##VIDEO ID:aQmJl4eOHTw## time is now 7 o'clock I'll call this meeting to order everybody please quiet down and Mr Gibbs please read the statement of compliance in compliance with the open public meetings ACT public law 1975 chapter 231 notice of this meeting has been properly advertised in the delay record in Suburban Trends its agenda has been posted at the appropriate locations and a copy has been filed with banic Township Clerk thank you please call the RO Mr Bloomer here Mr cesi present Miss Dempsey is absent Mrs Esposito here Mr G here Mr mweene here Mr Pompeo here Mr senic here and Mrs shenon here we have a quorum thank you will everyone please stand for the flag salute Al to the flag of the United States of America to the rep it stands Nation Li andice good evening everyone Welcome to our October 7th meeting first you will notice that the board is wearing blue tonight today starts the week of respect and we are wearing blue to support bullying prevention second last week our district welcome the Morris County School boards Association to pths for the first County meeting of the year it was the first time Panic is hosted an SBA meeting and we made an outstanding showing with great food by the pomptonian and a fantastic performance by the kn thees they sang the national anthem and Thriller by Michael Jackson which blew the crowd away additionally at the meeting the board was presented with our plaque signifying our achievement of the highest level of board certification granted by the njsba car Le Larson Master board certification I have the black the plaque here tonight and I'm going to now hand it to Dr poris we'll be hung hanging in the board office along with a picture that the board will take later tonight third last weekend I was able to attend the annual marching band competition and once again our band stole the show the weather wasn't great but it was an outstanding show and I was lucky enough to present the trophy to one of the participants and just so you can understand what I'm talking about of an example of how great that it was one of the bands played the 8S the 80s song I just died in your arms tonight so I don't think I need to say anymore you all get the point it was outstanding fourth as you all know the veterans wall committee is hosting a dedication to the project on 1117 there will be a public dedication at the high school followed by a luncheon tickets for the luncheon may be purchased on 1011 at the American Legion Post 242 from 6:00 to 8 o'clock at the ho down on 1019 or by emailing pths alumni veterans Wall Group at gmail.com and then they're also on Facebook last I want to wish those members of our community that celebrated it a very happy rashash and a happy yam kapor this coming weekend and I will now pass the m to Dr Porter thank you Mr senic I'm going to pass it over to Liliana for our student representative report Hi how are you all my name is Alana fosu for those of you who don't know me and I'm now a senior this year it is so nice to see you all again and I can't wait for another great year to start off the students seem to be enjoying this change in schedule in particular I really like it I like the classes that drop which gives you more time to do homework particularly not having gym one of those days last Tuesday our tennis seniors were recognized for their senior night thank you to those who came out to support them and we thank the seniors for their hard work over the last four years congratulations to the girls cross country team on winning their conference volleyball had their dig pink game this past Saturday girls volleyball also collected items for North Carolina to send to Operation Kindness in organization Lincoln Park that'll be collecting donations from all over to send to communities who are struggling from the hurricane in North Carolina volleyball collected donations at their home games last week the boy soccer game had lukemia last Thursday and came out with a win of 2 to one all proceeds went to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia the girl soccer team is having their pancreatic soccer game this this Thursday October 10th at 5m they will be supporting team Jenny and Friends of Franco this past Saturday the class of 1974 was recognized at the football game for their 50th year reunion the class of 1974 took a tour of the high school on Friday pths Also honored Pana Community veterans and hosted the Marines and Army National Guard our boys fought our boys fought hard out there and our cheer team put on an excellent performance the marching band performed two two shows this past Saturday taking first place in Oldbridge and at lenpy Valley High School they will be taking their show to MetLife Stadium this Saturday good luck to all the fall sports teams and counties Freshman Class elections for student council were held two weeks ago thank you to all those who came out to run on September 25th the activity Fair took place in the courtyard this is where students could explore the different clubs pths has to offer and talk to student representatives from the clubs that they were interested in on September 26th pths had their back to school night where parents came to meet their kids teachers and get to learn about what their kids will be learning in school the pure leaders helped guide the parents to the right classroom that night this past Friday winter sports held their interest meetings after school coaches and players are excited for the new season and I can't wait to see what they're going to do the homecoming dance is Thursday October 10th from 7:45 to 9:45 the theme is Hollywood Lights the homecoming game will be on Friday October 11th against moris Catholic bths hosted the SATs this past Saturday and all sophomores and juniors will be taking the PSAT on Wednesday October 16th student council has worked hard in planning a spirit week for homecoming that has started today today's theme was pajamas tomorrow's this country versus Country Club and then Wednesday's a pink out and then Thursday is dress as your school color day Hall decorating will be taking place this Wednesday night also the fall pep rally will be taking place on Thursday October 10th at the end of the day the seniors in the band will be recognized before the football game this week thank you for the seniors for their hard work and dedication over the last four years we'll be having our homecoming game that evening where we will Crown a homecoming king and queen at halftime the guidance Department hosted a college knowledge night this past Thursday to review the college application process with pths parents and students it was well attended with important information pths Hasa is having closing Drive Saturday October 19th from 9:00 a.m. to 10 to 2 p.m. eth graders should Mark their calendars for their annual four years and Beyond of orientation program that would be held on October 24th at 7M here at the high school thank you all for your time and I hope you have a great rest of your night that was packed well outstanding report Liliana and I'm proud we're small school we have an awful lot going on and uh the great thing is we have the support from our students obviously from our staff and our community as well but it's exciting to hear all these things so I thank you for that uh just a few things from my report as we begin week two of national principales month and I'm going to point out there is no National superintendent month happy to report that we are hitting our stride in all five schools and I've heard positive reports from and observed great things in every school I'd also like to take a moment to wish all members of our custodial maintenance team a happy National custodian workers recognition day from last week our buildings look great and are safe and clean for our students staff and communities as a consequence your hard work and dedication so I'm half the entire District I'd like to thank you for that as Liliana mentioned wrapped up our back to school nights with pths on Thursday the 26th I thought the peer helpers peer leaders did a great job helping to guide people I actually know my way my way around this building too so it was kind of cool when people asked me where to go I could tell them um at PV I get very nervous when people ask because the numbers make no sense there but I digress but all schools reported great attendance for back to school nights and I will repeat the message you've heard me say before that the support we receive from families goes a long way towards enabling excellence and education and that your attendance at these events is not lost on our students today this is something that Liliana Al touched on it began our week of respect which is part of our commitment to our character education program and overlaps with our anti-bullying measures today was celebrated as blue shirt day across the nation and recognizes a unified effort against bullying on Friday of this week we will have a full professional development day uh Mr sh has been working very hard to organize that event which is called the tech Summit and then all of our schools are closed on Monday and I just want to add my own editorializing about blue shirt day which I think today provides a great opportunity to remind our students staff and families that you're never truly alone I firmly believe that the best anti-bullying measure is to build up strong and compassionate citizens who feel a deep connection to their Community I want all our students to have confidence to know that they have the strength to advocate for themselves and for others and to be that person who is unafraid to seek help whether for themselves or a peer every person in our buildings matters so all of you matter we need to make sure that they know they being our students our staff and our families that they are valued when you feel good about yourself you're less likely to be cruel or mean to others likewise you are also less likely to feel completely vulnerable to the cruelty and difficulties that we inev face throughout our lives life isn't easy but we can all support one another to make the weight of things a little lighter when we do that we strengthen ourselves and one another yes today is one day but if we can celebrate the power of goodness and support today we should be able to continue to live that message every day so I I just wanted to share that I actually came up with the idea on Saturday when I was running so been sitting on this one for 48 hours but um I'm excited for the day I hope it uh goes a long way towards building some really positive habits that concludes my report Mr Gibbs do you have a report yes good evening first I would like to congratulate the board on obtaining their Master board certification I know that the board and Administration has worked very hard in obtaining this certification so congratulations congratulations there's a resolution on tonight's Court agenda for the approval of a corrective action plan the approval of the plan goes back to an error that occurred during the 2016 school year when the bid for work to be done on sjg was not properly adhered to in accordance with njsa 18a 18a d21a that stipulates that a school district must wait the full 10 days from the advertisement date before opening the bids the bid pack excuse me the bid back in 2016 was opened on the 10th day with which means that the district was out of compliance as did not wait the full 10 days the district received 1,1 53,8 4124 in school Development Authority for SDA grant money from the 201426 grant years the remaining $5,850 22 the new playground at North Boulevard will be delivered whether permitting during the week of October 21st for the install the new windows at the high school will be delivered the last week of December with a January install it has been delayed due to manufacturing issues the school's appraisal report um were was provided to the school on September 19th regarding seven Industrial Road a copy of that report has been shared with the board and is currently under consideration the inspection report from the school's District's Engineers on seven Industrial Road is complete and has also been shared with the board as well on September 17th there was another Oprah request from a carpenters union for vendor and purchase water information as to construction projects the request was completed on September 20th in accordance with State guidelines the 2025 2026 budget process has started as the the worksheets have been distributed to the schools and departments to begin the 2025 2026 budgeting process is anticipated that the board office will have the budgets back by November 15 the 2025 2026 budget will have a significant increase in health insurance premiums due to the following rate increases for the PO or preferred provider organization 105 policy is going up by 21.9% the njp or new J New Jersey Educators Health Plan is going up 8% the gshp or Garden State Health Plan is going up 8.3% the new health insurance premium increases are set by the state and will go into effect January 1st 2025 thank you thank you Mr Gibbs that brings us to our first opportunity for public comment members of the public may speak once for a maximum period of 5 minutes by the clock during this portion of the meeting the public may speak on any agenda item only during their five minutes and if a member of the public raises a question direct that question to the board president and state your name and sign in before you begin all right seeing that there's none I'm going to move into the approval of the action items first up we have PMC that's Mr Sam cesi and Mr cesi would you please move the items under PMC I would like to move PMC 66-25 through PMC 7 76 d25 second any question or discussion Mr gibes please call the roll yes Mr cesi yes Miss Dempsey yes Mr G yes Mr mcweeny yes Mr Pompeo yes Mrs shanton yes Mrs Esposito yes and Mr senic yes buing carries thank you next up is CIS Mr maxen would you please move CIS yes I'd like to move CIS 25-25 through CIS 31-25 second all right Bloomer second um before we approve these items or vote on them rather there is a good amount of PD items in there and I just wanted to ask uh and Marie if you give us an overview of that I think that um the professional development opportunities provided are phenomenal and I'd like I'd like the public to see the uh the offerings that are being put forth so I think it speaks to how much you guys are trying to develop the the uh teachers and develop our staff and it's really good opportunity sure um so we are having the tech Summit on Thursday or Friday which Matt Chay is going to speak a little bit about or we're gonna give kudos to Matt for all the hard work he's doing but we have a lot of teachers and administrators actually presenting as well as other staff members so um there's a lot going on that day all day long we have a lot of sessions available um but we have teachers Brenda Adams doing using C in the classroom we have Kim Brun and Mike cbec the Neuroscience of learning Chelsea delay and Samantha strel are doing small group differentiate instruction Denise D and Jessica Renos are exploring eduplanet which is our curriculum platform so they'll be talking about how um teachers can use that more effectively Mike Curtis is doing technology in the band and music uh platform which is amazing because I've seen the piano um studio with all the keyboards down there they there's a lot of amazing things going on at PV with music um being a band parent myself I'm super excited about that Kim leino and K McBride are doing magic school AI Megan lurum and Melissa mcel daughter doing engaging students and families with data and I ready we have Madison Megan Madison doing exploring Ed puzzle and Adam picoli doing personalized PD and AI education strategies so um the whole day has a lot of focus heavy focus on AI we have a keynote speaker who is um is her name Amanda Bickerstaff um she's from AI for education and she'll be doing our keynote in the morning sorry it's upside down and um she'll also be doing a breakout session for us as well um talking about how to use AI more effectively in classroom and teaching practices um we have several administrators and supervisors as well as um some of our technology staff doing additional uh workshops as well and then we also have outside professionals coming in um we have um some of our vendors linkit will be presenting um new line those are our new um what do we call them are they projection board or Apple TVs interactive flat panel displays so that's new lined like how