Board of Education Meeting - June 15, 2026

001And here we go. I need to begin by reading the statement of adequate notice. The New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Mountain Lakes Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the Mountain Lakes Municipal Building and sent to the following newspapers. The Daily Record, the Citizen, and the District website. Can we please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under

002God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. >> Dr. Don, >> Miss Foreman, >> here. >> Dr. Hersshfeld, Mr. Johnson, Miss Carney >> here, >> Miss McVey >> here, >> Mrs. Parker, Dr. Sheth >> here, >> Dr. Silva McIntyre, and Miss Barkowskis >> here. >> We do have executive session. Be it resolved that the Mountain Lakes Board of Education enter into executive session. We need a first and a second, please. We have Dr. Don. We have Miss Colarnney. Thank you very much. Um, all in favor say I. I. Thank you. Um, be it resolved by the Mount Lakes Board of Education on this 15th day of June, 2026 at 6:33 p.m. as follows. The board shall recess into close session in accordance with open public meeting law NJSA 104-12B1267 and8. The general

003nature of the discussion, including matters of personal confidentiality rights, including but not limited to staff and/or student discipline matters and specifically legal matters. These matters will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer applies. Although the board cannot guarantee it, the length of the executive session is estimated to be 60 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business. Action may take place and this resolution shall take effect immediately. All right, see you back in about an hour much. Um, all in favor say I. >> I. And that motion is approved and we return to public session at 7:36. So, welcome everyone. Thank you so much for coming. This is going to be a great night. We love that you're here. So, thank

004you. Um, we'll just jump right on in. There is no student government report this evening, but if a Mountain Lake School District student would like to make a comment, this is the time of the meeting when you get to get up and do that. Anybody want to make comments? Okay, then we'll keep going. How about comments and requests from the MLEA co-presidents brand new lectern over here. All right, Mike Alves, MLA co-president. Uh, as this is the final board meeting of the school year, we'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for their hard work, dedication, and partnership throughout the year. Together, staff, administration, board members, and families have accomplished a great deal on behalf of the students of Mountain Lakes. While the school year may be ending, we know full well that the

005work of preparing for another successful year continues throughout the summer. There will be planning, projects, meetings, and preparations taking place behind the scenes and in the hallways. All with an eye toward August and the start of a new school year. For now, however, we hope everyone has an opportunity to rest, to recharge, spend time with family and friends, and enjoy a well-deserved break. Thank you all for what you have done this year. We wish everyone a safe and relaxing summer, and we look forward to seeing you in August. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Always a good thing when the MLA is here. >> All right, then we get to move on um to I will turn the meeting over to Dr. Seagull at this point because we have some presentations. another active

006uh night in terms of presentations. Thank you for joining us. We actually have three presentations or at least one uh recognition uh awards and then two presentations. We're going to start of course with our student athletes. Uh tonight we have not a full representation of all of our honores, but we do have members of our track community who I'm going to turn it over to them shortly. But I for those of you that watch meetings, I never have my computer up, but I actually am going to read a statement from Mr. Wallace. Uh Mr. Wallace, our athletics director, would normally be u heading this, but he is at the boys lacrosse um curs uh playing game, which is uh we won the state title. Congratulations. We were going to recognize our boys lacrosse team for

007winning group one uh title, but they get to play tonight, hopefully tomorrow night and Thursday night. uh to really uh wrap up a great season. So I on behalf of Mr. Wallace, I'm going to read his statement to lead into uh the coaching staff for the track team and doing our track on race. Hello Mount Lakes board members, parents, fans, and athletes. My apologies for not being there this evening as I am currently at the boys lacrosse game for the curse cup. I would like to take a moment to congratulate all of our track and field athletes on another successful year representing Mountain Lakes High School. Thank you to Coach Allison, Coach K, and all of our other coaches for their time, effort, and dedication they put in throughout the year to help these athletes

008become the best they can be. From winning sectional and county titles to placing at the mean of champions, our track and field athletes performed exceptionally well this season. Your strength, determination, and commitment to competing at a high level have been great to watch. The team camaraderie, chemistry, and support of each other is an awesome sight to see. I commend you all on these outstanding accomplishments. Keep up the hard work and I look forward to seeing you compete in future events. Congratulations on a terrific season. And with that, I will turn it over to our staff. Thank you. >> Good evening. Thank you for that, Dr. Seagull. And thank you to the board for taking the time to recognize our winter track athletes. I'm here representing winter track and coach K will represent the spring track

009athletes. Um, but when coach Wallace texted me and said he'd like to honor our state sectional champions, I had to go back and I have a crazy story about our state sectional meet. And um, it was on February 8th. We had a 6:30 a.m. bus and it was 4 degrees out when we were leaving. >> Oh my god. >> And as we pulled out, we made it to the about the corner of Mars and Fanny and our bus stopped. >> Oh no. >> The fuel froze. We had 45 kids on at 6:30 in the morning and um Coach K jumped off the bus, ran back, got his truck, came back, picked up the bus driver, they drove to the bus depot to get a new bus while I sat in the bus with the 45

