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 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 visitors in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none and 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 good evening I'd like to call the meeting to order at 6:01 PM can I have an attendance roll call please Mrs Anderson here Mrs Carillo miss mcari here Mrs mzik Mrs Smith here Dr Thomas heini Mrs Shields here we have a quorum we have a quorum yes barely 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 and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the Rockaway 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 the municipal building of the township 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 all documentation and materials considered by the Board of Education as part of this agenda are available for public review and comment members of the public are invited to come to the board Board of Education building off Green Pond Road during the regular hours of 8:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. Monday through Friday if they wish to inspect any of the referenced items can I have a motion to wave the Pledge of Allegiance until open session so moved seconded Lissa and Alison show of hands please resolve that in accordance with the open public meetings act the Rockway Township Board of Education will meet in closed session to discuss matters involving Personnel litigation acquisition of real 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 Clos session so moved second Noel and Lissa show of hands please we will start close session at 6:03 pm. 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 virt 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 Rockway Township heart honesty empathy acceptance respect and Trust so we can focus on particularly on being kind 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 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 and 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 noall 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 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 make a difference in the world it's so important to have a positive environment for a child to come to and teaching at DWI 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 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 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 come 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 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 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 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 DBL yeah my name is Rea I'm in first grade 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 I've 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 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 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 heart honesty empathy accept and respect and Trust I have been teaching art here in Rockaway township for 16 years 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 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 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 in to 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 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 [Music] place 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 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 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 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 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 faster 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 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 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 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 to all of my students my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really good teachers but 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 we identify the interests of students you know what motiv Ates 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 in 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 and 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 Ty 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 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 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 S Kinder gar 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-nit 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 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 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 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 Sony 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 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 student 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 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 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 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 prechool 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 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 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 play around that 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 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 Jack 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 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 Takis 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 quin K I'm in the fifth grade hi my name is Arya I am in second grade well 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 helped 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 my favorite teachers are probably all of my teachers cuz I got really with teachers they have fun activities to do and there 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 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 this 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 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 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 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 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 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 and emotional learning is very important it gives us a chance to discuss our emotions and give 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 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 Banda 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 Copeland 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 invest 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 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 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 Curly and I am in fifth grade and I go to DBL yeah my name is Rya 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 tus has drawing is my favorite thing what makes dbo 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 what really resonates with me about this school is that 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 class room is growth mindset I did have a student that came in and really didn't like math they were really negative selft 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 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 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 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 visitors in the building just for a day uh you know I think Echo that sentiment our staff is second to none and they really put the kids first all the time and our students are exceptional as well it's