001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the curriculum co-curricularetics and pupil personnel meeting for the month of November. Um we do have a very the shortest meeting that we've had for curriculum tonight. So we will get right to it. Um welcome everybody. I'm going to start with the first item on the agenda for which Dr. Higgins is here. It's a high school updates. Dr. It's all yours. >> Thank you. So, this is uh the third year of the update for final exams at the high school. As you know, after the 2022 23 school year, we made some changes to our high school required credit, subject credit. Um we instituted waiverss once again with strong prerequisites in our program of studies and we reduced the weight of the final exam from 16% to 12%. This was sparked from
002some concerns that the final exams were causing students to fail courses and classes uh um at the end of the year because it was such a big chunk of their grade. So, we do have a three-year uh number crunch here. As you can see, 2023 would be before all of these changes occurred. 2024 and 2025 are the two years since. Um, the one thing that I will share with you that I um that kind of was a little bit of a snag for me when crunching the numbers this year, I realized that the numbers that I gave you last year were slightly off, which was which is a positive to running numbers and having more more data sets as we we go through. For some reason, the total number of exams that I gave you
003last year was wrong. I don't know why. Uh, I've been racking my brain for the past week trying to figure out why I gave you the wrong number, but I don't know. I can't figure it out. I can tell you that these numbers and I've gone over these numbers over and over and over again are uh accurate and they actually make more sense if you look at the numbers um and how they are moving from one year to the next. Uh you can see that there are total exams and I have courses in parenthesis there. I want you to think of exams as courses not necessarily students. uh and then as we see the total number of students in school as compared to the exams that are given. The exams that are counted for this
004data set are exams that had a grade anywhere graded from one to 100. If it's a senior exemption, it is not counted in this data set. Or if uh a student did not take an exam and it's not counted in this data set. Um the total um if you go down to the bottom the original question, how many students failed the final which then failed the course? You can see that number has decreased over the past three years. Well, it's decreased from 2023 and it's stayed pretty much stable. Yes. Last year and this year we are at about 0.15 or 0.17% this year uh of those students. So, um, you can definitely say that it has an has had an effect. Um, whether you want to talk about if there was a problem in the
005first place, that's a different conversation, but it's definitely had an effect by lowering the weight of those final exams. One interesting thing, if you look at the the field above that where it says past final, past course, you could see that actually, which is a very interesting finding, is that more students have actually passed a course by passing the final. um as compared to years readings which is very interesting since we lowered the weight. >> I don't know if that correlates appropriately but it's just a very interesting finding. Um so the failed final exams has steadied uh has been steady but has reduced over the past two years which is nice to see. Uh and we are at about a 2.6% failure rate for final exams which is not bad. Um, so that's that's the
006uh that's the what we're looking at for the past two years. Um, numbers have stayed pretty steady, but they've definitely moved in the right direction. >> Uh, thank you. I did want to see this report before my term on the board ended because we've been talking about this now for three years like you pointed out. First question is, and I know you said the data last year was inaccurate. So that 18.2% I think 2% is what was >> So I had it. It was a little bit lower. >> Yeah, it was a little bit lower which um >> which was good, right? It was it's still lower. It's just not as low as as I had uh >> and so I think the original point of contention was kids were failing the course because they
007were failing the final which we see has definitely changed from 2023. We take out 24 from the equation. It's definitely an improvement. Um I am just curious with the last data that they've the overall overall failure seems to have increased might be very small percentage is it because if you look at it is it related to the number of courses that's why that number >> so there's a lot of variables I think that you can you can add into that equation um one of the things is that there's a there's less required courses than there um when you have a required course that has a final exam, you tend to see students maybe not take it as seriously. So that's one variable that could see an increase in failures of exams. >> Failures of course
008>> It's not a graduation requirement, right? So if you see on the bottom, you can see that I put that in there as one of those, you know, an indicator that we did reduce the required courses for graduation. um which is definitely part of the narrative. >> Okay. Um >> I have just go ahead. >> Is there a pattern in over the years that is it always the same course, same final? Is there like a pattern that you've noticed or not? Like maybe something we need to focus on more. >> Um I I don't necessarily know if it's something that the board needs to focus on. Um but we do work uh in in departments with teachers on >> certain courses that you may see a struggle. And it's not necessarily a struggle in the
