001Thank you. Uh good evening. Welcome to the curriculum committee meeting. Today is Wednesday, April 22nd, and it's 6:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m. I hope he has arrived soon. Present are Dr. Layman, myself, Charles Eikler, Gail Payne, Carmen Alvarez, Kate Ratner, Dr. Layman, Ed Doctor Kevin Higgins, Joe Colella, Daniel Dress, Dr. Kelly Roselle, Zack Morada, uh Jen Roden, Marietta Ruella, Salvatore Ingona, and Gail Snyder. So, we have on the agenda there are three categories. The first are the two curriculum documents, one for eighth grade advanced science and the other for the computer-aided drafting, known as CAD. Uh then we have the Monroe Township High School clubs, and finally summer reading recommendations for grades five, six, eight, nine, 12, respectively. So, at this point uh I guess we can begin. Uh if I'm not mistaken, it would be
002um Danielle, right? Thank you. Um good evening, everyone. So, the document I am bringing forward this evening is our eighth grade advanced science curriculum. Um this document is based off of the life science standards portion of the New Jersey state standards. Um it is similar to the eighth grade um curriculum as well because they are following the same standards. It's just the approach that we are taking with this coursework. So, this advanced science, it is requiring deeper analytical analytical thinking, um and much more application. So, students are really engaging in more complex scientific thinking instead of necessarily um being given an experiment to do, they're designing their own. Um they are also really um looking at deeper scientific articles, the level of critical writing is much higher, um and um much more focus on scientific
003literacy. So, we have um eight units that are covered. Um since it is life science, we're going to start with characteristics of living things, then move into cell structure, body systems, and homeostasis. That was a very um interesting unit. Um students did some exploration looking at uh they followed uh basically a mystery disease that they then had to diagnose, and we were very lucky. We had several teachers who were willing to be the patients, and it was quite an exciting um event. Um so, that was really really excellent. The kids had to design their own questions they would ask. Um the teachers were awesome and gave up some time to, you know, do a little role-playing. Um reproduction, mitosis, meiosis, heredity, which we have a kind of a unique twist on this. This is um
004a very responsive unit in that students move uh at their own pace with a lot of feedback through that unit um because heredity is one of those units where you can have students coming in at multiple entry points. Um so, that is a great unit, gene expression, and then our last two units, energy transfer and ecology, we're going to be bringing in um some experimentation with um looking at the criteria at the middle school, and then also looking at some alternative energy sources and having them try to do a little design with that. So, this is um the writer did an excellent job, Ms. Burgess. It really uh I think is a very um broad document that really expresses the nature of what we're trying to capture with this course. Any questions? Please. Is this
005a completely new course that would be offered, or is it a revision? >> We last This year was the first year that students were selected to participate in this course. Okay. So, it's really that it's the eighth grade science standards. So, all we're really doing is um providing more rigor, Mhm. >> different types and styles of um coursework to allow those students who are ready to really move a little bit further. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, thank you so much. And the next curriculum is Zachary Morada. Thank you, uh everybody. Thank you, Ms. Dress. So, I have a handout real quick that'll go into further detail of the program. Sorry, Dr. Layman. Um so, every year uh uh Dr. Layman and uh Ms. Colella, who is our VP that works with our department here
006at the high school uh directly, we look at our courses in preparation, usually around uh right before the holidays, we look at our courses and look at enrollment, uh how it aligns with some of the district and building objectives, but also particularly in the pre-vocational areas and the careers technology area, how it aligns with evolving job markets. And uh the the high school has a long-standing history of a very strong drafting drafting and design program going back to the early '90s. A guy named Bob Donnelly ran the program, and over at the old high school, they were doing on the large uh you may recall the large drafting boards that would like flip up, and so the students could stand and sketch on the big plotting paper. Um so, we you know, our our high
007school has been offering programs in that area for a very long time, and then we moved across the street and started transitioning to more software-driven uh programs. But, we held on to to the traditional drafting programs for uh design and architecture because even in today's 21st century uh societies, uh students and and learners of that type of field still need to conduct the isographic and orthographic isometric and orthographic sketching necessary to be successful in those types of fields. Um as the high school evolved and the industry evolved and technology evolved, uh students becoming more adept to the drawing and the software was becoming more um sophisticated, we noticed that students uh were entering the high school with more uh prerequisite skills uh than they prior had in the areas of digital design and even just
008basic design. A lot of it has to do with the emphasis on arts in the state of New Jersey, but also the commitment to this type of instruction beginning as early as fourth grade in many places, including this district. So, enrollment trends called for some sort of curricular uh shifts. So, what we did this year was uh prior to this year, excuse me, we had a sequence that was follows. We had drafting, which was your traditional sketching class. We had drafting and design, which would be the second level, which continued with traditional drafting, but also began introducing students to the software. And then the third level was uh computer-aided drafting, or CAD, which would then be uh a prerequisite to the fourth level of course, which was civil engineering and architecture. So, it was a