a wonderful School Community our PTA 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 Ty 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 in a bigger classroom you can build more of a rapport 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 CU I feel like it is a small close-nit 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 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 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 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 and 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 very involved School Community both academically working hand in hand 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 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 cop 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 involed 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 they 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 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 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 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 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 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 Maria 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 my favorite special is art class with Miss Takis cuz drawing is my favorite thing what makes de 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 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 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 7eventh 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 this 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're 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 birwood 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 see our doors are always open we you're truly a family here our kids are just everything if you've never taught at another school and you come to birwood 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 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 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 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 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 7eventh 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 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 Banda 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 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 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 being kind and yes academics are important but one of the main things for us is that we raise good kids 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 DB yeah my name is Reya 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 CU drawing is my favorite thing what makes Dio 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 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 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 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 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 teacher 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 we identify the interest of students you know what motivates them so students feel more comfortable and confident in 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 the classroom even right for 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 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 inside school I really try to be involved in as many things as I can my children also go to school 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 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 okay so I've got it playing now I'm just going to jump back to the the uh I'm going to switch it back and then I'm going to check back on the video to see if I'm hearing the audio from the uh from the stream 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 birwood is very special because it is truly a family atmosphere students come back year after year there's multi-generations that have attended bir wood 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 I've 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 and they really put the kids first all the time and our students are acceptional 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 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 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 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 they're 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 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 student 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 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 okay we're just testing now to see if we can hear you can you uh say something sure whatever you want to say oh thank you okay I'm going to try uh I'm G to try to see if we can hear that on the Stream you know there's always fer e Alisa um can you try saying something again it didn't pick up your audio sure I hope you're having a nice s you got a fan already yeah there's a camera on top okay we also this is being streamed worries I mean maybe I don't know that is a pretty good deal 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 them I have a motion to adjourn close session so moved second Alison and Lissa show of hands please Clos session ended at 7:30 p.m. we're reconvening open session at 7:30 p.m. can everyone please stand for the flag salute during the course of the board meeting and 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 are who take this opportunity to identify themselves by name and address and to limit their comments to items listed on the agenda and or 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 board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded want to by the board students employees have specific legal rights afforded to them by 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 consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in the comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments in accordance with board policy 0167 public discussion is limited to 15 minutes with a three minute sorry three minute limit per member of the public the board president shall have the right to modify the length of the public discussion as she deems appropriate can I have a motion to open public comments so moved second is that Noel and Christie show of hands please if anyone would like to make a comment I have a motion to close public comment so so moved second to Allison and chrisy show of hands there was two Communications that are listed here uh can I have a motion to approve the board minutes so moved second Christie and Noel and just for the record these are the board minutes from June 26th the meeting minutes from July 8th which was our Retreat will be on the August 14th agenda can I have a roll call vote please to vote on the June 26th board minutes Mrs Anderson Mrs Anderson yes Mrs Coro yes Miss mcgi yes Mrs MZ Mrs Smith yes Dr thini Mrs Shields yes motion passes superintendent report yes thank you fence installation has begun began actually yesterday at Stony Brook and should be completed by Friday July 19th fencing will also be installed at KDM we expect that project to begin on Monday July 22nd and be completed by July 25th contracts for roof repairs at KDM birwood and Copeland are on the agenda for approval this evening I expect delivery of materials on July 22nd and installation to begin on July 23rd substantial completion for Birchwood and Copeland will be on or before August 30th KDM the KDM roof will be completed