001evening everyone this is the March curcular Athletics and people Personnel meeting I have the entire administrative staff here along with board members Mr dner and Sabian Miss Corman is running Miss Al is running running a few minutes late but we have a packed agenda so we will get started with her permission uh first up on the agenda is a curriculum document uh Miss Gasco is yours Algebra 2 please take so the document this time is going to be alra 2 remember last month we did dynamics of alra 2 and I had said there was still one more that was um just had to be treed a little bit um to give you a little bit of background of Algebra 2 it is the continuation of algebra one um the standards for algebra kind of all
002is one shot um the topics that are included in this would be it's it's a lot of different functions it's basically rational functions um irrational complex numbers quadratic functions polinomial radical and inverse um exponential logarithmic it basically does all all of the types of equations and functions that you need to do any type of advanced math going through um it is really the foundation of every other class that you have moving forward um to give you an idea of some of the updates going through um they added in the 2020 career Readiness and like literacy skills um the in terms of the cross curricular it was updated to be 2023 language art standards that we use because they're all word going through um a few standards were included for the 2020 computer science and design
003um we did include some of the science practices the science standards were very very um science oriented in terms of experiments and things like that but we did go through and found some science engineering practices that do include math skills going through with it um and then the the weer which is the the English language development um for the math component of that these are all like mandates of things that they they want in terms of adding through um give you an idea of some of the standards that we use with practices I'm asking questions defining problems it's engineering type of a thought process but it is something that's used in mathematics I'm developing and using models analyzing interpreting data using mathematics and computational thinking um constructing explanations and obtaining and evaluating and communicating information
004so if you think of the Cross connection between science and math these are skills that they can practice as they word prce that will then transfer over when you're doing the Sciences on inent time um in each of the new documents we have added tier two and tier three words in terms of vocabulary vocabulary has always been very strong in the mathematics courses but this is now kind of highlighting it in terms of the crial documents um in terms of the stage two there's been some update assessments and things that just kind of things they've been doing um what's nice that it's very user friendly to the teachers going through because the stage two and the stage three are set for the two teachers years and so we can get very very detailed um stage
005three is where it's really the day-to-day lessons going through and they've updated and made them much more enhanced than they were past um in terms of the changes from 2016 to 2023 standards there were some topics that were extremely extremely Advanced at one time the state thought should be put into the AL 2 they were putting anything and everything into the AL 2 and making it very very compact they've now made several of those they consider them optional Concepts not for an alge or two class but for mathematics as it going through and really what they do is most can transfer over to a preal class um so to give you an I actually did highlight some of those um and you would see going through it would make sense going through it's trigonometric functions
006where it's graphing modeling periodic phenomena was specific to amplitude frequency and midline I that is 100% a pre-op topic radiant measure is not something you would need in an Al class and it's always been F these are things they thought at one time they should be in it but they've now taken them out um pag and identity um which I'm not sure if you know what that means but that would be like sin Square thet plus cosine sare Theta equal one and then all of the identities again 100% pre-cal topic so it's not as if these things are not being taught it's they're not mandated for a graduation and then if you go onto the preac courses you would definitely get those going through um so that's why if you take a look at the
007two documents there have been a few things that have been dwindled out and those are because those were extra things that really didn't get didn't need and they didn't get the type of um the type of time they really need to develop them and it was across the board because you just didn't have time to do that with everything else going through so I'm very happy that the state was very smart in terms of that um and other than that it really was like I said a lot of just adding and enhancing and making things better and then updating to all of the standards and the question the same so are there any questions two quick questions so this is updated for the coming school year or because we so so because the standards of
0082023 we've been we've been doing this anyway because when the standards came out they weren't completely adopted but we knew in 2023 Kelly and I did Dr relle and I didn't in terms of where they were we had a lot of me to the department and we talked about all the changes that they were um you would meet the needs of the standards regardless of the document being totally updated to it but it was a good time to update it um they were truly technically adopted this August before this school year but they call 2020 because that was when they were ready to have through they just have the parts that have been kind of swindled out like you said which not really technically required to graduate from the class so are you guys still
009they were they were just touched on in the past and so now we were talking when we talked two years ago we said the good thing is that these are things that we know are really done and done well in the freeus class you can now spend your time on the things that they have to get down when they have to master um so it definitely is help it and would you remind me we did Dynamics and we did the own algebra to have is the no we did algebra this we Dynamics about we have not done H which is left to update 2023 standard still so the course is updated but the document is not have you know I have probably I don't know the exact number but 23 25 different documents and we
010we update a certain number each year going through so that's not in the plans for this it is not in the plans for this school year um it could be for next school year okay and but it will be updated to 2023 standard because that's the latest the itself will be updated the teachers will be teaching it to the 2023 standards in terms of the document it's we have so many that we do in J okay anybody else any questions comment yeah of course nice job no no concerns no no just a great job because my background is MTH so you know you speak by langage right I just say wow wow read very nicely coming from Mr Z that's sure as the com teachers the Math teachers in the district are very very good
011about knowing what they have to get done and going through and part of it is when you start teaching you're teaching in a tested area and you've never known anything different so there is no option to not finish a curriculum or not teach something going through um they they work very very well together they have their own personality sometimes in terms of how they address things but they do work well in terms of how they they cover things and make sure the final that we have is a department F so which says a lot to it that that means they have all talked and they won't communicate in the end this is what we want going through excellent thank you so much well we have a very exciting update on science M Russ all yours
012good evening everyone um I want to share with you an important update that um we're going to be following in the steps of advanced Ela very excited and um a couple of years ago we were passed um to by Dr chy to try to see if we can bring an advanced Science Program um beginning in the 8th grade so um after looking at various criteria trying to examine how we can best meet those needs for those students um we have a two-phase process that we are going to be engaging in to be able to determine students who would meet eligibility to participate in this program beginning in September of next um phase one criteria would be um based off of a point system using five criteria their map growth score in math their map growth
013score in ela their njsla subscore for reading informational text which obviously is very important for science their current seventh grade science average as well as a a seventh grade Common Assessment that will be given to all students with parents having the opportunity if they do not wish for their student to participate they do not have um we will be each student will be given various numbers of points depending on how they fall Within These five criteria if they meet the um necessary amount of points they will move on to phase two um um phase two will involve two parts a technical writing piece and we are very excited that um we will have a team of teachers from the middle school and myself that will be asking students to engage in our authentic science performance
014task to see how well are they able to actually do science follow directions work as a group um identify different scientific tools all of this will be done by rubric um so we would expect phase one that uh we will be administering that seventh grade Common Assessment towards the end of March phase two we would look at May to be able to start looking at those students who would move on with parents being notified for the following year this summer we will um work on curriculum which eventually we will present to you this is beyond exciting thank you for all the minds that have gone into this and um so you just mentioned March and this like this in the next two three weeks you're going to be administering phase one correct and phase one
015is for all students phase one is for all students um I do want to give the public service announcement now because I know it's the question that everyone's going to get yes we will be sending a letter home to all parents but it is very important that for this seventh grade science Common Assessment there is no way to spend for it it is not something that we you can say all you want we're really just looking to see how do students perform on critical thinking and um even engaging with material that they might see in a new way that they haven't necessarily seen in their classroom presented in that exact manner um this will be done via the link it um assessment system it will be on computers um and again all students are open
