're better than the the state we better than National I don't know if you can answer this question we're going to ask anyway so but that's a that's a significant number 1071 is there any way to measure what that equals in dollars and cents and scholarships for the student that score is that High um I wouldn't have that number here off the top of my head I think that would be interesting to sort of quantify that idea when we get closer to scholarship night you know at the end of the school year to see what students are being awarded and uh you know especially students who are going out to foure schools that would require an SAT score just as seen as at another school do you think tracking that fig it would maybe promote kids students families to say you know what yeah holy look what we've done thus far in scholarship money you know let's hunker down let's let's work a little bit harder absolutely to make that connection between achievement and savings essentially when they go after that fouryear school yeah absolutely okay what's our comparison 10 years ago I think we've been in the 1040 to 1050 range uh generally um I don't have a number for 10 years ago uh available we can certainly look it up um but this is uh this is one of the higher numbers that we've had uh recently nice J uh and then lastly we have our graduation rate we have uh several years here um it's exciting to look at 2024 our bar our bars up there I don't know if uh visually really kind of do Us justice so I have the numbers here for you uh in 2021 uh lace Township was at 89.4 in 22 we were at 93.7 in 2023 we were at 94.1 and in 20124 we're at 97% graduation rate something to celebrate here we have our uh percentage of students from who graduated last year for their postgraduation plans we can see that we're relatively steady in for your college over the last four years um also with a two-year College um and then in a second we'll talk about our College Academy um then trade and Technical and Military uh all about the same read the this is uh really something to celebrate we had 28 students earned their associate degree at Ocean County College uh about two weeks before they actually graduated from high school last year this brings our total up to 161 uh total students who have graduated from college while attending Lac Township High School uh that's beyond exceptional when we talk about uh State numbers and then also County Partners there is a school on the campus of Ocean County College Performing Arts Academy that probably will catch up to us because they're on the campus of Ocean County College and uh this program is embedded into all of the students go through uh the college academy there um but this is for a comprehensive High School there's no other school in Ocean County that's coming close to offering their students this incredible opportunity uh and it's also really exciting to see how many students uh every senior class take advantage of it uh we also have 100 plus uh students receiving col credit through dual enrollment at OCC in their courses and then 16 students ex sell in AP classes and purchased 29 courses 97 credits worth through fdu uh early college program so a lot lot of opportunity uh I have a a ninth grade uh kid and uh so this is this is the kind of thing that we're looking for in order to make sure that we can give her the best experience possible and I hope that our students and families in least T High School realize the same thing probably fair to say 161 of them save $60,000 yeah I would say that we're quantifying money that that can save a it's incredible incredible amount just about for all the tuition is about $6,000 for a college degree we bust on there uh we do we bust them there yes well they take most of the classes here they have right yeah there's a good mix most of them is here right most of them are here I'm sorry I I I don't understand the last bullet the part where it's says purchase 29 courses 97 credits through the Fairly dickon can you expl fairly dickon program we've had it for about 10 years now yeah but what do you mean by purchase our our our professors are dually uh endorsed by fairly Dickson University they go through a process with them so if they take the AP class with our instructor and then they sign up with fairly Dickson and they get a certain score in the AP exam they qualify to have fairly Dickinson University credits when they leave so about 16 students last year took advantage of it purchased those 29 courses so they like it because they like the university tag to it okay it's slightly different than their Associates you your kids are not the associates program and then they take those University credits and they have specific goal and it doesn't matter what Campus foren Park or no they can use any University oh okay all right thank you sorry I didn't know that so potentially a graduate of lacy Township High School could have several transcripts one from Lacy Township High School of course one from OC one from Fairley Dickson H depending on the the variety of courses they've taken I've known some of our students struggling with the Common App because they have to download multiple transcripts it's a good problem but a lot of them we have the magnifying glass for this one okay last but not least um this is a dynamic learning Maps uh this is a alternate proficiency assessment that's given to our most significantly cognitively delayed students um it's approximately only 1% of our population uh we are slightly over the 1% this includes both uh students that attend our district and also students that we sent to at a district placements they do go into our account um these are primarily our students that are either in our multiply disabled class uh they may have some uh medical disabilities that don't allow them to participate in the njsla um it's also our autis population that may be non-verbal um so those are they but they will participate in the dlm uh for every grade level that their age is taking so they also take it 3 through eight and then they'll take it once while they are in high school um the DM is um it's really run by the teacher so the teacher will sit one-on-one with the student um and it's decided by a student needs profile that that teacher uh that works with them on a daily basis