001The MAMA Board of Education is open to members of the public to be physically present. Members of the public that attend will be asked to follow the same procedures as all other visitors to our schools. Those procedures can be found on the agenda page of our website. Additionally, the board meeting will be livereamed for viewing purposes only. Our uh Zoom webinar ID is 8634140013 and the required password is 488393. All right, I call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Miss Hiramojo. >> Mr. D Silva. >> Mr. Kesmarkski, >> I'm here. >> Mr. Coplin, >> I'm here, too. >> Mr. Gallow, >> here. >> Miss Daviniro, >> here. >> Mr. Houston >> here. >> Mr. Hughes, Mrs. Ting Jansen >> here, >> Dr. Morphy >> here. Adequate notice of this agenda for this meeting has
002been provided to the Rididgewood News and the record specifying that the MA Board of Education will meet on June 10th, 2026 in the administrative offices 60 Ridge Road, Mawa, New Jersey. A copy was filed with the township clerk. Uh Mr. Houston, if you would lead us, please in salute 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. >> Okay, we do require an executive session in the beginning here. So, I need a motion to recess. Mr. Kesmarski, second by Mr. Coplin. Uh, we need at least about 20 minutes for this exact session and then we will return. Thank you very much. to return to public action meeting. Mr. Galla, seconded by Mr. Coplin. All right.
003Agenda questions. Please limit your questions at this time to resolutions under new business on this agenda. It's a matter of fairness. asked to limit your questions to no more than one and your remarks to no longer than 3 minutes. If you are here representing a group, please identify yourself, the group, and your position in the group. If you're here as an individual, please provide us your name and address. This section of public participation will be limited to 15 minutes. Please specify the resolution you are referring to in your question. All right. Motion to open the meeting to the public. Mr. Coplins, second by Mr. Kismarski. All right, we are officially open to the public. All right, seeing no one coming forth at this time, a motion to close the meeting to the public. Um, Miss
004Ting Jansen, second by Mr. Gallow. All right, let us have our MAWA student representative report this evening. We have a tag team. Excellent. Lovely. >> Don't worry. Um, starting off, our senior breakfast and yearbook distribution was on Thursday morning, and senior prom is also Thursday night. Senior awards was last night. The spring sports are all finally over, and boys tennis won the Patriot Division Championship. 10 student athletes are assigned to play at the collegiate level. >> Art and design exhibition was on May 29th and 30th. Orchestra won first place for the 2026 music in the park festival at Hershey Park. We had congratulations to band, orchestra, and choir on a successful spring concert. The community service fair was on May 28th, which provided a lot of opportunities for students to engage in community service. Finally,
005Lauren Prunk is the model High School HDY representative at Adelfi University. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. And I think we have some recognition. before you leave on on behalf of the board to Grace and Nick, I I can't thank you guys enough for coming in and giving that perspective. It's always in my opinion one of the best parts of the meeting just to hear all the great things that are happening at high school. So many things happen each and every day and you shine a a great light on it. So we know how busy senior year is and all the different things that you guys are involved in. So we just wanted to share a token of our appreciation and a certificate to each of you and thank you for coming in your
006service and your contributions to the board meeting. So thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. You guys did great. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. Where you going to college? Oh, I can't accept that one. I'm a I'm a wahoo. I went to UVA. Where are you going to school? >> Vanoa. Excellent. Well, listen, y'all know you very well. >> You presented us uh great information all year round and did a wonderful job. Thank you very much. Good luck to you. Enjoy graduating. >> Thank you. >> Peace. Thank you. >> Thank you. Ah um the the next part well actually the first part of my report um I'm really happy to have the MA schools Foundation here. Um I wanted to give them some time to uh to share some great news
007and to speak to the board. Um you guys are not here when we give you the accolades. So now that you are here I do want to publicly take a moment to just say thank you for all the amazing things that you do for our our schools. I've been fortunate enough to work with you for 15 years and the incredible opportunities that you give to our kids each year is, you know, I I can't put words to it. I'm constantly bragging about you to my community who does not have a school's foundation. Um, they don't have schools foundation. Um, so what I can tell you is I I get a chance to just see a little bit of the amazing amount of work that they put into so many of the different events, whether it's
008I always call it the gala But the jersey experience this year, which was wonderful. Um the the the T-Ird run is is really a point of pride for our district to bringing everybody together, the community, the students, the staff. It it's just I know it's a monumental under undertaking. Um, so just on behalf of the district, on behalf of the board, we just want to tell you thank you so much for raising I think the number is well over $2 million uh since you guys got started and that's something that is absolutely it's ch it it changes the whole trajectory of the district and I want to thank you on the district. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. I'm Ko Donahue. I am co-vice president of the MSF this year. Sorry, this along with
009Michelle Kaplan and Kate Kismarski. Um we're just here tonight to um just share with you the amazing year that we did have this year. Again, like Dr. Duro said, we had a really successful Thunderbird run last October. Um it was a great community event with the kids run and the 5K. Um we had an amazing grant cycle. Um and I want to share some of the grants that were approved. Um, and already being used is a reading machine at Laf Meadows. Um, Marski has already said the kids love the reading machine, so that's great. A seed to science program at GW. Um, ka planks at all K through three schools for the media center. Music risers at Lape Meadow School. Um, new for the upcoming kindergarten class is a mindfulness and movement class for all
010kindergarteners so that they can kind of re get acquainted to um, full day kindergarten. Um, an art frame display at GW, a upgraded athletic performance center at Ramapo Ridge, merge cubes for science at Joyce Kilmer and a wellness room at Ramapo Ridge. So alto together this year um the MSF approved over $51,000 in grants which we are so excited and proud of. Um and we've been able to contribute to all six schools which is amazing. Um so that was our grant cycle and then like Dr. Turo said we had a great spring fundraising event with the nerds. So we had a big party pretty much and um we raised a lot of great money this year with the support of our community. So, thank you so much. And we'd like to try and get a
011photo up and present the check, you know, to you guys. So, thank you. >> Oh, yeah. Hi. >> March today. One of these other >> Okay. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. >> Yeah, I can hold it. Whatever you want to do. probably taking a picture of the check and >> I know Dr. Duro has more, but on behalf of the board of education, thank you very much for your generous uh contributions. Uh we several of us uh have been on the M West schools foundation. Um so it's a great stepping stone to join us on the board, but also um we know all the hard work uh and uh it's only getting harder to raise money to get volunteers to find people to stay uh enthusiastic. So, we truly appreciate uh all your
012efforts and um we're glad you've had such successful events to help us with the grants and the teachers I know for so many years now um truly truly appreciate it and of course the students benefit greatly. So again, thank you very much on behalf of the board. >> Thank you. >> Okay, the next Harrison, can you hear me? Perfect. Um the next part of my presentation is um every year we get an opportunity to talk about the work that we put in for our strategic plan. Um as we all know this is our second cycle of our fiveyear strategic plan. Um just to give you a background and introduce this to anyone who is not familiar in order to build this plan it was really important for us to work with the community. You you
