um moving on to the president's report um quickly I just oh are we done um okay so I did want to highlight that we had um uh put together our first uh little article for the allaround ban a thank you everybody for the quick Rush Job review thank you to Lai for facilitating the publisher and menw writing um you know taking the lead on writing and thank you to se for editing and so it all it will not be that much of a rush job for people to have a look at it next time this was all it's all happened fast I'm very impressed that we made the deadline for the August paper so but that that's a good move because that was something that we we had all talked about that we want to do for communication the community um um then uh I and I wanted to note that I was at the aine town meeting on Tuesday for a second um got held up but uh Mr movern was there the whole time so he clued me into what happened that the um uh the SRO contract agreement was approved the one saying this what we have in front of us um and also the uh tax payment agreement and schedule was approved so um you know that's a move that's been discussed for for months um and then also I wanted to just note that we are if for those of you are following along we are on track on the New Jersey School Board Association board responsibilities 12 month agenda planning calendar um but just kind of running over things that we have done and doing is receiving that report today on the njpa results is on there um we'll probably be approving the board goals I'll the detailed table of that in August um we'll be talking about District goals coming up very soon and then um we I'm assuming we'll be seeing the codes of conduct when they're completed and they're updated those are all things that are on that list I was thinking I'm probably to send it out to you all again it's been I think I sent it out in January so send it out again mid year um and oh and one more thing was um wanted to really quickly um just wanted to run over kind of feel feel for everybody's thoughts on uh policy we we're going to end up in a situation where we have a lot of policies to review from Strauss Esme over the course of this year um Dr R pointed this out that um it's a because of the way that we did the process where we're essentially reviewing it four times right now that we have it in a cow and then the first read is in a cow in aan and the second read is in a cow in aan we're moving pretty slowly which is good for some policies but some policies maybe we don't need that many times and so I was wondering if um if people would be comfortable with um the first read now being an action item on cow agendas what that would mean is that there would be we would that the very first read would be at that that at that count probably the only action item on the agenda and then we would still if so then it would be eligible to be on a second Ram agenda after that and then but then of course we could if if we need to slow down we can and say oh no no it's not going to be on two weeks from now but for some these maybe it could be two weeks from now so we can get through some of them so I just want to kind of take temperature that just as long as we can you know slow down okay great I think that'll get us back on track I just have one question I just um I I wanted to um you the article um I and I had mentioned this to you I think it was great everything I love the idea um it's just another way to get some info out um again you can say we this word I just moving forward that we have a process so I was thinking like so um maybe the board could have a date that we submit thoughts or say okay guys any thoughts by the 15th submit to uh leadership and then once the thoughts are then then we have to compile it but who like we have to initiate somebody to write it and then who's reviewing it well and and then we would have to see a final so I just wanted to know if obviously this time was just you know yeah Tara I will definitely um I was calling them about something completely different and then I suddenly realized in the conversation wait we have the mayor here the head of the library I'm like can we do Board of Education he said yes but I need it by blah blah blah so I will call him I will get back to you Diana with deadlines and then you can set the schedule from there and I'm happy to write it and have other people edit it each month but I am fine with giving it away if it needs to be done by other people um I'll turn over all the cont whatever will help make it easier but I just think it's a as we all said a finan a fantastic way to get our message out to the community so I will check up on that tomorrow and get back to you thanks Lori and again yes it's awesome but those are just my questions moving forward um timeline who's going to write it the board should decide somebody is designated to write it and then it should really be reviewed oh yes and who's going to review it and then we all we got to get all that done by said deadline so like you said we can work backwards if you can offer that thank you yeah I think that's exactly thank you for bringing that up that you're right that process needs to be developed with States and that folks would have a chance more than you know two hours thank you thank you do we want to do a an update on policy the policy committee now or you want to about it when we talk about the policies that are on the I guess we okay all right then we have no students Representatives reports so moving on to the um culum and instruction agenda thank you we we're taking action tonight so we are making recommendation to the board to approve under curricul instruction item a travel the travel agenda is quick highlights um there are two teaching staff members that are listed on the Travel agenda one is for training for advanced placement and the other one is to approve to attend the New Jersey science convention U the remaining names that are on the Travel agenda are administrators who school saat security training and or there's some instructional leadership workshops as well and then Item B we're recommending the board to approve the 2425 virtual remote instruction plan that concludes Crick instruction I have a motion in a second to accept the agenda any conversation not really conversation but I know I say this every single time um I know we have to approve but I do not want to ever see that again we can't have enough of us of say that it doesn't pass yes why take account we are required to provide it but yes I know I'm temped myself um okay um student services agenda student services agenda and this is for action item numbers one and two are revisions for out of District placement which thinks and cost is listed item number three is out of District placements for the 2425 school year continue to the next page item number four is uh to approve uh the commission for the bline for students who need that particular service items five and six are programmed for Keys cat that concludes student services and a motion second student agenda um for section four so this many students is this many students have it in their IEP that they meet the service question um I'm assuming any personal okay any other questions about the student services agenda moving on to the Personnel agenda thank you uh each board member has a c of walking item uh that has an appointment name position S and P on a regular agenda for person now we have section A and B A res retirements B Le of absence C we have one through S which includes new hires staff listing extracurricular activities summer recommendations Summer Staff recommendations I'm sorry curriculum instruction uh some fre writers home instruction the staff array changes District translators volunteers and perfect attendance and then sections d 1 through six includes the H additional graduation event Shon salary Corrections comprehensive pla statement of insurance Revis School calendar and Sal thank you any questions I have a question um section c item n so volunteer means there there's no sement or anything involved that's strictly volunteer position it's a class correct and then item 10 perfect attendance for those listed what is the cost refer to is that some sort of a bonus or what's that mean cost now it's my sorry I jumped so in terms of Le of absences I'm assuming any personal beliefs obviously year fit with the contract the terms of the contract cor and then um are we okay from a chemistry teacher perspective going into this new year like are we covered we have a chem teacher just hired um yes we're still working on okay but you feel like we should hopefully in the next month be able to yes we'll be okay thank you I had a question just so I understand the walkin item um is this a completely new position or because it says I requirements is the reason so I didn't know if this is a new position created it's a replacement okay uh yeah it's going have a motion in a second to accept the Personnel agenda a motion second moving on to policy gu first we'll discuss the policies on here so for policy we have uh section one which is a second reading uh July 25th 24 board meeting today and then we also have a section two which is a first read Poli can a motion a second to accept the policy and we have any questions I think there was on about the um the classes thank you very much at the last meeting we had talked about um our concern that the protective categories were taken out and we said at it's District we didn't want to have it just referenced an overall category that had to be looked at another place and we had had the conversation that we were going to actually put the language in perhaps at the end of each policy and I believe we had talked to Mr Ruben about was that possible and he said yes um but then when it wasn't in here and I asked the question um the answer reflected having a link but we specifically talked about not want to link we wanted the categories listed so that there would be no confusion so could we please have those put in instead of having a link yes that that's not a problem if if that is the consensus of the board we we can do that I as well remember we talked about that because we felt like it was too much for them to go reference something else you just wanted to leave it as is I have noted that as well and then the guidance counseling um you corrected that was corrected or updated to what administration suggested yes there were yes there were options and so the option that we chose um is the one that we the policy and it happens to be the option that the current policy we've been utilizing um for a number of years now the option part of that policy was not a change but we options so yes answer is yes on the uh the the policies with the protected classes can somebody Rie for me which which of the policies um in the second read I'm thinking that I should probably answer a motion to amend those policies yeah go top my head it'd be easier to tell you that the policy 2411 guidance counseling I believe does not but all the others do so this particular one that the connection between all policies happen to be that particular six um so then I I can motion to amend the policies listed in second PNR 1530 r2200 PNR 24314 and E 4324 to include the language spelling out the protected classes hope that's I I had sorry I had asked the same question I I listed 50 114 and 5750 we can do that okay yeah I wasn't sure if you need anybody Tove that motion that I said so what we should vote on that now right that's it so favor I that's on the change I'll oppose so that that motion passes do we have other discussion about the any of the policy was first or second um I had a question um and I know we'll discuss in uh policy 226 um I just had a question on why we removed um just out of curiosity shall ensure all students have access to adequate and appropriate Counseling Services when informing students without possible careers professional and Vocational opportunities we shall not restrict or limit the options presented to students and then I think it's based on the um same thing in terms of the classes so I wasn't sure if there was a particular reason if Strauss was recommending that um wasn't sure but agre on that a lot of it is what you just referred to St recommendation for the protect class because from what I understand what I gather uh they are trying to prevent boards from having to constant changes to all policies that language that's why they reference to but yes that is so I'm guessing the bigger the the way to think about it is it's Equity overall versus like specifically parceling individual section like so that's why that piece came out with because it's almost too specific it should be equity in everything in the classroom and the schools right is that essentially that's correct and and you'll see many of the policies that we'll be looking at okay are going to be in the future are going to be the same type of ideas so more General less specific I'm assuming so that you they change less often yes to be more inclusive yes okay got thank you m those are the questions were um listed under policy I just printed it and then figuring we could just touch Bas on those since we're in policy yeah so um yes the so another question is the policy 2423 their language in the policy says ESL and then there was a question from a board member about whether ell and I'm actually question myself the M um and this is a first read so we can discussion is it possible could should be updated it's 223 by I'm sorry I didn't hear question oh jeez you didn't hear anything because my microphone was off what I said was um uh for policy 2423 bil langal education um in the language of the policy the U term ES is used and the there was a question of whether that should be elll or maybe even MLL no that's that stays for that in that case for English as a second English as a second language uh it's a program oh I see I see for dis English language Learners okay okay so then and then there's along the lines on that polic um I guess enough of us were were curious about um how that that policy is actually implemented schools yeah that that's u i mean it's pretty robust as you can probably tell from the regulation taking a look at the regulation it's pretty robust which um I don't know if you want an entire presentation on it but it's a lot um but it's it's spelled out is a good spelled out in recation I'm considering actually if the board is interested that might be an interesting presentation for a board how we serve our multil language Learners um you know in a bit more detail I remember asking that prior to being on the board because I was mystified by the number of languages that we deal with and um and not not knowing much about um how yeah cell classes are provided or anything of that sort I don't know if anybody else would be interested in that um those who work in schools probably already know okay well so maybe another time um okay now we discussed the language that seems to be po to the other question were about the um the proteced classes language so um we've made the changes to the second read list and we'll make the changes to the first read list before it come second um is are there any other questions or discussions on this part um okay so then um can we talk about the other um so just an update on the policy committee um