exactly do we explain those um helping our teachers understand how to use those better I ready which is our diagnostic platform we have them coming in doing workshops um Chris D stansky stefansky from walkill Valley Regional school is going to talk about Ai and art um we also have Janet denzo who is another paid um presenter from CDC Academy which um is a school up in Oakland that works with students with disabilities she's coming in and doing two breakout sessions about how accessible our classrooms are um Dr Murphy from River Edge School director district is I'm going to talk about making connections with students and Bruce rker from Ramsey Public Schools is going to using AI to help build a multi media curriculum so there's a lot going on Friday which is amazing um and then we also this week on Wednesday have a presentation from um a lawyer from njpsa FEA which is the foundation for educational Administration um for the New Jersey principal and supervisor Association they do a ton of professional development in all different are areas um and Mr worthington's going to talk with the administration um our child study team members and counselors on significant disproportionality and updates on implementing 504 plans more effectively perfect there's there's so much there and when you look at the agenda for tonight and you see a couple line items about PD for this or PD for that it doesn't really tell the story about how much opportunity is being offered in the wide range of topics that it covers from special education to accessibility inside your classroom to AI um art just outstanding so thank you for sharing that good job if I can just interject too I I did reach out to my superintendent colleagues throughout the county let them know they have an open invitation if they' like to come up at any point Friday to check out what we're doing to sit down a few sessions um they're more than welcome to do so so I think we're g to get a few few more visitors guests and what I'm really excited is I do think that um Matt Shay and and amarie have a vision for really making this the Marquee professional development event in the county and if we can draw in a lot of our partners it's only going to elevate the quality of what we can accomplish so I'm really excited for it all right Mr Gibbs please call the roll Mr Bloomer yes Mr cesi yes M Dempsey yes Mr gon yes Mr miy yes Mr Pompeo yes Mrs shanton yes Mrs Esposito yes and Mr senic yes motion carries okay next up is FFA Mr Bloomer would you please move FFA we need discuss discussion we gotta move it first to discuss it I'd like to move FFA I'd like to make a motion to move FFA 37-25 through FFA 41-25 second 2 second any question or discussion yes there is some discussion so item resolution FFA 39-25 is the approval of a corrective action plan for reimbursement of a rod Grant so this is something that the state notified us I received a letter that was dated September 16th uh notifying us that in 2016 um there was a bid that was opened a day too early there was only a nine-day full day period rather than a 10 full day period um as such we were not in compliance with the regulations now while neither Mr Gibbs nor I was in the board office at the time we still take responsibility for it as we are part of the Continuum there uh Mr Gibbs worked to develop a corrective action plan that will ensure that we maintain compliance with that full 10day period um we've demonstrated that over the past I can tell you five years that I've been superintendent as which has coincided with your three years so far in the district um but this is something that we'll remain committed to to ensure that there are no infractions on our watch yeah we've actually incorporated into our standard operating procedure um so there should be no issues in the future with respect to timing yeah on the opening of the bids yeah that's great and along with that FFA item 40-25 where the state's given us almost $1.2 million that's the first payment of another 500,000 that's coming along after it um again I said it at a past meeting I just want to say it again uh when I started on the on the board we get the audit every year and I would always see there was there was Rod money that was not being given to us by the state and i' always ask when we G to get it when we G to get it and you got it man so outstanding job thank work thank you all right Mr Gibbs please call the rooll Mr Bloomer yes Mr cesi yes M Dempsey yes Mr G yes Mr mcweeny yes Mr Pompeo yes Mrs chanton yes Mrs Esposito yes and Mr senic yes motion carries okay that brings us into workshop and the first Topic in Workshop is PMC uh we have three items School star time committee followup the administrative goals for the 2425 school year and Staffing update from Dr poris all right all right thank you Mr Sanic uh the first one um we have obviously had the school starttime committee on a good number of agendas over the past three years and obviously now we're at we're in the implementation phase so um we didn't want to just Implement without doing so mindfully and getting feedback from our critical stakeholders about how the process is going um we will be looking to send surveys out towards the end of October to get initial reactions from students from staff as well as from uh family members and we're going to try to align those surveys so that they look as close to identical as possible and we'll get responses on a Liker scale we'll use an even number this way people have to choose to be on either one side or the other if you use an odd number A lot of times people tend to drift into the middle if you go even number they have to pick we're going to go on a four-point scale either a three or a two um and then also have an open-ended response um this is something that coincides with a board goal so I I do welcome board input as we generate those surveys and again we'll look push those out towards the end of this month um something that's been important at both the high school and the middle school is to really build a culture around the panther periods at both schools at PV it is mandatory students have that that block at the end of the day it's not for new instruction it is for reinforcement for working in small groups for targeting specific skills and um staff is working to find the best way to utilize that time they they're supporting one another and this is something we know it's brand new something that's pretty Innovative we know of one other District that has a similar schedule and they said the first year was a lot of figuring it out and then after that it really took off so we're hoping to figure it out and have it take off simultaneously and then at the high school it is optional at the end of the day for students who are in good academic standing so far the most recent data I got from Mr hazler was that we had 94 kids sign up um using the smart Pass App um that they were going to go to see different teach and from talking to Mr foglio who was Walking The Halls he said probably double that number I don't know if he was just being positive to make me feel good but it worked but that we're seeing a lot of kids who are taking advantage of of the opportunity um I would like to see us get pretty much every kid taking advantage of it but it's something that we're gonna have to build towards and our our staff has been working with kids they've been having kids come in to make up work that was not completed during class and also using as an opportunity to to retach lessons um it is best if the kids can sign up through the smart pass this way teachers know who to expect but we have had as I alluded to before a lot of students who are popping in um but I'm really excited about this I think it is something that gives back the gift of time which in this school district as well as anywhere else in life is is very difficult to get um and I was really happy to hear Liliana talking about how much she liked the rotating drop block as well that was something I experienced as a teacher when I came here in 2007 I had been teaching a rotating drop block for the previous six years and I loved it so when I came here for the very traditional schedule it was it was it was a tough switch and I wasn't used to teaching a 40 minute blocks I was used to 56 which I found to be much more conducive to letting discussions unfold and really I felt like we could accomplish more I know were you gonna say something I was gonna say something about the panther block at P at least for my middle schooler I I've seen so far you know limited data here but um she'll be working on homework get gets frustrated and I'll just say panther block she's like and then she'll say okay that's my Panther block with that teacher is on Tuesday or Thursday or whatever it is so she's kind of using it to not only alleviate the homework you know struggle um but also to kind of plan ahead she uses some time for homework doing homework in the panther block um and she seems to be using it at least she tells me she's using it uh wisely we'll see if uh when her grades come out but it seems to be fulfilling a need so far it's great so I love that we have the smart pass data for the high school to see really how that's being used what's go what how are we measuring the effectiveness or the success of the PV Panther block that has to be mostly qualitative because it has we we don't really have to worry about the smart pass because the kids have to be there like they're a sign that these are your periods But ultimately the best data that we're going to get from that is going to be anecdotal feedback from students about their experiences as well as for staff being identify I was able to Target these specific areas with with this group of students while this group was able to retach to one another so um it's not I don't see it as something we can necessarily quantify end of the day if if we see improved test scores we'll know that multiple measures are are taking effect but um we're going to have to rely a lot on the the the sense of what's being accomplished that kids feel um as well as if staff members are seeing it because the the teaching blocks are shorter which they actually find is helping kids stay focused and ideally would like to see that limit um issues with student lack of Engagement which usually results in behavior issues but um they seem to like the fact that they can revisit a teaching point that not everybody in the class may have got yeah and part of the reason I'm asking is because I've kind of heard like the flip side of it which is like why can't we use that period for another elective block instead of going back to something we've already had in the day so just how will we know that that's really the best use of that block of Time Versus being able to offer other Alternatives yeah and um this gets to a point that that Mr Shas I talked about in the spring and it came up actually in a survey with staff members too one person talked about if we could offer true enrichment where you have students who don't need the remediation who are actually looking for greater challenges um if we are able to offer them to work on if if they're if they have an interest in art to be able to do an art and and literature project you know if they want to work on an altered book something like that and I know Miss chevrel is very well versed in that we actually worked on a project like that many moons ago um but we do want to look to be able to afford some options in it I think right now we're just getting right now we're still that figuring out phase but I would love it if if we could Branch out that student a is going to be here because there's something that we're working on here but student B's already demonstrated Mastery student B should be able to do something that's going to be enriching and exciting for that student um we're just not there yet I just wanted to add um that this is one of those first blocks in a multi-tiered system of support um which in New Jersey we're really um looking to build that so that it is something that we can have more differentiated for the students and having a full period available to that allows um like Dr Porter said allows us to offer options for students within that zone that are um on the extra help side all the way up to um addressing gifted and talented um type of needs as well but it is a first step to just and get that into a schedule before you can take that launch yeah and we have I feel like there we have the facilities too and I don't want to get ahead of myself but like even if we had a reading room or a reading group um we have great facilities in the media center that we could we could utilize for that as well so um there are certainly some Ambitions that we'd like to be able to realize with that and hopefully as as time progresses and we do get some feedback we can make those become a reality sooner rather than later and then one one thing I I know we shared a report with you about um tardies a comparison between last year at this point and this year we're finding is we've had a Min minimal decline across cohorts um looking at the students from grade nine last year to grade 10 students from 10 to 11 as well as students from 11 to 12 um unfortunately tardiness is generally a habit as opposed to something that is a onetime instance um so I wasn't too optimistic that the later start was going to really influence tardiness um we have seen some some help there but there were there were larger outcomes that we were hoping for um we have seen a handful of students who have improved their punctuality um I don't understand why you would be late for anything but thank you but it still happens but um you know it's something that our admin team addresses and is maddeningly frustrating to me anything else about School St time BL talk to Porter uh my my wife has a saying from me that she said she was going to buy me a t-shirt that said if I wanted to be here I'd be here on time maybe don't wear that probably goes along with exactly what's happened yeah and and we know it like you could start school at noon some people would still be late so I I have a comment um I know that there was a lot of talk last year about crazy traffic in the morning at the high school so last year I had two middle schoolers I wasn't a part of seeing any of that I have to say I haven't had any traffic problems getting my kid to school at the high school like 0.0 I drive in I pull up she hops out we keep going so I don't know if that has to do with I don't know if that's everyone's experience um but I've I I think the later the later start time has also helped sort of dissipate that potentially because kids are not rushing to get there at 710 and there's more of you know a little bit of a gap yeah well you got to get there early right it's moments like this that I wish I had a really good poker face so I could tell you completely deadpan that that was one of my goals in rolling out the later start time it's the fun unintended cons there you go but but it's it it sounds like a positive it's one I'm pretty enthusiastic about I only get yelled at 15 times in the morning versus the old 30 so now we have data showing Improvement Mr Bloomer which that that was an intended do you know the actual percentage that's down tarting is from last year to this year I think you may have emailed it to us but it's um I don't know I don't know if I tucked it in the backup but there there is a there is a sheet that has I can I can double check for it but um for it as as an email so it's down I mean just just going off memory it's probably down about 3% um we're seeing um fewer students who are I'll call them habitual recidivists which is people or three or more so we have seen that drop I think from 22 last year down to 16 for this year um so there that is something we can hang our hats on but I'd be much happier if it were zero perc yeah and I know we definitely don't have this data nor do I expect us to but I wonder if the tardy the difference the amount of the tardy has changed so as a student being 30 minutes late to maybe being five minutes late just because maybe they always get to school at A10 but last year was a much more significant amount of learning loss than it is now I wonder if that's potentially part but I don't think we would have trct that but something that was actually part of the intended outcomes was that if if students are going to be late they're not always late to the same class so I used to teach first period And I love teaching first period except when I had students who were