001Good evening everyone. This is the September meeting of the citizens advisory committees. I hope everyone's had a good summer. Um just really quick um we over the summer we um Miss Fabiano moved to Delaware. So um as of the beginning of August um you know she resigned from her position on the board. U Miss De is our new board of education president and um was it last week? two weeks ago. Um we filled Miss Gabiana's seat on the board. Um and Mrs. Ye, who is sitting over here to the right, was appointed to that for the remainder of her term. Um which is until January. Um so I just wanted to let everyone know. Um thank you guys all for being here. Um and we will get started with the agenda. Um so I'm gonna
002have Mr. Morala and Dr. Layman kind of run this part of it. And then what I'd really love to do is once they're done discussing it, get impact input or feedback. I was trying to say this together um from the committee about some of the things that they are sharing with you guys. So I'm going to turn over to them. >> Sure. So um coming up next week, we will be presenting a full uh update on our strategic plan. So, we have a kind of a working draft that we're uh I'll share updates on the strategic plan, but it is a draft document and we will continue add to it and there'll be things that we'll uh significantly expand upon during the main meeting. So, I'll kind of give some highlights and general updates and
003then we kind of cycle back and just kind of revisit the progress we've made over the past year and kind of uh highlight some areas of focus for us for next year. Um, and we're going to keep it on this slide. We do have some handouts for everyone to take a look at. Um, but just to highlight, so we had three goal areas, facilities and operations, leveraging technology, and students excelling. And then, uh, subcategories within each one of those areas, and you'll see that in your handouts. Um, in terms of the facilities and operations area, we had operations and logistics, the optimization of those areas. Um, some things that we uh had a focus on there was our energy savings improvement plan, the EIFT plan. I'm sure you've heard us talk about that a lot
004GT meetings. We had a demographic study uh that we were going to commission. We were updating our long-range facilities plan. That's part of our uh five-year requirement with the state. Um, and it was we're coming up on our five years and that was also related to our demographic study. Um, facility optimization. Again, we step back to that demographic study. We look at uh the high school facilities alignment uh with programs and does everything align programmatically with our facilities. Um we are looking towards potential design study uh as we look at the future layout of our district. Um, in the areas of operations and optimization for HR and the business office, we were looking at the Genesis human resources module as well as the Genesis budgeting, purchasing, and payroll modules. So, I can provide an update
005on that. When we get into the transportation piece, um, we had a focus on electric vehicles. Um, that was not necessarily a priority or something for the short term. That was kind of like an ongoing piece. um including charging stations and things throughout the district and joint services opportunities. And then central to this committee uh and this is a theme we have in each one of our uh strategic plan kind of categories is district advocacy and funding and the citizen advisory committee is a part of that. the content steering committee. So, there are opportunities in the high school where whether it's a curricular requirement or connection um something related to us keeping up a certification of some of our programming. We do engage in partnerships uh with professionals in the in the community. So, uh
006we can expand on that a little bit, give some examples of what we've been doing there. um public funding sources. We spoke some at several meetings about u some of those opportunities as well as private funding and we do a lot with federal enrichment programming and and grant funings and scholarships as well there. So I'll give some updates on that. The other area in the area of uh leveraging technology so instructional technology we look at curriculum um we have a district technology plan. Uh that was something we were working on last year. I'll give you an update on that. Our tech refresh for the high school. I can update you on that. Our tech at. So that would be this year moving forward. It's really a budget piece, but I can share where we head
007we're heading with that. One of the other projects we've been working on is our website refresh. That was a big topic of this committee for uh the beginning of last school year. Um our notification system update and refresh. That's something that and I'll give another update on that, but um we rolled out a couple weeks ago. And then we have a couple live broadcasting uh real you know community real time messaging opportunities that we can share as well. And then under that theme again the district advocacy and funding pieces is is that consistent piece we have through all of our categories. And then our final uh goal area is uh students excelling and that's our curricular lens on things. So we uh under the pro programmatic piece, the co-curricular piece, we're looking at portrait of
008a graduate expor uh expanding performing arts opportunities uh looking at our K12 computer science programming opportunities even developing a potential department in that area. There's post-secary partnerships looking at whether it's college credit uh certificate opportunities. Uh we always have an eye on potential future graduate requirement, high school graduation requirement so we can highlight where we see a potential change in the future, maybe near to medium future. Um so we are putting things in place now. So when the mandate comes down, whether it's a few years from now, we're already rolling with it. Um we talk about MTSS under this uh this kind of programmatic area and MTSS is really the foundation of a lot of the instruction professional development and opportunities. Um full day K is under here. >> I was just going to ask
009if what you could if you could elaborate a little bit about what MTSS is in case. >> Sure. Yep. When I get to the update I'm going to go I'm going to go straight through it. Yep. Great. Um but that is our multi-ter system of support. Um full day falls under here. So, I'll share kind of uh a light brief general overview where we are there. We're going to have a lot more information on that come on coming Wednesday. Um personnel uh optimization kind of our vision is uh every year we look at personnel but some of the uh highinterest positions that aren't naturally uh occurring in the district. Instructional coaches uh was something we highlighted as part of our strategic plan. The vision of making that happening. And then uh the last piece of
010this is our district advocacy and funding. So cycle back to where we're looking at >> here. >> Yep. So we launched uh we commissioned demographic study the beginning of the school year last year. It was something the demographer worked on gathering data. They had certain requirement required data points that they receive and that tends to be the end of the fall early winter. Uh that demographic study was completed early spring, really late winter, early spring. Um and that provided us, I guess, reassurance uh about kind of the trends in enrollment that we had seen over the past few years. Um the demographic study is on our website. Uh we have a uh new location under the district information part of our website that has enrollment information, historical enrollment information. So it has several demographic studies.