009final, but it's a struggle throughout the year. And there there tend to be some uh lower level courses, I guess you could say, that you would see that in. It's not necessarily um specific to one subject uh or one course, but probably one track, you know, one level. So, it's not like math or reading or it's just there's not really >> I would I would say that you would see it at more of the college prep level across the board than you would at an honors or an AP. >> Okay. Anybody else? Any questions? So, Dr. Higgins, looking at this data, and I do need to spend some more time to understand it, which can't happen right now, but um are we doing are you bringing out conclusions that need to be acted on? Are
010you going to be changing anything as a result of what you're seeing? >> So, so we have looked at these numbers over the years. Um, when this idea was brought to our attention a few years ago about um trouble with finals, I guess was was the chatter I think that the conversation was. Um, we definitely looked at specific courses within specific um, areas, specific um, subjects and looked at what we could do to help students in those courses um, better themselves for the final. And I mean I will I I'll and I will specify Miss Gasco has worked very hard in math with spiraling techniques for her teachers and her students which has been a drastic improvement over the past couple of years and that's just off the top of my head and um she's
011done a wonderful job with that. So that was something that was an indicator even I think to Miss Gasco prior to us running these numbers in in 2023. So yes, we do look at those um those specific classes in those specific. >> So one of the subjects that was brought to us by community members at the time when this concern was raised was I I believe it was chemistry not level what level of chemistry that was but have we done anything specifically in the science subject area? >> Um I don't I don't know off the top of my head what the numbers say for chemistry specifically. Um, I will say to you and and I've said this before, you know, we don't we don't make that judgment specifically to what what chatter is, right? So,
012if we look at the numbers and we see that there is some type of turn in the numbers, maybe a downturn or or you see a little bit of improvement, we will look at those indicators and make adjustments as I can't tell you that specifically chemistry uh had any issues uh above what you hear as chatter, >> right? and and it was memory tells me it was chemistry and there was a lot of parent feedback at that time specific to that subject but it could be other you know parents sometimes don't bring it up or students sometimes don't bring it up so I only remember that from how we started this discussion >> I will tell you this off the top of my head that the one issue that we had with chemistry a couple
013years ago was an open enrollment before we had prerequisites before we had waiverss, >> everybody was trying honors chemistry. Let's try it and see how we can do it. And after a few weeks when we realized honors chemistry was very hard, we're going to drop down to chemistry. Well, there were no more seats left, right? So, so those students had to remain in honors chemistry. >> That may be some of the feedback that we had at that time. We did. >> I do not think that we have that feedback anymore. So, one of those indicators that are listed on the bottom there was one of the things we did was change those prerequisites and make that waiver system to get into those higher level courses which kind of address those needs. >> And and very
014valid point, I feel like that bringing back that system of teacher student um recommendation both playing into who gets to take the class should have improved the data. So, is this something that we could do going forward? look at the data for those kind of subjects that might have had students waved in because a student insisted on and then couldn't drop out. If that has improved over the years, that would probably change how this data is looking too, right? >> So, drill down into subject. >> I mean, I can tell you uh qualitatively that it is changed the system dramatically. uh allowing uh having students and parents know that if you are waving into a another level, a higher level, which is not discouraged. We we want you to to try to be the best
015that you are, but you are doing that against the recommendation of your guidance counselor and your teacher and sometimes scores that even you show in the past, right? um this is not a it's not a free-for-all like you can't just come back when you want, right? Because we don't have the room at that level, especially in in a school our size. Um but that has definitely dramatically changed the system as we know it at at the high school. Um I don't have anything quantitative for you at this point, but >> and and that's understandable. I think our end goal here was to improve student success >> whether it's by putting guard rails around what they are taking that could set them up for failure which you just said is already you qualitatively you're seeing it
016and the other is that our exams final exams shouldn't be a reason why if they were doing well before in the course they shouldn't fail end of the year because the final so >> and I will tell you that of the 29 that you see failed um failed the final and failed the those students were not getting A's in the course and failed the course because of the fine they were >> well thank you for this data if nobody has any other questions I think we can move on to the next item on the agenda >> thank you Dr. >> Um Mr. Veronica, you are up next for the athletic update. >> Sure. Thank you for having me. Um, so our fall seasons have concluded. Uh, we're super excited to uh get to go with
