my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools I was just waving to some of good evening everyone I'd like to call the meeting to at 6:01 p.m. can I have an attendance roll call please Anderson here here here here here here the New Jersey open public meeting Act was passed to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed in acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the Rockway Township Board of Education has caused notice of the date time and place of said meetings to be published in the Daily Record The Star Ledger and be posted in all schools in The District in a municipal building of the township and the Township Library does any board member wish to object to the conduct of this meeting for the purpose as stated in the public notice excellent all documentation and materials considered by the Board of Education as part of this agenda are available able for public review and comment members of the public are invited to come to the Board of Education building off Green Pond Road during the regular business hours of 8: am to 4 pm Monday through Friday if they wish to inspect any other reference items can I please have a motion to wave The Pledge Open Session Lisa and Aaron show of hands to wave The Pledge resolve that in accordance with the open public meetings the Rockway Township Board of Education will meet in close session to discuss matters involving Personnel litigation Real Estate Security negotiations receipt of government funds the content of said discussions will be disclosed to the public at such time and extent as required by law I have a motion to go into close session so moved second Aaron and Lissa show of hands please okay closed session starts at 6:03 p.m. thank you my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended birwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our core values are the same as Rockaway Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on particularly on being kind what really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before Sony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors what keeps me coming back here every morning hugs from kids you know I love being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal so yeah I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world the thing that makes copel middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better place I come here for the students I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [Music] community I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at dwire is special because we don't have walls I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child if you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave birwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other one of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade and I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel them more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mind set one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that Des I've trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and there's is a happy place for them and they want to come so we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home and and if they're ever in trouble or ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be we have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom and I really believe it's because our districts focus on seal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copelan middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to dbf yeah my name is Rya I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes DB unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other my name is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal than like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and their stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my 7th grade La teacher I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school one word to describe cribe this school is probably hard honesty empathy acceptance and respect and [Music] trust this is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked it is the staff the teachers uh they are loving they are caring the energy here is just great it's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do their heart passion and soul is for students and to see them succeed I try to find a way for them to want to be here even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning if I say hey let's go wander in the library and they bounce out of the car right away which actually happened then I've done something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day our doors are always open we are truly a family here our kids are just everything if you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other birtu is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended birwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another District but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that hour because the community the parents the teachers our principal are incredible we're just so happy to have such a loving nurturing community that is so vested in our school We are family and once a bulldog always a bulldog I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special because we don't have walls our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors I like to tell people that when you're here it's like learning at home you're in your kitchen but you still know what's going on in the family room it builds like this you know codery amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here we call ourselves a DWI family Mr McGovern he seldom calls us a school and we really live by that we treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school one word to describe the school is probably heart honesty empathy acceptance and respect and Trust I have been teaching art here in Rockaway township for 16 years I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson the best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community I am the steam teacher at copela middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Miss Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade La teacher I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day we are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology every single classroom has interactive boards kids get a Chromebook in the fifth grade they work as a team towards a common goal they overcome challenges we connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended Vanda Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a positive impact in the future I teach us history and I come to work every day excited I get the opportunity to mold the Next Generation the thing that makes scopeland middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better [Music] place our core values are the same as Rockway Township High honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on particularly on being kind by being kind to a friend helping them out helping teachers be nice to them be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers and everything we do we try and relate back to our core values one of the things we are working on right now is positive behavior system I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building so we're really working on on being kind and yes academics are important but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kids the main message is to be kind because above all else we want our kids just to be kind my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DBL yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other if I had to describe our building in one word I would say we're a little unconventional we're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success and for every student that's different there are other ways that we can really show student growth Student Success I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything it's it really the staff here um we have built a family and I think that says something about the building and the and and the community that we Foster here at dbo and I'm really grateful to be part of that being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks so yeah I I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do do it and that's what I teach all of my students my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and their stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school we identify the interest of students you know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment moving them forward from one learning experience to another every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success ESS stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to come [Music] bony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extra curricul as well inside school I really try to be involved in as many things as I can my children also go to school in this District at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children any type we can bring togetherness and have us all work together both in our community and out it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community so we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them I like them to become successful not just academically but also social and emotionally my name is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun I've always wanted to be a teacher I think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good Elementary School teachers Rockway I thought was really interesting cuz I feel like it is a small close-knit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Sony Brook mentality the Sony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake everyone has a bad day and I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized I love that we have a great principal I love the teachers and the morale as soon as I started coming up here since I am from South Jersey I felt welcomed and included right away my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our call values are the same as Rockaway Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and trust and so we can focus on particularly on being kind what really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before Sony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether whether it's full-time or visitors in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community our mtro we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors what keeps me coming back here every morning hugs from kids you know I love being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal so yeah I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious the the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world the thing that makes scopel middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better place I come here for the students I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [Music] community I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at dwire is special because we don't have walls I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child if you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other one of the things that I love the the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade and I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come so we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home and if they're ever in trouble or ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be we have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom and I really believe it's because our District's Focus onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at Copa Middle School I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing BR go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DB yeah my name is Reya I'm in first grade being at dvo is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss Takis CU drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other my name is quen k I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome as all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the jamers keep our school nice and clean all my friends that helped me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's so really fun my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and their stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books in juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade La teacher I used to dis like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school one word to describe the school is probably heart honesty empathy acceptance and respect and [Music] trust this is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked it is the staff the teachers uh they are loving they are caring the energy here is just great it's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do their heart passion and soul is for students and to see