honor before August uh excuse me October 18th 2024 the solar panel Foundations at Copeland and Stony Brook are being replaced with new concrete blocks we're doing that in-house by the way the project began on July 1st and where the permitting the entire project will be completed on August 9th at Birchwood the girls bathroom near the gym is being renovated the project started on July 8th and is scheduled to be finish to be finished on July 26th after meeting with the engineer to review the work completed on km's water it was determined that the modifications made by the contractor were were incorrect the engineer will be reviewing the necessary modifications with the contractor a supervisor of facilities will be meeting with the contractor and the engineer on July 19th to discuss the status I'll certainly keep the board updated our summer programs are in full swing these include esy which runs from July 8th to August 2nd and we have 140 students 140 students enrolled enrichment includes various programs small fry which goes from July 8th to the 24th it has 44 students academic en enrichment from July 8th to the 25th with 131 students multilanguage learner enrichment July 8th to the 25th with 30 students pre-algebra with 18 students goes from July 8th to the 31st and Safety Town July 8th to July 19th and it has 54 students I was at ston Brook today and uh here at Copeland to to observe uh at least partially some of the day and it was interesting actually they had um what was her name again I forget from the reptile company uh but you did a very good job showing our students snakes and turtles and crocodiles or alligators excuse me an alligator so it was very interesting bagels and books was held this morning at cop Middle School for the incoming sixth grade students actually it was 6 through eight I should correct that it wasn't just sixth grade I correct that it's six it's all students 6 through eight the intention is to courage and support summer reading for middle school students and just to um note some upcoming events uh I believe the operations committee is having a meeting on July 30th we have our board meeting scheduled on August 14th on August 19th bagels and locks here at copelan Middle School um there's an AM and PM session 9:00 a.m. and noon for the PM session our principals will will be gathering from a August 20 principles and administrators not just principles all administrators in the district from August 20th to August 23rd at the board office pizza and books on August 21st at Copa Middle School new teacher orientation will be August 27th at the board office our convocation very exciting date August 28th at Copa middle school and our kindergarten open house will be districtwide at the respective schools August 29th and that's at 1: p.m. p.m. and of course board members are welcome to attend thank you that oh and I also wanted to talk about Hib up for affirmation tonight there are four um to be voted on this evening of the four one was affirmed and the incident the nature of the incident had to do with gender um and the three obviously were not confirmed that is my report thank you any comments or questions for Dr Corvett yes so I'm sure I'll introduce our supervisor of Technology um Abe has been working very closely with the district principles uh we've discussed how we can make technology more secure for students in the district um that's going to be by the way an ongoing challenge because technology is always changing and students are always getting smarter and uh we have to stay ahead of the curve so uh I've asked Abe to put together this very brief presentation this evening to give the board and the community an understanding what we're doing to safeguard protect our students Abe assured me that he would keep his presentation to under 60 Minutes no I'm only kidding he'll it'll it'll be it'll be good though so Abe without further Ado if you have a minute um we certain like to hear from you are you there Abe oh yeah sorry I had to make sure we're still streaming before I came up Hello thank you Dr carbet for inviting me to come up and talk about this um so what is the concern concern of course is student access to data and making sure that we're doing our best to protect students um now here in Rockaway we do quite a substantial amount to um protect student uh students use of the uh internet and the technology that we provide them um we use three different kinds of filtering software uh currently but uh of course there's always um the need to continually review and improve on our uh our current setup so in light of that we are looking to do just that so we have six big items that we're planning on doing this year uh we're going to be making changes to Google accounts changes to the web policy changes to YouTube changes to reporting changes to parental controls and that's I'm I'm going to keep on hinting at that one so bear bear with me until I get to that part and then finally changes to uh the devices themselves so let's talk about um changes to Google so what are what changes are we making to to protect students uh students accounts one big thing is we're going to be blocking all inbound email to student email accounts um except from whitelisted domains and email addresses so that means nobody will be able to reach out to students from outside of the organization unless we allow it um one thing that we're going to do is we're going to be utilizing uh Genesis to use the uh parent contacts uh as a initial list to be whitelisted so that parents will be able to contact their students so it's important before the start of the school year to make sure your contacts are up to date uh the other thing we're going to be doing is making sure that we have a list of software in advance that supports curricular needs that also relies on emailing students for instance Google Classroom is something that uses uh email to to function so we want to make sure that applications like that are whitelisted in advance so that we're not impinging on uh the learning uh the learning process uh and of course all internal emails will still be transmittable so teachers will still be able to contact students students will be able to contact teach teach vice versa um the next thing that we're going to be doing is we're going to be implementing new uh password requirements specifically we're going to be getting kids into the habit of managing their own passwords I think it's a very important skill set to learn early um and so we're going to be starting that probably in the fifth grade moving on uh students will have to go through the process of learning their password making something that is secure and then getting used to the idea of changing that on a yearly basis that'll protect students from you know using an algorithm based password which eventually once the kids figure out how to do it for themselves they can figure it out for each other um the one big thing that we got to make sure of is the process for educating the students on how to do that is is in place uh for the start of the school year so we're working on that throughout the summer so changes to web policies so right now we have one policy to Ru all policies basically it's uh it's a single policy that stretches 24 hours a day and that worked well when we weren't sending kids home with technology um but in light of the fact that we have students with Chromebooks at home we are creating two separate policies an in school policy and a home policy that'll allow us to differentiate uh how we manage