##VIDEO ID:jlbVJexpTJQ## foration in the agenda the board reserves the right to vote on action items the board welcomes the participation of interested individuals we encourage questions about specific School practices incidents and events to be brought directly School e e e e h e e e e good evening welcome to a meeting of the mountains side Board of Education in accordance with the state Sunshine Law and the state regulations adequate notice of this meeting was provided by mailing a notice of the time date location and instructions for accessing the meeting to the Union County local source and the Westfield leader filing the same with the burough clerk posting the notice at the main access store of the Mountainside Board of Education building and on the Mountainside Board of Education website these meetings are reserved for board deliberation and for review of items contained within the agenda the board reserves the right to vote on action items the board welcomes the participation of interested individuals we encourage questions about specific School practices incidents and events to be brought directly to the school administration public comment will be permitted at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items only each participant is asked to give his or her name an address prior to making a statement in addition time will be allotted at the end of the meeting for public comment on any items speakers shall limit their comments to three minutes roll call please Bill Dylan Michael Goodwin here Dana gy Petro here Jordan Heyman Here Vivian poopo here Candace here carine Venice here at this time I would like a motion to go into executive session so move second all in favor I I oppos it is I guess 6:35 we will return in 1 hour e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right we're ready can't imagine good evening we are returning from our executive session it's 7:40 and can we please rise for salute of the flag I pledge aliance to the of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you can I please have a motion to approve our minutes from our last month second any questions or comments roll call please Mich good yes yes Jordan uh abstaining on state your name address see none we're moving on I don't have a president's report but I do have to not a report just I went to the Fall Festival it was fantastic perfect day perfect weather everyone was running around in a good way um that's pretty much it great job thank you very much to all the uh committee members that put it together I know it takes a lot of work so I appreciate it thank you and superintendent report okay I will piggyback on that the Fall Festival was uh really just a great day you couldn't have asked for nicer weather the kids all enjoyed uh the the PTO members the the women who Co who co-chair that event were just fabulous um and all the parent volunteers the students I thank the board members who were available to join me at our table had some good conversations regarding our upcoming public Quest with some members of the community um various questions various ways ideas and thoughts as to how do we get the word out we do have the zoom session on Thursday we will see we had a a second public session as well also last week um so a couple of board members were able to make that we quadrupled our numbers I had one person come out to the first session and we had five we had five come out to uh the last one um and then we will have the zoom and then on Friday I will be presenting to a group at this seniors down at burough Hall around 2:30 um Miss morak and I had a conversation and they are coming she has another speaker before me um and then I will be speaking afterwards I think the first one has to do with um inflation and then I get to talk about the public question great perfect but you know good questions good conversations that we had uh for those of you who are here at the other inperson one just good questions about sustainability and what is this going to mean for us down the road and what does this mean for these programs should this pass um but I have to say every person who I've talked to with questions has been very very supportive um and I thank a number of parents who've helped to get push our our public question through social media and other means to let the community know about it um additional this past week was the week of respect um and then next week is school violence awareness week so October is filled with that and then throw in fire prevention week on top of that and we've just got a good time going on we've got a lot of things happening we had the Mountainside Poli uh Fire Department in both buildings they did um showing students the fire trucks and talking about fire prevention all the way from kindergarten through fourth grade so that was really a lot of activity going on last week Additionally the PTO sponsored a number of theme days in both buildings so students were um dressing up in variety of clothes with an anti-bullying theme to it did so like team shirt day team up against bullying um other types of topics that they were having they talked uh in addition our school counselors were in the classroom rooms talking about HIV what that means what that looks like how to really work together and be upstanders with each other um here at Deerfield Katie wood who is the author of a simple seed you'll recall we mentioned that this was a grant that the um Mrs O'Grady had won for the school of bringing in these books of gratitude and thought and thoughtfulness to the students um at all of our grade levels so it's some journaling activities and daily um reading pieces that really just talk about thinking about themselves and how to be stronger the author was here on site last week she did assemblies for three to five and then another one for grade six to eight and then did staff training in the afternoon for a faculty meeting so it was really a very full day and really our focus on how to work work together even if we have differences and how to recognize and it's okay and how to really utilize proper terms and how to use words in a kind way and that's a big Focus that we are working on it's something that we are going to come back and we are going to revisit and we are going to be reaching out to our parents as well to raise their capacity to have these conversations with their kids to combat a little bit of what they're hearing outside what they're seeing on TV or