010athletes. We were freezing. Um and thank goodness, well, Coach Wallace and I have been friends forever. um at 6:30 in the morning, I frantically call him. I'm like, "Coach Wallace, you've got to call the state. We're going to be late." Like, "What do I do?" Um you know, in all my years of coaching, this has never happened. And Ian Johnson, who was fortunate enough to come up to the front seat and he's like, "My dad sees that we're stuck on the side of the road. He's already on his way. But you need to be there a half hour before a meet starts to check in all of your athletes. You have to highlight your athletes. You have to check in with the officials. So, thank you to assistant coach Johnson was on it. He highlighted

011in all of our 40ome athletes. We only ended up missing the first few heats and we were fortunate enough that the state Kevin called the state and they put some of our runners in a unseated heat. But with all of that, I am proud to say that we had five individual state champions on that day. And freshman Ian Johnson, who's here joining us, won the 1600 in 439. And what perseverance after all that stress, pressure, showing up at the meet, getting thrown off the bus. The 1600 is the second event. So having to race, get marshaled on the line. And it's very, very rare for a male at this age to be a sectional winner. He was the only ninth grader in the top 10 of the state. He won it with a 439. Very,

012very impressive and just a pleasure to coach. Had a phenomenal cross country season. Kept that going. Had an awesome winter season. and then coach Kay will talk about the success in the spring. Um, we also had Jessica Sang who was a sectional champ in the high jump, jumping 52 and then making it to the state group meet and the meet of champions where she placed sixth in the state tying our school record at 54 and had an awesome season for us. We had Violet Paige who won the 1600 and the 3200 and Mikey Leapor who will continue running next year in college won the 3200. So like I said we have a great group of athletes that start training July 1 for cross country. Cross country overlaps with winter. We finished our winter season middle

013of March. They go right into spring. Um they put in a lot of time and effort. They learn to get out of their comfort zone. They're a very cohesive group. The boys and the girls train together, work together, and really I always say they'd run through a wall for me. They give me 110% each and every time I ask them to show up and raise the bar and they meet me and exceed it. So, I'm very proud to represent Mountain Lakes and our athletes always represent Mountain Lakes well. So, congratulations to all of them. Ian and Jess, if you'd stand up and I'd like to see what your FAVORITE what your favorite memory was or what the best part of your winter season and come on up and say a few words. >> You too.

014Um, at one of our earlier meets at Drew University, we were running the 4x8 and we couldn't find a kid named Bo. >> I don't know how he got into the race, but he ended up running. I thought we only had three kids. >> We would have made Ian run another leg. >> That was cute. >> Hi. So, um, my favorite part about this winter season was probably, um, when I was at MOC's and I wasn't really doing that well that year, so I didn't really have high expectations. And then I actually ended up like tying my FR and placing well. So, that was like the first time that I actually like did well out of meet that I didn't think I was going to do well. So, yeah. And out of the top 48

015jumpers in the state of New Jersey, Jessica Sang was sixth. So a very great meet. So >> I could look at your sheet because I don't want to repeat too many a lot of the names that coach Allison mentioned for cross country and and winter track. Also do spring track uh with equal success there as well. Uh Violet specifically, we had a lot of success at the the sectionals. Specifically, Violet Paige won the 1600 and the 3200, which put her on to groups. Uh Mikey, Laaporei, and Ian also place well and moved on to groups as well. And it was really fun watching Ian this uh this year just being able to look at the stats as he's evolved as a freshman where he'd be some weeks he'd be second in the states for the

016mile for for the whole year then he'd be third and fifth then back to second. Uh, so it's amazing to coach and sometimes I joke, you know, us coaches will joke that we made these kids, but when when kids come in good as a freshman, it shows how hard they've worked getting to that point uh with parent support and we just try to keep uh that momentum going. We try to keep them healthy as well. And we really do tailor our workouts for the kids uh depending on their energy. We don't just every kid do the same thing at the same pace in order to get fast. It doesn't work that way. You have to tailor for where where a kid's at so that you incrementally improve them without breaking them along the way. And

017the consistency that the athletes do by working out on weekends is a big part of that, right? We can't just work them hard during the week and have them reply. They they work hard on the weekends. So, that's uh a big impressive part of it. Uh what I'll specifically call out for uh today is uh Llaya Wills because she wasn't named in the other ones and I was able to drive out and already get her all county all Morris County award for her discus throw. She didn't win at Morris County but she had a phenomenal throw at at sectionals which then which is actually it sectionals groups groups. She had a phenomenal throw of 130 feet which put her on the list of a high standards that even though she didn't win Morris County when

018you have such a high standard they don't care where it comes from you automatically get on the first team. So I'll present that award. >> All right. So I have two favorite memories. One of them is when we didn't have enough people for our relay teams for throwing because you need three people to make up a team and we were a very small throwing team. So, we pulled in like Kate Conlin and Lexi Holiday to come and learn to throw just a day before the meet and that was really fun to get more people involved into the throwing. And then my second favorite memory was at groups and it was when um me and then the two other girls who were ahead of me all PRED all three of us and it was just really

