001Good evening everyone. Please stand for the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence. You may be seated. In accordance with the open public meeting act NJSA 10 col4-6 adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the record and posting notice in the board of education administration building and filing notice with the city clerk. I hereby call to order the regular public meeting on Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 in the Hackinack High School Media Center at 6:16 6:16 p.m. Miss Sing, can you do a roll call, please? Miss Alcher here. Mr. Mayor Hamz here. Mr. Carol present. Miss Gordier Alton
002present. Skilmore here. Mr. Martin here. Miss Pringle present. Miss Harris present. Mr. Stein's not here. So we have a quorum. Okay, perfect. Um, we don't have a student special presentation. Our student report, she is not present. Um, so we're going to move on to the executive session. Be it resolved that the Hackasack Board of Education determines it necessary to meet in executive session on Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 to discuss legal, personnel, student related matters, HIV reports, negotiations, and other confidential matters and be a further resolve that these matters will be made public when the the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Can I have a motion to go to executive? I'll second. Motion by Trusty Pringle, second by Trustee Amraa. Um, all those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Okay. So, we will be
003back as soon as we can. We'll let the public know. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. Um, can I have a motion to reopen to the public session? A motion. Motion by Trustee Carol, second by Trustee Gilmore. Yes, you. Thank you. Um, all those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Okay, perfect. We are back. Yeah, we could take attendance one more time since so Miss can you just do a roll call just to make sure that everyone is here and accounted for present present here. Here present present. forum. Perfect. Thank you. Um, be it resolved that the Hack Board of Education approves the regular meeting minutes of April 24, 2025. Do we have to make a motion to table? Correct. But we're going to do the first one. Um, so can I have a motion
004to approve just the regular meeting minutes? I'll offer. Okay. Trusty Amra Hamsa. Can I have a second? Second. Second by Trusty Carol. Miss Sing, can you do a roll call just for the regular meeting minutes? Miss, yes. Mr. Carol, yes. No. Mhm. Yes. Martin, yes. Yes. Eric. Yes. Okay. Uh, now we need to make a motion to table the executive meeting minutes of April 24th, 2025. Can I have a motion to table? So move. Okay. So that was Trustee Austin Valutra. Can I have a second? I'll second. Okay. Second by Trusty Amar Hamsa. Missing. Can you do a roll call, please? Yeah. Mr. Austin. Yes. Hamsa. Yes, Carol. I recuse myself cuz I wasn't at that meeting. Yes. Yes. Yes. Executive. Okay. Thank you. Next time. Okay. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. All right. So now
005we're on to our presentation which is our benchmark data. Good afternoon everyone and good evening. Good evening. So I just want to give you a quick synopsis. Um as we opened up the beginning of the year we talked we talked about our priority being standardsbased instruction. And so we engaged in a curriculum audit and identified curriculum that would ensure our students had access to highquality curriculum. and we provided support for our teachers and our leaders to immerse themselves in the work of the curriculum. And I just want to say number one just how amazing our staff has been. Our teachers have taken on this uh herculean effort along with our administrators and our paras and all of our school staff. And so one of the components that was a priority for us is being able
006to gauge where our students were as they were going through the curriculum. uh very clear scope and sequence and then being able to identify at specific intervals where our students were achieving mastery of the said standards. So again, this is our very first year with uh HMH, which is our uh ELA curriculum, and illustrative math, which is our third year I believe we're going into. And so we wanted to make sure that we start the implementation of actually looking at information that allows us to make informed decisions to support tailoring our instructions to meet the needs of each individual students. And so all of our schools have been uh engaging in benchmark exams for ELA and math. And we just want to kind of share some of the progress uh that our students have had
007over time for this particular year. We just completed our actual NJSLA assessment and we are anticipating our students uh doing well. Uh and so what we utilize this information for is to be able to determine if there's anything we need to do differently uh to highlight and support any successes that we see. And so I'm going to have our data analyst, Mr. Andrew Jenkins provide us or walk us through uh the reveal math benchmark assessment performance for our elementary as well as our HMH performance data for ELA as well. Good evening everyone. Good evening. Uh thank you Dr. McBride for that introduction. Um yes, we'll be starting with the reveal math benchmark data. Uh so some notes before we get started. This data is from the first two of three benchmark assessments which were administered
008to the kindergarten through fourth grade students. Assessment one was completed in November and December and assessment two was completed between January and March. And all percentages that you will see displayed here are the pass rate that is the percentage of students who scored a 70% or higher. Now, without further ado, into the numbers. In this table, there are two columns for each school, one for each benchmark. I'll give you a moment to take in the numbers. Uh what you'll notice though is that kindergarten starts out particularly strong. Um on both benchmarks, every school scores at least 80% and we see uh growth consistently from benchmark one to benchmark 2. In grade one, we see a uh similarly strong performance in uh most of our schools. Um however, once we reach grades two and three, we
009see scores start to uh decline somewhat. Although, as you'll see in Fairmont's uh grade two on benchmark 2, they did have an outstanding performance. Um, grade three is the lowest of the five grades, um, with scores consistently around or below 50%. And then scores recover somewhat in fourth grade, um, particularly in benchmark 1 at Jackson Avenue and Nelly K. Parker. And while scores declined on benchmark 2, uh, Jackson Avenue did remain uh, the highest scoring of the four schools. So here's a brief summary of those points onto the scores by domain. So in kindergarten uh counting and cardality uh remains strong across both benchmark examinations. And while on benchmark one geometry had some room for improvement, we can see on benchmark two that uh students scored quite highly. Um we see a similar pattern on
010measurement and data literacy where students started strong and scores improved on benchmark 2 and operations and algebraic thinking which was introduced in the second benchmark examination shows a similarly strong performance for grade one. uh we see uh consistently uh high scores uh in uh numbers and operations where uh geometry is strong at Fairmont and Hillers while there's still some room for improvement at Jackson Avenue and Nelly K. Parker. In grade two, we start to see uh the results of the um general decline in scores where the uh pass rate in each of the domains is slightly lower. Although um numbers and operations seems to be uh particularly strong uh compared to the other two in grade three. This was the uh lowest scoring grade. Um so the scores in each of the domains reflects that.