them succeed I try to find a way for them to want to be here even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning if I say hey let's go wander in the library and they bounce out of the car right away which actually happened then I've done something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing where you could downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my my favorite is recess my favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day our doors are always open we are truly a family here our kids are just everything if you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood if you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another District but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that hour because the community the parents the teachers our principal are incredible we're just so happy to have such a loving nurturing community that is so vested in our school We are family and once a bulldog always a bulldog I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special because we don't have walls our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors I like to tell people that when you're here it's like learning at home you're in your kitchen but you still know what's going on in the family room it builds like this you know codery amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here we call ourselves a dwire family Mr McGovern he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that we treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus buess no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you into this school one word to describe this school is probably heart honesty empathy acceptance and respect and Trust I have been teaching art here in Rockaway township for 16 years I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson the best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community I am the steam teacher at copela middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my 7eventh grade La teacher I used to dis like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her idea gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day we are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology every single classroom has interactive boards kids get a Chromebook in the fifth grade they work as a team towards a common goal they overcome challeng challenges we connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended Vanda Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a positive impact in the future I teach us history and I come to work every day excited I get the opportunity to mold the Next Generation the thing that makes copel middle school is so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involved it's the investment in making it a better [Music] place our core values are the same as Rockaway Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on particularly on being kind by being kind to a friend helping them out helping teachers being nice to them be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers and everything we do we try and relate back to our core values one of the things we are working on right now is positive behavior system I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building so we're really working on being kind and yes academics are important but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kids the main message is to be kind because above all else we want our kids just to be kind my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to dblf yeah my name is r I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes diio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other if I had to describe our building in one word I would say we're a little unconventional we're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success and for every student that's different there are other ways that we can really show student growth Student Success I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything it's it really the staff here um we have built a family and I think that says something about the building and the and the community that we Foster here at dbo and I'm really grateful to be part of that being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the class classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks so yeah I I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it and that's what I teach all of my students my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and there's stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school we identify the interests of students you know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment moving them forward from one learning experience to another every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to Sport and grow with one another is contagious one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's Wonder the full School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well inside school I really try to be involved in as many things as I can my children also go to school in this District at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children any type we can bring togetherness and have us all work together both in our community and out it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community so we us to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather than a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them I like them to become successful not just academically but also social and emotionally my name is Queen K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome as all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun I've always wanted to be a teacher I think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good Elementary School teachers Rockway I thought was really interesting because I feel like it is a small close-knit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway I like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Sony Brook mentality the Sony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake everyone has a bad day and I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized I love that we have a great principal I love the teachers and the morale as soon as I started coming up here since I am from South Jersey I felt welcomed and included right away my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walked to these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education Birchwood is very special because because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our core values are the same as Rockway Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on particularly on being kind what really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before Tony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community our mantro we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors what keeps me coming back here every morning hugs from kids you know I love being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal so yeah I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to Sport and grow with one another is contagious the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world the thing that makes scopel middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better place I come here for the students I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our community I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special because we don't have walls I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child if you've never taught at another school you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other one of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students of all ages now that we house preschool students here I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fth grade and I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks it's a really great environment here KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to come so we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home and if they're ever in trouble or ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be we have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom and I really believe it's because our districts Focus onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing break go downstairs doesn't like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DBL yeah my name is Rya I'm in first grade being at DBL always awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other my name is quen k I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here they help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me since kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in the that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and their stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my seventh grade La teacher I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school one word to describe the school is probably hard honesty empathy the acceptance and respect and [Music] trust this is probably one of the most special places I've ever worked it is the staff the teachers uh they are loving they are caring the energy here is just great it's wonderful to work with a group of men and women who truly love what they do their heart passion and soul is for students and to see them succeed I try to find a way for them to want to be here even if they're sad or even if they don't want to get out of the car in the morning if I say hey let's go wander in the library and they bounce out of the car right away which actually happened then I've done something right that I have found a way to make them feel like this is home for them because that's kind of how I feel I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day our doors are always open we are truly a family here our kids are just everything if you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be I commute an hour or more every day and I've been given the opportunity to work in another District but I've been here 7 years and I will drive that hour because the community the parents the teachers our principal are incredible we're just so happy to have such a loving nurturing community that is so vested in our school We are family and once a bulldog always a bulldog I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at deire is special because we don't have walls our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students uh great sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors I like to tell people that when you're here it's like learning at home you're in your kitchen but you still know what's going on in the family room it builds like this you know codery amongst not only the students but also the faculty that work here we call ourselves a DWI family Mr McGovern he seldom calls us a school and we really all live by that we treat each other like family and we emulate that for the kids I think the wire school is awesome because you can make a lot of friends here and there's good teachers math is my favorite because like you can learn different things like times plus minus no matter where you come from or no matter what you like look like people will be friends with you and welcome you into the school one word to describe this school is probably hard honesty empathy acceptance and respect and Trust I have been teaching art here in Rockaway township for 16 years I think social emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child I get the privilege of going into every single class once a month where I do a guidance lesson the best part of my job is when one of them is having a tough day and then they feel better and it's because of me the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District and will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community I am the steam teacher at copela middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class when I came into sixth grade in Copeland where everything was new and different for me Mrs Heath she was especially really kind to me she still talks to me even though we don't really see each other that much and she gives me so much good luck for all the things that I do one teacher that made me feel special and cared for was my 7th grade La teacher I used to just like like reading and writing and she really helped me understand and make that subject more fun years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day we are making sure kids are prepared for the future and that means making sure that they have access to technology every single classroom has interactive boards kids get a Chromebook in the fifth grade they work as a team towards a common goal they overcome challenges we connect with the community through our concerts which are very well attended Vanda Copeland is truly an all-inclusive experience for all of the students here I try to get everybody involved so that they can make a positive impact in the future I teach us history and I