013guys are more than welcome to stay or you guys can go up to us. I know you were looking at me like, uh, how long is this thing going to go? It's going to go. >> I'm going to call >> Mike. Excuse me. >> No, you need to stay now. >> No, thank you. >> Okay, let me start over. >> From this from this slide, I think it's important uh to talk about how we got to this place. When you're talking about a strategic plan, it's important the the power of the community voice in this process. So just like our first strategic plan, we invited the community on a number of occasions to come and share their perspective on a number of things. We got an opportunity to celebrate the great things that were happening
014in our district, but more importantly, we get got a chance to elicit from all the different stakeholders uh the areas for growth and within that as you can see through ideas that hatched um you can see some themes that are starting to come to light. The great part about the first strategic plan, we accomplished a lot and it's a lot to be proud of, but as we say all the time, the work's not done. So, a lot of this has to do with refining the things that we're currently doing, looking for new opportunities for our students and seeing what's out there that we should be bringing in to MA as a whole. talks about some of the things student being a student leader continuing to talk about grit and resilience and perseverance talking about self-development
015looking to to create abstract thinkers all the different things that we talk about on a daily basis of what we want our students to be when they leave us in 12th grade in LA from that as you can see our first strategic plan had four frames we felt like those four frames really encapsulate all the things that we received for the second strategic plan. But as we're as I said earlier, we need to take a step further or add new things to where we feel like we are lean. So as you can see, we have the theme of the Thunderbird. So we have soaring Thunderbirds, launching leaders, flight calls, wings of wellness, and future ready habitats. all broken down into those core themes of curriculum instruction, community connection, social emotional learning and as we have
016done for years and as I said a power of the strategic plan is to make sure that we're all paddling in the same direction to get all schools and the board on the same page. It really strengthens our efforts to make sure that we're accomplishing things and moving this district forward which is right for our kids. So in the beginning of this year, we use a strategic plan to anchor into and we created two goals. The two goals were very lofty. The first goal was an instructional goal. As we if you've been here in the past, you'll see our commitment to our kids is to make sure that we're individualizing our approach for each and every kid that we have here. So, we talked about the tiered levels of support and we talked about how
017we've really been working through K through 12. It's the first initiative that I could think of that it's all hands- on deck from kindergarten all the way up through 12th grade. We are individualizing our approach for all of our students. So we've really worked through PD through our PLC's and our faculty meetings to develop an understanding a common language across the grades across the schools to support our students. So that's the first goal. The second goal is is find is financing facilities. It's my hope that this district is aware that we went through a referendum. We will talk about that in detail as we go through the frames, but I just wanted to introduce those goals. And it's my hope that as you look at these next couple slides, you'll see these goals in action
018on the next couple slides. Okay. So, I'm here to talk about the Soaring Thunderbirds is our pledge that every learner at every level feels challenged, supported, and most importantly seen. It is our commitment to differentiated instruction, expanded pathways, including trade and vocational opportunities, and arming students with the tools that they need to be successful in the future. It also reflects our commitment to continuously reviewing our curriculum to make sure that it's aligned with current standards, responsive to the students in front of us, and a relevance in a rapidly changing world. The goals aren't just academic achievement. It's cultivating cultivating graduates who are curious, critical thinkers, problem solvers, and are capable and ready to be successful global citizens. So, here are some examples of the work that we're doing K12 across the district in supporting our
019goals to fostering intellectual curiosity and promoting lifelong learning. I'll start with K5. So, as Dr. said, "The district is committed to our continued work with differentiated instruction and tiered levels of support. Datadriven and small group instruction helps us meet our students where they are and provide them with support that is responsive to their individual needs. By using multiple sources of data, including Iring diagnostic information, classroom assessments, and formative and summitive assessments, teachers are able to make strategic decisions on where learners need to go next in their learning paths. Over the past four years, we've made meaningful progress in building our data literacy and strengthening our ability to use data to inform our instruction. While this work is ongoing, we continue to grow our capacity to make instructional decisions that support each learner's growth and help
020us move forward to a more personalized learning model for all of our students. This year we officially launched our soar program for students in grades K through three, expanding our gifted and talented program through both classroom enrichment and specialized learning experiences. Working alongside classroom teachers, our gifted and talented teachers provided opportunities for advanced learners in K3 to strengthen critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving skills through engaging and theme-based learning. In addition to expanding our G&T offerings, we're fortunate enough to expand our autism, ABA, and BD programs to better serve our students with a wide range of needs. This year was year one of our I Ready Math implementation at grades K through five and our new advanced math program in grades four and five. Beginning next year, I Ready Math will be implemented across K
021K through eight, strengthening our vertical alignment and supporting a more consistent mathematical experience for our students. Our content supervisors continue to look for meaningful ways to connect learning across literacy, science, social studies, technology, and the arts. In grades K through five, we have reading and writing units that intentionally blend literacy and social studies, helping students build both content knowledge and strong literacy skills. Across the district, our teachers recognize that students learn best when subjects are connected rather than teaching them in isolation. This year, our math, science, ELA, and social studies teachers spent time learning from one another and sharing expertise particularly around the role of reading and writing across all content areas. These conversations have strengthened instructional practices and help us create a more connected learning experience for our students. At the 6 through 12
022level, we're excited about the work happening especially at Ravenport Ridge in the 2627 school year. This includes the implementation of a new science and math program as well as a redesign of the grade six ELA curricula. These changes are the result of thoughtful planning and collaboration and are designed to provide students with engaging relevant learning experiences while strengthening alignment across all grade levels. This year we also took a look at the entrance and exit criteria for our tier three support classes in sixth grade 6 through 12. Refining this process will help ensure that students receive the targeted support that they need while also creating a clearer pathway to increase access and opportunity to other opportunities. This work allows us to be more responsive to student needs while expanding access to a broader range of learning
023experiences. We also expanded our NJSLA tutoring program at the Ridge in grades six through eight to help those students who were not proficient on the NJSLA uh exams in both math and science and ELA. So, we're hoping to see some fruits of our labor next year. And we also through our referendum work, we're able to create our 18 to 21 transition program. So, our next slide speaks to launching leaders and our college and career future ready skills. As we continue to think about what it means to prepare students for the world outside of MA, we're expanding opportunities for our students by providing problem based experiences within the classrooms. This work encourages our students to think creatively, to collaborate with one another, to communicate effectively, and apply their learning in meaningful ways. It also gives students