011And then in grade four um we start to see uh some of the uh recovery of scores in Jackson Avenue and Nell K. Parker uh in operations and algebraic thinking and numbers and operations on benchmark one. Um, and I also want to draw your attention to the uh high score in numbers and operations at Hillers on benchark 2. Again, brief summary of those points. Next, we'll be moving on to the comparison of special education to the general ed population. And while it's variable from grade to grade and school to school, you will notice that there is a significant gap between the special education population and the general education population. On average, it's about 20 points. Um, some grades obviously being larger than others, although there are some bright spots. Notably, um, in Jackson Avenue's third
012grade and Nelly K. Parker's second grade, uh, the special education population actually overperformed the general education population. And just as a a general aside, when you're thinking about the data that you're seeing in front of us, when in comparison to our special education NJSLA data from last year where we had zero percentages or three percentages or six percentage, we see double digits up to 50%. So we are seeing some um increase with our special education students as a result of this work. Next the multilingual students. Uh here we see a similar pattern of multilingual students lagging behind the general education population although the gap here is smaller. On average it is um more like 10 to 15 points instead of about 20 points. Um and again there are some places where the gaps are larger
013than others and um even some examples of like uh the Hiller's kindergarten where the multilingual population overperforms the general ed population or right are there some of them are neck and neck. Yeah. Um in uh benchmark 2 the uh story is similar although the gap is uh slightly smaller. Um so things have improved slightly as uh the year has progressed. Um and there is a similar story with the multilingual students. Again, it's variable and the gap persists but is about the same as it was on uh benchmark one. That concludes of a brief summary of those points and we can move to the uh ELA module assessments. So the following data reflects reflects student performance on the HMH module assessments throughout the year. There are multiple of these assessments. Um I believe there are about
014uh five module assessments that would have been conducted by at this point in the year um or at the point that this data was uh collected. And the percentages here since we're dealing with multiple examinations uh will represent the average score earned by these students uh on these assessments. So looking at kindergarten the district average is 51%. At Fairmont it is 52% pillars 58% at Jackson 44% and at Nelly K. Parker 54%. In grade 1, the district average was 48%. At Fairmont, it was also 48%. At Hillers, 55%, Jackson, 42%, and at Nelly K. Parker, 51%. In grade two, the district average dropped down to 39%. Fair amount scoring 31%, Hillers 34%, Jackson 44% and Nelly K. Parker 44%. In grade three, you see the district average at 50%, Fairmont at 55, Hillers at 49%,
015Jackson Avenue at 46%, and Nelly K. Parker at 52%. And finally, in grade four, the district average moves up to 53% with 57% at Fairmont, uh 48% at Hillers, 56% at Jackson, and 48% at Nelly Kart. Um so, as you see, scores are pretty consistent across schools in kindergarten and first grade. And while performance declines in second grade, it improves in the third and fourth grade which is uh a similar trend that we saw in the mathematics course. Now on to the special education differences. Um here we see uh a similar pattern to the math data where special education is generally lagging behind the gened population. Uh but here the uh gap is much smaller um only about 10 points on average instead of the much larger gaps and the gap is pretty consistent across
016the grades. It's much less variable than it was in the uh reveal benchmark data. Similarly we can look at the multilingual scores and we see uh the same trend. The gap is um slightly smaller than it was in uh the math data, but uh across the board, multilingual students generally lag behind the general education population, albeit with um some exceptions like um yeah, albeit with uh some exceptions where the students are neck andneck like say Fairmont's third grade. So there's some key insights summarizing what was just shown and uh thank you for taking the time. Thank you. Uh and if there are any questions I'd be happy to take them. Do you have um any information on, you know, the year-over-year improvement? As Dr. McBride had mentioned, there was an improvement in comparison to last
017year. So, this is our first year of actually doing benchmark assessments. So, a a good practice is to always ensure that there is some type of structure in your district where you have interval assessments that you the schools are able to meet with their teams and identify areas of celebration, but also areas of focus. So if I'm getting this information after my kids take it in November, we get around the table. We say, "Hey, third grade is doing wonderful. Second grade, not so much. Let's figure out what we have to or who in second grade or what specific classrooms or what specific standards require some additional attention." And so this is the first year we're actually doing this. So there isn't uh anything compared from last year. Um I do have a question. Do we
018have any idea because there is that pattern in terms of why there is a performance decline in second grade and fourth grade. Do we have an idea? Is it change of uh curriculum? Is it that there's more content for that grade? So it also depends on content area. Like for example in some of these assessments they're teach they're being taught they're being assessed on different standards. So the first set of standards from assessment one may be from a group of standards and they did very very well and then the second one may they may not have done as well but they're different standards they're being assessed though. The third step may be a little bit they're more stronger. So it just depends on the actual assessment the scope and sequence. Uh with math they spiral
019so they're sometimes being assessed on the same standards at different times. Am I correct? I'm looking for somebody over here. Jen, come on over. The mic calls you. Good evening everyone. Good evening. The question was, are there any particular reasons why we're thinking there are maybe some challenges with certain grades as opposed to others, whether it be second and fourth? So, yeah. So, if we're looking at ELA in particular, the standards do shift a bit in terms of um the content focus, right? Especially in the areas of writing, it shifts dramatically. So, you're looking at how two writing is the main process that our second graders are are focusing on in grade 2. And yes, is that touched upon in other grades? And is it spiraled up, but not in terms of that intensity? And
020it's a shift. So, there's a little bit more analytical piece as well that kind of feeds into that. And then again in fourth grade um with our reading standards you know they they do spiral up as well but there is also a shift in terms of the rigor that's involved with that. Um we do see more of a shift though in terms of greater analytical um demands on our students once they reach grade six. So that's where you'll normally see a huge discrepancy um in scores from elementary to middle school. That's typically where you see that. But I think in terms of what we're seeing here, it's really this year we're getting a feel for HMH, right? It's our first goaround with it. We're really trying to focus on all the different components. Next year,
021um, we are going to be focusing on a specific path through that resource and working on our tier one instruction a little bit more intensely. Um, so that's kind of where we are with that. So hopefully we'll see things level out in terms of math with our math. And Dr. McBride was was saying it absolutely accurately. Um the what we're doing with math in terms of how these benchmark assessments are outlined is based off of the content that the children are exposed to in that moment of time. So it's not cumulative in nature. So you are seeing them being assessed on different standards at different times. Same thing goes for the ELA um benchmark assessments. They are truly content driven and it's not the breadth of standards that you would see across a grade level.