on social media and making sure that when it comes out of our mouths it is a positive statement and it is something that will not harm and will not hurt um so that was a really big piece of everything that we've been having going on um as we go through the next couple of weeks we will continue on those themes so tonight I have our annual state test results so um presentation for you uh so in case you want to get some popcorn get comfy cozy we have some information so this tonight if you'll recall last month I shared with you our access testing tonight I am sharing with you our njsla results and our dlm results for some of our needier students so we're going to start with math and this is a uh review of our 2324 State Testing that took place back in the spring interestingly and I really thought of Dante Joya when I got this information link it who is our partner for a lot of our data they came out with DFG comparisons this year so in addition to comparing our scores with uh the state of New Jersey as we traditionally have done you will see a middle row to every piece of information that I share with you which is reflective of the average scores of our district Factor group that's what the DFG stands for we are district Factor group I in the state of New Jersey it goes from a down to JK so we are a district Factor group I the later in the alphabet the higher the um tends to be the higher the affluence the higher of uh academics many of the districts that we see so locally for comparison for your awareness other eyes Berkeley Heights New Providence Westfield um Scotch Plains Fanwood so those are our districts that we would compare ourselves to locally as well as others throughout the state so I thought that this was really timely and wanted to share that with you as well so just for your your eyes to remind you of where we look at our njsla scores in reading and math come on five levels it starts with level one did not yet meet expectations to partially met to approaching to meeting and exceeding you'll notice here I do not give you a number because the score to exceed actually varies by grade level it's not all always the same on every single test um as a matter of fact we found that for Algebra 1 it was almost 30 points higher than for seventh grade math in order to be considered exceeding so it does change over time this last column is what we really concentrate on as a district which is what percentage of our students either met or exceeded so we know that those students in levels four and five are solid in their skills uh when compared to the standards and what we are looking for them to accomplish as we go forward so starting with math in third grade as a quick comparison we had 78% of our students meeting or exceeding by comparison as a whole the district Factor group was at 72% at the state level it's 47% bless bless you and this you will see as an overall trend for our math scores um for all but one area and we'll get to that so fourth grade similarly we were at 80% meeting or exceeding District Factor group at 69 state was 45 um very similar for fifth grade math as well and for sixth grade math so in each of all of these four grade levels we we are above outperforming the state significantly as well as our district Factor group in as we move on in the Middle School you will start to see this compressing a little bit so in seventh grade we still outperformed our district Factor group but our percentage of meeting or exceeding dropped to 62% what I will share and you'll see it on the next slide this percentage of meeting or exceeding is very similar to this cohort when they were in sixth grade however the difference is a good portion of this cohort a good number of students were taking algebra one as seventh graders so those students who may have been higher performing as sixth graders are pulled out of this so the fact that our percentages stayed the same um and I had this conversation with Mrs goldbeck and Mrs Chris AI yesterday Mrs chrisa Foy was very very pleased because what that showed is if we were to really compare growth of those individual students we're going to see significant growth because more students were meeting and exceeding that than probably were the year before because a bulk of those are kids who are now taking algebra if that makes sense as we pull them out an area that really caught our attention is right here in algebra we had as as as as Mountainside 70% of our students met or exceeded which does outperform the state but does have a significant dip when compared to our district Factor group one piece of information that we do know and I had tasked Mrs chrisa foi to taking a look at this was how many of our other District Factor groups schools do Algebra for all in eth grade and not all of them do right Berkeley Heights we know does okay however other ones locally do not Westfield does not have algebra one for all in eth grade so other schools that are in that whoops I don't know how I did that other schools that are in our Factor group most or a good number of them I do not have off the to I had the exact number because again I'd have to look at the full state to look at how many but a number of them are really looking at Algebra 1 as either an accelerated or an honors level course versus how we look at it in Mountainside as for all students so that absolutely plays into this does not minimize or mitigate our our awareness of this percentage but it is something for us to to recognize in Geometry we had 100% of our students who met or exceeded so these were those students who are already taking High School School level and 100% of them met or exceeded in that area this slide is a comparison of cohort so it did both we look at so let we'll take grade three for a moment so this light yellow or lier blue this is 2223 so not last year the year before third grade when I compare them to last year's third grade you're going to see consistency 78% to 80% very very close when we're within a 2% I consider that we're talking less we're really talking one child of a difference meeting and exceeding so very similar percentage met and exceeded same thing just reversed by two in fourth grade the dots down here show you a cohort so in third grade in 2223 that group of students had 80% meeting and exceeding that same group in fourth grade was still 80% meeting or exceeding so we're seeing consistency across students as they move along um very similar when you