internet browsing depending on whether the students in school or at home specifically when you're using the school policy so when you're during the hours of the school day it will be when I say less restrictive I mean similarly restrictive to how it is now um that way we're not slowing down the educational process however just so everybody's aware monitoring is closely um monitored by faculty not only in the classroom but as well as reporting goes to to administrators at home we can Institute more restrictive policies things like cutting out specific services that they don't need while allowing services that they do the other big thing of course is that we're going to be enabling some parental controls which we'll get into next we got changes to YouTube so because we have two new policies we're able to do a couple new things so for instance with YouTube's in school policy first thing that we're going to be doing is disabling the YouTube app now that doesn't mean disabling YouTube altogether that just means disabling the app application you see applications function a little bit like a blackbox it's a bit harder for um content filters to go through them and monitor them so what we're doing is we're redirect by disabling the application we're redirecting all the use of YouTube through the browsers that allows us to search for like use keyword restrictions so things you know it's a bit easier to Monitor and prevent access the other big thing is that allows us to block YouTube shorts YouTube shorts is basically like YouTube's version of Tik Tok so it's another way of just like cutting out something that we feel is kind of unnecessary in the classroom um but during the day um you know this of course it'll still be monitored through goguardian as it is now um but we're hoping to also increase greater visibility um to uh the things that kids are looking at while in the classroom through reporting which I'll get into later the out of school policy will be a bit different um we will be disabling the YouTube app as we did before but we'll also fully restrict YouTube on school accounts for kids in grades prek forth that's the kids that aren't a part of the take-home initiative now this will mean a bit it could potentially mean some changing in plans for for teachers but at those grade levels there was a reduced use of you know like assigning the viewing of YouTube for students at home that's something that happen a little bit more when you have kids working with devices and you're doing out of school you know out of school learning through the use of those that as a resource in the upper grades we can restrict we could still restrict YouTube but we're not going to restrict it as uh we're we're not going to fully cut it out so we can do some additional restrictions such as categorical restrictions now the problem with YouTube of course is that it's self-reported if I were to upload a video I could upload Whatever video I want to educate ation as a category and that's the Ed that's the category that it appears as there's no real way to restrict it fully but we are doing a lot of what we can do to mitigate things and cut things down as well as present reporting as much as possible um and of course you have greater parental access so we'll get into that shortly not next uh so let's talk about reporting um this is important because uh it's one thing to block kids from doing things another thing to have a view of what they're interested in um so we currently use filtration uh through two different applications Gog guardian and maroi those provide content filtration um throughout the day uh go Guardian continues to do um content filtration when they're at home so long as they're logged into a school device or logged onto their account uh the one new thing that we're doing is that gagle has just released their content filter so we're going to add that to the mix so now we're going to have three different applications providing content filtration we're also going to extend the use of flagged content violations so that means that um we can create tiered lists of threats of things that kids can view so something like inappropriateness or gambling I'm using the ones that kids are more likely not to use but you guys can fill what those categories are with your own imaginations um from there there that flagged content becomes easier for faculty and uh and uh and administrators locally to view and that's the other thing that we're going to be working on we're going to be changing the way that reporting works so that um local administrators get daily reports of flagged content uh violations that occur within their school so that way they're a bit more on top of things and we could also provide professional development to staff so that they know how to use the application to go in on a case-by Case basis if they feel that there's a need and then last but not least again we have the parental Insight before I get into that I just want to describe briefly what the human monitoring services that we have now and I I bring this up because even though it's something that is already in place it's something that's important for people to be aware of so what is human monitoring services so human monitoring Services is the higher end of of threat assessment this is specifically things like bullying self harm or potential harm for others when those alerts occur there is a process a five-stage process the first thing that happens is that Gaggle U uses uh its own monitoring systems to search for key category items you know use its own artificial intelligence to search um email and other Communications that could relate to self harm or one of these other more concerning Flags when that happens human monitor at gagle goes through the process and assesses them to determine if it is a false flag or not so that way like if a kid is saying I'm going to fight you tomorrow it's a bit different than George Washington fought in the revolution you know that kind of thing um if a threat is assessed they contact uh somebody at the district usually the um head of you know the person in charge of security um over the phone they make sure that there is a human- to human contact um before they um relinquish or assume that the the Baton has been handed off to the school district uh once that happens from there investigations occur local administrators assess and respond to the situation and then finally on the fifth end there's a fallback if for whatever reason the human monitoring service isn't able to get into contact with a local administrator we can and this is something that we're implementing now this summer um it can have a fallback to local authorities for wellness checks again we're going to reserve that for the most extreme situations where we feel that there is a potential for self harm that could occur um as a as a concern so let's talk about parental controls we're implementing this summer uh the Gog Guardians parent app the parent app will be an application that parents will be able to to install and allow them greater control over um their students browsing when they are logged on to student accounts so that specifically because the Chromebooks are tied to stud or require require students logins all Chromebooks that the school provides will be monitored um any any device that is local to the the you know that they're using locally within their home that they log into would also be monitored while they are logged in this application will give parents the ability to manage either the