001So, at this time we have a uh special presentation. We're happy uh to have the Riverview students and staff with us. And uh if you want to >> Well, it's a pleasure to have all of you here. I would like to welcome Mr. McCabe to come on up for special presentation by Riverview School. >> All right. Well, first off, thank you everyone for coming tonight. We at Riverview are so proud of all of our students and staff for everything that they do throughout the school year. And we thought it'd be a great opportunity tonight to show all of you some things that we've been doing in the classroom this year. So, Miss Theopoulos and I would um over the next few minutes actually like to have our students maybe put you all to work for
002a little bit if you don't mind and show you some innovative ideas that we've been doing in our classrooms uh in regards to the thinking classroom as well as students showing growth mindset. So, without further ado, we have our fifth graders. Come on up. Hi, my name is Hudson Cotay and today we are going to be demonstrating how we show grow a growth mindset. A growth mindset means when we do hard things, our brain has a chance to grow stronger. Tonight we will be doing a thinking classroom. A thinking classroom is when we solve problems and work together. So remember, if it's hard, don't say I can't do this. Say I can't do this yet. Thank you, Hudson. Good evening, members of the board of education, administrators, teachers, and families. Thank you for allowing us
003to speak tonight. We are fifth grade students, and we are so excited to share how math looks different in our classroom through something called the thinking classroom. The thinking classroom is a way of learning where students are encouraged to think deeply, work together, and solve problems in creative ways. Instead of just sitting at our desks and completing worksheets, we work in groups, talk about our ideas, and learn from each other. During math, we often stand up and work at vertical whiteboards around the room. Our teachers give us a problem and we work with our group to figure it out. We share our thinking out loud, ask questions, and try different strategies. It's okay if we make mistakes because that's part of learning. This way of learning helps us stay engaged and focused. We are not
004just memorizing answers. We're understanding how and why the answers work. We feel more confident sharing our ideas because everybody's thinking is valued. The thinking classroom helps us build confidence in math, improve our problem solving skills, learn how to explain our thinking, work as a team, stay motivated and interested in learning. We have noticed that we are getting better at solving harder problems and not giving up as easily. Even when something is challenging, we keep trying because we know we can figure it out together. This approach also helps us with things like math fact fluency because we use our skills in real problems, not just drills. We understand math better and that helps us remember it. The thinking classroom has made has made math more fun, interactive, and meaningful for us. We are proud of the
005work that we do and the progress that we're making. Now, we would like to show you what a thinking cra looks like during a math lesson. In our classroom, we work together in groups to solve math problems. We stand on whiteboards, share ideas, and help each other think. Tonight we have three problems posted around the room and we would love for you to try them with us just like we do every day. We invite you to stand up, join a group, and give it a try. Don't worry, it's okay if you're not sure right away. In our thinking classroom, we learn by trying, talking, and working together. >> We'll be there to help you and talk through your thinking just like we do in our class. >> All right. Okay. We'll just pick one >>
006back. There's five jumps. >> Yep. Five jumps. So >> I just say this numbers five. >> Yeah. And you don't count the zero. Okay. You have to count the gems. 1 2 3 4. So I need to count start at one. >> Yep. >> That's a pretty flip it over. is ready. >> So if it's possible, write a mixed number in the simple >> I'm going to go try my way also also. Let's try this one. >> What do you think? >> So, same also. So four and two because the next number 14 could go into three four times 12 over two. So >> what answer did you get for this one? >> Um I got for the first one I got two and 1/3 because seven three can go into seven two times and
007with one left over. two and one. >> That's awesome. >> So you guys check your work that way. >> So we check each other. >> Yep. And >> get a picture of it and not your faces. >> All right. >> Behind. So the answer that I got for this next one is 23 * 14 * 1 = 3 14 / 3 = 4. All right. So, tell me starts off with 23. >> I don't I'm not I'm looking to see. >> So, difference, right? >> So, what happened to the answer? >> So, the answer doubled by one. >> All right. There goes. That was just mild. Now we're getting extra spicy. Extra spicy. How far does four weeks. >> So that would be That smoke coming out of your Ready for the hot multiplying all
008the ones by four and then I'm going to add them all together. >> Everybody learns in a different way. So we all do it in different ways how we learn. >> This one has three peppers. Oh my gosh. >> The miles It's a wonderful Right. >> So, we're just like It's working. >> Mhm. >> Working. Still too much. You guys still going over here? >> Yeah, we're almost done. >> Wow. >> A lot. >> Good job. >> Like their conversation. That's what it's all about, right? They're talking like over there. They were like, "You got a different answer than I did." And they were like, "Okay." And Wes was like, "Well, it's hollow inside. It's not." He was like, "Okay." I was like, "Perfect." >> That was a hard one, too. >> That's a hard