024opportunities gives students the opportunities to pursue their interests, take ownership of their learning, and build their confidence outside of the classroom. Looking ahead, we'll begin to we're excited to begin the work of developing the profile of a MA graduate. This process will help us identify the knowledge and skills and characteristics we want every student to build throughout their time in school and take with them beyond graduation. So again, I'll speak to our KFI experiences. We're really looking outside of the box and not thinking about subjects as isolated subjects. We really want students to see the connections between across subjects because learning becomes more meaningful when they can see it that way. becomes more authentic. Our SOAR program gives our youngest learners opportunities to investigate, create, and problem solve through inquiry based experiences. And our tier
025three math enrichment opportunity gives students the ability to apply their mathematical thinking in meaningful ways. and Joyce Kilmer. They continue their work with executive functioning on helping students by providing support to families through their child study team members and sending out professional learning opportunities for parents to engage in um via professional learning. At 6 through 12, MAWA High School has established a partnership with Lincoln Tech to expand career connected learning opportunities for their students. Through hands-on experiences in robotics, CNC routing, applied technology, and workforce readiness, students are exploring high demand career pathways while building practical skills and real world knowledge. This partnership helps helps students make meaningful connections between their learning and future careers while also providing interested students with pathways towards trade certifications and opportunities in these skills trades. We'll continue to expand our
026Thunder partnership connections as well as our internship and externship experiences for our students. We are excited to expand our AP offerings in the 2728 school year with the addition of AP cyber security, AP financial literacy, AP seminar, and AP research. These courses are designed to open the door to advanced placement course work for a broader range of students, including those who may not see themselves as AP traditional students. They also create opportunities for students to explore their interests, build specialized skills, and engage in learning that is meaningful and connected to their future goals. Just quick note, our career pathways transcript endorsements grew from 21 students last year to 43 students this year. That's 105% increase. >> Last night they said the number is 55. >> Mr. Pascal 43. Is it 55? >> It went up.
027It's 55 >> overnight even more 55. >> And lastly, I'll speak on our work on artificial intelligence which I've had the pleasure of spearheading this year. So we recognize that article art AI is here and it's rapidly changing the world and we've been spending a lot of time talking about how it's going to impact teaching and learning. This year we gathered a committee at the start of the year that included teachers from across the district to talk about how we want this work to roll out across our schools. Anyone who knows me knows that I want to go quickly as you can tell by the way I speak. But we've been very thoughtful about how we the we understand the responsibility that we have in teaching students how to use it responsibly and as a
028tool while preserving their critical thinking along the way. So our work focused on developing a vision and mission statement and one of the most important part of our work was meeting with students across the district at from grades 4 through 12 listening their input as we developed our AI plan for implementation. So we are on well on our way to provide professional development for our teachers in the 2627 school year and that's where we will start our work. >> Thank you. Let me preface >> uh let me preface the uh flight calls frame with uh there you'll see some overlap between our curriculum instruction work as as well as uh what you hear from Miss Rizzo about our wings of wellness frame. So, as we all know, especially from our work through our first strategic
029plan together, strong relationships with families, alumni, and the community are essential to supporting student success throughout their educational flight here in MA. So, in transitioning to the next 5-year strategic plan cycle, uh, one of our key priorities is ensuring that communication and connection remain at the heart of everything we do. We have learned that student success is strongest when schools, families, and the community work together as partners. So, in communicating regularly about opportunities in our schools, we've been thoughtful about connecting our students across buildings in preparation for their transitions into new school buildings. Uh as we work to break the barrier for our students, particularly meeting friendly faces before transitioning into Joyce Kilmer School, uh we are actively exploring the expansion of our open house for MA High School uh to include our sixth, seventh,
030and eighth graders as well. We're committed to expanding problem based learning opportunities across all grade levels, helping students connect classroom learning to real world challenges and experiences. JK and the Ridge hosted a regional perennial math competition at high school which was open to all students and was a great success. Family engagement continues to be a major focus for us as well. We want families to be active participants throughout their child's educational journey, not just during the typical conferences or special events this school year. This means that we increase communication about academic, athletic, and extracurricular opportunities. We're also working to bring more of our community into our schools through volunteer opportunities, community events, and expanded family engagement initiatives. Programs like the parent academy that Miss Craft has already worked to grow will continue to be reimagined,
031providing valuable resources and support for families in the coming years of our strategic plan. Beyond our current students and families, we're investing in stronger connections with our alumni network as well. A Google alumni community has been created this year for our alumni to connect. Uh this network is used to actively gather alumni contact information and we utilize these connections as part of our programming. Uh we engage our alumni in our work and with the aim for our students to learn from those who have uh walked this path before them. Additionally, we have expanded initiatives like Thunderbird for a day, offering the opportunity for incoming MA High School students to experience the building prior to this transition taking place. Uh, the district's success depends on building broad community partnerships that enhance learning opportunities and celebrate student
032successes as well. As we look ahead, we want our entire community to be part of the flight alongside us. We actively seek and are proud of the growth of our Thunderbird partnerships even through the end of the first year of this strategic plan. Uh just this school year, we've had the American Red Cross speak with our high school French courses to discuss how language can be used to communicate and bring cultures together across the world. and a local architect from the community also engaged with our geometry classes to make c course content uh connected to real world application as well. We're continuing to expand communication efforts through our parentmies, social media outreach, weekly newsletters, and multiple communication channels so families can receive information in the ways that work best for them. Our school counseling department,
033for example, provide more newsletters for families over the course of this past school year than the year before that. We're also growing opportunities for students through expanded STEM experiences. At the elementary level, we're strengthening math and science initiatives, while secondary students will see increased opportunities in engineering, robotics, and STEM competitions. Uh, for example, students participated in schoolwide science day experiences that promoted inquiry, experimentation, and authentic problem solving through hands-on learning activities. And at Grand Prize Middle School, uh, the empowering future engineers robotics competition has been initiated with collaboration with the MA High School robotics team, which hosted a competition that included 24 schools. A critical part of this work involves connecting students with community professionals and partners. These hands-on learning experiences help students understand how classroom learning applies to future careers and real world challenges.