017the winter season. Um, I am excited to hopefully update everyone at the next I think December board meeting on all of our accomplishments for the fall. Um, as it pertains to the winter, our um, our trials will be beginning within the next couple weeks, as early as November 17th. Um some uh teams try out that week, some uh teams try out the week of Thanksgiving, and some wait until December 1st to start. So in the next few weeks, we'll be pretty busy with that. Um one of the staples of the winter right now is going to be the co-op uh with Bryce hockey. I'm excited to start that um with South Brunswick and North Brunswick. Uh their triyouts actually start on Monday. Um and we have about 14 student athletes marked our school that will
018be participating in the triyouts. So, we are pretty excited to see, you know, what that looks like. That's our first first opportunity for early co-op. And again, super excited to provide that opportunity for our student athletes to still be able to participate in the sport that unfortunately we won't be able to um to have as a as a whole team, you know, just just for now, but we'll continue to work on building numbers and see where they are in the next three years. >> So, as a reminder for everybody, we had to go down this route of co-op because we did not have enough um athletes to build our own team. Um Dr. Mr. Mr. Brandica, would you let us know the details of what um will the triyouts be together for all three schools
019and what is going to be our role in a co-op um as a school district ourselves? >> Sure. So, the way that so it's actually a tryup. So, co-op is usually when it's two teams, but since it's three, it is considered a try out. It is the only sport that is allowed by the state to have a tryup right now. Um so, it'll be it'll be three teams. Uh there's a home school. In this case, the home school is South Brunswick. Um, so they're responsible, you know, they're basically the the entity that's in charge per se, uh, in the eyes of state. Um, they will be hosting the triyouts at a procate, which is the ice rink that they use, um, in South Brunswick, which is actually close to us as well, which is, which
020is neat. We do have a coach on staff as well. We'll be able to make sure that, you know, it's actually the same coach that we've had as the head coach in the past, but you already know our student athletes and their abilities. Uh, you know, out of the three programs, our program was the strongest. Uh, we went to sectional finals in two years in a row. Um so you know the the student athletes that are coming from Monroe are going to be I I believe that the team will be made around those student athletes as you know we do have the more competitive student students um right now um so the trials will be on the 17th all the coaching staff will get together they'll have all the student athletes um there at the
021same time a lot of the student athletes have already done a lot of offseason type of workouts you know trainings uh at both south runs even here with some of the coach as well so they've already know each other um and you know that's basically what the trials will look like, but they'll they'll look at everyone as a whole and then they'll decide, you know, what uh you know, how many individuals to keep on the team um you know, based on the abilities and what they see during triyous. >> So, would it uh would the coach's position as you know, part of the coaching team be determined based on how many of our athletes make the team? >> I'm sorry, can you repeat that way? So, the coach for the for the co-op team, would
022would every district send a coaching personnel to it or would it be determined based on how many students of which students make the team? >> Not necessarily. So, South Brunswick already had a head coach and assistant coach on staff. Um, and just the way the kind of things fell through with our program, we were able to get um our coach on there as well. So, having for the most part, we've done three as the coaches. North Brunswick has I think only like four or five student athletes that have participated in the past. they, you know, they don't have a coach necessarily on staff. Um, that's kind of the way that they already been used to as they had the co-op in the pre-existing co-op in the Pasco South Brunswick. But again, with having, you know,
023a large amount of student athletes coming from, you know, from our town and obviously being the most competitive student athletes that are going to be uh, you know, making up the team, I did want to make sure that they had someone that they were familiar with. And it also helps us out, I think, as as our numbers grow, continue to have our coach be part of that, you know, part of the part of the team makeup. Where will the games be played? They call the hockey games. What What will be done in South Brun? I know they have a rink over there. >> Yes. So, as of right now, all of our games will all of the home games for the for the team will be played out of Pro Skate in South Cup. >>
024Okay. >> Have you ever been in a co-op situation in the last couple days? >> It's a tri. >> Uh, so try to my knowledge, we've never been in a in a co-op or a try out. Again, you see it now now a lot more in certain sports. Yeah, you see it you see it in any any sport that the NJSIA offers could potentially be part turn into a co-op. The triath again is exploring. Um but you you are seeing it a lot especially in some spring sports with the addition of um flag football. Some softball programs have loft numbers. So they have combined with other schools in order to still have the opportunity to to field a softball team. But yeah, it's definitely an option that the state gives um in case that a