009four-course sequence that was uh becoming redundant given the increased efficiencies that software was offering students, but also, like I mentioned before, the student skills were evolving so rapidly, um we we were finding some overlap in the units. So, Dr. Higgins asked us to take a look at possibly consolidating courses and finding some of the redundancy in the units merging the courses together in an efficient way, which would increase student access into the tertiary level courses, but also courses in the greater pre-vocational and engineering areas. So, that's exactly what this class did. So, we took drafting, drafting and design, and computer-aided design, and merged it into one super course, and you can see the units feature all of the fundamental expectations of that field, but also provide an appropriate prerequisite to students looking to enter in
010civil engineering and architecture. So, let me pull up the document real quick cuz I'm going on forever from the fifth year. So, if you look at this the course sequence on the back of the page, you can see we start off, as we do with all um courses in the pre-vocational area, with uh with an exploration into uh the field associated, or I'm sorry, the careers associated with this field. And that's the way we spend a lot of our pre-vocational, the first unit in a lot of our pre-vocational uh courses. And then you can kind of see the way the course is designed is the units overlap with one another as we install these sequenced fundamental uh practices, and the students, not unlike uh one of Mr. Snyder's band curriculum documents, you see overlapping units
011that feed off of one another as the skills and the deliverables become more sophisticated. So, students in this class will learn everything from how to create professional drawings within context of careers, uh the old-fashioned way, on paper, using rulers, uh protractors, and and triangles, and drawing sketches, and then once they successfully get through those uh benchmarks, they move on to the software. And the software that they will experience in this class, they'll start with Google SketchUp. We get them on Tinkercad, and our goal by the end of the course, if they're ready, would be to get them on to Fusion 360 and some of the other industry grade software that students will be experiencing at the advanced levels. Our ultimate goal in this course sequence is to get them on to Autodesk and Fusion 360,
012but if they don't get there, that's okay cuz we have other types of software that can meet the needs of all learners. This is not This class is accessible to all types of students. You do not even have to be a college bound to to be a successful in this class, particularly if you're looking to enter this field in your profession. All students, if they successfully get through the uh uh the benchmarks of this course, will have the opportunity to leverage the incredible technology we have at the high school. We have several 3D printers in this in this facility, uh particularly in this classroom, and then students will actually be able to fabricate their designs. Uh and as we do in all vocational classes, we have a strong emphasis on creativity and making sure students
013have the opportunity to design, but also make sure that the constraints and you know the industry standards are being followed. If students do make it through all three levels of this course, they will have the opportunity to to gain certification, industry grade certification in Autodesk, uh which is still at this moment the what people are using in college and and and business world. The class overlaps with all of our engineering and computer science courses and feeds into the Project Lead the Way system as well. Uh I picked some images on this just so you can get an idea of what's going on. Last year we've had some local engineering firms come in speak to the students as part of our career connections effort. Um we did everything from design bridges and and model homes to
014uh in the bottom left hand corner you can see we worked with the student here in design um uh prosthetics for students uh in collaboration with the science department, and we also have several co-curricular clubs that serve as extensions to this course. So um this is designed by Mr. Max Nixon who teaches the class as well. And uh this class will be looked at again this summer um as some of the um things we're doing in the higher levels have in the higher levels of this sequence have changed, but we'll likely just go in there maybe tweak a couple of the assessments as those standards kind of settle in. Any questions? I have a question. Please. And it's it's a minor question. I know you took us down to the wood shop and they they
015make things and they sell things. You're saying one second. Fabricate, I put fabricate and sell some of those 3D designs. Would they be able [clears throat] to do that and put some money back into the program? Yeah, they're already doing that. Yeah, so last year they did keychains for Mother's Day right around this time last year. So and that was actually part of the unit. Uh they didn't sell those, hopefully. Hopefully. But uh they do They made these for their mothers, we're saying that hopefully. Yeah, yeah. Uh Mr. Colella might be able to uh answer. I do know that they at one point we were collaborating with the school store to get some of the products. I don't I know that there was some So it's it's tough when it's a club because you don't
016have the continuity of the day-to-day. But uh the items that they produced in the 3D design club, generally that they do some of their own fundraising through that. Right. Um but yeah, that that is something that they've discussed and they did >> Yeah, I think it I think it's a great idea. We also run a camp over the or uh enrichment program over the summer that is uh an opportunity for students in elementary school and middle school to get on the technology in there and to work with the teacher and high school students in this program to cuz we try to get the kids a head start cuz this is one of those lesser known tracks within our larger uh careers technology department cuz computer science, robotics, and engineering gets a lot of the attention,
017but our civil engineering and architecture uh program has been one of the quickest uh uh one of the most uh impressively evolving programs at the high school, and the teacher is is the real reason for that. So we're excited to see that. I like where your brain's at. Yeah, I would like that I mean I would like to come in and purchase something, you know, and I think people should have the opportunity to come and go into the store and see I mean I have a grandson that makes me stuff cuz he has a 3D printer. Yeah, you mentioned that. And um but I mean he's not as you know excelled as these uh students are going to be. So I mean I I like things like that. Yeah, absolutely. And and even the woodworking.