034As we know, our internship externship program has grown significantly over the years. Uh we continue to look to to expand this program to include opportunities for students during the school year and and extend beyond only summer experiences for our kids. We're also strengthening partnerships with neighboring districts, community organizations, trade schools, and our career pathway programs to broaden opportunities available to all of our students. For example, our robotics team is currently seeking a relationship with Lincoln Tech Institute to learn industry standard technology with potential overlap into our technology education curriculum. Our 18 to 21 Thunderbird life path program is rooted in relationships with the community's local businesses as well like Mason Jar, DSW, and Brandy Wine Living for our senior citizens for our students who also gain job ready skills. Finally, we will continue celebrating students
035success through performing arts programs, extracurricular activities, and continuing to build upon community based projects. So, together, these initiatives ensure that communication isn't simply about sharing information. We've certainly learned that from our last strategic plan, but it's about building meaningful partnerships that help every student find their place here in Mawa. We feel like we've really made some great growth over the past year and we're really excited about what's to come uh for the next four. So, Miss Rizzo to speak to social emotional learning now framed as wings of wellness. Our commitment to the wings of wellness within our strategic plan is directed toward the wellness of our students and staff both physically and emotionally. This effort soarses within the goal of facilitating a growth mindset that empowers student success in a complex future. We've maintained the
036castle competencies with the sole purpose being student growth and development of these skills so crucial for their years of life in school and beyond. Our engagement of students is directed towards maintaining a sound developmental approach to address self-awareness, self-management, self self social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Each school has created moments, activities and experiences designed to educate students through or about competencies and ultimately as well we support our staff. There are examples throughout our district that show how we have supported the castle competencies certainly for the last five years and greater. school assemblies and morning meetings designed to grow the competencies. Activities such as freshman advisory where our youngest learners in the high school are exposed to opportunities to know and grow about their future potential. Collaborative learning moments designed to use Castle
037skills in which students are working together on projects, activities, and initiatives. Staff wellness opportunities are certainly a focus in our choice driven professional development. And as you may or may not know, there are mindful moments and days in every school throughout the school year. We further our goals by building upon the advancement of resilience within our students, healthy relationships, and responsible decision making. We are creating opportunities where students can take risks and step beyond the predictable comfort zone and into what is known as the learning zone. A state of active development designed to grow students. growing grit, passion, and perseverance for long-term goals. Resilience in meeting adversity and not giving up. Perseverance, a stamina to meet new challenges. We've developed activities as you've already heard this evening and those listed on the screen in front
038of you of internships and ex externships and workbased learning opportunities in which young students are seeing their place within our community. Not just a community afar, but in fact within the four walls of Mawa. We've worked hard to develop transition opportunities for our students so they can recognize their places not only within the schools that they are housed but beyond those. We have te-ird for a day in which middle school students are treated the luxury of experiencing just what it means to be a MA High School Thunderbird. We have counselors teaching lessons in classrooms throughout the district. a commitment to a K through 12 counseling experience. Transition years 3rd to 4th, 5th to 6th, and 8th to 9th, supported by school counselors and educators. We've created opportunities in choices in learning, normalizing mistakes in learning
039and supporting the learners willing to stay in it. We've supported challenges in learning via our tiered interventions and we are constantly recognizing student growth. Lastly, a commitment to healthy nutrition and active movement throughout the district. We honor recess as a necessary requirement like any other academic program. Various schools are able to offer breakfast to our students. PE experiences in each school are designed to keep students moving. We've connected with MIVO porticulture and nutrition collaborating with our elementary schools. While just a highlight of all that takes place within our schools designed to address the life force goal of the strategic plan, I can attest that building our students wings of wellness is not easy. Even Experts admit it is tough to create the perfect opportunities for growth. But when we purposefully design creative, supported challenges for
040our students, we align with powerful research, research that demonstrates that long-term success is driven far more by passion and perseverance than by raw intelligence. It is all about finding what the learner loves, committing to the hard work and staying dedicated. Parents are our vital partners in this, coupling with our experiences in schools and encouraging children's natural sparks and celebrating their curiosity. Parents help to build the foundation intended within our wings of wellness. Our Thunderbirds will thrive beyond their habitats. With more work to come in the remaining four years of planning and executing this strategic plan, we do look forward to celebrating the growth of their wingspan. >> Follow that. Speaking of habitats, um to bring this to bring this to a close, the last frame that we're going to talk about is future ready habitats.
