##VIDEO ID:3nZOIKIPusc## okay so moving on um to the curriculum and construction agenda thank you under curricul instruction for Action this evening we're asking the board to approve section A travel under B we're also asking the board to take action and approve items one and two item numbers item number two which goes on page 202 there are some items listed in Red so those are for approval as well that concludes curriculum instruction I have a motion in a second to accept the curricle instruction agenda I'll motion is there uh any questions comments um M I just wanted to say as I said in my um earlier um report that um I'm I'm happy to see that we were utilizing our programs for two ke and bringing Revenue um as well as most importantly helping the kids so um that was great to see thank you okay um moving on to Student Services again Mr yes thank you under student services we ask the board to take action this evening on all items list have been red because they new to the agenda off quickly them item number one is for bedside instruction as listed and items 2 3 four and five this again for action for Keys tuition into the district that includes student services you can have Motion in a second to accept the agenda okay and um just wanted to review quickly uh some of the questions that the board had um one was about the about the keys tuition um just to clarify that it is uh those districts are paying tuition two keys to send children there um and then there was another question I'm not sure know the names anym um was uh uh is first children services a new company for home instruction and the answer is yes um and that's in addition to other home instruction that is provided okay uh are there any other question questions or comments okay uh moving on to personel Dr thank you we have on a Personnel agenda uh for Action we have a walk-in items listed as 1 two and three uh there resignations appointments and staff array changes as listed continuing the Personnel agenda we have for action A and B for uh resignations retirements and leaves of absence and we also have C which is 1 through 12 which starts with extracurricular activities on page two of8 non-athletic activities hourly activities and then number two we have summer school recommendations summer recommendations I'm sorry uh summer workshop and item three for professional development and then we have item four curriculum instruction for curriculum development that's listed and we have five high school teachers for breakfast before school supervision then we have six of salary adjustments that are read they have Nam location step from and step two we have in seven home instruction as listed in8 on page 5 of eight we have staff changes as listed in red and at nine we have District translators as listed along with 10 for substitutes and substitute nurses and 11 we have college student OB observers and interns and then 12 we have instructional assistants as substitute teachers inde D we have all uh other we have hi having none uh we have uh substitute administrators listed substitute administrators listed for the district and keys Academy I'm sorry number four we have extracurricular account number revision that was an account number revision I'm sorry and additional pay five and then we have 6 through 11 which is in red a job description for attendance residency security officer which was a revision and we have District calendar revision which included shifting days not adding days to the calendar uh for our Preschool teachers staff and uh nurses summer flex days salary amendments administrative lead would pay as listed and a job title changes as this that completes the Personnel section of the agend are there any questions or comments about oh I'm sorry hand a motion a second to accept the personel agenda um Mo now are there any questions or comments about the personal Miss P I just wanted to say um that i' love the breakfast of DS and because I know we do it at the high school but I just wanted to thank the admin team because I know it's been great you know it's tough trying to work out uh schedules for the parents and the kids getting dropped off and trying to help everybody so I appreciate um you guys coming up with all different ways to figure that out as well as the staff that's covering them um so that's very appreciated um and I just also wanted to ask I know we had um one HIV added um we is that going to be for next month yes thank you there any other questions or comments okay moving on to policy Dr thank you on the policy agenda for tonight for action we have a second reading and approval and adoption item one and then we have an abolishment for Action in item number two and that concludes the policy agenda I have a motion in a second to accept the policy agenda call motion second um we had some questions mostly about the facilities policy uh so the policy 7510 um primarily just learning about the uh the rates and um and uh just for the benefit of the public uh the board was able to see the uh rates for renting facility using facilities that are um Oldbridge and and and and it has logistic to get a perspective of where we lie in relation to those other districts that are our immediate neighbors and which is very informative um so are there any other questions and comments about any of these policies Miss P um for facilities I just wanted I had asked a few of us had asked if we could um work on having payments up front that would be really like that's just a no-brainer because everything you do today you have to put a deposit or something so so last year we had the opportunity to move um from school dudes to flow pan so we are working with L on an option so that we can do a pre structure as they're trying to that is that feasible with them or yes they're just trying to um now that we've approved it now we can share the different uh the four different categories that we have instead of you know we downsize from five to four so the four different categories and then that way um they can take the breaks and then we upload them and then start getting training on how we be the um and I know that the the rage chart um switched within our board folder but they did increase correct they did increase um the difference between some of the schools and ours is ours is an hourly rate all the other schools is a full G rate so that's the differential and then what we did is again um I apologize the first time it was uploaded it was uploaded with um categories 135 however we want to make sure that that matches the policy and so when we change the categories we accidentally uploaded the wrong R sheet the first time for the question I I just Mrs SC had picked up on that cuz I was looking at them and I'm like God these look so low so okay cuz we haven't changed anything and then we also wanted to make it easier to read it was very long and tedious so we wanted to condense it and make it easier to understand thank you um so also on the facility um policy thank you for uming the other districts s the other districts um fee rates because I love that was helpful I also thought it was helpful to see they all do require payment of frm which I think will help us because I know we've had issues getting payment some that so um I think that would be helpful for M kakes I have a question um so are I'm comparing all then but now and I'm wondering so do we have a minimum we're hourly where it looks like other districts are just for flat for the day so do we have a minimum hourly requirement or it can be 1 hour and it versus eight hours okay thank you any other questions or comments see none actually one question based on that hourly rate so so we charge So ially speaking we're $80 an hour for a room in the high school what about the custodial feeds like we have to pay extra right to have these these other people help out in the background so under underneath the rates for the rooms that's why you'll see there's a rate for maintenance and there's a rate for custodial and those are hourly too those would it depends on the category depending on who gets charged for what okay so that's in addition depending on the category correct add to the hourly break is the maintenance correct okay thank you there's a lot that goes on on the background that I don't realize so I'm just trying to understand so I appreciate that than you absolutely my hands this Cas okay uh good evening we're looking to take action on uh the full agenda this evening so that would be pay roll for the month of August as well as the bills list for the month of September transfer of funds for August as well as board secretaries report major fund status and treasers report for August acceptance of the grant funds re unified again thank you so much um add a district tuition for the reach program um that we are receiving into the district uh we're taking two students in and we accepting tuition uh the facilities great as we just spoke about the memorandum of understanding between burdale and us for our keys program located on burdale campus the approval of the tool used waver educational space we had to include one additional change of use from a faculty Lounge to a small speech area um as well as what we talked about at the last meeting for the acceptance of the donation for Jersey nights and sunds as we turn to page three uh routine travel reimbursement for the STA member listed the fire and evacuation drills for the month of August the bus evacuation drills and then we will be avoiding a joint Transportation Route um for student at District placement and then awarding a parental contract for student in [Music] District thank you very much um do we have a motion a second to accept the finance agenda call motion second um seems like case covered the questions I do about it anybody have any questions or comments on the fin um I just had a question because I didn't see this before umor um what is a parental contract for student transportation I feel like I should know this but just I don't know what that is think a lot of were ask uh so sometimes there'll be a reason why we can or can't transport a student but a student still needs to be trans transported because they're aborted that and so the state allows us to have a parental contract in place with them with high limits on their insurance and they'll have to you know turn over a copy of their driver's license for who's ever going to drive them as well as a vehicle registration what the higher limits that are set by the state and then this um can not only Aid the student but it also AIDS us because we're not going to an ESC to find an outside contracted rate so is this an out of District this isn't like a parent student lives a little over they qualify for busing whether it can be for out of out of miles or it wouldn't be for that it's for special oh it's foral not it can or can't be for out a district to go either way just in general right parental contract or in District or out of District but typically special than question the comment best Finance agenda okay see none we're moving to the public comments um the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on matters of interest to the school Community individuals wishing to speak must State their name and Municipality of presidents comments are limited to three minutes duration but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have't heard all statements should be directed to the board president and no participant May address or question question board members individually all speakers are requested to express themselves in a Cil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others whose legal rights may be affected please note while it's not the board's intention to stifle comment on matters of legitimate concern the public should be aware that their statements violate the rights of others under the law of defamation or invasion of privacy they may face personal liability to the injured party if speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications of their comments the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their legal advisor um just let we know that this case will have the um one of our cell phones here will have 3 minutes on it so I can give you a heads up because 3 minutes comes a lot faster and sometimes it feels like and then um this case takes minutes of during public Comon as well so that's that's what's going on up here um so do anybody wish to come and speak this time good evening uh my name is James McHugh and is a Michael CC U and I live in M um I'm going to implore and ask uh Madam president Madame superintendent um my kicks are very high tonight CU I'm very stressed coming from the PTO meeting so if I can have a little latitude with the time I would appreciate it uh if not I understand then I can get back to the end but there's only four of us that are here so um I'm here to speak tonight on what has become a common topic for parents of students from mans the new singly 180 degree turn on the assigning of homework at as I do understand some homework is necessary at back to school night Mr Van Horn stood in the auditorium and told us that he understands the school home life balance and that homework would be minimal the teachers echoed that same sentiment now we're getting reports from students that the teachers are telling them that Mr Van Horn has given direction to them which is in direct opposition of the board's recommendation I think it's a like 6 hours of homework a week or somewhere along those lines um that all teachers must give homework every night that students are not allowed to complete homework in the school building and that he is questioning the children in the hallways on how much homework were you given and was it done in the school or was it done at home when we address this at the meeting tonight with PTO he became very defensive and very aggressive saying that the children are telling non truths right when I asked him why parents who are trying to address him on his 180° turn on this four weeks into the school year he was less than transparent and was when questioned why he's sending a copy and paste email to each parent who has different problems the response was I'm not here to talk about other parents right parents are posting these in the message board for the PTO that he is literally saying this is the policy this is what it is the kids are coming home and some kids can do it in an hour and a half 2 hours some kids are doing it 3 to 4 hours a night and when we brought that up his response was that sounds like a you problem not a me problem this is inappropriate and the level of micromanagement by a professional over professionals is not what you would see in a welcoming and open learning environment our children should not be afraid that the principal is going to ask them where they did their homework we spoke to him about the possibility with his newsletter to have to translate into a few other languages because not every family in this district is English speaking as their first language his response to that was we have 20 different languages spoken in the homes of this school I'm not translating that that newsletter when we ask him why his newsletter is buried behind two and three links in an email that's not my problem not everybody has the cap capability of internet not everybody has the capability of having a smartphone or a computer it's a show of classism it's a show of blatant disregard for the needs of this district and it should be investigated at this point as to why he's saying our children are pretty much Liars when multiple families now have the same experience with their children coming home the other people members will come up and cooperate what went on tonight uh I may