025school doesn't have the ability to to fund a program. >> So I have a school spirit question. When they play together, what what is it going to be all three school names that show up or >> So it'll be South Brunswick that shows up. Um again, our coach actually has a really good relationship with the coach from uh from South Brunswick. Their athletic director has been fantastic. They did uh redesign a new new uniform and their hopes were to use all three for all three teams. which again they didn't have to do but it is something that they uh they went ahead and to do. >> Great. That is that is very nice of that and we will for one speech you're in for South Brunswick but once more >> south and and north I
026have to give >> okay four north right >> so just because the team is going to be under the south uh you know >> yes name usually we're >> but it should be a pretty competitive team I I'll be sure to update everyone >> yeah let us know when the games are >> let's go yeah so we're still we will still continue um putting those um ice hockey on our schedule. Um so again, we have to make sure we provide busing them. So we will make sure that we all that is taken care of um so that the community knows when those games are. And again, it's right down the street, so it should be. >> So what you'll see on the agenda is some approval for some of the expenses related to this. Um
027and you know, Mr. Brandy, you could just send them over this morning. So you'll see it on the agenda. There's some ice time that we have in there. there's going to be a per hour ice cost because we do have an opportunity with so many players to potentially even set up some JV type games which wouldn't necessarily be embedded in the co-op cost but >> we can still approve some ice time and get some kids that may have less playing time some opportunities to play continue to build our program and then uh I think that's maybe I think there would also be an approval of an estimated co-op cost um what it is It's estimated in the sense it's the expenses related to the regular season. If there's any additional costs like going into the
028GMC's playoffs, there's additional ice time that would be, you know, uh, included in, but it would be an estimated per student cost that we would pay at the end of the end of the co-op to balance the books of all three schools. So, >> and can they go into um, playoffs like that? There's enough teams to do that around. >> Yeah. So, well, the way that they do playoffs is they have a different bracket set up for teams that are like your normal team and they have a bracket specifically set up for co-ops, right? >> Um, but yes, they definitely have the opportunity to go all the way through six. So, we're only followed all the way through. >> And correct me if I'm wrong, but uh just to explain this from a budget perspective,
029what what all you just explained because we're going into this different situation. It's not like we have an additional cost is might be less than what we've done in the previous years because now we're combining forces with other school districts. >> Yep. >> So, it's not like we're going to see additional cost. We might see savings from previous years. >> Right. Right. I think this first year we will we will see less savings >> and then >> the next couple years we would see more savings and then at some point we may have enough to feel their own team where we then consider you know >> yes >> breaking away or something like that but >> yeah the co-op was approved for um I believe it's two >> two years or three years >> I
030think I believe it's two maybe two or three years that the co-op was approved for from the state's uh eyes but then outside of that we're able to you know want to you know go back >> two or three years later, we re-evaluate what interests we have in school and then >> Yeah, there. >> Sounds good. >> And what is the number for us to have our own team? >> There's no specific number. It's just, you know, with the 14 student athletes that we have, um, a large part of that are goalies. Oh. >> Um, so it's kind of hard. Um, you know, I believe we had like five or six goalies. So, when you have 16 uh, you know, 14 and you know, six of them are goalies. You play six players at, you
031know, at a time. It's it's very thin. >> It's okay. >> Very thin. Is this considered varsity and it qualifies for a letter? >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Brandica, for that update. Good luck to all of our ice hockey players for this new >> adventure. Moving on to the last item on the agenda and we do not have that much time. I had to say that Moralda, [laughter] >> it's the second part of the summer programming update that you gave it for this morning. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead. And uh last last uh meeting we had uh we spoke about the high school component of the summer program which included our summer remediation and our credit completion uh program. Uh the other half of the summer program uh centers
032on our enrichment which services students from prek all the way up through 8th grade. Uh there it was a continuation of our summer program which began coming out of the pandemic. So this is our we were our fifth year of running summer learning. It was open to students both in the district and outside of the district and we did have some students participating from Spotswood Cranberry and Gain Bird this past summer. So we were happy to get more students involved. Uh this summer we rebooted our traditional programs uh project code first Lego cooking with Caner which is our culinary arts program and our summer art studio. And of course, our original programs were the summer band and the musical theater uh experience. We also added some new programs this year. The one that we were