look at fourth grade to fifth grade again very consistent we have our green group was fourth grade grade in 22 23 at 78 in fifth grade they're 77% we are seeing a difference obviously here in grade six for those students individually however when you look at the yellow grade five to grade six they stay consistent to themselves 78 to 79 and our grade six to grade seven stayed consistent and remember this is where I said out of this 62% in seventh grade a number of them are the students who are participating in algebra as seventh graders so it starts to get a little bit tougher to compare longitudinally when you get to the the different tracks that some of our middle school students are taking um algebra one across years though if you look at it they are again Lower this past year but not sign not huge significant we were 77% the year before 70% this past year and pleased to say that two years in a row our kids who are taking that highlevel geometry 100% passes um and I will say that as a district we did have students participate in Algebra 2 last year however their number num are smaller so I do not report them out because you if you recall to we don't report out very small numbers because it then becomes easily easier to identify so the grade the grade six Gap is just the difference between the current grade seventh and current grade e8th performance when they were in sixth grade essentially a portion of grade eight because not all we had about I want to say about 15 students who did not take grade seven math they went on and they had tested in and they took algebra one got it as seventh graders okay so they came off of so the numbers so yeah the numbers of kids who were in grade six tested from six seven and eight correct it starts to change and the other piece to keep in mind and I've shared this before is our students take the grade seven and jsla however our and our grade seven curriculum is a combination of grade seven math and pre-algebra because we're preparing them for algebra one so there are skills that they master in seventh grade that they are not tested on and so that is something that we are very cognizant of and have worked on from a curricular standpoint to make sure we give them equal exposure but when your goal is algebra one in eth grade we focus the full year at prepping them for that as and then wein the seventh grade curriculum so that also has always played an impact on those seventh grade scores that we've talked about have you ever done a study on students that didn't start in the first grade second grade in Mountainside but moved in from another District have you seen where those scores are lower we have seen that we don't have an official study of it but that definitely has come up in our conversations um because of background knowledge and their their experiences and sometimes it works the opposite way it depends upon the district that they move in from but we definitely have seen some differences of that over time these are our subgroups I caution again looking at these with too much of a fine tooth comb because a single child can skew these percentages depending upon the numbers of students that we have in certain subgroups um I will say our female to male ratio is almost 5050 that's good as we as we look at our students um but this is again a comparison light blue being 2223 and 2324 being the darker blue so we look at it um for example down here under the MLS are multi language Learners you'll see no dark blue because in there were not a significant number of students that were identified as multi language Learners in order to even have a percentage to put on here so that's why you may see um some of these changes as as they go so what does this tell us overall our math scores were significantly higher than the state average at all of our areas overall when I take all of our math third grade through through 8th grade 75% of our students met are exceeded compared to 42% at the state level with we exceeded the average percent who met or exceeded within our DFG in all areas other than Algebra 1 which we've just chatted about we did see consistency of scores across almost all of our cohorts as we talked however we will still look at our evidence statement tables that come out of this that tell us which areas our students may have it was there an overall strand was there an overall area where we're seeing our students performing differently is that an area where we need to give more Focus um as I said Algebra 1 is an area to further evaluate and we want to look at our instructional curriculum and pacing along with our test results to determine any necessary adjustments is there something that we need to to add in um and again as we chatted about the how other ones in our DFG view algebra in eth grade so Focus wise for this coming year for K to 5 we are in our third year of implementation of big ideas and so we're really finding that we're hitting the stride with that we're finding that it's really embedded in our instruction our math specialist is supporting and modeling in classrooms we are utilizing team meetings to further analyze these standards and these results um we're really expanding the use of I ready personalized Pathways so I ready which we do use for benchmarking grades one through five also has the ability to do personalized pathway so our students will do independent work at a center at seat time where it is geared to them so as they get certain problems right they move on past that standard pass that information if they do not or they struggle it is also built out of their Benchmark so if in the beginning of the year Benchmark for an example they are struggling with multiplication facts when they work on their personalized pathway it will give them specific lessons and activities on multiplication Additionally the teacher has the ability to assign specific standards if it's an area that they're seeing the entire class might be struggling with we do have some of our specialed teachers who a year ago went through some training in what was called OG math it's more Hands-On math center-based manipulative based so ways to help support them to embed knowledge and understanding the thinking classroom is now being fully utilized in fifth grade in both of our classroom spaces um Mrs chrisa foi has done an excellent job of supporting staff and both of our administrators have really worked at this at the team level for math stations so it's not