first I'll start with just a quick question if um this case we had sent you a little blur on um C had a question about facilities that one line I I think you should be able to open it did you for me I fored it and said Lindy can you just tell us what you prefer check it yeah just see um there was just one little line that um CED wasn't sure about and we just want to make sure what your thoughts are about um propit right line yeah we combined um the priority levels remember so forth and one so but there's a a question about the the original was the Fe structure between the board and theity so I just want to clarify what you want to do with that in terms of the Fe schedule perfect so we made a new fee schedule so I'll go back and just make sure that that it matches with the combination perfect thank you I didn't want to that's way out of my um so not to um I had spoke to other board members and I had spoke to uh admin and kind of everybody that obviously we're moving forward with the phone uh phone um Initiative for September NE to say the importance is beyond at this point and there's so many reasons um so Middletown is pushing forward an initiative starting in September um I printed the policy and I gave it to everybody so they could see it this policy obviously just has our name written in it that you to Danielle she just retyped it with our our uh School District but nothing has been critiqued for us it is just a template but there is some things in this policy that are uh you know things that we already had spoke about some things that are different um and some things that I loved about it we we talked about having um so the electronic there's well let me start with this there's seven six policies um that like I had said earlier that are all Tech related they umbrella Tech meaning recording iPads it's just an overall umbrella um our 5516 which is use of electronic communications and Reporting devices ecrd so ecrd really is the acronym for what I just read to you and it really just umbrellas everything that you can record from um and they it mentioned cell phone only one time through this policy so I had asked Mrs frz because this policy is not here to just phone would the board and administration be willing for us to make our own small dense but have put teeth in it policy using some sort of a structure for middl towns putting in the criteria um I love if you look at the Way Middletown has it that they break it down between elementary and middle school and then they break it down between high school and then there's just generic for all students um it just talks about you know enforcement of this rule has eroded because there was always been a policy on this but years with social media and cell phones getting so crazy things have gotten laxed so it speaks of the history um and again this is not what we would be using exactly it's just a template um and what I did love which is huge and if this this I think is so important um on the back for where it says for all students at the bottom it says if a cell phone is used in any way to bully or harass another student whether on campus during the school day or after school hours or off campus the offending student shall lose the privilege of bringing a cell phone to to school for a period of time to be determined by school admin but no less than 5 days of school um this is like to me so um important because we're also not only is it distracting it's not as far as uh during education but it's being used as as a bullying uh tool sorry um tool and so I love that they added that in there these are all just some thoughts so middlet Town's um middl Town's uh consequences are a little bit harsher than what we had discussed um they have a away for the day completely they don't even have phones in the pockets um they're treating it as phone goes in the room basket or somewhere in the front or in the locker or in the backpack that is in a locker um so what the the committee had asked was if everybody was in agre that a we need something that is just gear toward cell phones and B if they would be willing to allow um the committee to come up with something that was specific to only cell phones adding in all feedback from Administration things that they want to see um having some someth there about the board backing the administration and staff for consequences um that you know it's non-negotiable tie it in with the code of conduct um so if if everybody was an ingredience then we would work on this ASAP to get something out to the board now we don't have another meeting till the end of August so I had asked um Mr leedman if we till the end of August to do a first read that's tight so I had said to him is is there a way like we did with the transgender policy that we sent it out in clusters or through individual emails so each board member has it in the month of August and they can take their time and and digest it and add to it or or take away from it um and comment but not as a forum obviously so that moving into the August meeting we have more of a definitive policy to get it moving quicker so these are just all some thought so I know I was going to ask Mr Ruben his thoughts on that as well well it's the board's decision I mean if you're saying should the board have a standalone policy addressing cell phones exclusively that's the board's call there's certainly nothing illegal about it um as far as the process for Expediting the adoption of it I think our policy on adoption of policy contains a mechanism for um they don't call it quite that but essentially waving a second reading and putting it in place on a first reading there's a way to do that if you think it's important enough and our policy on policies tells us how to do that so that's easy so um as far as the communication Mr Ruben so the meeting our meeting is not till uh August 29th if the committee met and got together a policy that we would like to push forward what would be the proper way to have the Board review it prior to the meeting and then either email Diana with their thoughts I I think the way to do it that would avoid us having staying on the right side of the public meetings act would be to there's no problem with a one-way dissemination of it to the board as far as I'm concerned there's no problem with individual board members sending comments to the committee members or the committee chair for you guys amalgamating those comments and and recirculating a draft what we have to avoid is an interactive discussion among the majority of board members as long as we don't have anything that looks like that U we're good okay that's awesome so I would be willing to to uh or we would be spoke about being willing to do that and then we would email individual board members to see the product and then get feedback all feedback will be directed to me in leadership correct Mrs pz yeah not not reply all right right and then um we would hopefully be able to get something together that we could adopt waving the second read because people had time to digest throughout the month so thought easy to do okay I just wanted to ask a couple of questions um I was curious I appreciate you said Tara about the phones being taken away for you know less than 5 days what is our current minimum um policy for if you are found to have um instigated uh HIV how what is the punishment are you out of school for 5 days to begin with so you wouldn't be in school to have your phone or what is the minimum um that's in our policy folks about an HIV incident being the perpetrator there's no there's no minimum penalty Ames okay and then my second question is how to do we have any software or anything in place that students would not be able to access social media during lunch because that's this policy is saying they can have it during they can have their cell phones during non-instructional time but they cannot access social media I'm curious if that would even be enforceable so that that's where this polic might not fit us and administration Administration might not agree with that they you know Miss Perez has a picture of what she would like to see moving forward and with with her and you know Mr lean and Dr RS we would like to create something that fits us this this is just what Middletown is doing as far as the five days is concerned their thought behind that is let's say I guess if a student was not um how you know every every hit is different but if a student was not suspended they can't have their phone so it's specific on just phone um so you know if if you guys are willing if that's okay then this is what our thoughts are if Administration is that Mrs bre or any thoughts Beyond whatever I to gain um feedback from the administrators that are in the building doing the job um uh to be honest in terms of how we would man whether when they come back to school and having the phone um that is going to take up a lot of the administration time in terms of the cases of while I do understand like why we want to do that um for buildings that I mean this year we were HS but for buildings that are spending time doing the investigations and then now they return back to school I I I have I need time to process it um because what we don't want to do is that the that building Administration is now just focusing on Manning self phones um so particular so again this is this is just what they're doing this doesn't mean we have to follow every letter you know but my thoughts are if we M bre if the phone is not in their hand I I personally do not agree with the the phone being in their pocket for for multiple reasons our committee has discussed it if a child has is allowed to have a phone in their pocket during class they are 100% using the phone now not only for social Med but they are taking pictures of tests they're cheating this is also a management this is mostly management this is not even policy because policies already existed on this and and I'm not trying to be harsh but reality States this the kids are using their phones they're bullying they're they're they're doing things during the day that they should not be doing they are 100% cheating and if the phone is in the front of the room at least treating the day like it would be an SAT or or a state test phone in the basket you sit down you have class if God forbid there is an emergency the phone is in the room it's not packed away in the locker we're not even going that far the phone isn't in in a basket um and then and I personally don't even care if the kids maybe use the phone during walking time if they want to check their phone my my our thing is instruction time and the and and then again the cheating it's hard for teachers to manage a room because these kids are way better than we are with social media and and their phones to quickly take out a a picture or or a phone and take a picture of a test or homework or whatever so I don't want to leave that on staff either um so that so our thoughts are a little harsher than what the original polic say where it says on the person but in a pocket so maybe we can come to some decision there so the administration is going to so the superintendent is going to gather the administration's input and then provide it to the committee during the month as part of this vetting process that's but we're going to have that discussion here tonight guess that yeah I mean if if um if Mrs Perez wanted to yeah if you could do that um letting I know you had already spoke to admin and I know you guys um already uh had you know they're confident and they're and they're on board I I we just feel that we need something specific not necessarily the rules changing that you shared but something specific and Tighter and just easier to send out this is a cell phone only policy um with all your information that you would like us to share in it and then we can push that product forward um that would be ideal at least from a committee standpoint well also I was wondering if it was possible to use some of our SRO or some of the other uh staff in the building to assist the teachers um or everybody and you know in instead of taking away from instructional time in the classroom if there's an incident we just divert to another somebody who's not providing that instructional time that can help assist in that sit situation um cuz this it would be this is probably going to be um it's going to take some some time for change and it's not going to be easy so how are we going to navigate that so maybe we can use some SRO and not absolutely meaning meaning you mean if um just to like let's say a child be misbehaves doesn't want to over correct they can get some assistance from security or how it's not going to happen in the moment the teachers nor will the staff engage in that in the moment in front of class so it would be a write up and it would be coordination and disciplinary action follow if there were disrespect depending on the situation but that would not happen in front of the class and in front of the students on that and so that's what I had said to the committee that we need to talk what that's going to look like because we don't want the teacher wasting time with the one student and fiddling with give me the phone don't give me like so those are those are bits of information that we would need for you to be able to create like a criteria and and moving forward obviously we agree with that we can't have that going on in the class I started to so I think so the committee can send me bullets what they're looking for me and the team to discuss with the administration so then I can discuss with them and get feedback that would be helpful um and then if we're talking about specific things in terms of consequences Etc um I just ask that that be shared as well so this is so for example we were saying about the the hit and the bullying and you like this of what Mid Town is using then we need to know exactly what it is obviously the bo as David said has the authority to create the policy um I just ask that we have an advanced news because what we don't want to do is create policy that is going to be um taking away from when we're all saying the same thing instructional time um but also ining on ADD responsibilities because it will become just about cell phones and it won't won't be because their kids are going to find a way um we've put things in place in terms of the social media getting on social media it's very difficult to get on the network I can't even get on the network in some of these buildings so um so now we have children who have cell phones that need their cell phones for medical reasons we've had to you know change passwords throughout the year because you know whether they're giving their password away selling I I don't you know that's going to happen and we shut it down so the social media end of it um it's going to happen there always going to be a step ahead of us but we have we do have things place in terms of that shut it down and pass and that's ACR the um but you just asked that we have the bullets because um they have to manage the building well and that's why I would I'm looking to you know expedited as fast as possible um I just like as I refer back to the you know the the electronic communications it's not specific to cell phones and I I can't say this enough that if you look at this policy this is one two three four