Chromebook browsing or any browsing while using the um while using their school-based account um the app allows for parents to do things like monitor what sites students are are are visiting um add additional filtering restrictions so for instance if you have parent that is overly concerned with your kids using playing Roblox as I am um making sure that they can cut that out if they want to um they can create timed access so that says like you you know you get another 30 minutes to get your homework done outside of that I know you're not doing your homework and then finally you have scheduled shutdowns that they'll be able to manage on their own so I can say at 12 o'clock my kid stops using the you know the internet so we're basically putting a lot more capacity in the hand and uh agency in the hands of uh the families that are managing things then finally let's talk about changes to devices so this goes more into the realm of uh digital citizenship making sure that kids we're grow raising kids that are responsible for things like taking care of technology and taking care of their own accounts um now we've had uh issues with Device breakage uh particularly ly in the Middle School in the past um and every year we come back to how are we going to make things better um now I just want to give a brief ex explanation of what we do currently with regard to devices because I've often heard a lot of people question you know how does the warranty work how does this thing work so let me just describe what we do currently right off of that we did away with the yearly maintenance fee um that by itself makes us unique to many districts in in in in the north Jersey area um why did we get rid of this because we feel that if your kid is doing a good job of taking care of their device why are we going to charge them a maintenance fee you know we didn't we didn't feel it's fair to charge everybody a single maintenance fee when um we are able to roll into um the uh purchases ourselves uh so how do we do it we do um three stag basically on the first unintentional break this is now we're not talking about a device that is just not working on its own we're talking specifically physical damage to the device on the first example of unintentional break the parents are alerted and then they um uh they're being they're told that any future breaks they might incur a charge um and just so you know this reoccurs yearly this resets yearly so in a four-year career there will be four opportunities for this to happen so you if it breaks the first year you don't have to worry that the next four years you're on thin ice that's not how it's going to work the second unintentional Break um students are charged and that charge is a predetermined charge based on the age of the device and the on the component that's uh broken I will say right off the bat there aren't any there there aren't too many keys that magically fly off the keyboards on their own you're finding keys missing somebody plucked them but then there's that last stage of unintentional breaks now um when it is intentional breaks is something very specific it is when somebody has reported whether it be a faculty member student or or administrator and determined by the administration of Copeland that there was an intentional damage like specifically the kid took it and threw it across the room or broke it over an e or something like that that you get charged on the first go so with that in mind we still want to one other issue that we also have regularly and that costs us a lot of man-hours is scraping stickers off of Chromebooks um my assistant spends a good number of hours per week just literally scraping we've we put it out there you know don't put stickers on Chromebooks they do so we're making three big changes that this year for that first off one of the issues that we experience with breakage is that kids don't keep their Chromebooks in their cases um they take them out as soon as they get them they don't bring their cases in and then they bring their Chromebooks in so this summer all new devices that we've purchased uh have new Snap-on cases that like actually click onto the device itself now those don't provide as much coverage as the case that we provide them now but it's better to have something than nothing we've also went through the process of purchasing new Snap-on cases for all existing Chromebooks in the middle school so all existing seventh grade and eighth grade Chromebooks next year we'll also have cases that we can hand out um now with regard to defacement we are trying we understand that there's going to be a need for an outlet so what we're going to put out there is that you can can put stickers on the devices so long as you're keeping it restricted to the case so so long as you don't put stickers on the Chromebooks themselves you could decorate the case as you see fit that gives the kids a little bit of an outlet they could personalize things as much as they want while at the same time decorating a $20 case is not actually damaging a device itself um so with that we feel that we might be cutting down on a lot um so what what are we hoping to achieve with that well one um we are hoping that you know will reduce the amount of damage that occurs um to the devices themselves but it means that we're also going to require some personal responsibility in light of that that means if you are bringing in a device that has isn't in the Snap-on case from here on out we will consider that intentional damage likewise if you deface a de a device personally by putting items onto a screen or the bezel or what have you that is defacing the device and of course that will be considered as intenal that's it for the big changes but I just want you to know that there are future initiatives that are in play that we also always uh look into so there are a lot of indirect improvements that we do to make sure that student data is provided safe one thing I didn't even put it up there but we always make sure that the um software that we install is for p Copa compliant those are federal requirements for uh for student data uh for personal uh information um we are increasing the um we we are doing things like um getting new uh up state-of-the-art uh switches um and we're also making sure that um access to like actual physical Network ports are uh disabled when not in use with uh with by the devices um we are purchasing and maintaining new servers that make to make sure that student data stored there is uh safe uh we are implementing uh staff multiactor authentication so that way they we're reducing our basic goal is we see that there is a new surge in attempting to hijack School data um so we are implementing these things in order to prevent that from happening so make sure that student data and personal information is kept uh safe last but not least with that we're looking into we're instituting uh third-party security Audits and penetration tests to make sure that again once we see once we do an assessment and we see potential vulnerabilities we can act on them and we hope to do that on a yearly basis so that way we're making sure that we are um uh rated secure and with that is the end of my uh presentation so let me know if you have any questions sure so since you're sitting here I'll repeat the question questions for the so um the question is uh how soon does it take for the Gaggle to respond when there's a threat um so the initial uh the initial uh flagging of content the communication back and forth typically happens um on a