009one. >> We solve it here. reduce that. Oh, >> good stuff. That's the Instagram girl. >> 721. >> So, what do you do? >> Finished over there. >> Yeah. You guys good? Did you guys agree with the answers? No, we're working through. >> Okay. Working through it. >> How did our parents do that? So we think what's your answer? >> I got 70. >> And what did you get? >> 51. >> And you got >> 72. >> Okay. Where we were? What did you do? Five days. Okay. You did four. >> Okay. So, you know, if I'm doing estimation, this is going to be about 16 to 18. That comes to be 12. >> Yes. But when we're multipers, >> are they done over there? All right, I'll close it up. >> What? Yeah. >>
010Sure. >> Got the point. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> This was cool, >> huh? >> Okay. Thank you, mathematicians. Let's give our mathematicians a big round of applause. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, just to let you know that Miss Cory taught every class about growth mindset. That's something we've worked quite a bit this year on the power of yet and perseverance and grit. Um, as team leaders, we found the book, The Thinking Classroom. We read through it and we loved it. We also had a space that Mr. McCabe made beautiful and we had our learning lab and that's where it really came alive and the teachers embraced it. And fourth and fifth does a lot of their math this way. Everyone holds one color marker at a time. They find different strategies. They talk it
011out and they solve it and they become quite the mathematician. I'm very proud of all of them. So, thank you for allowing us to share the thinking classroom with our fifth graders today. Thank you. And we want to thank all of you for coming out tonight and seeing what your students are doing and our teachers for doing such a fabulous job with them. Thinking classroom continues up through 8th grade. So, it's a primary method that we use sixth through 8th. So, you're giving them a fantastic start. It is a great way to think differently, to embrace each other and our differences and different ways that we think. So, we're so happy that you guys came to see what a wonderful job they're doing. We're excited. This has been a goal of ours for uh several
012years now. And so, we're excited to see how they progress here at the end of the year, moving to middle school. So, good luck to all of you and we're so happy you came. Thank you for coming. You guys want to take a big picture? You guys, >> do you know if everybody's cleared or not? >> I got some pictures from behind and the kids working. So that that'll >> unofficial. >> One of my hands was in my pockets. It was awesome. >> I'm wearing >> the front. >> I got to get that in front of >> Shaye. Thank you very >> Thank you everyone. Great to see that after our previous discussion. >> Yeah. >> Get discouraged and heartbroken. like >> that's me. >> Yeah, I I think it's a good start. But but
013I think this is just like entirely due to >> and so good with the kids. They all really respect her. >> That was great. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah, I agree. Yeah, that was uh that was awesome. I'm not on right, just loud. All right. Well, now we'll move on to uh superintendent's comments uh whenever you're ready. >> Okay. Hey, just a reminder um next meeting we're going to start at 6 with executive session 6:30 open session 7:30 goal setting and um I shared a bill with the governance committee regarding some changes that are that possibly will come to the the uh state um health benefits plan for educators. I shared it with the with that group. Maybe that group can um at at our next governance committee meeting add that to the minutes. It's
014um I put I put a summary of it and I also put an AI summary of it. Seemed pretty interesting. I don't know. Um I I today I got an email back from our broker saying that um these were things that they were talking about for a long time and um not sure if it's going to have a huge impact or not, but it just seemed like it was uh timely so I shared it. And that's it for superintendent comments. Okay, assistant superintendent's comments. >> The kindergarten uh update, we are still at 186. We did not gain any additional students since last week. And a reminder that our summer dollar registration is open. If you are looking for transportation, that closes on June 12th. So, you want to make sure that you register. We have
015a few spots in each grade level K through five left. Uh and again June 12th is the deadline if you are looking for transportation. This concludes assistant superintendent report. >> Okay. And uh business administrator's comments. >> This past week uh we went out to RFP request for proposal for vended meals for the national school lunch program for the 2627 school year. Uh we had a pretty decent responses. We had seven vendors uh uh submitted bid not bit requests for proposal and they were all pretty um promising for next school year. Uh we did some evaluation um considering cause menus and varieties of different um food according to the national school lunch program and we have selected a vendor that will be on the agenda for your approval tonight. >> I I saw that in the
016uh in the agenda and it was a little more um detailed than is is typical. I'm I'm just wondering what what prompted uh you sort of list out all the criteria, the percentages and and uh and all of that. I think for the other bids, we usually just get, you know, they were the lowest bidder or something like that. And I'm just kind of wondering what went into kind of creating that um those benchmarks. uh there's some requirements that we have to follow per the uh national school launch agriculture department and that is the uh the requirement that they ask us to board approve the resolution. Uh once it's board approved I had to do a minutes extract and send it to them and if there's anything missing they will send it back to us