all full class and then independent work doing smaller groups obviously opportunities for the teacher to follow up and really differentiate and meet the needs of the individual students um data meetings are conducted and should our public question pass we are looking to immediately bring back and reinstate before and after school FM Club the junior mathematicians Club things where we can really support our needier students in grades six to8 we will be looking for ongoing collaboration with Berkeley Heights we know that there has been some changes in their supervisors and their oversight Mrs chrisa foi is reaching out to them we are aware that there's been an addition of e8th grade math built back into Colombia we don't know to what extent so we want to explore that and look at how are they utilizing it if is is it just for identified special needs students um or is it broader and is it wider I don't know that answer right now but we're going to probe and explore that to really make sure that how we're doing our algebra at eth grade is the best fit and the best way for our students and how we prepare them to move forward um continu use of thinking classroom we have a new seventh grade teacher this year she is going to be bringing the thinking classroom into her class as well so we are going to expand that process and that use um again evidence statement tables currently there is a math enrichment course that Mrs chrisa foi is doing it is taking the place of steam right now that is the quarter course that is in place and so she is working with all students and 100% sent with an eye to these test results so really understanding where our students might need to have that elevation what can we do to help support them um again data meetings that that are happening another prime example Mrs rolu is currently meeting with all specialed teachers to analyze and look at the data from the first the opening year benchmarks to really help and drill down for those teachers how to individualize instruction both math and reading to help Elevate and support the students as they're working towards their IEP goals um again we are doing targeted op so opportunity periods some of them are assigned op from teachers where students really need that extra support um and we will again expand and support and reinstate our programming if the public question passes um and we will further analyze our algebra one before I go on to ELA questions about math I'm just curious the um in terms of the collaboration with Berkeley Heights at some point in time I thought we had talked about or there was a plan to kind of have trickle down from grade eight down to even younger grades is that happening below grade six or eight at this point or the conversations definitely began so for example Big Ideas was done between both districts yes so that was a collaborative curricular purchase okay um the ongoing conversation qu again very honestly there the supervisory structure changed over the past year or two over at Berkeley Heights y so we're just we're continuing those conversations as we can okay um but I know when it came to purchasing the program which really laid the foundation for us yes that was wholeheartedly a a joint venture between both bu both districts yeah I mean part part of the reason that I I think with thinking classroom as a as a topic of discussion there for sure um we we probably have a lot that we can learn between the districts I'm guessing um not controversial to say that considering that it's a it's a it's a an approach that it's been discussed a lot more so up there I think and so you know if if they're learning so far at different grades and it sounds like we're testing from grade five up that's exciting and maybe something that could be part of part of whatever the next conversation with with Kelly Curtis and Company yep yep absolutely great to see that it's good to see that we're experimenting oh yeah testing follow-up question on that is around 8th grade so are we working with GL to make sure that our algebra curriculum is setting them up for success to get in as freshman and GL same thing on Geometry so for those honor students that are basically now skipping freshman year geometry at GL staying on that honors track are we working with GL to make sure that they're getting the same type of curriculum they would in high school so the curriculum was written together okay so it is 100% the actual written curriculum that is board approved was written together so both schools developed it and so therefore it is following that same pathway um which really was what was the driving force for algebra one to become for all we wanted to make sure our kids approached the doors of GL with unequal footing now we do have students who repeat algebra in eighth grade in nth grade which is fabulous that's okay it keeps them right on track and they come in with a decent Foundation to feel even stronger and more successful as they build those skills because they are so vital for Algebra 2 and for f for later mathematical processes um but that's really where this came from was we never wanted our students to not have the same footing as they came through the door to at least be on that same track when we weren't doing algebra one for all and berley Heights I believe it was one year I could be wrong where it had had originally started there um we found that you know our kids just didn't have a choice to catch up because unless they were really on that accelerated path it was they just didn't have that chance so that's what we were doing to give them that same opportunity this this has really come it's come a long way like this is really has if you look at like the 10 last 10 years especially I I think um yeah this is way different conversation incrementally by Year yes 100% agree with you yeah yep yep and all ones that we want to we want to see for our children as they enter high school you know and whether they're going to the vocational schools whether they're whether they choose to go elsewhere we want them to enter the doors with at least those opportunities that puts them on a footing if not above equal to anybody from any other school that comes through the door yeah with them yeah because there was a moment in time probably less than 10 years ago where I think GL teachers could pick out Mountainside kids based just based on what what books they had read for examp I remember that being told I remember being