pages of information about reporting devices we we were looking to really just have something specific to policy that a cell phone only very short but needy with the information that you received from admin that we do this as a group but sooner than later obviously because I I too want everybody on the same page I want them to be able to digest it and have time speaking of time so that's what I have a question on is um timing so we get together last week so when does when I don't think it going to be at the next meeting right so um when does the handle go out to parents is that before that or is that the first meting I'm just trying to understand because the information is going to have to the timeline is it's got to work together it's like the handbook the code of conduct like we just need to understand when it goes out so that we know when we have to well the code of conduct obviously this policy would be based off that and so when when when the code of conduct made and all those consequences are in there that's information for me to feed into this [Music] policy board and the policy so we would just reiterate your consequences your code of conduct in our policy I think that's the bottom line is we're kind of working backwards it's similar to what we did with the um transgender that form that we were already using and then we backed it into the updates that we made so I think what CH is saying I don't want to put words in your mouth is really to have a separate policy just addressing cell phon smartphones that supports what you're already have communicated out um and really I think this little Preamble about why we're doing it would be nice to have so that parents understand and students understand the whole purpose of it if I'm not mistaken I think it's more about that than about changing up anything that's already been discussed no absolutely if I wasn't you know like that's what I had said to you prior to the meeting today that's why I wanted you to look at this because there's so much so much in this policy that um is good to add like you said the Preamble it talks about how cell phones are a privilege you know people forget that that's a privilege to hold a cell phone um and so I we don't want to change anything that's already done in the code of conduct we want to incorporate it into one spot and that's that's where this policy came from came came into play sounds like starting it together but the the underlying message is that the what ad wants when it comes to code of conduct is what the policy committee and then the board I'm sure wants to reflect in the policy in order to support because back to that my only thought is that we could face somebody getting upset that their kid got or wanting to the rules or whatever and it' be even stronger to have policy that supports and I there's going to be push back um you know listen we all know that this has gotten way out of hand in all the districts not just us and it's kind of like you know you now have to start disciplining your 10-year-old well guess what we it's going to be hard to back this up and CED and I and the committee had said listen it's going to take time it's going to take commitment from staff but the staff needs to know we we have their back it's a policy we whatever policy we agree on we back them and administer Administration has to back excuse me Administration has to back his staff as well with their staff and um I think once the kids see that we're going to that they're going to keep up with it then it it's going to eventually get easier but they have to agree to buy in to work in it for for the first you know however many months it takes and we're already seeing the change because once the middle school started um two years ago so our freshman class this year there weren't any cellone issues with the Freshman Class um it was primarily your so we already we already identifi where they where the issues are so we're anticipating that because it's being enforced at the middle school particularly that it's just moving so there's less and I would agree with that having a student that was in the middle school like you could not contact your student in the middle school like you had to even my St you know my own child had to contact me from the office which I was but it actually was kind of a nice change because you're also not hearing get all um but it it it really was very successful in the middle school I mean it was they they knew like there's and that's why I think the freshman probably I don't know any freshman but I'm assuming that's probably why it's so engrained in them if they had three years of the the same policy essentially um my one question on Code of Conduct within a policies even mentioned earlier in terms of code of conduct I don't know how often that changes um so should it be more General in a policy because of the fact that you mention contct speciically changes more often than a policy changes so just something to keep in mind or or at least for reference uh yeah like generic reference code of conduct for specific right yeah and agreed Anette as far as listen whatever they're doing in the Middle School can we just do it in the high school whatever that is is working right it's working um and so all we're asking is for the commitment and the push and whatever whatever is needed to do that if it's a policy if it's the board rewriting it standing on our heads um I handing out I don't know what at the front door but but whatever it is we we are committed to ever you guys think we need to to move forward Miss PR maybe we should also understand what is going on in the high school as far as I mean the middle school as far as the rules of the cell phones because then we can take that and maybe tweak it into this policy here a little bit and then that way we don't we're not re we're not Reinventing the wheel if it's working in the middle school we can you can us what they're doing there and then we can take that and incorporate it into this somehow and that way we don't starting from scratch I don't want to change it if it's working correct and so we're not starting from scratch so as I mentioned in the update what what the high school is doing is what so the what the high school will be doing is what the middle school has done over there's no instructional and or or even the difference that was made last year is that um well two years ago they were allowed to use it in the lunchroom only when the new admin started last year he changed that that's why I said be careful we have to be careful with this commun policy he changed it and he said no cell phones an instructional time nor dur an instructional time so to improve to improve you know relationships and that as at at LS they are not using their cell phones but and but they're allowed to sit with their friends and start talking so what we identified when the board presented about um to me about the the concern with enforcement of some policies particular cell phone when as soon as school ended we we started meeting with the admin at the high school he agreed and he wanted he was starting to enforce what he did at the middle school because it start he did that um that was a change when he started what he identified was that the actual student code of conduct that was released to students and families did not include any consequences or infractions or even state that they were not allowed to use the cell phones during instructional time that was not under his leadership that was under a prior Administration not spending a lot of time as to the why what how did that happen because we have a lot of things to do and we need to make sure that we're moving forward and do the right thing and make sure it's in code conduct and that parents are responsible and Sor the teachers when the the administrator at the high school started the last year he went to the teachers and he said is cell phon a problem at the high school and they said no they said it was not an issue so he did not enforce at the beginning of last year his first year he did not enforce it as far as with it being an issue and so had we known had I known that they said that there was no issue and then when we would go into this the middle of the Year we're like what's happening then we realized one wasn't code conduct and two that teacher said that they don't have an issue during instructional time and some teachers and some teachers do the midle the current Administration in the high school the students the previous the the administration that was in the high school last two years ago there was no cell phones during lunch right the cell phones were there were no cell phones in instructional time no cell phones during lunch no cell phones they were away all day years ago just school year that's what changed so two years ago it was they were at Middle School the last that month but then it changed not at all and so now the current middle school policy not then that Administration moved to the high school and now there's no selfing the instructional time but we did not touch lunch right we left we left we were leing lunch um because they are older and we want to make it also that we make it a teachable moment that you know proper use of home what are you using it for you're not using it for what's out on here like for bul and social media So and I've done we've all done lunch duty this year so there's actually at the high school because it's a short amount of time right they um their lunch periods are shorter than in like at middle school they there's actually talking more to each other um they may be playing like a game on there that's what I saw I did not social media because of the caveat that technology kind of put things on lock down with being able to log on to those sites but again but even technology we met with like as soon as like just to do frequent searches how who's logging in he can do that he has the capability of do so he be proactive and kind of saying okay let me check you know like every month there somebody else giving out the pass students that we know um and also holding him accountable for getting out the pass what question you mention that I just so they know that the cellones are beinged okay I thought you said they're not being us they said it wasn't an issue oh okay so they [Music] know they are being so apparently they're unaware that they're taking pictures of test that's the part as well we discussed that sh Con in terms of the cheating that's taking place it's reported after you know when it's reported after the that it requires the teachers to circulate and that that needs to be addressed that during testing just as when you take the SATs any of the other assessments that you know if it's a school assessment should be treated the same way um Mr pres so I I don't want to be only one at this table to be the negative Nelly um no no um I I [Music] just if if if the policies we had on in place were working we wouldn't be sitting here today if the staff was adhering to them we would not be sitting here if admin was was managing the building we wouldn't be sitting here talking about this so something is broken um I am all for everything that you just said about admin a moving from one school to the other and the year went by I'm not even going to go through my thoughts of of of any of that I I my thing is there's there's not where where is all this information like in my there needs to be like I need Rick and teth on paper we have a policy it's written this is what he's doing whether it be what the Middle School principal's doing is now at the high school okay so now we need to understand what is he doing and it needs to be written somewhere it can't just be what he says he did at the middle school and now he's telling his staff and then oh let make sure they tell the kids and then the kids oh we know they're not telling their parents so that's my thing like I just want something solid written somewhere that everybody can Digest it's in the code of conduct and the parents have to signode conduct that's that's what happens School a pop they have to sign off now we don't the things that parents aren't if parents aren't signing off right then when they come there there has we brought this up before that there has to be other modes how they're signing off and reviewing that um the code of So based on the feedback even from this evening not just signing off on code of combat signing ping the consequences and saying that you read the infractions and also referencing the policy whether it be the new policy old policy the parents will need to um also I forgot the verage but we and a will be going out the Letter's going to families which is something different that I don't think has happened in that school it has happened in the other school okay and we talked about when about the enforcement that even for sta that if they we see not me but like but if we see the cell phone app during instructional time there will be consequences so there are infractions so the code of conduct is being worked on we do not make consequence you make consequence we make policy right so you're working on Code of Conduct we I'm hearing we're okay to come up with cell phone policy specifically that just says cell phone policy right and we will tweak this for different schools the middle school might be a little different than the high school we might allow it at lunch in the high school we might not in the Middle School we're going to come up with it we're going to work on it we're going to email it out right so everybody can review it and then we will get feedback and we will have a draft ready for August 29th and we can incorporate the code of conduct into the policy after you give us what those what those stages are that sound I'm not I'm not hearing that I'm not on the same page as no so what I'm understand and I'm not what I'm understanding is you would just rather it be what he's doing now is working so let's let's she's good with us okay with coming up with policy whatever whatever the board is going to decide in terms of policy we have resp as Mr said that you guys can create this so I only ask that the items be bulleted what you plan on including in the policy but what they're asking is if you could send the code contact to them they won't send you any bullets no but I think you're asking for different things let's not talk about code of conduct code of conduct is not a Board responsibility so we take it off let's it it does it does because we're going to include it in here but we don't create consequence that's not up to us absolutely so we need to let the admin do that so I can share that I think the process we agre on half hour ago was that happen was there was consensus here that the board should be okay with that cell phone policy we're going to gather input from Individual board members between now and sometime in August Administration was going to gather Administration from her team and convey to you what they were comfortable with sting and not comfortable sting it and then mixing all that together the committee would come up with another suggestion for after it looks like giving newor Administration concerns which is going to share with you after this meeting not just into that discussion so I think that was how I I can share the I can share what is already um what's