##VIDEO ID:z2KM7P21Pbc## e e yeah good evening and welcome to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education meeting this September 23rd 2024 during this regular meeting two opportunities are provided for citizens to make comments in order for a citizen to make a comment they must be physically present at the meeting during the first opportunity early on the agenda comments regarding agenda items are invited the second opportunity will occur just prior to adjournment when residents May address General comments to the board persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise and state their name and town of residence comments shall be limited to issues if personal remarks or discourteous statements are made the presiding officer shall require the speaker to sit down Mr Yami roll call Mrs vges here Miss Calderone here Mrs Swang here miss Keller here Mr Lisi Mrs Martin here Mr Stanis here miss stepin here Mr Weaver here please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing copies of said notice to the record filing copies of said notice with the municipal Clerks of Hillsdale Montville Rivervale and woodcliffe lake and Publishing said notice in in the record on July 21st 2023 next we will have a few words from Drew Valerian our pasak Hills representative about Brook dryman followed by a Moment of Silence on September 14th the pasy hills Community suffered a tremendous and unexpected loss with the passing of Brook dryman and her parents Brooke was a huge part of our Hills Community always smiling and helping others Brooke was co-president of Camp raspberry a club help dedicated to help students with special needs a member of the unified program at our school on the Executive Board of teens against cancer and played on the girls tennis team for three years and was also a about to start her internship at the teacher Cadet program Lo teacher Cadet program located at pasak Valley despite Brooke being very socially involved she also had a deep care for everyone around her her smiling disposition r across any room she was in additionally Brooke had a deep care and connection with with Judaism she was very involved with the temple uh with her Temple and being an executive member at Valley habad Brooke even would teach the younger kids at Temple Emanuel getting them excited to learn about their religion Brook's dream after college was to bring our community closer together and not be so divided after hearing the news of her passing many Hill students have been leaving painted rocks cards candles flowers and stuffed animals at Brook's parking spot making sure her memory is never forgotten Brook's Brook and her parents passing was completely devastating but we as a community must come together to continue Brook's Legacy so she can never be forgotten thank you thank you drew now let's have a moment of silence e this moment of silence was in remance of Brook dman pasak Hills High School class of 2025 and her parents David and Michelle dryman next we have staff recognitions be it resolved that the pasak Valley Regional High School District board Board of Education at the recommendation of the superintendent recognize with appreciation staff members with 25 years of service I just wanted to make a mention that it's because of our staff and their dedication and commitment to us that we able to um find the resilience and find the strength and support that we need uh in order to get through those extremely difficult times like we've had all too often um at both schools um in order to honor those staff that are here tonight I just would ask that the board um uh right we're going to do the uh have a seat down in front so we can put the screen down if that's okay and then um we're going to stay down there for the um testing presentation okay so just so sit on the agenda no could I just take one moment before we jump into the presentation thank you I know uh I just want to thank Mr reand and his staff you know I I don't like to inject my own personal work into what we do um but when you lose a student it's it's the most difficult thing that you need to manage as building administrator and now for two years in a row um we we've seen you m Mr Wheeland do that with excellence and compassion um and the way you've LED your community through that um is appreciated as a parent so thank you thank you Mr Weaver e so first up I'm G to ask Mr poio uh to come up and introduce his staff with 25 years of service thank you Dr bot so before I begin good evening everyone and I'd like to extend my congratulations to uh Mr Goodman Miss Horn Miss Murray and Miss Kirk for their 25 years of service to the district congratulations um this evening it is an honor and privilege to speak on behalf of Jim Kennedy as we celebrate his 25 years with the pasak Valley Regional High School District Jim's dedication actually began um on June 28th 1999 I don't know if it was in this Auditorium uh but when he was appointed by the Board of Education as a technology education teacher and that evening he was a valued member of the pasak Valley School faculty alongside of a staff of 136 colleagues Jim's remarkable accomplishments over the past 25 years are Testament to his commitment to education and of course his students he served as the PV Rea president for 12 years he's dedicated two decades as an adviser for the Panasonic Creative Design challenge received the prestigious John a Martis Award of for technology education in 2014 he was the co-founder of the pasak Pioneers robotics team with Mr Phil paspalis in 2005 he initiated the Society of women and engineer Club at PV as well as revive the ski club at P he was the co-founder of the New Jersey stem League in 2012 and was honored with the ITA New Jersey high school teacher Excellence award in 2021 but beyond his role as an educator Jim's ex exceptional carpentry skills have also made him a lasting impact here for 15 years he owned and operated all service Construction specializing in Insurance restoration services this seamless transition brought his talent and knowledge into the classroom providing his students with invaluable Hands-On experiences throughout the years Jim has generously volunteered his time and his skills to enhance the school building through various improvements and modifications notably for the past three years he and his sidekick Mr Bill kanig have dedicated their Summers to updating and construction constru constructing excuse me new display cases and that is a testament to their dedication looking back at Jim's career I did take a moment um to look through his files and I noticed something from Dr sap Enzo who was a previous principal here in her observation during back then they did it on weeks so it was Jim's 20th week observation during his first year at PV and what she wrote is pivotal and Rings True to this evening and his career quote unquote he's is a thoughtful man who cares deeply for his students and works to find new opportunities for himself and his students and that says it all thank you Jim for your dedication to pasak Valley high school and your impact on countless students and our stool our school Community congratulations so I'm G to ask Mr whe to come up next uh and then when we're uh done reading all of the names all of the 25- Year recipients we're going to have you guys come up together as a group and we're going to take a photo over here thank you Dr bat if you talk to the students at pasak Hills about Mr Goodman they'll tell you all you need to know he's tall they'll usually follow up with he's funny for 25 years Doug Goodman has been a fixture on the second floor at pasak Hills yes he is tall and yes he is very funny arguably the funniest guy in the building but when you dig a Little Deeper you find the master teacher that he is within his classroom Doug is able to weave history current events and the daily life of a Mont veiler wlake teenager with ease regardless of the topic he's able to bring history to life for his students additionally I think that many students sign up to take sociology not because they have any idea what sociology is but just because it'll give them the opportunity to have Mr Goodman as a teacher outside his classroom Doug is also a fixture he's one of those teachers that every period steps out of his classroom for four minutes to stand in the hallway side note as an administrator you don't know how important that is between classes he stands there sometimes speaking with colleagues but more frequently St speaking with students he's always positive and upbeat in fact I don't think I've ever heard him complain about anything he seems to know what's going on with each Hill student knows what clubs they're involved with what sports they play every year Doug volunteers to supervise lunch in the cafeteria this act of service actually predates my time at pasak Hills when you walk through the cafeteria Doug's walking between tables developing connections with students he doesn't have in class from all corners of our building he's able to maintain a positive connection with each one of them while he also gets them to clean up their stuff Doug Goodman's commitment to pasc Hills and to education is unquestioned it's truly been an honor of mine to work alongside him for 13 years and I couldn't imagine Hills without him congratulations Doug just two doors down from Doug Goodman is Deb horn each year I look forward to an email from Deb horn it's always a brief question are you available to be the president in her history class Deb each year has students develop bills as part of the house or Senate within her class bills come out of committee they're passed by both houses and they get to a visiting president's desk I don't know if she does it to play to my ego or she sees the smile on my face when I get to walk into her classroom this one lesson is an example of Miss Horn's class on a day-to-day basis she's one of the more thoughtful Educators I've ever interacted with each year she puts time and dedication into developing lessons that students can see how their government works and how history is unfolded another time I remember see seeing Deb's class working diligently in the library debating Topics in small groups I was more surprised when I looked around and realized Deb wasn't there she was on a debate trip and there was a substitute there even in her absence Deb had created an an environment in which learning continued to happen being the debate team coach can be a daunting task bringing students together from all four years with varying levels of comfort in public speaking and in understanding politics coach waren does this with ease she's able to work with her entire team individual debate partners and students one-on-one to help them grow as debaters and as people I've seen quiet freshman slowly transform before our eyes to become award-winning senior Debaters I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Deb Horn's eight years as the PVA president for our district as president Deb was instrumental at ensuring our teachers and counselors received the support and guidance they needed to be there for the students in pasak Hills in pasak Valley as assistant principal and now principal of Hills Deb would occasionally stop in to see me to discuss topics regardless of the topic Deb's approach was always through the lens of what is best for our kids Deb I can't thank you enough for providing that leadership and for helping me