come to work every day excited I get the opportunity to mold the Next Generation the thing that makes scopel middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better [Music] place alol values are the same as Rockway Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on on particularly on being kind by being kind to a friend helping them out helping teachers be nice to them be respectful and don't interrupt the teachers and everything we do we try and relate back to our core values one of the things we working on right now as positive behavior system I don't like to address anything negative in my office because I want kids to be able to trust me and to be able to come down as a leader of the building so we're really working on being kind and yes academics are important but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kidss the main message is to be kind because above all else we want our kids just to be kind my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DB yeah my name is Rya I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges my favorite special is art class with Miss tus cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes deio unique is that everyone is so kind to each other and everyone cares about each other if I had to describe our building in one word I would say we're a little unconventional we're always trying to have our teachers and our students look at other ways to achieve success and and for every student that's different there are other ways that we can really show student growth Student Success I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything it's a really the staff here um we have built a family and I think that says something about the building and the and and the community that we Foster here at dbo and I'm really grateful to be part of that being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks so yeah I I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other what really resonates with me about the school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset just because we can't do something right now doesn't mean that we're never going to be able to do it and that's what I teach all of my students my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers they have fun activities to do and there's stories my first grade teacher got me into reading and she got me into chapter books and juny B Jones my favorite subject is science in science you do lots of experiments and I think experiments are very fun every day I'm like happy at school we identify the interests of students you know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in their learning environment moving them forward from one learning experience to another every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into to the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come bony Brook is an amazing place it really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well inside school I really try to be involved in as many things as I can my children also go to school in this District at one of the other schools and I'm really proud of what we put forth for our children any type we can bring togetherness and have us all work together both in our community and out it's really going to help everyone raise their own level of abilities to really increase the success of our community so we always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier having students in a classroom that's smaller where you get to meet their needs specifically rather than in a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport and relationships with them I like them to become successful not just academically but also social and emotionally my name is quen k I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade what makes our school awesome is all the teachers we have here they have help us every day all the janitors keep our school nice and clean all my friends that help me S kindergarten and everybody just helps us here cuz we are a really good Community because of my friends the teachers and the principal like we read a book and then we do a project based on what happened in that story math is my favorite subject because the teachers always help us and it's fun but it can be complicated but it's still really fun I've always wanted to be a teacher I think the reason why I wanted to be a teacher is because I think I had really good Elementary School teachers Rockway I thought was really interesting cuz I feel like it is a small close-knit community but I also felt like there was a lot of different opportunities in Rockway like how there was five different elementary schools but I also like how I felt like that I fit in with the Sony Brook mentality the Sony Brook mentality is something where we all feel and have the same idea of supporting students the kids understand that everyone makes a mistake everyone has a bad day and I think that it gives the opportunity for kids to grow and not feel like penalized I love that we have a great principal I love the teachers and the morale as soon as I started coming up here since I am from South Jersey I felt welcomed and included right away my name is Dr Richard Corbett and I am the proud superintendent of Rockaway Township Public Schools I was just waving to some of our wonderful students as they were walking by and I'm so happy and pleased to say that when I walk through these halls and talk to these students in these six different schools I see students that are learning and having fun and to me those are two very important qualities of a very very effective education Birchwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended Birchwood it is truly a loving Community it's such a wonderful place to be our core values are the same as Rockaway Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on particularly on being kind what really resonates with me about this school is that we put more value in developing personal growth versus comparison to others whether it be a difficult learning task or a challenging learning experience they learn to persevere and we can bring out something in themselves that they might not have seen before Tony Brook is an amazing Place really is and I think anybody who joins us whether it's full-time or visit us in the building just for a day uh you know I think e go that sentiment our staff is second to none they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA is incredibly involved everything we do is well attended back to school nights our events and we have a very involved School Community both academically working hand inand with our teachers but also I think for extracurricular as well every student who goes through Rockaway Township School District will graduate from Copeland before they go on to high school and we have an opportunity to instill core values into our students helping students develop into Future Leaders into being positive role models and citizens in our community our Mantra we live by is no walls No Limits because being a school with no walls uh provides our students a great sense of community you just know you're walking into a special place when you come through our doors what keeps me coming back here every morning hugs from kids you know I love being outside in the morning at bus Duty and having kids coming up and just happy to see me teachers who I now share personal connections with because I've been here for 11 years as the principal so yeah I think for me it's just being a part of something being a part of the team uh we're all very different but um but we we get along and you know we support each other every morning I'm inspired by these children their energy their willingness to support and grow with one another is contagious the people I work with makes me come back every single day I hire a very unique and special educator and that permeates throughout the building I have the easiest job in the world because I have the hardest working teachers in the world the thing that makes scopeland middle school so great is truly the people it's the students it's the staff it's the community members it's the parent involvement it's the investment in making it a better place I come here for the students I love the kids here they are amazing they're the best part of my day they're the best part of my week that's why I do what I do I'm proud to be the superintendent of Rockway Township Schools and we are thankful for all the support we have from our [Music] community I truly believe in an educator being able to make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at D is special because we don't have walls I think social and emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give kids a chance to practice that emotional dialogue and that helps the whole child if you've never taught at another school and you come to Birchwood you honestly never want to leave Birchwood you walk into this building and it's a family we're all together we're all happy we're smiling nobody's cranky or miserable we're here together for each other one of the things that I love the most about this position and this job is that I get to work with students students of all ages now that we house preschool students here I see every single student in the building from preschool all the way through fifth grade and I get to work with them on a deeper level on a way that inspires them not just to be confident in themselves but in what they love after teaching for 25 years I can't pinpoint one moment of time that is a story of why I come back every day any good lesson makes me feel alive going to the soccer games the football games seeing my students outside the classroom I want the kids to feel at home and I feel the more comfortable that they are the relationship that we build together the better they're going to do in class not not only enjoy their time in class but also take risks it's a really great environment here at KDM my co-workers are great the students every day they make me laugh one thing that I really work on in my classroom is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative self-talking saying that they can't do this and so basically throughout the whole year we worked on just changing that mindset one of the things that I'm really hoping to teach them more than anything else is about kindness and you know being good friends to each other one of my most favorite success stories is a particular student when you know he would come into the classroom even right first thing in the morning his head would be down on that desk I'm trying to instill intrinsic love for school intrinsic love for education and over time I've seen him pick that head up and that's why I do what I do to have a kid come in and their school's a happy place for them and they want to [Music] come so we used to always start off with a growth mindset and we do a lot of lessons about how we are able to do things that might seem hard like a harder task and I think that if we really teach our kids to be resilient and show grit in the face of a harder task than all the other academic challenges that they're faced with come a little bit easier our goal here is that every child is as comfortable in class as they are at home and if they're ever in trouble or ever concerned or worried that they have the tools available to them to be successful and to help each other be as successful as we know they can be we have really seen over the years an incredible increase in their emotional maturity and in their abilities to deal with issues both in the playground and in the classroom and I really believe it's because our District's Focus onal over the last several years I am the steam teacher at copela middle school I really love to see the growth and the change to the students and what I really focus on is teamwork so the kids are always in teams we want to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable communicating their ideas I want kids to come to school and feel like this is their second home I want them to come into my classroom and feel comfortable feel like they can be themselves they may not come here and love math but I want them to at least enjoy coming to math class years ago I had a sixth grade student who was absolutely petrified of mathematics and I worked so carefully with her I gave her extra help just to have her overcome this fear and it was fabulous to see that aha moment when she finally got it and that is why I do what I do every day so my name is Jackson my name is Mia my name is Mariah I think what awesome is about being in Birchwood is the um the like artwork that's on the walls like in school they have this like art thing where you go downstairs and like paint a wall with the art teacher my favorite is recess my favorite thing is reading and just doing a bunch of fun stuff we get to do puzzle of the day and it's really fun we get to watch videos at the end of the day my name is Carly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DB