rolling basis like so an hourly basis to to to determine you know it Scrolls through and it determines on its own phone like a programmatic um like it uses keyword searches and things like that to find concerns from there um the human monitor that receives it doesn't take a substant we've in the past um the communication that has occurred from the students has been responded to within that same day um whether it is a matter of like minutes or hours I can't say but it is Rel relatively speedy and then the the contact that they provide you when they reach out happens like almost immediately after they have made a determination that there is an actual threat to be assessed sure no that's fine uh so the question is on personal devices you're asking about so if a if a student is on a personal device and logged into an account what level they'll be monitored um right so while logged in so the answer is um if they're using a personal device the likelihood is they will be utilizing applications outside of the browser or different browsers if they're trying to get through um you know to do private browsing stuff that is not within the bounds of control um so that we would depend on parents to to do that uh but it does provide some additional uh uh protections for standard browsing no problem I have a question just about the parents with the updated parental controls will there be information sent to parents about how to do all those monitor times yeah um so I'm going to rele once we're ready to go to roll out the parental app we'll send out in U information provided by the company that shows parents how to log in and uh and manage their accounts um it's already been generated by the company itself so we're just going to be using those uh pre-arranged assets the YouTube at home policy does when does how does when does that get triggered like is it at certain time of day that was saying okay now the kids would be at home so yeah um it's timed so we're going to say 3 o'clock that'll that'll be when it starts the gag alerts do work because years ago my son was in health class and and Googled what drugs can kill me or something like that so I did get a phone call wanted to make sure everything was okay that's great yeah I mean when you a lot of parents will call in like with concerns about like you know I got alert that my kid was doing X and that's just further proof that the systems that we have in place are actually doing their job y all right thank you so a you you will post this on the website at convenience tomorrow perhaps thank you a good job always trying to stay on top of the technology it's not an easy to do but important excellent um moving on committee reports policy can go okay so let me just move this up so I know that the public as well as the bo I believe maybe was the last meeting has been asking about the history of 5756 it relates to this board so now keep in mind when this came about I wasn't on the board many of the people who were are not here so I've had to kind of go by agendas and videos and and all of this stuff um so it first came up as a recommended policy in July of 2015 after that I'm not sure what took place but it didn't pop up again until it was up for first read in October thir 30th of 2018 it was then approved for second read so brought in as a policy on November 14th of 2018 then in March of 2019 the policy came back up as mandated from stra sesme in an alert um and it was put up for first read on May 22nd of 201 2019 and then put up for second read brought as an a policy approved as a policy on June 12th of 2019 so that's the history I'm still continuing my search to see if there was anything that took place between July of 2015 and it actually getting onto the agenda in October of 2018 um you know so far I've I've think I made it through probably 2017 agendas videos and such and haven't seen anything but if something does up I'll certainly I'll let everyone know um but yeah so that's uh that's the just send those dates in an email to the whole board just so we have yeah absolutely that's not a problem and if you need them I mean any Clarity needed for the minutes I can do that as well yes Lissa all right and I have the education um curriculum committee report uh the committee met on July 9th um at 1:30 um until around 3:30 location was central office and attendance were Dr Corbett Mr ganella Mrs Anderson Mrs Shields myself we had um a guest Mrs Waxman um and also Mrs Young was on call for any math curriculum questions um during that meeting we discussed The Chronic absenteeism survey results um and we did ask for the survey results they were in a Google form to be shared um with the full board so that will be forthcoming um just because there is a lot of good information in there um that families provided um in addition um we spent the majority of the meeting um looking at curriculum that has been getting Rewritten and revised um a lot of work has been getting put into all of this um by the staff and it's greatly appreciated um up for approval at the next meeting August 14th meeting um there are going to be um many curriculum documents um including English language arts math science um languages um just to name a few of them um in addition um we also were um provided more information um about what the state is mandating um pertaining to curriculum um so some of the items that are required to be included now in curriculum are diversity equity and inclusion um history of disabled and LGBT persons Amistad law and Holocaust law so with that um information was shared with a representative from cusac which is the monitoring um that is done by the state and the feedback from that person was the information that was provided at the beginning of curriculum documents that have been recently Rewritten actually wasn't even enough information although it's about 10 pages um with a lot of that spelled out pertaining to those laws um additional an additional site was actually created um by the staff that includes links to activities lesson plans and all of those things so teachers do have access to all of that as well um which would meet that requirement um in addition up for board approval tonight um we briefly discussed the emergency virtual instruction plan which is something that's um required to be reapproved every year moving forward um in addition there's going to be Title One Fund approval that will be on tonight's agenda as well um there were some outstanding curriculum items that we also discussed um the MML curriculum writers were posted and gifted and talented curriculum writers will be posted soon um and then we are planning our next meeting but we still have to kind of figure this out and work around vacations we might have to do something virtual um for August uh sometime after August 12th um but I think we might want to follow up in the future with I have everyone's vacation sent to me um but I feel like we have a little bit of a challenge working through that are there any questions regarding education committee stuff thank you any other committee reports oh Lisa hi thank you uh the community outreach committee meeting uh took place on July 9th we met vir at 4m. the committee members uh were in attendance that would be me Aaron and Allison along with Dr Corbett our guests were pier campasano and Carrie zarski from USA at Architects and Liam goldrick from the Donovan group the committee at virtually with Architects and with our PR firm to review the Comm the committee's recommendation to address the inequities found