told that very early on when I first started multiple subjects multiple subjects yes it's not just not just math language arts sure yep yeah yep so obviously so those ongoing conversations and those articulation opportunities are important um El so it's going to be the same format as you see um the first area of note and something we are very much aware of in this area is going to be our third grade ELA so our third graders we were at 62% of meeting and exceeding which is not a number that we were used to seeing I'll be very honest um and I was much much more concerned before I got the district Factor group and when we got the district Factor group and I now see that 64% also are only at meeting exceeding which really makes me wonder some things about the test itself it makes me question a little bit of you know why why was this an area that not only Mountainside but other districts who you know arguably have a similar educational philosophy approach everything to us are all performing at this six you know at an average of 64% of meeting and exceeding um and I don't have an answer to that right now but we are we do note as we looked at it we were seeing interestingly a drop in the comprehension for regular comprehension we're used to seeing it on informational text informational text for whatever reason always comes out lower but the general comprehension on fictional text and others it seemed to be a bit lower across the board so definitely an area for us to be looking at analyzing and and taking a look at um something that honestly is a question for us ourselves last year was our first year of 95% we brought in the the phonics and the word study we saw huge gains of that phonetically in K to2 but we want to really look at the amount of time that the word study piece takes in third to fifth grade and whether or not we need to as a district look at the what is because that time comes from somewhere yeah comes from our TC reading it comes from our writing so we want to make sure that we are approaching all areas of what our students need in a way that it's a good balance and we're not losing opportunities is there better is there better opportunity for this to be done in small group so these these are pieces these are the questions that come to us from this and these are the pieces that that will be explored by Administration our Specialists and our teachers through team meetings and through really looking at that data as we go um fourth grade very strong 80% compared 72% to our DFG 50% to the state uh again our fifth grade nice and strong we're at 85 %c meeting or exceeding when you look at that when you see those numbers I mean we're down at very very small numbers and the other piece I want to always point out is this yellow are approaching these are the students who are on their way and there's a huge number of them 749 is that cut off we have a huge number of kids who are in the 740s so they're really close they're on their way they are approaching we don't have large large numbers down when we talk about 6% we talk about 5% we don't have large numbers that are really down in the not meeting expectations or only partial in sixth grade we're up to 86% meeting and exceeding again comparison we are above all the others same with seventh grade and at eighth grade 91% % of our students are meeting or exceeding expectations in the ELA testing so Kudos really to to our staff and the instruction that is happening for our students um and you know what I'm going to say this too I know there's so much conversation out there surrounding Teachers College and the readers workshop model this shows what we are doing works for children we understand the science of reading we are bringing that in we are finding ways to mesh it with readers Writers Workshop getting the students to think critically about what they are what they're using analyzing it applying it so huge Kudos right here to the entire staff and really when you look at this middle these middle school scores I am just so pleased with the work that they put into it as we compare and we look um again we're seeing General consistency across cohorts so when I I I'm going to point specifically to our dots so yellow was 80% in third grade 80% in fourth grade they were at 86% in fourth grade 85% in fifth grade so we're still we are seeing solid uh consistency we saw some growth from fifth grade to sixth grade from 82 to 86 our growth from sixth grade to seventh grade went from 78 up to 83 so while compared grade level I always look at the group of students and what they've done our La our seventh grade to 8th grade 94 to 93% so I'm sorry they went from 94 to 91 y I apologize so still sit within General parameters of each other um and again grade three we recognize but we saw it with the DFG as well so I want to make sure that when we look at them as a group we look at them holistically I will tell you that where they trended because Mrs jenss who is looks at that data constantly this tracked with their ey ready benchmarks across the year so where I already was stating that they were going to project them was solid and I will say that this group as a cohort as a group their beginning fourth grade I ready is trending higher already with their projections for what what is projected for for njsa we put a lot you know so we watch it as it goes across the year but it's already piec that are part of our general conversations that we're having again our subgroups where they are where the trends were we take a look at them we look at the growth we look at the changes so again above above State average at every grade level overall 81% matter exceeded compared to 51 at the state all but grade three we exceeded the average for our DFG uh again consistency and looking at our subgroups where we did see some decreases this is where we drill down the individual students we look at really what their needs are so as I shared a big emphasis for us is balancing that comprehension and vocabulary in grades three to five really looking to eval weight class time spent on 95% phonics and word study as well as how to balance with TC reading and writing and small group instruction how to make sure we're getting the most of that time for the staff and for the students I ready the personalized Pathways the differentiation through I ready teacher toolbox that allows us to break down lessons our teachers and I confirmed it um today our teachers in grades three to five