And uh I've uh addressed this commission before in the past couple meetings. And I just want to say thank you again for uh working hard uh and bringing forward a beautiful document um a very strong document that uh reflects a lot of hard work and I think this is something that's powerful that needs to go before city council and it's important that be raised directly with council since I agree with previous speakers there's some issues uh regarding uh um the comprehensive land use plan um in particular they make a mention regarding the green belt and they're mentioning acquisitions outside the city, but not important land acquisitions within the city that uh that still need to be made and important natural features covered and natural systems uh covered with those acquisitions as well. There's still a lot of highquality parcels still out out there. Um this is a great document.
It'll be a student teacher going into JFK with Mr. Martino next year. Item number four is to approve uh Mrs. Bright to be the affirmative action officer. She had some extensive training and so she will fill that role officially for us. Um she already is filling that role for us, but she'll do it officially after board approval. Uh item number five uh is for the affirmative action team that she assembled. And you see the teachers names there. they need to conduct a needs assessment um and in order to approve the comprehensive equity plan. So that is to get that approved. Uh item number six, we have a resignation. Item number seven is to approve the contract for Megan Stoddard, school business administrator. Item number eight is for our ESY staff approval. That's extended school year um here in the district over the summer. Uh item number nine is to approve the CST staff also for summer work.
The first meeting was on May 14th at school 16. Many Clipton Mustang staff participated in the autism walk at Christopher Columbus Middle School two weeks ago. The department will submit the extraordinary aid application to New Jersey Department of Education by May 23rd, 2025. Some fifth graders from school 16 are touring Woodro Wilson Middle School on Monday as part of their transition from elementary to middle school. The department is also planning to implement a new confidentiality agreement for outside observers who come into district to observe our programs or particular students. ELLL updates. The seal of biiteracy event is scheduled for May 15th. 207 students who demonstrated literacy in both English and another language will be honored for their demonstration of their biit biiteracy skills. Eight of these students demonstrated literacy in three languages. Students attaining the honor of the seal of biiteracy may be native English speakers as well as current or formal English language learners.
[Applause] So, I'd like to call the folks up, the young folks, as like like to call them, and stand up here first and and wait until we're done with everybody so we can give them a nice round applause. So, let's see here. Now, I broke my glasses. And look what I got. I look like Ben Franklin. So, if I'm uh if my wording is incorrect, I apologize. Uh these are the wrong ones. No, because I have a different list of names. Sorry folks, we got a technical uh Yeah, we have a honorable mentions, too. Oh, honorable mention. Okay, nobody tells me I guess I didn't read the memo. Sorry. So, Yeah. So, yeah, I'll let him read it because these glasses are horrible. Yeah. I'm so glad, by the way, that you pointed out that you another district maybe didn't win as as much of this as we did because not that it's a competition, but you know, it definitely feels like we crushed it this year.
The concept of rhythm is so intrinsic to the human experience that Dr. Nina Krauss from Northwestern University called rhythms in the brain a basis for consciousness itself. Postal workers in Ghana rhythmically hand cancel stamps and Iranian rug weavers rhythmically whistle to communicate weaving patterns. Dr. Krauss even found a link between beekeeping and language development in children as young as 3 years old. How crazy is that? Class of 2025, I want to give you a moment to stop for just a couple seconds. Clear your mind of any nerves, of stress, of thoughts running through your head. Count how many rhythms, how many steady patterns you see, hear, or feel around you. You all have felt rhythm in integral parts of your high school experience. Whether it's your pencil tapping with a steady tempo during a quiz, or your metronome clicking consistently as you practice the cello, or your feet hitting the track as you prepare to leap over your first hurdle.
He says that even though we'll never achieve them, we'll keep on dreaming anyway, running faster, stretching our arms out further at a hope for the future that Fitzgerald claims is delusional. But Fitzgerald is wrong. Standing before our class today, I can see the promise of the future in the green cords that drape our necks. In the green senior banners we hung with excitement this year, and in the green class color we've worn with pride over the past four years, dreaming of one day making it here together, the class of 2025. And here we are. Our dreams have come to fruition against the odds of Fitzgerald's novel. Now, I ask that you think about one dream you have had for this past year. And I've brought some of our goals from this year just to see how far we have come. You might remember these from Miss Dudson's class.