041Uh we've talked at length about all the different work that's happened across the district uh to ensure that we are able to maintain innovative spaces and really make sure that we're upgrading our facilities that match the level and the expectation of MA. We've talked at length about the the number of facility audits that we've done across the district and how that has really been our roadmap um to address all the needs and make sure that our facilities are up up to speed. The biggest piece of this work was the work of the referendum. And I think you know it was there was so much that was done in the fall but it's worth repeating right now. Uh the referendum wasn't just something that we came up with this year. This has been years and years
042in the making. This has been uh really a result of the audits that's taken place, the work that we've already done, and we talked to the community at length about the needs that they see um within uh our district. Um if you remember correctly, the that communication loop was comprehensive. Um that communication loop started with not only the rep building the strategic plan and getting that information. We also had our our state of the facilities meeting that we opened up to the community and the survey that we sent out to the community to gather the information and the point uh the pain points that we have throughout the district. With all that information, we built our referendum proposal. Um, and something that we said to the community is we're committed to ensuring that our community
043is aware of our state of facilities, the need, and all the different information to make an informed vote. I'm really proud of the work that the finance and facilities, the board, the administrative team, and all those involved in getting that that word out to the community and that's a huge um success for us. Obviously, um, we were really grateful for for question one. Um we are disappointed in question two, but question one is going to put us in a place um for years to come. When I talked about communication, um it's worth really breaking down the work that was done specific to communication. After we got all the information and we wanted to share it with our community, we uh took part in over 20 community meetings. Uh those community meetings really ranged from school-based
044meetings, community groups, uh parents across the district to make sure that we really left most uh unturned. Uh not only were there in-person meetings that took place, we also did pushed things out on social media, we pushed things out on email, we created newsletters, we created a website, um and we created videos that we also pushed out to our community. So, we really tried to hit every form of communication to ensure that our information was was out there. Um, that being said, as I as I shared with all of you, we were able to uh have a successful first question, um, after March uh after that March vote, we've been working extremely hard as as the board administrative team uh to start to plan out the projects that are starting actually uh this summer. So,
045I just want to thank the boards, thank the administrative team for partnering with us for such a a huge undertaking, and I'm really excited about the work ahead. It's my hope as we close out this meeting, it's my hope that you got a chance to see the broad um reach of this strategic plan. When you look at all the different frames, you can see that it really hits big and small items. Every single part of our population benefits from this work. Um the work starts with our curricular focus, which that's what we're here for. Um we constantly talk about the importance of coming together as as a community. We talk about the connections within our schools and across schools. We also talk at length not only in the first strategic plan but it continues this
046with this strategic plan. The commitment that we have for postgrad opportunities and exposure um that you know it's not only are we committed to making sure that we create a rich experience for them here in Ma but we want to prepare them for what's what's next. Um, also it's my hope that you were able to appreciate when Miss Craft started to talk about curricular opportunities, when we were sitting in those strategic plan meetings, some of the feedback that we received is what about those students that aren't in the middle? >> What are we doing to support those who need foundational skills and what are we doing to really enhance and enrich those who at are at the highest levels? And it's my hope that you are able to appreciate the work that's being done currently
047this year and the work that will continue uh into next year. In our continued commit to commitment to uh communication, we will be building um onto our second strategic plan website. We will be showing with full transparency to our community the work that's being done year-over-year. We will model it after our first website to show not only our goals, the work that's being done, the progress to those goals, and then the new goals for the coming year. So that's how we're going to really lay out this strategic plan for the next four years. Any questions? >> Thank you. Thanks Mike. >> All right. Thank you very much for your comprehensive update. Um and as always um exciting things happening uh and continuing to happen. So, uh, we do and it it's really good to hear
048because we all get busy with what's going on. So, to actually, um, have, uh, it sort of delineated for us, it it's great. We thank you very much. Um, and we know all the hard work you've put into it. >> Just to be fair. >> Okay. So, you're we're good. Okay. Um, all right. Let's move on to our assistant superintendent report, Dr. Fair. >> Yes. I have two retirement announcements that you can see on the agenda. Uh we'll start with agenda item 19C. Miss Holly Reo. Uh she is currently an instructional pair professional over at the high school. After 11 years of service to Mawa School District, Miss Reo is retiring from her role as the instructional pair professional. Throughout her time here, she worked closely with teachers and staff to support student learning and
049helped to support an inclusive educational environment for her kids. In particular, the way that Holly worked with our kids proved to be her greatest strength, building relationships with her students. Uh we thank Miss Rachel for her years of service and wish her the best in her retirement. I know that she plans to move down to Florida with her husband. She's also a MA resident. And lastly, agenda item 19D, uh, we announced the retirement of Mr. Cunns. He, uh, has given over 29 years of service to the district as a member of our maintenance team. Uh, when Rick began his career here back in the late 1990s, he was an important member of the district as it was undergoing a substantial expansion. During that time, Rick was involved with the academic additions at Betsy Ross, George
050Washington, Ramble Ridge, uh the construction of the new Lenipino School and also improvements at MA High School's uh turf field and tennis courts. Uh Rick was passionate about keeping Mawa exterior spaces in tip-top shape and as a sportsman himself, field prep was his specialty. So, we thank Mr. hunts for his many years of dedicated service and wish him health, happiness and fulfillment in his retirement. And that's our report this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. Dr. Spir, Mr. Hero, do you have a report for us this evening? >> You don't have one. Okay. >> All right. Well, thank you very much. Um, all right. My report for this evening. Um, so a couple things. I just um a wanted to congratulate all our seniors and um heard the senior awards were fantastic. Um and uh
051again on behalf of the board, enjoy these last few weeks as you go into graduation and we wish all of our seniors all the best in their career paths and what they choose. Um and we know that uh MA has prepared you well. So uh best of luck. Um and also to all our students um again happy summer, be safe, have fun, learn something new. Um it's very exciting. Um I also just want to take a moment in talking about the strategic plan and so on to thank um my fellow board members to thank um particularly our um finance and facilities committee under Mr. Gallow and our community relations committee under Mr. Copan and really, you know, this was really a busy year for us as a board and um towards with the referendum process