do utilize a vocabulary program called word love it brings vocabulary and it deepens that TC reading so it again is just an automatic way to blend the two together um and they have some other ideas for some other ways to look at units of study um our aim program in K2 100% is focused on Phonics Mrs verling and her staff last year really took the approach of phonics first comprehension in the classroom and so they utilized um revolving aim groups throughout the year to really focus on the students bring them up to speed on where they needed to be with phonics and then release them back to the classroom and worked with other students and that seemed to really help with that Foundation um differentiation and again expanding those before and after should the public question pass so the other piece that jumped out to us this year this is science now again nothing really great when you look at a state average of 27% meeting or exceeding at fifth grade and 19% at eth grade that's the state average so I'm going to say right there it tells you something about the test itself and I think it's been consistent art science gr so it's not that we've dropped I think it's just last year's presentation we were all shocked I think with the science our our fifth grade did drop a bit and you'll see that on the next slide um eth grade actually increased a tiny bit bit when we look at the comparison um so and our eighth grade science scores are above the district Factor group the fourth the fifth grade are below so something that we recognize something that we are already having conversations I'll share in a moment some of the things that we're looking at and where it goes part of it is honestly when we look at time in time and seat for that subject area yeah in third and fourth grade it trades off with social studies because more time is devoted to the ELA block and the math block which as our students are developing we feel is is vital so it it does become a trade-off of conversation as we look at this in fifth grade fifth grade is really the first time that they are getting devoted time but it's not always the same amount as you see in middle school because it again trades off with what we still do of our Ela block that we feel is really building those foundations and that importance um but that doesn't mean that we we can't look at it and we don't look at it so when you look we did see a drop in fifth grade it went from 60% down to 42 so something that we absolutely recognize grade eight increased 2% from 46 to 48 so that's a a two-year split on that um when we look at our groups we are definitely seeing a change and remember though it's a much smaller group of students that we're looking at you are only this this slide is only last year's fifth grade and eth grade right not third to eth like the other slides so part of the huge adjustment in a subgroup is just the makeup of the class it's the demographic makeup of that class so that does tend to um impact it in different ways so I just want to put that out there for understanding why does why does the state have three through 11 do the other subjects or all subjects but only what 58 and 11 do science what's the r out there it has I don't know I honestly don't know it's just the way that it's always been I do think part of it is the fact that the science is all Sciences life science earth science you know all of these pieces yeah and many districts do a year of life science and a year of this so that by the time you get to eighth grade they assume you've gotten a smattering of all of them okay okay and that's also problematic when it comes to the test sure because if it's a test that is asking a number of questions in life science and you did life science in sixth grade right you're like I don't remember this absolutely absolutely so that has an absolute impact on it as well yeah when you're looking at these pieces so unfortunately it is a part of what we do and this test has undergone I mean many many I'll tell you when I was teaching they had a Hands-On science piece that we had to score and then like send it in it was a very it was I remember they're being buttons and there had to be it was like kind of like trying to do like okay if these were together then what would they have it was kind of on the idea of genetics is but it was just a very interesting piece that they had but I think that that also again we have to recognize and I'm going to tell you the state when it comes to science gives us the least amount of of mean meaningful feedback interesting whereas we get evidence statements and we get those those released test pieces that we can then drill down and say what we need to improve we don't get that for science so that makes it very difficult for a district to respond to as well seems not think it's philosophical but it seems it seems not in line with where the the world could be going in terms of jobs and opportunities and you know I don't know yeah someone ought to maybe get get with put the state on that yep is it possible that when you're in college they don't in your teacher education they don't stress the science as much there's typically a class yeah there's a a class right and that's it from what I remember yeah I don't know that's where our focus is and and it is it's it's on the focus and again I like I said I mean I think that we can't ignore the fact that as a district we've really put a a larger percentage of our time we don't do departmental third through fifth grade so we're not doing single periods we're doing blocks of time for Meaningful math and reading and building that for our kids and it has to come from someplace um however all that said couple of things that we are introducing that we hope will impact this so link it has come out with a section called Mastery of Science and it goes even though we do link benchmarking at the middle school we have access to this all the way down so third to eth grade these are quick mini eight question you can call them quizzes you can call them class reviews you can call them do Nows that align with all of the ngss standards so we're going to be bringing those to our teachers and getting them more familiar with their use so that they can expand on their lessons and they're very njsla like in the question in strategy and in the way that they're presented so it introduces the children to that and we can do those through grades three through eight so we'll be working with the