submits that information through the DL system and that determines where the child will start the test and then it self assesses them and uh will change the level based on their responses um it's not necessarily used um you know on a state report card but the information is used for us to determine individualized instruction um so uh DM has achievement levels uh similar to the njsla uh students can be emerging approaching at Target and advanced understanding um this is this is important for us because taking the dlm is not determined based on your program um it is an individualized um assessment that will be determined through your IEP um so as we look at the scores if we see that students are Advanced or even at their target level they may be at a place where they're ready to participate in the njsla if the student has any type of exposure to gen Ed curriculum um not necessarily do they need to master that curriculum but they need if they are exposed to the curriculum they are not eligible to participate in the dlm um so any student that goes out for inclusion opportunities um anything of that like um they would not be eligible for the dlm the dlm does Test in English language arts math and science so this is a snippet um you know there's so few students that take this test it's 1% of the population of the tested population so it's not the overall District population it's just based on the grade levels that take the assessment um so you're talking anywhere between 25 and 30 students in the district that will participate uh in this in this uh assessment so um as you can see you know the students that are emerging these are probably your more delayed students um you know we do have a lot of students that are approaching um and you can see any students that are in the advanced level these would be the students that while their placement may not change um we may want to consider them uh participating in the nwaa or the njsla moving forward so uh we can't give too much information there's so few students that uh if we broke it down anymore it might give away too much student information so it it thank [Applause] you rep public comment an audience member wishing to make public comment will he raise his our hand when called upon State their name address affiliation or intention to make a statement C we address the board president con you meet in one issue at a time commonly limited to 5 minutes no audience member will be recognized twice until all who have of wish the comment have been recognized this portion of the meeting is for public comments only and will only be uh no questions answered the purpose of this board meeting is to perform our business in public everyone is entitled to a public comment if there is a question for the board there is established chain of command to follow anyone for public comment yes sir [Music] not a problem it's all good did you win today good yeah she yes is she going to speaking or are you going to speaking I'm going to speaking okay please thank you I fig speak yeah no problem all was I ask is just speak uh your name and address not her name please absolutely thank you um actually what I'd like to do is I'm just going to hand I didn't bring up so I'm just going to just hand and maybe in between CU this was something I everybody sure if you don't mind thank you you're welcome thank you thank you you're welcome thank you okay aw good evening my name is Bernard Johnson I including my family of six live on 320 Cedar avin Oka Harbor in front of Hebrew um this is my daughter which I'm not going to say her name thank you I appreciate that and um my reason for being here is that uh I was at Mr zelinsky's office this afternoon I think you probably already knows why I'm here for sure but I did send some email to to everyone here so I don't know if you remembered or want to refer back to it but I thought this would be the best opportunity to discuss this with you in person as I've already been to the Lacy Township the transportation had conversations with what you see in front of you with the doe um and relevance to my purpose just making sure that I noted here with everyone about today's visit and this evening's visit with my daughter here she P attention so um thank you by the way for giving me this opportunity to speak this evening I I'm here today to address the district's Transportation policy as it relates to my daughter who's 12 years old and a student of lacy Middle School while I understand the state of New Jersey guidelines requiring students within a 2 mile radius to walk I believe the exception should be made for safety concerns particularly for families living in dangerous roads as I said I live on 320 Cedar ra first and foremost my daughter walks to school alone and and on a street with a speed limit of 45 M an hour this high-speed traffic poses significant safety risks especially for young pedestrians and young ladies like herself unlike in quiet residential areas drivers on roads like mine are often traveling at high speeds and even moments in in attention can lead to um devastating consequences children especially at the age of 12 are still developing and we just watched a little bit this earlier at age of 12 still developing their judgment and reaction times when it comes to traffic making and even more dangerous for them to negative on negative such roads like mine like ours so Additionally the infrastructure on this road is not designated for safe pedestrian travel for instance the sidewalks on the other side there is no sidewalk um the crosswalks we have two crossing guards one is literally 0.6 miles from my house which is I know it doesn't seem like a lot at 0.6 but it is kind of far when you look on the map um adequate Lighting in the morning time uh if you're not familiar when I drive home or when I walk home or we come home or those that travel you have to drive very slow because the sunlight is in your face when you come across not to mention that in the morning it start it's going to start being dark out you know so I'm just saying these things as a reference so that everybody on this board understands that this is my daughter and I'm very very concerned I have three other kids who are now older two who go to this high school and they' never had such an issue like this