018I mean if I have a chance to buy something, I definitely would come in and purchase something. So. Well, they will be selling some of those benches at the end of the year. Oh, okay. You got to let me know. I'll bring you checkbook. My checkbook, okay. No cash though. All right, when I get my raise from here, then I'm writing a check. >> [laughter] >> Anybody else? Okay. So let's go on to the uh high school clubs. Thank you, Mr. Zickendrath. Before I hand it over to uh Mr. Colella, just a quick recap of our club presentations and what and why we do it every year. The board asked us a couple of years ago to really dig down and look at the process in which we approve clubs at the high school um
019and then continue, which we already did, but continue to evaluate those clubs, the effectiveness of those clubs year after year >> [clears throat] >> um and streamline the process in which we approve new clubs or we request approval for new clubs as well as putting clubs on probation that may not be as effective as they have been in the past um or uh disbanding clubs that we've had in the past, which we have done it in the the past couple of years. You will see tonight that we do not recommend disbanding any clubs this year, um but we do have a couple of recommendations. Uh Dr. Colella will bring you through that process that we've been going through for the past couple of months. Just a quick recap. The old system students used to submit
020and ask for clubs throughout the year, and we would come to the meeting and kind of choose the drafts and say, "Can you approve this club?" About 4 years ago, I think we started a new process in where we used the first half of the school year for students to apply for clubs, the second half of the year to review and uh approve those clubs, and then the clubs begin the next year. So it's not like they're applying for clubs and the clubs are happening within the next month or next 2 months. So it is a year-long process. Um new clubs uh have to have an advisor, a faculty advisor. Those faculty advisors uh do not get a stipend for the first year. They're automatically on probation for 1 year, and then the second year
021that the club is effective or out of probation, then the uh advisor would get their uh negotiated stipend. Um but Dr. Colella will bring you through the PowerPoint on uh the process for clubs this year. Um credit to him, he worked very hard on this throughout the year, not just this process, but clubs who meet every Tuesday and Thursday and then some throughout the weeks uh throughout the year. They are uh they are another high school within themselves that starts at 2:00. And the trips that they go on, we have uh we have a club right now in St. Louis at a competition um because these are very competitive, our academic clubs are very competitive. I think next week we have a group going to Delaware for a competition. Um so we have high level
022classes, but we also have high level academic extensions of those classes after school. Um so without further ado, uh I think provide you with copies of the PowerPoint. Uh I'm sorry that some of them are a little difficult to read, uh but they will be up there for you to follow if you would like to. So Dr. Colella, take it away. Dr. Higgins, so if we go to slide number three, um that was what Dr. Higgins was referring to. That is our our system that we're we have in place, which keeps everything kind of time stamped, nice and tidy within a Google uh slide Google form framework. Um if you go to the next slide, please, Michael. Here are some of the questions that we have in that new club process. Um it's really compelling
023the kids to take a deeper dive into the reasoning or the rationale behind the request. Um back before the system was changed, kids just I want to they would just submit a piece of paper on it. I want to start this new club. Here's my advisor, that's it. Without much thought into what would happen during the meetings, what was the actual mission of the club, what types of um changes were they looking to make on you know on campus or off campus if it's you know community service related type club. So it it tasks the kids with really thinking about the real reason why they're doing it. And then we take a look at that rationale and see if it fits in what we're doing or whether or not it's already covered by other club,
024and you'll see that in in a bit. So if we go to slide number six. These were all the applications we received this year. So it's a mad rush right before the winter break. The kids know that at 2:00 or 12:30, I'm sorry, 11:30 on the last day of school before winter break, they're supposed to get all these uh these these documents into us. And then there's that hard deadline. And then it's there for you know all the reasons Dr. Higgins um explained as well as the budget, budgetary reasons. Um if we're paying new club advisors uh after their probationary period, um we need to know how many we're having to pay for purposes of a budget. So it makes sense in that in that in that way. Okay. All right, you can go to