going to go out in terms of I also um I appreciate getting the staff and admin's feedback and interest in what they're comfortable with but we're going to go ahead and create a policy that some of them might not be comfortable with and we would always ask that they might you know back us up because the overall what the the larger picture is what we're trying what what our aim is right for the district so if the board adopts a policy that goes over the head of the administration and adopts a policy that's against the recommendation they're going to follow it because they're B require we'll work together right I'm not saying the Poli Committee just wants to do whatever they want to do we want everybody's input but I'm asking that like staff might not love some of the suggestions so you know we're going to have to enforce that and hopefully we buy we we earn that you know that I don't know what we're try to say yes thank you thank you the one thing that might be helpful to it's develop sign up everybody's know just checkins throughout the year as well just to better understand improved what are the feeling like what's going on like we're not in the building so you know like just as an update in terms of like is it working is it not you know he knows kids coming through the door you know things like that I think would be helpful us you feedback from the buildings you know like cuz this is going to be new and change is hard and your people you know might take a couple of months but we can listen some feedback from everybody and see if they they appreciate it they don't it's working it's not working it decreases you know the hibs it doesn't all of that yes is there any other discussion about the Personnel agenda oh whatever it is policy yes okay all right moving on good evening we're looking to take action on items 1 through 15 one is payroll and the bills list uh two is transfer funds for June as well as three and four fund status for June five will reflect Treasures report is should say June not April so we will make the change in the minutes six is the settlement agreement seven is approving the salary guides for the M Regional School District forette as well as the Education Association for the next four years uh eight is the sidebar agreement for thean aine regional and the Education Association for the sidebar listed about tuition nine is the allocations yes we did previously approve them but as we were writing them we included title 4 into title two uh to assist so we just need to reflect that in the agenda 10 we did not by June we have not received our allocation for IPA however we did receive an increase and we utilize that for out of District tuition and preschool one for um Services 11 is the Lord Bishop communication contract that we already discussed earlier 12 we just need to reflect that it should save Municipal attorney um and for the services that we discussed about the sign earlier so for a very particular purpose and um 13 is the routine travel for the 2425 school year and then 14 is the inter local school resource officer agreement for the next 5 years with the ability to change the payments subject to the Future staff amendments and then 15 would be the fire evacuation girls for there any questions or comments about the finance agenda okay motion second to accept the fin motion second okay um suppose I still need to read the public comments um section no there was no one attending what oh that's right we do yes okay 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 residents comments are limited to three ination but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard all statements should be directed to the board president and no participant May address or question board members individually all speakers are requested to express elv in a sevil manner with due respect the dignity and privacy of others whose legal rights may be affected please note while it is not the board's intention to stifle comment on matters of legitimate concern the public should be aware that if 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 leg legal ramifications of their comments the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal advisor Lane AB New Jersey um I just wanted to share from a resident SLP parent Community member uh point of view that I had the privilege of being invited to chaperon the high school trip to Europe uh we were there from July 1st to uh July 1st to July 10th we visited four countries um it was an amazing experience and I wanted to recognize Miss MTH she was the Italian one of the Italian teachers of the high school who organized the trip the chaperon from our district included Mary Kate shaloo P Wells Michael Miola he's a new business teacher Jessica Dilla who is a newish um ESL El teacher shadon clao and mark raker from the high school um huge amount of work went into this planning it public by year um it was completely out of District perview it was done through an educational tour compan that with schol groups all the time excellent company um they're going to Japan next year learned a lot about our students they're awesome our teachers are great um Switzerland was my favorite country we had a really great hotel with the view of lake eern which was incredible I will invite you if you're interested to the Facebook page we created to share the pictures with parents and keep them updated as what was going on amazing amazing views these kids were so invested they were so curious they were amazing just love them all and I just wanted to let you guys know how great the trip was um I don't know it was just I saw them changes very like changing thank you very much we'll vote on agenda items Mrs VI yes Mrs is Martinez yes Mr Monon yes Miss Scott yes Miss barell yes Miss War Yes except for Item B I will abstain on curriculum instruction so noted Mrs scy Miss pal uh yes other L obain from item you the C instruction so not this I have toel okay um in unfinish your new business I I did want to just note that um I think we should probably start to make a plan for sharing out the uh uh pre reduced lunch form a little bit wider that's something the board could take a a lead on when it comes to communication but um we talked about this last spring that that this the district has has lost title L funds and honestly I even last fall as soon as I went to a presentation about Food Services I I'm convinced that we are missing out on a lot of title L funds because families that are eligible for free and reduc lunch are not applying for it um so that that in speaking to this case uh she said at that point I'm going to hold her to it that if every single District family fills out that form should be happy to process it because that could very well end up with some like many many of our schools being eligible for title lunch funds I really think that's the case we'll update the board as soon as the pre and reduced lunch packets have been approved by the state uh the department of backer culture has sent out a notification that they're just delayed in the process of it that's great thank you so much so much um just as I don't remember the exact number since it was last October but um for a family for gave the household income over $50,000 to be eligible and there are definitely people that be eligible are do business so the um summer Theater Workshop um doing an amazing job working really hard four days a week four hours a day um for the past month and start tomorrow else I'm sorry I just wanted to mention also something that happened with students in our schools was the torch Academy this past Saturday through Tuesday the leadership academy and it too was absolutely phenomenal um if you want to talk about positive use of of social media is blowing up with all 80 kids participated from all over New Jersey and those students are all bringing it back to their own schools so I believe we had three of which um from our school district who participated one who is my daughter and I just am so incredibly thankful that we make a push I believe um our students went around or teachers to every single classroom and let students know to apply for it and I really want to make sure that we do an even bigger push last here to have even more kids participate because it was life altering for both of my children it used to be Rya those of you may know of it as that and it's torched now so I highly highly recommend it thank you um can I have a motion a second to um enter de session I just have one thing for uh all business I guess um on the website um so where are we at with that so we're in the process of admins and everyone doing their training um we received notification this week that um they and on Final s that there's a delay with the migration is that correct yes so um our original date was for August 5th um so there's a delay on that um so we're meeting as a team tomorrow and on Monday so then this way we can see what the rout will look like um because that's really kind of close to the beginning of school so we have to reach out to them and just get some options in terms of what that so so um but regardless there we'll have a plan in place in terms of cleaning up our current um and so um I had asked M Le what it looks like is the um is the board able to view it or is it new like like what is the process because we yes you will be able to as soon as the migration gets complete however we're just waiting on Final site for them to do the background migration we haven't seen a lot of the migration either because we're waiting for them I think um they might have off a little bit more than they could you with as many districts that are trying to turn over from the old company to the new company okay um and do we have so I had asked Mr Le Mrs P are you on the committee so like is there um is there meetings like so I my thoughts are like if there's somebody from the board as a spokesperson that has eyes on this I me this is been pushing for years so obviously we want to be part of it um I just haven't heard any updates so I was just wondering well the the initial one was when I reached out to the board and asked for everybody to provide feedback on how they use the site that kind of which was a while ago yes and so then I brought that back to the the the group the committee and that and that really was fruitful for the conversation because it it really came from a parent and Community perspective to it's helpful um and then aside from that you know what I could provide that might is um there was the mockup design um so you can see the colors the you how it's set up um if the one that was chosen that might be helpful to see in the metime but yeah we're also waiting for the the migration CU that's what you know there's nothing built for you know they to move every all of the DAT old webs but that might be something like before just thee that it how thats ioup I don't think we regroup ASE but release yes be a to share with you if I sh and so this will be so we're not we have a call with M so we're concerned that it's not going to be so we then have to clean up do our clean up on our our current website now which we started to but I'd have to take sorry um if the website is up and running and you need to make an edit to the final site and do that while it's still up being used um M PR just one final thought about that if we think it maybe isn't going to be ready is it possible to have them start cleaning it out now at least let the teachers do their little thing and then so that God forbid it's not done we're like oh good Ty you say the teachers a s it one one of the things that came up with the committee is that certain teachers have a web page so to keep things consistent um teachers were using Google classro and that's where they have their information we were just they're not going to be able to create a web page created in their Google Classroom so way and then release that right so some staff does and some doesn't so perfect I just want to make sure that you know you're looking for your child's teacher especially the younger ones well that was that was pretty valuable feedback that I used I was able to I felt like because I had numbers behind it and statements behind I was able to advocate for those of us Young I just started listing out all the places where we go to search for homework and I said if you have another kid in another grade you doing it all again and then if you have another kid in another grade you're doing it all again and you know when once you start listing out all the different places that stuff is all in one shot it became very clear that that things need to be simplify you have an 8old it's kind of hard find it the other piece is that they will not be able to create their own web pages off of our website they have to use ours that that part up to so that it's consist not everyone can go to some of theit that they putting on our web page because accessibility also screen having trouble with some of those bu outside M the other issue we had with the sof the other day with not knowing who owned it like will that be fixed that's exactly okay used the coach at that time used a Google a Google site which is like created a separate web page from our web page and so we couldn't take it the director could not take it down I could take there's a lot okay are there any other questions or comments may this okay um again a motion second to enter executive session I'll motion I'll second be resolv the 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 with the reason for confidentiality subsides although the board cannot guarantee it the link to the exec discuss 16 minutes yeah 16 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business action will not take place we had motion a second so all in favor --------- the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or agreed upon in accordance with the provision of this act at mwan abine Regional School District Board of Education advertised this meeting on June 5th 2024 in the Asbury Park Press and Starlet these notices resent to the municipal Clerks of the bur of madaan and the township of aine and the Madan aine Public Library these notices were also placed on the district website can we please stand for the pledge of Alle thank you call here miss Vias here Miss Martinez here Mr mcover Mr Monon here miss Scot here miss barell miss wari here Mrs scy here miss pal here may have a motion to second answer to Second the session I'll motion I'll second if be it resolved that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy personel 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 length of the executive session is estimated to be 30 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with busit action will take place um all in favor thank you we're we're take the session can I have a motion in a second to accept the minutes as listed motion and I can have a motion a second to accept correspondence to the board as listed no motion um okay so then we'll have the superintendent report okay um just a few updates the um building administration's been very busy getting and preparing for um opening day in September a lot of work's going on in the buildings in terms of cleaning and Technology updating and some moves um with staff so it's been pretty exciting VY has been grown great um I'll send