become the administrator and principal I am today congratulations Deb [Applause] horn pascot Hills we like to think of the main office the two assistant principal the three secretaries and I as a team but I'll tell anyone that's willing to listen it's quite clear the three secretaries run the place they know everything that's going on on a daily basis within the office Lillian Murray is one of that those team members although her main responsibility is attendance not an easy responsibility to have dealing with students parents coaches teachers counselors the nurse Mr bachini Mrs Coler myself that's a lot of people to to manage when we're looking at student attendance but she also fills in whenever she's needed wherever she's needed she can literally do it all she helps out helping a student with a locker they can't get open or a teacher that might lead last minute coverage she's one of the most professional and caring people I know and she is the eyes and ears of the main office she'll frequently push people in the right direction to get the help they need whether they're a student or teacher she'll also let me know hey I think someone needs you to check in on them not any more information just Tim I think it's time to check in and if I'm ever having a bad day Mrs Murray stops at my office and will say doing okay for a little pep talk finally she and her husband Tom who happens to be one of our substitute teachers from time to time may be the biggest pasca hills Broncos fans I know you will find them at sporting events in all three seasons congratulations lilan on your 25 years in the dist [Applause] gonna ask Mr Yami to come up to introduce Branda thank you Dr bat I have the Great pleasure of honoring Brenda Kirk for her 25 years of service to the district Brenda started in November 1999 as a bookkeeper in the business office she soon was elevated to administrative assistant in March 2000 then a month later Brenda was elevated to administrative assistant to the business administrator her current position there are many things that Brenda does she handles Food Service Bank Rec reconciliations for several accounts prepared the asssa assists with Oprah requests and believe me there are plenty prepares board agendas formats board minutes advertises board related matters bids and rfps and has a great deal of involvement with the district audit also sets up and processes documents for capital projects and acts as the business office manager and she keeps me on task which is the most important thing um she is always willing to assist recently Brenda has helped process payroll and perform Bank Rec reconciliations for all accounts for a lengthy period of time and she never complained such a true team player Brenda is known to be a prankster a former business administrator Vinnie oino shared a story with me one April Fool's Day Brenda planted a rubber snake in Vinnie's desk drawer she tied a string to it and waited until he was was seated at the right moment Brenda pulled the string and the fake snake fell on Vinnie's lap he let out a scream and everybody in office had a great big laugh fortunately Brenda has not done that to me thank you Brenda Brenda is married to her husband Tom and they have two daughters Tiffany and Shannon and a son Tommy all are pasac Valley graduates all three are married and Brenda enjoys all seven of her grandchildren Bera loves gardening babysitting her grandchildren running the annual fishing contest in Hillsdale with Tom and taking her annual family vacation to Tennessee where her mom resides Brenda congratulations and thank [Applause] you so at this time if all of our 25y year honores could come up you e [Applause] I I'm going to ask Mr poio to come back up to introduce his newly hired staff good evening again uh before I begin I'd like to congratulate all of our new hires and welcome them to the pasak Valley Regional High School um I know you heard it often but this is a really special place and we are happy that you're with us on this journey I am excited this evening to discuss an introduce you to some of our new staff at PV I'd like to start with Miss Angie Del Lima who is an Italian teacher Angie is an experienced Italian teacher with a strong track record of success in building and growing Italian language programs she has taught Italian at all levels from beginner to AP and she is a skilled she is skilled in creating engaging and culturally relevant lessons and she's also passionate advocate for language learning and she believes all students can benefit from learning a second language congratulations and welcome Angie the next person I'd like to introduce is Valentina DeSantis um she is in the position of administrative assistance on leave right now while someone's on mat attorney leave uh Valentino oral is energetic and passionate individual uh with eight years of experience in Secretary and administrative roles she is known for her attention to detail efficiency and positive attitude Val's ability to meet deadlines stay organized and multitask effectively makes her a valuable asset to any administrative team another thing about Val is or Valentina she's a PB grad and we are lucky to have her congratulations Franchesco Dello Franchesco is serving in a role as a replacement for a music teacher um he's highly motivated and passionate music educator with a strong background in Coral music he has a proven track record of success in leading and growing Coral programs and he's committed to providing students with high quality music education experiences Franchesco is passionate about using music to build community and uh promote cultural understanding he's done a fantastic job and we're happy to have Franchesco in our building congratulations um Miss Margaret montaire who is our student assistant counselor she is highly experienced and dedicated student assistant coordinator and school counselor with 15 years of experience in education she has a proven track record of success in providing comprehensive Support Services to students including substance abuse counseling crisis management and College and Career guidance Margaret is also skilled collaborator and communicator and she's passionate about helping students achieve their full potential Margaret has an awesome personality she's well know knowledgeable and she's just fit in as part of the team thank you for being here and welcome Mr Tim Mor Ari um is putting is filling in a leave replacement as a li library assistant um Mr morard is an adaptable individual with experience as a substitute teacher and Library assistants his background in retail management has equipped him with strong leadership organizational and customer service skills which can be transferable to various roles within our environment Mr Mardi has been here throughout the years and we appreciate him filling in this role thanks Tim Miss olot soy uh Miss soy is a special ed teacher who's filled in a position for retirement um she's a dedicated special ed teacher with a strong background in Maat mathematics um she has a master's of Arts in special education over seven years of experience in teaching in mathematics in various educational settings Olga is skilled in developing and implementing IEPs collaborating with co- teers and fostering positive relationships with parents and students she has a proven track record of success in helping our students with diverse learning needs achieve for their full um potential Olga is you know hit the ground running with us um and we appreciate ogga for all she's done she did start just to let you know last year in the middle of year and she just stepped in and it was seamless so thank youga Jessica woodg Jessica woodg is a new special ed teacher and she is highly motivated and passionate who is an aspiring educator with a strong background in both special education as well as general education she has a deep understanding of the diverse learning needs of students and she's skilled in differentiating instruction to meet those needs of her students Jessica is also compassionate and caring individual and she's committed to creating a positive and inclusive learning environment for her students uh we welcome Jessica she has an amazing smile she's upbeat with her students and I think she's GNA have a nice future in education so congratulations thank you you want do okay so all Valley and New staff can you guys come up here we'll take a picture e [Applause] okay Mr wheen can you please come up and introduce the new staff at Hills thank you Dr bot before I intr is the new staff I know um earlier we spoke a little bit about Brooke uh who passed away in that car accident with her parents and I couldn't say greater words than Drew did in Sharing who Brooke was uh it's at times that of of most sadness that the strength I find is from the people I work with uh and the the people at pasak Hills the students especially but also the staff have been phenomenal uh in supporting everyone in our community and our new staff have filled right in as if they've been here forever so I'd like to now very proudly introduce them Frank chirichello was a fixture at pasak Hills for decades and we are excited to welcome back for a ful year Le replacement in our guidance office Frank prioritizes building strong relationships with students and their families providing guidance support throughout their High School Journey Frank's expertise in the college admissions process and his passion for Student Success make him a valuable resource at pasak Hills I will tell you no one's more excited to be back at pasc Hills than Frank [Applause] churella Devon deert is a new power professional Devon actually started at the end of last year he is a Hills graduate who went on to get a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in chemistry he has experience as a par professional and it's providing providing support to many of our students in in the classroom he is getting to know our kids and helping them every step in a way in the way he's also one of those guys that always is on if he happens to be walking through the hallway and it's time when he has off he's still there ready to help out any student that he interacts we're very excited to have de Devon deert at pasc [Applause] Hills Jonna Duffy I first got to know Janna Duffy as a Hills parent and then after uh her child graduated she became one of our go-to substitute teachers Janna's organization and communication skills are assets that are going to be necessary as she G navigates her new position as our athletic department secretary she has quickly become part of the administrative team as this fall she's been coordinating officials buses field schedules and their inner working of High School athletics including dealing with lots of personalities with our coaches we're very excited to have Janna join us at Pascal Hills Cassandra Cassandra lied Cassandra is a passionate and dedicated math and special education teacher she began teaching at Hills in a leave leave position and then at some point midye last year Mr pooo and I gotten I won't call it an argument John but at least a discussion as to whether she was going to land at pasak Valley high school or pasak Hills so I believe there's a trade to be named later because I W out in that one she's quickly become part of of a wonderful math department her strong background in mathematics and ability to differentiate instruction are strong assets that come to the classroom each