yeah my name is Rya I'm in first grade being at DB is awesome because all the teachers here are so great and so nice I like the teachers here they make it awesome here she teaches well and then she teaches us stuff which we have never learned my favorite subject is probably math because I like all the challenges I have a motion to adjourn close session moved Aaron and Allison show up hands please thank you session ends at 7:30 pm in a re reconvening public session if everyone can please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance good evening everyone during the course of the board meeting the Rockway Township Board of Education offers members of the public an opportunity to address issues regarding the operation of the Rockway Township Public Schools the board reminds those individuals who take this opportunity to identify themselves by name and address and to limit their comments to items listed on the agenda and or items directly related to the operation of the school district issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking spe specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should be consider should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected or identified in the comments and be aware that they were legally responsible and liable for their comments in accordance with board policy 0167 public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a 3 minute limit per member of the public the board president shall have the right to modify the length of public discussion as she deems appropriate can I have a motion to open open public comment so moved second chrisy and Lissa show of hands please have anyone from the public would like to come up and speak you're more than welcome to Dana tabella 31 Omaha Avenue good evening I would like to clarify if policy 5756 is recced transgender students are still afforded their rights under Title 9 and New Jersey Law of discrimination the they still have the right to be treated in accordance with their gender identity even if they have not gone through any type of medical treatment or transition process they still have the right to be called by their name and pronouns that match their gender identity and not their legal name they are still a protected class and have the right not to be bullied or harassed due to being transgender or gender non-conforming they still have the right to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity and cannot be forced to use a separate facility they still have the right to have the same opportunities to learn and participate in physical education and family life no matter their gender identity this means biological boys who identify as girls can identifi uh can attend family life and bi with biological girls on topics related to menstruation and so forth they still have the right to dress and present themselves in accordance with their gender identity they still have the right to join or start an lgbtqia Plus student clubs they have the right to privacy in accordance with the law the law does not preclude disclosure of information about a minor child's health safety and well-being to their legally fit parents whether such disclosure includes the discussion of the Minor's protected class minor children do not have the right to privacy to the exclusion of their legally fit parents and therefore they do not have the right to direct Administration or staff to purposely withhold activity or conceal information from their legally fit parents as a matter of fact according to the New Jersey school board winter 2024 volume 55 number three it stated that the Attorney General conceded that schools would be obligated to respond truthfully to a parent or Guardian who contacted the school seeking confirmation whether their child identified as transgender Common Sense tells us if there's no affirmative Duty and schools must tell the truth if asked then there isn't a law to keep secrets from parents therefore the only thing policy 5756 does in addition to the already existing law is to take away parental rights again the board should make decisions that are congruent with the law and consistent with every other board policy on Parental involvement and notification I request that the board resend policy 5756 thank you yep sure just state your name and address certainly I'm taller here we go uh Fallon Conger 33 William Street I didn't actually think I was going to be speaking today but here I am uh so I'm from Georgia which is not uh as safe as New Jersey which is why I actually don't live in Georgia anymore uh I'm a 41y old woman um but when I was S 8 n 10 school was supposed to be in teachers or supposed to be in counselors or supposed to be a safe space for kids sometimes homes and sometimes that means parents are not necessarily the safest place for a lgbtq child I know that from experience and I know that from many of my friends experiences I'll try to not get emotional here but there was a teacher my fourth grade teacher specifically who I felt safe confiding in and I don't know what the law was at the time but that person kept my secret and made me feel safe so to me rather than thinking of it as a secret that's being kept from a parent to me it is just a secret that is kept as opposed to not being shared it is an extremely and I don't know how many people here have actually experienced this maybe some people here but is an extremely emotional experience to grow up as a gay or transgender child not not knowing maybe the words to Define it but knowing that you are different and it is even more challenging to grow up in a space a home where you may not where you may know that who you are is not welcome but if you find a teacher or a counselor that somehow through they being who they are makes you feel safe confiding in them where you do not feel safe confiding in your parents and let me Define safe really quickly um you may feel not only emotional danger but physical danger physical harm um risk of being removed from your home there are a lot of fears here that I'm not sure everyone can understand what that feels like internally and if you don't know what that feels like internally I am not so sure that you have the full scope of what your opinion should hold so with that being said if you find a teacher or a counselor or an administrator in a school system that some how makes you feel safe enough to share what you may not even feel safe enough to hold your own but that person is so special that they make you feel safe enough to share that information you will never feel safe enough to share that if you know that it can then be shared with someone who you do not feel is safe and I hope that makes sense again I did not have anything prepared but for that reason 5756 to me holds a very special place for a kid like I was and for many other kids thanks thank you Amy shes 63 hiberia Road Rockaway um I was a middle school teacher for over 10 years and I've been a school counselor in another district for over six years at uh the middle school and high school level as a school counselor one of my main criticisms of my former Board of Ed and superintendent was that they never came to meet with my colleagues and I in my department to find out what we were seeing what our students needed and what we needed so I implore you if you haven't already done that schedule time to meet with them during a PD day not during the school day because I assure you they do not have a spare moment and talk to them about this important topic to find out what they are actually hearing from their students I trust that I do not need to spend time quoting research-based studies and actual unbiased reports regarding student safety depression and well-being and reasons why our students are questioning the gender and sexual orientation Norms that we have all been unfortunately subjected to I will tell you anecdotally my most depressed students and the students that I am most terrified for at night are the students who feel like they can't go home and be whoever they want to be whether that has anything to do with gender identity or sexual orientation or just the clubs they want to be in when they feel like their home doesn't accept them they are very depressed and very anxious and it is very difficult because I trust that you've done your research I will only speak briefly and anecdotally about what has been my experience first your school counselors have all been trained in ethics as part of their part of their Master's level education perhaps the most repeated and stressed ethical obligation that we keep in the Forefront of our work is to remain unbiased we will never push our own agenda or belief systems especially when working with minors anyone who has led you to believe otherwise is misinformed and paranoid second counselors are trained in how to handle situations when a student tells us something that we cannot legally divulge to a parent we generally do not encourage secret keeping especially from parents if the situation is safe we will work with the student to encourage them to have a conversation with their parent whether that's through making a phone call from our office phone writing a letter role playing in a conversation before bedtime Etc we want our students to know that their parents love them unconditionally and if safe they should try to talk to them most of all the resulting conversations are productive beautiful and life-changing and you can thank a school counselor for that finally or a teacher finally as a parent myself I know the only thing scarier than my school district's keeping secrets from me is my own child Keeping a Secret for me which is exactly why this policy exists to provide students with a trusted adult that they can confide in when they feel that their own house household and when they feel they may not realize that they have a trusted adult but when they feel that their own household has not provided that they need someone else to talk to repealing this policy will not your child stop your child from having questions about gender and sexuality your kid is going to talk to somebody whether that's you a stranger than met on Tik Tok or a favorite teacher please spend less time worrying about what you're being lied to about what your school is teaching your children more time worrying about whether your child will come to you as their trusted adult and be thankful that New Jersey currently provides all stud students with a trusted adult when they feel like their own homes have not thank you for your service as well good evening president Shields and Rocko Township board members I'm Donna marce zinsky one Lakeshore Drive I'll be reading an email from Dana tabella last sent last week it brings up so many factual key points and references that people need to know to make a truly informed decision on July 21st 2017 Chris Christie signed Bill 3067 the statute required that state commissioner provide guidance to public school districts on transgender students what it did not do is require school districts to adopt a policy this was confirmed by our board attorney Dennis mckever in his PowerPoint presentation slide one unfortunately many districts were Hoodwinked into believing that policy 5756 was mandatory therefore adopting the policy under false pretenses last year some student some school districts even publicly claimed Str asme wrongs wrongly Mark the policy with M for mandatory patch has two articles that go into a detailed explanation these articles were sent to the board and you could find them online similarly it appears that our board also adopted this policy under misguided advice on June 12th 2019 board president Sue sany stated in part but when we were informed that you can't break the law then we have no choice but to follow the law and so that's what we see in this policy but we struggled as parents and teachers but it was out of our hands see Clips starting at 1 hour 14 minutes 12 seconds on June 12th 2019 on our Rockaway streamer YouTube channel fast forward numerous districts are starting to resend policy 5756 why because the Constitution protects the fundamental rights of parents to direct the care education and upbringing of their children this policy infringes upon the rights of parents it denies them information that may be crucial to making decisions regarding their child's Health and Welfare board members have realized that their they are to be bound by the oath they took to uphold the Constitution of the United States you all to the oath recently Deputy AG James Michael conceded that the districts have been wrongly told four years ago that the ban on telling parents about transitioning children was mandatory the adopted the adopted statue only required the state commissioner to provide guidance to public school districts on transgender students which is why the honorable Judge Stuart MTZ did not require the Handover Board of Ed toan State policy 5756 the court transcript and slide number four of our board attorney Dennis