constantly late they were they were missing first five six minutes of class which is a critical part of establishing the tener for the day um so now at least that varies and we know sometimes student have students have to leave early it's not always you're not always missing ninth period you know that that's going to alternate and I know with some sports like I know hockey we're Tethered to when we can get rank time so if you have to go to hockey you're not always going to keep missing the same period that that's going to rotate so I think that provides a benefit there Dr ptis for the uh for PV have you gotten any feedback on The Home Room and putting in the home room because I know that was another change we made too I I know that um just what I've heard anecdotally from miss ringan and miss seasi they like it because they feel like it does have a nice settling effect on the kids and also that they can push out some incentives like they they're doing something right now with um The Home Room that has the best ontime attendance um is going to be able to get I forget what the what the prize is but they're going to get something out of it um so that that I'm I'm excited about but I'd like to find out more because that that was a shift adding in a FIV minute home room and it's only five minutes right so I'm just curious how that time is being used and if it there there's value and like to my mind five minutes seems like nothing but I know schools are like so rigid to the minute that you can get a lot done in five minutes so yep and and and one other thing too that I was happy with um the the first week when M ring and Mr Seas were doing the class meetings they didn't kids didn't have to miss any class time it was it was taken out of um the the panther block at the end of the day so they were able to use that 40 something minute period to go through the class meeting so there was there was Zero instructional minutes lost so that that to me is a win and I know when we do assemblies we're gonna we're going to be able to use that time as well so that that I think should should prove beneficial and we'll keep the conversation going because you know it was a it was a pretty big pretty big leap uh on that we were all a part of undertaking that and I think the community showed a lot of trust in us which which means a lot um and and I use that word trust very intentionally faith is a belief in something for which you have no tangible evidence trust is belief in something for which you have evidence and I think it was definitely trust and I'd like for us to really demonstrate that that trust was well placed or continue to show that sorry there's a little too little too deep for the nature of this specific conversation which takes me over the administrative goals uh I put in back up the um five different examples of administrative goals that I shared with the principal supervisors directors um and our chief technology officer and what I want to ensure is that our principles directors supervisors Chief are all setting goals that align with what's in our strategic plan which runs from 2021 to 2026 and therefore is also aligned with our district goals and I what I want is if you can picture the image of everybody pulling on a rope in the same direction I want that I want everything to be be lined up together so what we do with the with the admin team is give them a template for different goals that they can that they can select they can do two goals they can do three goals um I don't I don't worry about which number they choose but they have to be lined up with actual things that are going to benefit our district that we've identified through the Strategic plan and the district goal setting process of things that will be visible so I gave them I gave them language to use I also gave them math that they could employ and then they could choose uh what to plug in and to the to their credit some of them decided with the walkthroughs goal to set higher numbers and I checked with them like you sure you want to do this and and they are sure so um it's something I think is important for you as a board to to see and also for the public to know about that we're not setting these goals with any degree of um frivolousness like these are very targeted and and very intentional designed yeah that's something I wanted to comment on when I read through them that's something that I noticed was how specific they were down to like the number of students the number of meetings and I I like the way that the conceptual goal at the top level is distill down into something that's tangible and measurable and I like the uh the target of the goals increased academics increased Community uh connection with the uh with the uh school and and pushing along the portrait of a graduate to develop that expectation of what kind of student that we wish to produce just I thought they were very good thank you I appreciate hearing that and and I do want to point out too like some of the goal behind presenting this as well is I want this to be an efficient process for the administrators I don't want I don't want to have X number of people stewing about what to dream up for their goals if if I can hand it to them and they they can play around with the language they have some latitude not a lot but some latitude within this but I want it to be something where they can look at it and it's a meaningful important goal that's probably taking two minutes of thought like it's just bam here it is I can put it right in there and I want it to be more than an exercise in compliance because a lot of times in schools um you you can get a lot of goals passed down to and just feels like okay I'm G check these boxes and okay that's it excellent thank you um and then final thing I um I think it's important always bring updates about Staffing so um in terms of Staffing right now we're entering round two of assistant principal interviews at PV this week uh Mr sabrowski and the team are using what we call the process which is very collaborative and brings in teachers brings in parents it brings in uh supervisors uh as well as other principles as well and um Mr serowski had Mr hazler as his co-pilot to to lead the charge and so far they've gotten good input about the first round of candidates and they're taking care of round two this week and then I'll be involved in round three at which point we should be able to narrow it down to to one candidate who will present to you ideally in time for approval at the October 28th meeting so if that person has to give 60 days somewhere we'll have them in place for January 1 and we have internal coverage set up um for the meantime M ringing will be here until the teachers con teachers convention week so she'll she'll work that three-day week um so in that we'll call it like an interregnum uh we have coverage already set up so we'll be able to assist Mr Seas you making sure that ppv runs smoothly we also uh posted a position for a leave replacement for math uh this one's going to be tough to fill but um we've struck old a few times with people who are retirees who were interested in coming back for a short gig we're hoping to H and have that happen again but uh we have that pushed out there if you know of anybody and your worlds who might be interested in turning to the classroom to teach math to middle schoolers it's just as exciting as it sounds um but definitely something worth reaching out about uh we have an opening for speech therapist which is listed right now uh as anticipated as we have not yet approved actually no we just approved the resignation so it's official um and then I'll put it out there too that we always need uh AIDS and we also always need lunch AIDS if you're interested in something that has some pretty flexible hours those are both opportunities and I will say that being a lunch a is the greatest appetite suppressant in the world when you watch small children eat you will never want to eat again yeah thought thought I'd share anyway uh any any questions about either Staffing or anything else we covered here right all right moving on to CIS uh three discussion topics the stem Aviation Academy uh and a uh curriculum instruction committee meeting followup the tech Summit which we heard a little bit about earlier in the meeting and then the Panic Library connection so we're gonna have um Ed cop he's our supervisor of stem Aviation and science uh um explain um the evolution of our steman Aviation Academy into what uh currently we are playing with the name Academy of applied sciences so good evening everyone thank you for uh inviting me to speak on on the behalf of the of the academy is we are proposing somewhat of a transition or an evolution in order to benefit our students in the long run as far as trying to um create opportunities for them Beyond High School and we've come across some challenges over the last couple of years as far as enrollment is concerned with our Aviation Academy in particular um but also our enrollment in our STEM Academy so the the plan here would be to merge those two into a singular Umbrella Academy and look to offer just a greater variety of courses that will better impact our students Beyond High School do you want me to go through like the whole here okay so I'll just step in too um and say I think it's important to talk about what we're looking to phase in and that this is largely in response to um recognizing that we have to be fluid as our enrollment has proven to be fluid um as as the job market that we're trying to prepare students for obviously students in these Academy programs will be will be moving on to to college but um we want to give them as much training as possible and something too I I just want to put it out there I think it's very interesting we're going to be talking about AI later is uh Mr mweene he was able to utilize an AI program to generate meeting minutes that were by and large very accurate there was one reference to another high school as the Putin High School which pretty funny but uh but I thought the technology was great that you were able to roll into generating minutes yeah it was it was very helpful um as we sent a everybody knows um we sent a CS CIS committee report to the board members that we met last Monday um for about an hour and the bullet points were pretty accurate um we discussed most of the discussion was about uh the academies we discussed some other topics as well which we can talk about afterwards um but uh the report kind of AI of summed it up pretty pretty well for us all right so I'm in looking at the current jobs report for the year 2024 uh US News reported that 47% of the top 100 jobs are in healthc care um obviously that is covered by our allate health Academy that we we offer here 25% are in the stem and I'm including some of the um kind of mechanics and repair guys and pilots and all those things under the umbrella of the of the um percentage of those types of careers 15% are other and another 10% are in business and finance so you know between our stem and allet healthies we are covering about three quarters of the top 100 jobs in those cies and that positions us as a as a district in a way that offers opportunities that that most other schools do not offer I mean we we are one of the few if not only high schools that offer both both in allet health and EST STEM Academy um certainly in the in in the state of New Jersey so um in looking at our enrollment what we're trying to do is broaden the scope right now the aviation Academy's primary focus was to have students sit down and pass the FAA written test to become a private pilot and with that narrow scope we're not capturing as many students in joining that Academy out of 8th grade I mean it's pretty remarkable if any student knows exactly what they want to do coming out of 8th grade let alone uh to sit down and become a pilot so even with our best efforts in promoting and trying to recruit students not only from our from Panic Valley Middle School but also from local other local middle schools such as Lincoln Park um we are facing kind of a shortage of of of students who actually want to be in those seats pursuing that opportunity so obviously we need to expand the scope and and sequence of those courses our STEM Academy itself has has been a very popular program although you know stem is not quite as attractive it used to be a very hot buzzword 10 years ago and that has somewhat waned and so we we aren't producing pilots and Engineers specifically what we're trying to do is broaden the the scope and offer as many opportunities to students as possible in those fields whether it is in data science or in Aerospace or in being a pilot or a drone pilot or you know even if somebody wanted to pursue being you know a diesel mechanic or work on an airplane what we're trying to do is expose those students to those opportunities because that those are the kind of the hot jobs of tomorrow and of course it's very difficult when you have an incoming eighth grader or an incoming uh freshman in a high school even predicting where that job market might be in four years let alone 8 years let alone you know 10 or 12 depending on their um graduate or postto work so um our ability to prepare them for kind of the fundamentals of what those things have to offer I think is where where we need to direct our attention and lay the foundation and habits of mind and exposure to those types of careers so that that's really kind of the kind of the broad picture of what we're trying to accomplish in our evolution of merging these two acmis together um giving the students many opportunities as possible across multi-dimensions of and um really focus on career paths we've done a really excellent job of bringing um season professionals either by Zoom or in person in the school um exposing the students with last Friday we had Warren County Community College we're driving around spot the Boston Dynamics robot uh right around the high school in the in the cafeteria with had a drone flying around um we had a civil engineer zoom in on to our freshman stem class we've had retired Pilots local um community member Steve O'Neal was visited our our freshman Aviation student so trying to connect right the the members of the community whether it's impa Quantic or a little bit beyond that and have students see that they have those possibilities I know we have kind of limited experience when certainly when I was that age I never never set foot in a warehouse or uh you know saw a robotic arm workor and yet we're doing that with our stem kids we're getting them off campus and we went to you the air traffic control tower nework airport we've been to Morristown Airport and these these kids have sat on a private jet and um experienced the same feeling of what it's like to walk on that plane where Tom Cruz was just the week before so um anyway that that's kind of the broad Vision I would love to to take some questions and I mean I can certainly direct it towards a more focused idea of where we would love to make this thing go but I I don't know that it's prudent to kind of have a detailed vision for what it's going to look like five years from now what we really want to do is kind of lay see you know feel some questions and make sure that we're we're on solid footing starting next year for our incoming freshmen we're going to maintain the program as is for our current sophomores and then Juniors and then seniors as they work their way through and um start to to look into and do some research as to what what's the best plan moving forward for what kind of curricular resources staff Etc that we're we're going to need to to have our students sit down and experience so that was going to be my question whether you were going to have the students that are in the programs now be able to complete their studies and then graduate from the academy that they signed up for and you said we are so that's good yes our our current current students already who have been applied and accepted into the stem and Aviation Academy are going to roll through their their primary course work with no no changes to their um their programs so this is only for potential future students who are in Middle School currently so I have a question thank you this was really helpful and this one page was great um I was reading at at home and if you could just maybe touch on like there was option one and option two and the thought process behind that because I I understand obviously option two I just yeah like if we're already having problems with numbers in option