and every day I was excited at the opportunity for her to start at pasac Hills and I look forward for her long career [Applause] kandre Matthew Marini Matthew Marini is a familiar face at pasc Hills he's a Hills graduate he's been a coach in our B baseball program football program and basketball program most recently as an assistant in our basketball program and he was a PR professional at pasak Hills he left to start his teaching career and although we were sad for us when he left we were excited for him to move forward we were even more excited when we had an opportunity to bring him back as a math teacher he actually just started this uh I guess four days ago uh because pamis didn't want to let him go his experience teaching a variety of math courses at both the high school and college levels and working to get to know kids on a day-to-day basis are going to be assets for him in the classroom congratulations to Matt [Applause] Marini Anie Mooney is also a Hills graduate and a licensed clinical social worker with two day two decades of experience in adolescent mental health she has a strong background in Crisis Intervention individual and group therapy and family counseling she has expertise in working with students with a wide range of mental health needs and is a valuable asset already to pasak Hills I will also say she's one of the most positive people that shows up every day to work we're excited that animon is back at pasak [Applause] Hills Jennifer ring will be starting at pasc Hills next month Jennifer is a highly accomplished and dedicated school psychologist with a decade of experience she's worked closely with the child study team in faon and we were lucky enough to be able to steal her to come to Hills her focus on social emotional learning and mental health initiatives will be a great asset for our students and staff alike we look forward to her start date next [Applause] month Jerry Rodriguez Jerry Rodriguez is our new athletic trainer who did start uh just towards the end of the spring season last year he has a strong track record of success in diagnosing in treating sports injuries working on injury prevention and Rehab uh Rehabilitation for injured athletes he's well versed in weight management risk factor analysis and physical rehabilitation he's quickly con connected with our fall coaches and athletes and we're excited to have him on board in our athletics department quick side note on our next two teachers I had a principal uh friend from within the region last week said to so whatever happened with your French program because we lost both French teachers at the same time for those that aren't involved with education finding one French teacher is difficult finding two is near impossible not only did we find two we found two with experience Excel Sant is a bilingual French teacher with a passion for cultural exchange and student engagement she's taught French at various levels from French two to AP French and is consistent and is consistent in bringing a positive uh sorry consist in bringing her positive enthusiasm to class each and every day she has quickly become part of the hills Community she is now uh co-advised one of our clubs already and is already put in for a field trip in April we're excited that Excel has joined us at Pascal kills excel's partner is Margaret Schmidt Margaret Schmidt is a highly accomplished French teacher with a strong background in World Language P pedagogy and a passion for connecting with students I will also say that she has some creative lessons as you walk by her French classroom her expertise in curriculum development program evaluation and teacher mentorship have already made her a valuable asset at pasc [Applause] Hills Jennifer Jennifer stalk neck is a new power professional at pasak Hills she has extensive experience supporting students with diverse learning needs meets particularly those on the autism spectrum she's quickly connected to many of our students and staff at pasak Hills and utilizes various strategies to promote social emotional and academic development Jennifer joins a strong team of PR professionals and has fit in seamlessly with them congratulations Jennifer invite up Dr hesny to introduce our next new hire thank you Dr bot uh so Vivian comboy uh is a highly organized and experienced administrative professional with seven years of experience as a confidential secretary she possesses a strong skill set in managing purchase orders composing documents preparing reports maintaining curriculum alignment and providing General administrative support her experience also includes working as an attendance secretary and a power professional demonstrating her adaptability and commitment to education Vivien consistently demonstrates her dedication to supporting District employees parents students and colleagues making her well equipped for the role of secretary to the director of special services position viven started last year and she's been wonderful at helping me uh acclimate to the district as well so I'm extremely happy to be working with her and I'm G to ask Dr Vasquez to come up to introduce our next new hire good evening I am introducing bernardet Wilkins bernardet has five years of experience in Human Resources where she managed on boarding new higher orientation and talent acquisition she also has three years of sales and marketing experience promoting a physical therapy practice and building Community relationships bernardet holds a Bachelor of Arts and Behavioral Science with a minor in Business Administration demonstrating a strong foundation and understanding human behavior and business principles her diverse skill set and experience coupled with her warm personality make her a welcome member of the Park Academy team thank you Dr V if we could have all of the uh Hills new hires come up and we'll take a picture Hills and Park Academy yes [Applause] Mr Yami and I are going to introduce new hires at the district uh level Mr Yami uh uh please come up and uh introduce our payroll manager thank you Dr bot Melissa incandela Melissa is the payroll manager for the district so everyone should be happy about that right um she POS she processes payroll and benefits and is involved with onboarding she came to us in February 2024 from the Mawa School District we knew we were getting a top-notch payroll person since she assisted us with payroll for a few months prior to joining the team Melissa is an extremely hard worker who is obsessed with producing error free work she always comes to me and tells me I don't want to make a mistake it's very important and she's correct it is very important but she's really obsessed about error-free work and she does a fantastic job she has made spe uh several observations which have led to changes in our processes and procedures we are fortunate to have Melissa in the payroll department Melissa resides in Hawthorne with her husband and three children she and her family love to spend their summer vacation in reoboth Beach congratulations Melissa thank you than you for coming to our [Applause] district thank you thank you uh I'm very excited to introduce uh three new uh District level administrators uh first is dorine babis Doren is a highly accomplished and exper experienced educational leader with a strong background in special education and student Support Services she has a proven track record of success in developing and implementing Innovative programs and services for students with disabilities and she is a passionate advocate for inclusive education Daren is also a skilled communicator and collaborator and she is committed to building strong relationships with families and Community Partners uh dorine loves spending time at the beach with her family and an interesting fact about her is that before becoming uh an educator uh she actually worked in Finance on Wall Street welcome [Applause] jorine Jonathan hne Dr hne has spent the last 17 years working within the field of special education in both School psychology and special education administrative roles he brings a deep commitment to fostering an inclusive environment where every student can Thrive his background as a psychologist provides a clinical lens to our child study teams and ensure that we are addressing the mental health needs of our students throughout his career he's worked closely with families and stakeholders so that each child receives the support they need in order to achieve their potential Dr what uh Dr hne has a wife and two daughters and a very rambunctious cavaliere poodle he loves to spend time with his family especially when he can cook them elaborate meals I asked Jonathan with their favorite meals were and he responded that his younger daughter likes seared auna and his older daughter likes uh chicken millanes and his middle daughter likes anything where she doesn't have to clean it up welcome Jonathan Tracy Lee is a seasoned educational technology professional with a truen pra record in Project leadership and Technology integration she's successfully LED multiple technology initiatives and professional development programs enhancing the teaching and learning experience Tracy's passion for Innovation and commitment and staying at the Forefront of techn olical advancements make her a valued member of the technology team within our dist District in addition to working in schools Tracy also volunteers her time in schools Tracy has been a dedicated PTA member for nearly a decade actively involved in her daughter's school she has served on Executive boards for multiple rord ptas and is currently the president of Pont schools PTA a strong advocate for the home school connection Tracy encourages everyone to participate in their Community through their PTA PTO or HS organizations welcome [Applause] Tracy Sandy Vasquez Dr Vasquez is a season director of special education services and school psychologist with expertise in social emotional learning and crisis management she's developed pro-social e I'm sorry she's developed pro-social re-entry P plans and District protocols to address various student needs she volunteers and provides support to school districts eff ected by trauma and loss through Bergen County traumatic loss Coalition Sand's experience in program evaluation and her collaborative leadership style ensure effective support for students and staff some other interesting facts about Sandy include that English is her second language she's fluent in Spanish she's a dog lover and she teaches restorative yoga at two Bergen County Studios because she loves helping others find Stillness in this distracting World welcome Sandy if we could have all of the district uh new hires come on up for photo [Applause] I want to take a moment to recognize a promoted staff member uh William Vander van kersen uh has been uh appointed our athletic director here at pasag Valley with a start date of July of this year uh everybody calls uh Mr vanerson VK VK do you want to come on up thank you [Applause] [Applause] okay so for our next round of honores what we're going to do is uh I'm going to call your name um and then I'm going to just have you guys come up one by one uh and then if uh Mr Wheeland and Mr Poo if I could have both of you over by the photo what we'll do is we'll call up our newly appointed tenur staff um and we'll have everybody kind of report right over to the the photo screen because I want to make sure that um everyone is recognized so one of