mck's PowerPoint presentation was sent to the board via email and that can also be found online transgender students are already predicted under the New Jersey law against discrimination which is one of the strongest anti-discrimination laws in the country at the March listening session I confirmed with Dr Corbett that teachers have had no training on policy 5756 because it's not mandatory see Clips starting at 2 hours 16 minutes 10 seconds to 2 hours 16 minutes 39 seconds on March 26 2024 Rockaway streamer on U ter therefore in lie of the arbitrary policy that takes away the constitutional rights of parents I think it would be behooved for the district to protect teachers from the liability and train them on the NJ lad which also protects transgender students as pre previously stated in my last communication with the board parents who actually actually have alleged child welfare concerns abuse or neglect filed against them by dcpm have rights and are entitled to due process and opportunity to be heard the New Jersey statutes and regulation even establish that parents have a right to be informed of their child's development and health if dcpm have custody of the child in other words currently under 5756 parents that are accused of child have more rights than good parents of Rockway and that can also be found online in closing I would like to remind the board there is a mechanism in place to report parents who are suspected of harm harming their children for any reason including those who may be afraid to come out so there's no excuse to take un our unalienable rights away I once again re request policy 5756 to be ascended I do too as Don cinski thank you thank you hi um my name is Dr Gorman I live at 32 Ellen Drive uh you can call me Jamie but I included my professional title because I have some relevant knowledge and experience regarding policy 5756 um in addition to being a new Rockway resident and an amateur mom to a 2-year-old I earned my PhD training in as a research scientist in Psychology um and I currently work at a university as an instructor of psychology with a specialization in teaching research methods social psychology and psychology of gender and sexual diversity um I'm speaking in support of policy 5756 the policy is informed by empirical evidence that students of trans experience are at a heightened risk of depression and suicide but this risk is mitigated when they receive social support yes the ideal situation is that they receive social support from their friends and their family but we know that many students have less than ideal family situations and it can be challenging to find supportive friends for for anyone really um let alone someone who's identity is the target of bigotry and hate so policy 5756 is in place because sometimes a child's own family is the source of bigotry and hate sometimes I reviewed some of the public comment from the March 26 listening session and it sounds like the folks who oppose 5756 have a fundamental misunderstanding of this policy nowhere does the policy state that students will be encouraged to lie to their parents nowhere does it state that schools should never trust the parents with sensitive information about their child in fact I am confident that the board members know exactly what the policy states and that it explicitly states that when there is a quote specific and compelling need such as the health and safety of a student or an incident of bias related crime a school district may be obligated to disclose a student's status the policy goes on to explain that the requirements regarding harassment intimidation or bullying investigations still apply and that schools are obligated to report HIV investigations to parents or Guardians of the students who are parties to the investigation another fundamental misunderstanding is that policy 5756 encourages students to question their gender identity and permits students to receive some kind of medical diagnosis and treatment in schools and this is absolutely ridiculous I'm confident that the board understands that teachers are not doing out hormones or hormone blockers all teachers are being asked to do is respect a student's self-identity and privacy if a student shares their preferred name and pronouns teachers are simply being asked to believe them and to use the students preferred name we do the same for cisgender kids like if a boy named Richard asked you to call him Ricky it would be disrespectful to call him something else um and it would be unnecessary to un to notify his parents that he doesn't want to be called Richard unless of course he is explicitly being harassed or bullied for his name preference so in closing I do want to thank the members of the board of education for their service to our community I'm sorry you have to sit through um what some might consider harassment and bullying and sift through spam emails from misinformed folks trying to get uh you to change school policies to align with misinformed beliefs um I appreciate your commitment to logic reasoning and the safety and well-being of the students of Rocka away thank you for your service and for your time hello um April Pao 14 dudak road but if it's okay can I use my time to read an email that someone asked me to read who couldn't be here tonight sure okay CL um it's Mary John 95 Oakland Avenue dear board members good evening my name is Mary Dunn I'm a 38y resident of Rockaway Township I have four children and 12 grandchildren most of whom are graduates of or current students in a public school of this town I'm writing to ask that you resend policy 5756 this policy does not serve the best interest of children or parents and as such has no place in schools the claim that it is necessary for children who are pro who are a protected class is a misnomer those children are already protected by the law against discrimin ation lad and other safety nets within the state schools are tasked with education and academics teachers are the instrument through which that occurs schools do not exist to replace or hinder the will or rights of parents or to hinder developmental or other issues from them more individuals are losing sight of their role and their place lately as if they have any right to determine the path for the children of others the school board's role is to ensure a quality quality education for all children while maintaining boundaries this policy goes well beyond those boundaries as well-meaning as they may be teachers and school Personnel are not qualified to make decisions that will interfere with or nullify parents rights proponents of 5756 believe it may protect some children from parents who will be unaccepting if their child is not identify as heterosexual or as their birth assigned gender they say it may save a child from abuse or even murder that's a shock value talking point what it really does is strip every parent of their legal and natural rights based on the minuscule chance that another parent might harm their child nowhere in this country is risk large or small a valid basis for depriving the lawful rights of of all and is as in this case without due process no school board or teacher has the legal authority to make that judgment curiously policy 5756 was intentionally misrepresented as mandatory in order to ensure its adoption by all or most New Jersey school boards and it succeeded it is in stark contrast to the absolute rights of parents they have to direct the education and upbringing of their children and to be informed of and involved in all aspects of their lives in light of that fact together with its egregious violation of constitutional parental rights there is only one right decision here like every elected person in this country you all took an oath to up uphold the constitution of this country and of this state while we all may feel for these kids the law does not Grant you any discretion when adopting policy you must honor your oath and your legal obligation to the parents and children of this community and resend this policy respectfully Mary Dunn thank you you have a motion to close public comment you got another one oh I'm sorry Michelle Danza 50 Dakota Avenue I decided to speak tonight to plead with the board to put your foot down and stop the continued indoc indoctrination of our kids and fore to take a stand and bring to a vote to resend policy 5756 if the as they said before if the New Jersey statute and regulations establish that parents who have neglected or abused their child have the right to be informed of their child's development well-being and health how could any board member in good conscience think to keep policy 5756 in place it it doesn't even give those rights to parents I'm asking you to please preserve the right of parents to instill the morals and values that they see fit for their families and their children children without any District interference thank Youk good evening my name is Danny Bretton I live at 12 Ute place I've spoken before on this subject I don't have anything prepared but I have a couple of observations that I'd like to make number one all of the parental rights Advocates here are speaking specifically from the perspective of parents they're not considering their children they're not considering the concerns that their kids might have beyond their personal education intentions number two I am a teacher and as a result a mandatory reporter what that means is if a child discloses to me something that harms them or themselves it's my responsib themselves or another person it's my responsibility to report it having concerns about your gender and not being sure of your identity is not a threat to themselves and it's the reason that 5756 exists to allow the recognition of that definition and perpetuate it there's nothing in 5756 that denies parental rights it simply defines it clearly so that transgender students can have a safer space to talk to their teachers or counselors there's no one in schools who are trying to prevent information from being communicated to parents we we simply want to provide students a safe space to be able to develop question and consider there's nothing about 5756 that needs to be rescinded it's been a excellent policy that has made a big difference in the culture of many schools including the one in which I teach please keep it on the books thank you for your time thank you for your service thank you for already upholding the Constitution I have a motion to close public session moved second Aon chrisy show of hands please page four under Communications I just want to let the public know that this is all the communications that were received up to 3M yesterday anything after 3 pm will be on the May 15th agenda that was sent to board's mail section two the approval of the minutes can I have a motion to approve the minutes so moved second christe and this is to approve the minutes from April 17th and the listening session on April 24th can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes abstain yes yes Smith I'm a yes for April 17th but I abstain from April 24th thank you yes yes okay superintendent report thank you Mrs Shields I want to begin by recognizing that may is Jewish American Heritage Month the Rockway Township School District gratefully acknowledged the many contributions made by Jewish Americans who have been an invaluable part of the fabric of the United States since our great nation was founded almost 250 years ago on April 29th the ptas from around the district held their third General Assembly this year I along with Tanya and Noel listened attentively to the many contributions our ptas make to our schools and we also listened to their concerns for example our parents are very pleased with the Improvement in the quality of food however they are frustrated with the online ordering forms yesterday I raised this concern with Frank mashio who will be working with our technology department to hopefully improve the ordering system we also discussed the parent engagement activities offered by the district such as CPAC listening sessions portrait of a successful student and acknowledge that attendance is generally generally low for evening activities that involve parents and it may be practical to have fewer evening events but more options at each evening three events per school year with schedules and options provided to parents in September May attract more participants the board's listening session on teenage vaping and substance abuse was held April 24th and it featured Timothy Shoemaker an expert on the subject Timothy presented to Copeland middle school students during the day his listening session presentation the evening was directed to parents his presentation was extremely informative as it was alarming despite a changing culture that is more acceptable of recreational drug use our district will continue working to keep students safe which includes informing parents of the dangers faced by adolescence and once again Arbor Day at DWI last Friday was a great