033most excited about adding uh was the uh medical uh program. I I'll save that for last. But in addition to that, we also introduced what we call the Falcon's Nest Summer Academy, which was an extension of our preschool and was open to students uh entering preschool all the way up through uh as long as they were potty trained, they were they were welcome to come. and it was run by our instructors that run our preschool uh during the school year. So, we had student volunteers come in that were part of our working with children program and it was nice because uh many of our staff members uh elected to enroll their children in the program. So, it was nice to offer that service to them, some of which worked for us uh in var variety
034of capacities over the summer. And it was really just a nice opportunity to have uh some of our students um in that facility uh engaging in authentic aligned learning experiences that focused on everything from collaboration, team building, and uh some actual academic programs that feed into our kindergarten program. It was also a nice opportunity to look at what a preschool program might look like here in the district as we prepare for that. And most importantly, it gave us the opportunity to work with some of our high school students who want to be teachers um almost as an extension of our working with children teacher mentorship program over the summer. Uh there were a couple operational hiccups. For example, this is a program that financially we want to look at um because it to do it
035right could be a little expensive and we have to have a hard cap on. So, um, we were able to break even in that program. We were happy about, but we want to continue to grow that program. It was very favorably reviewed, and we think it's a real benefit to not just, uh, the learning community, but also our staff that works with us over the summer. In addition to that preK program, we redid our K to2 uh, early childhood program, and we called it the MMA, uh, the Mind and Motion Academy. uh it was intentionally uh given that acronym because what we wanted to sell it as as a blend of both academic and athletic experiences. It was run by two of our STEM specialists who also serve as varsity uh coaches here in the
036district. So the mornings were spent doing athletic activities including team building. Um in some instances we collaborated with the football uh coaches and the wrestling coaches who ran individual workshops in partnership with this program for these students. And then in the second half of the day, they did academic and STEM activities with those same teachers. So the students in that program got a a full gamut of of learning all within our student our school. And that was also open to some students that um we borrowed from the uh ESY program to join us. In some instances, uh students from the ESY program that were housed at the high school would join us in some of these learning experiences, not just as students, but as leaders. So it was a nice opportunity to paddle up with
037ESY again in that capacity. So that was the K2 program uh the MMA. Um we also uh as I mentioned introduced the uh we called it the MTSD med lab which was in response to some community uh solicitation that wanted uh that uh medical science and and health sciences introduced in an enrichment fashion. Simultaneously Miss Trust is working on her new uh curriculum uh throughout the district and installing new programs at the middle school. We worked uh in partnership with her uh department and and uh Miss Mloud at the K to5 level to find an appropriate but align opportunity to introduce medical science to our students in an enrichment fashion. And we did that under the uh under the name of the viral voyagers where students came in and we developed curriculum and they came
038in and they learned about uh I think we even had a contest of what the cutest looking virus was. um which was an interesting discussion but uh it was a nice way to connect students with new content that we hope to build on throughout the year. Uh we condensed in a lot of ways our timelines this summer as not to compete with some of the other things going on uh we uh without getting into the details of finances and operations we we can safely say that there was a significant increase of efficiency and revenue um mainly due to the increased amount of sponsors that we brought on this year. uh look no further than all the banners that are hanging up at the stadium. Uh while many of those are are can be uh attributed
039to our partnership through the soccer program, if you look carefully, most of those banners will say partnership with enrichment services or FTSD summer. And that's important because as we always state, all of these new programs do not come at any cost to the district. And in many instances when there are expenditures that we may not be able to cover, we will go out and find private money to help offset those costs. And and one example I'll give you were the uh the augmented re reality cubes that we introduced in the med program that was financed exclusively by our partners. Um and um you know we're very proud to say that Bagel Bazaar uh Monroe Orthodontists uh all of the banners that you have that I've mentioned those two because our two most recent those are
040partners that are directly responsible for bringing these assets into the district and we're proud to say their names because we're grateful for the support and this is the model that we've been following and that we hope to continue to utilize to grow these programs while we pay attention to the immediate needs of districts such as kindergarten increase operational efficiency and fighting the ever scary healthare costs that are hanging over our head at all times. So, we we don't want to use those those things as an excuse to slow down the development of these new programs. And we think we figured out how to do that. Um our year-long enrichment programs are already up and running. They're many of them are in week four already. And uh they're all extensions of those programs I just mentioned.