step back up in a little while but thank you for hearing me and I appreciate thank you Mr good good night everyone um my name is Ashley D I'm in Matan um I have children in the high school and the middle school I'm also on the PTO board for the Middle School um my concern at the moment is more we're trying to come up with ways to get more people involved we have parents that are saying we want this we want that we want this we want that but no one's to volunteer then oh well we want to be involved with the meetings but we can't get there we have a major disadvantage yes Zoom is a wonderful thing and so are all these other platforms but there is no cell service so for us to try and use our phone and be directed to stand by a window so that we can orchestrate a zoom meeting for parents to be involved doesn't work we didn't know if there's anything that the board could possibly do to help us get some connection to the Wi-Fi since we can't get that through the school um tonight we were lucky enough that there was a teacher there so she was able to use her laptop to sign us on but that's not always going to happen so we're trying to make it where a many people as possible we can get involved would be given away to be able to be involved we know people have different things going on in their lives children with different issues they may be single parents their kids might be going to bed they maybe can't make it and that's fine but we don't want them to be excluded then from the ability to know what's going on and what we're trying to do for the school of the kids that's thank you Michael Scott from mwan I'm trying to find information on the changes to the p75 75 and the use of school facilities I called a district office uh today trying to find out where I could see that so I could know what's changing from what's in there now so if someone could let me know where I can get a uh a copy or Prov bu me a copy I'd appreciate it was for second reading so it was on the website but if that's not helpful cop when I looked at the okay but when I looked at the video from uh the last meeting it appeared there that there was an awful lot of questions and they were still trying to figure out stuff for what they were doing to change this the 75 10 so I'm a little confused how you were proven it if at the last meeting there was supposed to be your first reading there was a lot of questions uh I'm I'm a little confused at all that yeah I was going to say actually um would you mind explain how the policy because we do have an ad hoc committee that that meets that policy hi sir um so I had the policy committee within the board so there's four of us and we actually um have um Mr Dr Albert uh who is joined us so we have admin with us now so basically the last policy was a first read we have an opportunity to send in questions um updates concerning whatnot once those were addressed with the business administrator and uh case who um updated the policy and worked with the operations and maintenance department to see what needs we had things that maybe um needed to be changed rates like we had talked earlier were from a long time ago trying to consolidate it so it was really just a matter of typing up a little language we didn't really change much in the body of the policy it was really great um Miss case can probably talk more to that we um updated a little bit of wording and um consolidating so I really don't I don't think that there's too much but maybe if you give us your email we could actually send you the policy and so just to P you back on that so then when it comes back to the board as a whole that's almost like a report from the committee that okay we've now that it's it's been started and there all the questions at the at the last meeting then the committee addressed it and you know cleaned it up to a final version and then reports it back to the board who then you know this was the this is the the meeting to adopt the second the final version of it um but yes it's it's on the district website of policies what is it you go to board of education right I did I looked that up but the old policies Well yeah if you go to the where it says policies those are ones that have been that have already been adopted or in and I believe policies for a second read is on the right hand side of the the screen and because those are ones that are are being discussed you know in a final version but have not actually been adopted by the board yet um I'm sorry that you didn't get a chance to see it before tonight um and so yeah we can definitely get you a copy okay I'll give you my email great thank you uh M Scott NJ aol.com thank you Dr can I just ask um when will this now that we updated or we we voted on this policy how soon will that gentleman be able to see that policy or any other policy on the website help quickly that yes M Martinez he should be by Monday that that should be well now show up show up yeah but but I think it's um okay if maybe somebody want to email you the policy that would be fine thank you sir good evening everybody Michael Mills I'm uh the lead volunteer for the Manana Recreation Val group and I have similar question and sort of a similar impact um so I think you partially answered my question but I'm just curious how do we marry the changes in the document ahead of time so that the public can comment about the changes before you approve it now maybe I'm crazy but I looked all over the website to try to find the revised changes or a markup of some sort and I couldn't find it and I also reviewed the video from last week and there was sort of a summary discussion of like these are the categories of things that were going to change within the policy document but there was little or no detail so I as a um um you know as a a public member I can't even comment and say yeah this is great fantastic or no it's not so I guess one request I have is a I would like to see the policy as well and I'd like to request that we push out the decision at least for that particular thing the approval for that for a little bit more time so the public can have a chance to review it cuz I I didn't get I didn't see it at all would that be possible please well um I have a couple questions what one just for the notes um what what town is your residence so I I'm represented Madan abde Recreation volleyball I'm sorry sir but what town is yes I live personally in freeold okay um just for the notes um also but I have m in that okay yeah okay um the uh I know that the policies for second read are posted where I describing frankly I've been in your shoes before tried to find them and understand and had to um had to get clarified for me long time AG before I was board member so before you wonder what I'm thinking but um when did this I don't know if this is Dr RS um when are the policies second posted great so policies in between reads between first and second read before it goes the second read for this evening it gets posted PRI when agenda gets released oh okay so that today yeah so and in the past we have been posting them on the district website so we'll speak to the board more about this later when we talk about the new website perhaps we can do a better job of getting them uh not so deep into the website but more accessible for commy uh there are also times where we posted with the agenda a link policies as well so if we want to be consistent with that practice too there would be two spots where Community would be able to see the second reedition before it goes down I think it's also important to for the community to know that and by the board the board disase redacted uh the the bolds and strike throughs they see Bo see that the community doesn't see the the messiness of a first draft of the policy we to see what's be Ed or changed right n assistant I me I I worked in the Missouri State Legislature and we didn't post drafts with strike throughs and what have you um for public use it was when it was ready to be Ved on the flo that so so just a finalize on on the discussion a little bit since it only happened two weeks ago I think it's fair to request at least for this one particular policy that it the policy get pushed out so everybody can see it and then give us at least until the next meeting or so so that we can comment perhaps back to you by email or some other form prior to the meeting just in case there's anything that we want to follow up on I from what I heard Lindsay say I don't think there is much but I don't really know and I can't comment at this point because we haven't been able to see it so please I would appreciate it very much if we could at least table that approval until the following meeting thank you very comment um you have question no I just wanted to reiterate that this particular policy really um I don't I don't know if it will even be noticed the changes they were very small and like I said it was really more of just race and consol language um understand your concern um but the process is first read and then the committee works on that we then give to the board after the legal department has seen it um the board has a chance to speak of it talk about it change it you know updates questions whatnot and then once we are confident that it goes to Second reading we see the the the cleaned version and as in tonight we be our final and then usually vote on it so um there's a long uh time frame in between it's usually a month by the time we get the policy committee is usually working on it for longer but for the board to see it's usually that month so thank you thank you very much hello Christan I am in the Juan resident I have kids at mans right now um basically reiterating a lot of what has been said by my fellow M's parents I came tonight to the ptso board meeting on the premise of hopefully addressing the principal it turned up he zoomed in um which thankfully again for that teacher because apparently we wouldn't have had Zoom otherwise but what disappointed me the most was from the Geto one of the things I've noticed I work at the library I dig on accessive information I'm dig on equity and I always had a trouble with the fact that Mr vah horn sends out his newsletter as a link that then opens a Google link that then you download as a PDF and it is only in English and when I mentioned to him tonight that you know perhaps we were not getting a lot of involvement in school activities because of this problem and I know that you know Miss Perez has managed to make an embedded document in an email that also is there in Spanish that perhaps he could contact her to help make this a more equable Outreach to the parents and students he informed us there's 20 languages in the school that's their problem not mine kind of got my eyer up I to say um then we went went on about the homework and again his I've heard from my students I have I'm in the library I talked to a lot of kids some of you may know that I'm like soccer coach Mom and I PTO mom and I'm kind of everywhere um several of the students have come crying to me because of the amount of homework a lot of them are not going to their after school clubs they're not participating in their Scouts anymore they don't have time my daughter being one with generalized anxiety disorder she is up till 12:00 most nights she's no longer eating dinner because she's nauseated about the fact that she has to do this homework and she has to get % correct it it hurts what also hurts is the fact that my daughter started 2 weeks ago two weeks today she went into school saying this is going to be a great year I love science you know I I'm excited about the social studies we're going to learn this year I'm finally going to get on English honor roll yesterday I had to take her to a doctor's appointment she soled the whole way there because she couldn't do any of her homework in the car it all requires internet and she was going to be up till 1: and I said well sweetie you know we're doing the best we can I I don't know what to tell you and she says mom the only thing I can tolerate about school is art that was not even two weeks into school it breaks my heart that this child and not just mine but so many others are losing their desire to be at the school their love for Education their love for learning because of this homework Drilling and I honestly don't believe I've read some of the same studies I am the libr I did my research um I don't see that the benefit to hours of homework every night I also don't believe that students like my student who have trouble in math they're not getting the chance to practice the instructional time in the classroom they're coming home and they're reinforcing the wrong way of doing things because he's in insisting that every minute of class time should be instructional on what about the students who don't get in instruction in the same way and they need to practice and reinforce it with the teacher there that's not being allowed and that is harming a good percentage of our students I don't know what statistics he's working for I don't know what his end goal is but the equity the fact that some of these kids don't have internet everywhere they go my time okay I'll be thank you come around again good evening a um I was at this ptsl meeting as well I am the vice president um some of the things that concerned me um first before we went there van Mr Van Horn had a wonderful idea to make this meeting virtual which I thought was great let more community members come but when my Treasurer questioned him and said well what are we going to do about the internet um he this was his exact message I will join the meeting virtually if your phone doesn't work in Ms maybe you can use another parents phone it usually works best to remain here if I'm near a window or a door well if we are having a meeting why would we be standing by a window or a door I found that very unprofessional um as for homework I am an educator I do understand the benefits of homework to some extent but to put down a mandate that student um that teachers must sign homework every night which this happened because I actually know so funny who I won't say who it is I saw the email he sent him um so he did actually do this um it's unacceptable as a professional because now you're undermining your your your colleagues your the professional that they are they know when students need to have homework when they don't need the homework maybe allowing them to do it in class because block period allows them to see if they're struggling or not because a lot of these students as we just talked about it's an equity issue these parents at home don't speak Spanish or even for math I know as a teacher I had to learn how to do math all over again math is completely different than what I learned it parents aren't going to know how to do that so we can't expect these students to go home and be able to do all this homework without anyone there to support them another thing I want to mention is I love his initiative on Spirit school spirit is very important it's a morale Builder not for just for faculty and but also students the issue I see is that he is implemented on Wednesday students wear Spirit Weare and they get a ticket and they are get a chance in the winner prize Well now faculty can no longer wear their spirit wear unless they it's a certain day and they have to pay to wear so now we have faculty members who said I would buy your spirit wear but unfortunately we're in no l loud wearing he is just I don't know I I have no words right now as a teacher that if I had to work in a building with someone who belittled me and made me feel that uncomfortable or put these mandates on me that I would want to resign and I feel we have a really good school district here and we don't want to lose