017and we had to reapprove it all over again. So I want to make sure that I um capture all their requirements. And how did you get the uh the student and and parent uh input? >> Uh last year we had some communications and there was only one uh vendor who uh submitted a a bid and we did not have a lot. So we I was basing my information on last year's information. Any questions? Thank you. So now we'll move to um uh open public discussion. This portion of the meeting is open to any individuals for the purpose of addressing resolutions on this agenda or matters that they find is important to the board of education and is governed by board policy 0167. And uh we'll open that at uh 756. Yeah, if uh if anyone
018uh online wants to uh to make a comment at this time, they can uh raise their hand. Okay. If not, seeing that no one's in the room, uh we'll close it at uh 7:57. So, next we have uh old business action to be taken. And uh if there are no objections, I'd like to move for approval the following resolutions under old business. Under A, we have the uh Treasury of School Monies and Board Secretary reports for April 2026. Under B, we have uh education reports. We have the report of student enrollment for April, report of health office for April and three HIVs. Under uh item C minutes resolved, we have work and executive session for April 13th and regular session and executive session for April 27. >> I second. >> Roll call. Miss Estino, >>
019yes. >> Mr. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mr. Kim, >> yes. >> Dr. Moore, >> yes. >> And now we have uh new business action to be taken under personnel. If there are no objections, I'd like to move the following uh resolutions. one. We have uh A through P. Uh we have uh teachers uh getting uh stipen or extra pay for uh extra periods. um honors biology parent presentations, um FTEES, uh days to prepare schedules, summer hours, vacation cash outs, and uh we have a uh director of of maintenance and security hire and uh two teachers. And then for number two, we have that uh the board approved the updated list of staff for ESY and DALA and child study team for uh work for summer 2026. Number three, we have
020a leave of absence. Number four, we uh have an attached list of summer exploration staff. And number five is to approve the resolution for uh substitute teacher Karen Labelloo Loello. I'll second >> and I've got more. >> And uh I we have an addendum under a under number one. There's a QRNs. Uh a new hire teacher. Uh some some retroactive for the um uh super what? Oh yeah. For uh Okay. For the Dville supervisor of uh student services. And this is for um retroactive pay for the Dville Township Library Board uh representative or liaison. And then again uh same one for uh the 2627 uh liaison position. And then for number six, we have an extended leave of absence. >> I'll second. >> Roll call. >> Miss Asterino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cass. >> Yes.
021>> Mr. Anderson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kim. >> Yes. >> Dr. Moore. >> Yes. And under instruction and program, if uh Mrs. Eststerino, you could take us through that. >> Sure. Um I move to approve the following resolutions. Um one, you have different workshops and expenses. uh the writing institute Orton Gillingham and then new frontiers in reading and writing as well as approving Megan Mohan Fairley Dickinson University student to complete her school psychology externship at both Lake View and Valley View schools as well as Jacqueline Barolski Penn State University student to complete her school internship at Riverview. And lastly, uh, approve former Valley View students, both Varcia Sundar, Laura Robboto, and Bella Terry, to complete their Girl Scout Silver Award during sixth grade advisory. >> I'll second. >> Okay, if there are no comments or
022questions, roll call. >> Miss Asterino, >> yes. >> Mr. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mr. Kim, >> yes. >> Dr. more. >> Yes. And for governance, uh, Mr. Kim, could you take us through that? >> Sure. I motion that we approve for second reading and adoption policy and regulation number R56000, student code of conduct revised. >> Okay. >> Roll call. Miss Asterino, >> yes. >> Mr. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mr. Kim, >> yes. >> Dr. Moore, >> yes. >> And for finance, Mr. Anderson, can you take us through that? >> Sure. If there are no objections, I'd like to move under D finance uh the following resolutions. Uh number one is our uh checks list. Number two is for the board to approve the attached proposal
023from Atlantic Health for Physician Services in the amount of $5,000 for the 2026 2027 school year. Item number three for the board to approve the agreement between Home Care Therapies LLC DBA Horizon Healthcare Staffing along with Horizon staffing resources both referred to as Horizon and Denver Board of Education. Horizon shall provide to the Dville schools on an as needed basis and as requested basis the full range of staffing services including registered nurses licensed practical nurses certified nursing assistants health aids paraprofessionals as well as other clinical and nonclinical staff herein referred to as temporary staff for the 2026 2027 school year. Item number four is for the board to approve and discard uh two pieces of old equipment as listed in the uh agenda. Item number five is for the board to approve the amount of