an invite um early next week in regards to the last day they will have like a family event that'll be at one of the schools and all of the children that are participating in esy will be there and we invited their families as well so that'll that'll be fun and to see all the little kids um CU there's there's only 120 now right now um and esy um under we've been working with um building Administration particularly the Middle School principal and the high school principal and regards to policy 5516 the electronic device um and cell phone falls under that um we met with both the high school and the middle school um Administration um to share our concerns um as central office but also share some insight in terms of the feedback the board has provided us as well um we shared that enforcement is a non-negotiable um they must adhere to policy uh they will be including a um in their Community letter their that goes to parents but also to students that they have reviewed policy their codes of conducts will be updated with um with regards to the use of cell phones during class time at the high school and the code of conduct that will be updated we um after some digging a little bit um we realized that as the high school code of conduct that was released to students and families cell phones on the use of cell phones was not in there in terms of the consequences um during using it during instructional time so that will be added in there and but they they will only High School will only be able to use their cell phones during lunch and passing time um no cell phones during instructional time at all um we met and we participated in a meeting with the Union reps um we asked for them to come in in um and for the high school principal to host that meeting we met we explained to them again um our concerns the concerns of the board um and the community in terms of when they were allowing students to use their cell phones what those concerns were and we shared with them that there will be strict policy in terms of enforcement for the upcoming school year they were in agreement um they had a few questions in regards to if you know if it was something that was calming a student Etc can listen to music we made some recommendations that if music if they wanted to listen to music perhaps they come up with a playlist like so we did have a fruitful conversation with the Union reps and they are supportive of um of the administration enforcing the policy the code of conduct the high school in terms of infractions um and we'll share this out prior because um that will be on the next agenda all of the code of conducts um you will receive them what we'll do is the team here they'll highlight will highlight specific things that you may based on our conversation prior conversations what you may want to look at um so that you're not reviewing every single um page on in the document so high school like I mentioned only lunch um no cell phone news during instructional time the high school first infraction Warning by teacher second um second warning they have to turn in the phone to the teacher and it would be returned to the student at the end of class should a and we had a great discussion should a the student refuse to um give the the phone the cell phone to the um to the teacher um the teacher is not going to get into a back and forth they the student will remain with that cell phone and immediate um immediate referral for um in subordination um the student will be written up um and also reported to the principal and they will have to have a cell phone go to the principal's office and then it's um for pickup from the parent um the the AL the AL the other non-negotiable own it came up um in terms of what the consequences were going to be right now the code of conduct reads that um cell phone use um and for insubordination they get one day of ISS so Ms is the same as I mentioned with high school with the exception that there's no cell phone being utilized they're not able to use their phones during lunch um and then lloy Road um those that was the other building um that we met with the principal there um the same applies um no cell phone at all during instructional time nor lunch um or passing time at all no cell phone at ly Road either um we did the conversation that came up um at the middle school and also with Lloyd Road where was the actual concern with laptops that they were able to go on to additional websites um while in while class so we investigated um they they're currently we use light speed for security reasons um so we spoke to technology if there were any additional add-ons that we can include with our purchase um and there happens to be an add-on with light speed um that we can purchase which is approximately $3,000 um and that would cover grades 4 through 12 and that feature is actually for the teachers to they call it class it's a classroom management feature so the teachers are able to um when they enter the classroom when they're opening up the Chromebooks they're able to just put the Chromebooks on lown and they will not be able to go into other sites or hold other chats as well and we also emphasize obviously Google we know that you can chat in Google so they can also turn off that feature as well and which they will be doing as well um we so we were very pleased in terms of the discussion um we talked about the policy that was approved that Town um the staff you know felt that they can enforce policy with this policy um and they recognize that that is a concern um we also discussed and I'm going to have Mike um speak about the wait to a um as well and then there are what the plan is is that I will send out a community letter that'll highlight some of the things that are taking place um right now and also for next year um an anticipation for the beginning of school year cell phones the this policy will be covered in there and um shortly after that the High School principles well the adentis will send out their um their letter the communication to parents and to students about the the policy we also recommended that they both middle school and high school because they have student council that they should be reaching out to their um student council Representatives as well so that they buy in and understand that this is It's not that we're putting everything on lock down it's just that we for instruction to be um to be instruction and for to minimize the distraction so um we do anticipate that it will run well um their biggest concern in terms of admin um that was shared and also the staff is if enforcement and you you all raise the same concern if it's not enforced then why would a teacher B to kind um write a student so we reassured them that it will be enforced um I'm going to turn it over to Mike to discuss it was in your board folder the wait until the eth initiative and then I'll touch upon um some additional updates can I ask that Qui question sure so some of the consequence um you know protocols the three things that I don't know that those are in the policies those are you're saying those are going to be in the code conduct yes they don't and so the I believe the polic the way the policy reads right now is that um that it says disciplinary action it doesn't specifically typically in most of the policies that we have that that refer to like code of conduct whether it's teacher or students it's not spelled out in in policy and I imagine and Dav public can touch upon this but I imagine that if it's it's probably not in policy because if the infractions change whether they increase or decrease then you wouldn't have to update the policy if we included on those infractions yes it allows more way so the other question is so there's a bunch of different policies there's like a privacy with digital device use and then there's actual use I'm going to have to go back and look because I don't remember if the policy states that you can't use it during I'm you probably have seen it recently does the policy St say for high school only during lunch and passing time or doesn't no it says approve it says approved by um I think it says approved by I have the political I think it says approved my appr approved by the princip so whatever the are then I guess it goes back to the code of conduct as to what those approved correct and so the administration said they're not approval so that's and that was the reason why we in the OR well yeah I think I guess the question is something that would be helpful is that this would help the board support the administration and the teachers because I guess there's the What scenario what if a parent has a problem with all of this and says that it's not supported by board policy then we could you know that that this is a way for us to to tighten it to help the administration en Force I mean not that we don't need to spell out everything that the you know all the punishments or whatever but saying right there that is is you know at the principes discretion whatever and is subject of progressive discipline like really laying that out clearly that and that it applies to cell phones I thought it appli to cell phones and you said that oh you know actually this was probably written for laptops using laptops be helpful so can I can I um I'm not sure if you want to get into this right now because this is a lot about the the whole phone thing that I wanted to discuss or you want to wait till I give update on my on policy we can okay Cu uh the committee has forwarded you the Middle Town polic I gave it to all the board members and we are not in agreeance with that electronic devices policy and we'll talk about that and that's part of why I wanted to meet with you today to go over all of that the reason being is that all of those policies and I listed them all here and I have every single policy under Tech every single one of them cell phone is used one time in one policy it is all about umbrella of technology and we want something specific to only cell phone tight small to the point that's why I gave out Middletown's policy so that we could look at it it's a very rough draft it has nothing to do with our district it's just a template to to get us going um but I went through and we can do this later like I said this isn't a time but I went through seven policies that we have right now listed and none of them are geared towards cellone so when we when we do the update later I would just ask that you would be open to heing I know you're of course and and I think that it would make it easier on admin because it's so small and people would be more AP to read it versus finding any cell phone information in these other policies they're like six pages long so we'll talk about a little later about but thank you um um we did share with the board the board of buer the weight a campaign so it is a national campaign which does a couple of things it first empowers parents to band together and take a pledge to say that they are willing as a family to wait to purchase a smartphone for their child until the end of 8th grade it's part one part two maybe even more importantly um it's designed to educate parents on some of the the dangers of a cell phone of a smartphone U things like how it affects child's sleep patterns how it affects Behavior how it affects anxiety and building relationships um so there there's two different avenues that come from this particular campaign so we've had community members approach us saying that they're interested and really what they want to know from the board is that would the board support the fact that parents want to do this and using your own networks and social media pushing it out saying we're aware of the weight to campaign we support it and we hope you would pledge um it's important to know that at no point does it say um we're as a board or School District we're against smartphones or parents should not purchase smartphones that's not the position it's how can we educate and how can we Empower parents to make a decision we we have an obligation to work to keep Kids Safe um we also have an obligation to support parents and this is just another way that that as as a board and as a district we can do that so if there are any questions on the we to eight there's a an FAQ in there there's a flyer that you wanted to share out uh and that's what parents would share amongst themselves as well so my only question Mike would be what what is our position how are we getting it out there and making it known vocal um I know the new social media I mean the uh new website and the Lord Bishop that would be a great thing for her to push but um other than just saying it's there I I I I want there to be energy behind it yeah so let me address both of those so the position the board was going to have to take a position um the administrative team is we have an obligation to keep kids safe and to support parents and this is another way to do that um we can see the repercussions of smartphones in schools working with staff and working with kids so we know that but the board's going to have to take a position um the community is hoping the board's position is that we we support this how do we get it out there it's can the board on on the board's Facebook page post the flyer and post some messages um Can the board network with your own partners and neighbors and people that you know within the your individual schools and in your neighborhoods can you help get the word out um and then we take you to the next level where this is pres letter whether it's a back to school letter or in the fall where we mentioned this we put a link in the flyer School principles do their newsletters they push it out as well um because really it's about getting it into the hands of parents so they they're aware that one it exists to that is designed for them to take a position uh and then it's continuing to get that message out where we do it in August September great but we need to continue to do it again throughout the year because part of the process is that um they're they're looking to get 10 people sign on and take a pledge per School uh so well that may seem like a small number in order to even achieve double digits you have to have that awareness um thank you Mike and then maybe like uh whatever we move forward with the cell phone policy that would be the time to attach it to that and and so that the kids and the and the staff and the families are aware moving forward when they enter the building what is actually going on meaning like wait till a this is the cell uh cell phone policy um you know just making sure everybody's all on the same page in the door in September um would be you know a way and I had mentioned to uh Mr lean today sometimes kids sign policies having them sign off that they read the policy however we do it that they can't say they didn't know and that you know teachers don't have to be um warning or saying somebody didn't see there has to be multiple avenues that they see it which would be a good time to add that with it um The Pledge you he really interesting so you're saying like I don't know if this is doable technology Wise by September but it sounds awesome would be that among the bazillion things that you sign as P because I feel like that's part of it too is that parents are aware that they can't call their kids during day the kids phone's going to be