011uh >> we went back as far as maybe even like 2013 or something like that. Yep. So you can see the history and uh if you think about what we were living through in the world at the time um you can kind of see and make assumptions about you know when we roll through COVID we saw what our trajectory our trajectory was for enrollment and I think you know going through that definitely had an impact on whether it's the development whether it's the type of families moving or not moving anymore um you know we we've seen a trend in actual enrollment in the demographic study laid on top of the f the the potential developments in the future really kind of reaffirms uh what we've seen in the past few years. Um but that the
012study itself can be found on our website. The long range facilities plan demographic study is a requirement that the state has to complete that LRFP. Um that is something that is uh it's not actually a physical document that we create. It's really something that we populate in the state software. Um, and it takes a look at um our enrollment. Do we have enough seats uh in our buildings? And if we don't have enough seats in our buildings, do we have uh thoughts or plans or things historical that would show potential referendum or something that would accommodate that growth as well as a lot of other facts. But the requirement for the LRFP is a demographic study. So that demographic study was needed for two reasons. foundation for kindergarten, foundation for reaffirming what we have seen
013in enrollment trends, but also to uh have us require to fill that LRFP. >> Can I ask a question? >> The demographic survey, does that include um kids with disabilities? So, you'll know ahead of time when you'll need extra like um special needs kids. >> So, the uh all students are included in there uh in a demographic study. what they use for uh students in our special programs. Um they use historical enrollment and then they make uh general pro projections based off of that. Um it's a much more common projected number though. What we see with our special programs is sometimes families move in and out. Um so it's not necessarily a growth uh you know a birth rate calculation. It's more of a moving in moving out less predictable number. Um so we we
014actually really adapt to our special programs or LLD programs, MD programs, autism programs in real time. Um but we do have like a core we have a you know most schools have at the elementary level an LLD program and an autism program or an engine program and an autism program and that's a consistent program year after year. Um we do see bubbles move through you know like a maybe we need two sections in this school for a couple years as that bubble moves through and then it moves to the middle school or the high school. Um but the demographic study doesn't really drill down to the individual programmatic needs of every student. It gives us enrollment trends based on histo history history. It also looks at potential developments. What kind of how many you know
015rooms are going to be in the buildings that are scheduled. Therefore, that potentially would lead to one, two, three students per household and makes predictions. >> If I can just and please correct me if I'm wrong, but the the demographers report is it's basically the population, I think, of who's in the houses and not necessar not necessarily what they need. So, I think there are kids that go to private schools or, you know, other out of district needs, they're they're still counted because they still live in Monroe. Um, so it's just the head count and not the individual. >> Yep. Yep. And then we look at every year for budgeting purposes but also programmatic purposes. We look at um you know real-time enrollment whether in in specific programs and that's how we plan whether it's
016for cluster teachers whether it's for uh you know special programs classes um inclass resource room sections resource room sections that's a real time year-over-year adjustment. >> And the one that's on the website now is completed what year? >> We have multiple years. So we have this most recent one and then several years back. >> Multiple is what year? just >> April referred. >> Yeah. March 2025. >> No, actually it goes back to 2006 which >> yeah there's a gap there which >> there's a gap there. We you know don't have it whatever we can't find it whether it's exists or not. I we we're looking for it. >> I wonder I mean this is great but I remember when we were looking at the advocacy documents um we saw that huge growth between like 2001
017and 2006. So I would be curious for my own knowledge if we if that's enough. >> We have actually when I was having them uploaded it's interesting to see but not only the way that how the times changed but also the way that they report has changed significantly. >> Yeah. >> That's for you guys to look your way. >> Um but just to Dr. Williams point. these we we created a whole separate this is just recently uh we created a whole separate section of our website that is dedicated specifically to our district's demographic um and which obviously relates to our enrollment. Uh so this way you can go back and take a look to see how things have evolved in the township. >> Yep. Um and if if you read in some of the mid200
018to 2020 demographic studies there was a lot of projected development and with the projected development and the rate of the projected development some of the growth rates were condensed. So you would see you would see a large projection over a shorter period of time and that was done to plan for the potential growth and if we were looking to build a school make sure we didn't approve a school construct a school and open the doors and we're still overcrowded, right? So you'll see some pretty significant discrepancies um not discrepancies but projections um but keep in mind some of those projections are really condensed. Um, and it's in the methodology. So, if you read the methodology, but this most recent one is a straight projection. Um, and it also highlights the development that's potentially uh on
019the books. >> Yeah, because there's a lot of development on the books. That was my question. >> Yep. It takes what's on the books and it also highlights some things that are in litigation, nothing approved, no potential impact within the next 5 to 10 years kind of peaks. Yep. I do think one thing that's worth mentioning um is when we did this back in 2022 I think was the last one we were doing the referendum or maybe it was 2021. It was right around there. We were told that um the it can't look out that far. I think you can only go out five years because we were looking at possible housing mandates and you know we saw the stuff coming from the state that we have to build. You know I'm totally making up