024tax monies required for school purposes for the 2026 2027 school year uh in the amount of $41,61,272. Um and the uh specific amounts and dates are listed in the agenda. Item number four is for the board to approve ABA services. um the uncommon thread uh as listed in the agenda in accordance with the the prices and uh for an annual cost of the limit limit on the contract estimated to be $40,000. Um item number seven is for the board to retroactively approve the agreement with Bergen County Special Services School District to complete an assisted technology assessment for a student um not to exceed $1,300. Item number eight is for the board to approve uh special language therapy and evaluation services uh through Dr. L. Hannes and Associates uh as listed in the agenda per the
025amounts and per evaluations. Item number nine is for resolution awarding the commercial vendor meals contract um for uh the following vendors were listed uh as for the uh contract per in the agenda. This was mentioned by uh Mrs. Growski earlier and that's all I'll sh Dr. Moore if I may. Yep. >> Uh, Miss Garowski, um, in reference to the the bidding for the vendor contracts, uh, I actually did have a question with regards to the actual tasting of the food. Did the parents or students who gave feedback, uh, were they given the option to taste the food as well? >> I, this is the parents information. I took it from last year. Uh, no, I did I did not have any tasting. I did have the the opportunity to visit Long Hill to see the
026meal the meals and they're very similar to what we are providing now. >> Uh you you just said Longill. >> Uh that's a different a different district who are currently using >> Oh, the the Long Hill School District. Okay, forgive me. Okay. And so so the MRS Food Service, the uh the wardee of the contract, they currently serve Longheld School District. That's what you're saying. >> They're serving several other districts. >> Okay. In the area. >> Okay. And if they fail to meet their contract, meaning like um the food quality deteriorates or something happens and uh there's complaints, then do we have any kind of recourse where we could uh go out for bid again if I know it's only a two-year contract, but I'm just curious about these things. It is a two-year contract
027and they have to be approved by the National School Launch Program. They will be uh audited by the National School Launch Program this coming year. Uh every time we have a new vendor or a new contract, they come into our district, they see how the food is uh the temperature of the food, how it's presented, the quality, and the packaging. Uh so they will be audited by the National School Lunch Program and if there's any deficiencies they will be addressed by the National School Lunch Program. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Okay. If there are uh no more questions or comments, we'll go to roll call. >> Miss Asterino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cass. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Anderson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kim. >> Yes. >> Dr. Moore. >> Yes. >> So
028now we move to operations. Mr. Cass, if you could take us through that. >> Under operations. Item number one, transportation. I'm asking the board to approve the attached list of field trips to transport the summer plus trips 2026 for the dental recreation department at a cost of $85 per hour. Item 1.2. I'm asking the board to approve to accept the winning bidder through GB GB deals in the amount of $4,650 regarding an auction to sell bus number 16, a 15 passenger model Chevy wheelbear mini bus with a mileage of 167,73 miles. Item two is building and grounds. I'm asking the board to approve the attached quote from Cachman Landscape Management for the district's landscaping maintenance services for the upcoming school year in the amount of $42,340. And uh of note is on Thursday, April 30th,
0292026, 10 a.m. the board of education received one response to its advertisement seeking quotes for grass cutting, fall, and spring cleanup for the period of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. >> I'll second. >> If there are no questions or comments, roll call. Miss Eststerino, >> yes. >> Mr. Cass, >> yes. >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mr. Kim, >> yes. >> Dr. Moore, >> yes. >> Now, we'll move to go to the cause. Uh, does anyone have anything uh in their committees that they want to share at this time? >> Yeah, I'll just mention re real quick. Um, you know, one of our goals was uh community involvement and you know, and which we've already done a pretty good job on my from my uh perspective, but I know Dr. Cullles had a
030uh an Excel where we could document the various uh scholastic events we attended. I don't I don't know what the number is now and I haven't attended anything recently, but I think that's something worth publicizing, you know, to the community. I mean they see us there but I think let them know that we are closely involved with other activities we have like Valley View graduation coming up so I'm sure some of us will be there for that but I think it's a good idea let them know that we are just don't sit here at the meetings we're closely involved what goes on at the schools when possible Dr. more. I wanted to bring up two things but not committee related. Uh first I wanted to congratulate Mr. David Iliff. I believe that's how you pronounce
031his name. Is okay pardon me. Um for the promotion to director of maintenance and security. From my understanding he does a phenomenal job at Lake View. Uh and uh I welcome him as part of the administration. Um the next uh question was in reference to June 8th. So it looks like we're going to start the meeting at 6:30 with the in uh the Valley View students and staff and the athletics county champions and then that will is is it my impression or is my assumption correct in that it'll take an hour before we do the 7:30 items or how is that going to play out? Dr. 14 >> we planned on doing um so executive session at 6:00 at 6:30 from 6:30 to 7:30 complete our board meeting and then go to the goal setting