022So for those particular um snippets of time, it's what they have been taught for those specific units within that time frame. So we can for next data analysis perhaps it would be better for us to kind of paint that picture and talk about the concepts and skills that go along with that um so that we can better understand what's happening with the data. Um I have a question. Sure. Uh do we know um any insights of why Hiller's reading scores are higher than any other elementary school? Are they being taught differently? So that's definitely something that we are going to be looking into. Whenever we kind of see those peaks and compare to the valleys, we always want to look at that and really have a discussion about what has has um contributed to to
023to that. So that's definitely in terms of our data teams and what we're planning on doing for next year in our district goals. That will be a main focus. Thank you. You're welcome. So the entire presentation is just talking. Yeah. Yeah. The presentation speaking only in terms of percentage. Do those represent the exact same number of kids? So if I'm second grade teacher and three kids came in November, they didn't hit the first benchmark, but now kids that weren't taught by me taking the second benchmark, are they the same humans? Could it is there variability in that? Is there a way to look at this with the percentages and the whole numbers because I don't know what the denominator is like does this drop from second amount comparing this is the Hiller's results are talking
024about four kids that made up the difference but the Parker results be talking about 20 kids that made up the difference like it's hard to make real conclusions just looking at the percentages alone I love that insight yes 100% accurate there is some variability in there um because our sample size do vary because we do have students who you know move and then students who come to our district so they move in or move out. So the sample sizes are not going to be consistent from time to time but that again is great feedback in terms of when we are presenting our data that we can share the sample size with you so you would know. Yeah. Yep. That's that's huge. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right.
025Uh so we're going to move on to our superintendence report. Dr. McBride. Good evening again. Happy belated mother's day to everyone. I'm going to start out by giving a few district highlights. Um, thank you to everyone who participated in the tree planting at Nelly K. Parker Elementary School in honor of former principal Lillian Lillian K. Whitaker and the vest grand opening and street naming ceremonies. Congratulations to our high school rowing team. All of our boats made the finals at Garden State Championships, and the team brought home gold and men's JV 1X one, bronze and men's novice 2, and fourth in men's and women's senior one. Absolutely. Congratulations also to our HHS softball player, Briana Darling, on getting 100 hits. Our HHS academic decathlon team made an incredible showing at nationals, placing ninth in the division,
026third and finishing 35th out of 70 teams overall. Also, three students brought home gold medals and all-American honors. Alyssa Cavalo dazzled judges in the interview competition. Camila Rodriguez showcased exceptional writing skills to claim gold in essay. And Cadence Sage dominated the science category with his brilliant performance. Special recognition went to Shruty Sang Makar, my apologies for pronunciation of the name, who earned our team's MVP award as our highest overall score, which helped to elevate the entire team. And also would like to thank our HHS band director, Lisa McVicker, for contacting our communications office to request the district profile high school junior Martin Roas Ortiz on our social media platforms. He entered a comp competition in New New Jersey State, Shout Down Drugs music composition contest. Half of his election was based on votes. The district's
027social media accounts combined gave Martin an extra $3,000 views. The result, he won first place and will receive $5,000 and his music will be featured in an all campaign correspondence. Uh we are now in the throws of teacher appreciation week. So we want to pay homage and and celebrate and love on all of our wonderful teachers for what they are doing and consistently do for our kids. I have the ability to uh be I was at middle school today and they were treated to some donuts and they have tomorrow a slice of something for some pizza, slice of what is it called? Slice of appreciation. Okay. Yeah. So again, show your love to our teachers when you see them. All right. So, now let's transition to actual my report. So, we currently have an enrollment
028of 5,290 students and an attendance rate of 97.61%. I'm shifting now to our residency report. Uh we received six cases in May. Our year to date is 32. One was verified in May. We had 11 verified for the year. We had five in-home visits unverified and 22 for the year. We had one where a parent provided updated in district proof of residency. We had nine for the year. We had zero students withdrawn as a result of residency investigation for the month of May and one for the year. And for our C our harassment, intimidation and bullying report, we had one that was founded for the from the time period of April 12th, 2025 through May 7, 2025. We had eight that were unfounded. We had a total of nine. We currently have six that are
029pending and three that have a preliminary determination of not HIV. And that concludes the superintendent's report. Excellent. Thank you. Okay. So before we go to public comments, I'm just going to say a quick statement. Uh so we understand there may be some questions or concerns about tonight's meeting. Um please know all personnel matters under the New Jersey state law are to be kept private for the benefit of the individual employees. We as a board simply cannot discuss personnel related matters in public. Upon the recommendation of our board attorney, we will not be responding to any comments or questions regarding the subject matter. Okay, moving to public comments. Public participation shall be governed by the following rules. One, if in person, a participant must sign the sign-in sheet and be recognized by the presiding officer and
030must preface comments by any by an announcement of his or her name, municipality of residence, and group affiliation if applicable. Two, each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes duration during the public session. Three, all statements, questions or inquiries shall be directed to the presiding officer and any questions or inquiries directed by a participant to another board member shall be redirected to the presiding officer who shall determine if such statement, question or inquiry shall be addressed by the presiding officer on behalf of the board or by the individual board member. And four, all board and or superintendent responses to questions or inquiries shall be held until the end of public participation. At this time, public comments is open. Good evening. Good evening. Uh my name is Albania Martinez Boss, Hackinack resident,