025the next slide. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Oh, I I was just going to ask on the second to last one, the VT and CVI I was just curious what that stood for. If that's the next slide. I think Okay. It's yeah, it's a I think it's a Southeast Asian club cultural club that we can fold into a current existing club. A lot of that's a really big group of a lot of our Hindu temples and so it's a world's world group that that is mostly for philanthropic purposes. They're they're they're around and but we already have the board approved the Hindu student association last year so that it kind of fits into that pretty well. Thank you. All right, so the next slide slide number seven. These were the applications were not recommending. The first
026of which was Saturn really cool especially given the fact that F1 racing and Formula 1 racing racing is a big deal amongst our student population. It's it's it's getting old. However, the amount of asserts that were needed I don't even think we could possibly work through with OSHA. They wanted a lot of different guarantees and insurance and our our advisors needed certain search for welding and things of that nature and you know, I give it up to the teachers. They they want to help the kids. Teachers that agreed to do this particular club had no idea or nor do they have any certifications to that effect but again they want to help the kids so we're keeping an eye on and Dr. Higgins was one of the ones who was we really wanted to make
027it happen but again it wasn't something we could really do feasibly this this coming year. So we're going to keep it in our back pocket if something does arise or we get you know, a mass you know, donation of funds somewhere. I believe they wanted the kids to fundraise about $15,000 within a few months. And the kids are great. They came up with all these different schemes of doing it. Like I don't know how legal some of this stuff is. They did want to have a $15,000 bake sale. The next one on the list is a pickleball club again another huge entry point of interest for our students. The problem there is where do we have it? We don't have sports we don't have anything on campus to run it. As you or if you
028don't know this you know, during these fall and winter and most of the a lot of the spring a lot of our sports teams are inside practicing. That kind of puts us at you know, at a disadvantage for having you know, gym or anything in that sense but we do have a club in existence lifelong wreck activities that could fit that need. Again it won't be on a consistent basis cuz they do other events as well such as you know, badminton things like that but it's somewhere for the kids to go if they want to get involved at our school or for pickleball cuz many of our kids do belong to clubs. The SAT club is the next one. That's something that would be redundant. We have a very strong NHS organization here with about
029300 members and they all have to do tutoring as part of their requirements. So it wouldn't make any sense to have an SAT club for our students provide that service as it's already being supplied or you know, provided by our NHS. Next group is our AI club. Again you're starting to see something here right that is a lot of the interest the kids are having but again a lot of these things are already covered. We have a very strong computer club here at the school run by Mr. Mincher. That club is is is neat in that it evolves as per the kids interests. A few years back the the the rage was designing your own app and that's what he did. Before that it was gaming so he would do that. A few years back
030there was also a group of kids who wanted to get more involved in the hardware aspect of it so he evolved in that sense. So spoke to him he can cover that within his group so we're covered there. Med search can be covered by HOSA. That is our future doctors club. Anthropology club very sounds very interesting but again it's again we have so many different cultural clubs here at the school can be covered there. Stemsters very similar to your AI club in that it's it's tech based but again it could be covered by our stem programs as well as your computer club. Falcon tank very similar to shark tank in that sense. We already do that in in our economics clubs. We have certain events after school where the kids pitch ideas and it's already
031happening so it's we really don't need to have we already have a club for that. Helping hands one of our service potential service club but again we have a lot of service clubs here and even our clubs who aren't service clubs do community service. So we do a lot of stuff here at the school to give kids the opportunity not only to give back but to get those volunteer hours that they're they're striving for that they need for um different aspects. Science Olympiad we see this every year but every year we say look we're we're it's already covered. We have a science Olympiad group as well as a host group which they compete within those two organizations around the state. BCTSA we just talked about that one and finally Operation Smile another service based club