off they can't text their kids during day they kid ph's going to be off but these are things that a lot of parents are kind of used to that honestly for me I disrup it no I yeah um Miss pal when we did our committee meeting on Monday and we talked about the phone policy somebody had brought up can they sign something now I remember when my kids were in high school they would have to sign you know the disciplinary going into school this is your criteria so um Can can they sign something whether they really absorb it or not at least we know they saw it and signed it parents making sure they get something just so that everybody's on the same page whatever that looks like that would be up to admin but um just an idea to put everybody in the same place I just have two quick thoughts um uh maybe something in the Genesis portal um there's a lot of hard stops before you can get in so the Genesis portal also though I would try to um use different types of communication methods right so not just elect also written so some people don't you know they should log on to Genesis they might not they get a written copy that comes home has to be signed all different Avenues of communication um I think uh you know so and then also um I was wondering if we might be able to partner with the PTO of the buildings um for the way till 8th and maybe they can come up with some ideas also to reach their community members of each building um just thought I so I can speak to that um short answer is yes um so the community members whove brought it to our attention have already reached out to the PTO to to start that piece of it so once we're ready to go I said this evening that is what it start PRK can I just add something to that um you know I'm wired with my school board college all across the country just because the organizations I'm involved in and some of them have told me that would works well in their school just to draw visibility to the topics they're actually highlighting it on their school Marquees on the Jumbotron out in front of the like something's up with cell phones so like it's literally in people's faces that something something something's going on here so just passing that along all right thank you so do we need to vote I wasn't quite sure about that part of taking a position do we just have consensus or do we vote on something or like what what is needed days yeah I I would um take Mr Ruben's opinion on this but maybe it would be just a con yeah I don't know what you're actually voting on I mean right now as hazy as your policy language may be I think there's enough language in there that already pre empowers the administration to be doing whatever you decide by consensus here tonight I think on top of that I think you will want to sharpen up what your actual policy say but if we're going to take a vote tonight on something I'm not sure what that's something would look like so I think if Administration just takes away whatever your consensus is the sufficient policy language there as oblique as it may be that will Empower you to do it until you come out with an explicit policy and are we then from a consensus standpoint I guess one of the things would be that do we have consensus to communicate out that we support for way toate eff I think that would be something that' be speaking have consensus thank you um in addition to the wait to8 there is another um organization it's um log off movement that I will be looking into and speaking with my colleagues um it's actually the founder is she's now in college but she started the movement when she was in a high school senior um so she's she comes out she does um get speaking engagements um her and her other um colleagues in terms of you know W talking to kids in terms of watching screen time and things like that so um I will be reaching out to her as well um in terms of Transportation update um I had shared that the waiver the survey went out to 2,000 families which is about and 50% responded to that out of the 50% we have 25 F students that we will send waivers out so they are giving up essentially they are giving up their seats on the bus so we also talked about um that if the student is not on the bus by say day 10 that we would we will also be reaching out to those families to see if they are also forfeit their um their their seat as well so we are in communication with our new Transportation manager and we'll be doing it that we collected um the data on the number of students that would need to cross over 34 which is really our high school students um and we had where my number go here we have 19 um students for next year that will need to cross over 34 um we I've been in communication with both Chiefs in terms of the crossing guards um I will speak to I'll have another discussion with um the chief of Aberdine in terms of the Route 34 um the concerns there that there weren't any crossing guards there so I'll be reaching out to them what I did learn um throughout this whole research and finding out about the crossing guards that it's not necessarily him that's somebody else is in charge so I have his name now so that's who I I will actually be communicating with both of them to make make sure um that they're putting that out there that we need the um the crossing guards on 34 as well um we are starting the Breakfast Club there was we posted for that position at the high school and that will start at 6:45 in terms of Middle School to date we have two Stu uh three students for am enrolled with the YMCA and two in the afternoon we will be sending out a flyer again to all of our families and um it is prated based on the amount of time that they will be utilizing it they do not need to and I'll emphasize them they do not need to participate in any of the clubs at um after school it is um it is flexible they um they have free and reduced um if they are free and reduced um or they have issues in terms of um payment Etc they will speak to and handle those um families individually um and so and we can once we know too if a family does share that with us we do share we and advocate for them as well in terms of if we know that they're having trouble pain trouble pain um and they they've been always working with us um throughout the years on that um in terms of I mentioned the early drop off uh at the middle school the same thing will happen and we did have that last year for when we had to change some busing times so we did have staff available but this year it'll be for the YMCA because we do anticipate that it's going to be well before like 10 minutes before arrival probably a half an hour um that's sure I know there's minimum that we need to meet for the YMCA so is there a certain date that we're aiming to if we don't get the number that we need for the minimum that we can alert the families and do breakfast club or something else at the middle school um as an option like is there a date in mind because there's only like a month a little over a month until school starts I wasn't sure if you guys had like a hard stop because the money would have to be I'm assuming refunded to parents um after saying that the YMCA is very good with that in terms of what we are under um so we've been in contact with the director so we anticipate that we may be under um the idea was 15 but you know we're hoping to have 10 um still go with 10 and I'm sure that something out with them because I think it's going to be a stacking issue that they wouldn't want to hire somebody the full time if we don't have the the students which I understand so we've been talking about some you know additional planning with them because my thoughted that there could still but there could still be an need it could be just financial piece that is the other thing I don't um I don't I mean this isn't a criticism this is just a do as a parent of a I think I'm the only one here was a parent entering sixth grade of a shot entering sixth grade I haven't received a flyer or anything I I not received any communicate oh yeah I'm sorry two two people with kids in but yeah I haven't seen any communication so I'm sure that signups will go up when parents are aware of the service yeah I was going to ask is there way we can continue to blast this on our Facebook page as far as all of the The Breakfast Club and the ummies the before and afterm cuz I I you know it's it's hard to communicate but we need to continue to communicate these options for parents yeah so um Mr PR can I just ask you few questions um just going back to your um list the so the waiver information I just want to make sure I understand so it went out to 2,000 people 50% well we gave it like a 10day correct uh at the 10day closure we had 50% responded and out of that 25 said they don't need it moving forward we will get something written on them is that is that what you mean by that so now for those 25 families we're sending out the waiver form got it that's in accordance with policy and the families will complete that so we will remove off of the qualify there are families that now guess cuz it's been out there you know people are talking about it you two weeks lat that's what I about about the survey so um we are receiving those calls rather than opening up the survey again um we are taking the calls and then asking doing it over the pH because we did mind that parents were sharing the survey with non-qualifying and then they were saying I can't complete it and they couldn't complete it because they weren't qualifying families for so I don't I so we're going to just go old school They Call in we'll ask the questions and then we'll add them to okay so that was so that but that's where my my concern is so we shut it down but there was also confusion because of the reply wall so did now that it's shut down how like I don't know how to articulate this how do we know we reached all of these 2,000 before it was shut down because now people are calling that's still qualified they they hadn't read their emails so as everybody's catching up or coming back from break now they're reaching out because they still received the original survey it's just when they're now trying to go into the survey it says the survey shut down and then it has a number to call so they're calling that number so what we're doing is asking them did you need Transportation yes okay nothing to do if you're saying no you don't need the transportation then we're going to follow that up with a waiver form that comes right off the department of AD website and then we're turning that into a form that they'll complete that we'll have on record if and when there's a time that they might need to then um you know reinstate Transportation then we're going to have to create a policy not a policy sorry but create just a procedure for that because we have to tell them you know you you need to provide us a week you fill out the form the form goes to Transportation you give us a week then your child would be back in bus and you would provide you know your bus stop and your arrival and Department okay so that was my concern because I didn't so it's still sitting in their inbox correct it doesn't disappear it doesn't disapp still there okay so there there's potential for more than 25 coming in we're very hopeful right yes okay and then um um I just lost my total train thought yeah go Ahad Go 25 SE sorry 25 seats that were waved what are we doing with those 25 seats are we doing anything with those or are we just holding them well currently we're going through um where those 25 are and you know uh whether it's Elementary Middle School or high school and then identifying the stops and then building the SES and then we will still hold seats like we do on the routes however it'll it's kind of the same process of when we have move in during year different things like that it'll kind of fall under that scope so is there a potential that those 25 seats get filled with other students do we need to hold them just in case there's a change a lifechanging event in somebody needs transportation we always hold for lifechanging events because we always have movein yeah um so that that is very typical for us to do um and then obviously will have an even better idea as we move through and take attendance on the first 10 days to see who is utilizing and not utilizing the bus oh I'm sorry I'm sorry um I just had a separate Transportation question um I'm wondering if this has been addressed in the past as a parent of someone who has a new driver I do know that when you're coming down um South Atlantic Avenue and church that intersection is absolutely horrific and there have been some car accidents there um I teach in Haslet and we have a police officer directing traffic within about 15 minutes of when all the all the young drivers come in to help them not get into accidents has there ever been any kind of conversation of taking care of that corner and even South Atlantic Avenue in general the students who almost get hit even walking across the street there for getting dropped off it's a very serious area and I just don't know whether it's ever been looked at discussed I'm I'm notw i' have to talk to um talk to Chief in terms if anyone was ever there I but I'm not there's no crossing guard and the visibility is nearly um there's almost no visibility coming up the hill from Lloyd Road if you're facing Lloyd Road the car is coming from Lloyd Road you can't see them till they get to to the church and so many people are making left turns and they're all backed up and it's very treacherous and I know students who have almost gotten hit just trying to walk across the South Atlantic Avenue to the high school so I just didn't know as someone who hasn't been on the board for a year yet I haven't heard it mentioned well when we meet um and you know we're meeting with traffic safety to introduce the new Transportation supervisor so that'll be one of the topics we bring up I appreciate it thank you um Miss K that was the one question I so just talk to me about the 10day so um how are the parents going to know that they have 10 days where where are they like how are we informing them that hey if for some reason you don't have you don't use your bus on the 10th day we can remove you where is that or how is that being used it it's a discussion and it's really more um in essence for us to work with our drivers and our AIDS who are on the buses so one we're getting a better depiction of who is riding the bus and who isn't riding the bus and then to kind of utilize that time um to to take those stats and then reach out to those families and let you know ask them is this something you are going to be utilizing or is this not something that you're going to be utilizing and then take that data from there good so so at the end of the 10 days because the bus driver does normally take the tendance like who um it's it's been touch and go they definitely took attendance during Co and then you know there was a differential last year where we didn't and however we brought back that you know attendance is necessary we are looking at you know what softwares can assist with that but in the meantime obviously they have a list of the children who should be riding so all right so that was my question just Logistics of a do the drivers know that they have do that where they take attendance then at the end of the 10 days is the