Typically, however, Furpa educ I'm sorry, Furpa, which is Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, prohibits the disclosure of such information without written consent of the parents or guardians of the reported bully. Step three, if the targeted student or reported bully is not satisfied with the decision at step two at the school, they may submit a written appeal to the superintendent or designate within five days of the decision at step two. The case is then reviewed within five instructional days after receipt of the appeal and a decision is communicated to both parties. Step four, if the targeted student or reported bully is not satisfied with the decision at step three, they may submit a written appeal to the school board within five days. The board shall conduct a hearing within 20 instructional days and the board shall provide a written decision to the targeted student and reported bully within 10 instructional days following the completion of the hearing.
Um I have a bachelor's in architecture which is what I did for a couple of years. 15 years between Miami, New York and some years in Boston. And then I did my masters in planning. That's what I do now. I'm the deputy director of the department of planning and development them uh for almost five years and for the same reasons trying to give back to my community. I do other work for LOL and I figured I can do it can do it for Ashland as well. Um, and in one of the u interviews that we did together with Scott, one of one of the most important things that I think is the job to do here for me at least is the however we look at the town for the future or the be able to stay here when they when they grow up, stay with the families, with their friends, the community that they they know and and providing them with that opportunity.
So moved and a second. Have a second for that. I'll second. Second. Maria and roll call on that. Uh Anita Tucker I. Long short. I yes I and I vote I as well. Okay, with that we are on to D. Recognize James Hopper of the Apple Valley Unified School District Maintenance and Operation Team Excellence and Safety Award. Seems like every year he gets this. So yeah, push a button here. Uh admittedly I I feel out of place being the one to present this but um one of the departments that I that I have the pleasure of working with is our risk management department and pretty much all things safety liability and everything come through that that department. We're part of consortiums of school districts. You'll hear sometimes the acronym JPA or joint power authority and we kind of pull together and we look for liability and and things like that.
I agree with what uh um uh former parks commissioner Barau mentioned a little while ago and I speak with heart as a former parks commissioner myself. I think there should be you'd see some greater language in terms of uh uh regarding the flood plane and the flood way. Um, I hope that when you're able to communicate uh that to council that that uh the intent moving forward, but what you have here is a very strong document and I really appreciate the hard work by everyone involved here and uh um I guess what I could say is this is the strength of the commission. Um as you um I see on the agenda, you're looking at uh um re uh uh align yourself to be with the sustainability commission. I realize there's a lot of work ahead of you with that regard. One important thing to take into consideration, you are a very powerful commission.
Uh under letter H number six that is the focus grant. Um New Jersey recently put out this grant funding opportunity um that we are applying for. Uh and essentially it helps it they will pay for an early childhood screener for reading. Um, and so the the state will cover the cost if we get accepted into that grant. And that's it. Okay. I have a motion, a second to approve superintendent items XA through XH. Motion second.
Currently, we have about 1,500 multilingual learners, the most we have ever had in the district. School report card data, accountability profiles, and district data. The New Jersey school performance reports were discussed. Mrs. Cusvich explained that the data within the reports are almost two years old by the time the reports are released. For example, 2-year-old test score data are part of school report cards. They also provide data on the total student population and individual subgroups. There is no way to disagregate the data to see how just general education students are doing. Local standardized district data from common and packaged assessments is a more accurate and authentic way to show student growth. The increased test score data, the district is focused on good instruction. For example, we ensure that students have access to hard copies of books, not just electronic versions of them. Some test prep occurs in our classrooms, but we emphasize content, not test prep.
Um, and I just I'm glad to get that official acknowledgement from the Elks that we crushed it. So, just saying. Yeah, we did. We did. Um, so we're going to have uh Adeline Yeetman come on up. She's here. Adeline won honorable mention in the Elks essay contest. And I loved your idea to have them all everyone come up and stay standing up here. So, great job. And we've got Haley Schmid who also won honorable mention. [Applause] Then Cooper Levine. Cooper Leavine, if you can come up. Honorable [Applause] mention. We've got Gavin Quinn. Honorable mention. [Applause] And then next up, we've got Ethan Zang, who won first place in the local Marlton Elks U area and then also first place in the Southwest District for fifth grade. Ethan Zang. [Music] We've got a gift card for him. So, don't want to lose that. And we got Matthew Broadbent who won the Elks contest.