041We're doing computer science now as we speak. Uh later in the year we'll bring back the medical lab and then esports kicks up when the winter sports season begins. So that is the update on the summer. Uh Miss Gasco is already receiving hundreds and hundreds of inquiries about what our offerings will be this year. Uh we we we were not settled on that, but there will be something and we will be able to communicate it well out in front under scheduling deadlines and the announcements of all of our uh friends out in the community that offer some loan programs. you won't miss out. >> I do kindly explain that I can't approve courses that haven't actually been put into existence yet, whether it be ours or from outside places. The idea is that it's an
042approval form to say that the appropriate course was met. So, and and I'm always they always say thank you very much afterwards. But, uh I can tell there's going to be a lot of a lot of um interest. >> I am not progress. >> Um just not yet. >> I I have to just make a comment here. commend the work that has happened on the enrichment side summer as well as continued year-long in the last four years that I have seen. We have made so much progress and I know you're all the big team behind it. But I do want to give everybody kudos tonight for just this was one of our most successful years. We have grown by leaps and bounds in what we're offering to the community, but we've also, like you said,
043done it efficiently both costwise and resource-wise. And um huge thank you to the community members that are acting as sponsors. We really couldn't do it without them. I know some of them personally. Dr. Lea takes pride in supporting us initiatives and >> they were they were that your modern Orthodox right they uh they were our first partner ever. >> Yes. So when we when we launched this uh initiative way back when they were the first uh they were the first organization to call us >> and way back then her daughter had already graduated from our high school. She knew the need you know having been a parent in our school district but um just two quick questions and I'll pass it on to the rest of the board when we were talking. Um yeah sorry
044the MMA and the preschool uh Falcons Nets enrichment how long did they run? 8 to one. I'm sorry. 8 to 12 for the for uh Falcons was four weeks. Okay. I'm sorry. Falcons was five weeks. MMA was four weeks. >> Was four weeks. Great program. >> We do week to week basically. >> Oh, yeah. You could enroll. >> Yes. And uh give you a quick 18 season passes were sold for for uh the uh Falcons Nest and seven individual weekly passes. So, parents have the option to sign up for the whole summer or just take a week here or there. That's a great >> And that went with the uh the MMA program >> as well. And the viral Voyagers, what age group was that? >> We did three to five and I'm looking over
045at Sam. Uh we did three to five and uh five uh three to five and then five to eight six to eight. Yes. >> And we had our uh high school students help with that too or not? >> We did have uh two high school volunteers in that class including Sia Desai who worked with us on that for years uh years ago. She was our first volunteer. And then in any of the other uh classes we had uh high school volunteers, many from uh honorsmies at the high school. >> That's another great advantage of running these programs. So giving a whole other kind of opportunity to our students. >> And we glanced over the music stuff, but that always has at least half a dozen volunteers. >> Well, thank you so much. This was a
046great update. And that concludes our firm meeting for tonight. Uh thank you for coming in. >> Thank you all for coming. Nice work. >> Thank