020a number here. it might not be regularly 3,000 homes um over the next decade, but we couldn't necessarily plan for that because technically we can only go out for the five years. Um I do know the township has been working to try and reduce the amount that they have to build both in terms of total numbers as well as houses that have children so that the schools are not as affected um whether it's veterans housing or um you know more senior housing or things like that. But um >> yeah, all the methodologies listed there and everything is uh what is exactly was on the books this past winter. So um with any adaptions, modifications, you know, it's a snapshot and then we move forward. Um so that's something that we we have seen enrollment trends
021really stabilize at the elementary level. Um, and I don't want to say decrease because we've seen a flatline of of our enrollment and that flatline that stabilization is moving through the middle school. We're actualizing that that stabilization and it will within a year or so start the cycle through the high school. Um, so the demographic study affirmed kind of what we've been seeing in trend enrollment trends uh really postcoid. Um, but again, it's it's up there for the for the look and it's something that we use just like I said, we look at real-time enrollments for budgeting. We look at the potential projected enrollments and it this is the first demographic study in a while that really aligns with the trends we've been seeing. Um, energy savings and efficiencies. So, BG&T has been highlighting the
022work for the energy savings improvement pro uh program. Um that is a massive initiative that we took uh the past year or so. Um it basically is an energy savings initiative that touches every single building in the district. Um as we stand right now the building envelopes, so all outside uh doors, door sweeps, windows, window seals, things like that. Um any work that was scheduled to be done is completed. Um, we are one of the major energy savings that we realize the energy savings with the changing of our lights, interior lights. So, there's a significant amount of progress done with that. Um, actually tomorrow night we'll be getting an update on the ongoing work for EIF. Um, there are boilers, HVAC units, uh, some of the larger projects that are in various stages of design.
023Uh and as soon as the design's completed, then it'll be resource acquisition. So you're talking lead times of usually months, sometimes more more than months, year, year, year and a half on some of the equipment. So um this energy savings and efficiencies piece in facilities and operations is an ongoing long-term uh piece, but we have the foundation to get these things that cost a tremendous amount of money in place right now. Um because the EIP plan basically we went through the process to get the funding for that on the front end acquire the materials and then as we realize the savings and it's a projected savings that's been vetted and verified by multiple neutral parties um we then pay back the money that we borrowed to get it on the front end. So um things
024that would normally be referendum items or uh significant capital items we are able to do able to do in at scale which helps us realize a tremendous amount of savings. Um then we go to students excellence. So the portrait of a graduate um that's something that uh we did a lot of research and ground work last year. So portrait of a ground graduate is something that will be uh communitywide uh not just schoolwide communitywide and the outcome of that is really developing a vision uh of what we want what the paths of a student leaving Monroe High School after spending a potential 12 13 years with us um or up to some for some students 21 years um what do they look like you know what's our vision what's our path for that student and
025then what we take from there is if that's our vision, do we have the things in place at the elementary level, at the middle school level, at the high school level to help our students get to those outcomes? Um, so we've, uh, like I said, did a bunch of research. There are companies you can hire that lead you through this process. Um through our investigations uh we learned that the portrait of a graduate is a part of a uh middle states accreditation process that we had gone through many many many years ago. Um so we do have a framework of us going through it. Um which is not something we expected to see as we started to research this. So, that is a nice piece that we're going to further explore because that could take
026some of the financial uh piece away from hiring someone to do surveys with us and and kind of guide us through. So, um in terms of where we stand with portrait of a graduate, that is something that we're moving forward with, but we will um you know decide the path we're going to take this year. Uh R&D for full AK and PK. Uh and this will be a significant update next Wednesday. Um but the the highlights of what we where we are and what we did um starting last year um I began in the spring touring the elementary schools meeting with the kindergarten teachers the administration both building based and supervisory. Um we began advocating for funding here as this group right because we realized the challenges the entire district the entire community was advocating
027for fundings. Um and over the course of the spring we identified that uh you know the model for us is certainly unanimously taking a look at expanding kindergarten within its current school environment. Um, one of the things I talked about with the teachers and the principles and the administrative team is, you know, we explore it at one time many years ago. Do we uh make the kindergarten pre-k center and you know, what would that look like and what that involved? And um, you know, kind of to what we highlighted at the the last committee meeting, um, there is a tremendous piece of having the kindergarters be a culture part of the culture within each of the schools. Um and that's something that was a theme that the teachers unanimously unanimously across the board were supportive
028of. Uh the administrators were again unanimous in supporting it. Um but you know we had to have that conversation. There are multiple ways to to make this happen you know in the short andor long term and uh you know the building based kindergarten is the path that you makes the most sense for us. um put frameworks in place for our half-day kindergarten teachers to engage in professional development for this coming school year. Um we have a a structure in place that we have regular staff development days throughout the year. Uh our teachers can take a course, they can develop a project andor participate in a PLC. So, all of the kindergarten teachers are going to engage in a PLC uh professional learning community where they meet with themselves as a school or even as a