031PTA president, and parent at Fairmont School. As you mentioned, I know you cannot discuss um personal matters, but um I just want to express my concern based on rumors and I just want to address it and um perhaps it's my words can be taken into consideration. So, um as a parent in the Fairmont community, I felt it was important to take a moment to share my thoughts and experiences regarding our school administrators. Uh both leaders have shown a deep and consistent commitment to our children, not just mine, but all but to all students at Fairmount. Every time my son needed encouragement, motivation, or simply someone to listen, they were there. That kind of support from school leaders make a world of a difference for a child and for a family. Mr. Watt in particular has
032been a visible and active presence day one since day one. Each morning he's outside greeting parents and students. He walks the building to ensure everything is in order and is there again during dismissal, always making himself available and engaged. That kind of presence matters. It creates a sense of safety, connection, and belonging that cannot be overstated. When our PTA team comes to him with ideas, his first words are always, "If it benefits our children and families, I'm all in." And Mr. Service is the same way. He is present at every single PTA sponsor event taking time to connect with families and student and students. That is leadership in action. Something that cannot be said about many others in this district. In fact, many others still in their position do not do what's right for children
033and they still walk around not being held accountable. In times like this, stability is more important than ever. Too too often our children experience changes that make it hard for them to find consistency and feel secure. We finally have administrators who are present, engaged, and willing to work hard to help our children thrive. It will be a step backwards to change that. I understand that no leader is perfect. Mistakes are part of growth. What matters is the willingness to learn and do better. And Mr. Mr. Watteng have demonstrated both heart and growth in a growth mindset. As a parent, I urge you to focus on what is working. We often talk about being being there for our children and I believe Mr. Watson embodies that spirit. Let us not allow outside noise, personal differences or
034politics, especially politics to cloud what is best for our students. Our children deserve leaders who show up for them, advocate for them and care for them. and we have that in Fairmont right now. Thank you for allowing me to speak today and I trust that you will do what's best for our children and please continue to work to build a stronger, more stable future for them. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Neaterryi Edwards. I am a resident of the Hackinack community and I'm speaking uh from Fairmont School as well. Um I'm speaking uh to support the administration that is there. Uh Mr. Bing in particular. Although my family is new to the community, it is immediately clear to me that the principal plays a vital role in creating a welcoming, inclusive, and
035academically focused environment. Um since my child has attended the school, his leadership has been made evident in the building. They have made my transition to the school smooth and reassuring. He communicates clearly, responds to concerns with care with not just my child, but all of the students that I see him interact with. I've seen how much trust and respect that he has earned from the staff that we have encountered, the students and the families alike. It's also very evident to me that under their guidance, I think the school is on a strong upward path, especially after witnessing the data that was just shown. I think that him no longer being there would be a disruption and also risk the undermining of the positive momentum and morale that they have built. Consistency and leadership, especially one
036that is effective and trusted. I think that is essential in maintaining and keeping the building moving towards progress. As a parent and a community member, I respectfully urge you to recognize the value of Mr. Cotain's contributions and allow him to continue leading our school forward. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Good evening. My name is Stacy Wilkins. I'm a teacher at Hackinack Middle School and I'm also a parent of an eighth grade student who is there. Um, on Wednesday, February 26th, I got a phone call that my son was sexually sexually assaulted on a field trip. Um, the teacher saw it. They called me in. They told me what happened. Um, they were very clear that my son was targeted. Um, because he is on the spectrum and he
037cannot speak for himself all the time. So, thank goodness there was a teacher there that witnessed it. Um, I filled out an HIB. I received a letter today that says the district found that the act did not meet the criteria for harassment, intimidation, and bullying. when I was clearly told that he was targeted and I was told that after the investigation was done that it was founded that it was an HIV. However, the letter I received this evening at 6:30 in the mail says it was not and that you were voting on it today. So, I would like some clarification on if this was because my son was sexually assaulted. Yeah, I'm not going to let the board address that. I suggest maybe you contact central office tomorrow and you can discuss it privately uh
038for the protection of your own of your son. I don't No, I get it. But I just wanted to make you aware. Oh, no. I because as this says like you have 10 days before the meeting. This was written April 25th. It was not mailed until May 9th and I received it today at 6:30, which is totally unacceptable. And then for he for me to read that it was not founded when there were witnesses is totally unacceptable and I wanted to be made aware. Thank you. Good evening. I think I need glasses. My name is Danielle Kakuza. I'm a teacher of preschool special needs at Fairmont School, the PTA treasure, and a resident of Pramis. As a teacher of three and four-year-old students with various health and social emotional and language needs at Fairmont School,
039I would like to take the time to thank our building administrators, both Mr. Blotting and the service for their efforts in collaborating with teachers, therapists, and parents in efforts to create a safe educational venue for our young children of Hackinson. They both demonstrate compassion and a desire for excellence of instruction that benefits the whole child educationally, behaviorally, and physically in all grade levels at Fairmont School. They're working hard to raise the bar at our school by challenging teachers to collaborate, instruct with rigor, and utilize student data to drive instruction for the benefits of our students, even our young students. Mr. is always available and like everybody else said is outside with the children, knows their names, talks to the parents and supports the PTA fully supporting and providing solutions for my classroom also and is