teachers but I will tell you that within the last two weeks of school there are at least five teachers I know of who have already started looking for other jobs and and I don't think we want have that happen thank you James M again Mada uh during this meeting I did cite that our Learners are individuals and have individual needs uh even in my own home I have one child who's in The Accelerated learning programs and my other child has special needs but is in General Ed with a Ono one so even in my house I have both ends of that Spectrum I cited studies of the University of San Diego Oxford Stanford University the American Psychological Association Texas amm Sacramento sacremental University on how elongated hours of homework can be detrimental to not only the physical and mental well-being but the home aspect and I was the response I got was well I can show you double the amount that say the opposite this is not fostering parent Administration relationships and with unless something has changed in the last few weeks with the absence of an interventionist in the building and with the absence of some kids having basic skills coming into a new environment in the sixth grade this is a perfect storm for bigger issues down the line for these children not every child is a cookie cutter learner we need to remember that a they're individuals B they're coming back to school damaged after more than a year and a half two years of Home Learning they're readjusting to being with their peers and now a lot of these children from that environment and I I'm I'm a paramedic by trade I've been a paramedic between 21 years in the city of New York I have not seen more mental health issues in children than I have in the last 2 years so now these children have mental health issues at Young ages I can't even tell you the horrors that I see with children on a daily basis and now we're adding more anxiety and stress to an already stressed environment where some families have two working parents that work opposite each other some parents are in school some parents like myself I run a station of 100 paramedics in New York City I come home sometimes not for days and I come home and when I want to spend quality time with my family my child is crying because he's afraid he's going to get in trouble and vocalizing my opinion like this makes me worry because of the interaction that I had this evening at the PTO will my children be singled out tomorrow and ask if their homework was done because it's not a fostering environment for inclusivity it is not fostering an environment for learning it is not fostering an environment that our children should have to endure it this point why should children and we talked about this teachers have said that he sits in the common areas during period changes and will literally stop a child and go how much homework did you have last night did you do it at home my child should not be interrogated on whether or not he does homework my older child is a diabetic he's been a diabetic since he's 40 years old if he has a bad sugar night he may not be able to focus on that homework and now I have have to worry about my autistic child who had diabetes being disciplined because he has a chronic illness how is this fair to the parents how is this fair to the teachers who are now afraid of their supervising like I said I supervis 100 plus people I have 200 different personalities out of those 100 people right but at the end of the day if you ask any one of my employees what kind of leader I am I'm the leader that goes out I'm the leader that goes on their jobs I run into the buildings on fire with them I run into the gunshots with them he is dictating from the back and he is not taking any criticism from the parental body and I think that this at this point needs to be at least looked at because you cannot tell me that all these children coming home and the parents putting screenshots up or lying I'm [Music] sorry thank you Mr I do want to say before the next speaker comes up that um at this board meeting uh parents can always speak community members can always speak Abol there will not be retribution uh towards children towards staff I'm more worried about the PTO meeting this is a a place okay thank you thank you than thank you I just had a step in here because uh for those of you who know me I'm very community-minded I'm very solution oriented that's my mindset 30 years of at Babs and also Verizon Wireless um presents me with that kind of mindset so I heard um a little bit of an issue from these folks over here that I thought maybe I can help with for example um if instruction sets or materials are important to members of the community and there's a language barrier there are tools such as J chat GPT that can automatically translate text into other languages Google has a number of tools that can do that as well and perhaps the school could deploy that kind of technology or that kind of asset to help where there's a where materials need to be translated into other languages that's just a recommendation that I thought I would offer thank you very much thank you may also make a comment that um in some of the buildings because I have three children and three different buildings um the newsletters they can continue to scroll are also in Spanish so I don't know if it's clearly it's not consistent across the building but maybe we should try to work on that um as far as the other languages I agree you know Google Translate is pretty um yeah pretty accessible for all so but anyway maybe we could try to form some of that language so in terms of newsletters we have in nor with um are Communications additional Communications so we have we met not too long ago with the the administrative team in terms of having uniformity um and then utilizing the format that the district has purchased um because on that on that toggle or on that the platform um you can click on translate and then it would translate to and L number of so that is in the process the feedback that we also did receed um from our team was that some of the parents do like the weekly I guess it's I'm assuming not the weekly um which is in a Google doc so that's kind of what we're filtering through like okay do you utilize that but for what purposes and then what means and then also making sure that it's um in line to what meets the needs of the parents in the community but also that it's easily accessible and can be translated because I do agree sometimes when I using my phone you cannot um and that was the point of using the other format that we discussed um because when you use your phone you can't necessarily click on a Google doc because you don't have food control or there's just other things so we are discussing it so I appreciate the feedback I would one more um a couple actually um I know that we've mentioned before trying to use all different Avenues of communication so you know obviously the internet is the biggest Avenue we have but maybe also a paper copy of the newsletter because people might not have access to the internet when they go home or whatever the individual's case may be if the paper comes home in the folder that's another aenue of a newsletter although then I we might come up with a translation challenges in that aspect but um I'm sure there's other ways whether it's internet or or via paper form there's probably other ways too I'm missing right now we're trying to reach people on different Avenues right even with that with something coming home it could just as easily be typed translated English on one side Spanish on the other and sent home then you run into conversation I'm sorry for this but you run into all the other languages I agree but any step is a good step just first touched on it really quickly that we do have um a Communications um contract now that hopefully they will advise about a lot of this kind of problem solving because we are a highly diverse district with a lot of languages present and we want to be sensitive to that because children need to be educated regardless the parents need to be engaged regardless um so thank you for your comments yes um just to continue with this communication and having I understand there's many other languages but you know the top two probably be English and Spanish um so the biggest concern I had is while we were at this meeting we were discussing this and Mr Grand horn was just like I don't need to do that like a paraphrase but I don't need to do that because they can just use Google Translate and then went on to say that most people just look at it on their phone and as was just pointed out you can't always do those things on your phone so I just once again as an administrator to be so like hardened and like be like I'm not doing this this isn't my job I don't really it just to me seems like he doesn't care about the community and at the same time like the other things I said it doesn't seem like he cares about his staff and making them happy cuz I always feel like um happy teachers make happy students so like for example tomorrow my principal announced today that we get to wear jeans tomorrow for free and you know what those little things go a long way but he is cracked down on everything taking the fun out of it and I used to say that Ms I felt was the best school we have in this district and no offense to him but since he become principal I can't wait till my kids to get out hi again um what following with what I was saying when I had my daughter in the car and I was saying well how are we supposed to do this homework you know we have a drive time and I'm saying what about my friends who kids run track or play field hockey and the answer was just use your phone as a Hotpot school not from school that was from the other parents but um that's how the vision is like excuse me I don't have that option I don't have the best coverage I still pay for data Hotpot is not how we're going to be handling this but it brought me thinking to the people who come into the library because they have no other place to print no other place to use internet no other place to use a computer we're assigning homework that's digital requirement we're not giving ditos anymore or five questions on things and yet the library has laptops you can rent what happens if you don't have internet at home or you have limited internet at home know I just feel like there's a big disconnect between our community right now I know there was a big push to get internet at home during Co but there are still people who fall in that midline where I'm not quite on the system that I'm allowed to get free internet but I'm not quite in the part that I can pay for unlimited internet either so we're limited we go to the library a lot thankfully I work there usually works out but I just from my viewpoint of equity and access and inclusion for everyone there's a big breakdown in this school right now and it's very sad for me I mean I have a son on the Spectrum a daughter with anxiety he gets everything done in 20 minutes because his brain just works that way she's stopping until 11:00 or midnight and unable to eat because she's trying to do it all perfectly there's a big difference even in my own household but I just feel like this school since we started last year has gone downhill on communication if anything comes from the PTO we're lucky if we get a link at the bottom of the newsletter then they're saying they can't hold the events because they don't have volunteers well maybe I didn't get the three links on my phone with the lack of data to find out there was even a PTO link they're not allowed to send out emails they're not we have no access to the parents he does not provide a community in the school and it's it's really sad to me and just that part of what middle school should be that's a big social emotional learning period for our children and we're really cutting down on that with the way things are sit with your own class for lunch in sixth grade and you can't do this and you know no talking outside of school and you have to you know walk silently between classes which of course does not happen but they had been told that at one point that was a really good attempt but I just feel like to me as somebody who embodies access and Equity I've been physically disabled I've been in a wheelchair I see light from that side I see light from the neurod Divergent side we're not helping these kids and I tried I'm one of the parents who wrote a letter to him and I got the cookie cutter response he never read my letter I can almost guarantee you because none of what I addressed in there other than the fact that my tagline said homework and quizzes because there's also required quiz that we make in every subject now other than that what I wrote in my body of my letter was not addressed in his cookie cutter response and that to me is unspeakable for an administrator to not at least acknowledge a parent thank you I'm done thank you thank you all for speaking um so it's a lot to dig um yeah action okay um we need take action on agenda items um Miss PES yes Miss Martinez yes Mr Mar yes thank you Miss forell yes Mrs buy Miss pal yes the agenda it is pass um moving on in old businessess there there was one important item that I didn't want to make sure that the community was aware um and we will make sure that the schools that the families at Ms particularly know um we did um this year was the first year that we offered before and after care through the YMCA um the YMCA has been um been great in terms of offering the programs unfortunately we've only had three families um that have taken advantage of that um I did ask them to extend up until the fall because perhaps maybe more parents or family members May and W when it gets colder um and kids maybe don't want to walk or you know or there's a need there so we are extending um we asked them to extend the services up until the end of November um but they typically they don't post where they will not be able to have the staff members working for only unfortunately for only three members in the meantime so should they um should we move away from the YMCA and offering those Services the district will be working on a plan to offer to those parents that so let's say like the three parents that are um now taking advantage of it um work with those particular families and let them know that we will be offering something to those families so they don't have to still um about how they're get to school and what services they will be particularly for the some of the kids do participate in after school programs um so I imagine that that's picking up on um in the fall and then in the morning we'll work um but we'll definitely I'll make sure that there's something some type of um Outreach from us the district in terms of that notification for the parents and if you could do some type of blast cuz there have been a few parents that said oh we didn't realize they do it there to we thought it stopped so we'll probably send it out next we'll send one another one out next week but then also saying that also including the information that if we don't have enough enrollment that we may have for this continue to service so I'm hopeful that you know like I said that maybe it'll increase Services um increase enrollment um for those Services because they did put that nice um program together for the families um for that theing and then the only I just wanted to respond on some of the feedback that we heard um I wanted to reassure the that we will be we were taking notes um but we will be addressing and meeting together as a team um to address the concerns you raised um we do take it very seriously in terms of ensuring that all our families feel a part of a school Community um regardless