029district uh cohort and they will look at our curricular materials um which are all written for a year-long full day but also year-long half day and begin to dive into those resources and say in a full day environment this is what the full day ELA block could look like. This is what the full day math block will look like. this is with the full day science and uh social studies connections with ELA and math because now with the you know the growing and increasing amount of time um they can begin to bridge those subjects together. So um we put that in place in the spring for our staff to engage in and uh we talked about in the curriculum committee meeting uh we have things in place with our new science program that's being on
030boarded or year three with our my view envisions program for ELA. We have training, our year three training for that. Our kindergarten teachers have been a part of everything all along the way. Um, this year's training focuses on small groups, focuses on individualized and personalized learning. And we see that as what is the opportunity for them to engage with as the time they have with the students inre increases. Um, it's more personalized, more one-on-one um, opportunities for learning. >> Um, just a quick question. I know that the ECE teachers are a separate entity from our mtea kindergarten teachers. Um from what I recall, most of them I think are certified um with the classroom teachers themselves for ECE. Is there any integration that's happening with what they're doing along with I guess what you would
031see in a full day kindergarten capacity? So ECE and the program for ECE is aligned with our half-day program. So the units they do are complimentary to what's going on in the half-day kindergarten classroom. Um so they've they definitely are currently related. You know, the the themes and the projects they do are uh in sync with each other. >> Where we see those specific staff members and their role in full AK um is to be determined. you know if they are credentialed and certified um they are under a different umbrella than our uh you know members. So um like any job opportunity there would certainly be opportunities for them to you know potentially engage in that. Um but right now if you're asking those two programs are synced together. Um >> right and then you
032me like the professional to professional development that's for the teachers that are in like Milik and Oak Tree and Berkeley but not necessarily the EC. >> Right. But the the ECE staff do have professional development opportunities and we move around those in conjunction with Mrs. Mloud. But the the instructional tools that the ECE teachers are using um they're complimentary but they're not exactly the same as and then every aspect like they're not necessarily using our science textbook and ECE right um they may be doing other activities that align with that. >> Okay. >> So because our our district PD is really resource specific because a lot of these are digital resources and leveraging tools and things like that. >> Right. >> Yep. So, exactly what year are we looking for this um both day to
033be rolled out? >> Yeah. And I I'm going to share that the there's a couple pathways and again we talk about this all the time, but Wednesday will be the day when I kind of share that, but you know, there's there's a short there's a short term and a long-term. So, you know, we we would love to be prepared to do this in next fall. We would love to if we can't do it next fall, do it the following fall. Um, and then there's going to be things that we need to do regardless of when we do it that are going to be a parallel process. Um, because when we do this, there are still building needs in all of our primary schools as well as throughout the district um that we're going to have
034to engage in. whether it's uh you know relocating classes that are displaced in media centers and things like that to uh real you know network classrooms because they're all we built classrooms in media centers restoring our buildings back to the uh the way they're supposed to operate. Um instead of having classes on the back of a stage which then prevents us using a stage for anything else other than those classes that are occurring. we relocate, we re uh replace, you know, th those rejuvenate those spaces back to their original space. And in doing that, there are some capital projects that potentially may need to be addressed. Um, and then at the same time, we need to look at districtwide to say maybe there's some things EIP wise that we still need to tackle across the
035district that we couldn't get boilers, HUC units that we couldn't get in that big district capital project. you know, are there athletic needs that are coming up on the horizon that would be a capital project in in a year or two that we need to look at? Um, so there are short-term, medium-term, and then a long-term pieces to what we see. And it's centric. There's a kindergarten element to this, but there's also a district-wide, you know, things we still have to do um to maintain, you know, our expectations and threshold here. >> I just have a question. Um, you mentioned about the R&D for uh to see the training for the teachers for this um full day kindergarten prek. Was there any um opportunities to um study other countries who have success stories on having
036prek curriculum like at least have um an idea that's different from what we have here as a standard just like the other districts in the state you mean or like >> you're thinking internationally right? >> Yes. So uh no I I mean and I don't mean that I just I I didn't look internationally in terms of studying what their models are. Um we we tend to so anything that we do operates under our umbrella of the state requirements, state standards, timing time and class things like that. So um you know it's certainly something we can explore for best practices. Um a lot of the research is international. So when you look at the foundations and the core of what we're doing, it's some of the a lot of the research comes from multiple countries um
037you find you find the structure of school days in different countries is really related to the culture of those countries as opposed to the the philosophical research, right? The research is probably centered on personalized learning, uh, individualized learning plans, small group instruction balanced with large group instruction, and that's international. How how much time we spend in a class, how many days we go to school, what times of the year we go to school, that is really cultural through through and you know internationally and things. But how about the like tough parts of the curriculum like the stud comparing what we have now to what others do in other countries that probably if we apply here would be like turn out to be more success if we do it does is there a study on them?