during the analysis of the district facilities under Community engagement the committee will meet with PR firm at the August 13th meeting to discuss the next steps of community outreach to share with our stakeholders the plan that will comprehensively address the district's capacity and educational needs for the future the next committee outage meeting will be August 13th at 4M uh currently it's scheduled for central office thank you thanks anything else the Ops committee is meeting at the end of the month on the 30th I think that covers them all okay moving on recommended for board action can I have a motion to approve Personnel items so moved Christie seconded Noel we start on the bottom of page four and go to the middle of page six I have a roll call vote please on personnel Mrs Anders Mrs Anderson yes Mrs cararo yes Miss mcgi yes Mrs mzik yes Mrs Smith yes Dr thomasin Mrs Shields yes motion passes I have a motion to approve Hib determination so moved seconded Noel and Alison and we are voting on 1122 11250 11256 is unconfirmed and 11255 as confirmed can I have a roll call vote please on Hib determinations Mrs Anderson yes Mrs Coro yes Miss mcgi yes Mrs mzik please thumbs up as you yes thank you Mrs Smith yes Dr thini Mrs Shields yes motion passes education can I have a motion to approve the education recommendations so moved second chrisy and Lissa any board discussion I can open to the public if anyone has any comments on on education so moved I have a motion to open to the public so moved well and Allison show of hands please good evening Donna marce cinski one Lake Shore Drive um I'm coming up tonight to talk about the um Retreat meeting I had reached out because my friend had sent me a link when I went on the link that he sent me I couldn't get the actual time of the meeting and my email was answered a couple days later so of course I couldn't make it to the meeting that day um but I was told that I was advertised in the daily record in the Star Ledger and that it was posted online I the agenda was posted online I going to get that link to the agenda um The Daily Record and the Star Ledger not everybody has a subscription especially in this day and age um you know everything's usually on Twitter or you know our agenda link or you know a website our school website board ad website so I was just curious to are we able to find out what was what that meaning was about because it wasn't live streamed right no it wasn't typically we don't live stream the board retreat is something we doly usually in the summer at the start of the school year and that's we just use that time to come up with our board goals and District goals for the upcoming school year in the past we have done like team building exercises or things like that but that's what that time was used for okay we were just curious because you know like it's something that you know we're paying attention um the other thing is um as a member of moms for Liberty and yes it's current um there was an injective relief given and anyone whose child is in a school that the parent is a member for moms for Liberty is protected from the schools hiding information from the parents including gender transitioning students and teacher being push punished for sexual harassment if they miss gender or use pronoun for a boy or girl other than what they prefer biological males and girls Sports and being compelled to lie at school about biological truth allowing biological males to share bathrooms locker rooms and overnight field trips housing with fale students so I'm just putting you guys on notice my daughter's in Stony Brook thank you thank you can I have a motion to close public comment so moved second Allison and Christie show of hands okay once again we are voting on the education items there's three of them can I have a roll call vote please Mrs Anderson yes Mrs kural laru yes M mcari yes Mrs mzik for the record Mrs mzik voted yes Mrs Smith yes Dr Thomas hini Mrs Shields yes motion passes I have a motion to approve special education recommendations so move to Second chrisy and Lissa there are three items any board discussion open to the public if there's any comments on special education can I have a roll call vote please on special education items Mrs Anderson yes yes Mrs Coro yes Miss mcgi yes Mrs mzik for the record Mrs mzik voted yes Mrs Smith yes Dr tomasini Mrs Shields yes motion passes can I have a motion to approve Administration recommendations so moved second Noel and Christie and just to uh bring to everyone's attention that our board goals in objectives that we created at The Retreat are in the section being voted on for district goal for the 2425 school year goal number one we are going to change the wording a little bit it will now say by June 2025 the district will increase the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations on the njsla in ela and Mathematics by at least 5% over over change overall across all grade levels and then the rest is as written here so we're just adding the at least 5% and that's 5% overall change any questions for discussion I appreciate that um the more aggressive approach is the one that's being taken versus just that increase of percentage points so thank you I can open to the public if they have any comments on [Music] Administration okay can I have a roll call vote please on Administration items including those changes I just spoke of Mrs Anderson yes Mrs cor laroo yes Miss mcari yes Mrs mzik for the record Mrs mzik voted yes Mrs Smith yes Dr thini Mrs Shields yes motion passes can I have a motion to approve Finance recommendations so moved seconded chrisy and Noel there are four items I did go into the central office yesterday and approve the bills I can open to the public if there's any comment on finance items any board discussion can I roll call vote please on finance items Mrs Anderson yes Mrs Kuro yes Miss mcari yes Mrs mzik he we lost visual she saying she said yes there she yes for the record Mrs mzik voted yes Mrs Smith yes Dr tomasini Mrs Shields yes motion passes I have a motion to approve policy recommendations so moved second Allison and chrisy there are two policies up for first read is there any board discussion I guess I just always um aing in the S side of caution um I'm hesitant to abolish I know it's the guidance that we've received um just because I always fear like what if you know situations um you know what if there is a need for this in the future under the declared emergency so this is this was written based on um something that's expired so we can certainly talk to our board counsel about putting together a new policy and what we can do to to have something and the potential hopefully not decare an emergency but this is based on something that's expired and doesn't exist so it's kind of I don't know if anybody wants to add anything to that but that's where we're at so we can definitely talk about that but this one in particular is going to be abolished and didn't we vote on it sorry I have to like eat this mic for people to hear me is that something that we want the policy committee to look into is creating a a similar policy for emergencies to the extent that we can I feel like if we have if it's here and the board has something but I don't know technically I don't know if this is on I know it's the right technically for the purposes of holding a remote board meeting there is no exception to actually physically having a public inperson meeting the policy that you're abolishing was the exception for purposes of a