016to test we will be following all necessary testing accommodations that students have so parents don't need to worry about that such as extra time all of that is built into this if a parent does however not show an interest that they want their child to participate in the assessment they can opt out of it no it's it's very important important um and I know that despite all the PSAs people will still be scrambling to there's not enough time I got a study but what this program really in my understanding is doing is meeting some of those High Caliber students where they are it's not to ask people you know is to address the the need and the opportunity and which is great so and that leads me to my question what is this going to
017look like in 8th grade um I did ask Dr Layman that but for the public nature of this I would like to so we will still be meeting all of the 8th grade science standards however the approach of how we will be meeting them will be slightly different in that um it will involve some more um highlevel critical thinking skills students really need to be able to be independent thinkers um these are some of the you know skills that we really look for especially as we progress up through honors and AP programs so we're really looking for those students who um Can let's say think about uh an experiment and say you know what what if I tried it this way or look at data and be able to put it together and synthesize it
018um on a very high level so we will still be teaching about cells but perhaps we looking at a holistic situation where those students are then analyzing um a uh particular disease and how that all relates um again this is stuff that all of our students are exposed to it's just the product that we're looking for at the end that will be slightly different and they won't be pulled out students anybody else has any question for Miss rust I'd like to just make a comment oh absolutely so I want I want to thank Miss rust and appropriately I want to say the same thank you to Dr Roselle so about three or four years ago when I first took on this position one of the things I was very passionate about was that we needed
019to have a talented and gifted program which is what we called it or the acceleration for all content areas we've had mathematics as far as the accelerated program for many many many years and I always thought what about the other areas and we always told it couldn't be done it couldn't be done well it can be done and I want to thank um like I said Dr Ro Rosel started out I was very excited about the advanced Ela didn't know what it was going to look like fantastic job it's now on its third year second year second year and then um M Jess and I had spoken quite a few times and all we kept on saying was that and plus Dr Layman was involved because saying what's going to look like she's like you
020got to give me time I'm not really sure we have to see how this works and she did it we had a meeting about it last week very excited I think this is awesome because as the public should know but I will say it aloud the reason why I didn't compliment Miss Gasco she's already complimented because it's been here forever so miss Gasco we've had accelerated math for many many years I believe it starts in the fifth grade yes starts in the fifth grade and it's something we've always had I never understood why we didn't have F content areas and then when we looked at the tal and gifted as per the state of New Jersey it really should be within the school day it should not be separate after school so it's one of
021the things we did so I want to say thank you to everyone um because I know success is a team effort and uh I'm very excited very excited just want to say one more quick thing I just again want to reiterate um students are going to be exposed to the same material really looking for our students who are prepared to go deeper um and have that prerequisite skills to be able to do so um and that's really what we're looking for and it's okay if they don't and it's okay if they wind up in the regular science class and that's all right and yes you cannot study nor should you be asking your child to study because that is not the point of of really looking at the VAR children um and you guys have
022really poed this through and this is uh this is very exciting but I like you said the parent communication probably going on soon that's going to be a key part of trying to control the chaos which comes with anything new that we try to introduce in our school system there are people that are going to be super excited there are people that are going to have a million questions so if we can proactively address that with a good piece of communication up front that checks all the boxes of information that would great and you know as always we will encourage parents to watch this meeting to hear you in person person um and uh good luck um this is you know great thing they're coming here I personally have been that parent that has pulled
023out my kids from tag in middle school because I didn't want to punish them by you know having them stay after school and Miss Sports and clubs and other things um so after having shut that down you're now actually starting great programs within the school day yes Mr u m thank you B uh just to with regards to parent communication so all Communications that get sent by the supervisors regarding these types of programs um whether they be the informational videos for Accelerated map or Dr rosell's videos for advanced CLA or cluster or anything like that there is a dedicated space on our web on our website now so the material that uh Mr us will produce will be memorialized in that location which is under the uh uh curriculum tab on our website and there's
024a dedicated space for gifted and talented services so in addition to the correspondence which will be mail um they will be fettled there so you can go back for a future me excellent thank you so much for that mral um again exciting the progress that we've made with even the web uh next on the agenda oh I'm sorry Mr Ross are you done I am done H is um High School clubs Dr pla your it's all yours thank you hello everyone um so we're going to present uh three new clubs for the board's consideration before I do that I'd be remiss not to go over just a little bit of History um so we had an old system um Dr chandley and a prior board um shared some concerns with Dr Higgins and I and
025we decided to change the system under the old system we had two primary problems one of which was when to or how to budget for clubs if budget I'm sorry if Club applications were coming in on an on rolling basis so they' come in throughout the school year and it was really hard to um figure out what we needed budgetarily if for those clubs they were approved the second was the old system really didn't go into too much Deck when it came to information what the club was going to do its Mission its goal how would they you know have meetings what types of things they would do during the meeting so we took a look at it um that's the old application Dr enss and I sat down and we came up with a
026new kind of new scheme um just to be brief uh we kind of figured out the budget situation by having a window of application window of application for new clubs begins in September and ends the day before winter break so kids would submit their applications back then it was a paper and pencil kind of application we've since made it a Google doc uh which is time stamped it's typed it's easily legible um kids would then fill out the application that's the second second problem we were dealing with we made the application a little bit more detailed as to what the club really what the essence of it was because a lot of times sometimes kids have this great idea but they don't sit down and really think it through us what is it going to
027look like what are we going to do what kind of difference are we going to make in the school community so we fixed that applications to include some of these questions which go into some of the ideas I just mentioned any questions with regards to the old system or new system okay so this year we received 18 applications um this is all of the these are all the applications we received this year um next slide is applications we did not want to push or uh bring to your attention but again I want to make sure that we have transparency here and these are the clubs that were proposed the F the first three are a little bit different than the rest on this page the from reso down to future cities of the high school
028those particular clubs can be addressed within our existing club uh infrastructure we have about 60 clubs right now at the school so it's really hard to find something that we really that's a little different than what we already have so the first three though we're interesting the first one being the Alumni network Dr and I are going to look a little bit more into that talk to the board um at a later date about maybe some budgetary options um because I think it's something that would uh really help out our school Community uh with regard to Bringing alumni back uh for purpose of scholarships uh internships just guest speakers uh Role Models I mean there's always a need for the alumni to come back and and contribute um American sign langine which is the second
029one we're going to reevaluate that when we bring it into our curriculum I think that's another great one that we can have another I'm not sure if that would be under new Dr resel but we'll have to say it Y and then the third one I've been talking to Mr Snyder about the indor procussion that's something that we're also going to do but through the music program and not so much through the clubs this next slide is has a bunch of clubs on it that didn't have an advisor so the kids were very excited to um to propose these clubs um but for one reason or another they weren't able to find an adviser the high school Republicans had an advisor early on I believe that young gentleman was here uh uh and stating his
030views that person that was supposed to do it backed out um he couldn't find anyone else so he said he was going to try to apply again next year school a shame so these are the three we would like um committee to consider uh there's two religious based organizations and third is more of ethnic Rel U organization um the Copic Club as well as the Hindu stud Association as everyone knows we have a very large cic community in and around this area as well as the Hindu Community students want these clubs again to um just have a place where they can talk about their faith as well as other people of other faiths coming to these clubs to learn a little bit about it um not many people know too much about Copic religion for
031example so they might want to attend that uh particular group um just to just to sit down and just Happ questions ask um we have a sick Community uh organization we have a Christian organization we have an Islam uh we have a Jewish organization so we want to make sure that everyone feels that you know they were represented and they have a forum to you know just to celebrate their their who they are and backs are okay the third again very similar um it's an ethnic based Club here at the school it's going to be headed up by one of our teachers Mr Alo um he's was really pushing this we have a pretty decent size Filipino um you know uh number of students here at the school and they really wanted this uh they