of the language they speak um particularly and so you brought up some excellent points um that we were not aware of um so we'll make sure we address them and prioritize them and I just have a few [Music] old okay um I just wanted to um uh just verify again the website timeline we're still on target for October yes we're still on target for October um it'll probably be um definitely after the 15th um we will be pre previewing um with the with the board on that um and as I mentioned um for went to the newsletter that we're sending out and you'll actually be receiving line um actually this month so if it does not translate please test it so I know because that's supposed to work I tested it it works but perhaps for something else um it may not um so please let me know on that um but with the with the website it will also to as we were talking about that we can drop down translate that information and then we're trying to um frontload a lot of community events and things like that so some of the things that were brought up this evening are we could probably do some work around in terms of getting information for our school Community like Theos in terms of having perhaps that um and then I just wanted to um bring up again or ask I know you had mentioned Miss pres um that the towns didn't budget for extra cost of guards this year do we know if they're looking to do that for next year meaning like I guess 2025 or so um we they did not budget because we didn't recommend it as I mentioned at the last board meeting um I did meet with them so we were I requested their timeline for the um Town budget because we know when ours begins we were we were able to get that information this week in terms of when they um are putting together their budget so which is very very quickly so um we need to meet as far as with as a team in terms of transportation and also seeed works are living um to determine where crosss will be um where the need is and if there aren't any then we recommend it and then they discuss it with it would be part of their essentially like their budget proposal but that will be up for approval the town okay Town yeah just because I I know 34 was the biggest um issue where we probably have some need um but I do want to say that um because I live right on the intersection of 3 right by m so um just being in and out all day I noticed these last couple weeks with the new school year that the Russy bar have been in the middle of L 35 um very active at that ligh which I was very glad to see cuz um that is not a a good spot there so um so that's the thing um Martin quickly just back off of that um also so at idle and which I know we' spoke about this before but idle pile and Bo Road um I just want to have it that that intersection there from wood Walkers down the stat floor is high volume and people Park all over on both sides of the street to get their children from strap more so a crossing guard there it the is highly highly necessary so that you can proberbly put that in our proposition also that would be amazing thank you before we make any Rec to the town I will shff theard so you all I do not I'm so you have a better idea situation you know terms I I just wanted to give a quick um policy update um for the board so um we're working on substance abuse right now policy um this is a policy that the committee really can't do too much this is we over wheelhouse so the administration um has been involved and um I know Mrs pres had uh and Dr rolls was allowing the high school principal and the Middle School principal to review the policy see where we had some need so the board policy committee um of the board is basically just doing some suggestions um but most of it is going to be done for the administration and our legal department so that's coming up um um that's the next policy we have on the agenda um and then uh lastly I do want to say one thing about um the homework so the when my kids were in the middle school they're 23 and 25 but when they were in the middle school I know it was heavy heavy heavy um then the high school it's like does anybody have any homework like they OB say they never have any homework God only knows but um the yeah the last thing we need right now we're spending all this time en um money on services and programs and anxiety is through the roof this is the last thing we need right now is to have these kids stress about homework um and so whatever we can do to fix that ASAP would be great especially in the middle school cuz that's such a tough year 3 years grade age whatever so I really would love if you guys just Zed in on that that would be awesome is there any other old business um any new business okay see none you resolved that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy personnel and legal matters the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides although the board cannot guarantee the length of the executive session is to be 60 Minutes Plus 45 to half hour after 45 minutes um after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business action will not take place um can have a motion is second to your executive session second all in favor I your session thank you all for com --------- ##VIDEO ID:uIrlH6E0Wiw## the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public as Advan notice of and to attend the meeting the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or agreed upon in accordance with the provision of this act matate Regional School District Board of Education advertised this meeting on June 5th 2024 in the Asbury par press in the Star Ledger these notices resist to municipal Clerks of the bur of Madan Township of aine in the Madan aine Public Library these notices were also placed on the district's website can please stand for the pledge [Music] allegiance the United States of America and to the rep for stands one nation under God indivisible Justice for All We it resolve that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy personnel and legal matters the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides although the board cannot guarantee it the link of the executive session is estimated to be 30 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business action will take place can I have a motion and second to enter executive session I'll second oh and we need to do roll call Miss here M Martinez here Mr MCG Mr montone here Miss SC Mell here M War M here here we have a motion on the floor all in favor I thank you we are back in public session um can I have a motion and a second to accept the minutes um on the agenda I'll motion I'll second all in favor all right um can I have a motion second to accept the correspondence to the board motion second in favor um we're going have the superintendent report at this time at this time I'd like to it's an honor to be here with you this evening I'd like to start by thanking Miss Perez and her cabinet along with the board of education for the opportunity to present to you this evening has been an incredible start to the school year and I'd like to thank entire staff and student body some of whom you will hear from tonight and the many stakeholders of the mwan aine Regional School District for a successful start and your continued support tonight you will hear from students and staff regarding new initiatives and opportunities for the students attending Matan Regional High School to start I'd like to introduce to you two important figures within the student body Mr Colin Palumbo our student council president and Miss Lindsay tubber our senior class president please join me good evening as senior class president I would like to share with you all some updates on the activities and happenings we have planned for the senior class this year to begin the senior class continued the tradition of senior Sunrise as we gathered on the beach to kick off the new year and reconnect with one another before our first day of school following the sunrise many seniors attended freshman orientation representing the various clubs Sports and activities our school has to offer at orientation senior Civic leadership students also LED Icebreaker activities in the classrooms and assisted in the hallways as the incoming freshman navigated their schedules seniors also participated in a Kitty backpack day on the second day of school Reminiscing on childhood memories as we headed back for a final time together the current focus of our senior class is the senior shed painting project which will be displayed on the roof of the shed near the football field this year we have chosen a colorful SpongeBob theme design we are excited to continue working on this in the coming weeks coming up in the winter we will be organizing Mr mwan an event partnering with Forum tuxedos showcasing the talents of senior boys who choose to participate and bringing our school Community together for a fun night in December Miss Walling our senior class adviser will also begin taking measurement for graduation gowns this concludes my current update for the senior class I'm eager to take on this leadership role helping to organize all of the exciting opportunities and events we have in store thank you good evening everyone I hope you're having a good school year so far I'm KH Columbo student council president and we are looking forward to a fun and successful school year the vision we have for this year is to thrive in the classroom set up on event and bring our community together we have fund we have fundraisers aiming to organize monthly events and fundraisers to unify our community and build relationships with one another an example being the Husky hero Showdown where townwide First Responders and students compete in a volleyball tournament for some friendly competition we also work to bring back the Powderpuff flag football game gaming tournaments open to the community and work overall we look forward to a fun eventful and of course productive school year thank you all right thank you Colin and Lindsay we're looking forward to a great year how about a round of [Music] applause at this time I'd like to introduce you to a fine young man who came to me at the beginning of the school year to propose a project in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Manan Regional High School now I have to confess I did not know that it was the 100th anniversary but Manan Regional High School was established in 1924 I'd like to welcome Mr Matthew Wong to the podium talk about good evening so before I start I just wanted to say uh thank you to Mr Wells for inviting me tonight um I also want to thank some of my friends uh Colin Lindsay uh Cameron for helping me on this project um it's been one of my passions to create flags and have a representative flag for the school so this really began in June of 2024 when I came up with the idea I pitched it to Mr Wells and thankfully he agreed so I started off with plenty of designs um if I quickly move forward I came up with over 50 uh including ones I got rid of because I didn't think they deserve to see the light of day so but you can see from all the 44 that are on there how I've um used multiple flag designs from countries and some flag designs from schools um to incorporate uh all the grades uh the symbolism like every color and everything on the flag has a a meaning to it so then during the summer of 2024 I reached out to Mrs Wells student Cil advisor um just to like help make the form distribute it and just get the word out to the the student body so the beginning of the school year I finished the platform and everything was ready to go just to be approved by Mr Wells and it was finally sent out and the results came in and these were well here the top six that I chose these were on the floor and overall Winter by by a landslide by up nearly 50% was this fine so so to briefly break this slag down um two colors maroon and seal gray are obviously the uh Mars colors and the thick white uh stripe going back angle from left to right is to represent the boldness and the strength of our school Community the thinner four stripes on either side of the sorry on either side of the old white stri is to represent each of the four grades that Encompass M High School one star is to represent uh the high school itself and how it is the highest form of Education within the district and OB see the School logo in the center being the largest symbol on the flag and so this flag we hope to display it at the pep rally on October 18th but this will be the flag that'll be flying at hopefully all football games and in front of the school as soon as possible thank you may I say something quickly do you mind Mr Wells Man Matt that's amazing you did an amazing job this is so impressive at all tent that is in this District so cool my question is can we purchase these flags for for I don't know our house or the Hing somewhere personally so this quality right now isn't the best I hope this is only going to be for like football game so the football teams to run out with it but I'm going to work with the student council advisers on getting a more durable quality flag and I know I know like several websites that colleges use for their flags and how you can purchase them so hopefully I can work with the student council and maybe we could purchase these for like regular students and families thank you don't still nothing so anyway this one we're M I spoke to Mr Wells because as we are we're going to later hear in the presentation in terms of some of the pathways um and some of the programs so we thought that it would be a wonderful idea to have flags that represent some of theems and the pathways um so that we can have them out on graduation things like that so miss pres may we could do a fundraiser too um for the selling of the plag where are you at I don't know where at um just maybe to to make you know money towards the school or whatever I'm sure parents would love to do that thank you thank you again Matthew okay okay when I was asked to return to high school last summer there were many emotions that filled my head from excitement to nervousness from the thought of starting over to the endless possibilities of what could be this was the place where I spent most of my professional career versus a teacher and athletic trainer and then later as an assistant principal return now as a principal of Manan Regional High School was not only an honor but a dream come true as a school year quickly approached my goal was to Simply re acclimate myself to the high school life I wanted to experience the culture and climate that filled these hallways and most importantly I wanted to reconnect with the many staff and students that I have worked with previously from 10-minute meetings that I had with each staff member to principal's round tables with both staff and students we discussed everything from the lunch menu and the student handbook to course offering in our Academy structure it was this approach and these forums that led to many of our initiatives that you will hear about this evening I want to take a moment to thank all the staff and students that volunteered to participate on these committees for without them anwers to these programs would not be possible to speak about our new husky Prep Academy please welcome Miss Michelle O'Neal and Miss Amanda manga good evening thank you so much for having us here today Miss wo and I represent the steelhouse uh which is part of our husky Prep Academy hi good evening thank you for having us when Mr Wells was here as assistant principal he always had us focus on our freshman class he saw the transition that was needed between Ms and the high school and we were able to work together collaboratively last year and over the summer to create a new curriculum