032at the end at 7:30 and during the 6:30 part we would be doing the public presentation by our Valley View students and special services. So then um if we were to just look at the agenda then the goal setting would possibly occur during good of the cause or are we going to adjourn and then um and then go into the goal setting. Just curious. >> Yeah, I think there's no reason why we can't just do it and you know under good cause go to the cause. We finish all of our business and then we go to the cause do the uh piece with Dr. pranero and then our uh goal recap and then the preliminary part of the goals for next year. Great. >> Okay, thank you. >> Highlights real quick. >> You can do
033that real quick. I got four highlights. Riverview students, you know, their their presentation today. Um, a reminder of the 2526 goals recap and preliminary goal setting on for 2627. And the board approved Atlantic Health as our new school physician. And the board approved the new lunch vendor for 2627 to take part in the national school lunch program. I just have one thing. Not as um as a PTA board member at two schools, we are looking at um a definitive deficit next year at Valley Valley Valley View. So, it's something that's been a conversation, but especially now uh tonight as we're talking about the lunch program, that is how Valley View's PTA makes the majority of their funds to help the school. So, um, we are actually scrambling this week to create a board now that
034Erica Dates and I are both leaving as co-presidents. Um, and we just, not that I don't know if anybody's listening, but we really we need some really strong parents to step up. We're willing to have them shadow. We're willing to come back a few times next year and walk them through the process, but there's going to be a huge deficit with the loss of lunches that we have to compensate. Um, I don't know how much people know, but we pay for a good percentage of the field trips every year. That's how we keep the cost down. Um, we do teacher grants. Uh, so just putting it out there. And Christina, just to add on to that, um, that has been an ongoing conversation we've had about the school lunch program. It's um it's unfortunately been
035something we're forced not unfortunately something we're forced into but also recognized that it takes away from the PTAs. It also takes away from local businesses that we often gave the business to. So it's um it's been a process that has been kind of something we've had to get into but um recognize and and appreciate you bringing it up because it's a reminder as a few years ago we talked about this and I think Dr. Forte, if I remember correctly, you met with the PTAs individually at times, right, to have that discussion. >> Yes, we we did go on a little tour and talk to each PTA. We did tell them it's coming and then we said, "All right, we got a one-year reprieve." Then we said, "This is it. It's happening." So, yeah, they were
036they were probably put on notice for about two years, I'd say, at least. And then, um, we tried to hold on to it as long as we could, but now we have we don't really have a choice. And with everything being said tonight, I just want to personally extend a thank you to the businesses that we have been working with. Church Street, Elahano, um, El Torrene, Denville Pizza. Um, everyone has just been like amazing and the kids appreciate the food. They're excited and they've just been more than phenomenal neighbors and community members. So, just a public thank you to them as well. Now next year with the u new program we will not see any surplus funding. Uh however in year two we should be able to provide some student enrichment funds like whatever is
037made from the lunches put into a fund so that the PTA will have less items to have to earn money for like the assemblies. So, we will be able to do some probably not the field trips, but the assemblies that I know the PTA does so much um we should be able to put money in those for each school to spend. >> So, if I can add on to what uh Christine Asino was saying is that any parents who is watching, you know, um it's a call for volunteers. It's a huge call for volunteers. I put a notice out today. It got emailed by Mr. Corman and I posted it to all of our socials. It's there. >> And you know, a lot of us up here are volunteers for many things. I mean, uh,
038from from my understanding, Miss Astrino wears like 20 million different hats, but I think we can all say that we all volunteer. And the common theme or message from all of our involvement is that the more people who support and volunteer, the easier it is to manage something that big. Like uh you know, Mr. Anderson and Mr. Cass both run the hub soccer and I'm sure they can't do it with all their volunteers and their board members. Um, I run the track program, the Devil Striders, and I couldn't do it without all the families and volunteers that help. So, um, you know, the if the Valley View PTA, uh, for any parents who are listening, if you all, uh, just got together and somehow was able to contribute some of your time, uh, it should
039make it a lot easier than to have, uh, you know, put all the onus on just one or two people. So, um it's a call for volunteers. >> Yeah. Thank you. I uh I usually um at the end of the year I I uh um give a little summary of all the the the money that uh Lake View uh gathers up and what they spend it on because it's it's just really impressive. I have an enormous respect for the PTA. Um, and as the liaison, I will I was planning on doing this anyway is is, you know, let them know what they're kind of going into and let them know that they um the because the the people at that at the Lake View PTA are very dedicated, very passionate. I can see, you know,