032were hoping to get it in October because that is the Filipino pride month so assuming it does get passed they'll be able to do so on a probationary um any question with regards to the clubs we are not uh pushing forward and clubs we are the AI Club you couldn't find an advisor couldn't find an advisor what was the goal of that and that was another another thing for we I wasn't quite sure they were they wanted to just discuss Ai and and kind of uh I guess have different guest speakers speak about it and I referen them to the Computer Club our computer club's pretty good it kind of adapts to the kids needs one year they're very code focused another year they're very gaming focused and then he's kind of branched out and
033has different sections within the club for different kids interests because Computer Club obviously many different things that go into it there was one year where they were really into the hardware aspect of it so it's kind of it's kind of changed that club does exist a computer and you're right then this could easily fall in that yeah all right move on um CL removed so we're adding three we're removing four um the American Legion or hori I've been discussing that in this dress that we're thinking about possibly creating a Lason who would kind of oversee this it would not only be the oratorical also be the boys and girls uh State programs so that's a really big undertaking we're hoping that we can possibly find a teacher who can work with our uh our local
034um American Legions in that respect because the American Legion roral we typically get maybe two or three kids at most two three was a lot to participate in this program so it was hard to justify you know continuing the sipon in that sense um photography is very similar um it's kind of I mean everyone has a phone now so the kids can just I mean in that way yes you could do something but there's not the same interest as it once was so that's something that's going to be uh disbanded G straight Alliance and peace ambassadors traditionally and historically have always been connected um that goes back to the original um adviser who found it both at the same time so she would have one meeting and then the next day would have the next
035meeting and sometimes she would bring the kids together to do different events and that kind since she's left those two advisors kind of do everything together but the clubs are so small that we've decided to um consolidate them and we wanted with the board's approved call this new club the peace and pride Alliance it kind of takes a little aspect from each of those clubs and brings them together they have very similar kind of missions um so we're hoping that can happen uh the third the fourth one I'm sorry the entrepreneurship there was no advisor this year and the club kind of died a natural Dem so unfortunately I mean anybody surprised like we've got so many kids taking these business passes and they're pulling those nobody wants to do this I think with fbl
036and and these all are old and what is that program is that honor it's an honor marketing class is that we're so heavily um involved in curriculum with this that students do something else at their scen they don't that they're doing photography club our photography program curricular is they don't want to do photography if they're doing it that makes sense so so you you see the things that they're um they're looking to do after school are those IDs they can't get during the day this speaks volumes to the opportunity that we've added into a curriculum that these are not needed um after that's great and for clity I'm sorry Mr CL um so for example to follow on what Dr Higgins just pointed out with the EIC or entrepreneurship and inovation cl the opportunities that
037that or Club presented will still be available through the onx course um which is still with the in our course you know when depending on student recommendations and I'm sorry student requests and things like that so that CL that course and those opportunities that that program brought are still available to students that they enroll in that course excellent just have one last slide um these this club is going to be on probation uh for the next uh school year it's a family career and Community leaders of America the only reason we'd like to put this on um well two reasons one of which there the attendance isn't that great and they have really been competing in the last few years and the purpose of the club is you know smal the know he was one
038of the first proponents of this club they would go and compete every year and they would we would do really well um we've since lost that advisor and we're trying to get this new advisor you know kind of up to speed with that it's been kind of difficult um because we don't have the same kind of student b as we once did and and to to that club in relationship to our programs Evolution so if I can give you an example one of the big big draws from that club was it offered um some competition for our students in our culinary program oh I was however we would go down there but it would be very so what we do here using G dooves and and restaurant equipment they would go to like a hotel
039lobby and like do like pling so which is still VI viable experiences but again our curricular programs are offering more experien they go get more action preparing for the future reception they would now there are still other benefits that that the FCCLA offers in other areas but from Monroe's perspective the big drug always been the culinary and the fashion aspect which our programs kind of outpaced what that club was offering for the Monro learner and I think that that really impacted the draw of and the appeal and shine of that one to the mon student so are students in the culinary or the passion classes are they through the courses in school are they taking part in any competition that are worthy of their SC fact so not so much as as we as we
040used to um and I think part of that has become that those areas have become less hobby is if that's a word and really more career focused and and and whereas the approach to let's say The Culinary sequence and and the state deserves really the credit for this because they guided this may the office of where te education whereas like where fashion maybe in the 1990s was more like hey that sounds fun whereas now it's more like I'm going to take this course for three years in a row because I want to go that much or I you know we just Dr ens and I were just celebrating that I think we had like 154 students certified with Sur certification through culinary sh program which is an industry level certification that you need to work
041in kitchen you know so our students are finding they they seem to be more interest than that um and that and you see that through their participation and enrollment in FCCLA which I wish there was a way for both of them we have looked at like skills USA which is an alternative to that um which is often in other districts but you know again these club or Mr pointed out are really student driven and we've been pretty responsive if they want something so if they come calling we'll probably come up with something all good reasons for these things now that's so far except for the two that didn't find an adviser but most of all yeah it's getting tougher and tougher because the teachers there's not many teachers are you know we have left some
042so many are advising or coaching right now it's kind of hard for the kids to find someone but we do have so many different opportunities pre-existing right now that people will find their way and en able to you know find someone and other folks just like them share their interest so are there any questions yeah how these clubs funded do they just fundraise themselves so at so depending on what they're trying to do so let's say they would can use um let's say the sccl if they want to fundraise we have a whole system in place um for applying for a fundraiser then uh stock workings and I have to look at that particular proposal um and then any monies that are raised are you know then U deposited within our our you know in
043our in our in our student Student Activities account so um there's a bunch of different check box that they have to do in order to do it but even the fundraising approval form they have to tell us what they're doing it for typically we see scholarships it could be to fund rate for a trip somewhere um things of those nature so what about if they need funds to start up the club is that available to them it it typically isn't um and we don't really have too many that that need it and if there are what we ask is that we know this and then we can try to budget for it um one of the on the list was the Science Olympiad M dress and I sat down we're thinking about trying to get
044some funding for it for the upcoming school year but the kids never came through with an advisor so we didn't push push it through had they kept had they had that advisor in place we would have Bud that particular Club needs some you know start off cost because they have to you know buy all these materials in order to compete in that sense because the comp club and some of the clubs also have DS Mr Dr hiin also reminded me of that okay yeah the confy club is um is indicating uh they need to loan out money to purchase food and floing which we will sell which is I mean the clubs are great they're wonderful the money that we will borrow be returned back to the school yeah that's that yeah you might you
045might yeah can't foret it's just students um a lot of time students are filling these out they take great pride in it because a lot of times it's their first fourway education so they'll come down periodically and check have you present it to the board have you present it so they're very they're they're they're Ved and um and it's good and it's a learning experience for them but they soon realize that there's a lot of things they have to do before it's done the correct way um so like I said it's a good experience forever that says yeah absolutely thank you you're welcome can I just make one comment yeah absolutely Mr Kella um I know it's not it's not feasible now but perhaps maybe the following year if you could um if if the
046children come forward to go into sence Olympiad Olympiad it's something that I started in the middle school and it's extremely um successful they go and they compete and they have a they have a lot of opportunities the children have a lot of opportunities I don't know if it would be feasible depending on the schedule if you wanted to work with Dr Higgins if you could get someone who'd be willing to be an adviser in the high school from the middle school if they had like to say the last period as a prep they might be able to do that only because it's such an incredible program it's something that was started uh I guess maybe seven years ago it's a great opportunity because they do it at the middle school and they have success with