staff and making sure that they're comfortable with it just last year we introduced linkit science assessments they're not as robust as the language arts and math benchmarking but they are njsla aligned so last year's seventh grade we started to introduce them them so that the students were using them in seventh grade as a way to help prepare them for the eighth grade we're going to be looking at how to expand them and how those might align for ourselves as we go forward we're also adjusting some of our instructional activities and practices in three to five to make the units that they do as robust as possible in order to again incorporate all of those standards departmental planning team meetings PD um ongoing use of open sad lessons for grades six to eight um looking at our njsla data we are also in science not that it necessarily correlates directly to the njsla test but there is the climate change requirements and standards so we are incorporating those as well in our science programs the last real quick piece and then all other questions just reporting out our dlm which is the dynamic learning map we have a very limited number of students who take this test instead of njsla it's designed for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities most of those students for us attend out of district schools but the the test results still come to us and we still report them um they are scale scored on a fourpoint scale and all of our students scored at the emerging level in ela math and there is a science component at fifth grade so we did have some students who are in that age level who also participated in that test I apologize I didn't stop for questions at the end of ela but if there's questions for ELA and science or any other of the areas I actually have a comment SL question around Ela um okay I don't know if you thought about this and maybe I'm off on my math great three was the only one that really was the outlier of all the things we looked at for ELA um Mountainside as well as the dfj could it be covid related and the reason I ask if I'm doing the math right it would have been in kindergarten and thinking about reading and English is a pivotal year when you're learning how to read and if you're doing this from home and not in school could it then trickle where they're now catching up correct um just a thought um I'm thinking back that those would be kindergarteners learning how to read and then maybe the you know again we've got the New Jersey grade so you're like all right but we're way ahead on every score across the state so I don't I'm not gonna you know you would think that would be low as well but it is prek actually kindergarten Four so it would be prek yeah pre still still the year that but even the year that we so prek for preschool foundation and their foundation and the first year they came back they were masked and six feet apart in kindergarten yes so they were absolutely so even when we talk about verbal skills you're not seeing we we talked about that way back then like how are they learning formations how are they and I will also say there's probably Credence to it as well because even at the state level while it even that four that is the lowest State average 44% yeah well and it also ties into the grant that the state had created yes last year that districts could apply for for students in grades three to four and money that if granted this money that you would it's U it was specifically to be utilized for students in grades three and four because of essentially the deficits that you know that they had seen a trend in um so you know that kind of ties in with with this what we're saying is Well grade four obviously performed you know better um you know you know but that I think plays a role and I also think you know like you said the whole the whole DFG is is at that point so I think there's also to take a look at the test itself well and I I think you brought up a good point there could be a huge percentage of that 22% that's at like 740 and are approaching and maybe this year when they're retested meet uh meet expectations I'm just wondering if they're playing catch up% right especially in English I mean I think more than anything reading at the prek K grades right it's a those are important very very important years and if you're playing catchup it's kind of hard to do right yeah yep any other questions hopefully things will get better yes all right there we go are we you're done yep sorry I don't have my agenda yep that is I am done just there in that corner all right all right we're moving on our business administrator report I just want to point out in the administration section you'll see a number of required reports um that are on there the health and safety checklist comprehensive maintenance plan and the M1 um the M1 is actually the basis of what we use to calculate the minimum amount we have to budget next year for um our facilities maintenance so we are actually just kind of starting the budget process now so to point that all out okay thank you and now to our Berkeley Heights why do I feel this so this this a little outdated because I think I missed our last full meeting so this is largely from the last full meeting well yeah 912 was the last Brook the Heights boort Meeting before we've got another one on Thursday so uh updates from the last meeting and then we've had a couple of other special meetings across September and October as it relates to uh superintendent search um but in terms of just highlights from the last month or so um Mr Nixon did a district goals presentation in September just updates on the five berly Heights district goals so analysis of the k through2 math program very relevant to what we just heard about tonight uh second goal is K through 5 math achievement again relevant to what we talked about tonight um there was an update on the next phase of the Dei plan uh goal four up there is improved communication engagement so like website enhancement social media platforms um district and school-based Communications uh budget survey Transportation survey referendum survey School climate survey Etc um and then review and modify curriculum writing process so so those were the five core District goals that were we got we got briefed on um at that September meeting we also extended Rob Nixon as the Acting Superintendent that's through the end of SE uh December uh and Jackie Bartlett is acting principal at GL through