success with many parents attending the event included engaging activities for all ages we are proud of dwire for their status as a national tree campus thank you oh Hib let me just go briefly over the Hib investigations currently there are four HIV investigations and of the four four were affirmed substantiated all each one due to a distinguishing characteristic uh so all the four prongs were met under um affirmation for tonight will be 19 hivs of those 19 uh seven have been affirmed thank you thank you any questions or comments for Dr Corvett I just want comment on the uh the presentation that we had on vaping I I agree that it was it was very good very well informed um it was presented in a manner that was was definitely geared towards parents I I wish there was more in attendance for it because it's such an important topic and we're seeing it amongst our youth over and over again um but hopefully we'll be able to afford those opportunities again in the future uh to our community members to be able to come out and see some of those concerns and be able to maybe identify if your child is is vaping because it is dangerous business administrator's report yes I have I have one item we uh on March 8th I will be accepting bids on three roof projects in the building there are capital projects that are R the 2425 budget which all over a few minutes and then I expect with the architect review it make the award at May 15 thank you you can keep on going with the budget there you're the man of the hour [Music] okay we going to do this budget presentation on the 20 the 2024 2025 school budget as I go through it if there's any questions at the end there'll be a question and answer period we either all if it's anything Financial I'll be able to answer it I have other Professionals in the room curriculum and it people any questions on that part they'll be a to answer also okay understanding the budget so the the budget consists of a lot of planned expenses and expected Revenue so we we look and see in in the budget what do we plan to spend for next year but most important is that we have to examine the revenues the expenditures cannot exceed the revenues and in a fin it's really a financial expression of the district's needs and priorities so this is what we want to do and this is what we have to do but it's a living document so as we go through the school year and the administration and the board makes budget transfers because things will happen we're doing this far in advance maybe maybe a year and a half from now till next June to get this right because we put these numbers together just a while back all right so what what we what what happens in this process in November the administration meets with the staff and we get all the information from from the prior years or the current years's budget to see did we did we plan this current Year's budget 23 24 budget did we plan it properly is there anything we should have done another way added money or we shouldn't put something in and we make get those to see if there's any adjustments we should have made then we meet with the administrators and the department heads what do you need for next year and what do can we anticipate in the costs we put that together then we prepare the accounts and Appropriations so that's when we're going to come back and we're going to look because the budget is revenue driven we're going to look at the revenues that we can legally expect and and and accurately to expect and then we have to get the Appropriations to fit within that account those numbers okay so we have really the board has really three budgets but the main one is the general fund which does the day-to-day operations and then we have special revenues which are really grants either federal or state or local grants and then we have Debt Service which pays off all your old all the buildings that you built in the pass and floated Bonds on we have to work to pay them off so we go back to the general fund and the total is 61 million 32090 we look at um what other revenues we can expect other than taxes and that comes out to 8,704 625 and I'll go through that in a future slide here and then that leaves us with the local tax levy of 52 mil 327 465 on the special Revenue side we know what to expect any grants that we had in the current year that we expect to get again next year we're we're to budget only 85% of that because some of these laws the fund these grants isn't hasn't passed yet but there's no tax levies so it's all on either federal or state basis and in a Debt Service we look at the schedule we knew that it was a 25-year bond issue you're going to pay off x amount of dollars per year the state gives us some state aid so we're going to be paying what 5916 in bonds uh 14512 is coming from State a and the tax levy will be 446 498 so the key impacts on the budget so um the biggest the biggest thing is we want to maintain uh good salaries so that the superintendent can attract staff but the salaries and the fringe benefits for those Personnel represent approximately 75% of every school budget so um that so anytime we have to make any big adjustments to the budget unfortunately that's one of the first places you have to look but we didn't have to so we got it we get significant in uh increases in our fixed costs that's our insurance policies uh health insurance all of those we have to accommodate that we really don't have any control over that and and then we want to ensure that the buildings are being Main maintain so that there's healthy it's a clean and safe environment for our students and our staff and we also want to keep up with technology that there are certain amount of Chromebooks and so forth that will be aged out this year and and then there any new stuff coming out new software we want to keep up so that the students are all on the current level and then we look the budget uh projections and we move on and see if we can get all this together okay student enrollment so your enrollment has been going up we're estimating the enrollment next year to be 2632 and in regular students and 465 in special ed we have to make sure we we have a number because at some point some of the students that we receive are from out of district and we're going to be charging tuitions we want to make sure everything we want to get un enrollment all these state aid forms formulas and all these grants have some demography effect but mostly it's enrollment driven for any of these things you're going so much per okay here's our state allocations so we get four main State AIDS one of them is called Equalization AIDS and it represents 19% of our state aid um a whole whole state aid is uh is the 4,5,6 and we got we had no increase in the equalization Aid uh the special education that's based on the actual some of our actual cost we got an increase of 271,000 so we did get some increase in state aid okay these are the revenues that I mentioned that were beyond the tax lby this is that that total thing so budgeted fund balance we have um we hopefully underspend the budget every year and that accumulates what we call Surplus or fund balance and so we were able to take that we're only allowed to keep 2% of that normally so we looked in there and so we're going to fund a million 544 826 from funds available leftover from last year or previous years um we're going to as I mentioned before we do take out of District students here and we expect to get 100,000 in tuition uh transportation fees from other leas which we transport kids is be 82680 then we looked into in in the past when you have uh excessive Surplus but we want to save it for maintaining our buildings and so that we're able to the board is able to in June to transfer that money to either capital reserve or the maintenance reserve and so we went to the maintenance Reserve that's on the balance sheet and took $100,000 to fund this current budget and then other miscellaneous um uh revenues um basically or interest on investments because we don't spend all the money at one time so it's invested to earn interest and some We Rent Out buildings you get stuff from that and then this military impact Aid we got 300,000 special education Medicaid is 62031 that there money given to us because we have special Edge students in the district that are on uh welfare if you will or they're on some subsidy from the and so if those students that are being paid by that and they need special education services we're allowed to recover that through this eight here so when we look at at the creating some serving savings here uh we look at first I told you the biggest part of the budget is Personnel so we take a look at the existing Personnel do we need everybody uh the same number of Staff um look at needs assessments what um do we need anything extra we got to make sure we fund it under purchasing um business administrator I'm the purchasing agent so now I try not to uh just go out on the open market and buy things so we have purchasing co-ops we have what we call State contracts and and so we try to go through those Services because they do and they do do get provide stuff services and and supplies and equipment a cheaper rate we look at all the contracts we got in The District maintenance on the computers and whatever and we try to renegotiate them with the vendors so we can we don't get a big jump in that and then we look and see anything we're doing is is covered by Any Grant that's available both federal and state we go and take a look the administrators and see if we can't get it funded okay so we also o have a thing called banked cap and that that gets accumulated because the board over the past couple of years has not gone to the legal limit of 2% on the tax levy so if you don't go to the 2% the difference that you didn't do you're label you're allowed to save for three years so we had that accumulated so what we did is we went to the bank cap and took 366,000 was already there on the balance sheet and so that's what we took as one of the revenues for us okay here's the breakdown of course the the biggest thing is support services but just to go in order here we got regular instruction special Edge instruction we've got um basic skills and bilingual Support Services which we'll look at a little bit at another slide as to what that entails Capital expenditures that's where the three rooms are budgeted and charter schools that we have a number of residents who send their children to Charter Schools and we have to pass on 90% of that to the state aid that we get from those okay here's the here's the breakdown for Support Services you can see the various parts of tuition the attendance health services and uh Physical Therapy occupational therapy guidance uh child study team Improvement of instructions Library training uh General School administration Central Services that's what the business central office about technology uh operations and maintenance the cleaning of the buildings and maintaining of the buildings and transportation benefits okay here here's where the good news is so we we have U this is how everybody wants to know how's this budget going to affect my taxes on my house you know I wear it myself well I'm sure we all do so the average house assessed in home assessed here in Rockaway is 49,7 68 that's the same number it was last year they didn't revalue the houses so the budget is Up 4 point the Lev up 4.49 but good thing the real good news is that ratables in town new ratables in town added to the tax RS is 327 m833 600 so what that means is the ratables went up so we got more people paying taxes so it affects your Le your piece less so the good news here is that the average home the tax the school tax for the arcade to8 program is going to go down $17.90 so you have actually four pieces on the back of your tax bill you have a a tax rate and a tax amount for the kd8 program you have a tax bill a piece for the 9 to 12 program you have one for the municipality their budget and you have one for the county I don't know what the municipality is because they're maybe not done yet uh I I certainly but I do know that the county from from some other uh group I'm affiliated with um is going to be level so you're not going to get a bump in your County taxes on your house and ours is going to go down but I can't tell you what the high school district is going to that piece is going to be and I can't tell you what the town's going okay Debt Service here's a schedule of your your your uh how you're paying off how much you're paying off every year so this year we're going to be paying 5916 $100 the good news for this is that in September of 24 you will have paid off your last debt and the good news for that is because I know that you're planning thinking about a referendum and so it won't be jumping your tax as much because this you won't be paying this anymore so that'll just kind of keep a level it won't be a spike in the tax levy okay these are the curriculum highlights you can look at them for yourself here