052and all that. So, I just really want to give a shout out to uh board members who really um you know put themselves out there in the community presentations um did all that we could um and we were successful. So, again, I just it's been a busy year for the board um and we have more to come when we come back in September. But again, uh, since it's kind of our last meeting of the, uh, of the year. Um, all right. For the, uh, this school year. All right. Board of Committee reports. >> Mr. Galla, >> just briefly on the bond referendum, we continue to be on schedule to be offer bonds for sale at the end of this month. Um, and hopefully get the money in mid July. Um, our bond rating activities finished,
053>> finalized. Um, we were highly rated. Not quite as highly rated as we would have expected or wanted, but uh but a fantastic rating regardless. You know, sometimes we can't um get everywhere we need to go, but it was it was better than we needed and uh we're in good spot. So, we're in a great spot there. And over the course of the summer, I guess we'll start rolling out some um referendum timelines on the website and more project information. And as uh Dr. Duro said the gas pedal is down on project so um money will not be sitting in our bank accounts forever. >> Thank you Mr. Gallow. >> Miss Ting Jansen. >> Just from policy we have three policies on under DV for first reading use of facilities firearms and weapons and crisis
054response. So they're on for the first reading and open for discussion. Thank >> thank you very much. Any other committee reports? Mr. problem. Okay. Um on behalf of instruction and curriculum, quick report. Um we had our um June meeting. That's kind of our last meeting for this school year. We will meet again in August. Um primarily u Miss Craft uh presented us with the uh New Jersey school performance report and how our students did. Um this information um was is also is it already >> well that it's you have access to the letter there's a link that goes directly to it. >> So um there was a letter that was sent okay to the community and um that report uh is u included in that link. Um, so that was the primary uh portion of
055our meeting uh in June and we'll meet again in August. All right. Um, all right. Do we have any board member remarks this evening? Mr. Galla, >> just briefly, last night the senior words uh night, it was long, but it's an amazing experience to see all the things that our students have accomplished and we're off and we're extremely grateful for all the organizations that support scholarships and recognition for our students. Um, as we mentioned, there were 55 career pathway endorsements, which is double as many as we had the previous year. That was there was like when um I forget it was Mr. O'Hara announced that he said, "Oh, we have 55." There was like a hush in the crowd like it was impressive. I was impressed and it's a really amazing thing. Um, there was
056also a student last night who received two sports related awards. This student, his name has been on my refrigerator for four years. Um, and it was in when he was the eighth grade class speaker, um, a young man of small stature, not anymore, um, was recognized for two awards last night. And I was just so proud, uh, for for seeing him up there and getting and one was a Rucker football award, which I think Mr. Pelier said we haven't awarded ever before, but he won it. And there was also a Burton County Cook award that he also received. So, this young man who's been on my refrigerator for four years, um I was so proud to see him recognized for his achievements and uh um I wish him well obviously and it was and all
057our graduates. It was it was a fantastic experience last night. Mike, unfortunately, John's already gone. John was also the award winner in six awards, one from each of our departments, and it was really wonderful to see that. So, thank you to all of uh the organizations that raise money and recognize our students in either financially or through um by exposing them to job inter internship experiences. Um it really rounds out the experience for our MRO graduates. It would be really great for our eighth graders to see like this is what could happen to you, you know, to see that that these opportunities are they're all before you. Dig in. we're ready to take you on. So, it was it was really a great night. And Brett, of course, did a great job last night giving
058out some awards. And I just want to recognize Brett for an activity he does outside of the school district as the former commissioner of the Mama um youth sports boosters for many years. He did that through thick and thin. Many hundreds and hundreds of kids in our in in the town and in our district benefited from his leadership and vision and for his hard work and persistence in keeping the focus on kids being able to play a sport or a game that they could exercise teamwork in and develop some resilience and develop some athletic skills to the extent they could. And um Brett did a tremendous job and we owe him a great depth of thanks and gratitude for his work. So, I just want to recognize here. >> Thank you, Mr. Gallo, and uh
059recognition to Mr. Coplin for service to our community. Thank you very much. Um, any other board member remarks this evening? All right. Um, all right. Let's move on then to old business. Let's take 17 A and B um from our May 4th and May 11th meetings. Mr. Kismar, Motion on the form, Mr. Kismarski, second by Mr. Coplin. I need roll call, please. Miss Heramoto. >> Mr. Cuz >> yes. >> Mr. Gallo, >> yes. >> Miss Daviniro, >> yes. >> Mr. Houston, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sting Jansen, >> yes. >> Mr. Coffman, >> yes. >> Dr. Morphy, >> yes. All right. Now, let's take um new business. We have 18 to JJ. Um I need a motion on the floor. Um, Miss Ting Jansen, second by Mr. Houston. All right. Uh, roll call, please. Miss Yamote.
060>> Mr. Kazmarski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gallow. >> Yes. Except on 18A. I am abstaining from check number 123906. >> Thank you, Miss Daviniro. >> Yes. >> Mr. Houston. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ting Jansen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Copan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Mory. >> Uh, yes. Yes. And I abstain on um 18 I I All right. Um All right. Let's move on to our uh 19 new business personnel. Um we generally take our retirement separately. So, let me take 19 C and D, our two retirements, and thank you um for their service to our district. Um so, let's do that first. Um motion on the floor, Mr. Kismarski, second by Mr. Gallow. So, this is 19 C and D. >> Mr. Kesmarsski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gallow. >> Yes. >> Miss Dean, >> yes.
061>> Mr. Mr. Houston, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ting Jansen, >> yes. >> Mr. Coughlin, >> yes. >> Dr. Morphy, >> yes. >> Uh, all right. Now, let's take um 19 AB and then we have E through LL. All right. Motion on the floor. Uh, Mr. Coplin, second by Miss Ting Jansen. Roll call, please. Miss Yramoto. >> Mr. Kesmari. Um, yes. I'm standing on KK and LL. I'd like to thank the volunteers, including myself, being one of two dads at the eighth grade dance. >> We need to be at >> Mr. Gallow. >> Yes. >> Miss Daviniro. >> Yes. >> Mr. Houston. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jane Jansen. >> Yes. also standing on KK. >> KK. >> Thank you, Mr. Cofflin. >> Yes. And thanks to all our volunteers, especially the uh young alumni that are
062coming back to help with the band. >> You looked at that list. They're all >> recent recent graduates. They're also >> Dr. Worthy. >> Yes. >> All right. Let's move on to public questions or comment. Public participation at board meetings is in accordance with bylaw 0167. At this time, members of the public may ask questions or make a comment on educational issues or school matters of community interest. As a matter of fairness, you're asked to limit your questions to no more than one and your remarks to no longer than three minutes. If you're here representing a group, please identify yourself, the group, and your position in the group. If you are here as an individual, please provide us your name and address. I need a motion to open the meeting to the public, Mr. Coplin.