032which again we're already doing a lot of Operation Smile work that's for children who were born with cleft lips. That is something we do within our Spanish Honor Society quite a bit. Michael next slide please. Thank you. So these are the four we are hoping to have passed and approved. First one is the Chinese American Student Association. That organization would mirror some of our other ethnic based organizations throughout the school. The second is financial markets. This is very very hot. A lot of our kids on their phones have these mock market apps and they compete with one another and who can sell the most stock or who can get them to make the most money over a certain period of time and they track stocks and they're really getting getting into it. A lot of
033our kids will will trade as well. They'll do penny stocks and just to see what would happen. So we're getting this this we'd like to get this club together for those enthusiasts and for them to also compete within the states. There's a number of financial competitions which involve markets. So I think it'd be kind of cool. Third one is fleet. One of our biggest classes at the high school is working with children. It's also one of the best I think. It's you really see I see some of my kids in there who you know, sometimes get in trouble right? They're they're teenagers but to see them with the little ones and work with the little kids it's it's it's really nice. I saw one of my one of the kids who's gotten in trouble a
034few times put on the Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat outfit and read to the kids read the Cat in the Hat to the kids and it was just it was a magical moment and well anyways I'm I'm getting off topic but this particular killer extracurricular would really kind of feed into what we're doing curricularly during the day. The kids who want to be teachers kids who want to be educators they're joining this club. They're part of that those classes. Those are the same kids that are taking the internships that are student teaching or you know, observing at some of our elementaries and middle school. So that club would kind of fit that need. The last one again just like working with children psychology club psychology has become one of our biggest classes here at
035the school. We have to turn kids away. I believe Danielle what did you say? 300 kids? There's a lot of kids who want to take it especially the AP site. We're lucky enough to have an a proposed advisor who's actually a licensed psychologist here at the school. So it'd be kind of neat to see her you know, not only deal with you know, the kids that she deals with every day as a case manager but then to extracurricularly work with our kids who who see themselves as possibly being psychologists or maybe studying psychology in college. I just want to add to that quickly. The It's hard to say no to kids. There's been historically a attractive in the past where we have students that want to start clubs and this was common with the old
036system. They would want to start a club especially as a senior they would start a club and on their college resume they would say I was president of this club. Um when you get clubs that really jump off the page at you when they apply they're kind of a no brainer as far as appealing for their approval approval. The way that the applications are put together for these four clubs that we're approving you know that it's something that would be sustained over years. You have a a number of students that will participate in it. They have a goal. They have a meaning and you just know that they're going to be the clubs that you know, three or four down years down the road you're going to be looking for other second advisors because the
037clubs have gotten so big. So that's really why those four clubs were chosen among the masses. Sorry about that. That's right and that actually reminded me Dr. Higgins. Thank you. The financial markets and the psychology club those weren't the original names. True. So we had three applications that dealt with financial markets and three applications that dealt with psychology. So Dr. Higgins and I gathered the kids and we tasked them with coming down with only one advisor and one application. So they were forced to put their brains together and make some concessions and they had to you know, negotiate how things would come out who would be the president who would be the you know, so it was it was neat in that way so there was an educational portion just to that process. But it
038really goes saying this because it really goes to what Dr. Higgins was saying like how popular these particular clubs were and are at high school. Especially the financial markets and psychology club. And as Dr. Higgins mentioned earlier we don't have any justification this year for removal unlike the years prior where we did remove few. We're doing well but we do have some for next year. Next slide, please, Michael. Um we have four clubs that we're thinking about either um consolidating or possibly maybe disbanding. Um history club it has evolved. It's it's basically turned into a forum for students to plan trips. So they went to 9/11 the 9/11 site, they went up to um up to New York state to the Army Academy. They've gone to Philadelphia to the haunted jail in the years past.