As you throw your caps into the night sky and wave farewell to this chapter of your life, you will encounter rhythms you've never experienced before. Maybe you'll join an a capella group in college and start matching your rhythms with other singers around you. Or maybe you'll code with steady clicks of your keyboard. Or maybe you'll talk faster or slower with a new group of uh of colleagues in the armed forces. The rhythms at Morirana High School have sustained us for four years. However, now it is time to explore new pulses, a new chapter. Don't be afraid of a fresh start. However, I ask that you keep these dances and songs you felt on Morirana's campus in the back of your mind. Carry those rhythms with you for the rest of your life, as each one has been integral in composing the symphony that you are today.
Um Satie wanted to plan a trip with her friends or family and now she'll be going to Florida this summer. Isaiah wanted to get a beautiful girlfriend and now she's sitting over there in the fourth row. [Applause] Kate wanted to post three vlogs on YouTube and now she'll remember senior year forever and captured the memories perfectly. Uh Berlin wanted to MC a pep assembly successfully stepping out of her comfort zone and reaching high. And Gabrielle wanted to write an amazing graduation speech which we all just got the privilege of listening to. Each and every single one of them, just like so many of us, were able to achieve these goals. These are just a few of the many dreams put in writing and on that board for this year. And some of so many of you will be forever grateful you were able to achieve them.
Indiana's definition of bullying is bullying is defined as state law means overt unwanted repeated acts or gestures including verbal or written communication or images transmitted in any manner including digitally and electronically. Physical acts committed, aggression, and any other behaviors committed by a student or group of students against another student with the intent to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate, or harm the other student and create for the targeted student an objectively hostile school environment that could be described as a placing the targeted student in reasonable fear of harm to the targeted students person or property. It has a substantially detrimental effect on the targeted students physical or mental health. Has the effect of substantially interfering with the targeted students academic performance. Or has the effect of substantially interfering with the targeted students ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities or privileges provided by the school.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So, thanks for having me. Um, my name is Scott Beltier. I day one I got here. Um, signed in earlier today. I think, uh, I think it did it just by the 3:00 deadline for me to get sworn in. Uh, my family and I lived in Ashlin for almost eight years now. Live on Warren Road, back up to the state park, which dog walking every day on leash of course. And um you know I just let me said it. I wanted to give back to the community. I'm on the Ashlin Business Association. We came here for a meeting and the the select board was here. We had a conversation and they said the spot was open. It really kind of piqued my interest to give back. I'm also a member of the uh high school site council. My older son graduated from high school last year.
And every I think it's every other year around February, March, April, somewhere in that time frame, we get like a systemwide audit. And this systemwide audit, it walks every property in in our system. Uh the ops yard, every school campus, this property, looking to identify um things that could be deemed as hazardous. And you know, when my ignorant mind goes to that, I'm thinking, okay, you're looking for, you know, broken things. You're looking for cracks. You're looking for things that look like they're going to fall. But they actually go a lot farther than that. They look at, they'll walk in a classroom or they'll look at a portable building and they'll say, "See how those two portables you could actually squeeze between. You might lose a kindergartener, you know, around the side of that, around the back of it. You probably want to build something to keep them out." And there's a I want to say a 73 78 districts in our consortium.
You're a great group of people with a lot of ideas and a background that are just invaluable. It is important that yes, while the city can provide direction, you continue to provide leadership on your own right and don't hesitate to bring ideas forward um that can uh lead to progress within the city and protecting our environment. I agree with what Miss Randall said regarding a stronger tree ordinance. That's one way in terms of helping the sustainability issue. All in all, um I really appreciate the leadership you provided. And one more thing regarding the comprehensive land use plan. Yes. Uh natural features on private land like trees need to be protected as well. I realize it may create some difficulties but is important that as we move as we move forward that uh we have a strong system in place and uh new development if it does occur must work with the n our natural environment.
Any questions on any of those items? All right. Um, Mr. Golden, yes. Mrs. Allen, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mrs. Reed, yes. Mrs. Helma, yes. Miss Juliano, yes. Got to add Mrs. Row in here. Mrs. R. Yes. And Mr. Davis. Yes. Okay. Um, moving on to business and finance. And I have a motion, a second to approve the business and finance items Xia to XIL. Motion. Second. All right. Item um A through D is just the financial report for the month of April 2025. The treasur's report and the secretary's um report do match. There are uh no line items have been overextended for the month of April. Sufficient funds are available to meet the district's financial obligations for the remainder of the year. There are no changes in our anticipated revenue amounts or sources. Um E is just to approve of the bills which we had finance committee do um this evening and we got all of them approved.