one and then you you sort of bifurcate it then how does that work and what does that look like like absolutely Chris do you mind going to the next slide please thanks sir so in option one it's does not allow for any student choice that that is the sequence so what we're doing is instead of offering full year courses we would like to make them semester based that way students again instead of just taking four courses they would end up taking eight so they're exposed to you know broader array of of opportunities and topics they may not be able to go as deep but they certainly will get what we're trying to do is in in high school is spark the interest of a kid who may take that Paton and run with it for the rest of their career we're not necessarily trying to create Engineers coming out of high school so option one is really um direct it's focused it really depends on um whether it's our our staffing issues and and other things so that is a just a you know kind of direct approach to some of the topics that we'd like to offer our current stem kids the aviation kids would be folded into that and of course we would love to if you look at option two allow for some student choice where there's different Pathways they would get different you know different chord at graduation and they would have essentially what would be if you were to think of like kind of the the college Paradigm they have they're going to have a concentration or a major in one of those three areas that is supported by some of the electives outside of their area so a stem kid can take some Aviation classes or an aviation kid might be able to take some stem and some technology classes that they currently have no ability to to take so um that's really kind of the dream that I have with this is to to ensure that we're allowing students to get as broad of an exposure as possible add in some student choice and with this also allows the general student in the building this opens up elective space for all of them to to take a robotics course that right now they are not able to take at all so if you're not in the St Academy we don't offer robotics to our general students currently and what we'd like to do is the academy version of it I'm sorry would would be one semester and there would be an open elective to the general student body if they were super interested in that to be able to sit down and take it so that's going to increase our enrollment so we may have still a smaller enrollment for Academy students as you saw on the first slide but and a kind of a a broader opportunity for all students in this in the district to be able to um kind of sit in and and experience even just a just you know a sampling of what theem are currently offering handful of questions if I may um and it doesn't have to just be you who answers but the first one I had after looking at this uh preparing for this what are the numbers for the health academy by grade in comparison to the two other acms so my understanding is that we have a I mean I can give you some of the the enrollment numbers we we take about 25 five um students that are full-time students so we fill one full section of students then there's the share time which comes from Morris County votch and I'm not sure exactly what those are but maybe it's 20 but those aren't Panic kids anyway right we're kind of just hosting them um the 25ish or so students is a blend of um Panic students and Lincoln Park kids and and maybe some other districts whereas right now our sem Aviation acmy are only able to take Panic right Valley Middle School students okay and just a quick note and I can get you the actual numbers but the allet health so we we'll get for the junior senior share time Academy we we cap out at 25 for the am kids 25 for the PM kids and your homes School determines whether you're an AM or PM eligible student because you know for Logistics purposes they can only send either in the morning or in the afternoon but those are capped at 25 each so we can bring in 50 Juniors 50 seniors from the starey each year and then it it varies a bit with enrollment we still have Lincoln Park for Allied Health but we can no longer get new students from Bloomingdale right no I'd love to just see what those numbers look like in in comparison for the full-time students just uh just to have that across the board um and then there is a note in here about the the numbers plateauing for the Aviation Academy besides the fact that we're going to lose future students um is there any concern about doubling down on an academy seems to be plateauing versus just maybe phasing that Academy out and in introducing a new Academy um over time has that been discussed yeah I mean what we're what we're doing is we're taking the best of the current Aviation Academy curricula through aopa and really shrinking it down into about two courses and offering that as a potential pathway but you know again it depends on our ability to have quality instruct so pathway way one up there is really what you just described which is the elimination of the Aviation Academy and focusing our STEM Academy students just this is this is what we offer okay whereas pathway 2 will enable those students who are interested in in possibly becoming a pilot or some sort of remote operator allows them a pathway towards that um so I mean I guess that would be my yeah answer and there is what of the drawbacks of being a smaller school too is that we're Limited in what we can offer which is what part of why we like the option to because um it's sat it satisfies multiple needs and admittedly I I do put pressure on the the team here to ensure that the acmy are sustainable if you don't have kids obviously they're not sustainable so what I like about this Vision that Mr cop is sharing is that it satisfies th those multiple I'll call them pressure points where if you're devising schedule or generating a schedule you you want to keep classes um that are at at probably at least a dozen kids to 20 kids um some of these are so specialized that they're much smaller like you might have a class of five which from a budget perspective is not great practice but we're giving kids these tremendous opportunities that we promise to them regarding either the STEM Academy or the Aviation Academy I do like the fact that this is going to open up the aviation classes to kids who are not in the academy so if somebody wants to learn more about about drone use that they they will have chance to do that but we we've talked about it and we're realistic that if the if these changes don't don't help to pump up interest in the Aviation Academy it it might fall by the wayside because there's there's no sense trying to drag something to the Finish Line when it just isn't have the legs and then my my final question again this is can be later uh at a later date but was considering that we do have staff for the health Healthcare Academy um kind of leaning in that way with stem as far as maybe biomedical engineering which is a huge need um in the United States uh you know a lot of lot of people have to go to the military to get those training believe it or not um in the US as opposed to few colleges I think there's only one or two colleges in the state of New Jersey that actually offer quality biomedical engineering jobs Stevens being one of them that has something like an 98% accept job rate when you graduate um has there been any discussion as far as taking some of that stem and merging it with the existing Healthcare teachers to create a kind of a biomedical engineering yeah I mean this is something we would obviously love to be able to offer um something that we've considered obviously with with whether it's Prosthetics or you know orthopedic surgery a lot of that's done via you know laser surgery is not really done with scalpel so much anymore however um the Allied Health program right now has a pretty riged and kind of stuck um core sequence there's not a lot of opportunity for wiggle room outside of what they currently have that's not to say that we couldn't have um a unit built into an Allied Health course or something that does Infuse some of the some of the topics that are that are in our our curricula here and certainly the allet health program and and iterating it to for the best interest of those students is always on the radar and obviously you know that's that's on for for Miss marada and fle and Dr ptis to um also I think the alled health program is run heavily by Ruckers um it's a particular sequence of courses and things they need to take so and as uh Mr cop said the um rigidity of the courses and the sequence of the courses might not allow for that extra space there yeah just to be clear I wasn't suggesting Chang the the healthcare Academy I was saying maybe use stem students to kind of lean into Healthcare you understanding the anatomy for the designing of medical devices biomedical engineering um type things like you said Orthopedics just using caring and treating for devices that are used in the hospital on a regular basis that every has has a biomedic uh Department in in the hospital across the street so things like that from the stem perspective versus changing anything with Healthcare and I think like what's neat about that if we go with option two and we have those elective options and also um I know we've been discussing Aviation and airace but actually um in a lot of conversations that we've had with Mr cop he has a broader vision for that second pathway that is really exciting and has more to do with um even like race car formula race cars and um trains and Logistics and and making it really broader um as opposed to so narrow in the aviation um so that to me is somewhere that there might be more space to has some unique electives like that I I definitely agree with you that we can our STEM Academy or these stem courses can go beyond just civil mechanical ex like we can electrical Aerospace I mean we can go into the biomedical as certainly a unit or a topic that that's definitely applicable here and like you said me all we're trying to do is just light the fire under one or two kids and let them you know choose their own pathway from here that's really our job is to inspire and uh lay those foundations habits and and set them free I I have another followup question so 25 26 sounds really far away but when you need to be recruiting kids it's not that far away so it looks sounds like there are a lot of decisions that still need to be made about this and like is a path one is a path two what does that look like Staffing do we sort of have a timeline that we've thought about that we're working towards um any information once this meeting adjourns it's go time and I'm not kidding either and that was we we had uh we had a very intense meeting reviewing this we had Mr fogler there representing what has to happen in guidance Mr hazler obviously oversees everything this man cold Mr cop I think we had a couple other people in on the meeting and ultimately the timeline that we're working with is you as a as an elected body has to hear about this tonight you know we led up to that by having the CIS meeting which Mr mcweeney ran um which I thought was a great opportunity to get the questions going and really kind of wrap our head around how do we present it now our next steps we're looking at the recruiting of our own students and then on a wider lens of how we're going to recruit students outside this District as well but for for this upcoming school year it it's starting right now um and and we I'm I'm very much keyed in on option two and I I like to give people latitude to make decisions and I will I would I still give that to Mr cop and Miss manold to make the best decision which is option two I want them to own that for those of you wanting a lesson in leading language I just gave an excellent case study there but you we want our kids to be able to see our current eighth graders to be able to see the these are things I'm going to be able to do um if if I participate in this and what I like about the flexibility that that they built in with the phase in well two things I really like about it one is if we brought you in with a promise that we were going to deliver a program we're going to still deliver that program so the students who are currently a part of these acmis are going to still get that but as students are coming in we have some flexibility and some wiggle room about more Pathways that we can add I would love to have what you were talking about We're not gonna be able to touch the Allied Health teachers most likely because that's kind of a school within a school but to be able to have kids perform reverse engineering on some type of medical apparatus would be a great great learning opportunity and I'm also showing off one of the kids actually taught me what reverse engineering was at back to school night that's what I was going to ask so this kind of opens up opportunity where we would be restricted from certain coursework because we can't obviously duplicate certain acmis if whether viot Tech or another school has it coursework is not restricted right so under this we can have I guess pathway is the word use y that does touch other you knowmy per se right is that is that accurate sure I mean what we're once we have those students in that classroom and we have a board approved a curriculum that we think is in the best interest of those students then I mean we can take this in any direction we want the this there's no like copyright like Allied Health has its own rules and regulations under that that kind of name um we created the STEM academy and our Aviation Academy and our own likess I mean we were we're somewhat bought into the aopa curriculum as far as that offering for the Aviation Academy and we are moving away from that particular sequence and locked into that and broadening the scope to be able to offer it and have the the the flexibility to evolve right um based on on need of our students so one wanted to comment on the uh um what Mrs shenton brought up about about the recruitment yeah it is important to get to our own students to our own PV eth graders to let them know that this is coming once we have a plan set um but also looking outside of the district we obviously lost some recruiting grounds with Lincoln Park not being able to come here is re turning this into the Academy of applied sciences are we going to be able to open that back up to those or are they still going to be having to go to um their stay in their home District yeah that's something that that's going to um have to be a decision made at the board level for Lincoln Park as well um when when the discussion came up about booten offering an Aviation Academy um we did present them a good amount of information about our program to help them determine if there was a material difference between what we were offering and what botin was offering Mr cop and I presented at one of their board meetings I know we had a a shared services committee meeting um we provided quite a bit of followup um ultimately they determined that there was the two programs were too similar um and that's why they decided well they really are supposed to send their kids to botin unless there is that material difference I thought the fact that ours actually existed were theirs were still in the idea status was enough of a distinction but that didn't suffice um I respect their decision but yeah I think that this um this could be a possibility that opens up that if there if there are kids bless you in in Lincoln Park who are currently in seventh grade who don't fit into those kind of Tidy boxes of Aviation or stem that this might be an option for them so it's something that we will have to present uh to our neighbors and hopefully they they find it something that would benefit their District as well as their students um and then I I I didn't close the door completely on on Bloomingdale um I was admittedly frustrated about how that ultimately was determined and perhaps more importantly communicated but they they have a pretty pretty firm agreement with Butler um regarding sending there but to to me if we can offer something to them that is so appealing to their kids that they see there being a an enormous benefit um I'd love to see them are there other districts we could go too farther away there are um yeah you don't want to spread your tentacles too far um although they're responsible for busing but there are a few other neighbors um who I'd like to reach out to and and just say like look even if it's something where they