now if there's any questions I don't I don't think they raise any kind of questions but if they do there's somebody here that can answer can answer them for you there's our technology um we're trying to keep up with everything and and expand it and so um this is what it is again there's another there's an expert in the room that if anybody had any questions about the technology piece of this budget we can get you an answer okay capital projects we are planning on doing partial roof uh replacement projects on these three schools the total is 1,387 1864 that is in the capital budget in in the in this budget it's covered by this um so those projects will go on uh over the summer when school's closed because you can't do this when there's students in a building okay anyone have any questions you'd like to ask thank you very much thank you Ron did any board members have any questions or comments I just had one comment on one of the the slides that was on there and I think it's important to address to the public but if we look at in a five-year period from 2020 2021 school year where we're at 1,864 students and now we're projecting in 2024 2025 being at 2,632 that's an increase of 768 students which a 30% increase in students in a 5year period that is significant for a school district our size so that's just something I think that needs to be on the Forefront of our minds is that our student population is definitely growing and where we currently are and assessing the resources that we have and I just want to say thank you very much um for addressing the four different tax levies just kind of explaining a little bit of that because we know that's something that um comes up from community members as a question so it's appreciated thank you okay curriculum report good evening everyone Ang SLA testing begins on May 7th 2024 we believe that it is extremely important that this be a collaborative effort between home and school to ensure that your child feels confident and prepared we're asking that parents emphasize the importance of the test while reassuring them that is just one measure of their abilities please encourage your child to approach testing with a positive mindset focusing on doing their best rather than achieving a specific outcome I just think that's a key point that we should teach all of our our children is just do your best and your best is all you can do and it's enough this is also extremely important not just for testing but just for for children in general get plenty of rest and eat breakfast healthy choices support cognitive function and will help you feel more alert and focused during the day here's the important stuff it's important that students come to school on time and are prepared for the assessment what does that mean at the middle school have a fully charged Chromebook have wired headphones and bring something to read at the elementary schools students will have their devices in their classroom so they just need to be well rested and ready to rock androll each building principal either has or will send out more specific information the testing schedule is on our assessment calendar May 7th 8th and 9th is math May 14th 15th and 16th is Ela May 21st and 22nd are signs for 5th and 8th th grade only the curriculum office is holding tight to our promise on training staff members on new programs prior to the start of the school year and updating all outstanding curriculum which is roughly 66 documents to date district teachers have been trained on Danielson framework 2022 super kids reading program and the super kids Intervention Program magnetic reading link it character strong I ready and Conquer math Additionally the curriculum revision team has finalized or close to finalizing 30 curriculum documents for instructional Council to review these documents will then move to the education committee for review so um Lissa and Noel I I hope you're ready we are hopeful that all 66 documents that are in need of revision will be approved at the June Boe meeting great job to all of our curriculum writers revision teams instructional Council and Boe education committee have a great night everyone thank you thank you any questions or comments for Mr canel I did get feedback um your kindergarten teachers seemed to be appreciative that they had separate I ready training they said that it helped them focus on what they just needed to know and so moving forward I would like for thank you y so one of the key things we did this year here was go with smaller groups and more focused training as opposed to having the large groups that includes Administration also speaks to Dr Corbett's point about family nights and things going on you know more substance more focused um you know in shorter periods of time so they were able to get questions answered quickly yeah it's it's just a a good practice and one that will follow moving forward so and thank you to the Ed committee for that because all those decisions go through part of dialogue with our education committee and the superintendent and then I just want to piggy back on something that you said um Mr ganella um if parents are interested they can go on to kind of explore a little bit of um what the njsla looks like um there are parent resources there are tutorials um that are different than what the practice tests are and that might be something that kind of helps them to understand um a little bit more about what their students are going to say great point thank you m smth thank you okay thank you everyone moving on to committee [Music] reports Aaron all yours all right so the uh the policy committee or excuse me policy Chief sorry I'm stealing your thunder there Christie the operations committee if only I read this uh we met yesterday uh April 30th at 4 P.M uh we were in central office uh in attendance was Mrs mzik Mrs Anderson uh Mr Smith Dr Corbett Mr Elder and myself uh with that we went over numerous things to give you the highlights of some of the things that we did go over uh we talked about technology and we talked about the filters that we have in place um and how they're utilized throughout the district and maybe some uh additional filters uh up and coming for the next school year addition additionally um we went over uh the mashos and our food ordering system because that was brought up uh through the ptas that hey the way that we're ordering Foods it's a little different between the elementary and the middle school so we have additional discussion on that with some uh some more do outs hopefully next meeting on how we can move forward uh we discussed the list of summer projects coming up in those Roofing projects definitely significant we saw them in the the budget there we're going out to bid very shortly but very important things that we need to to do to make sure that there's a roof over our children's heads when they're here at school uh we also went over the uh the summer Recreation program uh and some additional uh conversations that need to be had on location for that being that it is at one of our school facilities um we also talked about some of the uh Transportation um as far as busing sporting events as well as some of our busing to our private schools that are out there that it's contracted um last but not least we also discussed a couple things on the retirement plans and some um Alternatives that um Mr Smith had on ways that we can move forward um to hopefully help out and streamline the process of the way that monies are collected and sent for retirement any your questions that's all I've got uh if I can the next meeting May 28th because we have a lot of a lot of other meetings going on in the month of May I'm trying to go towards the end of the month neg yes we like the back Tob backs well we were going to start at six with negotiations yes so if we well five for us six with joint 4 five do it here yeah all right all right May 28th four to five Glutton maybe won need the 28 anyone yep I just wanted to mention that the community outreach meeting the next meeting will be Tuesday the 7th um I'll out an agenda to board members befor it and then education committee the next meeting is scheduled for um Monday May 13th um at 4:30 um in the usual Board conference room what day are you meeting 13 13 and negotiations uh we met on April 22nd the uh Board of Education negotiations committee met with for the third joint session with the Rockway Township Education Association the parts reviewed proposals and reached agreement on some items our next meeting is scheduled for May 7th at 7 pm just asking that all our board me um our committee members come at 6 a policy meeting is this Friday May 3rd anything else moving on to board action recommended for board action motion to approve Personnel items moved seconded okay that's Aaron and Allison this starts on page five and goes till page seven can I have a roll call vote please on Personnel items Mrs Anderson yes Mrs CH yes M mcge yes M mzik yes Mr Smith yes thini yes Mr Shield yes Hib determination can I have a motion to approve Hib determination so moved seconded Christy and Noel we are voting on seven confirmed hibs and the rest were unconfirmed there are currently four uh under investigation can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes yes yes Mrs M yes Mr Smith yes thini yes yes education motion to approve education recommendation so moved second Aon and Lissa this is on page eight to page nine is there any board discussion I can open to the public if anyone has any comments on this section roll call vote please Anderson yes yes MC yes yes Smith yes Thom yes yes special education a motion to approve special education recommendations moved second Lisa and Christie this is all on page 10 any board discussion can open to the public if there's any comments on special education I have a roll call vote please on special education Mrs Anderson yes yes yes M yes Mr Smith yes thini yes sh yes Administration can I have a motion to approve Administration recommendation so moved second Aaron and Lissa these are all on page 11 is there any board discussion I can open to the public if there's any questions or comments about Administration items okay can I have a roll call vote please on Administration mron yes yes yes M meic yes Mr Smith yes thini yes yes Finance starts on page 12 ends on page 13 can I have a motion to approve Finance recomend second Lisa and Noel for discussion just as a reminder the adoption of the final budget is in this [Music] section any other discussion I can open to the public if there's any comments on can I have a roll call vote please on finance item yes yes yes yes yes Thom yes yes oh this is policy there are no policy items right for anything no skip that section vote for that in accordance with board policy 06 0167 public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a 3 minute limit per member of the public the board president shall have the right to modify the length of public discussion as she deems appropriate can I have a motion to open for a second public so moved second Aaron and Allison show of hands please if anyone would like to address the board just state your name and add for the record absolutely my name is Dave brat and I live at 12 VI place and I just wanted to um kind of pig piggyback on something and I'm sorry I can't see your name my apologies Aaron Aaron hey um you talked about you had a a speaker in uh regarding vaping and I just wanted to remind everyone here and everyone here that um flavored ecigarettes were banned four years ago so I apologize if I'm telling you something you already know but I just want you I want to encourage you and encourage any anyone here if you are in a convenience store you're at a gas station you're anywhere whether it's in this town or any other town if you see flea flavored ecigarettes being sold please report it to the local Health Department that's important um because they have not been allowed to sell them for four years um I walked into a place a couple years ago they had a wall filled with them they had the Hulk on them Batman on them I mean this was clearly aimed at getting children their goal is to hook the young hook them for life so if you if you anyone any citizen can be vigilant and notice that and please report it that's a great thing to do thank you thank you again April poo 14 dudak Road um I just wanted to address a few things at the last meeting I asked some questions that were also in the email that I sent pertaining to policy 5756 I'm still curious about so I just wanted to go over that um what exact date was the policy adopted was it marked mandatory by Strauss Esme was the board under the impression that this policy was a law at that time how will Strauss s may be liable for any lawsuits against the district will it be publicly corrected that the four districts who were sued amended the policy and the ones who rescinded the policy did not get sued the presentation at the listening session provided a misleading statement to the public