the things that I think is really impressive about pasak Valley School District is that we put a lot of EMP emphasis on the evaluation process we also put a lot of emphasis in making sure that we are recruiting and hiring the absolute best people that we can to work with our our students and work within our community um earning tenure here is a big deal um it's not something that comes instantly it certainly is not something that is guaranteed upon higher it's something that people truly work for um which is why I'm so thrilled uh to be able to honor uh the next group for uh obtaining ten tenure uh this year here in our district so if I could have Stephanie distasi school counselor pbhs come on [Applause] up Tara Flanery supervisor of special services come on up Caroline gangji school counselor Park Academy Sabrina Kars special education teacher milestones Dr AR Malia uh science teacher pasak Hills CLA mazan family and consumer science teacher pasc [Applause] Hills Jill McCabe administrative assistant to the superintendent [Applause] Alysa Merritt Regional instruction and curriculum coordinator Allison patachia assistant principal pasak Valley Meg Pagano media specialist pasak Hills Pat yens executive secretary pasak [Applause] Valley Susan Vio executive secretary uh District Jennifer ziz I'm sorry Jennifer zenman Student Assistance counselor pasac Hills [Applause] [Applause] just another round of applause to all of our honor tonight thank you I also want to thank all of the families that came out tonight it means so much to see everyone here supporting um your family member that's being recognized and we just are so appreciative that you came and we're so appreciative to all the staff members who came out tonight as well it's so nice for the board and the public to be able to see the faces as we're calling the names so we very much appreciate that thank you everyone for coming thank you so if you guys are good so we're going to actually give a second uh in case anybody would like to uh exit before we get into our presentations since we're already down here with a screen down we're going to actually go right into the score report presentation that Dr buckenheimer and his team have y so just a play off need where's your laptop I'm GNA spin this way so you can see us hope that's okay all right Mike is on so good evening so as you know we uh we did our presentation last month and My Hope was that we would have all our scores in time to do it all in one literally two days later we got our njsla scores wouldn't you know so I'm here this evening with uh Val Mich Mark Russo and Megan Graziano to do our report on our njsla um so briefly this is a test our nth graders take uh for ELA and math uh specifically uh it's whatever math they are taking in nth grade nth grade English and then sciences and 11th grade test so we're going to go through the required reporting on this spoiler alert we had improvement over last year uh but at this point I'll turn it over to Dr Russo to talk about mathematics uh thank you so much Dr bachenheimer uh and thank you for having me tonight just a word before I talk briefly about the math numbers I want to give a special thank you to um the mathematics Department uh I mean math is a beautiful beautiful subject um but it's it's hard and it's hard to teach and it's hard to to try and get students to understand these important Concepts while also preparing them for these assessments and our teachers do a phenomenal job uh I also want to just give a brief thank you to students um because it's a partnership um so before talking about these numbers just just to to say a word uh if you look at those numbers particularly in the in the rightmost column the change in level four and level five they look overwhelmingly positive and while I love overwhelmingly positive things just a word of caution on the algebra 1 numbers because of our switch in sequence not many students took Algebra 1 this past year they will be taking it sophomore year now because Algebra 1 is the primary accessible njsla um subject for math so what I'm going to focus I mean the numbers are obviously very strong but I'm going to focus my attention on Geometry because geometry is a consistent cohort of students that year after year they're accelerated and they take this um they take this exam freshman year um so what you'll see from the geometry numbers uh is that we had a small increase from last year we had approximately 89% of our students meeting or exceeding uh on the njs LA and geometry uh as compared to the state which is just under 50% uh here's a breakdown by school and again focusing on Geometry because those Algebra 1 numbers are so strong but represent such a small group of students um PV the meeting or exceeding group went from approximately 78% to 84% uh and at Hills the meeting or exceeding group went from 85% to almost 89% so small increases um just a a word again because of our smaller numbers because of the geometry Algebra 1 switch for our Ong grade level students um these next three slides should be taken with a grain of salt since we had so few um of those on grade level students uh but you'll notice in all three of these uh racial ethnic groups uh we have a very large percentage of students um meeting or exceeding uh here you can see our breakdown by gender uh and same caveat as the last slide uh and then finally um our breakdown by subgroup just to know only groups that have 10 or more students are shown here um so the goal is moving forward uh again we're we're paying a great deal of attention to our new course sequence and trying to support freshmen uh in geometry and sophomores in Algebra 1 um but there's an additional Focus this year because this is the first year where sophomores will be taking that Algebra 1 njs laa and we just want to focus on helping students um develop conceptual understanding and procedural fluency while also meeting improving on their performance um on that standardized assessment so thank you for your time I'll turn it over now to Mr Riano to talk about science thank you Dr Russo uh good evening everybody my name is Megan Graziano I am the very proud supervisor of Science and Tech Ed here at pasak Valley thanks for allowing me some time to update you on our district science performance and our plans moving forward um so if it'll go oh I'm sorry I have it so in 2024 we had 47% of our students score proficient or above in science compared to the state average which is 27% which is obviously well above while 28% scored minim minimally proficient and 26 partially proficient we're focusing on areas for growth and future Improvement pasak Valley High School saw significant progress with a 99.5% increase in students reaching proficiency from 2023 while pasak Hills saw a decrease overall the district's performance remained steady with 46.5% of students scoring proficient or above in 2024 nearly the same as the 46.8% that scored in 2023 taking a look at the demographic Trends our students identifying as Asian and multi-racial achieved the highest proficiency rates while our Hispanic students did score lower and this is going to be an area of focus for us moving ahead gender we noticed that male students slightly outperformed our female students with 48% of males and 44% of females scoring proficient or above um again a small difference but an area for us to continue focusing on moving forward and we see that our general education students showed higher proficiency rates compared to those in special education and those with 504 plans oh I'm so sorry so that's the numbers that I'm sure I must have missed moving one forward sorry about that so those are the numbers I was just discussing so for our plans moving forward um this is one of many data points that we always look at when we are trying to identify the gaps in which we need to address within the science department so we are going to continue our focus on enhancing three-dimensional learning where we plan on strengthen the three-dimensional instruction and incorporating professional development all of our science teachers in biology chemistry and physics will be participating in a routines of a 3D classroom professional development Workshop this year we're also bringing in some of the teachers from our sending districts as well to participate alongside our teachers to help really establish the development of those science skills from as young an age as possible as they can continue developing it here once they get to high school with us we're also going to be completing a comprehensive review of the science curriculum to ensure alignment with state state standards assessment and best practices this year and we are going to continue with targeted support and our use of benchmark assessments of link it to gather data and guide interventions that'll best address students specific needs thank you for your attention and I'm going to hand it over to miss Mich thank you to my colleagues and good evening um Dr rouso kind of took it away in the sense that I was actually going to give a big shout out to my ninth grade teachers because they really did a great job and the numbers reflect our Improvement um as with any kind of standardized test it's obviously to be taken with the grain of salt but it's always good when the numbers are moving in the right direction so on the left side they're moving down that's what we want because that's the lower level not meeting expectations so we want the right side to move up we want the left side to move down and that is what you'll see not only from a district perspective but on the next slide also reflected in both high schools um even though there's about a 50 student difference between the two High School schools they've come together more population wise our numbers still look very solid and I'm very happy with that um and like I said the left is moving down the right is moving up by and large um and even when it looks like there's like an odd dip maybe from three to four it makes sense because they're moving into the category that we want them to be basically um and again we're speaking in Broad Strokes about the entire nth grade across two schools um as we start getting into the subgroups I always think it's good news when our numbers are already very high as far as being proficient and they stay the same or go up and even slight dips dips in a few percentage here and there could just be a handful of students that's really obviously where we need to do our work and identify who might be fitting exactly into that category and kind of see what can move the needle um especially as we then look at the next ninth grade Group which my teachers are in the process of doing right now so again shout out to um the ninth grade team for some reason my slide I don't know I'm just going to refresh is that okay Dr B and armor I'm just going to refresh I just want to make sure that my other two subgroups are there um I'm going to re load because I'm on plans for the future there we go so again same situation I'm always happy when the bar graphs look nice and even give or take um there's always been this slight disparity between female achievement in ela versus male so like that hasn't changed over the many years that I've been doing this presentation and I've been here um there's probably lots of reasons why and again that's something we can look at but I I think our numbers are still really solid and I'm very happy with that