declared emergency in the absence of a declared emergency the law is that meetings need to be in person and open to the public so not having read this policy and knowing what or knowing what conversation would be in creating a new policy the general rule is that public meetings need to occur in person and open to the public thank you Jackie yeah absolutely it I guess it was more so the piece of just like in the case of an emergency hoping that if we have something in place we won't ever need to use it like when you have the snow lower it won't correct kind of that's my my kind of my thinking around this thank you so do we want them to the policy committee to L it would only be in a like a Health crisis potentially out for a long period of time I mean I think the reality behind it is when the whole thing came down with covid I think we we had no choice but to scramble and I don't even know if it was after we got something like this to be honest I think we just had to do what we had to at the time um to make sure that we kept the you know the board running so I don't know in that case if it came up again we were all not able to physically be here in public if we wouldn't be able to you know seek out an exception to the rule you know what I mean your law is always going to control over your board policy there is some sort of Statute that is passed or some sort of Regulation that's passed that's always going to govern no matter what your policy provides right but until that occurs your policy is going to control control but from my perspective it's not something in the absence of a statutory relief that you can do from a remote a wholly remote perspective so it just would make sense so it wouldn't make sense to even try it you know it's it is what it is unfortunately and I'm sure if push comes to sh and we get there there'll be something for us to lean on we won't just close up shop we didn't before we won't now thank you no worries I can open to the public if there's any comments about policy I have a motion to open to the public so moved second Christie and Lissa show of hands please we both said the intention hi thank you April Peto 14 dudak Road um I just want to thank Christie for going and looking into the 5756 history I did the same thing and you found the same um but my question Still Remains why did it come back up in 2019 do we know if it was already first second read and approved why did it come back again so I'll say two things so one thing I just want to clarify for for everyone the audience and everyone who comes up for a public session when we're talking about um opening up to public for certain sections it's really only supposed to relate to the section we're discussing but that's fine that's fine it be ridiculous if we said go sit down and come back up it doesn't make sense right now but just wanted to let people know for a future reference um so what happened Happ s is in in the policy committee is Strauss Esme will typically issue an alert a policy alert saying hey guys these are changes that we should be making to our policies um you know based on a law or a recommendation or whatever it would be we have them come out anywhere from every month to a couple of months out so the reason why this came back up in 2019 is because in 2019 St Esme issued a policy alert I believe it was 217 in March of 2019 with a bunch of different things not only this policy but saying you know these are recommended changes these are new policies are policies you should be abolishing based on whatever rule so this particular and I I'll give it to you so you can write it down this revision was based on you ready you got a pen okay was uh it was njsa 18a 36-41 development distribution of guidelines concerning transgender students that was what this was based on the revision and it came out as Mand as mandatory as mandated which is not the ese right wherever they get their information Dem mandated that's not my my wheelhouse I'm not an attorney but in terms of what the board saw from their Council that handles their policies TR smme was that this was a mandated policy and this is what it was based on these guidelines and so the board would have to take action um which is what the board did at the time again you know I don't believe I was even here for that they had to re-review it right they had to look at the changes you looked at the changes that they made well I I don't think I was physically here and I wasn't the board chair but but yeah the board would have to it typically uh make the changes to the policy and then move forward from there okay you know whether or not and I wasn't a a policy person at that time whether or not the board itself felt like it had flexibility because it was a mandated policy that I can't really speak to that but that's typically where where where we make our changes is reliance on our Council telling us what changes need to be made based on regulations laws whatever it might be because we're you know none of us are attorneys so not exception of a board attorney sitting there but um yeah so so that's how that that came to to fruition thank you and so if I find something between like you said that the big gap in time you I'll let you know but so far I haven't found anything to why it was the first one was issued um on 2015 but didn't make its way here until 2018 okay Mak sense you're welcome okay I have a motion to close public comment so moved seconded christe and Noel show up hands I have a roll call vote please on policy items Mrs Anderson yes Mrs Kuru yes Miss mcari yes Mrs mzik let's show for the record that Mrs mzik voted yes Mrs Smith yes Dr tomasini Mrs Shields yes motion carries in accordance with board policy 0167 public discussions limited to 15 minutes with a three minute time 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 public comment so moved chrisy seconded Allison show of hands if anyone would like to come forward for public comment hello my name is Franchesca nordon from 53 Kuka Avenue I appreciate also the review of the 5756 so my question is what are the next actions that our Rockaway Township Board is going to do about the review of it I know there was a first reading and what my concern again which I shared with you before as a pediatric nurse is exclusion of parents and very very important information about their children thank you have a motion to close public comment so moved second Allison and Lissa show of hands please discussion items any old business any new business go ahead um so the author Day committee met um again today um it was at 11:00 a.m. um and this committee has been meeting trying to um Bas on feedback from the PTA come up with um different activities that are going to occur across the school district um and author day is one of these activities um so that there's consistency within schools um and you know making this like a really exciting engaging way for students to um really want to read and get excited about literacy um and it is an alignment with District goal number or new District goal number two um which is expanding these opportunities um so I wanted to just share that information thank you anything else our next board meeting is August 14th at 7:30 right here in Copeland cafeteria uh we do not need to go into executive session so can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved second Allison and Christie show of hands meeting adjourned at 8:31 thanks for joining us Lisa thank you for having me ouch [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]