Mr frisina who's my counterpart and could not be here tonight he has a focus on investment and one of our main goals that we want to have with the Husky Prep Academy is 21st century careers uh we are utilizing our new School links platform that we have that the district has purchased that will follow our students all four years when they're here they started just the other day Miss came in and did a wonderful presentation in all of my classes uh the students onboarded created their account and they came up with their results for their career clusters now they're 14 years old uh and we told them you know we're not locking in on anything but what are your interests and a lot of them are interested in the future a lot of them are interested in technology and investment Mr frina said his investment club numbers are Sky High he's never seen them before and we really want to provide targeted support later tonight you're going to hear from the senior Civic leaders they had their first freshman lesson today it was my pleasure to be with them for the past 5 years um and they came in and live their peer-to-peer lessons which we wanted to do once a month they like freshman orientation as Longo was pivotal in planning freshman orientation that we had giving them tours of the building finding their lockers um Miss carbajal in the back she's our dedicated freshman um ad administrator that we have first day of school me and her were helping find lockers you know she created just the hallway for the Freshman to have their locker so all of those supports they've had assignments what's the difference between man in high school what am I expecting you know their nerves their fluttering that they had so when Mr Wells apprach me about being a counselor for the Freshman Academy I was nervous it would be a big transition we I move my office from SPS we have our Freshman Academy sweet down in 600 um but then the school year started and all my fears were allayed because I went to him and I've been driving him crazy since the summer about orientation I came to him um I want to write a grant for for girls and gloves to empower our freshman girls um and he said you think it's worthwhile we'll do it so I have to say he and M caral have been a huge support M Mr frina and Miss O'Neal and Mrs Harris um we've all been working collaboratively they've been so generous to share their ideas with me and welcoming for all my ideas um so it it's really been great and our students I can already see how much they really are appreciating how much Focus there is on them and um when I see them in the hallway we're in September they're already like you know those shy Smiles are coming out so I think we already we're making a huge impact just to walk you through a little bit of the um curriculum that we did over the summer um College and Career exploration like you're going to see um Miss Longo again coming in with the school links platform that we have college searches for them financial literacy that's going to satisfy again not only their driving their interest but one of our state requirements that we have uh second half of the year one of our big focuses that we have is on organization study skills and time management cuz that's what we've been seeing our students um really asking for inside of the classroom as well as the virtual Club um slide that we have been put together we're really trying to get our students involved because involvement in the school is what's going to give them a positive experience here at madon during their transition they're going to be supportive with student to student as well as student to teacher relationship ship and again our ultimate goal is just to have a positive culture and climate here and continue to have at the high school we're going to introduce our new Pathways and course offerings to these students that's why Miss Longo has been coming in meeting with them during course selection time as well hopefully to advise them and find their own path make these four years their own as they're able to Grapple with all these um challenges that they have that's from this year that's our freshman orientation that we had what September 4th um our students getting their schedules and in the auditorium with Mr Wells and here's our school links our new platform that we have again with our College and Career searches students are able to see up and coming the numbers of jobs in each state in the areas that they are interested in they saw their career clusters that they have what needed a certificate what needed more advanced degrees uh as well as personalized resume builders for them so we're going to be working Hands-On with the schoolinks inside a freshman seminar and and that's going to follow them throughout all four of their years here at the high school and those are our students in the Maron oh yes the maroon and steel houses we had them were the t-shirts um that were so generously provided to us that Miss Longo and I are supporting toight and here are just two quotes um from a real a real assignment that our students had they had to write a six paragraph essay comparing their experience at Madan a middle school with Madan Regional High School again a few weeks to school but some of the things that they notic some of the things that stuck out to them as they transitioned from block scheduling to 47 minutes now they have to have science every day instead of a day b day um and what it look like for that but their focus if you see what I need for my future okay they're now thinking they are future focused what is my life going to look like when I walk out of these hallways and what do I want it to look like so our monthly challenges are our proactive approach creating Community within my profession class um we are working this month and next month our daily attendance challenges and I've been going in and we' been checking in on their attendance and well checking in seel house in there they're very excited their mini challenge everyone who wearing their shirts they were excited to win and they I can already see how they want um their Community to thrive and they want to be able to be their winners and they're very invested then now in coming to school because that's one of our challenges um and each month it will be something different we announce it when I go in for my umcl lessons and then we work towards it for the next Mon and these are just the 10 units that the students are going to go in um again Mr Wells when we were talking last year when he first came in we really wanted to give targeted supports in these specific areas to our students because we felt that um it could help e their transition and we're keeping them organized they're going to get a monthly calendar at the start of every single month know what their assignments are if we keep them organized then they have a better chance at staying organized while they're here in the high school so thank you so much well I just sure um so I just wanted to say thank you because I'm a parent of a freshman student and I was immediately impressed when I opened the folder not that you want to be going in there but I did open the folder and I saw the calendar and when I looked at that calendar it was I love the topics I looked many the counselors like there was so much good information and that was my one so to me I could see the benefit immediately so I just wanted to say thank you well I I do have to say and I will agree with Amanda she was driving me nuts um you know because you know once we introduced this like it was kind of like a vision and then to be honest with you I just kind of stepped back and they took over and they have done a tremendous job so thank you both for being here tonight how about a round of applause next up um I've invited Miss Lena carbal one of my assistant principles my rock here at the high school um to talk about our academic Pathways and our updates let's carball hi everyone thank you for being on here tonight um I just want to touch briefly on our academic Pathways um so this is something that changed last year based on like staff feedback um and student feedback so previously we used to have cies so during 8ighth grade students had to apply to either the stem Global Humanities um and then once they applied it kind of locked students in um so there was an advantage to that because it kind of gave direction to some students but then some students that didn't get to apply they kind of missed out on that shop so then now we structured it to where it's open to every student and the students have the flexibility to move from one concentration to another because we know interests change you might take a class and something interests you and something might not and that's okay this is the time where you can explore different topics um during your high school career so we're starting off with the Husky Prep Academy um that's where it sets the foundation for the the cies so all freshmen have a freshman seminar class as they're elected during that class they're learning about so many different things um and one of the things that's going to be a focus in there is being able to inform the students and provide them all the different opportunities and the choices will be presented to them so that they can make decisions as to what pathway they want to concentrate on all right so there's three different Pathways there's the liberal arts stem and Career and Technical um and then each one breaks off into different academic concentrations so if you see there's a variety of concentrations they can focus on all the way from the liberal arts to CTE and then in each pathway there's different these are all sample classes that you can take that if you notice there's like an extensive list for each one so just because you choose liberal arts does it like narrow down there's so many different classes you can take um that's part of that pathway um so you students can complete the checklist um and you'll you'll find that you can complete different Pathways while you're here um and then at the end when you graduate you can have like a concentration area um and that you'll be recognized for when at [Music] graduation so these are all up on our website um so a lot of our teachers took time during they formed a committee um um and they developed all these different checklists so it they they broke down which classes fit into which categories um and they gave them kind of like a point value so a full year class is worth a point towards that concentration um and it's kind of preparing you kind of for college CU When You majors in college you need to have so many credits in a certain area to get a major and a minor um so we're kind of like setting kids up already into that that kind of focus um so that that way they they get familiar with the process thank you Miss carall before I turn it over to Mr aronowitz to speak about our clubs and activities I wanted to just take a moment to highlight the reach program our postgraduate program designed for young adults who have met their academic coursework for graduation but require further support in community based instruction vocational job training the re program focuses on prepping students for transition into adulthood by providing them with Hands-On skills real world experiences and opportunities for vocational training and job exploration this program offers a structured and supportive environment where students can continue to build their Independent Living skills social skills and Vocational skills community- based instruction is a key component of the program where students are engaged in learning in experience in real life settings such as grocery stores restaurants in the public library an animal shelter and other community settings these experiences assist students to generalize skills and gain confidence in navigating and participating in their communities we are currently working with over 15 members of our Lo community and I'd like to recognize them at this time for their commitment to our students Enchanted Blossom andell Works Pizza Hut Walgreens the Madan aine Public Library MJ's Presbyterian Nursery School Burlington code Factory which ironically by the way is Mr abrahamson's favorite store okay he's sending me photos from there all the time uh the grocery outlet Care One DSW Party Fair Panera castle of Dreams animal shelter The Food Emporium washing well and bubus so we want to thank them for their continued support with our programs and at this time I'd like to turn it over to our new supervisor of Athletics Mr Joshua aranz and who will discuss the many CLS and activities available to students here at the high school thank you Mr Wells thank you for education of having me um the students in attendance tonight is going to show um what I'm I'm about to speak about you see how many of them are involved and that's what I'm here to talk about but we're going to start with Athletics um in the fall we wanted to kick off a different way than we normally have so we invited we partnered with the tiger sabola foundation and we had Dr Matt Bas come in and he did an hour presentation about um natural highs disappointments and he got the kids engaged and um I believe Colin right right after the presentation was over he came up to me and said wow that was really good like I wasn't falling asleep um and sometimes you go to presentations and they're born right but Dr Matt bis he really kept him engaged he got everyone involved he had people on stage he had our coaches on stage and it was a really good way to kick off the season cuz unlike some students they start the school year in September we start August 19th and we wanted a special way to get them in they uh they provided breakfast for all our athletes um and they were able to take stuff to the field and they all practiced right afterwards so no one left there hungry everybody got a meal and like I said it was a really good experience for to kick off the season and it was a good opportunity to introduce myself to all the athletes I know I came in May but they got to see my face they heard from me and then me and Mr Wells gave them some expectations of carrying yourself as a Husky and what it means to be an athlete and all the the extra things that weigh on their shoulders when you're held to a higher standard um we wanted to do lot of community events coach Walsh our football coach and myself and the community we paired up and we did a couple of special nights with our football team on August 30th we had the a cheer and uh flag football teams we had them on the field they ran out they busted through their own banner and then they got to be on the field when our football team came out and then they were there for the national anthem so it was a special night for them I got a a lot of good feedback um hopefully we will do this every single year um like I said all those kids there we hope that they're going to be running out as Varsity athletes one day so we're planting the seat early like this is where you're coming this is where you need to be you need to be a hus on September 6 it was the closest day to 911 and coach Walsh wanted to honor our veterans and it kind of took legs where we had veterans that were in District and we also had alumni and our police forces so we combined those two events together and we had a really nice um walk out for them the police brought their their honor guard out and they also were all announced and we thank them for their service um and they they stood on the field for the national anthem as well so another Community B working with our local uh law enforcements and honoring our alumni or or current staff members that were Serv in the military in May some of you may know or may not know I did