finally um same idea and if anything moving in the right direction in terms of special education students as well as gen Ed basically just about staying flat this is one area that I'm going to take a deeper look into and maybe see have our 504 numbers changed like what would account for that slight drop as well so that's the one area that's probably my biggest takeaway from these scores and so leading to my plans for the future we're just going to continue to work in grade level teams it's really important that the ninth grade teachers are working together that they're making mock not really mock assessments but that some of our Summit of informatives that we're using mirror what's on the test because part of this is a test taking approach as well not just your skill set uh and kind of getting the Freshman ready for that um we're actually lucky here very fortunate so thank the board thank our admin that we do have a wide variety of robust digital tools that we can use to individualize instruction so where there are skill gaps an individual teacher can't always do that for six different people in one room when everybody else might be more on level so that's where some of these things come into play and we're able to use those tools to directly intervene in certain areas and of course again thank you so much for your continued support of The Writing Center which is just helping everybody's writing skills which in includes vocabulary and grammar as well where those digital tools are pushing in then we're bringing it all together in the writing itself and that's a huge part of the njsla thank you all right so so again any questions from the board about our NJ SLE scores yes oh yes please yeah I'd agree with you Mr weer and certainly the point is science is an un is an unmated subject which means doesn't count for graduation it's a do test or required to give it um and so student motivation questionable um certainly as opposed to NJ GPA which is a graduation requirement because we presented last month along with SATs other scores AP testing which starting higher motivation believe our students take far more seriously uh certainly important to notice that we significantly still outperform the state the State numbers if you look at it in terms are really abysmal not that we're proud of these numbers but we're way outperforming where the numbers are in terms of science your question yes so opt out's not not an option anymore you have to take it um opt out was if you recall going back now I guess about five years ago when we did the park uh opt out was an option at that point pre- pandemic uh since then there's not an option to opt out of any of our testing you have to test um and if you don't show up during those days of testing there's makeup testing so uh all our stud students are represented Within These numbers yeah so it's three grades it's biology chemistry and physics that's all given in 11th grade so as you know as part of our curriculum students are taking physics in 11th grade and they're being tested on biology and chemistry Concepts addition on top of that as well it it has been you know for folks who have constructed the test and we've spoken to many people on both the state and Regional levels U it's a very challenging test hence the results that we see um you know there have been some questions about maybe is this exam too challenging plus we talk about student motivation as well so there are I know via science supervisor roundtables there are options there to talk to some of the folks who do science there's a feedback period from time to time informally we're asked our thoughts on it um at this point the state's required to give the test so they have to keep doing it it's a requirement for the lot of the federal grants that we happen to receive yes yes this is true and and several of our teachers have also been on the group that helped devise the test so we did get an inside scoop to some of those pieces that are there but yeah it's a it is an aspirational test is certainly a great way to describe it any other questions all right thank you very much so thank you Dr bachenheimer and Dr Russo Miss Mich and Miss Graziano thank you also Miss Safari for being here to support we appreciate that um I really do appreciate your insights into this and um certainly appreciate the efforts that you've made I know one of the things that we've talked about over the last year is asking teachers and students to um try to do their best on these tests and I think that that in addition to some of the um uh benchmarking that we've done internally has led to uh this increase that we've seen over years and I think it's something to be proud of and I love that uh our scores uh both on the GPA and this do reflect a higher than State average performance so thank you for all the work that you do and thank you and thank you all for being here thank thank you thank you next we have routine matters and first we'll have the superintendent report by Dr bot so I actually just want to share um everybody has in front of them a printed executive summary on midterms and finals we do just want to talk about um what we're doing basically to uh move the process forward we know that last year there are questions about our processes about the consistency of it um and also about the impact um we heard last uh month that uh the curriculum committee had met I'm sorry my computer's stuck hold on there we go that the curriculum committee had met um we got a report from the curriculum committee you all received um copies of that uh I'm gonna I'm not going to read through the whole thing um but I just want to give some kind of highlights here we're looking at cumulatively for midterms and finals these exams again are just administered in math and science the other subject areas do different end of the year assessment ments we have a districtwide weight of 5% of a student's Turtle grade we know that there is still some confusion over what that looks like and we're working with uh our staff to make sure that everyone has a consistent message on that one of the things that I thought was um notable uh is that we really did not find any evidence to suggest that the uh midterm and final assessments that we've been giving negatively affects student GPA or College admission prospects I thought that that was important to note our gpas have been steadily rising over the past four years and when you look at our average districtwide GPA uh compared to surrounding similar high schools our GPA on average is higher than the high schools around us last year fewer than 2% total students among all subjects had their grades negatively impacted by their final exam score that's a similar impact to uh regular uh you know summi of course assessments like a unit test or uh a quiz grade we did did look at student well-being um and uh we are continuing to enhance uh supports in this uh section as you know we've had a Wellness Center we were one of the first high schools in the state to have a Wellness Center uh which I think is something that we've been very proud of uh our Wellness Center sees a number of students for a number of reasons they do see students who have anxiety over grads and testing come with anxiety over uh midterms and finals and they feel that they've been uh appropriately helping those students manage uh that uh section uh that um those activities I'll say um we are uh excited uh to have uh some new members of our Wellness department and we are also excited to start talking about how we can expand those Services uh both in Hills and Valley we want to note that we feel that our practices are aligned with college practices we have a so we started talking about midterms and finals back in 2014 and since then um we have a practice of reaching out to the most attended colleges um so basically we look at where are our students graduating and then attending and the colleges that our students are most likely to attend we actually reach out and we ask them about these things and what we found is that um Majors uh aligned to co uh science and math have midterms and finals that are similar to our structure um and that Humanities Majors typically have um more Project based learning assignments as their cumulative assessment similar to what we are doing so we do feel that our assessment practices are aligned uh with what uh students are encountering I will say when they get to the college level we um let me see here we are uh continuing with both teacher and student feedback on the process we've been uh trying to fine-tune some of the communications that have been going out those of you who are parents saw that after back to school night um all of our teachers sent out a uh individualized message for the course that your child is in um basically describing the class practices um talking about assessment and Grading and where to get extra help uh talking about how to access canvas we are in the process of developing additional canvas tutorials um we've been expanding the functionality of canvas uh Tracy and her team have been working on that as soon as that is finalized canvas needed to work out a couple of uh glitches I will say with Genesis uh once those glitches are fully uh worked out and we're able to fully Implement uh we'll be sending out even more information to parents for how to fully access canvas we also have um uh Representatives coming to some upcoming uh board me I'm sorry board meetings in October and November to both show us what canvas looks like from the parent side so that we can see uh what is being shown and also to talk a little bit about the new Guidance Software that we have it's called score um and that software is being used to further enhance transparency around gpa's averages College admission rates as well as non-college bound career options for our students we have uh been looking at a test checklist which basically um you know helps everyone be on the same page with what test prep looks like and what our assessment practices and philosophies are and then moving forward we're going to continue to review uh our assessment practices and continue to provide supports for students one of the things that Miss Mich um and Dr Russo and Miss Graziano mentioned were the various math Labs writing labs and science labs that we've just been expanding upon um since Co so we're very fortunate and excited to be able to offer those Stu those services for our students um and are looking forward to being able to maintain and grow them in the future so if any board members have any questions um I'm happy to answer them if you want to read through this and ask me any questions via email as well um absolutely uh acceptable than you Dr welcom sorry just a quick question and I don't expect this it's okay something that you can answer off the top of your head but um I do appreciate the data that was given to us from the 9th to 12th end of the year kind of GPA data um I just it says that the average GPA of the 9th to 12th grader at pasc Valley last year is pretty much a 4.2 I find that hard to happen that means the average kids are getting all e is that where we're at now that that's that is our mathematical average for all subjects or is just just for the math and science um that's for all subjects that's the total GPA average uh I have a couple of excuse me comments and a question sorry um so as far as in back to school night uh Valley sorry something in my throat FR Valley