039So I think it's I'd like to see it more history and enthusiasm as well, not just trips to our during school day. Um the next group is our um honor societies, our language honor societies, Latin, Italian, and French. They're our smallest honor society language-based honor societies. Um our Spanish honor society is is massive and it's very active and they do fantastic work. These three are kind of small. Um all three are advised at this current time by a teachers who don't teach that particular discipline. So Dr. Higgins and I um spoke to these advisors and we gave them the idea that at at some point maybe we're thinking about consolidating the clubs, making them into one. What that looks like right now, we really didn't give it too much thought, um but that's something that
040could happen on the horizon. Back in the day it was just one organization. I'm sorry, yes, one organization for all honor societies language-based and they After that it kind of evolved and each went their own way uh really because of what the national requirements were. They're different for each club. Um but that shouldn't stop us from possibly, you know, consolidating them if the advisor would just have to understand what the requirements are for each of the three clubs and make sure that their students are following those rules. So I would envision for that particular club that if it does happen we do consolidate we'd have three presidents, one for each language and that president would be in charge of making sure that everyone stays within the requirements and checking all those boxes to meet the
041membership requirements that are posted by the national organizations. Next slide, please. That's it. >> And it's only two slides. I wanted to keep going. >> I have a quick question. Yes, please, yes. You both kind of answered it, but you mentioned presidents um are the presidents and maybe like you have a vice president, treasurer for each club? Is that what happens and is that done after the probationary year or right away? It's actually, Ms. Payne, done in the application itself. >> Oh, really? Well, that's a big selling point for the kids. I mean, they want they love these clubs, they want to do these clubs, but another part, like Dr. Higgins was saying, they also want to say they were president or they want to say they were the secretary. >> Right, I understand. Again,
042it's it's one of the things they check off on their college apps. But yes, so the leadership structure is laid out um in the document itself, but we give our advisors the ultimate discretion to make any changes necessary because unfortunately, you know, kids are kids and sometimes there's feuds and you know, or or problems or drama in that sense. So we give the the advisors the ultimate say as to how things are going to be organized in that sense. Thank you. Yes. Um this is great. I really appreciate all the information. Um so I I I guess two questions. The first um I appreciate like the reasons that were given for like the applications that weren't recommended. Um and they're very valid reasons. Um I guess knowing that that question is in the application sort
043of like cuz I saw the first question is what other established clubs exist and how is this different? Um I don't know if those students just wanted to continue through the application process, but I'm curious like looking at like whether it's like Med Search cuz like I know like HOSA is very active. Like I know they were up in North Jersey like two weeks ago at something um or or like the community service clubs. I know we've got very active ones. Um is there ever like a reason that it's justified in the application for there to be two very like similar clubs have a similar purpose, but shouldn't separated? Oh, there there could be definitely. Like we have FBLA and DECA are very similar in terms of what they do, which is two different organizations.
044Um we could do that um but you know, there's there is a a balance. Mhm. We we only have a certain amount of funding and and we only have a certain amount of actually room in the building cuz we have 60 plus 60 plus clubs and Tuesdays and Thursdays that it becomes a free-for-all in terms of trying to get rooms on school view and things like that. So yeah, if it comes up, we take each one of these applications um on its face as being its own unique uh set of circumstances. Um we've seen applications in the past where which were submitted a few years ago, needs have changed, resources became available and we you know, we we put them through or we we proposed them. So yes, if if if a lot of these
045clubs sometimes will work up here multiple times throughout the years cuz there is that need and sometimes we have it sometimes we don't. Like the psychology club, for example, I can go back maybe six or seven years ago where it was first introduced and it was introduced again the third time a second time maybe four years ago, but since then our psychology classes have blown up. Um and now we see that there is that need, but if there's another psychology club that comes and maybe for example to your point, let's say a kid wants to do forensic psychology, Mhm. you know, um and there was a big push for that. Even though there's something very similar, maybe we'd think about doing something like that if there is a need or if there is that big
046interest. Okay. And then just um my second question um I'm noticing that three of the four clubs that were recommended it discusses that it's an extension of like existing curricular programming. I'm assuming that the students that are going to be in those clubs, they do not need to be in those courses. Um but I just wanted to confirm like it's not something where they need to be in the course because it's an extension of what they're doing in class if they're two separate entities. Absolutely. And it's it gives the kids who do have the course some extra time uh to work on those courses and that's something Zach and I would we worked on that years and years ago for a lot of our clubs. Um but that a lot of times our kids are
047precluded from taking, you know, for for scheduling purposes. Maybe kids in band or kids in music or you know, chorus and it may be a conflict. So that could be their only outlet. So that's another uh it is an extension in that sense, but it's not going to preclude anyone. Okay, great. The only the only clubs that do, or I shouldn't say clubs, organizations that would be the honor societies and a few of our honor societies have an open membership. So you can go to your science honor society, but you would be inducted cuz you might not have the grades, but you may or may not be a C student, but you still have a love of science. So you have that outlet. Great. We have that available for our kids, yeah. All right, great.
048Thank you. >> You're welcome. Yes. I have one more question. Advisors, are they 100% teachers or if you don't if the class is very popular, would you go out and find somebody willing to do it? Right now, Ms. Payne, all of our advisors are teachers. Um all but one is a are teachers in the school. One of the teacher in one of the elementaries. Uh our Mu Alpha Theta, our math honor society teacher, she's another teacher from another uh another school. I would I would also add to that and say that it's a possibility. I would look at them as the same as coaches. Right. >> So if there's a situation where we can bring in someone through the the negotiated contract and board approved, uh it's a possibility. It just hasn't happened. >> Right.