in the past and I felt comfortable and safe like I need to for my young daughter um and it's and it's dangerous regardless of of any situation it's dangerous especially in the afternoon hours and and in the morning hours I've also learned that other schools and districts in the state of New Jersey provide transportation to students who live within the two mile uh radius in cases where traffic or road conditions make walking unsafe these districts have recognized that while the state gu guidelines are general rule exceptions must be made when children's safety is at risk it's PL I'm this is my job it's for everybody I urge the board to consider the adopting a similar stance as this current policy does not account for these potentially life threatening circumstances something happens to my daughter I won't forgive many people in my life she's the last that I have of the other three that are now getting older and I don't even see the one CU she's in college all the time so as a taxpayer in this Township I contribut significant amount towards the school district with 80% of my property taxes funding the districts including transportation services it seems only reasonable that the the portion of this funding is used to ensure that my child's safe commute to School while in a 2- mile radius may may apply generally the dangerous conditions on my street present a valid exception where Transportation should be provided call I just need some sort of call to action with this board if please in conclusion I ask that the board is to consider the specific and circumstances of my case and the others like mine with high-speed roads and the lack of infrastructure make walking to school Dangerous by providing transportation for students in this situation you're not just following the rule but ensuring the safety of all well-being of all students and I asked you of this board would you feel confident if your 12-year-old daughter was walking 1.8 mil at 36 minutes a day to school with the with this what she's wearing you're looking at what she's wearing would have to go to school in I have two seconds if you don't mind please sure um with a field hockey bag stick bag and a lunch box especially with the changes to the weather has become more difficult to manage the speed limit of 45 and will only add that this walking dist since pending weather conditions and time changes that her school work will suffer and so will her education please tell me as a board members that you can do what's right in your conscience for about the safety of my child like I would yours thank you for your time and I appreciate you listening thank you for your [Applause] comment anyone else for public comment next we to move to board Community reports Miss clus okay we had yep we had our meeting CL mine no go ahead okay I'll start with mine actually um we had our finance meeting at 4:15 October 7th it was myself Mr armado uh Mr conned Mr zinsky and Miss warnsby uh we had a synergistics update uh Mr Jeff's uh Miss leaders and Mr Romano led a discussion on the status of the synergistic program in the district the program has exceeded all costs for the year in savings as of July all savings have been from August through December will all be profit now for the district uh prek project update Miss Orby led a discussion on the status of the prek project of mil Pond the project is mostly complete with a few minor tasks to be completed referendum Miss Orby let a discussion on the next steps for the referendum discussion followed new truck um Miss Orby leted a discussion for the need of a new truck for the facilities Department discussion followed and the truck will be subject of resolution on the October agenda policy find update Miss ornsby led a discussion on the committee on the status of the policy find contract Company still working to find coverage for the district um High School server um Miss orens be led a discussion on the server purchased discussion followed the server will be subject on the resolution this month solar um Miss orens be led to the discussion on an estimate to fix an inverter that is down on milpond School discussion followed uh 2025 26 budget calendar we started to briefly talk about the budget uh we're going to get in more detail uh coming soon interlocal service agreement the trust program Miss Orby led a discussion on the agreement with the town for funds for our trust program the agreement will be subject to the resolution this month Grant update Miss orens be led a discussion on the current grants we've received Food Services equipment Grant Miss orens we let a discussion on the equ equipment grant that the district will be applying for the grant will be subject of a resolution in October's agenda curriculum um October school performance report Mr zalinsky led a discussion on the school performance report that will be in the subject of the presentation this month we just heard it uh Human Resources um an assistant principal search Mr zinsky led the discussion of the high school super assistant principal search uh we have so many app that we can't appoint someone um until November superintendent search U Miss Orby let the update updated the committee on the superintendent search security bike thefts at the high school Mr zalinsky updated the committee on the bike thefts at the high school just a reminder please tell your kids to lock their bikes um they keep going missing so it's important that they lock them up technology uh Google class action suit Miss Orby LED uh updated the committee on the lawsuit sent to The District transportation bus AIDS Miss Warby led the discussion on an issue with losing bus aids to our town to our own power professionals due to the low hourly rate the committee agreed to increase their rate from minimum wage 1513 to 17 an hour the increase will be subject to this month's agenda shared services agreement bus a Miss Orby led the discussion on the agreement with Manchester school district for for a bus Aid the agreement will be on this month's agenda uh we also talked about um The Board District goals that will be doing uh we'll be doing it soon just so you know we're a little behind but we'll get there and that's it our next meeting is November 14th okay the next um let's do policy Mr conedy please uh had meeting