had their back to school night last week uh Hills has their back to school night this Thursday I believe Thursday uh and so I would just like to just say as far as in the exam waiting there was a little bit of uh confusion as far as in uh the percentage and I know I had uh people ask me about it um that is something that Dr bot has gotten to the uh bottom of and it is something that she's in the process of working on um there was a little bit of confusion so I'd like to just say um it may sound like uh you know one person's saying one thing another person's we have been Dr balotti has been working on getting that messaging to be uh all similar yeah we're working on we're working on consistent messaging and I have to thank our supervisor ADV visors and our teachers because um they really were so thoughtful in thinking about how to communicate the expectations to parents I know that the English Department um they created like a very colorful graph um uh the science department worked together to make sure that they were all giving the same message about how to get extra help um and we're going to uh one of our kind of next steps is to just make sure that the message about the weights of M terms and finals continues to be consistently communicated because I think there is still some confusion around that but what we're looking at for this year moving forward is midterms and finals constituting a maximum of 5% of a student's total grade for the school year for the school year y okay 5% total and that's where some of the uh confusion is so we're going to make sure that that um confusion is cleaned up uh as we move forward I think sometimes we get questions from the community um is it like 4% 1% is it 2% 3% because I just know that that's a question that's a good question that we get right yeah 2.5% 2.5% 5% total equally weighted uh and then I just have a quick question the score uh that off so that is where students will be able to see exactly sort of what their GPA is based on what level class they're taking are they taking bands are they because I think you know there was a little bit of confusion with that so is that word yeah so our understanding and this is our second full year of implementing it um so it will be rolling out over the next um you know two years so we get a full four-year cycle but the intention with this is to make students own GPA crystal clear to them so that way it's there available in score um and also for them to be able to actually look to see what like students um what their results were when they applied to certain colleges so you can kind of look and see okay my GPA is this um what's what's the student profile of Penn State um and so they have a database um within the system we actually have someone from score I believe coming in October it might be October or November I think it's October oh to the board meeting to to the board meeting to give us like a quick overview um because I want to make sure that we all also understand what we're talking about when we're talking about kind of the tools that we're giving our our students and our parents to help them make these big decisions and it's new and it's it's um you know there a lot of research went into this from our guidance Department to try to find the best program available to meet the broadest um you know range of student needs thank you thank you does anyone else have any questions comments for drot can I go back to that so it's 2.5 for a midterm and 2.5% for a final how are the teachers feeling with that like they're putting together these exams to assess the students and it's weighed so little does it affect their I don't know so I think uh we this is part of uh the confusion I don't have direct feedback from the teachers that I'm going to make an assumption my assumption is that there's going to be mixed feelings about it because I think that there is going to be concern that perhaps it's too low and students will not take it seriously I think that there's going to be some concern um that it's uh having it lower May um reduce the students ability to prepare so that's something that we are mindful of um that we want to make sure that um that is not the case and we will have data after we do the midterms to see whether or not that was in fact um that does in fact come to fruition if it does we'll we'll reassess and look at it but what we're looking at right now is we think that this is a way for us to be able to maintain the Integrity of the test um maintain the Integrity of the process make sure that all students um have practice uh with those cumulative assessments and also making sure that that practice cannot harm their GPA um is kind of what we're looking at balancing right there and um I think there's going to be some more discussion about that with our staff and with our supervisors and I'm kind of looking forward to that conversation because I am curious to see sort of how that um ends up shaking out I'm definitely curious to see at the end of this year so now we will have had um you know kind of a number of changes to this process including um more of a focus on it right now I would say and I'm curious to see uh what the data shows because we're able to look at the average midterm um score and the average final score from this year and last year and we'll be able to see pretty quickly if there's a statistical significance between the two um and if there is then I think that's something that we'll uh come back to the drawing board on and look at again but I think this is a good place for us to land with regard to what we're balancing and what we're trying to make sure that we are voiding in which is making sure that um these exams are not um creating undo anxiety but yet at the same time are showing students what it's like to do a cumulative assessment that's a good question and I think our uh reaction to the GPA at 4.1 is like it's high so it's is that an inflated number or like how has it been in the in the past couple years uh it's been growing if you look at um hold on one second I'll pull up the chart can I uh make a comment um I think it's important to note that honors coures are weighted a little higher so that also brings the number up to a high grade if they're doing particularly well in honors can right right so I'm feeling like if that was accurate there would be I it just seems very high the numberers definitely accurate whether or not that reflects uh grade inflation or if that reflects a total number of AP and honors courses that's higher than years prior um we'd have to do a little bit of a deeper dive into but I will say I know that our AP and honors offerings have increased since 2020 uh which is when uh the chart that I had uh sent out starts um but that started you know if you look at Hills 2020 the average GPA is uh 3.78 um and right now the average GPA at Hills is um 4.0 so I mean I don't think that's like an unreasonable growth especially considering that we have had just more course offerings if you look at Valley um Valley started in 2020 at uh 3.3 and ended this year at 4.2 so you know that gives us the average for the district at 4.1 when we're looking at the surrounding um districts their gpas are above four their average gpas um they're either right at or above for so they're around I would say like 3.85 to like 4.0 so I mean I feel like we are where the other schools are um I think we're seeing an overall National Trend towards uh higher gpas both because you know students just become more and more Savvy and and take more courses that are weighted more um also I think that there is a national Trend towards uh those grades um being higher uh postco we also are offering a lot more supports now than we did in 2020 um so you know pre-co we didn't have all of these different math science and English Labs we didn't have um the benchmarking that we have right now we didn't have the um pre- and post test we didn't have as robust an assessment philosophy that's something that we've been working on and working towards so I think with all of those things that we've been doing to try to make sure that we support students the other thing we've been doing is focusing on tier one universal interventions we've been focusing on multi-tier systems of supports we rolled out a whole um entirely encompassing multier systems of supports um protocol um at the beginning of the year last year so I mean if you think about all of those programs are designed to give students support and help them succeed academically I think it does make sense that we'd be seeing a little bit of a bump in grades um I don't think that we are concerned about it um I think that it's kind of where we expected to be and I like that we are a little bit higher than the surrounding schools I think that's a good place for us to be as well um I would be interested in seeing the data of the AP scores in 2020 versus now to see if there's the same level of increase as we're seeing in grade increase think back then the AP test everybody had to take back then now you don't have to so remember this also you could take an AP class that a little bit but don't have to take that test so in 2020 everyone who took the AP class had to take the AP test so let me look and see what is the first year that you didn't have to take the test if you took the class and I'll look I can we can look at that information maybe that would be a better Apples to Apples comparison my only other question specific to this is I know some of the feedback that we heard from students um that I don't see addressed here was specific to um how grades were curved if at all um you know we heard from students well everybody got a 60 so if everybody got a 60 how was that being managed um were tests being curved and are we consistent from Department to department or even within a department on how teachers are managing that so I would be curious to know what the philosophical approach is with regard to that because I do definitely remember hearing from students about that point yeah that's a good question so at the end of the year last year no finals were curved and moving forward no midterms or finals will be curved so then I guess my follow-up question to that would be if I'm a supervisor or a teacher and I'm looking at a group where everyone got a significantly low score how am I reflecting on that assessment I think those comments uh were actually specific to uh certain unit tests in some of the subject areas uh specifically looking at biology AP I forget it was AP Chemistry or AP biology and some of the honors and AP Physics classes so some of those higher level classes still do use a curving system um I will say that in the grading system summaries that I read through um this past week that were sent out after back to school n at Valley it was crystal clear in the description how that curve would be applied and basically what they're looking at is they give many quizzes that are worth let's say Four Points um and then those quizzes will be curved so that way if you got two you don't get a 50% on that quiz um they use a standard curving practice um where that that two on that quiz would be um switched to something like an 85 or an 87 and they gave examples within the celby so if you're in one of those higher level courses there still would be curving for those um unit test and quizzes um but they're they're clearly marked now which ones are curved and the midterms and finals are not curved so