transportation department then follow up to see who's not attended I just have to these things have to I just yes so those the attendance records will get turned into transportation and then transportation office staff will need to be reaching out to that individual family saying you noticed you weren't Avail you know on the bus do you need it do you not need it right and it also helps some with patterns too right there's some students that might need it Wednesday Friday I'm just Mar when theys put the as well here's your bu and you're please make sure that sure to remind your student to put on their that that to me I rather overc communicated than then go well I didn't even know about this 10day thing well I mean for what it's worth it I don't think you could take anybody seat that waiver a no I know that why R to even get upset to think well I didn't even know if it says it just like oh I'm sorry it set it on the bus back of the bus pass that's okay if you do need it you know but but at least somebody hopefully will read it but yes thank you I just wanted to ask um a question about um well I what is the bus pass even look like is it like a an ID or is a piece of paper or it's right on Genesis when you log so it's not like an actual pass that the student like carries a lot like that's a okay when you're in the parent portal a lot of the parents feel comfortable printing it out to them to the bus stop assisting you know the drive having on site some of the kids will walk around with not everybody but it is there so this is kind of a it's helpful because it has the bus number on it because finding your bus when you leave at the end of the day it's nice to have that piece of paper because like what number so this um feedb my next thought um I would really love in the near future or farther future um to try to take that liability away from the drivers and the assistants and maybe a software as you said where we can you know have the students scan something that they're on the bus the parents can see that somehow in real time um and then the the bus drivers and the AIDS don't have to worry about the kids TOS right per se because they're being trapped safety wise where they're at with the scanning so I know you said software I love that idea um I know family members and other states use utilize these softwares and it just sounds like a great security for our kids yeah much sa so maybe one day thank you great excellent thank you um if there are any additional questions going to turn over to Mr Le for the presentation on njp good evening uh so this evening this is part one of a two-part presentation on the required presentation to the board sharing out assessment data from the previous school year so tonight we're going to look at NJ GPA and access for elves so the first presentation part of the presentation this is information you you've seen before but I'll go through just to kind of um reset the content so the njp this an assessment that's given to 11th graders at the high school it's a required assessment it assesses student proficiency English language arts and Mathematics the bla component is alligned to gr 10 English and Mathematics is alligned to Al geometry um first bll just saying we're required to do this uh second bll it says sometimes students don't pass these look at that num the moment which we would hope everyone would take it serious and pass the first time around but if for some reason don't there are other avenues that you can show that you're proficient in order to graduate that could be retaking the assessment during the summertime in fact the take this week um there's an alignment to other assessments or there's a portfolio process so there there are aves to show that you're proficient to graduate but preferred first is C in so here here's the data so this is from the assessment that the last year's juniors rise senior think so so think language arts in our district 87% of the students have demonstrated that they're ready to graduate versus the state was 81% so 133% of our students did not show proficiency compared to 18% of students across the state so their peers and in mathematics 64% of our students show their graduation ready compared to their peers across the state which is 54% so compared 30% 6% of our students are not ready 45% off there appears across the state so a logical question would be so how is this compared to last year so I would warn you in terms of making the comparison year to year here's the the hitle on that it's a totally different group of students so the students who took the assessments and students who took it the year prior 2023 it's a fourpoint drop in this group compared to the first group in both categories the same for sunru so was 91% and 69% Mathematics so it's very difficult to compare group to group not be same assessment to different case the important piece is that we're trying to maximize the number of students who are ready to to graduate and that were ah head of counterparts across the jerse so some notable achievements again this look we're very focused on a particular group of students of the high school the students who took it in 2023 18 students achieved the Seal of bi literacy so when they graduated they had that tation on their diploma that's pretty significant show that they demonstrated Proficiency in language we're looking to have a similar number of students in this particular codor she seal by literacy we continue to out so to out perform peers across the state in both English language arts and Mathematics we had an increased enrollment in upcoming school year and students were taking advanced placement courses compared to the previous year and we do have new course offerings for the 24 25 years those are some important things that we're doing that's happening already those are good news items uh that we're proud of but when we look at the scores we don't have 100% of our students showing efficiency so what do we do to improve the 133% of the students who are struggling how do we raise that proficiency rate there are some things that we're be doing first new academic Pathways from the 245 schol year so the principal of the high school presented the board in December January he shared his plan for the new pathway academies at pres school year parents and rise and freshman were invited to come for open house in an evening in January um students got to come back again to meet with staff and counselors to he about those Pathways that is happening that will be ruled out when we're the first day we are talk about this before as well we are addressing chronic absente we're addressing that across the district but it's mentioned here because it's important first if you are in class and you're learning your test is going improv and you have to show up and take the test so we recognize that being absent product that's 10% of the school year you're ABS 10% of the school year to consider chronically absent so we need to address that and there are a lot of reasons why we need to do that test scores are just a small small piece of it but it's important espe since we're talking about we are for the upcoming school year we're developing a tutoring SL mentoring program for high school students we have funds through a grant so the title One funds will be dedicated specifically for a tutoring program for students that been identified in subgroups that are struggling in English language arts and in mathematics and need some additional help in terms of connecting with the school and building relationships so that programs set to roll out the upcoming school year so you do have dedicated funds specifically for and then cpal updates so the first one you heard me present probably a month ago or so and I shared this with crossb there's new standards for English language arts and Mathematics at all grade levels at all schools that's already been done work's been done dur the school year teach's been trained have ready to go for the first day of school we are writing new curriculum guides it's already approved staff to write the curriculum you'll see more about that August meeting approve those guys 're writing curriculum guys for courses and then revie part participation of subgroups in terms of how are invol higher level verses so those things that we're doing Target students in order to improve scores more importantly so that they're ready to graduate so that's the first piece of it the second piece different assessment typically different groups of kids so the access assessment is for what use access for L's English language Learners we know that they multi language Learners so we gave this particular assessment in the spren as well a lot of data on better that look nice it's easy to read so but this shows that we have students at all grade levels from through grade to take the assessment it's on a scale of 1 through six one is low six is high you want to be able to ideally be on the right side four five and six rather than the level 1 to three so I'm going to show you some data in a moment and I'll talk about comparisons the previous years so you can see where students are at so same data same information just a little bit easier to read to look at and so you can see when you look at the the middle bars which are the brighter yellow that would be level three to the right through five six so this just gives us a better picture of where students might be and I'm going to break it down my buildings just a easier to take a look at for example so here's Elementary so you can see the same ranges of scores 1 through six see broken down by grades 8 through three what's important to understand and this is really good thing to point out that when we looked at last year's data many of the students were in levels 2 three and four in all buildings of assessment this year this set of scores students have got so they move problem two to three 3 to four four to five so we're showing Improvement interance of students who taking this assessment they are showing growth and that's really what we want to see through this particular they are showing growth between schools so I want to go through this pretty quick and really the purpose of showing this to the board is this data is accessible to our teaching staff so when they're looking at their particular students they have an idea of how they school what they need to do to what has been working and what they need to improve in terms of the structure looks as overwhelming as the first one I showed you again the only reason I'm showing this to you is that this takes the same categories the same grades but breaks it down by subgroups so it's broken down by race the number of tested and where the professional levels are at again I'm just sharing this with you just so you have an understanding that our teachers have access to this data this is what they use when they start to break into their own plcs and that they have conversations about where their students are coming in where we need to improve what GS have we made so we can continue to build on that they have access to this data which is rela really valuable they actually have even more data that we wouldn't be able to share publicly that really breaks it down so you can see individual students as well so the takea away from this is that we have met our obligations to assess our multi-age Learners they are showing Improvement they are showing gains where they're moving from levels 2 3 4 3 4 5 this my presentation only because the numbers how many students were tested okay so total number of students 100 students that's yeah I just wanted to I think that's important for you all to know that that's the number of students that continues to grow each year that's a little bit of an inre SL increase from last year question can I ask a question um just with the NJ GPA even though I appreciate that we're doing better than other districts to me it's pretty horrifying that 36% of our students aren meeing the need to graduate in math and even 13% in English I me I don't want to see any students not being prepared um and I know that they can do portfolios and things of that nature to prove things but what are we doing about actual learning um learning the content 36% is exponential and I'm not blaming it on us as a district obviously because it's a Statewide issue but that's hor a horrifying number for basic skills we said geometry and Algebra 1 yes correct yes so I'm just curious for you in the position you're in exper you have like what is going on is this a percentage that's been consistent for the past say 10 years this is something since our Co days that's increased do you have any sense of what's going on that you can explain so let me start with that last part of last the hardest part because this is only two years into give this assessment so this was a postco assessment 113 graduation assessments I've been around forever I had to take one when I was a student that's going way back so that's not a new thing but this particular assessment is new so it makes it difficult to look for Trends in the data because the test is new and then we change that every you're taking putting that piece aside because another year or two we will have pattern stents at this so that what are we doing in terms of the instructional piece so there are a couple things and first the restructuring of the pathways is a big part of why are we restructuring the the academy Pathways for students want so students have a better connection to the school to academics to peers it also should promote better attendance because those are some of the basic things that we need to do we need to have students in seats and engaged with learning before we can see growth so that was one of the reasons for the the changes in Academy the other look at this is looking at uh some of our own curriculum guides we where we are addressing some of the needs some the basic needs and structural needs for kids when we look at changes in standards from the state of Jersy they're also recognizing that students especially in mathematics are struggling so they've adjusted some of the standards knowing that in some grades that maybe we're waiting too late to hit on some of the basic mathematic Concepts actually happening earlier in middle school and elementary school so that it's an important piece of it so taking all those things together and then the other part is making sure that students are taking the test seriously where we see 87% of the students demonstrated professional sing very they took F series and not this is an excuse for the that didn't do well but we adorally have heard from students another the test I didn't take it serious I rush through it and sometimes scorers reflect that so how do we get the message across part with teachers parents it does mean something um so a couple of things I agree with you 100% worry um I'm not these numbers I'm I'm staring at them saying is this our this is what we're expecting to see out of our students because these numbers are terrible and maybe we're doing better than the state but we're saying that our students aren't ready to graduate in one year and that's very sad that's very sad to me um I do think that I'm wondering you know you mentioned maybe one of the strategies is tutoring and mentorship through a grant but it's too late at this point and