040has been there to providing additional support for challenging behaviors while others have disregarded the concern for safety. He's trying to do it for the safety and protection of children that have severe medical needs. I've been there for 20 years and never had a class like I have right now. Mr. Botting and Miss Service expect teachers to be present, engaged, and challenging during in and and they challenge us during instruction. So, the students have of multiple many developmental levels soar emotionally and educationally. While in farm school, our children, staff, and community deserves leaders who model concern and compassion for their profession, their students, and our leaders demonstrate this every each and every day. Fairman is the greatest school of Hackinac because of Mr. Bronting and his service our staff, students and families. Over the past three
041years, Mr. Bronting has become our leader often expressing he will support us if it benefits the children and our families of our community. Although Mr. Batting was not born in blue and gold, he bleeds and breathes and believes blue and gold. I appreciate your time and trust you would do the right thing and the best for our students, our families, and our community. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. I'm Nisha Fulmore, Hackasac resident, parent, and employee. I'm here on this rainy evening to express concern for a matter that is puzzling to me. I'm one who can identify when someone is true to what they do or put on a facade to make people believe they are true. I can identify if a person is true by the way they carry themselves. They put others
042first and themselves last. They go beyond their basic duties and stay until the very end. I see these qualities in Mr. Batting, a proud principal of Fairmont School. I can speak from personal experience and professional experience. He has raised the bar high, pushes for excellence and expects the best. Our school model is soaring to excellence and he makes sure that model is upheld from the youngest student to the oldest student. He has reinforced that in the teachers and staff by leading as an example. I would hope the noise of a few does not sound louder than who he is as a principal and for our students. As a parent and an employee, I would say I have the best of both worlds. Mr. B has a heart and passion for our future and that is
043what Hackinat schools need. Also, it takes time to build trust and confidence and respect especially when it comes to children. Mr. B has built that with parents and the students. We have to recognize when we have a jewel and stop politicking because in the end we have to stand by what we believe and say and do what is best for our students. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Anybody else from the public? Do we have online? Sure. Uh, good evening everybody. My name is Tony Jackson. Um, Hackinack resident, parent, and staff member. Um I just want to start by sending out a congratulations to um district employee amazing teacher and leader Kim Gaines um who was elected to the city council uh received the highest number of votes on the Hackin Sack Knights team
044um and I think that it is um an amazing accomplishment and truly shows dedication not only to uh the students which he's continued to show but also to the families and community um to uh put himself out there in that way. So, I just wanted to recognize him for that. Um outside of that, I just wanted to speak to the data collection piece. Um sometimes when we're presented in this way, um with this data, I think of it as a parent and you know, seeing it in this way, but also as a teacher knowing what's behind it. And I know that, you know, if we're looking at benchmark data, this is a benchmark from programs that uh one that is new, one that is, you know, we've we're getting used to, but also there's also
045the NWA MAP testing that the students are getting regularly. We have their unit tests that they're receiving regularly. We have the NJSLA data. So, I don't know. um it's never been made clear to me what the correlation is between all of these and why you know what's being presented tonight um how that is different for how that relates to the other data that I'm seeing and so I would love to have some contextualization as a teacher and also as a parent um moving forward um also something that we've been asking for for a long time as staff is horizontal uh collaboration so more of a dance for the schools. We see each school up there and we're hearing this is the number for this school. This is the percentage that they hit. But if we
046could have more opportunities to talk with each other to discuss the things that we're struggling with, the successes that we've had, and also the ways that some of these programs are being implemented, um, which is different, which varies when we hear, you know, when we just happen to be talking to a colleague in another place. um it would help to have some of that set for us so that we could kind of move forward together uh as one and then hopefully soar as comets al together. Um I think that would be really appreciated. Um thank you all so much. Thank you. good afternoon. I mean, I'm sorry, good evening. This is Bridget speaking. I am hoping that you will listen to the parents, the PTA uh president and what they are saying about the Fairmount
047principle. I'm hoping that you will take it into great consideration. When parents come out and speak like that about a person, that means they see the truth in that person. So, I'm hoping as a board you will collectively be able to come to whatever agreement it is. But that that should show you just how dedicated the man is to children, to family, to community, even though he's not blue and gold. So, let us please take that into consideration. Thank you. That's it. Okay. Thank you. All right. At this time, public comments is closed and we're going to move on to our resolutions which is on page three of our agenda and going to leave it up to Trusty Martin. I'd like to make a motion on resolution consent agenda 1 through 32. Okay. So, we
048have a motion from Trustee Martin. Can I have a second, please? Second by Trustee Kringle. Miss Sing, can you do a roll call, please? Yes. Um, Miss Alston Balucha, yes. Mr. Mayor Hamza, yes. Mr. Carol, yes. Miss Cordier Alton. Uh, so yes to everything with the exceptions of number 12, 13, and 16. Except can you please repeat 123 and 16 and 16. Okay. Thank you. Uh Gilmore. Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. Miss Pringle. Yes. Mr. Harris. Sorry. Miss Harris. Yes. Mr. Stein's absent. Uh motion passes. Okay. Moving on to committee reports and resolutions. We are on page 11. We're going to begin with personnel and the chair of personnel is Trusty Amraza. Yes, thank you. Um personnel committee met last week and we have the following items to offer for consideration with two additions. Um the
049items as they stand on the agenda are A1 through FF and the additions are regarding uh section N. Um there should be an addition there um that includes uh for HASSA members with earned doctoral degrees um they are uh eligible for a $3500 stipen. So that's um for section N. And regarding uh section O um there should be an additional item added to that uh 010 um for um Miss Jennifer Lun uh Lunuski um who we heard from earlier with her really helpful um and insightful information. the director of curriculum and instruction um at the column and step for HASSA49 a salary of $190,711 districtwide location for um July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. That had to also be added to section uh O. Okay, that that's it. Yes, that is it. Sorry. Okay.