I think there was a little bit of um uh overlap of uh comments with regard to we're talking about finals then we're also talking about overall assessment and then kind of looking at what exact courses are are those curves being um administered in anyone else thank you Dr bot uh next we have the policy committee report by uh Miss stefins we had our policy meeting on September 18th um Miss Calderone was in attendance Miss Martin Mr Stanis and I and Dr bot um we talked about the year 14 policies um that uh stra ssm's policy alert and support system recommended uh 13 of the policies were recommended revisions um one of one was for an abolishment uh the one abolished policy was regarding remote and public board meetings during declared emergency um so that was going that's on our agenda tonight uh some of the other ones of significance of physical attendance um reference drug screenings um which reference taking out marijuana for PR preemployment screenings um there's updated guidance from the New Jersey Department dep of Health regarding TV screenings so that's updated um attendance there will be an additional one state excused absence to attend Civic event during school year service animals compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act additional training to staff members reg regarding emergency crisis situations uh requiring staff to fully participate in safety drills and ensure modification and accommodations are complied with during these safety drills requiring staff to provide warnings regarding students that are in crisis um and those are kind of the big ones that we went over uh firearms and weapons uh is just a slight modification to the title going from weapons to firearms and weapons any questions for m M stuffins thank you Mrs stuffins next we have student reports uh first we'll have Andrew Varan from pasak Hills High School hello my name is Andrew Varian and I'm here to speak on the student board report for pasy Hills for the month of September first in Dr whitfield's anatomy and physiology class students have recently started their cat dissection where they carefully take apart study and observe the anatomy of a cat this project will take up the entire school year in Miss gim's entrepreneurship class students have been designing creating different businesses that they would like to have in the future that meet needs of a consumer or solve a real world problem students will write a 10 to 20page paper as well as a presentation that could potentially be used in the DECA state competition in early March Mr Alexander's AP government and politics class finished up learning about education related Supreme Court cases students were put into groups and had to present three different cases to review and give their opinions to the class for further discussion on Friday September 13th pasca Hills kicked off with their annual pepper rally this fun-filled event included an introduction to all our fall Sports toilet mummy rap a game of speedball and pasak Hill's first annual pie eating contest where students and teachers competed to see who could eat the most pie in 5 minutes this event concluded with a thrilling football game later that night against Westwood as well as a performance from our cheer leaders and marching Broncos the pH uh HS te against cancer Club hosted a t-shirt fundraiser for senior Jamie Brown who has been battling leukemia all proceeds for this event have gone to a leukemia fundraiser in her name in hopes for finding a cure for this terrible disease earlier this month pasak Hills Executives executive and senior class Student Government hosted a senior Sunrise where students in the senior class arrived at 610 to come together as a grade and watch the sunrise students brought in donuts and hot chocolate to share months the grade in sports girls soccer started off their season strong with a two in run a twoin one record with goalie Sophia Panopoulos having a back-to-back shut out not letting any goal slip past her in the net the girls team is starting strong with seniors Sophie pinkwater SL rosari and Abby Roos who has recently committed uh who announced her commitment to play soccer at the University of ston stonburg university University leading the team pascy kills cross country team started off strong with having over 12 of their athletes medal this past weekend at gar Mountain along with Junior Colin Barry having an over five minute personal best record and Jake Ferrar having an overall two-minute personal best record during their races this team has been working relentlessly with enduring Hill workouts mile repeats and 6 to 12 mile long runs at at each practice keep up the good work pascot kills football won their first game last week against tck in a close 13 to 12 game seniors Connor oian and Josh Joshua Wright have fearlessly been leading the team creating plays to to get Hills in the end zone as much as possible their next game is this Friday against Ramsey at home come support our Broncos for my fun fact s uh Senora solar's AP Spanish class will be visiting uh Spanish speaking Opera in New York City within the next few me next few weeks and for my joke of a day the day why don't sell skeletons fight each other because they don't have the guts this concludes my board report for the month of September thank you thank you Andrew and next we have Ella goley from pasak Valley High School hi I'm Ella okay so to begin my report we'll start off with our classroom items so in observance of September 11 2001 Mr Jasper and Mr sjan invited Dr bachenheimer our district director of curriculum instruction and assessment to speak of his experience as a first responder during the 9/11 event and the ensuing days to their US History 1 Us 2 class and APG classes um as he as in the past for Jasper and sjin's classes Dr bachenheimer framed his experience with the story of the background of the event what happened that day his role in it how it Chang the country and what we do as well as his role at Ground Zero in the immediate days after 911 he included a tale of a colleague who is now impacted by the effects of the air Ground Zero um and all in all Dr Ren heimer's conversational manner engaged our students um and they received more than a discussion of what happened that day but also the days after 911 at Ground Zero what was done and their impact um moving on the PV executive council members visited all Senior English classes uh during the week of September 9th in order to register seniors for voting um the executive Council organizes the voter registration process every fall to help seniors be part of the democratic process so just want to thank all of the senior English teachers and Mrs Mich um our English supervisor for working with the executive Council on this very important task and lifelong right um finally in celebration of Constitution Day which is September 17th 1787 Matthew Copco an attorney representing the Federalist Society conducted a constitution seminar for Jasper's AP Gov classes and sarajian us2 classes um Mr Copco who is a Princeton and Ed Chicago graduate was also counselor to the dep deputy secretary and special advisor to the secretary to the US Department of Transportation uh covered everything from the Constitutional Convention the Bill of Rights to the um student freedom of speech uh this was a highlevel challenging and ins F conversation for our students moving on to our co-curricular items so the PV Student Government officers have had definitely a busy start of the school year um beginning with freshman orientation the officers were a tremendous help and made the class of 2028 feel welcome for their first first day at Valley um council members also played a pivotal role in back to school night where they helped parents navigate the building and promoted school spirit with a lot of energy and Valley gear um um the council is currently preparing for the upcoming Freshman Class council elections um and our first Valley cup assembly so just thank you to all council members for making the start of the year so memorable and successful for item number two the PV be beekeeping Club excuse me is off to a busy start um this week they did their honey Harvest and will start selling jars of PV honey soon um the club also welcome Master beekeeper John gout to leave a hive inspection with students um so looking ahead to October pasak Valley will be hosting this year's New Jersey state beekeeping conference which attracts beekeepers from far and wide expert panelists and the state aist um finally the National Honor Society along with the Spanish National Honor Society partnered on the 7th of September for their annual Dr Sapienza scholarship Car Wash and they were able to donate the $882 and profits to the scholarship fund um for our athletic items all fall teams are up and running for the fall season and have had a successful start to the season just wish good luck to all of the teams on a great season ahead um for my fun fact Valley cup number one will be on Wednesday October 2nd um so our executive and class councils are currently planning for the event uh we look forward to our upcoming Valley Cup events for the year and good luck to all the grades with their year-long competitions uh and now for my joke why were the fish's grades bad they were below sea level and that concludes my board report for September 2024 thank you Ella for your report uh next we have um we are going to affirm Deborah stefins as vice president for the remainder of the 2024 term the reason for that is there were some technical issues with the recording and subsequently the minutes uh so we're going to vote again to clarify the record and confirm the vote um roll call please Mr usami or do I have to do a move we need a move okay we need a motion either one of them got it yeah uh roll call please Mr youi Miss Calderon yes Mrs Wang yes Miss Keller yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss Stephens yes Mr Weaver so I wasn't here for the meeting so I guess I'll abstain but I wish uh miss stefin the best of luck and I wouldn't want my Mis vote to negatively impact her in any way just so you're aware um the basically attorney said you you can you can vote I not the attorney but the county uh superintendent said even if you're not present you can vote on this if you wish or you can abstain then I will vote Mr usam yes thank thank you all right just want to make it clear um Mrs varges yes congratulations Miss stefins next we have the approval of the minutes for the August 26th meeting and uh the executive session also and then September 14th for the board retreat meeting uh can I get a motion please so move second second any discussion yeah just to uh reiterate I know I'd reached out to Dr bot for the 26th meeting I had a work commitment but I did ask her if if we were in Jeopardy of not having a quorum and I would have changed things if needed and then unfortunately I had another volunteer commitment on the 14th um the head coach of my kids football team and we had obligations that day so my apologies for not being able to be in attendance roll call please Mr Yami M Cerone yes Mrs Swang yes M Keller yes Mrs Martin yes but I'll obstain from the 14th Mr Stanis yes Miss stens yes Mr Weaver abstain Mrs Vargis I abstain from the 26th but yes for the 14th next we have comments from the public citizens are invited to make comments regarding agenda items and are limited to 3 minutes according to the pasak