040they're they've been working hard, so some of them are looking forward to a break, but I will I will let them know that that may not be possible for them. Sorry. Yeah. Okay, if there are no more uh comments, I want to move on to the um uh board and district goals uh uh segment. Again, um as you know, I've been trying to do this every every meeting to get us um prepared a bit. And I I have a PowerPoint. It's it's moderately better than the PowerPoints I typically do. Um is it is it kind of ready or Great. Um let me see. go to sleep >> maybe. >> Okay. So, um so just wow. Um it's temperamental. So in this one, well here, let me just get to the uh so um one of
041the ideas that I thought might be possible. So I did take all of the the the current ideas that we had and I put them under several global goals. Um, and I just want you to we don't have to to stick with these by any means, but this is maybe a way for us to tweak um uh what we've been talking about. And again, there's still plenty of time to add add more things to it. Um, we're not tied to um hammer anything down on June 8th. Um but um the idea here could be that we get a global goal, then we develop a much more specific action plan underneath it and then from there kind of assigning um responsibilities like either individuals or committees that could do it. And I wanted to just show
042you at first what that could look like a bit. Um and so I just want to run through it and then if we want to talk about it again, this is just uh more of an example than anything else. But so for the first um kind of global goal, it's uh to strengthen student belonging, school climate, and character development. And basically that incorporates a whole swath of things that we've talked about. And again, it's really general. Um support the development of districtwide culture that promotes belonging, respect, resilience, uh and positive student relationships through proactive climate initiatives. And I put a note here that a lot of this might be assessing since there's a lot of new initiatives. um that are have been um instituted. And um here's where it gets a little bit more specific.
043So this is where some of the action steps or possible indicators would be. And these are all some of the things that we talked about. So um reviewing the uh social emotional learning, inclusion, and peer connectedness. Um, we've got continue to examine the conflict uh response practices with an emphasis on on restorative uh that should probably say restorative justice educational outcome focused approaches. Um, reviewing the climate and culture data annually to identify trends and areas of improvement. Encourage the opportunities for student leadership, peer mentorship and service learning. continue to monitor trends toward, you know, I just called it cruelty. Cruelty and assess interventions to negate this trend. These are along the lines of the things that we talked about. Um, and so again, this is where we could kind of dig in and get to
044the specifics of things. The second broad goal that I I came up with was expand valley view engagement and student development opportunities. Um, we're talking about that with the PTA and other things. I mean, that was one of the things that um, as I was hearing uh, uh, Mrs. Estrino and Mrs. Sadelis talking about the PTA and its struggles. That was one of the things that kept coming to my mind because I think that's just another piece of how things seem to be struggling there on a lot of different levels and how can we support that. Um so then under that big goal is all the different um action items and and indicators. So there's all these different things that we've talked about or that were on that list that you guys added to. So,
045collaborate with administration to explore a portrait of a Denville graduate framework, identifying core competencies and character traits. Uh, students should demonstrate upon graduation. Um, encourage expanded after school enrichment programming aligned with student interests. Um, explore partnerships with local organizations. Basically, these are all the different things that you guys have added to the list. and I just found a way to put them under one one big umbrella and then from there we can weed them out or decide uh what we want, what we don't want. Um and the bottom there is exploring ways to support Valley View PTA. Um I also have on there explore ways to engage Valley View families with middle school uh superpowers. I think it's supposed middle school powers. I think it might be superpowers book. Um using the Mendum school district
046as a model. Um, I got the book yesterday. I haven't had a chance to to look through it yet. >> I I like the table of contents, but I've been fooled before. So, um, but, uh, so there's there's all these different things that we can add into, right? So, if we get if we get a global kind of goal, um, that doesn't really lock us in. What'll lock us in is the action steps and what we do. And we can get really specific with that. And those are things that you know we can actually um grade ourselves on. And um so then the the next one would be to enhance community engagement and communication. Um and uh the list of ones there um review and improve district communication practices. Explore strategies for engaging families who
047may feel disconnected from the school community or who are dissatisfied with the district. and uh explore ways to educate the community community regarding HIB and our current code of conduct policy. And then um the last one which is probably the longest one because there's so many different um legislative things that have come up in our discussions is promoting uh responsible governance and long-term strategic planning. And um there's a lot of things on here, right? There's artificial intelligence, there's the health care issue, there's the mandated regionalization. Um, again, keeping space committee um in our uh um in our sites and uh special education rises in costs in that area. So, I'm I'm going to make sure that everybody has this PowerPoint in addition to the um the uh the Word document so that you can take