start I think before I even got in the SE I asked Mr Wells can I we started Twitter it's been outdated or X now um so m RSD Athletics was available and recently had a conversation with the parents saying you know i' like to see more of our our players and seniors and you know get more articles out there uh there's a Facebook page here there's a Twitter here there's this that but none of those pages are run by the school they're former coaches they're alumni sometimes there's people in town that started an athletic page so after talking to Mr Wells you know I had 55 followers on X since May um we put the Instagram out and the same name was available and I think I have over 350 followers in like a week and I'm able to highlight what our student athletes are doing on the field uh give an update to the schedule um if someone has a special game we're also being tagged by um you know Jersey Shore Sports Network or the Asbury press so we can put that out there and then we also are working with the parents to also maybe take our content and put it on the town Facebook pages so that we're just hitting in all different directions so give us a follow if you haven't already um the short conference is one of the largest conferences in the state if you didn't know that um they have a student ambassador program that was started up a few years ago we have every year we're allowed to pick two um a junior and a senior uh Giani Gian scol is our senior representative so she's been on there for two years and uh Benjamin Morales was put in um this year as our Junior representative so we went to Howell High School um there was a guest speaker there um a former Ruckers wrestler who talked about you know just fighting uh to get on the field and how he was the underdog and he was able to make it onto a division one wrestling team um it was a great story and I was actually I ended up knowing a few people that he knew so I got to talk to personally for a little bit after so it was really good experience for the kids they also how will provide a breakfast that day and now they're going to have a few more virtual sessions and there's also volunteer opportunities for these uh our student ambassadors to work the short Conference Championship games um they got some swag that day they got a t-shirt they got a lanyard um so it was a nice day for that um D just side Del blade started a program like this first and then conferences picked it up and the application was open I reached out to Benjamin uh just last week I said uh Ben do you want to be an NSA representative too and with I sent them the application and within 2 hours he's like Mr rtz I applied for the application there's no gu they only pick a handful not every student gets to pick CU they kind of rotated to the schools I think there's about 25 to 30 members on this but Benjamin's you know can put his name in the ring and hopefully he gets selected and if he does he'll be representing us on a larger level down at the state with n ia uh senior recognition games uh we were supposed to do tennis today got postponed because of some rain but those are the dates um all that we always provide flowers for all our seniors the athletic department we work closely with the parent boosters parents will do a number of things balloons food um each sport does things a little bit differently um some sports we can't do in our Stadium because they're you know out specifically cross country they're out on the mountain but all the coaches do something for all the kids but what I really wanted to do is what you see at other schools and something I've been doing a long time in my career is the senior banners when you go to these schools so we're working with a photographer um every senior uh in the fall is going to have a banner that's going to be showcased either at the stadium or on the tennis court and then hopefully we move this trend into the winter and spring and put them around the bar fields that they play at um some of the the parents some parents um have bought these post final posters they're weatherproof um some teams have fundraising money for it and sometimes the students just purchase them straight out for the for the senior like I a senior gift so I'm really looking forward to seeing those up hopefully next week we're going to have them all in and you'll see a nice little you'll see a different Dynamic down at the field that uh me and administration have been talking about um and that was with NJ Sports media this wasn't on here but I also uh we called in a photographer uh a media day um he uh came in and all the seniors got to go in the gym and they did some cool stuff um they were throwing tennis balls up in the air the pom poms I believe the you know the water vapor machine was out there uh they filmed the whole thing so I'm looking forward to getting those pictures back and just a different way to showcase our seniors and and just make sure that they have you know that we really appreciate what they do every day so we want to be able to appreciate them throughout the building whether that's hanging their banners up for a year or maybe years to come where championship team can be hung up for a long time um that's about it for athletics but we also I also do the curric here and we have a lot of represent representation here this was our freshman orientation um in this cafeteria we had all the clubs set up a little table um if the teachers had to go to a training or something like that we asked that student leadership uh represent the table and that was a good way for the Freshman to see all the different clubs there's over 50 clubs here uh they got to talk they talked to the advisor they talked to the kids and this is a good chance where they start to sign up for all the clubs it's about 20 to 30 minutes at the end of the freshman orientation with the freshman orientation we wanted to get a different way to get the information out to the parents and to our students so we've been working on the virtual Club Fair um there's uh 60 slides maybe that are going to go out in in in the near future but see there's some of the slides here so if you click that link up there it's going to be a presentation of every single club we have who the advisor is what they do what they they've done in the past um and then we can have that on the website so if someone said what clubs do you have here's the clubs and we're going to put that I'm sure it'll be Mr wells's uh weekly emails and and links for everybody know thank you to all the advisers that worked really hard I know you mentioned it before the advisor worked really hard on it and you can see that the slides came out really good um a little bit more of uh the virtual Club fair but I do have three new clubs here tonight and I'm going to bring out the advisers we have Civic leadership that's advised by Mr Chris Arnett we have our Hispanic herriage club uh advised by Mrs uh Brenda ilel and our Asian-American Pacific Islander by Maui mck Millan if you guys can come up and uh you going talk a little bit about your cles good evening my name is Chris Harnett and I have the pleasure this year of being the Civic leadership 2 teacher um this has been an academy that's been around for um quite a while um I started teaching in 2016 in the building and the program already existed um it was one that I was immediately captured by uh I'm a former student of Matan Regional High School myself I graduated in 2007 we didn't have a program like this or an opportunity to develop leadership skills um not just for somebody like me who wanted to be become a teacher uh but anybody who wanted the ability to take on a leadership role within their school within the school Community uh within the community itself um so I thought you know it was always a great program that I saw other teachers run Mrs oal was talking about uh her 5 years running that program beforehand and at the end of last year I was asked if I would take over the class um I'm very very happy that I now got this opportunity um I am joined by two of my students and actually three of my students and and some other ones that are uh that were around here earlier tonight um but we made a class slideshow just talking a little bit about the class and I'm going to have Anila and Hannah come up and walk through our slideshow a little bit and talk a little bit about the class uh what we hope to accomplish this year and some of our goals um going forward hi thank you for having us so the first thing we going to talk about is our freshman lessons and orientation so freshman lessons provide us the opportunity to introduce the Freshman to our school and the community and build relationships that will further develop the workings of um our freshman lessons freshman love lessons happen once a month and during our Civic class we prepare lessons and that are usually educational um SL moral lessons that we can teach the Freshman that go along with the flow their freshman and [Music] classes so as a class this year we put together this mission statement each and every one of um the students in this class we put together like what we think we want to accomplish this year what we think this path means to us so our mission statement for this year is the Civic Community our mission is to create a positive and welcoming environment that supports and Empower that support empow supports empowers and engages the freshman class as senior leaders we will build connections with the underclassman and encourage them to be involved and try new things and we will do our best to act as role models and lead lead the student population we am to prioritize a safe and existent environment for all students to grow and adapt [Music] our mission as super leaders is to develop public for ourselves is to develop public speaking SK um helping the Freshman adjust to their now environment because when we were freshman are senior Civic leaders I know at least for me they helped me a lot our freshman lessons they taught us things that still stick with me to this day um leading the underclassman in order for them to rise up to the the we graduate for creating a better environment and make good train and encouraging other classroom to become more involved in our school we have a variety of different clubs and activities we always say that we have something here for everybody and as someone who's very involved with most of our C leaders we love to encourage our freshman to do this same so next we're going to talk about some of our highlights some of these are coming up soon in October and some of these we've already started doing so um coming up on October on Monday October 23rd we're starting our rent burden week and that's to um bring awareness to drug prevention and we're going to kick off the week by dressing in red and then we have various like other um spirit days that week and then um also coming up in October we have the Civic Retreat on October 14th and 15th and this event we're going to the princ Blair town center and um this is for the Civic leaders to take kind of bonding trip we get to do activities like kaying and um like just kind of getting closer at the class that we can build connections and then as we talked about professional orientation so um each Civic leader was put together with a group of freshmen and we had to come up with ice breakers and activities um in order to kind of Engage The Freshman Class our freshman group and make them more comfortable this helped definitely kind of I feel like take the stress off of some of the freshman and make them feel more comfortable with starting their first day of high school the next day and then today um we had our first freshman lesson and um we're partnered up with another Civic leader and we make a slideshow and come up with activities and teach them the entire class it goes along with um what they're learning it if that's in their curriculum and from what I've heard from many of from person and many of the other students that the Civ that the Freshman lessons went really well today and the Freshman were extremely engaged in our activities and in my experience I had first period and that's definitely something hard because 700 a.m. and you don't want to do anything in my and my freshman work trly engaged in the activity me and my partner had so the Civic leadership program has influenced us in so many ways to our high school years it inspired us to get involved ourselves when we first started High School especially after years of doing school online we were super anxious about it like we came into School freshman that was the hrid year we had to wear masks like everything was different um however the cific years were always by our side and acted as role models to us my freshman orientation was like my first time really back in school since Co and the Civic leaders stuck with me and from that moment on I knew that that is what I wanted to do when I was a senior that was my goal so I hope that I can Inspire some of the Freshman that when they met as a freshman orientation that let we do our lessons that something sticks with them and that they want to go up and be involved in our Civ leadership program and all the other ones that come so these are just some pictures of like the past Civic groups we have on the left on top the 2022 and then um on the bottom we have 2023 and then 2024 and then this year and I think it's really important just to kind of like think about the past groups cuz they're definitely had a lasting impact on me and I hope that us as Civic leaders have a lasting impact on this year's fresman so these are some testim I'm sorry testimonies from um our class on their freshman experiences um so some quotes someone said I thought the Freshman Ms were fun and helps me engage with other people in my class someone else said my freshman year I remember thoroughly enjoying all the Civic leaders lesson specifically the love with one because I led hearing every what everyone else had to share and growing closer as a class another one my freshman year I recall loving the lesson it made me feel open about how I first felt about being a high schooler years ago when I wasn't confident about it for the 2022 Civic leaders helps me understand everyone feel that would wish [Music] and then this is just talking about Civic 1 a little bit and the expectations from Civic 2 so for civic 1 some of the things we learned were responsibility leadership communication and team bonding and we learned mainly leadership skills and how to speak um sorry um communication skills and um public speaking skills which is crucial to what we do now which is uh the Freshman lessons and was crucial to being able to engage The Freshman during um freshman orientation and then for what we expect for civic 2 we expect to connect with their pears and under classment we want to encourage others to get involved in school and we want to promote um positive Community within Mr thank you very much great job thank you at this time I'd like to invite Miss Brenda itel up she's our new advis the advisor to our new Spanish Heritage Club good evening superintendent Perez leadership team Board of Education members students family and community members my name is Miss itel and I'm so excited to be here tonight as the advisor of the Hispanic Heritage Club this is our first year having this club and I'm so happy happy to say that we currently have 21 members and we still continue to welcome everyone some of my current members who are here tonight please stand I'm so grateful for the fact that they were able to make it here tonight conat and something that I love about them is that they always bring someone new to our meeting they always say I have a new friend who wants to join how can they join