the end of December as well so end of this year with the hope that we'll have uh an announcement hopefully coming soon uh on on a new a new superintendent effective ideally Jan one um we also approved a new Athletics director uh CJ Hendricks a lot of energy so uh I think I know it's it's it's a good hire I think he I think he officially starts November sometime in November mid November looking at Gail on that but he he hasn't started yet because he had to give us 60 days but he was at that last meeting and um I think it's great I mean I he will he will definitely bring a lot a lot of energy and I think big ideas to to what he's going to do um student reports uh at the last meeting covered everything from Club interest meetings uh to some of the senior activities to start the year car painting senior Sunrise Etc um fall sports updates down the line uh we also discussed a new and approved a new security platform that will eventually be implemented for visitors to Berkeley Heights buildings just in terms of like badging in um and there was also discussion even though it wasn't on the agenda but public discussion of um uh potential for two new electric buses to come to the Berkeley Heights district uh next full meeting is this Thursday um I'll note and I don't know if we want to promote it but I know since we've talked about this quite a bit there will be a special Ed presentation on Thursday from Kevin MOA um obviously I'll I'll report back to our board on it but if that's something that we want to share with with our I mean it's the agenda is out so if that's something we wanted to share to parents here we can they'll do their njsla presentation as well um and uh hopefully uh I it's not confirmed exactly yet but we're we're hoping to have a special meeting um before the end of this month to announce the new superintendent uh and hopefully approve and announce the next superintendent so um much more to come on that front that's all I got awesome is the Lo where's the location on Thursday at GL GL okay thank you y all right let's move on can I please have a motion to approve under administrations items one through four so move second questions or comments roll call please Michael good yes yes yes yes yes yes can I please have a motion to approve under budget and finance items 1 through 10 so moved second questions or comments T what's on number eight what is the black bod giving fund so this is oh thank you and I went meant to mention this so this comes out of New York Life we have a local parent who works for them and they do a fabulous job of giving back so as staff does volunteer hours as staff helps out their hours convert to money and they are then able to um donate their the Monies to a nonprofit organization so the school is qualified for that he has children in both schools W cool and so um Mr heagle is is the local parent and so the donation was made um in addition something really interesting um just real quick as a segue New York Life also o deals um has a large um program for grief awareness and they've actually paired with imagine for the upcoming curriculum changes but through their group they are able to provide us I've already received some books that we can share with our counselors to share with students there's also free absolutely free resources for our staff um and there's some opportunities also for some additional Grant funds um they come in and they just give a presentation and tell really explain what they have available and that enables us to receive I think it's a $500 Grant per building to expand on some of these whether it's more books whether it's bags for the kids if somebody's dealing with grief so really some neat neat opportunities and that's all through them and this is all through this is through New York Life the Blackboard fund is their giving fund that is UN is from New York Life so I'll be working with the administ ministrators on how to apply These funds in something in ways that will help support the entire District that was my next question do they have to be you know applied to a certain area and once you know would you be able to share absolutely absolutely we will share it back and really when with through my conversation with him the idea of utilizing it for for giving and supporting and ways whether it's through our SE expanding oural whether it's bringing in a speaker that will help expand the understanding of giving back and supporting others and that tolerance that to me is what would really align with the spirit of of where the money came from especially companies don't that's a nice amount yeah so much appreciated absolutely okay roll call please Michael Yes Dana yes Jordan yes yes Ando yes yes I please have a motion to approve under Personnel items one through five so move second questions or comments roll call please Michael yes danro yes Jordan hman yes Vian yeso yes carine yes can I please have a motion to approve under policies items one and two so moved second comments or questions roll call please Michael Goodwin yes D yes Jordan yes viian po yes Gano yes Carmine V yes do we have any old business new business the PTO will be having a trunk Retreat on 10:25 Friday uh from 5: to 5:30 will be the sensory trunk Retreat followed by 5:30 to seven games there'll be a chili bar a zenen and prizes chili bar nice I'm just going off the FL is the CH is the chili bar in the Z then you go opposite ends of a lot and it feels like you black top last year they had like a little contest of whose chili was better oh yeah pay you pay for it obviously buy tickets and pay for the chili and then was good idea and it's a well attended was a lot I know still looking for cars so if anybody is interested and this year they're providing the candy so the Whoever has the car is not responsible for all the candy they are providing them with some bags of candy this year 25 for your car and and people can donate right the candy if the community wants to donate the candy I think it said it on the flyer oh I didn't get it who do we donate who do we give it to Mrs k um Mrs Cooper okay uh and there was somebody else uh Jen Cooper and Christina Shahid are running it okay good yep all right committee reports public participation on anything you would like to discuss please come up to the podium state your name and address and seeing none we're moving on can I please have a motion to adjourn all in favor I oppose seeing none good night see you in nove November