048a look at it and start to think about what you'd want to prune out, add to it, if you want to change the global goal wording or whatever. Again, this is just an idea to see how the the framework would would work. >> I was just going to say, Dr. where as we're starting to narrow, I see a lot of these are kind of crossing between what would be board and what would be district. So in the past, our board goals were really actions that the board was going to take without the administrators. Like the board was going to do these things. So if we're going to have the crossover, we just don't want to put five more district goals on top of the goals in here because then it would be like seven or
049eight. it'd be too many goals to try to do for I mean just having that one was a lot this year. So I it just looking at that list is making me feel a little nervous to be honest. It's a lot and thinking about a new superintendent, a new assistant superintendent and all that list that the board is going to do. But really most of those the board's not doing. That's me doing >> right. And there's there's a lot of things we're limited to. Right. There's a lot of things we're not allowed to to do. We can just unfortunately only tell you to do them. But if you uh I know I can speak for myself and say we don't want to I don't want to overwhelm you. So you know and again this was
050um all the ideas that people had um sort of throwing on a wall and seeing what sticks. So I don't I didn't see this as I mean this would be kind of >> Are you seeing this as a mix right now? Like some of these would be under district because I just I know I made like a >> I'm saying some of this stuff we just wouldn't do, you know, this is just brainstorming. So we might pull uh a lot of this out. I think the legislative stuff, a lot of that would fall on the board. Um, anyway, so that that that part of it. Um, and and I think that that's the kind of discussion that I think would be valuable for us to have is what can we do, right? Like I think
051there's got to be ways that as a board we can support the PTA as a board. There's got to be some things that we're allowed to do or can do that can that can where we can um, you know, shoulder some of this in some way. I don't know what that would look like, but >> Dr. Moore, if I may, I um I think uh Dr. Cullis does bring up a very good point because as board members, we we rule by policy and uh by so our actions are limited to, you know, how can we adjust the policy to ensure that the uh the administration has is going in the right direction and stuff like that. So um if I may um make a request that we when we look at a lot of these
052bullet points you know how do we look at it through the lens of policy and policy um you know and and changes to policy. Um I do think that yes, you know, can we um you know that question is a great question. Can we help the value PTA as well, but you know what line do we cross? And I think that's sort of, you know, um, a line we we have to sort of make sure that we don't, you know, blatantly cross because cross because I agree I, you know, if there's ways that we as a collective board can help the Valley view PTA, I think, you know, I I'd be in full support. But we do also have to recognize and realize that we are a governing body that uh that can that only
053should be uh focusing on on policies. And I think that's the one thing that um you know I think has to be said as well. >> Yeah. And I think the intention here is to kind of reverse engineer it that we're going to look at the things that we want to see happen and then figure out what what policies look you know what what that policy would look like. I mean that was the purpose of sort of brainstorming is kind of what do we >> you know how does this so again this isn't there's there's nothing about this that's >> um I think it would be I mean if you look at the the word document it's like there's like 28 items or something but it's sort of like if you think about how um
054we did our our our uh uh strategic goals and they have that wish list you know if you could have anything you want and sort of along those lines Um, and it's sort of I think the more ideas we get out um and we talk about um the more we can flesh out something that's um you know more valuable than um the board should attend a couple extra meetings a year which is kind of a lame goal. Um and um we want your input because if you say you can't do it then I you know I personally I can't speak for the board but I I don't have a problem with hearing that you know like okay I'd rather hear that than um you know yes we can do that and then you know it's
055just breaking the bank you know but um I think that's what the discussion is and everything that I've read and seen says that this is supposed to be collaborative effort between um the uh the administration or the superintendent and the board. It's not like we're not supposed to be doing these things in isolation with each other, but it's supposed to be done collaboratively and that these board goals according to the NJSBA from the last slide is is setting the the vision for the the district. So, um, that's why we're doing it now instead of, I guess, hiding somewhere in a corner and doing it. So, I welcome that. But don't get, please, this is just this is just brainstorming. I just I just found that in the past, you know, we we end up spending