on HS day the 9th where for myself Mr Bell and president Peters along with Mr seninsky um thank you had an update on the cell phone policy um thank you and we're waiting on the alert hopefully the end of this month beginning of next for uh the official policy um talked about the uh job descriptions I we'll be talking about or um voting up tonight for the he custodian the assistant head and the assistant to the educational facilities um as far as uh policies um spoke about uh policy 21 32.1 um tbling that till like November um we get some more uh information uh policy 5332 which is the uh uh T art mandate policy um and then policy 5337 for uh surface animals hyros a new policy um we also discussed policy 53371 which also new for uh therapy dogs uh and we also discussed the uh Board District goals and the and for cast uh testing and our next meeting will be the 13th of November at quarter after 4 thank you uh Miss Walker please for curriculum okay uh we have curriculum meeting on October 8th in attendance was Mrs Amato Mr Bill Mr zinski and myself um one of the things we discussed uh was the that the advanced film students and their instructor Mr merman will travel to the film festival in New York City students will have their own film previewed at the festival this trip is being funded by the Lacy recreation department and we thank them for their generosity and Cuda to our um Mr merman and his students that is quite uh an exceptional experience for them also out of state field trip includes uh a trip to New York City for the special needs classes at the middle school and this trip is being generously funded by the Lacy elk special needs committee so again thank you to the Elks for Their donation uh thank you to our administrators for doing the October performance report support we appreciate it it was very thorough and informative thank you um Mr delin discuss the annual report he did it tonight for the Hib uh School self assessment for determining grades under the anti-bullying Bill of Rights Act thank you for doing that um we under special education um he shared with us uh the that restraint training for all par professionals that will be they'll they will be receiving restraint training um the child study team trained in linkit that's using data to analyze case loads uh the extension of data analysis tool to all case managers this will allow them to make better informed instructional decisions for their students um we also discussed under special education the 18 to 21 year old program work-based learning um where students are working in um different uh stores within our district and uh let's see technology we discussed the high school's sat and PSAT program which allows the administration of the SAT and the PSAT to all students in all grades we uh have we discussed the addition of Library research research tools um in the high school implementing Noodles noodle tools for research tools and Sora an online library similar to the County Library System um New Jersey tracks Mr zinsky discussed this report which is an annual report that assesses our online Readiness and access for two devices for our students uh we talked about several intergenerational trips um there's at least eight of them here here and just a reminder Trunk or Treat will be October 29th at 400 p.m. here at the high school we're still looking for a cooking teacher if anyone is certified in teaching cooking I am definitely not um the school certify me um and the under other uh either Kim or Jack already spoke about that and our next meeting is November 12th at 2:30 p.m. thank you thank you um now we're off to superintendent comment Mr zalinsky um so I just wanted to um really appreciate uh what our district supervisors have done in in a pretty thorough presentation one of the more thorough that we've had um I think we've seen some good gains um there's always work to do um there's lots to be done I think we have a good focus on it our PD day yesterday uh with all of our professionals uh was spent uh largely working on test scores large largely looking at how we're going to get better um and again I just want to stress that it's only one measure of our students I think the results that we're seeing in lots of areas are showing uh that we do a great job uh and I think that our kids get um a good bang for their Buck here in in Lacy uh so to speak so um those are really my concluding comments I look forward to um the October events Homecoming in trunk Retreat and Halloween to some extent uh yeah um just to side note is that teachers don't really Halloween uh because there's lots of candy involved uh but uh you know just everybody be safe uh and have a good October and uh we'll see you in November thank you thank you okay thank you vice president Claus thank you okay let's move to board member comments uh Mr Bell would you like to start nothing for tonight okay Miss armado just congratulations to all the seniors of the month uh let's do Mr armado I have nothing to add okay Mr conedy same thank you sheez quick Miss Walkers nothing other than to congratulate our students of the month and our unsung hero and again the presentation that was put on tonight thank you thank you okay I have a uh email that Mr Peters wanted me to read uh my family and I would like to take the time to express our appreciation both as Educators and parents in the district for steps that our district has taken to restrict the use of student cell phones in our schools while I understand that this action may not have been without Chang challenges and dissent it was the right decision and we are witnessing the positive outcome through our daughters and our students we would like to thank Mr zalinsky and all the direct the district administrators for their hard work and taking on this difficult task our children who are current students of lenoa Harbor school and the Lacy Township Middle School have wonderful start to the school year due to their efforts and initiatives we understand the the adversities the district has faced and continues to face each day but we wanted to highlight the hard work and the Ben that is benefiting our daughters thank you for your continued efforts and we look forward to the new initiatives and steps to make our school district succeed thank you very nice