038Yeah, I mean it's it's certainly something we all we all kind of take a look at in our professional readings and our professional developments at our you know we go some of us go to national conferences and things where we meet international uh scholars and things but you know if we're looking at like a different way to teach math per se you know a different style or different philosophy again a lot of that is we are under that New Jersey student learning standards piece so to hit certain benchmarks we have to funnel in certain teaching techniques or teach certain teaching styles. Um, I think that's the best way to kind of summarize what we're looking at. So, we are 100% open to best practices, but we are bound by our cultural norms, right? Our our
039school calendar is dates back to uh the agrarian calendar, right? Back in the day when we were all farmers and like that's really the that's why we had the summers off, right? To be near the beach. That's the that's like our schedule. There are many schools in the world even in the United States that have year- round schooling, right? Um those concepts >> we do pick up certain things. So for example, the big push uh through career technical education over the last really five five year I guess 10 years now at this point a lot of the times when we started exploring that particular New Jersey they used a lot of European models um particularly in the vocational areas about apprenticeships um work studies and then lo and behold a couple years later uh state
040of New Jersey overhauls their what they used to call senior option is now work-based learning to try to really encourage students to to so there maybe not overtly we're we're not adopting uh a a like let's say an institutions blueprint but we do take things that we see working uh internationally and we'll try to apply them within the model and then >> yeah I was just going to say out loud some like the school district where I work we have like a multicultural week so we have parents coming in and they can teach a lesson and they can do it in whatever style in their country and the Kids love that because they're learning about other cultures and then learning a different way of learning math or reading. So that's something that could be considered
041as an option like a month, multicultural month or something where parents can come in and do a pick a little lesson. >> But the short lazy answer, I'm sorry, >> is that we have we're just we're handcuffed to the state standards. >> Yeah. I also think that um people get hung up on statistics from international countries. Um so statistically the United States isn't as high as we should be but a lot of the countries and I think that could be the basis of your question. So a lot of the countries um don't have um the same challenges that we do in in education. We are a very large country. We do not have um national standards. We we are close. We have tried that with common core and where you know every state has to
042have certain expectations but in our country there are so many um socially economic disadvantaged students. Um so it's very hard to compare us internationally. Like my my point is is that um just you know like said best practices on how probably if you compare it like say math and math like how would you excel better like get it depends on like how you interact with with students or the mode of how you teach them and all those stuff that might be more um productive or more efficient than what we have now. just like comparing that against what we have currently and maybe adjust to that. I was going to say I also think a lot of that's professional development like having gone to a lot of those you know as a teacher and as a
043board of ed member you know it it teaches you a lot of the different techniques that maybe are coming from these other countries that you can use to help sort of you know add to what the curriculum requires um to help I guess sort of get more of it across so that the kids understand it more and differentiate the instruction. Mr. P. >> Yeah. And if you could go on our website and look at tonight's curriculum meeting. It was outstanding what the um administrators and and spoke to us about math and where they're going with it and how it's going to start from here to get them to here. And I was comparing when I was in school, it was just here. Here, here's your map. That was it. And what they told us tonight
044was just phenomenal what we're going to give our students. So go on the curriculum committee meeting and listen to what they said. It was a lot what you're asking and a lot I think that we're going to be giving to our students, but all these new courses that they're introducing um a rhythmic course I have my not a geometry course that was one that we're all going that was something I don't even remember. I have to say I went to Catholic school and but now to lead up to the geometry what they make them do with critical thinking is just phenomenal. So the the courses I would listen to it. It was it was a great curriculum meeting tonight and it gave us a lot of different ways that they're going to do it. >>
045So yeah. So that's what I've been playing. It's like um is there like uh any improvements or better ways on how you could like um uh like explain a math question like how to go over it like that that I think tonight. Don't you >> Dr. Yeah. But and I think that's an ongoing piece too and it's individualized. Some >> yeah some learners are visual, some learners are written, some learners are audio. So >> a teacher's toolbox is understanding who the learners are in front of them and adjusting their instruction for the same topic in a way that connects with the the students in front of them. So that's the challenge of teaching. And to your point, it's about learning the different ways because >> the one way isn't always the right way, right? It's
046it's about delivering the content in multiple ways. And like cycle back to math, especially at the elementary level, sometimes you see >> three different versions of solving the same problem. And the reason they do that is one of them is going to stick for for for the student. Everybody learns each of the way. But as you spiral up, the most important thing is you get one of those ways and that's the way you move forward. You need to understand a little bit about all of them, right? But that's why there's multiple ways that are instructed. And at the primary level, the foundational level, the students andor the teachers are figuring out what the best way for each of those individual learners are. And that's why everybody sees a little bit of everything. And then as