have program that we can offer and we could do an agreement to to swap F we we'll open up five spots for your kids you open up five for ours um so I want to I want to really pursue that so I think once we get once this really starts to take flight which is going to be over the next few weeks um I can develop my sales pitch to some of our neighbors we did try to get I'm side one quick thing we did try to get um Marsh count bch involved with the Aviation Academy um they elected to go to a district that's much further west than Mars County so we did not we did not win that I also like the option to gives much more choice and you you're talking to eighth graders who don't know what they want to do and this opens up a lot to them they could go down any any number of different paths um I also like that this is you this is a little off it is on topic but we we haven't discussed it yet this is a true four-year Academy experience for students going into High School whereas some of the Mars County ummies are not they're three years and then they all go to County College for the fourth year um and they're kind of disconnected from the school that they were at whether they were at Mars County or they were at Mars nolles or wherever the academy was because all of their seniors also scattered and are now at County College and they're going to school one day a week two days a week three days a week maybe um and they're not connected to their home school much anymore even though that we obviously welcome them welcome them back um but you know they senior sunrise and that senior year experience that a lot of our seniors get a lot of the county Mars County Academy students don't actually have that full fouryear experience I like this because it it's a four-year full four-year program and and that's something that I think is really important and this this gets to My Philosophy as an educator that it sounds like a long time we've got him k to2 for 13 years um but it goes by really quickly and and I want yes I want our Juniors and seniors to have the these career ready experiences training so that when they're preparing for that that great beyond that they're more prepared than their peers from any other District or any other state but the reality is they're still kids they're still high schoolers and high school is an important experience it's a it's a growth opportunity some of us probably would do it differently if we had a chance to redo it but that's also the beauty of it we get four years to to learn to grow to evolve and so I I do like the fact to your point this is an authentically High School experience that has a very strong focus on College preparation and career preparation but it still lets you do senior Sunrise lets you be a kid yeah I couldn't agree more I I really like option two for the flexibility especially as as Mr mcweeny said when you're in eth grade you know that you like science you know that you like stem but you don't necessarily know what you want to do so the ability to have a student come in and take different classes AutoCAD robotics um remote operation of drones data science there's a wide range of things that can spark their interest and it's kind of like you said um you you you you put a spark in that student and then got and then who knows where they're going from that point forward to which college or whatever but you're but you're lighting the flame that might car them into a really great career um I did want to correct one thing that uh Mr Pompeo said NGIT has an outstanding biomechanical engineering program um so I just wanted to make that not it's not just Stevens that's all my father went there when it was the the New York School of Engineering so if he ever watched any of these meetings thatd be a big trouble so my apologies send me his email address I'm gonna forward him this link so just following on some of the comments um and I also really like option two for the flexibility it gives to students um I will know and I'm sure you're all well aware of this that that requires um really high quality advising because just as these eighth graders don't know what they want to do coming out of eighth grade even once they're in these Pathways they'll still be very like I don't know which one did you know the overwhelming choice so um you know I think we want to make sure that all of our um teachers and counselors are prepared for that but I do think option two gives us that ability to really differentiate this Academy from the other existing ones that we've now felt like we've started to compete against other stemies so I think you can really make it unique in that way and have it as with the pathways it's something that you cannot get that kind of a education in otheres um and I will I know I sent this to Mr mcweeney but I I would encourage you to think about the name of it and is it really I know we want it to be accurate but is it in capturing what the students are going to get out of it and do they understand what applied sciences is I think most people will go don't we apply all science do something and so how is this a different science from the theoretical Sciences um and uh where was I go oh and I know that we through some of the notes we had it was abbreviated AAS and coming from a community college background that's an Associates of applied science which is an actual degree and to Mr MC's point I think some of the students that do the Mars County programs and then spend their fourth year at the college to graduate with an associates degree so I think we just want to be careful about making that decis iction and not confusing people in that way dur during the committee meeting we discussed calling it The awesome Academy of applied sciences I think it was Dr Portis with the Elite Academy of applied sciences you know so uh I think although you that all out real slow and it's gonna end up with an entirely different name I think we do we need to put some marketing spin on it I bet you chat gbt could name it something good probably I'd be interested to know what the students who are currently in the twoy would call it but maybe that's opening a can worms I just one one follow-up question I promise I'll stop asking um this I like option two as well um and I'm wondering if we're here five years later 10 years later and one of the tracks is not as popular it's a much easier change to phase out a single track and replace it with something else than having to redo the whole Academy itself correct I just wanted to and I assuming this is direction we want to go in there is some connection to what we do already do with PV as far as our our elective courses that are offered there and as far as advertising and promoting theem itself I think that's the place where we need to do that grade six seven and eight in order to that right now they're only one markeing period long but we just added spos and a few other things that are more remote control more computer programming we have the Legos with the drag and drop and um anyway I think that's the place where we can really kind of generate the excitement in those students that they know what the academy is going to be about just at another level higher so I I also prefer option to I do want to just make sure that we we all understand that it has been hard to staff some of these positions over the last few years and so before we embark on something that we may not be able to staff I just want to make sure that we we're very careful and we consider that too absolutely and um this is something that I'm really excited about directly with the the option two it's funny because there is something else already on the books called option two so we probably need a better name for that too so the the option of Awesomeness perhaps but um when Mr cop was was talking about this um he was he brought up some conversations he he's had with staff members about some of the possible courses that they could be teaching and some of the reactions were more or less like wait I I can teach that and so when when educators are passionate they obviously see greater value in their work so I feel like this option with the flexibility that we have in it it has a very fluid design and and I'll say this is a huge compliment I feel like Ed dreams very big dreams and I feel like this is going to enable him to have that long range Vision to say okay we can't do this next year but three years down the pike this is something I'm looking to build towards and if as we start to learn more about what our sixth and seventh graders and eighth graders are interest been doing we we can we can adapt and modify as well because with the aviation and I was here for the launch of that we didn't survey our community to find out are people really interested in this and we kind of found out the hard way that there's a shortage of Pilots because not a lot of young people are interested in it and so I don't want to repeat the the mistakes of the past and I want to be able to tap into what are the real interest so we've got the job market angle played really well let's make sure we're also getting the interest side but if you've got staff members who are passionately engaged with the the content that they're teaching word gets out and and that tends to be one of your greatest recruiting tools as well and to um your point before about like do we have to have it all together before we start talking about it um what Mr cop has uh kind of put together is our fast course would be for those ninth graders next year which combines um both the fundamentals of applied sciences and fundamental technology inter course so instead of one instead of the stem students taking one and the aviation students the other they're all going to take both and um so it's really that is what we need to get in place right now for next year's program studies and then that gives us this year to actually build out the rest of it and then bring that back like this is what we're going to do and then build out that program of study so it is a phasing 100% we need to have that really button down but if I'm a parent putting my kid in the program I want to know what year looks like also so we need at least a very almost button down idea it will look like awesomeness which will be more defined than that all right anybody else so on this topic I thought you guys did a phenomenal job presenting it Mr cop I think it might be the first time you came here to present to us great great job thanks thanks for uh thanks for all the information much appreciated just earned a bi-weekly spot congratulations yes correct and uh we're going to move on now we're gonna move on now to the tech Summit I think mat sh is gonna take your spot and I think mat sh is gonna talk Chris am on all right um well someone stole some of my thunder earlier talking about all the different workshops that we were going to be putting on um the the goal of this this all kind of started in May when my previous boss be Sheridan was like Matt we want you to plan the October in service good luck and I was like okay all right we're doing this uh and and fortunately you know Ed the other supervisors Jill marada uh Lissa belardino everyone's been just a huge help help helping you know piece this together uh my Chris back here and some of the the rest of my team also like bravely step forward to to put on some workshops um you know and the goal you know my goal for every every in service is that we're offering something for everyone in the building so even though yes it's a a tech Summit and I was like hey we should do a big focus on AI we tried to offer some something for music something for art something for the case managers something for special ed uh something for math inner orbit for science so we we really tried to have something for for everybody and then some just you know General tools to add to their tool belt like canva edpuzzle you know some day-to-day tools that they can use in their classrooms some teaching strategies you know that like small group differentiated instruction and uh we we kicked round one for uh understanding by Design you know we were just trying to build a day where there was going to be some you know a little something for everybody um and and not have and this is coming from The Tech Guy not have a very heavy-handed you know like Tech you know me pounding Tech over their heads so if that's not what they think is important in their class for their particular students at that time you know there's there's a wide variety to choose from uh of course the Hot Topic uh and I I don't know if I'm if I'm going to be Jumping the Shark here to to the other thing that you're going to be discussing tonight which is AI uh is is AI in education and what does that look like what is it starting to form out to be you know I think um you know even a year ago we were all scratching our head saying okay what what does this look like what does chat GPT mean what does it mean for education and now it's starting to like form into something so I had the privilege last year uh when you all sent me to texo uh the njasa texo conference one of the keynote speakers was Amanda bicker staff from AI for Education uh and and there I was like wow this is a really good delivery a really good message um because she she really brings it down to a classroom level and what can AI look like in the classroom and her her foundation that she she helped found really focuses on like what are some prompts teachers can use what are you know how can you use it with lesson planning they even have a policy Workshop so it might be something we revisit again when we talk about AI committee uh so I I thought that would be a great way to kind of springboard the day off with that keynote have her do that breakout session afterwards for someone that says boy I really want to hear more about that we have so many we actually started cutting back on AI workshops that day because we were having so many AI workshops I was like well we should offer some more things so uh that was kind of just the the idea behind that day we've besides just the tech Summit you know I it's been my focus the focus of all the other supervisors certainly an Marie's uh uh been supportive of just trying to offer more PD in general my my observation and again I just had my one-year anniversary thank you for keeping me uh so part of part of my observation from last year was We we had all this technology we didn't want for technology but I found like was it being effectively used in the classroom and being delivered to the students and I found there was kind of a disconnect where we got some of that technology put in the classroom and said all right you know hopefully you'll figure out a way to use it I would love to say I'd love love to bring on an instructional coach or a Tech coach that's a later conversation but so in the meantime I've kind of like voluntarily made my staff yeah sorry I didn't tell I didn't tell the superintendent of the schools I was going to make that pitch but I've I've kind of uh um you know unofficially made my staff part of part of that Tech coaching so now you know you'll see on that day Chris Schultz is doing something on um everything you need to know about MacBooks we're doing uh my Steve Fitz Simmons in my department is going to talk about securely classroom and how to massively manage Chromebooks in your classroom so you know we're trying to kind of fulfill that role of not only are we just buying a bunch of tech and fixing it we're also going to support it and show teachers how to how to use that Tech in the classroom to effectively help help the students so so that's a little summary of of tech Summit and kind of our our PD at large the new for one example of that the new line training it we bought you can talk to me later about how Gordon and I made this budgeting work but we uh replaced 95 classrooms this summer with the new line inter flat interactive flat panel displays um which was a massive undertaking and was really our our big summer project but we wanted to make sure that teachers didn't walk in in the first week of school and say what is this thing what do I do with this so we offered summer workshops that you know a number of teachers took advantage of um which is always awesome because they're coming here voluntarily in the summertime to to do learning the first two in service days we did training for for those new lines this Friday new line we spent enough money that they sent us a Free Trainer new line is coming out to do uh three more workshops on this Friday we're going to