05630 minutes and we jot something down that doesn't really seem very meaningful. And I'm trying to get us to really think about it and think about what what do, you know, what's our vision here? And then then what can we how can we really um um do something about that? So >> just a quick thing, there's a lot of info on the um school board's website about this. It's pretty interesting. So board goals, the focus, how board operates as a governing body. This includes improving board self-evaluation committee structures, policy updates, completing self-managed training, certifications, so on. That's what you just brought up, Mr. Kim. And then the ownership of the of the board goals developed internally by the board of education and then accountability of the board goals is evaluated directly through the board self
057evaluation. So there is a distinct difference between a board goal and a district goal. >> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. But it if you go to the other slides, it does sort of talk about how there's sort of a hierarchal nature to it that the the board goals set the um almost set the uh the vision for what um then you execute as an administration, which would be the nature of a policy anyway. >> The the mic. >> Yeah. Yeah. Dr. Moore, I um appreciate all the work you did. I mean, it's fantastic. So and the brainstorming session uh section I completely agree you know having um having us discuss this now is definitely one of the things that uh we've talked about uh collectively you know so um so having this as opposed to scrambling I
058I agree with 100%. So, yeah. >> Yeah. I also want to thank you for putting time in and putting together an extensive list of things we've talked about all year that have impact on our our school district here. I think some of them will fold together under a goal as objectives. Uh because you you know, you got to condense. You can't have so many goals that you can't get them all all done. But some of the ones I just checked that I think are really important. Um, special ed is something that's becoming very costly over the years and so I've been around a long time and um, when I first started we hardly ever talked about it and now it's a big part of our our budget and we want to do the best we
059can for the uh, special needs community. uh AI influences. That's another key thing that's uh on the radar screen now for a lot of corporations and in our culture. Um space settings always been ongoing since I've been here and we're back into the student count going up and lots of big and expensive uh projects that are on the back burner that will soon be on the front burner. So that's uh quite a bit that we have to uh to to do. So um you know, we continue the process here so we're not scrambling at the last minute to create some goals and make sure uh we get them all lined up the right order. Yeah, I think uh even in terms of uh how things fell um taskwise last year when I look at the
060governance board basically took three of the the four goals and I think that that was our our governance committee. I think that was might have to think about that a bit, you know, as we especially if we end up leaning more legislative that maybe um you know different individuals spearhead you know a particular one so that um they're not kind of uh being flooded. >> Yeah, that's a very good point. uh having uh well our our committees have been very effective since I've been here especially the last let's say 10 years or so that they do a lot of work and the governance is uh I don't want to say it's new but um it's really working like it should right now that we're getting involved with a lot of things that affect us outside
061of what we can control. So that's a uh good idea to push it down to the comm community the committee level but make sure that we're not having it all done by by one comm one committee and the space setting committee you know that should be with finance and u operations buildings and grounds because ultimately um you that's what we're in charge of and of course it's going to be discussed with the board but that's going to be a very expensive finance need in the very near future. Yeah, thank you. So, so if we can just kind of uh think about these things, you know, think about everything that's been said here. I mean, what is what does that look like as a as a board goal? What what kind of I mean, there are
062some some already overlaps. A lot of the the the HIPP communication was a potential for for Sandy's district goal as it as it was. So, um, you know, what what does that look like for for us? Just going through and taking a look at, um, what what feels important and and what does that look like from a a board goal perspective, a policy perspective, what's reasonable? Um, as I said, there's there's a lot of action items just in that that one governance section alone. So, um, and, uh, if you could kind of come come ready. Um, and, uh, yeah, any any questions or comments, uh, regarding that? All right. Well, now we will uh move to uh, the open comments section. This portion of the meeting is open to any individuals for the purpose of
063addressing resolutions on this agenda or matters that they find is important to the board of education and is governed by board policy 0167. And we can open that at uh 8:37. There's no one here in person. Um, if anyone online would uh like to make a comment or question, uh, please raise your hand at this time. All right, seeing that uh there there's no one raising their hand online and there's no one here in person, we'll close it at uh 8:37. And we do have need for executive session. So I'd like to move to convene an executive session in accordance with section 8 of the open public meetings act. The purpose of this closed session will be to discuss negotiations, legal, security, and personnel issues. Minutes of this session will be made available to the
064public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists, and we will not be voting afterwards. >> I'll second. >> Yay. >> I yay.