047it so when you see a competitive um Club that's successful at the middle school it's great when you see it at the high school we want it making it we removed it from the club area and put it into um because all clubs also are mandated by child interest but we went ahead and changed it to somewhere in the contract where it's separate almost like builder's club so it becomes a stip in versus a club advisor got it so it's if you wanted to chat about it just because it's so successful Middle School we feed up they feed up so why not look at that and that the reason was the advisor right here that was reason so that maybe you could work something out you never know I I think it's a little tough
048because um for that particular Club there is a big uh time investment it's a lot of travel yes travel on the high school level it might be a looks a little bit different than the Middle School um so people were kind of a little apprehensive about taking that particular position but you might have someone who's already an adviser at the middle school of course not double dipping on a different day or a different time that's already used to that because they also do the travel middle school and you know we always try and you know we work this way so you always try and work it out you never know they might have a prep at the last period of the day when we should be your last class when your school ends no you
049don't know M farmers are uh math Honor Society person so like we're definitely open to that possibility absolutely that'd be great so but I was you're in high school that we have uh three kids that are really pushing for it here um they really want it uh I think one is a senior going to be senior next year so she really wanted it but I'm sure it's something that's already at the middle school will continuously have this inquiry and question about it to start a club you need 30 signatures 30 interested but once the club is running then it's whoever enrols exactly but right now we do have science leads that's our oldest Club here at school um and that's again they compete against other schools and that's higher level I mean these are you
050know they're going physics AB is going against other physics AB kids and it's really High LEL science and they're very successful yeah yeah so there you go so push them in that direction that's what I've been doing yeah and I feel bad they're really they really wanted this club but we just didn't they didn't get they didn't get the advisor what is the total count of clubs after these three are approved and those four are it's about 60 this work yeah 60 yeah I have to say that I was my first year on the board was the old process and then yep so this is fabulous in you know the the care earlier where we would we were doing a lot of asking of questions that is now right on your form it's easy to
051read through and get those answers and our job is easier we can do it all in one meeting so this is definitely a a huge you know Improvement in the process and the and the students are also learning to stick to you know the window it's it's a life lesson for them that that the and we will continue working with you and Dr Chanley and other things that you might want to see we can definitely put on that they did a great job only the only thing that I feel about this process is a lot of times these kids wake up in their senior year and want to do something leadership related well that timeline doesn't suit them they have to act in the junior year to get that club up and functional while they're
052seniors right I'm sorry we also we've we found that a couple years ago to be almost problematic because when you in the old process you had people saying I want this club I want this club they would start it and I'm the president of this club and then never meet but they would have that on their resume I'm the president this that out the process that we put in place um actually makes it meaningful and and adds to the longevity of those clubs for future students yes yes agree agree I think all in all this has been a great Improvement to the process I do want if you don't mind um I would just like to recognize and acknowledge uh Mr Kella and the work that he does in this school for our clubs um
053he is the advisor the advisor advisor for our clubs here at the high school and this is not just a process that he does every March you should see him running around the clipboard on Tuesdays taking attendance on what clubs are there and how many kids are in there so he does a really good job for us and I just want to acknowledge the work that he does thank you thank you Mr but 60 club it could not be easy and given the kind of you know the excitement and really it's a positive part of my big positive part of my day de know with many different issues all dayrat all celebrating stuff this is kids doing great stuff this is a good problem that you have problem well thank you this is definitely a
054good part of our um work also approving these stuff so I I do nobody has any issues with the three clubs that we are approving tonight um congratulations to all the students that put the application in and gave the um you know have the advisor supporting them I always say that you're in charge of everything but I did have one but I I just put it on the call all right so um that was it about the clubs um like I said congratulations to the three clubs that were approved tonight moving on we have the summer programming update Mr morala it'll be you just mral mral start and then we can have okay sure uh just a very brief update um uh we've spent uh the early part of the the latter Parts I should
055say of the winter preparing for our newest initiative which is uh our summer advancement program uh which Miss gatco and I have designed uh and we have um had tremendous response as expected um we have pre-approved um up through our capacity um which we are able to to hold and at this point we are just giving on those families the opportunity to kind of sh up their plans but um we've been appreciative of the way that the um the community has been following M gasco's very strict protocols receiving uh pre-approval and we are very excited uh we have we are well over 80% at capacity and so we are excited about that what that really means for us um you know not just Enrichment Services as as an initiative but also it means that you
056know it's a clear wind for the district and the community and our teachers and we are staff we excited about that with plenty of time uh to make sure that this is very um a very worthwhile and valuable experience know and this is very important to remind you know this is if if this doesn't get uh delivered with you know that we're setting ourselves up for a challenge so the expectations for these uh teachers Math teachers is to conduct a very rigorous uh and and accountable experience and we're looking forward to that uh we're goingon to get started uh pretty early in the uh in the summer ask you a questions one I I have no doubt that the teachers are going to just do gr and the students do what is the price point
057that we did decide on this the price point we settled on was $1,750 that's an excellent press point we're very we're very happy with that um and we put a lot of thought into that uh and you know out of respect for for the community but also we wanted to make sure that we are able to deliver this program properly and that we are able to out of respect to the uh the district and to the business operations not um bring any Financial liability dist it's the same approach we take so it's a win-win yes and and while these programs and motivation for programs are not financially driven uh the fact that they do bring in Revenue allows us to engage in this type of programmatic development which in a zerob based bu budget mindset
058that we've been in since I've been here um this is very important for us to maintain our Competitive Edge as a district uh and the success of these touch programs um while obviously our number one priority is is to deliver that academic experience that gives our kids an advantage that fact that they do so without any Financial liability to the district is is I think some is a principle of practice that I think is going to stick with public education indefinitely moving forward and we need to prepare ourselves for that and in these tough times with inflationary rates that are going to be unmanageable um particularly as programs become more complex and more expensive and the services assigned a lot of times unfunded mandates are going to put our creative abilities in serious Jeopardy so
059these types of programs are very are are very um critical so much though that we've been receiving several inquiries from outside districts for how we are doing it and how they could adopt our model in moving forward so they could follow suit um which is tremendous conf obviously um in addition uned mandate either no unfunded mandate we don't like them we and and it let be clear unfunded every time there's an unfunded mandate that this District needs to adhere to the opportunity C is is something new um whether it be refining something that we already have bringing it up to speed whether you know with through a new text series or a new curriculum design project or implementing new technologies or infrastructure you know every and as we know the state is not sensitive to
060how that impacts mon specifically so these programs not only do they give our kids an edge because we hire certified teachers um exclusively 100% always come out of the mcda as well which is important to know don't subcontract anything um and we adhere to our own curriculum and and we train our staff to make sure that these programs are worthwhile if we're going to collect money from our parents we're going to make sure that they get their mone's worth um which is nice Segway uh to the other two programs that I've G live so far this winter which is the Falcons n Summer Academy which is already at 70% capacity um and again that is a $800 price point for a full summer of 3K enrichment and it's not daycare enrichmond I want to be
061clear with that um we've also launched our K2 program which just went live a few days ago we've had some enrollments we haven't really promoted it yet but we're we're confident that that is going to be um another popular um option for our parents and guardians of community uh these programs um offer a staff discount uh to any staff member in the distri in the district which is a nice give back to our community or our staff um and then I should report that our full body of courses to the rest of our students grades three through 8th grade uh will go live within the next couple days on our website uh which is separate from our our current website mtfd so that is our summer update um and uh we're excited this is our
062quick year to so for the uh Falcon nest and the kindergarten through second grade enrichment programs are we opening up outside our district I know that we're allowing our staff member children to come but besides that um we will uh we we have kind of a exclusivity period to our residents we may 15 um that doesn't apply to our staff obviously no um and we are we are honoring any Jamesburg resids um that want to come within that exclusive right okay and we met you met we met with James BG I know you're probably talk about this next week but we met with James BG a few few days go make sure that they were fully breed in these opportuni and and we are advertising for these programs through our schools uh fers through school