continue to do training so so far it's been very well received by the teachers um but it's that that kind of like ongoing professional development you know the the faculty meetings the department meetings for the future we're already planning out uh October 22 second I'm already looking past you know this this 11th in service um you know it's just really ongoing PD to make sure the teachers have what they need when they need it so any questions about the tech Summit or PD at large the uh the new new line displays I was looking at them at back to school night I thought the teachers seemed to love them they're so cool phenomenal they they really the technology I could stand here for an hour and a half talking about how amazing they are and how much but compared to the the old school 2007 smartboards these like blow that away like today we were just helping a teacher at PV with the new line board you can broadcast to a student so whatever's on the display you can broadcast to the student's Chromebook we have a student with visual impairment that has a 14inch touchcreen Chromebook so what's on the board can be put onto his Chromebook and then he can pinch and zoom what he wants to see it's like we didn't have that capability before so those are the those are types of things and and the teachers are learning that that's that's a complex skill and she's only had the smart the new line for a month so it's it's pretty cool to see them using it you know very specifically for the needs of their classroom so I just wanted to say uh over here I just I I have to be admit I'm very disappointed um I thought this presentation was going to come with lasers a smoke show maybe some superheroes uh the screen's not even on yeah I didn't know how much you wanted yeah Dr Portis we're gonna have to talk after this meting all right I'll see I'll see what I can do I tried to impress for the njasa uh meeting that we hosted I'm sorry njsba the school boards meeting that we hosted I we had two 86 inch displays going at once with our new speaker system there the music was bumping in there yeah yeah so we've been trying to show off some of some of the new tech I'm sorry I didn't show it off tonight but I think what Vinnie would like to see is sharks with laser beams on their heads all right I hear you Doctor yeah M has said kittens with your beams please I could I could bring kittens we could put on my YouTube there's kittens right now on my YouTube all right but again thank you for your support you know and some of these were were paid experiences and so the the board supporting our vision for you know trying to get teachers what what they need is is very helpful so thank you for that and and something that I think Dez warrant stating too is that you you got to the implementation Gap that we often see where and I knew this experien this when I was a teacher where you get these great gadgets it's great Tech and you know it's powerful and great but you don't know how to use it and you don't know who to go to and something that I I heard in my walkthroughs of the schools was people being really excited about the accessibility of your team as trainers um who will follow up and be very patient with them as they try to learn the technology and that that despite the fact I'm pretty angry about the comment about having a Tech coach which you just dropped in my lap about 12 minutes ago Gordon's gonna be okay I'm just planting a seed I was a tough but but the fact is that that people feel like they can go to you for things they can go to Chris they can go to Alison they go to Steve so that's really important that that builds up their confidence so what you the example you gave which totally totally benefits our students that happens when you have people who are accessible and relatable and and really believe yeah this is going to help us out and I joke about it from a budget perspective too these new lines are not the just money suck that the smartboards were because we don't have to buy the the specific bulb that cost some ridiculous madeup amount so I'm I'm enthusiastic on a number of levels but I think it is a nice opportunity for you to hear that um a matter of public record that the um the culture of your team has definitely helped us Implement things more readily I appreciate but you're not getting a Tech coach all right damn yeah we'll work on a manory apparently get the sharks with lasers in their heads and then may maybe all right I'll see what I can do next time thank you all I just have one question just a boring question it's probably more for um Mrs vle the I ready for algebra are we piloting that program or are we just giving an information session um no it's actually a pilot um right now um that the uh teachers can use so they're getting um training on that particular program within the um platform and um Miss Mara actually spearheaded that and got that all set up in September so they offer us professional development that comes in anything we get so they're coming in um our representative Tony's really personalized he knows everybody um so he's going to come in and actually work with the teachers okay so that's going to be piloted throughout the PB algebra classes and the pths um I have to double check it might just be one of the schools it might not be both I have to double check just because I'm not 100% sure but I'll go back to you on that because it's a it's a brand new ninth grade program is from is what I am understanding or brand new algebra program that there piece yeah the their program right they're expanding and moving up in the grade levels um I'm just not 100% sure if we have it at both sites I'll double check though awesome I'm I'm really um very excited about that I'm curious to see what the teachers think and and how it would improve our our math skills and math scores yes thank you me too on the math side love that how about a math coach just I said instructional coach for we'll work on a man can I just say that um being in this district for just this much a Time the team that um that you all put together um the team of Supervisors the team of Supervisors the tech department they're such smart people here they're so passionate they're so enthusiastic um that it's just really really amazing to come in and work with these people and their Vision just makes me go wow I gotta step up my game so I just want to say that to all of them moving on to the next one all right thank you um Panic Library connection so Matt I need my screen to not time out so fast that I have to fix I tried to figure it out um so on to another supervisor um Alyssa bardino is our new Ela supervisor and um we had a a reach out from the Panic Library um saying they wanted to um meet with our kindergarten teachers or our kindergarteners and just get them library cards well she took that and ran with it and actually now created this districtwide connection that has nothing to do with me um created this district-wide connection now with the Panic Library um she's already established a relationship with the um what is her name Jess Jessica mosit she's the head of children's services she met with her they've already planned out broader ideas that they're going to do with the kindergarten um and the elementary schools having to the library um she's gotten touch she's touched Bas them on what they're doing for middle school and how they've opened up their space where the students can actually go after school and they get snacks and they um get to be in the the that Library space and at the high school connection having to do with um Choice books and offering free access on uh two different platforms to our high schoolers called hoopla and Libby um so she's just taking that and run with that so we just wanted to kind of lift that up and say um that with that Community engagement I know it's one of our district goals that's one that she has um is doing a great job with awesome thank you I just had a quick question about um resolu resolution the approval of Title One tutoring facilitators are we only offering title Title One at PBS at Panic Valley this year um what's the status of title one for I know we have to be implementing it right so it's only we can only so I'm coming into the esa Grant right after it was written last year um we're only eligible to offer it to PV and P and High School um because based on um the requirements of free ruc lunch and and all of that so um we have identified some of the teachers who did it last year at PV and uh Mr hazler is working on the teachers for the high school and how we can um get them uh started and up and running um the high school is a little different because we're looking to possibly Target specific um time frames that might be closer to like ngpa and our needs that have to do with helping students make sure that's past um so we're working that out right now I actually met with him today for a little bit um but at PV they should be up and running within a week or two um they just have to um we have to get the parent letters together and all that stuff out so none of the elementary schools this year only Panic only the Middle School qualifies for Title One based upon free and reduced lunch and the high school okay and is that because we're not receiving any applications or is it because I mean I guess that gets that gets sticky like are people not putting in for it or is that what we're thinking it is or are we just not qualifying it's it's without getting into fura yeah no it's not enough applications um and I don't want to I don't see like a broken record but I think it's so important to keep stressing the community that this is a support that's put out there by the federal government I mean the state put you know sends it out to us but um it it's a great opportunity to make sure that that kids are fed and and that's such an important thing especially with a lot of people in communities throughout the state who are experiencing temporary Financial or food insecurity and there is that additional benefit of it really does help the district it helps us get um additional additional funding for these really great programs like Title One um so there there there are multiple benefits to people who who fill out the paperwork can apply for um free and reduced lunch and I'll just stress it again that if your child is receiving a free reduced lunch it is not marked with an F or anything like that for free or an R for reduced it is the same lunch that their peers are getting same quality same packaging same everything um and then it's it's something that once once you're in a in a better place once you're on your fee obviously then you you would see receiving it but in the meantime it's something that um is it helps enormously so we we do need more people um if they're in that situation um or if you know people in that situation to take advantage of it and apply it just so the public is aware you cannot qualify for the Pea money so the preschool expansion Aid which would give us free preschool you cannot qualify to even you can't even apply for it until you've reached your tier level so the more Title One Services you rece re where funds you receive the higher likely of you getting the expansion money immediately yeah and the state just released $33 million more for the preschool expansion I was actually going to bring it up in the unfinished business section but this is good opportunity for it as well um and tier four which is where we are doesn't has not gotten any consideration yet and it's very likely we'll not get consideration for this round either we're still going to put forth a good faith effort to try to secure that money especially with our interest in expanding our prek program but it's one more way that um while people are being helped out by um by getting meals for their kids they can also be helping out the district to make more things available for us okay I thought CIS was a phenomenal discussion wish all our meetings will like that there's a lot of good topics a lot of good discussion next item is FFA two items uh American Rescue plan homeless children and youth Grant bless you and the veterans will update okay that's me again um so we just wanted to point out that um so when you have students in the district who um are homeless under the mckenny vento ACT um you're required to provide transportation to them transportation to the school of choice and the district is responsible for covering that transportation however um there was a grant that Dr Sheridan had um we we were part of a regional Consortium if you will in Bergen County six other districts they are are they're the Consortium and they put out um that they actually had funds available through art for the homeless and that uh we should apply for funds so Dr Sheridan did that we followed up and we actually had $45,000 covered of Transportation costs that we're spending yeah that's great nice job and and I'm really happy she's really um been working very hard on Gathering more information about what's involved with being the homeless liaison and um throughout the state including our County we're seeing a spike in the numbers of students who are now qualifying as homeless who need uh who need these services and so for us to be able to provide them it's something morally you have an obligation but also legally you're accountable as well and it gets to be very expensive and so any type of support we can get through the McKinny vento act um is certainly well received and I'll put it out there publicly too I really appreciate um andry's work on this I I hear from her office the the different webinars or or other information sessions but it's it's a critical need and one that we take very seriously and then as if I haven't spoken enough you're going to get me for the veterans ball and then obviously you you know a lot more about the construction side of it so I'll I'll allow yeah Mr senic to to add in anything as well um but the um finishing touches are being um are being done in advance of our November 17th dedication I don't know if you want to just say anything about the finishing touches or so we're per uh currently getting the uh signs that are going to be installed uh on the walls themselves which are going to be the portraits of all the uh alumni veterans those are being manufactured right now and we're going to have a 4x6 cast aluminum plaque which is sort of like a title plaque that'll be on the wall um on on the school wall behind the walls and then we're also going to have uh committee plaques and the donor plaques and the donor plaques will again be cast aluminum just like the one that's going on the school wall and it will uh honor all the people that gave money that gave their services in terms of material and labor the contractors and all the people that gave donations so really the only thing that's left to do is put up the signage and all that stuff is being fabricated and we'll be ready for the uh November 17th dedication all right thank you and just in regards to the dedication on the 17th um one of our alumni um works with a group called The Liberty warbirds um which is a group that brings um Huey helicopters which had actually been used in Vietnam to different public settings so they have what's called a static display which is it's landed um rotors are no longer moving and people can can ask questions can tour the the helicopter and get a chance to actually see it up close so we will have one of those landed Le that's plan on the back field for the November 17th dedication um we're also in the process of inviting some dignitaries um as well as other those other guests and then earlier today I released a press release I put it out to a few of the the more prominent um media outlets in in our community and hopefully uh hopefully we drum up little extra interest I think it's it's such a just wonderful project I I uh keep falling back on the words inspiring and incredible and I think that those might be the most accurate but how quickly this this took place I know Mr Bloomer Mr siic and I were part of the committee back in March or April and people were talking about when we'd actually get it done and having worked in schools for a long time I was saying well you know if we look for like 2026 or 7 maybe and here we are 2024 and it's happening in November so very very exciting and I'm really proud to be a part of it any other items on the FFA okay uh we're going to turn over to policy and we have a host of items Miss Dy take it away thank you and Dr poris I apologize but I think one through five are primarily