today was the first time that we wore our t-shirts and people were like how can I get a shirt and I'm like oh this could be our new fundraiser so thank you um that was like the first step they wanted to create their logo and as you can see it's a beautiful logo it has our Matan logo on there as well as representing all of the 21 Spanish speaking countries so what is Hispanic Heritage Club the Hispanic Heritage Club celebrates and promotes the rich cultural Traditions history and contribution of Hispanics and latinx communities through our community events discussions and activities our members will explore and share their Heritage while fostering inclusivity and understanding please join us to embrace cultural diversity learn about hispanic cultures and build a supportive Community please sign up and as you can see our classroom code is up on the and what are we going to do this year we've discussed the following we're going to have a Hispanic heritage book club exploring Spanish dishes learning a salsa dance together creating Hispanic art visiting a virtual Latino Museum testing our knowledge with find the flag creating Flags to decorate around the school and overall we will have many volunteer opportunities available during school events at conferences where students can assist with translating and creating cultural awareness throughout the school thank you so much for having us tonight I'm so thankful for your support and have a nice evening thank you m finally please welcome M McMillan for our representative of our new Asian American Pacific is that means uh good evening or I love you family but um whatever you want to call it but I actually prepared 20 slides and Mr Wells told me I said okay um I have a year and a half year old kid so anyway um here we go aapi is in April 2023 few students approached me and say who are you and I like well I'm Miss mcvillain and I was like wait a minute who are you and I'm okay oh I'm Filipino Haan they like oh okay you're perfect okay so these group of kids actually decided let's have a club to represent you that was the goal like me that's crazy like but representation matters right so our goal is to actually make sure that we serve the club as a platform to bridge the gap between our schools and our community that are in the aab community so we are a student union which actually Foster still aligning to the goals of being inclusive and being able to understand Global awareness and traditions and different histories in Asian and Pacific Islands um here was our monthl themes we had themes these kids made these awesome themes and I love it I look forward to it and we always bring food to represent certain countries like September of last year we did five we had time and we had H time and so it was amazing they were we were learning about it they choose a country and they talk about it and in November we have napali we talked about the Himalayas and all those things it was really fun um in December we all culminated and say hey let's have a potlock of different Asian food and we enjoy it um in March um this was actually very fun for me in March we explored Japan so the kids talked about you know you know we did a little bit um I have a few things left from my last years and we did origamis and we learn a video andum so these kids were we were physically learning things and I love it um in May supposedly we were to Showcase different dances and we rent it we try to use the auditorium but the kids say oh we are too shy to do this so hopefully this year we're going to run and host some sort of cultural show hopefully um and in June we did the Korean culture which we actually love kramas and like review the movies and all that and ate the spiciest noodles and it was fun so aapi is a new brand new it's we started in a um in September of last year and then we have about 25 student members and we are hoping to aim more um yes follow us and join us thank you thank you Mr but don't go far please so as you can see there are a lot of great things going on here at the high school um and we're really off to a great start before I close out the High School portion of the meeting I'd like to acknowledge a couple of our dedicated staff members for their accomplishments and contributions to education on the national level Miss McMillan oh where'd you go come on up please miss McMillan was recently selected to attend a high school research Teachers Conference 2024 in Washington DC uh most importantly it's free and she will be presenting encouraging environmental stewardship and sustainability and student research so how about a round of applause Mr Dill also received the trout in the classroom Grant which is a New Jersey conservation program that builds more of an environmental stewardship and sustainability program from last school year it ties in with our current courses in environmental science Marine Science and zoology to shut up the tank in August and we will have a trout expert come in mid October to talk about cold water conservation so I'd like to recognize M McMillan for all of her efforts I didn't expect this thank thank you Mr next up I'd like to recognize Manan Regional High School English teachers Maria terbino the doctor of literature candidate at Madison Neo a doctoral candidate at Mammoth University where they have been selected to present at the 2025 conference on College composition and Communication in Baltimore Baltimore Maryland come on come on their presentation will function as a collaborative workshop for college Educators and writing instructors around the country to be involved in centering on the topic of question formulation technique a cohesion cohesion of Music advocacy and protest as two experience Advanced place teachers within the district Zino and Neo work closely to create interdisciplinary lessons that immerse students in Collegiate level learning environments where critical thinking post analysis and synthesis skills are focused are fost they are excited to represent Manan a Regional School District and the Manan Regional High School English Department at cccc thank you I will point out that um this honor that Madison and Maria had earned um people from all over College professors apply for this uh to present and our teachers beat out many college professors so they're doing a wonderful job so thank you so finally in closing I'm sorry I know the Cowboys are on right this concludes the High School portion of the meeting and I want to thank everyone for the opportunity for being with you here tonight as we showcase the incredible work being done in these hallways each year I pick a word or phrase that will will help Define the school year believe is my one word for the 2024 2025 school year I believe that we are tasked with an enormous responsibility that is awful challenging working with teenagers helping to shape them into outstanding citizens but I also believe that we have one of the most rewarding professions where we get to work with students every day we get to have an impact in their lives we get to make a difference we get to be the difference I believe that our students need us they need us to guide and shap them I also believe that we need that and I truly believe that some of the greatest Educators that I've ever worked with walk these hallways every day and if we work together we can truly have a powerful lasting impact on our students lives and our community at our welcome back faculty meeting I task my staff to think of a teacher and educator that has made a difference in their lives for me I talked about Sister Mary door and I also talked about the professor in college Dr man both of these have influenced my lives in very different ways now I'd like to ask you the same thing what was it about them that made a lasting impact on your life think about the influence that they have on your lives and think about the power and influence we could have on our students lives I believe that we're all here for a reason I believe that we can all make a difference I believe that we can all be the difference finally I believe that we have the power to make it a great school year so I asked the question what do you believe I believe it's going to be great here at this time please stand and join me as our select members of the choir CL us sing about we [Music] SES your [Music] prise we Cher you to your and will your change with the to teach to you for in our all to you can I just have to St up here for a quick picture thank you so [Applause] much good evening at this time I'd like to invite ly back for the board in our community the purpose of a student representative to the board of education is to provide a voice for student body by the appointment of one student rep the board believes that having a student representation is consistent with and promotes the mission of the Madan a Regional School District a non voting student member is seated with the board provides updates from all of our schools engages in the government process and has provided the opportunity to contribute to the Future direction of the school district the board student rep the for 25 school year is Vis lindsy J so a little bit about Lindsay Lindsay is an active student in the school Community as senior class president this year she hopes to promote school spirit and unity among the student body using social media to keep all grades informed and prioritizing open communication with fell students faculty and administration Lindy is also president of the math Honor Society and a member of the National Honor Society science Honor Society and international fesan Honor Society she also greatly enjoys being in Civic leadership working with the freshman class and organizing school events additionally Lindsay loves to stay involved with the dance and theater programs here at the high school including performing choreographing and working on costuming for various shows throughout the year she's been a Girl Scout for 12 years and is now a member of Ambassador troop 3 team collaborating on team service projects and mentoring young girls in our community outside of school Lindsay Works a part-time job at samaha's farm and volunteers her time as a student leader for the baking for Life team raising funds to support local children in medical need after graduation Lindsay plans on going to college to pursue a degree in either speech language mythology or occupational therapy she looks forward to a memorable school year inside and outside of the classroom I Lindsay tuer do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith in allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God I Lindsay tuer do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of a board of education am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 1941 am not disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my abilities so help me go one more round of applause for and at this time invite Lindsay to take her seat at [Applause] the thank you Mrs Perez it's a great night to be at husi so um I get a special sorry opportunity to add to the celebration of again a shout out to Mr Wells and his staff uh and most importantly the students the young people who we saw showcase tonight what we're going to do now is honor our tenure staff our staff who are receiving tenure uh these these staff members receive tenure between July August and September uh each month we will present in in those months where it's necessary of folks receiving tenure we will present tenure certificates uh in a small gift card uh to short appreciation and support for our teachers here in the district and our staff here in the district not only teachers receive 10 years rece tonight so tonight we have Nancy Pickering who's receiving tenure we have CIA seong we have Tara P we have Erica Rosenblum and we have Lauren Kelly all who of which will be receiving ten unfortunately a few of the folks canot make it here tonight uh but I wanted to spend a little bit of time talking about the were able to make it uh we have a little presentation uh about each of them first we have Nancy picker Nancy is a secretary of Athletics at mwan Regional High School she takes great pride in creating a welcoming atmosphere for her students staff and community in the athletic office Mrs pick ring is always willing to go to extra mile for our student athletes coaches and the athletic Community aside from being a valued member about Mars B family Nancy cherishes each moment with her family who she describes as her greatest motivation she enjoys family vacations and family with family and friends and her favorite place to visit is Florida not sure about her favorite style or topping but she loves people just like many of us when reflecting on teachers that she's had in the past growing up Mrs picking most REM members her High School business teacher Mrs Brown Mrs Brown introduced Nancy to the critical role of a secretary and how they function as members of an office team one quote that Nancy believes is true is to be true is don't sweat the small stuff so let's give a husky congratulations to Nancy and Nancy if you can come on up [Applause] oh thank you thank you ready to take photos at it up I think we should always take opportunities to celebrate accomplishments so we can clap as many times as we can next we have ceria seon ceria is a secretary of special services in registra for prek and pre families she is typically the first smiling face of new families I'm sorry she is typically the first VI smiling face that new family see when they registered their children here in F ceria goes above and beyond to ensure parents have an ease of transition as new Huskies in the mwan a Regional School District in addition to serving as a registar Mrs saon also supports the special services department by fulfilling secretarial duties when she isn't in the office Mrs seon enjoys spending quality time with her family and she has and she has never turned down on the opportunity to dance dance dance in fact her favorite teacher of all time Mrs Morgan not only supported her academic growth but she always fought the students various dances that Spann across different cultures one of her favorite places to visit with family is the Dominican Republic like Nancy ceria will always make room for a slice into a pizza I wonder if she's one of those pineapple on Pizza people our district is fortunate to have ceria as a a member of our husky family let's give a husky congratulations [Applause] [Applause] okay our final presentation of tenure tonight is Lauren Kelly all right our next husky is Lauren Kelly Lauren isn't a stranger the te believe it or not she was also tenured here in the district as a member of the child study team as a social worker she is now receiving tenure in her role as a supervisor of special services pre gr and special programs Mrs attended the University of Maryland College Park and she got her bachelor's degree and then she attended MTH University for her masters in social work she did not stop there she went on to pursue her principal certificate and certification from M State University Lauren drives in team environment and she credits our superintendent Mrs Perez as being a fantastic leader who motivates her to be the very best she can be in a professional role life outside of her of her role in her District includes Mrs Kelly spending quality time with her family and friends kicking up her feet on the beach with a great book and let's not forget believe it or not you're not going to believe this she loves pizza too and pasta while in high school Lauren discovered Mrs F and I apologize if I mispronounced her name her Italian teacher who not only brought joy and humor to learning a new language but she also also encourage