063so so far I've I've done uh a little social media presence uh some direct Blackboard mail and the principals have been popping it in the new okay than than any questions for Mr nalo no well thank you Mr Nala so uh we can have Mr Ron and Mr R kind of give an update on our esy program other summer programming so our esy program this year is going to go from July 7th to August 7th again we're going to have it run out of the high school and o elementary school again um and we'll be operating the same hours as we did last year so 8 to one at um the high 8 to2 at the high school 921 at Oak Tree Elementary so it makes it very convenient for our transportation and last year
064Mr morala was kind enough to send some of his stem teachers into our classrooms and allow them to teach our students lessons so we're happy that we're going to get to continue that partnership and um new supervisor yes we have a new supervisor coming sorry so right so be mov to the to the high school and our supervisor coming on board April will be working in the elementary so that's well we'll be able to come so no major changes compared to last year on in the everything went very gr it was a nice Groove last year every year we get better at assimilating the two groups together so last year we set up the school the the esy students joined us in setting up our school stor um and we unfortunately the high school esls
065get a little bit more because of the facility but it is more age approach like so for example we can bring them into the kitchen we can bring them into the art room um which they can do at Oak Tree they just don't get the kitchen and they don't have those types of things but we do our best to make them feel like they're part of everything that's going on in a productive way and uh we're excited to have M at the high school so she can join the party excellent any questions on the esy program I guess we are on to the last item on the agenda Dr hi thank you for joining us tonight um I'm excited to go for this presentation thank you so uh you all have the presentation in packet
066FR of you just a programming note if you don't need it can you hand it back to me when we're done because I got to do this presentation again at 8 o' um so uh this is a continuing conversation that we began I believe in December uh when we brought the uh convers the questions and the conversations about the honoring pupil achievement U policy and regulation since that time there has been ancillary conversations there have been comments there have been questions by the public and by the board which which is totally normal um and looking and taking a deeper dive into that policy that regulation kind of brought up some more questions about other policies and other regulations so uh in speaking with Dr Chanley and speaking with uh Dr Leman um there are a
067couple of things that we would like to make a recommendation or I would like to make a recommendation to our policy committee and our board to update some of these regulations uh I will stipulate that this is from a high school perspective I know that we when we looked at these regulations at the last time there was a lot of questions about different levels within the district I can only speak for um what we do at the high school what we would like to do at the high school uh and where we we think changes need to be made um so the the first topic that we look at is that uh policy 5440 which is encompassing honoring pupil achievement um the policy which is which is fairly short really only has three tenants in
068it um that provide direction for the administration and the staff um the board will recognize outstanding students um and that really is grade level appropriate honor role principles list Etc uh the board will maintain membership in the National Honor Society which we do uh and they will follow the guidelines that the organiz the organization the National Organization selects which we uh we follow guidelines but we adapt those guidelines within our school which we'll talk about a little bit later uh and that each graduating class will have a validator and a salutatorian uh and uh which we do and those uh those students were actually just told uh that they were going to beator andat ini halfway through the year they were very happy they knew it they always let me tell you something the first
069time in a very long time there was a major gap between one two and three usually it comes down to like T of a point this one was a whole point uh maybe even more so but very impressive um the the students are very impressive they have uh a very bright future ahead of them so uh I'm looking forward to working with them in their speeches towards the end uh so we move to the regulation for honoring achievement this is kind of where we got into the discussion uh this is was brought to our attention by a parent over the the summer last year and I think investigating looking at the wording in this regulation uh since that time we discovered and it was my opinion which I brought to the committee that uh we
070I believe the regulation is incorrect since that time we've talked we've realized that there may have been some updates maybe that were either partially done or that were just templates from stra ese that don't necessarily reflect what the school has done for the last 17 years um as far as honoring pupil achievement um this is highlighted on the on the presentation because uh it is taken directly from what the current regulation says and if you read that uh to be eligible for the honor role it does start with pupils in grades 5 through 8 must achieve an overall average of 85 in all of the courses taken during the regularly scheduled school day only one course may have a grade in the 75% to 79 range students in Grade 9 through 12 which is where
071the high school begins must meet all of that criteria uh for all courses eligible in the high school credit this may include courses taken outside of the regular school day if a student receives a grade less than 75% or if more than one gr is in 75 to 79 range then the student is not eligible for the my point here is that it's very wory right there's a lot going on in there there's there's nothing that actually talks about the percentages between 80 and 85 um and then if you looked at the way our grades are levied at the high school you can see and that is regulation 2724 just uh as a footnote um there's no 855 even indicated so the correlation between a lot of our regulations are are kind of off which
072is which is what I'm discovering as I'm looking at this um as deeper the other thing with the honor rooll and then I'll look we can look at the next slide too which is principal list which is where we we get into more questions um the eligible for principal list the student in grades 5 through eight again um must attain a grade of at least 90% in every course that they are taking during the regularly scheduled school day students in Grade 9 through 12 must meet that I career criteria in all courses eligible for high school credit this may include courses taken outside of the regular day there's an additional stipulation in there that a grade of 85 or better in an honors course will also qualify for principal list now this is a specific
073caveat in that regulation where I think we kind of got skewed in our discussion is we started to throw the word weighted in there none of this has to do with weighted grades weighted grades and I'll get into that when we talk about class rank weighted grades are calculated when a student gets to senior year and we calculate GPA for class right and if you look at the regulation policy that's the only time it's calculated honor role and principles list are based on marking period grades only and Market period grades are not weighted if a student in whatever level class they have whether it is College Prep honors or AP if they earn an 85 and 885 goes on the report bar when they graduate that 85 in an AP class is weighted to a
07495 for the GPA and that's the only time that happens so if you get an 85 in a class it goes on your your report card is an 85 so this part the the caveat of a grade of 85 or better in honors courses is not something that is practiced at the high school we have never practiced this in the 17 years that we've been honoring these my fault um there have been comments that that the high school's looking to take things away from students we're not looking to take away anything it's it's the same thing that has been for every student for the last 17 years yes it it is not congruent with what is in the regulation if we follow the regulation to the letter of what it says that means honor Ro
075student students on the principal list in honors classes would get an advantage over students in AP classes because AP is not even referred to in this what we've discovered there was a couple of comments that maybe we didn't have enough AP classes at the time at the time that this was turned over 2008 2009 we had 19 AP courses in so it was pretty significant what we have determined or what we think happened was an update to this regulation was the template from stra smme and that's how it's written in the template from stra estimate even though the school did it differently or does it differently okay so I do have a couple of questions there why is it written different than you know it's written different than honors I think honors is very very
076wordy um the way it's written I understand why it's written that way but I think it could be written a little bit more simpler um and I I really think that we need to remove that term weighted out of all of this discussion because it's not even in there yet we kind of inserted that into the discussion uh if you look at the next slide I do have recommendations for the high school that would go through I'm guessing we go to I just want to repeat one thing I think it's important can you repeat that the per marking period grades well I'm repeating it for you the marking period grades that is utilized that are utilized for honoral and principal list are not weighted that's correct I just want to make that because I think
077a lot of people they're not waited wait no right% right so then when we look at the 85% that brings in the conversation of waiting because that's a form of waiting right formal but not technically but yes it's some sort so I think as you continue on and and then of course we'll have the conversation but I also want to say because I know statements are thrown around constantly about us not following policy to the best of our ability we follow all policy and regulations if a policy or regulation for whatever reason has not been followed we would not know we are not following it because in the words of our attorney who spoke with me we have hundreds and hundreds of not thousands of policies and we are always looking to do what is