049Nice to know. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, so thank you uh Dr. Higgins and Dr. Colao. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, the uh third is the uh I guess the the book reading. Yes, summer reading program. Right? Okay. It's about time you're getting it all right. Yes. Um and then you know, this is um probably one of my favorite projects um to work on every year. Uh just to give you an idea of what the process is, we start this in January um and we begin by looking at our current lists. Uh the teachers provide feedback actually as early as September what books um kids really read, um which ones nobody read, um suggestions that students have. Um so we take a look at those lists, we cross off some books
050that we want to replace. Um and then we take a look at School Library Journal's best of. Um so we look at the previous year, so I looked at the best of 2025 and those are organized um by grade level and some by format, um fiction and non-fiction, novel in verse, poetry, graphic novels. Uh also looking at um the Caldecott winners, Newbery winners, um or new finalists um as well so that we can um infuse some fresh titles in there. The all three documents titles that are new um are highlighted in yellow so that they kind of stand out um a little bit. We try to keep the type the newer titles um to just a few per year because the public library, we have an incredibly close partnership with them um and they purchase
051these books every year um for for to have um plenty of copies uh for students to be able to check out. So, you know, our agreement with uh Youth Services um and MCPL is to make sure that, you know, we only kind of change a little bit um so that it's not burdensome to their budget as well. Um our K to 5 and 6 to 8 lists are organized by genre. Um last year for 6 to 8 we added humor. Um that was one of the genres that students wanted to see on the list. Um so we did add that. 9 through 12 are organized by grade level. Um and most of the The on the actually all the texts on the 9th or 12th lists have curricular connections or connection to something developmental or
052age-appropriate to students. Um So, we really pride ourselves on representation. Different races, different ethnicities, different lived experiences, neurodivergence, or students with disabilities. We want these lists to have a variety of variety of reading levels, variety of genres, a variety of main characters and types of voices. We make sure that there are books accessible via learning ally. So, our students who are entitled to learning ally, which is an audiobook tools and non-profit that we contract through with PPS. So, our students with disabilities, our students who may be receiving tier two or tier three literacy intervention, our multilingual learners have access to learning which continues over the summer. And those titles are noted with an asterisk on all of the documents. Um these once the lists are finalized, we do share them with Monroe Township Public Library.
053They have an entire section and display during the summer. And they also go to the youth librarians will also go to our schools and do some book talks as well. We post it on our school websites, our district website, and we send directly to families. We email blast that out June when school is ending, July, and then about three times in August in case anyone has forgotten over the summer. Um the purpose of this is really to reflect our core values around literacy. We want to promote lifelong literacy. I want students to fall in love with books. I don't want this to be didactic or for students to be forced to read a singular title or choose from two titles. Choice is so important and the research tells us that students need choice in order
054to um to really engage in reading. And K-8 is organized they are all suggested readings. Students will use whatever they read when they get back in class to really build community. 9-12 new this year we are asking students to to read at least one book from the grade level lists. And this was feedback from teachers that when they went to put students in groups or they were trying to you know do some book talks or things like that, students who hadn't read from the list kind of felt like they were on the outside a little bit. So, there is plenty of choice on those grade level lists, but we are asking our high school students to choose at least one from the list. But also listen to audiobooks, listen to podcasts, engage in all forms
055of media over the summer. And that's it. Thank you so much. Obviously you got the love for this. I see the way you >> [laughter] >> I see it from all you. It's just wonderful to have that that sense and feeling for what you do for kids. That's wonderful. >> of you all. I do. Yeah. You know this is fantastic. I was actually I was like making some comments to Dr. Peck cuz like looking at the titles I was like tell me your favorites. Like I love that book and you know I was going to make my daughter read it cuz it's in her grade level. But there's definitely some really great options on here and I like that they have that ability to choose. I did see the for like the AP courses at
056the end. Those are required. Is it just for that Yes. those two courses? I think it's really just one course that's required like specifically. >> Yeah. I actually thank you so much for mentioning that. In 9-12 there are specific assignments for AP. And the rationale behind that is the the syllabi for the AP courses in order to get students just really ready to go for September. They're able to immediately use those. But just for the actual cuz I know we have the pre-AP courses Yeah. It is a junior course. So, language and composition our 11th grade students take. And that tends to have much more of a nonfiction lens. So, there are three nonfiction titles on there. And then AP literature and composition is our seniors take. And so those are a choice of two.