Lauren to take her 40 Years of Italian and coordinate a class trip to Italy to study abroad our district is fortunate to have Mrs Kelly as a husky let's give her another her first round of applause [Music] and I went out on Olympic iOS uh guitars and I swear was before I even read their what they really love so I was you know spot enjoy your [Applause] peace if you don't mind uh you can come on up and we want to get a picture than again congratulations to all the tenur staff we're so fortunate to have you um as part of our team and greeting and working with our kids and our um other colleagues as well um just a few additional updates um we're happy to report that we're in through the school and our students at that at start of the Year super strong we recently had their assessments with to GA Baseline data assembly school activities are underway as we answer the call season and I also heard that they're already planning for um holiday festivities for the month of December so it's already around the corner um our students are doing exceptionally well with that hearing to our cell phone and electronic device policy so thank you to all of our parents and staff to are helping support that initiative and that um and that hearing and making sure that we're being safe um with the use of devices next month we'll be reporting out on our test scores from last year at our next board meeting we received feedback from our parent community on traffic delays and some concerns surrounding some of our buildings we wanted to let everyone know and our parent Community to know that the administrators team myself Mr lman and Dr walls have observed the traffic patterns both at arrival and dismissal at certain par at particular buildings and we also have asked for our police departments to um evaluate arrival and dismissal as well then what we will be doing is we'll be meeting together as a group and making any recommendations or come up with some potential solutions to hopefully um have hopefully help the traffic patterns that um are happening during those times and we will be meeting with administrators in of each of the buildings on the agenda this evening it's a new job description I wanted to point out to the parent Community as well as to the board um it's for the stency and security officer we're confident that this will help us support our goal of decreasing not only student chronic absenteeism but also support our initiative with school safety we continue to work with the towns and our Progressive um are are in the process of um moving forward with the SOS um that process is now in legal review um we'd like to remind our parents and to please check their school backpacks the child's backpacks I should say um and their bag to ensure that only items for instructional purposes are being brought to the school this will help ensure not only school safety but it will help keep our students on task thank you very much good evening we'd like to give an update on Food Services the high school was able to have a student advisory committee meeting uh where they met and discussed the options that are being offered uh what they enjoyed about the other company and they were able to have a rotating theme of omelets Asian food and a pasta bar uh we realized that students were unaware of what was on each side of um the cafeteria so what we're going to do is post signage so that they're able to move more easily and understand what options are available there will be things that weren't compliant things like uh the yogurt parfait bar or Lucky Charms or cinnamon toast crunch that can come back due to the fact that that doesn't follow the national school lunch program um we also realize that while we do have new equipment in the High School uh there is one side where the heat lamp has a defect and we're waiting for a warranty repair they also uh ask that additional toppings on the pizza be served daily so topping bars for burgers and chicken sandwiches will also be uh added to the menu um Mr Wells has also been gracious enough to add all of our daily options to his morning announcements and um they're going to be meeting back again they also has also attended the high school PTO meeting on Monday the 23rd and we walked them through what it's like to be a student and go through the lines as well as had them sample a chicken teriaki noodle bowl and they tried it they loved it and um our next thing that we'll be doing is meeting with the middle school for the same plan meeting with the PTO doing the student advisory and kind of going building by building so that we can increase presence and um we also actually worked at Cambridge Park to come up with a digital log so that we can Rec accurately record how many breakfast and lunch are being served with their three and foury olds and then moving on to a demographer update we did provide historical enrollment by grade level to them uh as far back as 2010 and we also had to provide a list of student uh a list of names not student names but just street addresses Z codes grade levels and then the schools just so that that delineates back to our list of schools their streets their address the grade levels by building and then that way it correlates to our School boundaries which is how transfinder helps us dictate who gets access to transportation and then we've also provided a Planning and Zoning contact name by the town because what the demographer will do will work with them so that they know what's coming up and what's being built throughout the towns and uh then they'll the again they've already kind of started going through all of that and then our next phase too is just working with our architect so that um they understand the new capacities and Staffing for each of the schools so that they can sort that out and come up with writing up their reports just one question in terms of so I know the whole process you mention do 18 months start to finish today's presentation because I think it's on a lot of um community members Minds as there's been a lot of building in the town so just understanding how that will affect our buildings in the future and my question was um how far out do good like when they talk to Planning and Zoning like are they they ask 5 years out a year out three years out what's coming they'll ask for the reports and then we'll go line they'll ask for those reports and then um there going to actually provide us an updated timeline on how far they can project out based on what those reports tell them so they'll kind of be taking histor patter and doing forecasting approach and letting us know if they can vote 5 years out 7 years out or 10 years out but because they haven't received like we're still working on the process of receiving the data they can't yet determine that time can M can I just ask a question um I I had put into um our question for our board questions for updates ver since for updating and I thank you for that are we able to get like a timeline of what the demographer does just out of curiosity this um I know you guys and and I was here when we did the last demographer but just like okay so for step one is that step two is that just just to know how the process works I think it's very interesting and it would help us know where we're at right we definitely have a different uh demographer than we did for the last one so right now city is putting together a timeline uh so that we can then rele that out thank you so much I was also going to say this it really comprehensive update from both of you thank you so much um so there there's no other questions so move on to the board president's report um a lot of stuff has been covered so I just wanted to um say that still looking for volunteers for the qac staff and board ad hoc committees those are um subjects of policy facilities and instruction and programs um just to clarify the the these uh committees will likely meet during the work day on Google meet which you could attend at home from work or at central office if you prefer to do it that way um so I it's not intended to be overly burdensome uh but just to review a lot of information um so please consider volunteers advertis pal you have the yes I do I will volunteer also respond on the committee please okay thank you very much yeah feel free to contact me whenever um that's that all I really wanted to take time out for at this point um so um a super report thank you for the question introduction good evening president pel vice president ESI members of the board administrators teachers parents and students my name is Lindsay tubber and I'm honored to serve as the student representative to the Board of Education this school year I look forward to working closely with each School in our district to prepare monthly summaries for the board meetings keeping our community in and up to date on the wide array of events that take place within our schools to begin the school years off to an excellent start here at the high school we're looking forward to many events in October including our largest student Council fundraiser a Halloween and fall festival targeted to young children and families this event will be held October 25th and 26th from 6 to 10 p.m. in the high school building and there's more information to come Additionally the week of respect homecoming and Red Ribbon Week are also on the agenda for October these weeks are filled with fun Spirit dress up days and informative act activities in the cafeteria run by our Civic leadership students that spoke today our homecoming pep rally will take place October 18th where the homecoming Court will be announced and that night our football team will take on St John VI in what promises to be an exciting white out Beed game as for academics the high school has also just recently adopted the program School links to assist students in the college application and career research processes counselors will be meeting with students in the coming weeks to help us navigate this new tool U moving on Cambridge would like to report that on September 5th principal bar welcomed 250 prek students 46 kindergarten students and 63 staff members a successful back to school night was held on September 17th and over 300 parents attended on October 2nd the aine fire department will be visiting cdge Park School to talk with the students about about fire prevention the students will learn more about the fire trucks that help us in town the Cambridge Park PTO has exciting events plan planned for this school year their first event is a park Meetup tomorrow September 27th and they also have a trun or treat Harvest Festival planned on October 14th prek students will be taking their first class trip to Eastmont Orchards to pick apples on October 16th um last for Cambridge Park staff and students are looking forward to the week of respect October 7th through 11th and antii antiviolence Awareness Week October 16th through 20th moving on Cliffwood would like to express their gratitude for the pto's continuous support and generosity in successfully organizing a free school supply Drive in which students were provided with Necessities like backpacks and socks Clips kindergarten students went on a few trips this month including apple and pumpkin picking as well as a trip to the Cliffwood Firehouse these kinds of trips offer invaluable educational experiences for Young Learners cliffwoods back to school night on September 16th was a great success providing families the opportunity to connect with their children's teachers and to learn more about Cliff Wood's Focus this year which includes the emphasis of punctuality regular attendance and limiting screen time before bed Cliffwood also celebrated selected students as pause winners indicating that they embodying values of their School Miss petrangelo Cliffwood school counselor recently held an assembly in which he set positive intentions for the year cliffwoods PTO has been ly involved in fundraising efforts including their recent mum sale and successful Jersey Mike's fundraiser the community support is greatly appreciated in these initiatives next Ravine Drive was excited to introduce their Roadrunner mascot during their kickoff assembly which highlighted their new positive behavior intervention program called Ravine runs on great choices part of the program is a chance to win books from their brand new book vending machine which is called inie the book room vending machine it's located directly outside of their main office additionally ravin's outdoor sensory path and sensory bins have both been completed students have loved using these before and after school as well as during recess finally rine is looking forward to the addition of outdoor tables to complete the Outdoor Classroom experience which provides an additional space for both learning and student regulation next up Strathmore had their picture day and a successful back to school night on September 19th their first PTO meeting was held on Wednesday the 25th and strathore would also like to thank their PTO for the organization of the welcome back lunch for all staff Ms is off to a great start this school year one of their new initiatives is the quiet lunch option so students have the opportunity to sign up for a quiet lunch in the media center and they can eat while they do school work study or read a book in in a quiet setting and this is getting great reviews from students spirit wear Wednesdays are also new to Ms this year students earn tickets for showing their Madan aine pride and there will be monthly drawings for prizes yesterday Ms had more than 100 students where arsd gear for the first beerware Wednesday and finally Lloyd Road Elementary School had a successful back to school night on September 18th they're thankful for the support received from the PTO the Ed Foundation the special education parent advisory group The Madan abue Public Library parents of special people mwan football and cheer maio's food service and resources from preferred Behavioral Health on September 18th they also hosted a parent Workshop in partnership with preferred Behavioral Health and Compass this parent Workshop focused on the following strategy to support parents and Guardians the first was social media and students which promoted Online safety appropriate online activity behavior and boundaries um the next strategy was student wellness which covered tools to support children with managing stress anxiety and relationships in school and then the last was consisted of practical tools Student Success strategies to assist with the difficulties of parenting additionally Lloyd Road is excited to announce the kickoff of the Lloyd Road Cafe which will provide students in MD and autism the opportunity to learn important life skills and also allowing staff to purchase breakfast coffee tea and hot chocolate the Lo Road Cafe will open at the end of September lyd Road's PTO is gearing up for their fall chocolate bar fundraiser to raise money for the school students are asked to help by selling one or more boxes of 30 assorted chocolates from world's finest chocolate bars a flyer with full details and information can be found on the PTO section of lloy Road's website which is in the virtual backpack or on the PTO classroom page this brings me to the end of my report thank you all for your time and acknowledgement of my newos I can't wait to see what's in store for our community's Academic Year thank you I was remiss because I completely forgot to welcome you myself thank you so much for joining um your resume is already impressive and um I really look forward to the updates and also just maybe hopefully we can get you involved if we could f us into your schedule anymore than we already have so thank you I'm looking forward to it thanks