078appropriate and follow the policy if something got by in the last 17 years which means the last eight to nine superintendents were not following this policy with no intent there was no intent or malice of forethought it was something we didn't know we didn't know we were doing it until it was brought up I just wanted to make that statement because the last so and in addition to that um I totally agree addition to that um policy is also something that is learned it's almost a learned behavior uh there are hundreds of policies as a vice principal in this school for 11 years you learn policies in the way they are and then five years after you become the principal you learn that maybe there's something slightly off on that thank you we don't in
079I I did not get this job and inspect every policy word for word no and then we we kind of learn as we go along um I will show you that in the next couple slides there's another regulation that we don't follow 100% that I would also recommend to the policy commit committee that the change um that would actually benefit uh the student body and and the school as a whole um but on this slide would be my recommendation to the policy committee uh it is what is current practice at this high school and is in step with other schools in the district I do have a link um that I can show to you if you want uh it's it's it's kind of rudimentary about what other schools uh do in our surrounding areas
080but my recommendation would be for the honor rooll at the high school and and this is the high school students in Grade 9 through 12 must achieve an average of overall 85% it's the way it is right now one grade can fall between 75 and 79 the reason for that is if you have someone that has all 90s and they were they have 790s and they have 179 that student could still get into the honor rooll because their average would be over 85 um so it is giving back a little bit in that area the principal list uh and this is the way we do it in every school that I've talked to in Middle sex and MMO County does it the same exact way if they have a principal list there's a couple schools
081that don't even have a principal list students in grades 9 through 12 must achieve an average of 90% all grades must be 90 or higher um and that is based upon marking period grades which are not waiting which which I explaining before um there are a couple schools that I talked to that do not do any of this they don't rank their students they don't publish rank they don't honor students with honor roles or principal lists or those are kind of outliers um most of the schools that do do all of this and yes I know I just said D sorry um the ones that do this uh they all follow this principal list um with the exception of one school that this is actually their honor role their honor role is 90 above and
082principal list they have to be nominated to actually be on the principl that's different which is something I really don't want to talk about but uh that was that this was my recommendation originally um it continues to be my recommendation um obviously whatever happens the regulation that is in there right now needs needs to be addressed because 100% even if even if this recommendation is not followed the way it's written right now if it's just so chopped up and the policy committee will be working on it but I have a question for you at this point based on what you're recommending and what is worded right now in the policy right if you go back to that page um you actually have the policy in that pack F sorry I'm sorry I left the Poli
083already happen yeah so the the way it is currently it says honors classes 85 and over should be in the principal's list and it's not being done that way in the high school I'm not talking about waited because I know that takes an extra effort to do that calculation every Maring period but for the kids taking AP in honors we are making that concession in Elementary in middle school where they're getting the credit for taking a hard harder rigor class I want to understand and I know I've heard it all schools are doing it this way MH but what is wrong in giving the benefit of that harder rigor to those children that are taking AP in honors to get them in the principal list at 85 I'm not talking waight I'm talking you know
084the the actual hole number 85 so what's wrong with that I I can give you I we can talk about my perspective for for many for many hours all right and it's this perspective of taking a class to learn or taking a class for a number or a grade are are students taking a class because they know at the end that they can get an 80 and it's going to be a 90 are they taking a class just so they can get a bump and get on a principal's list and that's going to go on an application to or are they taking an honors level class because that is where they're rning a CLE thank you or they're taking an AP class because that's where their learning abilities lie and in the same respect in
085the same respect we this is one of the reasons why we've made so many adjustments to to our waiver program is because you have students that are getting in over their head you have students that are taking these higher level classes for maybe extr extrinsic reasons instead of intrinsic reasons and they are falling on their face right they are getting into problems which then we talk about even mental health aspects of them um so I do understand where where your perspective comes from and I and and it's definitely a conversation like I said this is a recommendation um but if if you have a student who is taking an honors level class they should be able to do honors level work and if you have a student that's taken an AP class so on and
086so forth well I understand what you're saying and I you know I am also with you on the whole process that we put in on the waiver because you're right the extrinsic and intrinsic factors are are important and and hopefully all of these kids taking these higher riger classes now are ones that are capable of taking it and have the teacher recommendation to take it now we only have a few outliers that will wave in these classes as a parent when I've been in the in the back to school night the expectation is set straight don't expect your child to get a n those the things that are said at back to school night Dr Higgins by teachers and I don't have any respect for the teacher I get it the the child is taking
087a high riger class the child is probably used to getting hundreds all this time but now you're taking a class where it's not so easy to get 100 you're probably not going to get a 100 but you're learning harder material so that's the other aspect of looking at this I understand what you said but this is the other aspect where they're working harder learning harder material and it's probably not going that kid was getting a 100 in ela but it's probably going to get an 89 or 90 but the kid is not going to make the principles this versus the friend that took the ELA class is going to make the principle I feel I feel like there's when you talk about mental health I I would look at it this way that you know
088what we're having a negative impact I I totally agree with that number one no teacher should ever say that in right so we in our buildings I remember when I was a teacher I would tell kids that they were going to write until their hands fell off and you know they would get scared about taking your class um back they're they're prepping their kids for hard work yep I I I I understand what you're saying I do agree with what you're saying I think we also when we're talking about these regulations we also have to think about the masses of students and not just specific individual cases um and if if someone is to your specific point right if you have one kid whose friend is getting a grade and not getting a grade in
089the different talking about very specific cases no I'm I'm trying to make a broad case here I'm not talking about one or two people I'm talking about the larger majority you know while we our report cards are mocking period mocking period whole numbers these kids start doing weighted averages you just said right they knew this we found out today they've known this since junior year that they valid they're you know ramping up to be they're only looking at the rated number right and all of those students are in honors and AP classes because I would never be able to figure it out when all of these honors and ab are just looking at their R so there's there's another aspect to this too um and I know that it's been talked about before and it's
090kind of an uncomfortable aspect to talk about um by and I don't I'm going to use terminology that's probably not um PC enough but when you have a program that you kind of start watering down then the program does not look like it should uh you can talk to um counselors from the college level and they're looking at the classes you take honors AP they're looking at the grades that you get in those classes they're not necessarily they're not looking at weighted grades they're not looking at principal's list they're not looking at honorable so when you get an application from a student you've been on the principal's list for seven semesters and you have a bunch of 80s someone's going to look at that and say well either the kids lying or the school's not
091that tough so there is another aspect to that and I know it's an uncomfortable aspect to talk about no it's it's a good but that is definitely an aspect when I say something like this is what the other high schools do I don't necessarily think that we should do what everybody else does a matter of fact I am a firm believer that high school should be looking at us to say this is what Monroe does however the reason why other schools do it that way is for a specific reason because when these students are going to college this is what those acceptances are being looked at so there is definitely that aspect I wouldn't I wouldn't think of it as watering now but I get your point there there's a benchmark set for that the
092term principes means this and if we do any less we will be water and I wish I wish the colleges sent that out and said this is what we want the principles list to look like and this is what we want honor Ro to look like they don't you know even with requirements and even with what students take in high school colleges vary slightly so they're not going to say you must have three years of a World Language they're going to say this is what the um this is what the competitive college is want the really hard colleges want four years so there's definitely going to be different levels than that when we're talking about academics um and getting into college so so there's definitely that there's that aspect yeah yes Charlie sorry I just
093want to I have to agree very much with what you said Dr um and I do because when I worked in Chester um we had a mean IQ about 18 and and many of our kids were bored uh in the classes they were taking um so we came up with program that was combination of enrichment and acceleration this was an area of ma and so kids by the time and we didn't identify a lot of kids in the earlier levels we started a program with grade two believe it or not but event eliminate went to grade three we didn't get a lot of kids but we started I was starting to move up the numers started to increase so by the time we got in seventh grade week 100 population now the problem now the