your items yes and we can tag team on six and I'll take seven and for those of you who are enjoying the Mike Porter show it shall continue um so for policy M sty and I had had a meeting um in late September in which we reviewed um several policies that either um I had recognized needed to be addressed or she had recognized to be addressed or things that were just emerging on the second one since Mr Shay has been kind enough to stay here here um I'll give him an opportunity to open you talk a little bit about the AI policy as well um the first one though is our organization chart and this is something that we periodically have to update as positions um change and in this case some of our positions that had changed were the supervisors of student services had become directors of student services so that has to be appropriately recognized on the organizational chart um one thing that might strike some as odd is that the board secretary is listed as one entity while the business administrator is listed as another Mr Gibbs fills both those positions but in his role as board secretary he does actually answer to the board of education and then as business administrator um better for worse he has to answer to me which which works out very well we work really well together um and then we we had a couple other updates such as adding security guards um under Mr Lucas's title and one thing I'll put out there too when you see his post poed Mrs a worked very hard on the formatting for this um she knows I'm a big fan of straight clean lines as well as um colors that are easy to follow so I know she collaborated with Mr Shay I think they used canva and I got a nod so yes they used canva so the presentation of it going to be I think much more attractive and easy to follow yeah this is definitely a update and a much needed update and a better version of what's up there now what's up there now looks like someone did it in Excel yeah yeah so I'm I'm excited about it and and I'll be she she worked really hard on it and um I will say people in the board office throughout the district are are very good sports about some of my attention to detail um like I still got people like you really have forbidden the use of Ariel like yeah forbidden the use of Ariel it's the worst font ever but um for this I think it is important it shows that we care that we're precise um and and it is very easy to follow all right and then our our next item regarding policy is for AI policy Strauss s May uh push something out regarding how they feel AI policies should be uh managed in districts and when I first read through it it felt a little bit loose to me I I kind of I felt like they were they were leaving things very open-ended and upon deeper reflection and reading I real it's actually a really good idea um because if you have a particularly rigid AI policy you will be changing it probably every other meeting because the technology is changing so fast so something that um Mr Shay is going to work on is setting up an AI team in the district that'll really help us understand what are our needs and I don't know if you I think you were volun told to head the state group through it's through njs njasa right yeah yeah and I'll just summarize because I know the microphone didn't pick up what you were saying so um njasa which largely uh Services superintendent um set up a a a separate Branch for Tech supervisors and and Matt is of course part of that and it wasn't my fault but he was volun told that he was going to be the co-chair for the AI Group which I think is great because it gives you a real in at the state level of what's coming up and what's coming out and so uh he and I be collaborating quite a bit in the policy we we'll run it through Miss Dempsey as well as whoever succeeds her at the policy level but we'll have a policy in place but perhaps more importantly we'll have an AI plan that will be a living document that will evolve with the needs of our staff of our students and really what what the marketplace helps to dictate I don't if there anything that you want to add about the AI policy that I haven't really touched on or yep I I agree yeah and and just to summarize what he was saying if anybody's still tuned in um that it's going to give our teachers a clear sense of that this is what you this is what you can and can't do to harness the technology and I love the term morphis blob because that is what it seems like it it there's so much to it that it is overwhelming um and so to to help them see okay these are some digestible chunks and the there are um 12 different options that are listed in the policy and my note for the first six was that they afford flexibility item seven gets to the code of conduct implications um and then when it talks about improved list of AI platforms that's where we desperately need to have a plan that that that can be fluid in its design because what what's really good today is probably going to be replaced by something in three months and so we we we don't want to go chasing after things we want to know like what is the best generative tool to use and we also have to have considerations about um what is safe for schools where where is data being collected where is it being housed make sure that it's not being sold and so that's a market that's still emerging which is the AI for schools I I don't feel like there's a technology out there that I would trust to have a teacher or sorry case manager wrri an IEP using AI there it just doesn't exist yet because there's so many identifiers involved and I don't want them getting outside our Network so we we we want to look towards that exactly yeah and that's what Matt was saying F both fura and Copa are not mentioned Copa is The Children online protection act yep and then F fura has to do with h protecting um students identities and Records so there there's a long way to go but I feel like we're we're going to make really important steps to to get us um moving in that direction so are we looking to have um the policy and the plan kind of hashed out simultaneously like we're not bringing the policy to the next meeting for any kind of a first reading because there's still work we want to do on it right yeah I don't think you're going to see a Polish draft that I have any confidence in till December at the earliest okay great and it has to be supplemented with the plan without the plan the policy polic is a waste of paper Okay um because I do know in one part of the policy it states that um the plan will include proper citation Andor documentation methods and I would encourage us to think about using just documentation methods or however we want to phrase that in terms of communicating to the teacher that you've used an AI tool because the at least as you said it's going to change constantly but the common current um whatever the word I'm looking for is is that you don't site AI because it is not human it's not something capable of generating original thought and what you site original thought and so it's not citation that you do for AI but there should be communication to the teacher some way of saying that you used this in preparation of your assignment yeah and and I've heard enough horror stories about um students using Ai and turning in a document that had none of their original thought under their name and the plagiar and policy of the respective institutions focused on taking the work or ideas of another person but you're not taking the worker idea as another person and so we we we need to make sure that those very blurry very gray areas are somehow clarified that's one thing I did like about the uh the template for the plan as well as the template for the policy that it took something that's somewhat nebulous and brought it into a place where it's got some boundaries to it and it's got some structure to it so that people who don't understand it can start to understand it and and see where these thoughts they're having can be put into little buckets so it's something that's very complex can be broken down into a more simpler idea so I I thought it's a good start yeah and something I think is really important for us to keep at the foreground of our thinking too is we have something our strategic Plan called ensuring staff success and if we can harness AI appropriately to help our staff members be more efficient in their work if if you have to generate a lesson plan or if you have to generate something and you're good enough as a prompt engineer that you can get the work like that you're saving time and that's something that n none of us has enough time for anything so if we can create um a culture here that Embraces Ai and recognizes it's going to help our kids but it's also going to help our professionals I I think that'll help us really have powerfully supportive tool and I imagine at some point a portion or version of the plan will need to be put into the student handbooks right to get that in there too yep yeah that was one of my notes too is that um so much of this has to connect back to what we put out annually in those handbooks all right uh the next couple I I'll be much quicker uh policy 5430 class rank um I I was in a conversation and I I started looking at this one um the red flag to me was when it said it was pages one of two and it's a one-page policy so um they're the class rank one there's just a lot that has to be tidied up in terms of of language presentation um and it just needs to be cleaned up so the content itself is is fine um but the the phrasing was not up to caliber at all all right um item four uh the electronic communications recording Dev devices uh somebody had asked me it might have actually been miss Dempsey about um our cell phone no wasn't you but somebody had asked about our cell phone policy there really isn't one um which see seems shocking based on the prevalence of cell phones especially with with the first iPhone come out in like 2000 2007 yeah so like we we we're still relying on the ecrd um which has references that hearken back to the era of pages which when when I was starting out teaching in 97 the pager was the bane of existence you had to be very worried about students having pagers which I know sounds adorable now but big deal 1997 but we see the policy still is making references to that like I think we're okay in that one guys but um we don't really have something specifically for cell phones and so um this is something that that we should be collaborating with some of our partners including St ese to figure out what we need here um one thing I will put out there I did reach out to um the town Health officer to ask if something for a long range project if he might be interested in looking at um partnering to look to examine the implications of cell phone use as a public health concern and he's got other things in the hopper right now so we're not we're not we don't have a planned start date but I've also reached out to a vendor called smart social that that helps um districts and communities manage concerns that emerge from smartphone or cell phone use so anyway this one I have no real recommended actions other than to get the thought process going about how is it that we do want to manage cell phones and this there was the state memo that more or less said you know you should really think about this you don't have to but you should think about your cell phone policies we are covered in terms of cell phone use in our handbooks um but be good to have something a little with a little more teeth in policy and get rid of the pagers yeah it it was me to reached out to miss stemy because a parent had asked me um so I totally agree we do have it in the handbook I think I mean obviously whatever this ends up looking like has to align um I was reading this I was like oh my gosh they took me about phones I don't even call it a phone like if I was looking for this like I wouldn't even know you have to read every single policy so um I know this is probably going to take time to update maybe we can Band-Aid it and just somewhere in the title put phone in the interim with like some notation down the bottom that like this is in the process of being updated just so at least it's easy for a parent to find because I was searching and I was like I would I would never have found this if if sty had have been like I think it's in here about like look at it so so the really weird thing is that we have a couple of different policies that touch on the uses of technology that are enabled by a smartphone but nothing that is like the phone itself so we have a social media policy we have an acceptable Network policy we have this one and actually the one that's here on the agenda um really has to do with um using it to record yeah and so we have it I think in the teacher and the staff sections and it's really more of a protection for the staff members to not be recorded against um their will in the classroom so yeah so we probably need something interested to see when we go to Workshop if people are presenting on this because that memo did come out there have been a couple webinars and there's been a lot of um chatter in the local news as well about schools adopting um different policies in terms of like not having your cell phone um and of course that raises a lot of questions and concerns as well um but I would not be surprised if we don't see something recommended from Str SM and njsba coming down within the next six months or so yeah they definitely have to be working on it and then uh finally from the that cluster of the first five um something that that we realize we have on the books that is unnecessary is in our school district travel policy um you need not read through the first 19 Pages which I did and I'm recommending not to do so but on page 20 there is an item that U brings up that somebody who is submitting for travel reimbursement one of our staff members needs to submit evidence of ownership which is the registration for a car and insurance there's nothing in om or from our auditor saying that you have to do that and my take is if you don't need it why ask for it especially too because if we store the information there's there's an inherent vulnerability there um forever we get hacked so my recommendation is if you don't need it get rid of it and then one other item that I will recommend is that there is a set dollar amount listed in there for lunch it it lists $7 which I wish was still what it cost to get lunch but I think that should be replaced with language about existing state and federal approved amounts and we do have that um they revised pretty regularly but the approved spending limits for meals um for traveling so if you want to know what's the approved amount for dinner in Albuquerque you can actually look that up we we provide what is that GSA R yeah the GSA rates so I think that that would be better to have in there than a hard and fast number because we know the numbers is going to change and that was even in my write up know seven7 worked in 2018 maybe no I don't yeah yeah I think yeah it's got to change yeah yeah well well the good thing is we we do it here to the GS say rates so we're good there but I think our policy needs to be accurate for that and then uh the next one and I'm going to bounce it over to um Miss Dempsey as well as pointing out to whoever just entered the back area of this room that there is an active meeting taking place but um that The Spectator policy is something that came out from njsa which is the athletic governing body in the state but it came out over the summer and we already started to assign tasks to different people about how we're going to respond to the policy which has to be in place for next year yeah so um NJ Sia and thank you for explaining what it is because they don't even tell you what they stand for in their own letters um they're requiring that all member districts develop a policy for a that's basically a spectator code of conduct and this is to address the dramatic increases in issues that are happening at athletic events by Spectators um towards referees towards coaches towards players towards other fans um so there is a list of requirements in the policy um in their recommendations I did a webinar through Ocean County SBA a couple weeks ago or a week ago um and they talked a bit about what the expectations are going to be and they did mention that stra smme is working on a policy draft that it will get out to District so we should have a baseline of something to start with with um some of the requirements are still being discussed because there