063Second by Miss Ting Jansen. We are officially open to the public. Good evening. My name is Daniel Ryan at 22 Riverview Terrace. Um I'm here to discuss I don't know how many of you would be aware of it but an issue at Lape Meadows currently. Um we're under a severe lice like infestation I'd call it. Um I opra and a whole bunch of um emails to try to find out when this really began. Um so yesterday at like 3 p.m. I received 243 pages of emails which I've since spent a lot of time nitpicking through, pun intended. And I'd like to just focus on the most significant ones. Um, and like I said, I just got this yesterday, so I'm going to go through it as quick as I can and as neatly as I
064can, but I didn't have a chance to get it as in order as I would have liked. Um, so this all began apparently on uh January 5th. Apparent mentions to and I this is a lot of like personal, you know, a lot of things have been redacted and I'm not going to call anybody by names. just even the ones that were given to me. But a parent asked their kid to be screened on uh January 5th, that's the first day back from break, said the kid was complaining of an itchy scalp. This was in one particular classroom. The very next day, that's when we had our first confirmed case um since January that I'm able to decipher through all this. So that's going back to January. On Thursday, January 8th, our nurse um asked a
065different nurse within the district for assistance in how they handled lights at that school the year before. Um the question itself was redacted for some reason, but the answer um the other school's nurse said that there was two cases found and then she screened the classroom under the advisement of Lisa, which I'm going to assume based on later, Lisa Rizzo, who's here. um they found four more cases and they sent out a letter just to that classroom um but there was uh additional screening. So then a month later or so, February 13th, our nurse asks um Miss Rizzo um and tells her about the amount of cases in our school and these cases that she lists were not available to me, meaning I would imagine they came through via telephone. So the list is going
066to be incomplete just based on I only have emails. Um so we were told at that time no need to notify the whole school. So fast forward very uh long time February 25th the lice clinic of America which is in Ramsey uh reached out to the nurse via email. They said they have a program called schools without lice. It's a free program. It gives out free lice information uh to the school. So parents would have been able to receive this information. They also do free screenings for teachers and free treatment for teachers if needed. Um the treatment at that place is very expensive. They use um they don't use just the typical chemicals. So it's it would have been quite a savings for the teachers if that info had been relayed to the staff and
067to the parents. Um so the lice clinic reached out a total of five times based on what I have. um they would send out alerts when a a child was being um being treated at their facility. So the first time we get notified officially, the first time any uh parent at our school received notification was on April 29th for a case that was initially reported on April 27th. I don't know why there was also a gap in time. The parent shared it in a text message so a whole bunch of us knew about it. Um, but they notified the school as well on April 27th. So, April 29th's the first time we hear from it. This is where I just kind of have to jump a little bit and I do apologize. Um, May 13th
068is the first official um notification from the school about the policy of what of what we were following or or failing to follow. Um, that same day, May 13th, before I received the email from the school, I reached out to our principal asking what the protocol was. um how many if people are being notified, etc. Um the the kids are like horrified about the um about lights. They're told not to talk about it. They tease each other about it. At home, you know, the my I have two kids in this school. One's out. They're constantly, "Oh, you have lights. Don't come by me. Don't touch me." The kids are really and I see my friends kids out and they're constantly talking about this. Um so it it's affecting dayto-day. Um so like I said um
069we got that notification on May 13th and what was said was our current protocol requires that we notify individual home rooms regarding cases of headlights they use the proper term. Uh during the past two weeks we have worked specifically with one home room. So like I said I have the Oprah on all of this. None of those other classes dating all the way back to January were ever notified of the life situation. Fast forward all the way now to April 27th that the parents found out. April 29th everybody finds out or not everybody but that specific classroom found out officially. Um that just delayed there's things that you know of course we would be more vigilant in checking our kids. I didn't know lice was going around so I wasn't looking at them. When I
070found out on April 27th I started doing the shampoos and the sprays and all that stuff. Um, my girls have long, you know, don't have long long hair, but they girls, uh, wearing your hair that's like trying to keep their hair back, things like that. Um, so, as I mentioned, it I'm trying to understand the district's protocol, uh, appears to have not been followed and why that was. Um, through this, a lot of stress because parents are just going by word of mouth and people not knowing what they're looking for. Um, from what I'm understanding now, like the active license super super fast, so you should check your kids at certain times. Um, this maybe all could have been relayed to us by that free service that was offered um to the school that appears
071we didn't take advantage of. Um, and in my Oprah request, I did uh request what our lice policy is. And this is what I got. It's dated July uh July 2019. So, detection of communicable disease A3. It says a student who shows symptoms of any of the following communicable diseases should be and uh sent to the nurse for evaluation. Specifically listed under I is headlight and it says exclusion from school because that's uh the policy is not that the kids were not being sent. They weren't even being sent home. They were being told they could they got found with lice and they just could go back to class. Um so but in our um in the rules it says exclusion from school. A student who exhibits any symptoms described in A2 I'm sorry A3 and
072four which it was under A3 um should be immediately sent to the nurse and the nurse would call home and the student would have to have written evidence that he or she is free of communicable disease. Um so I'm trying to find out what's going on. why there was no communication up until, you know, 5 months in. And when I when I emailed our principal on uh May 13th, I said, I've known about this for a few weeks now. It's finally coming to light at that whole school's being notified. I thought it was only a few weeks old at that point, and then I'm now finding out it's dating all the way back to the first day of term for January. >> Thank you, Mr. Rin. Um, and I don't know if Dr. Dora, do
073you want to respond or Okay. >> Uh, Mr. Ryan, first of all, thank you for uh for sharing the the issue. Uh, let me start off by saying I I totally understand and can sympathize with how uh difficult life is, uh, within a family, uh, knowing firsthand. Um, and also let me kind of just clarify some of the things that you shared because I was trying to keep a tally of the different things when you're looking at the notification piece of what you have in front of you. The district does notify uh the families. The district does have an expectation of addressing with the treatment and the district also when you're talking about notifying, we do not notify the entire school that there is a case within the school. That is not the practice that