047you move your way up, you see those multiple ways and then you have an opportunity to use the one that works best for you to ultimately solve the problem. So that >> it's sometimes confusing because it's hard to understand if we we've never experienced it going >> the array way or whatever it is and then you know the one that makes sense to us is the more traditional you know one plus one is two blocks or whatever. >> Oh my god. Right. Yeah, kindergarten is harder than fifth grade now because of like the different math. >> Again, Miss Gasco was here. She different explanations, but there's a reason why. And it's for that exact reason. >> Listen to her. >> At some point, it's it'll spiral through and one of those three ways because they
048all get you to the same answer. Y >> is a way that the students can pick up and learn and carry forward. Again, the expectation in the beginning is we all kind of get an understanding of all three ways or four ways or whatever work. So, I know that we're going to get an in-depth um presentation on this next week because I could ask more questions, but I'm going to hold off on mine. Um and I did want to move on to the other stuff. Is there anything else for the committee members that they want to ask about full day kindergarten? >> Okay. So, um, you know, we do, just to wrap up the full vac discussion, we do have some, uh, work to be done this fall, um, that will lead us to ultimately
049making a decision whether it's going to be sooner than later. Um, and that's something again I'll highlight as we get into Wednesday. Um, but we definitely have uh, you know, some pathways to get to where we need to go well before the mandate kicks in. >> I do have a question. Um, now I said funding part of that obviously is going to be required. So, is there already funding set aside or is there a plan to raise funding for? >> No, and that's and that's the piece that that's the piece that I'll highlight on Wednesday. So, um, >> there is a there was a piece of legislation that was passed with the the kindergarten mandate that does provide certain ways to help fund universal preschool. Um, but because they are mandating because that's still not
050required. So they want to incentivize districts who don't have it. Um but for full day kindergarten because we're only one of you know six or five to seven depends on you know what steps they're in the process of right now that have it there's been a lot of resistance at the state to really provide that funding because all of the other this is this is what I hear from from Trenton right um is they've all been able to put it into their budget. Um so they are very resistant to give that significant additional funding to the districts that don't have it because all of these other districts already have it in with that same we did get some >> we got some right we so we received um you know money there >> we did
051a lot of advocacy we had a lot of meetings >> we received was it >> right 500,000 >> a lot of those 500,000 >> and we had to kindergarten >> right we got towards it was towards capital. So it was still capital but it can be used >> but she said to me you better be when I saw her she said you better be using it for kindergarten and I said oh yes we are can you give us some more >> to answer your question the cost day um we have projections of costs right now >> as we go through the budgeting process which is we really and the central office got in got started on the process as soon as we closed the books on this previous year but we spin that up uh
052in the fall. So we will have you know the curriculum and supplies piece go through the budgeting process as if full day was going to be happening right we will uh look at our staffing as if we're applying and and moving forward with full day that's when we see with the staffing movement through the district with the changing demographics of our student population which impacts the moving around of teachers. We do this every year, right? Whether you know you have a bubble in fourth grade that moves to fifth grade, we cycle teachers through. That's what we do. We we don't just, you know, arbitrarily hire teachers and leave extra teachers in certain areas. So, as we go through that process, which is will happen this fall, we'll have a very very good idea um what
053the reality is. Um and I'll highlight some of that on Wednesday. you know, we we had talked about a significant cost to full vacay just on the books. Um, but as we've looked at the uh enrollment trends and things, we are able to kind of narrow that down a little bit. Um, the state funding, which was a half a million dollars towards capital improvements, can be used towards the specific things related to full decay. So any design study that we need to pay for related to full day um we will certainly leverage that money. If there are desks and chairs and things like that that we need to purchase, we can do that. If there is kindergarten uh locations in the building that need some sort of modifications, whether it's the Mesa unit above that
054room, right, or the uh windows in that room or the door or the the building envelope or well, we did that through EIP, but you know, toilets or whatever that is, you know, we can uh utilize that capital because capital is a a a funnel or a specific area of money. we can't use the capital towards curriculum materials. Um so you know we can strategically allocate that money that we have this year to use towards full day Kay and anything related to the building in the full day Kay area. >> Is there like a minimum uh state requirement of how many full day AK classes that's required? >> Nope. So >> so we have one and then that was still set. No, no, we we we actually have some full day AK in place now,
055but it's uh integrated uh it's special a related related special programs full day, >> right? The mandate is that every student would be eligible for full day kindergarten based on their age would be provided with that. >> So when we roll it out, we're rolling it out for our students. >> Like it wouldn't be a lottery. Every child that's five years old would have to have access to it. But but if there's not enough actual seating then what would we do when >> so uh >> we would have enough before we operate and whether we have to and again I don't envision us going this way on the short term but whether we have to do a referendum or to add extra classrooms to make it happen then that's what we would have to do