050So, we have a motion from Trusty Emmers. Can I have a second, please? So, I'll second. Okay. Second by Trustee Martin. Okay. Um, missing. Roll call, please. Yes. Miss Alustin Balutra. Yes. Miss Emir Hamza. Uh, yes to all. Um, except for uh '05, 09, T1, U24, and U37. Repeat. 059 T1 U24 C1 T 1 T1 U24 and U37 U24 and uh U37. Okay. So I'm going to repeat yes to all except for '05, 09, T1, U24, and U37. Correct. Okay, Mr. Carol. Um, I have to recuse myself from 05, U24, U24. Y Y and Z Y and Z. Okay. And yes to everything else. And no to U37. No to U37. Mir Alton. Um, so I am saying yes to everything except E and I am recusing myself from FF. Okay, Miss Gilmore. Um, yes
051to everything except for 05, 09, T1, U37, and U24. Okay. And Mr. Martin, sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt. I I don't I don't have an E Hold on. Maybe I'm missing pages. Yeah, it's page 47. Got it. Thank you. So, it was E FF. Yeah, E and FF she. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Uh yes to everything except for 05, 09, T1, U 24, and U37. Miss Sprinkle, Yes to everything except for 05, 09, T1, U24, U37, U37. Okay, Miss Harris. Yes to all except no for 09, U24, U37, T1. Okay, Mrs. Stein is absent. So everything passes except 05, 09, T1, U37, U24. Okay, thank you. Um, moving on to policy and the chairperson for policy is Trusty Pringle. Um, age 12 was 12, right? Okay. So policy um not much today. What we're going
052to do um is for the second read um for eligibility of residents non-resident students revised academic integrity and student grievance. Okay, we have a motion from Trusty Pringle. Can I have a second? I'll second. Okay. Second by trustee Martin. Miss saying roll call please. Sure. Uh Miss Alison Baluch. Yes. Miss Amir Hamza. Yes. Mr. Carol. Yes. Miss Kir Alton. Can you repeat that? We're voting on policy. Yes. Thank you. Miss Kerala. Yes. Miss Gilmore. Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. Miss Pringle. Yes. Miss Harris. Yes. Mr. Stein. Absent. Oh, he's absent. Sorry. Okay. Moving on. Passes. Thank you. Moving on to curriculum. And that is uh the chair is Trusty Pringle. Okay. So for curriculum I would like to highlight um C8, C9, C12 and C16. Um C8 approves submission of the preschool education aid budget and
053the acceptance of preschool education aid. C9 approves the acceptance of the Army Education Outreach Program mini grant for summer 2025 with the pick what was pickin Pikatini Arsenal STEM office. This is to increase the awareness of local STEM and AEOP opportunities. C12 is to approve contract with Bright Seedings Early Learning Center and Bright Adventures Preschool for 2025 26 school year. Uh the cost is awarded to the preschool provider through preschool education aid. And C16 approves ratifies the submission of the 2025 trees for schools tree planting grants for New Jersey public schools, colleges, and universities program. And that's it. Thank you. Okay. So we have a motion from Trusty Pringle. Can I have a second, please? I'll second. Okay. Second by Trusty Amraa. Miss, can you do a roll call, please? Yes. Miss Alison Balaputra, yes.
054Mr. Mayor Hamza, yes. Mr. Carol, yes. Miss Gordier Alton, yes. Miss Gilmore, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Miss Pringle, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Mrs. Stein's absent. Motion passes. Thank you. Moving on to finance. Um so I will um offer that resolution um since our chair um is not able to be here today. Um so the finance committee also met uh last week and we have items uh D1 through D13 for consideration. Okay. So we have a motion from Trustee Araham. Do we have a second? Second. Second by trustee Carol. Any discussion? Yeah. We're voting on the finance report, but the bills list the but the bills list is not attached. I believe um missing isn't the the bill's list is available electronically, right? But we should have it here when we vote on it. I understand
055that. But if we're voting in this moment, we need to have it attached. Miss saying is that the bill's list? Okay. Okay. So, I guess the question is why doesn't everyone have the hard a hard copy? We we usually have an electronic copy attached. We don't usually put this. If you are requesting that I have it, then it should have been done before we got here, I would presume. Okay. So then moving forward, we would like a physical copy, a hard copy. I think that would be best along with all of our documents and it should be included in the public packet. Whatever is available to us needs to be available to the public. Okay. Anything else? All right. So, we're going to move on. Miss Sing, can you do Oh, did you have another?