yeah that was very nice okay now we're going to go to new business on our agenda okay uh page two meeting minutes A1 motion please second second uh roll call please uh Mr Bell yes Mrs arado yes Mr conedy yes Mrs Walker this is number one right yes yes a one uh Mr armado yes and Mrs Claus yesk page page two list of bills A2 motion please motion second second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes but I need to obstain on 955 136 289 299 and 283 300 thank you Mrs Walker yes and I have F to abstain on Bill number 955 337 due to conflict thank you Mr armado yes and Mrs Claus yes thank you page two transfers and s1701 A3 and A4 Mo uh motion please motion second second uh roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes Mrs Walker yes Mr armado yes Mrs CLA yes uh page 3 through six finance and Facilities A5 to A14 motion please move can we have a discussion number uh 11 yes so we um advertised for the naming rights right and no one uh put in so we're putting it in again we're trying again another another at some point and at a later date we'll do another RFP for naming rights no I'm sorry no that's right so changing the criteria I guess to hopefully enhance more or entice yes mhm is is this a process where we are outwardly approaching a possible I did that in this one yeah yeah we allow just I know as board members we're not allowed to but can we have help from players students coaches to go out and solicit no we're not this is a formal RFP process okay okay that's right okay but we can help spread the word that it's advertised correct yeah so if you know of anybody sell sure can we do an ad on the sign outside the electronic sign yeah it was on the website yeah and you can put a link up to the RFP to try and draw in more bids no I'm talking about the actual electronic sign that we have outside when we we we announce student a month hey keep your eyes open for possible naming rights sort of thing can we do that the board is requesting proposals on naming rights yeah can we do that okay sure I'm just trying to I know I read it all time I get it out there more and then you got the new one on on the corner that's through the township so I don't know if they're going to put anything out there in regards to that but I'll put on my Facebook page there you go we can all share I also don't think there's anything to stop you from putting the ad a little more high-profile in the paper right because you have to advertising two papers so you just call the paper make sure they're giving it the uh the play it deserves are board members allowed to talk about it and uh well you can talk about it but you can't talk about any of the um the responses and uh you should really let the uh the criteria um and the specifications that are in the RFP packet itself speak for itself talking about creating awarness hey did you know that we have right as long as you don't get into specifics because think of it like a construction job right uh the contractors they bid but then they have an info session right where they get all their questions answered about the bid specs so just as long as everybody's hearing the same thing okay so we can create awareness and then stop don't move forward direct them to me right okay thank you thank you we just need a second need that motion yeah is that a second no I need a second I need a second please second okay roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes Mrs Walker yes Mr armad yes Mrs Claus yes okay now we're uh page seven and 8 transportation and student tuition A5 to a22 motion please motion second second okay roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes but on a21 I need to obstain on Mr rmo please thank you Mrs Walker uh yes Mr armato yes Mrs Claus yes thank you page 8 and N um other a23 to a30 please uh motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes Mrs Walker yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes just uh Mr conedy you number 33 we didn't get there yet oh yeah we're still 30 8 to 30 oh my bet yep page N9 policy and regulation a31 to a32 motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs arada yes Mr conned yes Mrs Walker yes Mr armado yes Mrs glaus yes page nine hibs A3 3 to a34 motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy need to abstain on number 33 and yes on 34 please thank you Mrs Walker yes Mr armato yes Mrs Claus yes page 10 donations uh we have $467 in donations uh motion please motion second roll call please I have a question please um the donations that I spoke about for those trips should that be under donations uh I noticed it we'll do it next month next month yep it hasn't happened yet those trips haven't happened yet so we'll do it next month okay thanks all right Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes and thank you Mrs Walker yes Mr armad yes and Mrs Claus yes page 10 programs and curriculum C1 to C2 motion please move second third I mean roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mrs Walker uh yes Mr Mr armado yes and Mrs CLA yes page 11 professional days in Workshop stops and travel motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mrs Walker Yes except I have to abstain on Margaret Malloy thank you Mr armato yes Mrs Claus yes page 11 through 16 C uh certification Personnel E1 to E18 and this is as amended uh per the green sheets that you guys all received motion second roll call please okay Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mrs Walker yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes um page 16 to 19 non uh certificated Personnel F1 to F9 motion please motion second oh here roll call please Mr yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes Mrs Walker yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes and I believe we have a walk-on resolution tonight yes okay so we have termination of employment contract You' got the board approved the termination of employment contract of the following staff 8588 employee ID number uh effective 101624 uh motion motion I'll second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mrs Walker yes Mr armado yes and Mrs Claus yes thank you is that all motion to adjourn yep okay motion to adjourn second on it second all in favor vice president CLA here you go Oh yay I get the hit some sh