056um and have a plan in place to do that and show the state by 208 >> because I only say that because for my old um back in New York we had the same exact board of ed, you know, you're required to provide a space for especially siblings. Now, obviously, they didn't expect a a heavy move in population of families with enough, you know, eligible kids and a bunch of the parents were actually excluded out of it. And, you know, it's just so >> when we so when we project for what will we look at for full day pay, we're going to look at our first grade numbers. That'll be the benchmark. We have 70% of our first grade attend kindergarten in Midtown. So, we'd be looking at a 30% increase uh for our kindergarten
057population, but then we would also need the additional space to house them full day instead of, you know, sharing classrooms at AM. So, >> um you know, when we would look to do this in the buildings, we'd look to do it for all the students. Um the state gave us an opportunity to partner with Yes. uh like a private kindergarten. And that's not a path that we felt would be viable because um we would want our students to have our teachers in our schools and not have a lottery of who goes to a private prek versus not >> now as we get into a prek conversation years down the road. >> Um that that would probably have to be and most many districts are looking at the private prek district partnership. Um because we would
058tap out in terms of space 100% uh with the with the kindergarten in place. So um >> that's kind that's kind of what we're looking at. >> Yeah. >> In the district where I work, we do have contracts with private preschools, but they have to do our curriculum. Correct. Right. So it's not like those children would have a different curriculum than the children that are going to public here. It would be the same instruction. >> Yep. And that's what the private and that's what the state said we could do with a with a private kindergarten. Um but we are close enough >> that we we don't necessarily need to do that. You know, we we can make it have we can make it work. Then we can take a look at a project to make
059it perfect and then move forward. Um >> and most parents wouldn't want that anyways because the reason they want it because of location they want, >> right? You're in the school. They want their and they want their home school. We can give we can put them in their home school. Yeah. They have other siblings there. They don't want to break it up. They want to be there. Can I ask real quick? What is our cut off date for for kindergarten here? >> I know some schools are October 30th. >> Put me on the spot. I want to say October 1st. >> October 30th. October 30th. October 30th. >> But that also impacts the number of children that you're going to get into. >> I'll look it up. You're catching me. I think it's up. Wouldn't
060that impact the numbers up till then? Then you're going to get >> because my son just made that cut off. But I mean, we're going back a couple years. I used that. >> I'm just curious. >> 31st. >> Or 31. >> 31st. >> 13. >> Yeah, I'll look it up again. >> September to October. >> October 30th. >> 30 days have September. 31st. Honestly, I would say that's something that I would like to say level for them to streamline. >> It's different from like Monroe to >> Marorrow's December 31st versus September 30th. It's different. >> Yeah, it could be. My grandson in Somerset was that 31st and he's October 23rd. >> So, he got in. But you're right. I mean, years ago when my children went, my daughter was July and they were considering then
061that that was even >> young. I mean it has to look at the >> so you got to look at the demographics and the and the child the whole child you know everything there's a lot put into it you know give them the right education at the right time so >> all right we got 10 minutes to >> so just to highlight a few other >> I sorry no that's good no you can move to the next slide >> again this is like a highlights from some of the highlights we'll do at the board meeting um let me see here Yeah, I'm sorry. If you look through your document, you can see we're it's all drafts, but what we've done is these are the what Dr. Layman is presenting is kind of the broadstroke topics
062that and and all of these topics were provided to us through our planning design sessions which many of you have heard of that um and uh so just so everyone have the larger context and and see how it's broken down which as Dr. Landon mentioned we will uh he will be doing in further good stuff. >> Yeah. So, just some quick highlights. We did the high school refresh over the summer for the iPads. We're on a four-year cycle now. Um, it was a tremendous lift from our tech staff. They we got them early enough. They turned them over. All students had them had the opportunity to pick them up, but they had access to them before school started. Uh, we have had historically with the volume of iPads we purchased a very tight window the
063beginning of the school year uh turning them over to the students. So, it was an awesome opportunity. We resold the old ones and got more than we expected. It's a good resale market for the technology right now. So that is a another awesome opportunity. Um the reason we're on a four-year cycle is it the uh the warranty for the insurance is a four-year insurance plan now. So um that helps us longevity wise, battery life-wise. Um, we kept these previous ones an extended year and uh, we had good battery life, but I think we stretched them just about as far as we could get. Um, so this new one with the new batteries and the four-year warranty, uh, screen replacements and things like that is, uh, you know, the way to go. Some other highlights, um,
064we deployed the Genesis, which is our student management system. We employ the employee side of the HR module. That was one of the things we had uh planned to do last year. We implemented it in the spring. Um we released contracts this summer in the in the spring for our staff all through the employee portal. Um we got away from mail merges and PDF documents and hand signing air off inter office mail sign contracts back. So we're moving into the 21st century or the you know the digital world. Um we are moving and we just approved at the last board meeting the uh Genesis payroll. So we're going to transition to the same employee portal uh to the payroll module. So we're going to run this fall parallel payrolls with our current payroll software. And