094reason we put this together the way we did because we need a curriculum that was commensurate with the student's ability that's what kid want hisid want to be challenged and we we identify that we recognize that and we were doing kids a great disservice by not making the curriculum tough and so when the kids start and and and I I I charted this they start a grade five and then six and the way was the 90% by the time they reach high school and they're in these accelerated classes and they have this unique ability because they're in those accelerated classes because they're able to think higher level they're able to come up quicker with Solutions some of them don't even know why they're just very very short they have a profile that indicates how incredibly
095bright these kids are and if we're saying that is true which it is and all the research will support it then well our expectations for them should be the same as it is for kids who scor to 90% it should be across the board especially when they get into high school that's why you know everything you're saying um is how I sold the progam you know if I was to put a counterargument why are we reporting Mar weighted averages for our class ranks and for college applications why are we waiting it at that point the the same logic at the end at the end and Miss Bor that's another great conversation we have for a very long time you know that difference between I was just making a point to where Charlie said that we
096should always hold them up to that standard right but end of the day a validator it weighted it's all his weighted breaks he's not you're not taking the real numbers you're waiting them up then the report to colleges and their applications is way to GPA so end of the day they are getting the benefit of taking those harder rular cetes and I was my conversation with why is it different just for principal T and I get the only thing that's peing out to me right now is when Dr Higgins said this is a benchmarks it's like the standard of the school and all schools have the standard and if we change our standards and we're watering down that measure I I agree with that concept of water down right off the you are below the
097standard you're going to water it down and what's going to happen is that the program is not going to offer what it really should you don't want to lose the academic integrity that's behind these programs right right I think and I think that's the most important thing that we want to take away from this is you want to be able to those students are taking those higher riger courses right and while you know we want to try to give them a little bit of leeway to be able to earn that principal list on honor um it also becomes a learning experience right you know you do know that you're taking a higher rigor course and it's going to be harder to obtain that principal's list but you know putting in your effort and you know
098doing what you can do earning honorable is also just as acceptable um and I think that's a that's that's also a light lesson that our students will have to learn as well it is I guess uh Dr he you were saying something um I I was thinking of something but I'm not 100% sure that I'm I'm right so I'm not going to talk about I want to comment real quick to what Dr Chanley said about having so many policies and it's hard to we Overlook them at times and as the policy chair I remember this coming before us in May of 2024 it did come before and then it like no you know it wasn't brought to our attention that it was incorrect at that time so I think overall we need to do a
099better job of looking at these policies when they do come before us it hasn't been 17 years it's just last may now it's been the year yeah but the time at last May the reason why it didn't come further that was the first time I I think the point of what I wanted to say respectfully is that um for 17 years under eight different superintendents this policy has not been followed properly at the high school and now is the superintendent regulation the regulation regulation now was super I bear the responsibility in May when it came to us we wanted to work and I know that Dr um Layman was working directly with Dr Higgins and I think that it's taken all these months because of this dispar disparity in the thought process so we respect
100the Board of Education because the one thing that you do have say over is policy and I'm very respectful of that and we had a pre meeting a post meeting in between meeting because my feeling is I can go either way I feel very strongly but the comment that I made was just because for those people that do watch the video and have an understanding in public forum an individual basically said that we weren't following policy and we don't do what we're supposed to do and I want could heard that that is not true we do a good job of following policy we we it's very important policy regulates everything but can something be overlooked for 17 years into their eight different administrations yes but I do agree as the point of Mo this moving
101on I agree wholeheartedly I have to say with Charles regarding academic RoR to me and then I'm going to give you the flip side but to me if you are a I'm going to use the word brighter I'm probably not politically correct either if you're a brighter student you take a harder class because you have the ability to take the harder class so the expectation of the 90 should be the same of the student who's taking a different class because their ability is different I agree with that 100% my concern where I agree with with gazala is that I don't like to do things one way in one area and one way another so we don't wait that we don't wait which I understand we don't wait every moing period so but we do in
102the end so this is what she's trying to say for GPA for GPA so at the very very end when everybody said done has been here for 4 years they walk out of here with the um accolades of having this weighted which I don't know if I just agree with either that's a separate conversation of having this waited and then being able to say here's my you know everybody wants to be number one through 20 okay whatever it is everybody wants to be one two but if you're not one2 you want to be 20 or or or above I mean 20 top students but then to galo's point how is that fair there is no parody because even though your was saying and I believe I I'm not sure I know one of the supervisors
103made the comment that honor roll doesn't count respectfully honor roll and principal list we have to make the Assumption because we're not the colleges is another Accolade so I think the the lack of fairness because I do agree completely I do agree to me you're smarter get the 90 other that's where you belong but then you when you look at the Accolade you turn around and say okay I worked really hard I got in I got an 87 or an 88 I worked super hard I did a great job I'm very very bright I took all the classes should I was appropriately placed in the high level classes and maybe the colleges don't care but I care how I made I was number four but I didn't make principal's list so there is that disparity
104that's all that's what disparity is what is that's what my although I agree 100% And you know I've said this before I agree 100% that to me you're brighter you belong in the smarter class and you long getting the higher grade so if if I I can add to this conversation a little bit with my next couple slides please yes so within looking at a lot of these facets I did a deeper dive into our class rank policy right and this is where the weighted and unweighted comes in so um the board policy basically just says that there has to be a system of ranking by grade point average for pupils in grade 12 um is calculated by the final grade in all subjects weighted credit will be calculated for grades earned in honors course
105of course independent study etc etc um and the minimum credits that are allow now what we all know or what we have learned as weighted grades are for honors classes you get eight points yes for AP class you get 10 you get 10 according to the regulation that's not necessarily true so I looked at the regulation and the regulation only indicates H eight points for honors courses in the five content areas so not business not music the electives not visual Performing Arts it's not updated it's not so any student who took honors business management or honors Business board or honors marketing or honors percussion should not have eight points added to that grade and they had to get in them and they have been for the last X number of years that's a good good
106way to show that I just want to show that we're not trying to take anything away from anyone it is my recommendation that the policy committee change that and all honors classes be given eight points and all AP courses be given and there's no mention of a here right is there in the class rank there so in the class rank regulation 40 5430 honors level courses in language arts World Language mathematics Science History received eight points French 4 and five Spanish 4 and five also receive additional eight points all advanced placement courses receive P so this may have been written before we added certain honors courses like business and uh percussion and piano that we just added so our regulation was not necessarily updated again kind of hammering home the idea that we may not
107be updating these regulations appropriately over the last couple of years and what we've learned as policy and regulation has kind of been trickling down year to year that you take an OB Clash get eight points you take a AP Clash you get 10 points if we were following the if we're following the regulation that all of those students that graduated P the beers the GPA are wrong to be fair right we obviously don't know which policies I mean we know policies are being followed polic follow we also don't know what policies aren't being followed necessarily until when notices that a policy is not being followed at that point we make corre right iMed yes I think that's kind of the point where where I'm at right now is what our policy states is not I
108think it's very important we don't want to yeah we might not be following the regulation conr the policy thank you for saying that so so what we need to do now to your point M I agree 100% is what are we going to do now so now we know what we know right every time we find out something that perhaps we weren't following to the letter of the law what do we do once we find out we correct it so now the the question is do we go with the recommendation of make this very wording definitely changing the wording no I I like very wording or and where it's all about the principal list with the 85 now at the middle school because I have my notes Here also at the middle school and they
109don't do any waiting of any kind at any mocky period at the end there is no waiting except if you take and right now we do have English and we will have we will have science but we've always had math if you got an 85 in geometry in the eth grade and you got 90 everywhere else you made principal list that is that is the way it's written so I do agree and I believe Charles said it last time and I do agree if we're going to make a change I like the consistency with the language and the consistency um and even the spirit should be the same 6 through 12 Elementary is a very different it is very different I agree but sixth grade seventh grade eighth grade you're moving on to high school