can we focus on the younger students the incoming students with them the tutoring and the mentoring and I know this has been brought up before at these meetings we need to start with them before 11th grade we're missing the vote here um so that's an option but we need to look prior to 11th grade because if we're talking about tutoring at 11: is too late in my opinion I don't know if that's so tutoring is available for all high school students so we we should probably try to pinpoint those students that need that tutoring so we don't get these scores in 11th grade because I agree they're atrocious and it's a very sad situation and then um I had one more thought um oh I was just going to relate this to me personally because my second my upcoming second grader I'm home trying to teach in math facts which is a painful process during the summer because children think that they don't need to do anything all summer long but I'm teaching him his math facts because we didn't do that in first grade and I don't know if that's part of the standards or not but we should be doing in elementary because these are basic components of learning so we should probably look at the basics and not all the other stuff get that so I'll address the mathematics just real quick Mrs C and I were at a conference this week um where we had we were in Washington DC with e our research firm and bring in school leaders from all across the country and one of the topics that EAB is going to be doing is having research in it's mathematics they they kind of position as a the mathematics Wars that kind of will replace the concerns that people had for many years on reading and literacy where we're looking at how math instruction is not being reflected in terms of Student Success and so while it's not unique to New Jersey it's not unique across the country where students are struggling in mathematics and there there may be a variety of reasons why so they're going to be digging deeper into the why and then also providing strategies in terms of what can districts do to address this because this is this is a significant issue and so we're just seeing a small piece of that I appr appreciate all the research but we can't wait for the research like as a district I think we should just maybe start focusing on the basics of education and bringing it back to that so we don't continue to end up like this can I ask a so clarification questions because pretty sure I know the answer but um the numbers there do not reflect so let's say the junior class is 300 students it's not 36% of 300 students because a lot of the students actually don't take test so like if your student is taking AP classes or advanced level classes they actually don't take these tests correct so there are some exceptions yes no agreed I'm just saying like if the numbers seem a lot worse if we think it's 36% of 300 kids so we're still obviously we want the numbers down um but I just want to clarify the numbers are not the full class it's a portion of the class so in those classes I guess I'm trying to understand the tutoring and the mentoring so right now correct me if I'm wrong the tutoring and mentoring that happens is after school but it's students doing it this will be different perfect yes because the students because you know some of us have students who actually are doing or show up because you know their classes required um nobody really shows up to be tutor like our kids go to tutor them and they sit there and they they're not tutoring anyone so I think if it's not kids always tutoring and mentoring we may have a better turnout potentially because I think especially in high school sometimes you know amongst your peers you don't want to see you might feel uncomfortable so same with Middle School like I just want to make sure it's it's that so when we say Grand funs are there siphons attached yes so this was specifically written certificated teachers okay to be paid to ride to no this great answer because that was my concern is that we just you know we're paying the staff to do it because the students can do a good job too because some of them are fantastic at teaching um but you know if you've got some kids that just are struggling and they don't want their friends knowing they're struggling staff members you know might different LEL yeah but I agree too in terms of at a younger I think by junior year yet like you know it's got to start at with lower levels in order to really make an impact here um and also I do agree that not everyone takes those seriously so I think even if it's you know the parents know that their kids are taking these tests but if they really fully understand what it means like your kid isn't going to graduate or now they're doing it over the summer or the fall again or you have to come up with I think there's even an alternate way to make you can get your kid to graduate so like it's a whole process so I think the more we make sure parents are aware it's important the better I have a question as well um so we talked about school shows up hours whatever can we look into some guidelines or guidance to those students that are toring know how to engage students that might help or give them some tactics or strategies about how to actually do um I know might know how to do it not know how to teach someone else how to do it so I don't know if that's something that could be explored Asam just a um just just a few questions um so so what will this so first of all how how soon are we going to see this as far as like the brand money and being able to do this so it would be rolled out in uh fall and the reason why it wouldn't happen on day one is that we want to be able to do some um Universal screeners we talked about at the last presentation so get some baseline data this is where students are at uh post for staff approved and then we be able to out for that that would probably be be real and now in the Middle School what what do we have for tutoring available there is an academic advisory program after school uh board members have talked about this before while it it sounds like an important program you may not always engage students after school R led by adults not by students with from the high school program but it's having students attend that program so if students who were inde need attended the program great but you it's that the attendance piece is the engagement piece getting kids to come so at the moment that that's what we have there there's no Grant or Grant funds for the Middle School um that's what that if we have an opportunity abely to do so but at the moment the funds were for high school and so for the um for the Middle School how how does what is the process of that so let's say a child needs help does the parent have to sign them up for that is it just every day on Wednesday guys you go to room 200 like how does that work yeah so parents can reach out to the school counselor often it's the teacher making recommendations they're the first ones are to to see the student struggle sometimes struggles don't always show up in tests that are taken given back um teachers are trained to recognize when a student struggle well before the assessments so that's a big piece of it keep in mind the schedule for the Middle School much different than for other buildings where they have that b over block so teachers have a mediation time built into the schedule so they can pull small groups that's one of the big professional development trainings that we're doing with staff upcoming school years training Middle School teachers how to pull small groups to Center based learning to really identify the students are struggling how do you make that adjustment how do you remediate right away rather than waiting till F Wednesday with the after school program when you can interv faster you get better results so there's know like um what this may happen but it's not necessarily on the books per say but like a teacher I stay after on Wednesday if you guys want to stay after with me there is none of that that that absolutely happens so teachers speaking as a former teacher that that's what you do right so as teachers you want to make sure that your students are succeeding so the way I did it that there were two days at that I was after school week and my students do when it was time to come and often I would say the test coming up essay coming up I encourage you to stay after school so teachers do that already and not it's not paid it's not a stiping it's teachers who take the responsibility to stay after school because they don't not work with their kids well that was my next point that that's non-contractual correct that's totally up to that and is is there anywhere like is there any uh so who what teachers are staying after can you let ad know like does the admin of the building know that Mrs Jones always stays after and she stays after it's on a Wednesday um like is there any or is it just whoever feels like staying I'm going to just stay today hey guys I'll be here today for an hour like how is there a process so teachers create their own schedules but they should be letting building Administration know that's right so principles want to be able to know who stay after school in terms of adult adult supervis of kids kids bu they making sure that a parent fault they want to know where their child is so things like that there has to be a level of reporting accountability for safety uh but what I could do I can reconfirm with building principles really middle school high school to see what their processes are in terms of how they're keeping to track yeah just curious um and the the difference in math and language ARS is that is that difference usual or is this a bigger difference than normal that difference is usual even in previous assessments we know see sign get difference in terms of language or math we can probably talk an hour on the reasons why we do that at some point I'd be happy to indulge in that conversation it's more philosophical than anything else but there are reasons why there are differences in all right thank may ask go question um so we know all kids are not standardized test takers what are we doing for them and how are we deeming it appropriate aside from our specialized kids that are taking DM and and we know that for their I they're not taking those standardized assessments how are we deeming it appropriate that they may take another assessment and how does that factor into a so something like this where where we're just required by Co for students who are take the test they take the test but I think what's more important is that this well the scers are what they are it's important that students do well that we we don't walk in on day one and start talking about the test the test the test that that that's an important conversation where Staff feel the pressure of high stat assessments when Staff feel that St feel that and so whether you're a good test taker or not that's the conversation of I'm a good student but I'm not a good test taker and now additional stressors are on us that's important to understand that there's no multiple ways that we assess kids from preschool through 12th grade and it's not always in this method actually quite less than this method that's really important to understand is that we approach assessments and learning in different ways it just happens to be that the the climate in which we are Educators in that emphasis to put on this but this is not the sole reason why we teach this the test scores right so it's about keeping kids safe keeping kids engaged keeping kids learning getting career ready col ready but this is just one of the benchmarks all feel like thises the data a little bit we not talking about all of our other kids that are taking ultimate I think it you know a darker picture what really Happ yes yes so I apologize because I had a very Grim Outlook just a little while ago but it might paint a darker picture than um than really that's out there in our district but one when let me just circle back to Ms because I have an upcoming sixth grader who I know you knew that it's okay um I'm just kidding um who decided you wanted to take study hall inl study hall this year so is it do we have um an educator or somebody who can be in the study Halles if there are students that are actually doing homework to to assist them if there's a question can we use that time um a little bit um to assist the students that are in there to if they're you know rather than after school or other ways is it possible do we have that is that a thing so certificated teachers do do so that that that's important to understand so certificated teachers are in their supervising study hall they are available to answer questions to help the downside is if I'm an English teacher and you come to me with an Al one you're talking to the wrong lead Mrs Le would could answer the out want but I wouldn't be able to that that's the only downside of you get into secondary education and we're specific in our content areas I get you to I can help you with the word problem help you read it but the map people there to guide them for further like they need or and want that that certificated teacher can provide for them they can at least navigate the pathway to help them yeah a lot of times it's critical thinking so any teacher can help us to critically think through a problem so what the steps reflective thinking what are the steps that you're going to take to approach this problem so if you get stuck what do you do what are your study habits any educator is more than qualifi thank you can I just say something about study hall too so I've had three kids actually have the study hall in the middle school and I've seen it um I actually think it's grown a lot um in terms of like for the better um you know when my oldest was in study hall it was a little bit more free time now I think it it really is study hall time like the kids go there a lot of times they have to turn in songs if they had you know they supposed to be out anyway but they do their work which I think is phenomenal it's not just a pre period so I I actually I find Ste h a really great time for the kids they get a lot of their work done there um also um Miss and I were just saying how other sometimes other teachers will use that time if your child miss the test or your they recognize that your child needs extra help in math for example um you know I've had a child who was pull out during study fall time and got to go see the math teacher to get extra help so there are times where you as a parent can reach out and say hey while my kids in stud you don't have a you know a class that you're teaching during that time would you be able to maybe give a little extra help so from that standpoint yes but otherwise I think the staff in the room is for guidance Essen yeah the middle school because the L schedule set up has the most flexibility for interventions compared to sub quickly about the Grim picture too I it was news to me that um that kids that take G tests or whatever have to take the I I just I was thinking you know as somebody that grew up in New Jersey I had to take the high school proficiency test even though I was in all AP classes senior year but like that that does definitely skew the numbers a lot if you pull out like you know top 20% of the class is not