056No. No. If we're saying that the bills list we reviewed in committee meeting has not changed from that date till today. Mhm. I guess I'm asking if can can we can we certify that? It hasn't changed. Okay. Like the bill list is run and it's whatever is put there. They don't add anything on cuz just do one. Okay. Um, are you looking for something in writing or Well, it No, I know what you're saying, right? Like I don't have it. I don't know if more bills came in since last week. I'm just concerned. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's why I'm saying you want to move forward. Do you do we have to have something before us to vote on? It's a question. Yes. That's what I'm thinking. That's what I thought you was asking. Do we
057do we need that in order to vote on it before us and our packet? I mean, I would say so, but if that's what we want to do, as practice, I I wasn't aware you didn't get the bill list. Um, you feel free. You can vote no or but the bills have to have to be paid. Okay. Uh did did any any bills get added to that since since last week? No, we have not added anything to Okay. So then let's just do that for the next meeting. we have the bills list available at the finance committee and that if there are any changes obviously highlight let us know but that it's also available to the public on paper and to the trustees. Okay. Okay. All right. Anything else? All right. Uh so Miss can
058you do a roll call, please? Who second? Um it was motioned by Trustee Amraza and second by Trusty Carol. Okay. Um, Miss Alston Valput, yes. Mr. Mayor Hamza, yes. Mr. Carol, yes. Miss Kadira Alton, yes. Miss Gilmore, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Miss Pringle, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Mrs. Stein is absent. Motion passes. No. Okay. Moving on to buildings and grounds. We are on page 21 of our agenda. Um, buildings and grounds is Trusty Martin. I like to motion uh E1 through E9. Um everything's pretty much standard. Um I um report from our um director stating that um of facility and grounds stating that um we have saved money again uh approximately uh 425,000 and that's due to the uh great work that they do on their own. uh without uh hiring outside company. Um I
059commend them immensely and uh uh we are very lucky to have them uh not only uh as a district but as taxpayers. Uh we just want the guys to you know encourage them to keep on um and keep them motivated uh doing a good job. Thanks again for your hard work. Um um building and grounds um director and um that's it. All right. Thank you, Trusty Martin. Can I have his second, please? Second. Uh second by Trusty Pringle. Miss, can you do a roll call, please? Yes. Miss Alson Balaputra. Yes. Mr. Mayor Hamza. Yes. Mr. Carol, yes. Miss Kard, yes. Miss Gilmore, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Miss Pringle, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Mr. Stein's absent. Motion passes. Thank you. Moving on to community relations and that is Trusty Gilmore. Hi. Uh, so we met on
060on the 8th and we confirmed um the date of November 1st. Um, the location is tentatively um the middle school. We have to work out some details for that. Um but we plan to kick off our um promoting um during the Junth um celebration on the 22nd. Thank you. Could you just elaborate what is it that we're on? Yeah, thank you for what the Our Health Bay, sorry. Um we plan on um having um screenings, education, and just information for um our community um to be healthier and more educated on um mental health, uh nutrition um and all other things that encompass um being healthy. Thank you. Sounds great. Uh we have nothing for other committees. Any new business? Okay, I see that there are none. We're going to move to our second public comments
061section. Uh, individuals may address the board on agenda and school matters of community interest for one minute. Do we have anybody here in the public that would like to speak? I see that there are none. Anybody online? I see that there are none either. Okay, we're going to move to board comments. Trusty Austin Balutra. I I just have one. I just want to say thank you to Dr. McBride, your senior cabinet, communications and media department, the leadership team at Nell Parker, the student MC's, performers, staff, PTA, community at large, city council, Delta Sigma Theta Sarity Incorporated, um, and everyone that played a part in the vestibule and street naming ceremony for Lilian Whitaker. um she meant a great deal to this community. She meant a great deal to me personally and professionally. And it was
062just such a wonderful experience to see someone honored in that way. And I know a tremendous amount of work went into making that event what it was. I just wanted to say thank you for that. Yeah, Trusty Gilmore. Um just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. Um and to echo Miss Bella's um comments about the celebration for u Miss Whitaker. Um it was absolutely beautiful. Um um as a student of Maple Hill, um to see uh the transformation um that went into um celebrating uh Miss Whitaker was um something that I I won't soon forget. So it was wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Jesse Pringle. um echoing what um Melody and Gina said in regards to the vestibule also um the street naming um for Miss Lillian Whitaker. Um I also wanted to
063highlight um the girls uh flag football team. They did amazing. They made it all the way to the championships. Um they did lose the championship game, but they are still winners. Um, they did an amazing job. And the seniors, I want to highlight the the seniors on the flag football team. They did amazing. Um, and yeah, hopefully we can turn around and do this again next year. Thank you. Thank you, Trusty Cord. Cordera. Yes. Good evening. Thank you to everybody who's still here. Um, honestly, I almost resigned last month. I'm doing it today. I I am absolutely appalled, disgusted with what just took place here. I hope that everybody goes back and watches the videotape to really see how this was pre-planned. Totally not in the know. only knew because community members at administration earlier
064this week informed me that it was a possibility. I am absolutely sorry. I apologize that I will not be able to complete my three-year commitment, but this year alone, even with my personal life, I was still really trying to make this work. Um, I I don't even know how people sat here today and voted that way, but yet last month were here praising some of the same people that they've determined they don't want working here anymore. Um, Trustee Alen Balutra, um, I am very confident with you being here and I've expressed it to you already. I think that you are gonna create great things. I think that your voice is necessary. I love your delivery. Um, I appreciate you. I appreciate you as being a person in my daughter's life at BCTS, but I I