Valley Regional High School School District Board of Education policy number 0167 persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise sign in and state their name town of residence and which agenda item they are referencing any members from the public okay seeing as how there are none next uh on the agenda is policy we have three consent agenda items do I have a motion so move second any discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Mrs Swang yes Miss Keller yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stefins yes Mr Weaver yes Mrs vgis yes next we have education for which we have two consent agenda items can I get a motion so second roll call please Mr usami oh sorry discussions I apologize discussion roll call please Mr Yami Miss Calderone yes Mrs Swang yes Miss Keller yes Mrs Martin yes yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stepin yes Mr Weaver yes Mrs varges yes next we have human resources for which we have 19 19 consent agenda items do I have a motion so move second second any discussion V call please Mr Sami Miss Calderon yes Mrs Wang yes Miss Keller yes Mrs Martin yes Mr stankis yes Miss stefin yes Mr Weaver yes Mrs vgis yes next we have Finance we have 29 consent agenda items there isn't a supplemental uh 29 items uh can I get a motion so move any discussion I had a question um just on the first one that the payroll is significantly high for September is that because teachers in now back or what is teachers are back and we also have uh extra pay we did that a lot of extra pay huh yeah over the summer yes and then I had one last question on 29 which is the Urgent Care so that that's who we would normally go with or did we do our due diligence and find after it was cheaper somewhere else yes so what we're doing is we've been actually trying to um there are a variety of reasons why we me may need to send a student uh to Urgent Care usually it's because we need them to get a uh clearance and so we're finding that some of the vendors that we have approved and used um have cut back on their hours and so if we have a student that's at an athletic event or that the timing of it takes them Beyond like 600 7 p.m. um the only option for students is to go to the emergency room which is not ideal we don't we don't want to have to send our students to the emergency room it's more expensive it's it's just um extremely stressful as opposed to being able to go to some of the urgent cares so we're looking at adding um additional facilities to be able to approve to send our students to that have a smaller feel that they can get more individualized attention um but that can also provide us with the information that we need so we're looking at adding the amm walk-in urgent care we're also looking at potentially adding um a new bridge they opened a new facility in Hillsdale and then there's a third uh Clinic that we were looking at um this is just the first that we're able to approve the reason we have it as supplemental is that they got us um their paperwork back kind of at the last minute and we just didn't want to wait another month before giving our parents and students this option um um and we've also found that uh sending students to the smaller clinics um tends to give them um a little bit more uh individualized attention once they arrive which we like because we want to make sure that if we have a concern about a student that they're getting you know the best supervision and care that that they can so um that's what we're looking at adding it um but I appreciate the question any further discussion B call please Mr usami M Cal drone yes Mrs Swang yes M Keller yes Mrs Martin yes Mr Stanis yes Miss stefin yes Mr Weaver abstain for yes to everything else I'm sorry abstain for abstain for yes to everything else Mrs varges yes uh we do not need to enter into executive session uh unless anyone here feels like we do okay uh next we have old business uh any discussion regarding old business I did want to thank you both for an amazing opportunity to participate in the meeting uh last Saturday I thought it was a nice change um I thought it was very very productive so I want to thank you for all the work that you put in on the back for that I'd also like to jump in and say I really did appreciate that the moderator facilitative was amazing and I think we we did a lot of hard work and we came out with some really good goals agreed I think it was a great experience really appreciate it uh you're all welcome but I have to say it is only successful because we have the board we do and if we didn't all work cohesively together um to come up with ideas and get our uh points of view across uh it would not have turned out as good as it did and I thank you all for your participation any other discussion on Old business new business anyone have any new business if not I have uh something in new business for board meeting ATT attendance in accordance with board policy 0145 I would like to call for a formal motion to give formal notice to trusting Mr Michael Weaver and to place on the board agenda for the October 28th 2024 board meeting Mr Weaver's removal from the board for missing three consecutive board meetings can I get a motion please is this going to be standard procedure moving forward if according to that policy fair and equity 100% so if you miss three consecutive board meetings okay I make a motion okay second second any discussion regarding the formal notice to Mr Weaver and placing the item on the board agenda oh I can make comment correct you can comment on the formal notice or placing the item on the board agenda for next month okay so I'm pretty sure that this isn't a surprise to people around the table you have my cell phone you could have called me and had conversation with me and you chose not to do that um I think based off of some of our previous correspondents uh with regard to operations of the board and responsibilities this certainly comes off as personal and retaliatory for you which I think is unfortunate um but expected your discussion should be regarding formal notice so I'm going to continue with my or no your formal your discussion should be regarding formal notice or placing the item on the board agenda and so I think does your discussion have to do with those two items it does and it speaks to Mr Stanis his point when he asked if this was going to be consistent moving forward um I understand there's a expectation for attendance um we also established Mondays as board meeting dates um dates missed were in the summer when people are on vacation um date was missed on a Saturday does this have to do with formal notice for that you will be getting you will have a chance at the next meeting to talk about whether you had good cause for meeting for missing those meetings I'm not understanding why there's such hostility to meet I don't have hostility I'm trying to say to youone do you have a disc do you want to discuss anything on the formal notice that you will be given or do you have any discussion on placing the item on the board agenda I'm not understanding the hostility and tone in I have absolutely no hostility I'm talking about a policy that we all know of that was violated again this is just notice that this is what will be on the agenda for next month I understand expectations as a board member um there's no better example of that than today um when I was woken up at 3:00 in the morning by a phone call from my aunt from Morristown Hospital that my mother was in septic shock now my mother was sitting with my aunt who had just been removed from a respirator and so my mother was rushed to the emergency room 3 floors below and when I got there at 4:00 in the morning I was managing my mother's needs with my aunt's needs and then my aunt passed away at 10:00 a.m. this morning now IID had my football game for tonight moved from 7:30 to 6:30 because I have a volunteer responsibility to those children of which none of my kids play on that team and knowing that there was a board meeting tonight made sure that I was back on the road by 4:30 both to coach a team in which I don't have a child on the team Mr Weaver and then to I apologize for what you have gone through today and I am very sorry for your loss does your discussion have anything to do with the formal disrespect notice does your discussion have anything to do with the formal notice that you will be receiving or does it have anything to do with this item being placed on the agenda for the next meeting at the next meeting you will have your say I think it's shameful that I've been allowed to be spoken to in this way this evening board members we will proceed with a Voice vote all in favor yes yes anyone else in favor what of the procedure proceeding for next month for the notice yes it's procedural Mike it's nothing else I mean it's it's the standard that you have to go by going forward we all agreed to that there there's going to be circumstances does this have does this have anything to do because I was just cut off do your comments now have anything to do with with with what was presented to the board I it was a yes or no I don't think there was we are not having any more discussion so it's a yes how is everyone voting all in favor say yes yes yes all opposed say no okay just to be clear did you not understand do you want me to just go over it it's for formal notice to be given to Mr weever and for it to be put on the agenda that's it it's not for any we're not taking any other action that will be discussed at the next meeting that's all no just it's a yes or a no of whether it's going to be on the agenda or give formal notice did every everyone do we all did we get everyone's responses no so whoever did not I will do it again we will proceed with a Voice vote so it's either you say yes or you say no obviously like I'll say all in favor if that's what you want to do and this is again not for removal at all whatsoever it is simply because the policy was violated formal notice to Mr Weaver and to be placed on the board agenda for the next meeting not for any other reason so it's either yes or you're opposed to giving formal notice or that it goes on the agenda well I'd still like to ask a question specific to so I'm going to ask a question did you have any conversation with any board members before the meeting this evening specific to this topic I just want to I I there's a there's just a a point of order here um Mr Yami as board secretary I heard an all in favor and then I heard an opposed do we need any more action on this item I didn't get all the voices I mean it's kind of hard to tell was there a voice that said AOS I did not hear an oppose okay so then I think that motion carries and then I think we we can move forward it's a Voice vote it's a Voice vote so it just has to be majority as far as in the amount of people the number of people correct here yes the people here so you need five okay all right yes think I yes yes yes okay personal and retaliatory next we have comments from the public citizens are invited to make comments and are limited to three minutes according to the pasak Valley Regional High School District Board of Education policy number 0167 persons wishing to speak must upon being recognized rise sign in and state their name and town of residents do we have any comments from the public seeing as how there no there's no one we'll move on do I have a motion for adjournment so moved second we are adjourned