065the the most important highlight to that is the supplemental work that our staff does whether it's uh after school activities, coaching stipens, um any hourly work they do for us that is uh submitted via paper right now and it goes for hand signatures for multiple people along the way. And the time it takes whether it's summer enrichment or uh school work during a school year, it's submitted to the office. The office signs it, date stamps it. Inner office mails to another office, signs it, dates it, comes to central office, signs it, dates it, and it goes down to payroll. So, it's a time and labor intensive process. The piece outside of the payroll pieces, that will all be done digitally. Now, it'll be passed through uh with email notifications, digital signoffs, digital reviews. So, it'll
066expedite that process. It'll also remove the human error opportunities of manually inputting these hours, these times, these financial uh pieces and it'll all be digitized. Um, and from what I understand, it can also be synced with whether it's manually or automatically synced with the board agenda. So, when we approve staff for certain positions, once the board meeting is processed and completed, those time sheets will then digitally and automatically become available for the staff. they wouldn't necessarily have access to them to um you know unintentionally submit them in advance. They will have access to them once they're approved. Um because with our payroll rules and things like that, we don't pay anything for anyone until they're board approved. So that's another step of manually searching a board agenda for for a board approval date once a
067time sheet is submitted in process. So um this is a massive step in modernizing our payroll department uh who does a phenomenal job. Um but we you know we are long overdue for this. And then the next step would be look at budgeting and purchasing. We are a full year of implementation for payroll. So I would anticipate another solid year before we even get into that budgeting and purchasing software uh connection. But that would be the logical next step. >> Can I have a quick question on that? >> Yep. >> Now it's all in the system. Is anyone auditing that like spot checking from time to time if there's any issues within like numbers and >> Yep. Yep. So that's all embedded in the process. Um and then the human audit also comes from the
068checks along the way. So the first step is always you know the building principal andor the supervisor to verify that that work was completed. Then it moves through the next set of steps and then when it's uploaded and input um there still is the cross-checking and random sampling that would allow them to pick up um any issues and then of course we have our district audit uh annual audit and things like that which further takes a look at that. Um I think that's probably a decent kind of summary over it. There's a ton of projects. You can see that the font is extremely small on the document. But um we did a ton of work last year. We have a lot of stuff uh scheduled for this year. And again um the way we envision
069the update to actually happen is if you if you want to go to go back to slide rate just so we can show you the format of the update and then once we publish this and put it out on the web, you're going to remain. So one, two, three. That bottom right section where we have white, light purple, and dark purple boxes. That's uh research, discovery, partial implementation, and implementing. If you go to the next slide, we take that chart and we build out our progress embedded in that chart. So, that's like a zoomed in big version of um you know, our our general timeline. So, you'll see some of the highlights, what we've done, where we stand, what we're heading towards this coming school year, and then we have spaces in the future to
070continue to build on. we can see historical record of the progress that we've made um and the strategic choice of moving things along and not moving things along. >> And this is this is this this document really isn't designed for the public to be able to read and be like, "Oh, okay. This makes sense, right? Because there's a lot of nuance in here, but what it does is and then if you were and our strategic plan is on the website, you know, when when this is finished, we'll we'll provide an update to the public as well. You can see how this works pulled alongside our strategic plan which we uh designed last year. So this slide was pulled directly from the actual approved strategic plan and this is our update that almost memorializes some of
071the things that we were working on. You will see that in some instances we projected let's say partial implementation or full implementation maybe later on in the year but some of these items we actually actualized ahead of state. Uh so we would indicate that by changing the color here and again this is more of a management project management tool for us in in many aspects as well and it was really healthy for us to go through it uh we promised that we would do this periodically in fact one of our members of the strategic plan uh Mrs. uh SWJ asked specifically for this something like this and then what you can see is we went through and it I thought it was a completely reasonable ask because what it does and I'll jump all the
072way over here. This was really our accountability checklist and and to kind of show where um we are in reference to the plan that we had put forth and here is what we're cooking for this year. Um, you know, strate strategic plans can change. Uh, priorities will shift. Uh, new state mandates will hijack planning from time to time. But the important thing is we I think we use the term northstar for the strategic plan and we are continuing to follow it. >> Uh, and we feel pretty good about things and and I I encourage you all because we're we are coming down. We're done, right? Um, I do have to collect these documents because they're not complete. Um, and they are in draft form. So there may be typos and incorrect there. I hope I
073bet you did. >> I mean the uh So um, >> but the the goal would be to uh to have something ready for the public, but also uh to get some feedback from the committee. Um, is there something maybe that is ambiguous? Is there something that you're not quite sure how this aligns to one of those three goal areas? and maybe I can do or we can do a better job of of making that clear uh to from you guys on your end as as residents. So um so that's that's pretty much it. >> All right, we will get this wrapped up. Um thank you all for coming. Have a great night. Um and we'll see you next month.