110we're getting them ready we do the same thing with attendance so whatever changes are decided upon whatever recommendations I do think if we're going to change it there then that means if you don't get if let's say we stick to Dr Higgins recommendation that means in the Middle School it would be changed 90 across the board regardless of the level of the class whether it be English math or now we're going to have so I do think that's very important and I know you brought it up last time when we were on Zoom so I wanted to reference that so the draft that we were given it was part of our executive attachment is not does not have the word b that doctor hi so so what we looked at last time all right so
111that's not chain it up that has the words weighted or unweighted in it with so we so we can adjust so what I wanted to do was see where the high school landed see where we were going to go to high school because we did talk about consisten with the middle scho bring it up okay we have flexibility and there's they're open at the elementary middle school to adapt to potentially where the high school is going to land but they didn't want to commit to it until we knew where the high school is going to go so that's why you didn't see a change I would want to elementary middle as well because we have to we have to solidify this to then kind of go back down to that I would want to agree
112with what Miss Fabiano said at that in the last meeting where we keep it consistent like we're we're building them up for getting used to a concession and then taking it Elementary we could we could really definitely view because Elementary really is Elementary only do they also have that so it's it's grade five okay they that's fourth grade and the C was for Accelerated math and it was a 10-point piece then a fivepoint piece at the middle school and I could almost feel like maybe at the elementary the fifth grade we do a five point not a 10 and then at the middle school we do not in preparation for the high school if that's the route we go if that's the route we go or we could be completely consistent I know that Elementary
113the children there is a difference there you know we know soci emotional growth we know how it works with different philosophy it's more parents appreciate the I mean we could do a 5 point instead of a 10 that's a change and then 6 through 12 do nothing is that's decide or we could turn around and say we're not in agreement at all and the recommendation is leave the policy as it is and clean it up that's the other recommendation is leave it as it is but it's got to be cleaned up can't leave that no that's easy we'll just make that eight and 10 like we should be and we have to that's the other thing is if you who's to say an honors you we have some honors business courses the rigor is incredible
114equal to perhaps an honors class that may be a core content area so would me we want to not give them the eight points or the 10 points because H I'm just picking up honest business because I know we have some very Rous so then we would need the language to say all honors of AP classes we wouldn't specify French or or or or may after SS in English we take out the specificity and make it all what great we we we including Middle School yeah middle school the only thing you have to worry about is only high school it's only High School yeah because Middle School philosophy is somewhat different 100% a different world when you get in high school everything there so we want to be careful with what we do it's not
115applicable in the Middle School not at all no it's not applicable at all think it no no I mean it's not grades are not applicable it's only it's only principles L we don't have to worry right there's just one thing I want to bring up in terms of middle school and the advanced classes English we start looking at kids potentially not being properly placed if they're below an 85 so we want to watch some of that that ranking okay we start to look at we look at their rating samples internally we look at their assessment grades so that would that's my only hesitation of saying like if we're adding 10 points or we're doing something middle no points oh you wanted to add which which would work with what you're say that's fine just wanted
116BR no no Middle School you have nothing to worry about all we have to worry about in middle school is principal list only it's only princi compation there's no in middle middle school break yeah we said that the yeah we said that grade now we should take care fth grade they say had 10 points so we have to look at that that would make somebody who would be too overwhelmed in the accelerator MTH to continue end up the principal's list that's current that's the that's the carrent policy regul so maybe we should Che that your grade should be your that's my opin your gr let's keep it cons your investment and what shows up on your report card is the grade you what we're saying is that if you are in a higher rigor of
117process it's harder for you to make the principal list and you should accept that fact across all the yes the children students should accept fact know that whether not I like saying it that's the consensus that this committee is coming to that if you're taking a higher rigor of passes you're not going to get the benefit of that to you know make it into the principle it's the learning versus the grade the in like you said the intrinsic version of the ex I do want to give you the opportunity Dr Higgins to finish the presentation very quick on this this is not something that we have to go in bring this back I know that this was something that somebody wanted to talk about tonight it's not part of the original presentation but it was
118but it is part of the Pol the regulation my policy regulation rabbit p a couple of weeks um we do have a national OT Society at the high school uh the policy says that we are to follow guidelines from the national yes organization we do have our National Organization affiliation we are the National Honors Society we have a um we have requirements that are quotequote easier than the National Honor Society um regulations why how do that allow why it's it it was actually easy to work easier easier uh and we changed a couple of years ago well to follow exact if you're National you're supposed to follow there I Iden so so the way the way that we admit Juniors after their first semester or seniors after the first Market period is if they have
119a weighted 90 so we use their weighted grade for this because we can calculate seniors um this differs from the National Honor Society standards change that back the National Honor Society standards do not use weighted grades and they uh require a 3.75 or what is a 92.5 not weight so that's that's the standard requirement why did we go why did we water a down View and you know when I think I think if you look back at um you look back at the class rank class rank the the title of the section for class rank is called academic incentive programs believe all of these were kind of instituted when in a time when Monroe did not have a lot of honors in AP courses and they were incentivizing students to take these classes you may
120have had a National Honor Society with 15 kids in it so they were incentivizing kids to be in the National Honor Society I think next year we are going to have like 37 National that isra which is twice than half of the which again doesn't doesn't really look good if you have that many students in your National it's not just doesn't look good it's not accurate it should Beal this is not the right like we so so Pur because we're coming to an end we can if if the if what we're hearing is that we're going to go with what Dr saying clean it completely up so it's bang bang bang regulation policy making sure middle school high and Elementary my suggestion about elementary because it's only math is either we say no points of
121any kind so your grest should grade even accelerated math or we don't give them 10 because that's I think ridiculous can I just confirm something because we are running out of time yes the recommendation that is 3 75p or 92.5 is the standard that's actually not my recommendation but we can go with that that's the standard of the national National chapter we're currently not following correct so my recommendation would be that align to the National chap follow the letter of but this would I'm reading your last line here it would begin with the class of 202 that was what we were thinking anyone in the high school now not I like students coming in next year would have a new requirement of that whatever the Freshman it doesn't I I know that as you're getting
122closer to the junior year you're working towards it but could we apply to the class of 20288 and we could apply to the CL 2026 if you want no but let's be fair let's it through let's it through so the next class the current class right now is the class of 25 2 2 I know that but that's the class of high school 28 so the right now no the Freshman you have are already in school no 29 swe I don't know if we should do it to the Freshman that are here because they have different expectations 28 28 so but the Caron e8th grade is class of 2029 yes that's what I is black trying I didn't know it was 202 again this is not something we have side tonight reason Dr Higgins is
123that when policy committee pickes up regulation 544 they're not going to deal with it do you think CL 202 is appropriate that means only the current eth graders are affected by the policy changes 4 years to go Ro I mean I like the idea of a fresh start like starting like not the freshman and then the other thing is we just have to talk about the elementary so I mean recommendation we don't have any Elementary principles here we touch with them well it's going to be first speed anyway tou we and see because I definitely think yeah there are a lot a lot of students in the program they probably the so it really would not be affecting in a negative way for most a few a few a few but I can get you
124that she's saying that the majority students in the elementary school already get 90s if we go to 90 like everybody fifth grade math is learning sixth grade which is still in the elementary program the sixth grade is learning seventh and eth combined so they go up a level but it's not the same the level of riger gets a little bit harder each time and then the middle school elementary telling them in the fifth grade but it is R so the middle school and Elementary shouldn't be for this year because they're already there it should be for the children starting next year next year and then2 right and I would be okay I like that I think sounds fair too March no it'll be effective no what what we'll do is I like what he wrote
125effective with class off effective that work yeah this was great only that we ran out of time was the thank you everybody the only com ran out ofle I and just so in the Middle School Society it's notor so we would have to that doesn't do oh still like U thank you everyone we are over time and