057And then AP seminar and research those are websites that the teachers put together last year. So, there's really not much change to those websites. For seminar it is really kind of a primer for what AP seminar is. What these different benchmarks that students will take throughout the year. What is academic research and and familiarizing them with the academic vocabulary that accompanies that. And then AP research they really are working on their annotated bibliography. They're beginning some of their research because that is a very tight syllabus in AP research. The college board establishes submission benchmarks. So, in order for students to really be able to engage actively in September we do have them begin that work over the summer. Okay, great. Thank you. Anyone else? Miss Nader has something to highlight. Yes. I have one thing.
058So, good evening everyone. I got some You know the surprise? Well, I I found it out first, so I think Okay. [laughter] You see you know the So, I got some extremely exciting news earlier this morning. I'm very pleased to announce that that our music program here in Monroe Township School District for the second consecutive year has been recognized as a best community for music education by the NAMM Foundation. I had Miss Halter thank you print this out a poster this morning. So, for the second straight year very excited to see this this morning when I opened my computer. So, this national recognition is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement for providing music education access to all students in the district K through 12. It reflects not only the strength of our curriculum, but
059also the consistency, the equity, the quality of instruction taking place in all of our buildings and all our music classrooms all the way from our general music ensembles in our lower elementary schools all the way through our high school honors classes and honors ensembles here at the high school. So, receiving this accolade again in 2026, it shows we're not a one-trick pony. It shows that we're not a one-time thing. It shows that we have a sustained commitment to excellence in music education. And it also speaks to the work of our teachers, the support of everyone here, our district administration, principals in all buildings, and really the value that this district and the community places on a well-rounded education and of course the arts and and music specifically. As I shared a year ago, I think
060this committee back when we first won this this award, this is really based on a comprehensive review of our entire program elementary through high school. And that includes things such as enrollment and participation rates, instructional time, staffing, funding, facilities, quality of equipment and instruments, professional development opportunities both in-district and out-of-district, the opportunity to send teachers out to national conferences, and really for staff and community support that we have for music. So, to be recognized again means that we have not continued to meet, but in many areas exceeded these benchmarks. So, I could not be prouder of everyone involved. I thank everyone on this committee of course for your support because something like this it takes a team to to do. So, it's not only myself and our teachers and our administration, but I am so
061proud to lead a music program that is so supported by a community. I get calls I can't tell you how many times a month I get calls from other districts saying how can we become like Monroe? And they want to emulate some of the things that are going on here in our music program. So, I'm incredibly proud, thankful to everyone, and I just wanted to share this news. I will have Miss Halter blow this up again the size of that screen and we'll we'll hang it in our buildings, but I just wanted to you know print a little one today. That's it. Can you tell us the organization Oh, the NAMM Foundation, which is the National Association of Music Merchants and their foundation that that recognized this. And the cool thing is if you go
062on the NAMM Foundation website, you can search districts from across the country that received this honor. You type in Monroe Township, it will bring us right there. You click the link, it's right on our district website. Thanks. I ask was there any financial um incentives or given to us? It's just uh I spent it already, I'm sure. No. Um there is just the just the recognition. Just the recognition. >> [laughter] >> But that would be nice though. Right. If it it was That's right from you know but it was it's just the it's just the honor and and and the recognition nationwide. Yeah, it's a big honor. So, yeah. So, I do want to invite everyone in the in the community our spring concert series. Come hear us come hear us. We start on May
06312th with the sixth grade band concert, but even before that Mr. Payne I know we will be at Rossmoor on May 3rd, which is a Sunday. And I was talking to Dr. Peck earlier on May 20th we have something very special happening where last year we started collaborating with Jamesburg Middle School and the Jamesburg students came over and played at our middle school band concert. This year we are bringing the chorus students over from Jamesburg Middle School and they will be singing with our choir at Monroe Township Middle School and hopefully those Jamesburg students will become choir members of our high school next year and just a little bit of data on that interestingly enough I was talking to our directors here. The students that participated in that concert last year over 50% of them
064are in our symphonic band now with the high school. So that it was a great retention >> That was a great >> program and I'm hoping the same thing happens for our choir students and we're going to continue work. Everyone at Jamesburg Miss Zunk and Dr. Bonnie have been so supportive of this. We thank everyone there. So come check us out. Yes, Mr. Snyder goes the Rossmoor concert. That's high school chorus. >> It's high school choir. It's one of the high school a cappella ensembles. It's at the the Rossmoor Meeting House on the 3rd. It's the church. It's a church. I know I know what it is. They call it the meeting house but it's actually a church. Yes. Yeah. So good morning. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. That sounds wonderful. It's
065wonderful. So any other questions? Any other concerns? If not then our meeting is over. Thank you all for attending. And we'll collect your hair all the one of those things.