065also appreciate you on this board and I'm very grateful and I will actually walk away feeling much more confident knowing that you were here. Um, everybody else, y'all have my number ain't changed. So, you can call me anytime. I will return my issued laptop and um I really really hope the best for our district and I hope that the community continues to make its voice heard and at some point somebody up here will actually listen to you. Thank you, Trusty Carol. Yeah. Um, I'd like to echo a lot of echoing, but the um, best of dedication for Mrs. Whitaker and the street naming. It was really, um, a great time. The performances were great. The little kids were great. Um, and it's amazing. Like, we always give flowers when people are gone, but it was
066truly um, a great presentation. And um also I'd like to echo Trustee Martin with the grounds uh director Pablo and Ali who uh make sure everything is getting maintained at the schools and saving the district a lot of money. And that's about it. Thank you. Good night everyone. Thank you Trusty Martin. Yes. Um, I just want to say uh it was a beautiful afternoon honoring u Miss Whitaker. It was an honor to uh know her most of my life. We um worked together. Uh my daughters went to the school. She took good care of them as well as the staff there. Um we uh she's uh she actually was part of our family. We uh we did a lot of things together, travel and and barbecues and and spent holidays together with um um one
067of who was a friend of hers, a very close friend that they called each other sisters who was my also my cousin. We really enjoyed each other um time. So I was glad that and honored to um and I will cherish that for the rest of my life being with her also. Um, I I want to thank the public for coming out uh in this crazy weather. It's always good to hear from you uh and your comments. Uh we um like to hear more as well uh from the your students. Uh we we encourage you to come out. Uh we know it's it's late, but uh it's only once once a month. You have a voice just like we as adults do. We need to know uh what's going on in the school beside um
068uh the sport status being accomplished and etc. this. I'm sure um our the uh student president when she ran she uh said that uh encouraged the uh students that she would bring back to us things that's happening in the district and we need to hear exactly what what is your concerns uh besides uh we want to hear all the fun stuff but there's other things that too I'm sure that you like to uh bring to us and um I want to thank um Senator Johnson for uh receiving our uh students from Fairmount School. They uh the students went down there to the state house and uh um he uh took them under his wing and showed them around and and uh gave them a few lessons on what's going down at the state house. and
069our our uh kids from Fairmont School. Uh uh I'm sure they enjoyed it and we like for him them to come here and give us a brief synopsis of the field trip down there in Trenton, New Jersey. Um and other than that, that's that's what I have. Um just uh get home safe and thanks again for coming out. Thank you. All right, just the Amraheim stuff. Thank you so much. Um and also uh echoing uh the comments about the wonderful um commemoration to our beloved principal Whitaker um with the vestibule opening um and the commemoration of Lilian Whitaker Way. It was nice to be among uh the eight other the eight trustees that were there uh that day um and to hear the the wonderful remarks from Dr. McBride um Dr. Whiting um Mr. Jackson,
070um our own president, uh Harris. Um wonderful performances from all of our students. Um it was a really great event. Um also a huge congratulations as um Dr. McBride outlined um with all of our scholars, our athletes, our musicians, our academic decathletes for all of their wonderful achievements. Um and again, you know, as we've been saying for, you know, the last uh few months, unfortunately, these are really unprecedented times for our schools, not only here in Hackinstack, but across the the state and the country um with attacks on education um and funding um for our schools. um attacks on vulnerable populations um including our multil- language learners, our immigrant families, um students with special needs, and also our LGBTQ community. Um and so we greatly appreciate all that is being done um by our staff,
071our educators, administrators um to address that. Um and so I just want to also thank everyone for coming out tonight, for making your comments um and hope that more people continue to do that. Okay, thank you very much. Um, okay. So, May was full full full of appreciations. We've had principal appreciation day, teachers appreciation week, nurses appreciation week. Um, and I'm not sure that people know, but this week is actually special education week. Um, and highlighting all of the wonderful things and programs that there are um, happening with our special education students. Um, and thank you to all for everything that you do to make sure that our students are safe and that everything is running smoothly every day. Uh, the Nell Parker vestibule, as everyone said, it was a beautiful tribute. It was an
072honor to be there. Um, you know, I what Trusty Carol had said, you know, um, give give the flowers while they're here. Um, I truly believe she was watching us that day. It was one of the most beautiful days that we've had that week. Uh we also have at Fairmont uh they have they're hosting their first health fair on May 31st. It's on a Saturday. If you have the opportunity to go, please go ahead and support the Fair Mount PTA and community. Uh we have many many upcoming events between now until our next board meeting. um between moving up ceremonies from our elementary school kids, preschool students, eighth graders going to high school and recognition in academics, sports club participation. We have prom night coming in between that time and students getting ready uh senior
073students getting ready to take their finals and getting ready for graduation. So, there's a lot to celebrate, a lot of things to look forward to. Hopefully we can make as to as many events as we can and best of luck to all the students and staff as we wrap up the end of the school year. Um, and that is the end of my comments and also this week Friday I believe we also have the middle school tricky tray. So please go out and support the middle school. They have their tricky tray going on. Again, tons of events, but very valuable. It is to support our students. So, please come out to the middle school tricky tray. Uh, and that is the end of my comments. I hope everyone gets home safe. Have a good evening.
074And can I have a motion to close our meeting? A motion. Okay. Motion by Trustee Martin. Can I have a second? I'll second. Second by Trustee Armsa. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Thank you all. Have a good night. It is 9:48.