074we hold. We do notify within a classroom. If there are multiple cases in a classroom, we notify the classroom. The when you're talking about there was an incident on January 8th that I don't have familiarity with that in issue. But as a building principal, there's an isolated in issue. We do not notify the entire the entire uh home room. Same thing with February said January 8th, then you said February, then you said April 27th. So there's time in between all of those. So there was not a lice issue at Lampy Meadows from January all the way till now. So I just want to clarify we weren't withholding information from the the community. What I can tell you is most recently the life situation did start to spread not only within the classroom but siblings in
075other classrooms and it started to work out. We addressed the classroom when there was multiple issues in the classroom. Then we addressed the entire school. the service that you were talking about, which I'd have to look into it from what you shared, you said it was a free treatment for staff >> and free and and did you say anything about free treatment for students? >> Free screening for staff, free >> treat I didn't >> and information to share to families >> information to which would be >> So when you're saying we didn't take advantage of it, I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page. We didn't say no to a company to come in and treat our children. We are working with the families and connecting them with agencies to
076address the situation. Again, I understand how difficult this is for families, but I also want to make sure that you're aware the communication that we did send out was to the home rooms that were impacted and then we realized it was multiple home rooms. So, we sent it out to the whole the whole community. That being said, not only did we just send information out, we also engaged our our facilities team. We engaged a pest management company. We did a thorough cleaning of the entire school. Again, I'm saying all of this because I understand the burden that it has on a family. And I don't want that to be in the that burden to be on a family, but I also don't want you to leave here thinking that we were withholding information from people
077that we should have shared it with. It's a very difficult situation and I sympathize with that. But that being said, the communication went out to the home rooms impacted and then eventually the schools as a whole. It wasn't something that's happened since January. It's happening. >> You're talking about an isolated case in January, >> then again in February, then again in April, then again in May. I understand the sequence. I'm just saying there wasn't an infestation that took place in January, February, April. There is an issue currently right now that we are addressing with the community and I totally understand the impact that it has. >> The cases back in January, I simply stated that that was that was patient zero. That was the first case. Multiple occasions there's more than one student that had
078the incident and no notification was sent out to those home rooms. So that's not it's it wasn't an isolated one incident and these are kids that are at afterare uh together constantly with their with and again just the ability to tell my kids hey just keep your distance from one another. Don't be putting your heads together and and doing your hair and etc. Like my my daughter during all this, my daughter goes to afterare and she even said, "Oh, so and so is playing with my hair and putting my hair up." And I'm like, "Why? Don't let her touch her hair." Like you you know what's going on, so why would you let somebody touch your hair? But these weren't isolated incidents. They were multiple incidents in the same class. And for some reason, and
079I don't have the answer to it, nothing nothing went out to the parents during that time. Something went out all the way in in May. And on May 14th, the day after we finally received notification on the whole school, one day later, eight different classrooms got sent home notifications and I have all the classes listed. And then on May 21st, we got an email telling us that, you know, we're doing everything's looking really great. And this was uh on that May 21st, they had um and this is another issue I have. I I asked for um we use one call or something like that to send out mass uh emails. So, we had a one call set up that and I wasn't entitled to those emails because it's a third party. Um, we had a
080one call set up to go out on May 21st at 3:30 in the afternoon. It said all set for 3:30. And then at 12:23, the nurse reached out to Ms. Rizzo asking for guidance once again because we had this email ready to go out that's telling everybody that we did all these things and it's everything's looking really good only to be told that a new case just came to light and it was uh they got treated the day before and the day after the holiday weekend, same thing. her her the the a person getting treated and nothing getting sent out for a notification went out on the 28th to a certain class and that was never an email. So a lot of this is like I said probably going through the phone but we didn't
081have on May 29th we have finally we have the no noit or I'm sorry finally we have a no knit policy which is the eggs on when when and this is >> uh Mr. Ryan Mr. Uh let me stop you there for a moment. Um given that we are not all privy to all these we could be here continuing with each email that was sent etc. Um I think at this point um Dr. Dtoro has answered what is our district policy how it's handled. Um this was something that the board has been made aware of and on multiple fronts there were um pieces that we were aware of that were being taken care of. Um I understand the difficulty. I've had a daughter with a very long hair as well and I think um there
082have been also if I understand Dr. Mr. Dro, maybe you could clarify or Mr. Rizo could clarify perhaps. You can clarify that there also have been some changes to lice policies. Yeah, we might have known that >> over the years. Yes. So again, um we are following the protocol. It's very frustrating. Um at this point um we there is communication that has come to you um and come to parents at Lape and we do understand but at this point I think unless there's something further um I I would like to just say that if this is a follow-up conversation with Mr. WA perhaps or with Dr. Detroit Toro um at the building level or um at the superintendent level. But again, unless we're not privy to all what you're reading through, >> I'm going to
083thank you, Mr. No, not thank you at all because your policy specifically states they cannot they under exclusion from school that they must be sent home. They were not sent home. They were allowed to stay in school. And again, Mr. Ryan, without knowing exactly what the protocols and our policies have been followed when it comes to this perhaps then that's something we can talk further about, but at this time we do appreciate your comments and we thank you. I'll close with yesterday and this is why I wanted to come because people are like why do you go like they're just going to talk around you like they always do and I said because something's wrong and I and my six-year-old heard me and she said who's who's not saying what >> I apologize okay mine
084we're not talking around you I think you're you're we have given you 15 minutes to make your comments I've given ample time and Dr. Dtoro has answered your questions. We have spoken to you about the protocol etc. And we really appreciate it and we understand the level of frustration. All of us have had children who have gone through the school and who've experienced life. So we understand my statement from a six-year-old and I said thank you very much and I said she's six and she said I go you know when somebody does something wrong just say you did it wrong and that we're going to make it better in the future. And she as a six-year-old, she said, actually I said, "What do you do when you do something wrong?" And she says, "You admit
085that you did something wrong. You say you're sorry. You're making an assumption of we've done something wrong." >> Okay. Thank Thank you, Mr. I >> And you're not answering. >> I greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much. >> All right. Motion to close the meeting to the public. Miss Ting Jansen and Mr. Coplin. All right. Motion to recess to executive session. We do need another executive session at the end. Mr. Gallow, second by Mr. Coblin. Thank you very much. Have a good evening.