are questions around if a parent is um kicked out of one child's sporting event does that mean they are also banned from the other child sporting event those sorts of things are not really clear um one of the requirements is to well yeah but it really it isn't spelled out I think in njs I's guidance um how long does it la like if it's a suspension how long does it last one of the requirements is that you will have to undergo an education piece in order to be admitted back into uh an event and nobody has any idea how that's going to be managed or tracked they've had suggestions for webinar things that you can make people do but how are we how are we tracking a spectator right exactly so I think those yeah like power coaches who is responsible for managing that th those sorts of things are all still very fuzzy and so so a lot of districts are having these conversations and um hopefully stme is considering these things as well and njsba is obviously talking about it so I think there's still more to come on this but as Dr Portis said we've been on top of it since the summer Mr copina is on top of it um Mr hazler so I think we'll be in good shape um once to have something in place for the next school year any comments or questions and I did send everybody the information from that um webinar if you were interested in hearing more um so the last thing is also me and that is the um starting up kind of a routine review of policies so I just went through our now updated list of uh the zero section of our policies and pulled out five that hadn't been updated in at least 10 years really just for regular review um however in my initial look through backup I wasn't looking very closely and I realized that the 0131 we have in backup is not the one that's on our website which is the one I had originally is an is like a 2013 but we have a 2020 so we did update that at some point in time and the change I was going to propose is not in the 2021 version so we're just gonna table 0131 for now and and we'll come back to that um but 0132 the executive Authority nepotism board member Authority and organization meeting we're just put in there for you to read through if nobody has any suggested changes for those uh we will just note at the bottom that they were reviewed and uh reviewed on today's date and then there change the day on our spreadsheet so um did anyone have comments or questions on any of those policies I did not thank you well me neither thank you for giving us little short ones to begin with anytime all right sounds good so we will um Mark those four as reviewed and then Dr porshu and I can touch base on 0131 that's it for policy okay that brings us to our that brings to a second opportunity for public comment members of the public may speak once for a maximum period of 5 minutes by the clock during this portion of the meeting and during this portion of the meeting the public can speak on any topic during the five minutes if a public public member raises a question the question should be directed to the board president and please remember to state your name and sign in before you begin uh John N Sunset Road just a couple things uh my own words first um I definitely want to congratulate you guys on your master board certification um I do appreciate the conversations the effort the time everything you guys do uh I was very happy that that uh Charlene mentioned that you made the effort and did the two-year work in one year and I know you made the point a year ago that you wanted everyone up on the board with you to get that certification um so I'm glad she made that point at the meeting um I also think it was a good idea that when they shared uh the information about reduced lunches that there was actually numbers in there for people's incomes I would just suggest maybe a little more information about how long you need to be in hard times to qualify like that process because if people are in hard times they're not worried about researching all the legal ins and outs if you have the information I would put that in there for people it it may help them or someone may read it and be like that's my neighbor let me just go over there and tell them you don't have to worry about this little piece of your your life right so I would put I I would just make that suggestion um to piggyback on the um the tardiness I know the first period thing that Dr poris had mentioned and I know he loves data so something he could watch if people are habitually late for the same class that only meets every fourth day that may be a pattern that you may pick up on like the kid really doesn't like the class where in the past it was just they didn't want to go to school period or they couldn't get up on time but now if you have four different classes in the morning and they're always late for one of them it's just something else that may pop out if you look for it um and then for theep academy uh considerations with um with that option two with the different branches I saw that there were electives in there I know my son was in the STEM Academy and there was no electives no choices to be made you basically in eth grade decided this is all I'm doing for four years um so that may help if kids know they have a little Flex ability that may help them commit to it um and it also looked like even if the student chose the wrong path if there's elective space in there they could change their path because a point that was made at the middle school presentation whenever it was seven years ago now was even if a kid does an academy in high school it's just as Val valuable for a student who finds out this is not the field for me to find it out here in high school for free than to go to college and find out two years in this is just not what I want to do with my time so um I think that was that was good also and uh as a neighbor I've spoken to other neighbors and the traffic is different it's only been a month but the traffic is different whatever it is I'm not sure yeah I don't know uh and then as um Finance for the high school music parents uh I got a few things um today the the new uh music in the performing arts class that Mr Arnold has started this year they're doing um willly Wonka uh show it's going to travel the district perform for all the schools and they're going to do one show here at night uh their auditions are done their rehearsal started today um that's all student directed coordinated everything it's a it's a class they run the whole thing and and learn all aspects of of Performing Arts in in the in the in the meantime uh next Monday uh the students are off but the knives will go and do their recording for the HSA audition submissions to get accepted into the competitions this year uh our marching band uh senior night is this Friday before the football game um so we'll be recognizing them this week and the marching band students they're also grateful to be able to attend the homecoming dance this year it's always a competition Saturday for them they've moved the dance for whatever reason but they're grateful to be able to go um to to that uh I I'd like to um I can't thank everyone but I want to thank a couple people um who for helping with our uh home competition uh parks and wreck and the DPW for setting up the tents out there we wish we didn't them needed them for shade but there were plenty of people hiding under them to get out of the rain any kind of purchases they needed to do they were out of the rain it it was good um it's much better than those little pop-up canopies that they don't last an hour in uh in weather like that uh I want to thank uh our guests from the township and the district who came out and trophy presenters uh I also wanted to make a point to thank Mr Curtis who reached out to our group looking for ways to get his band students to come out on a Saturday and we worked with him and we came with mostly the extra credits to motive we also gave him a free meal I mean so we tried to really uh entice the offer there for them but we ended up having like 36 kids from the band come out and and hopefully they can meet some of the kids here and stay involved in music I know I'm I'm pretty sure it's still required in Middle School but you know we want to encourage them staying involved uh when they move up here uh to the high school and then um and then I just had a few there were a few bumps I guess you would call them for our for our home show um some of them were like a lot of confusion with the the logistics of the property what we could use couldn't use rehearsal areas and it's not a big pivot for us but but we're required to submit maps to the organizer because these schools they come here they don't know our facility and we need to present them with a package of here's your practice area because if they're here for two hours they expect to practice for two hours they don't want to be finding me for 30 minutes to find out where can we practice um so we have to work out some kind of Point person and some kind of meeting with the district um before our home show everything's been spelled out on the facilities request in the past but this year it just didn't did not go good for whatever reason so we had that and then we also had an issue with overtime being denied so we didn't have staff here to help us so we had parents in the school trying to find and move tables chairs things like this that typically will have help from staff locating them never mind moving them um for hours during our setup time and we cannot wait because we're contractually obligated to have the facility ready before performance times for us bands to give those schools a fair chance to rehearse and be set up and everything and so we just had to do it ourselves um I I guess if if it can't be if the overtime can't be set aside for our group for this function with six seven months notice then we'll have to have a conversation about what it will cost us to have someone here which wasn't offered but for what we spend on the day it would it may be worth it just to make it a smoother a smoother day for us and then there was um one staff member right we always post parents at the parking lots starting 6 7 8:00 in the morning because other groups will be showing up they have games either here away sometimes sat day but we have someone here just to have the conversation like when will you be back when will be moving your car the back lot is full of tractor trailers box trucks pickup trucks with trailers logistically we need the entire parking space to move those vehicles around so one car in one spot in the wrong place and we lose the whole lot I mean you're talking about moving trucks and trailers the front lot dozens of school buses if you have one car you can't box them in and the buses stay right you can park the buses side by side they all trap each other in it just takes one car so we always have conversations with people and if they're going to be back in time then we try to have them Park in certain rows but we'll let them Park and one staff member had some unfriendly words for the parent I don't think it was necessary and I was even surprised because the marching band is in the athletic department umbrella that the teams wouldn't even be aware that the competition was happening on that day so maybe in the future the athletic department can just notify all the other teams who have a game that day we can work it out ahead of time where people are going to park just so we can meet our obligations without having to worry about contacting a parent to get the kids keys to move a car something like that that's all thank you I don't really have anything to add to it um I thought the show was really good it's unfortunate some of the things that you uh brought up uh wasn't wasn't aware of them um I'm sure that that uh in the future though we can have good communication if if that wasn't the case um because I know that our admin staff's always willing to help so yeah anytime there an issue just go to the people at the school like they'll they'll make sure it's addressed you know obviously you can't go back in time and change something if that's already occurred but there ways of preventing it from ever happening again your your legacy will carry it's just too big just again this that's why coming here to have all the conversations it's just too big to not have the conversations it's not fair to school okay that brings us to unfinished business anybody have any unfinished business new business I do have one item for new business uh Tomorrow there's going to be a wellness Fair hosted um this is something that's part of a joint venture we're working on um the rotary had reached out to to me as well as um lck Park as well as um a few service providers in the and health healthcare services and really the rotary wanted to focus on doing something that help support U mental health and wellness for for young people so um what's taking place tomorrow night is a culmination of a lot of work it's taking place over a year um we we moved towards focusing on the stigma free initiative on on our end and I'm excited that this is becoming a reality and you know anybody wants to show up tomorrow night there's no charge um just a lot lot of good cheer and uh I understand there there are some incentives offered to kids show up as well anybody else board member announcements yeah I'll go I'll start um I love the idea that Mr Arnold is bringing the Willy Wonka show to our other schools I love that I think that's fantastic I don't think that's something we've we've done before and I think the the elementary kids will love that um so I attended the band competition um Panic band was absolutely amazing as always Not only was the performance fantastic but just the set design was outrageous it was just very very fun to watch um I really enjoyed um the other schools the way that they cheered for our kids um was fantastic there was a lot of our own students not only the middle school students but there were um the football team a lot of the football players were there to cheer them on too so it was really fun um really fun to watch um super proud of them as always uh I'd like to give a special thank you to Mr senic and Charlene Peterson for really um organizing all of the classes for us to complete the master board certification that took a lot of time it took a lot of wrangling of board members um and it is very much appreciated because we did get it done very very quickly um and and it was you know training was very effective and um super helpful so thank you for that uh I attended PB and pth back to school nights were of course amazing uh salute to service game on Saturday was very cool um so great to see all the veterans from that class um actually one of the uh Pana graduates from I think 64 or something like she won the 50/50 and gave it back to the kids so that was really awesome um just a reminder uh to wear pink or something that supports breast cancer because some of you may not have pink but for our next meeting on the 28th um also CPAC is hosting a parent Forum Wednesday this Wednesday uh the 9th at 7 pm it is a Google meet you can find the information on the website as well as Facebook I think that's all I have thank you I can go um so I too was able to catch the tail end of the um marching band competition sorry for everything that happened but I will tell you you would have never known because the volunteers were amazing and everybody was happy to be there regardless of the of the weather uh our band of course killed it and uh it's always fun to to go and I just crazy that the weather is always the same every single year except one year was 90 degrees I remember that it was yeah does anybody have like a farmer Almanac or something all right I got a couple uh yesterday I attended the eagle scout Ceremonies for uh Shawn and Ryan Moore Shawn is an EMT in town and rebuilt the wood deck around the fire pit at greenv Park which definitely was needed and Ryan built a bot bulk court at uh PD Park so we're going to plan to honor both of those f young men at a future board meeting as we always do and I just want to say on behalf of the board as well as myself congratulations again to Shan and Ryan Moore okay uh with that we do have a reason to go executive session tonight where we will discuss attorney client privileged matters no action will be taken we will adjourn from there our next meeting will be October 28th here at the high school is there a motion to go into executive session motion second second all in favor any opposed all right good night everyone thank you