I also just wanted to say a quick comment none of us who oppose this policy have any hatred toward anyone we're not misinformed we're not bigots and we're not hateful we're respectful and factual we stand for all children parental rights and value All Families I believe that no government entity should come between the family unit at all thank you Dana tabella 31 Omaha Avenue I just wanted to say that it's very concerning when people come to the podium and try to mislead the community by voicing that the previous speaker are only speaking from a parent perspective the theme of all of my testimony has been based upon law as opposed to those who are asking the board to support policy 5756 based on feelings and their personal experiences I've spoken about the New Jersey discrimination law Title 9 uh School Board Association um there's been a couple other laws oh the Constitution it's all been based upon law not on just parent perspective I ask that the board and the community review previous testimony and to definitely consider voting upon the law not on upon someone's feelings and their testimony I'm not trying to dismiss their feelings but you have to be consistent with the law this is how the board has to vote thank you thank you hi I'm back um Dave Bratt and 12 you play Still um yeah when it comes to 5756 it's saving lives it's it's clearly making a difference I I mean my wife's a teacher I know plenty of teachers I I hear about the difference this makes I hear how it keeps these kids safe and um I just want to let you know that I hope you keep it because I do think it is doing a lot of good so thank you thank you Donna Mar cinski one L short drive I just want to remind you guys about the affidavit I gave everyone through email and I gave Mrs shields in person um from Dr Erica Anderson she is a transwoman who strongly advises against social trans transitioning in schools and always asks that the parents are included and that's for a lawsuit she's actually I believe it's two it could be three but I can get that information for you and I really think you guys need to look at the Dre D transitioner stories okay if we're going to go just based off of emotion and not law um look at the G transitioner stories and how many of them kill themselves they don't attempt they kill themselves it's really heartbreaking thank you thank you I uh Jason Warner 6 commanche Avenue um I'm a parent and I do speak from a parents perspective I don't apologize for that uh everything I do as a parent inherently includes the well-being of my kids how they feel about it what's good for them what do they want right ultimately I make the decision but every decision we make where we go on Saturday what we do all of it is based on what's good for them but also what what they want so this idea we everything every time this gets discussed I feel like it gets discussed in a vacuum if every decision you made about your your kids you never took into account account how they felt you'd be a lousy parent we don't talk about every other subject like that only this one do we walk in and we say oh you're only speaking from your perspective and you didn't consider your children at all I object to that I I take offense to that frankly this idea that what's good for my children what they want is inct into everything that I do that's what it is to be a parent to be a good parent and all we asking we're not asking for stringent rules stopping from kids doing we're asking don't cut us out of the loop I I frankly don't understand this at this point I don't understand who's sitting on the other side saying is it a good idea to take parents out of the equation and another person said this is not a threat we can all we all know the figures when a kid is going through this it is a threat to them it's a threat to their well-being we've heard people from that from both sides acknowledge that that it is a risk you you face significant risks of suicide things like that so the idea that it's not an important issue that it's okay to cut me out of there I wish I could get an answer from the other side if someone could explain to me how that's the right procedure for a school to say you know what the parent doesn't belong in this I I really don't understand what the issue is if there's a parent that's a poor parent that problem should be addressed dressed but this throwing the baby out with the bath water assuming we're all bad parents because some parents are why on this one topic do we look at it as everything else if I found out my kids were doing drugs my reaction would be severe probably more severe if I found out something like this doesn't mean I'm going to beat my kids right but but we don't look at it that way we we we don't say hey maybe the parent will react poorly we won't tell them that we caught them doing drugs in school we clearly let the parent know all we're asking is treat this topic the same way we treat every potential harm that we that that our kids May face keep the parents in the loop it's the easiest decision in the world and I don't like the fact that it's Being Framed that the people on the other side are lesser parents we don't think about our kids we don't care about our kids in any other topic no one would ever have the guts to suggest that or no one from the board would have the guts to suggest it so if you're going to make a decision you shouldn't be making a decision based on the fact that we love our kids less or we think of our kids less I think that's just no one is framing it that way from our side it only seems like the people are framing it the other way sorry that we are the ones that care less about our kids we love our kids less we're worse parents I only see that being projected one way and I don't think that's right thank you hi Danny Bron again 12 place again my comments were misconstrued so I'd like them to be clarified I'm not saying you're bad parents I'm saying there are bad parents I'm saying that policy 5756 protects the children who are afraid to tell their parents for whatever reason they're afraid to tell their parents please understand that 5756 does not prevent you from telling their parents if you work with the child to get them to tell their parents and give them the resources to feel safe and comfortable doing so but lgbtqia kids are regularly thrown out of their houses and to pretend like that's not the case is to dismiss the whole reason that this is even a protected class of children so please recognize as I know all of you do because you've read the statute that the parental rights perspective is taking a very narrow perspective and saying all parents should be perceived as good parents until proven otherwise I'm saying and I believe 5756 does give your children some agency to make decisions about themselves and if they don't feel safe give them the space to figure it out and then move forward 5756 is not a threat transgender fear can be a threat but it is not necessarily transgenderism that is a problem it's fear of Social and parental responses to being transgender that can cause these issues the policy supports all students and all children removing the policy only hurts trans children so please keep it on the books Jason War 6 commi uh maybe my words were Mis constru so let me clarify um what I'm suggesting is not that you view every parent as a bad parent what I'm saying is is that policy 5756 doesn't make any sense we should change every policy based on what you're saying some parents are bad parents what you're saying is we shouldn't just assume they're all good we should assume they're all bad that's exactly what we're doing that is it's The Logical address the board it's The Logical it's The Logical conclusion right if you're going to shut parents out because they're a danger you're assuming that they are a danger right if if telling them assumes that they're good then not telling them assumes that they're danger right and that's where we have the problem this is the United States of America that's not the way it works here it's not the way it works where you assume somebody is something and keep them from especially regarding their children the way it works in this country is you are innocent we don't assume you're guilty of anything if you do something wrong we have rules and laws to address that we do not police things before they occur so this policy is bad for a number of reasons one again it's inconsistent with the way we do everything else it's hypocrit it's it's it's it's hypocrisy parents react poorly to all kinds of news this is the only aspect where we suggesting keeping the parents in the dark is the right move so I would like to see someone explain to me why are you only advocating for this if you if parents aren't to be trusted then they aren't to be trusted or if parents are to be trusted then they are to be trusted but we do we cannot pick and choose and say oh on this I think you're good parents but we'll just assume you're bad on this topic and I and I take again I think this is a a signal of a bigger problem right suggesting that we should assume that parents are bad that that is going to be the model that we work from is a flawed model it's a flawed model and it's obvious why the idea of assuming that parents are bad and should not be included in decisions it be it starts the process of a breakdown that that we know is not going to be good you cannot cut parents out if we're going to start here what's to say it ends here what's to say we don't slowly start degrading it more so I say stop before we do that any of it cut it out we have a policy we'll understand everything here we have a whole separate thing program in this school that I believe is about inclusion and talking to the parents and keeping the lines of communications open to sit here and do that one thing here while we say hey we're going to put a keep a policy in place that says we're going to cut you out of the loop you're sending two different messages and we know which message is right we know that's why it's a special thing inclusion keep the parents in the school working in tandem to get a common goal to help these kids grow into the best kids they can be that's what our goal is I believe that it's your goal if I'm to trust you the board that that's your goal the very bare minimum that I can expect is that you expect the same from me of my own children I expect that from you guys you guys are strangers they're my children I'm looking you in the face I'm telling you I love my kids I don't think it's right for you to keep secrets for me because you're going to assume that I am one way I put trust in you right the it shouldn't be where I'm on trial where that's the way I'm viewed that's as simple as it is thank you have a motion to close public session who Moved second Aaron and Lissa show of hands please okay does anyone have any old business they'd like to discuss yes Lisa um as I mentioned at our last meeting tomorrow is um celebrations meeting for the Mars County School Board Association and as I mentioned before it was um renamed the Nancy hellborg Memorial recognition ceremony uh who is a former board member of ours Aaron I just wanted to recognize that you have earned two certifications um the master board member and the certifi well actually first it's the certified board member and then the master board member so congratulations it's a lot of work I just encourage everyone to come if they can what time is that again 6m is when dinner starts and then it proceeds into the meeting about 6:45 is that rockbury high school just now oh yeah couldn't hear you any other old business um I don't know if this old or new I just want to mention again remind everyone that we are having focus groups around the district regarding the referendum dealing with I'm sorry I have the dates right here do you have the dates good I'm gonna let Madame President no no all yours all yours I'm always doing this so uh the first one is going to be on May 6th uh Monday Stony Brook and then cop on May 9th dbo in Birchwood May 13th and KDM on May 20th dwire May 22nd they start at 7:30 except the dbo Birchwood combination starts at 7:00 we we encourage everyone to attend and to give your input regard regarding a possible referendum well we're we're addressing the demographic changes in the district regard to as um the population increases and school facilities yes sure thank you for the question any new business I just I just want to say I know a lot of colleges have pushed out their m first decision days but I just want to wish all of our you know Rockway Township graduates good luck on their choices that they made um considering their Futures one is yours yes one is mine go ospr anyone else our next meeting is May 15th here at 7:30 we do not need to return to execu session so can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved second Aaron and Lissa show of hands meeting is adjourn at 8:54 PM have a great night everybody [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]