019crazy cuz everyone was so excited. Yeah, that's it. >> Congratulations to all the athletes and thank you so much to the board of education for taking the time to recognize their great accomplishments. I think we should take a break, but before we do that, any comment from any board member? >> I will say >> even though I I was able to help out, no good deed goes unpunished. You're only supposed to re like check in three kids. I think I checked in everybody. So, we had to undo my error and uncheck everybody that I had checked in. But, it was a good overcorrection. Yeah, I think if there was ever a group you want to do some more for, it would be this group. So, I don't I don't blame you. Anyone else? >> Thank

020you. >> Another round of applause. >> Yeah, I know. I I I should tell you that I I talk about our our track team a lot in a lot of places. And I talk about you, this group, I really do as as a group that is is one of our most um inclusive and support supportive group of students. And that of course starts with the adults who are with you every single day. You you set a very very high standard in a place where we have very very high standards. You're wonderful Lakers and it's just really terrific that you're here tonight. So thank you for coming and letting us have a moment to celebrate with you. All right. So, taking a moment, maybe taking a quick break to have a to say thank you to

021you and for some treats, I think would be good. Yeah. >> You can say anything. >> Violet just came in. >> Great. >> And also received an all county honor from winter track and she was one of our state sectional champions in the 1600 and 3200. So, as we were sitting here, I was texting them saying, "Where are you?" And >> she was running. >> Yeah. Exactly. She ran right in, but just a phenomenal distance runner. I had the opportunity to coach her for cross country and winter and then she went on to spring. So, Violet Paige, please come up. Say your favorite memory. We're going to put you on the spot. You came in late, but you still have to pay the price. >> You can do it. >> And congratulations. >> Hi. I

022would have to say track. It's a very team focused sport and that's what makes it honestly really fun. Every day I love to go to practice, see my teammates. I love to train with them, everything that they do and everything our coaches do and I applaud them for their work and their effort because I don't think I would be here without them today. And of course, support of my parents. And yeah, it's a great sport. We have a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it next year. What a great way to end. >> A great way to end. All right, let's take a break. Yes, five minute break. >> Okay, we need a first in a second. We got Dr. Chef and we have Miss McBTH. Thank you very much. >> All

023right, let's take a break. >> Jump back into presentations, which is always a great part of the night. I do like that we celebrated with our students first. This is great. >> All right, Dr. Seagull, we're going to turn the meeting back over to you, >> Joanne. 11. There's fewer than 11 minutes left in order, but we're winning 8 to four. >> God. All right, here we go. >> Thank you. So, we have uh Mr. Sorl's times two and two friends uh joining him. Uh we have a big night of overview in terms of our summary of work that's been done this year that will be culminating in our student our post-secary outcomes which Mr. Sles will review afterwards. But prior to that we have uh a summary recommendation or summary of our work regarding

024social emotional learning which was our fourth district goal this year. Uh this has been a subject that uh our administration, our counseling staff and others have really explored over the course of the year in order to identify what our needs are and start to think about uh a coordinated and systematic effort towards improving competency work in the classroom and outside of it. Uh a lot of this work has been reviewed by in committee. Uh so we're going to keep it broad. Our special ed student services committee has heard a lot from Mr. Souls about the work over the course of the year. Uh tonight I know he has two guests joining him. Our staff members Marissa Fleming and Alyssa Cino uh who are instrumental in this work and uh we have a short presentation on

025recommendations for next year. So I'll turn over to you. >> Thank you very much. Good evening everyone. Thanks for having us. You know I took away my my introduction. I just wanted to make sure um Mr. Cino is is the artist formerly known as Mr. Trolio. She's been married for well over a year and the last name hasn't caught on yet. So, we're going to make sure that everyone knows this is Mrs. Cino, Mrs. Fleming, uh who is our um our school counselor down at Brier Cliff, and Mrs. Cino serves at our student assistance counselor. Um district goal four uh just as a review uh of the goal that we uh began the year with uh was to review and analyze programs, models and research related to social emotional learning for the classroom to make

026a formal recommendation to the board of education for the 2627 school year. uh particularly as part of that goal uh there was a activity connected to that that really was uh the counseling team from a K12 standpoint uh focused that this year and that was to conduct a needs assessment of particular domains or areas of growth prevalent in our student body with regard to social emotional competencies. Um so you know a key word there is domains. Uh and I'm going to transition um to uh Msino uh who's going to talk to you about the castle framework which gets into those domains. >> Hello. So castle is the leading framework of social emotional learning and it has five main domains the core domains which are selfaware a awareness self-management social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision-

027making. Um we used Castle as our guide when reviewing the social emotional learning programs and assessment tools. Um essentially we landed on panorama which is a survey domain aligned closely with castle um and it provide meaningful data to identify our students strengths and areas for growth. Okay. So how we approached the goal um so we just kind of started by seeing what we're doing, what's working, what's not working. Um, we looked at curriculum lessons, all that kind of stuff. Um, and then we researched multiple SEAL programs. So, um, we looked at Ruler, we looked at Panorama. Um, we met with them. Um, we did a lot to kind of decide what was the best one to go with. Um, we kind of looked at and evaluated what would align with our needs, um, with the

028competencies that would be easy to implement and give us some quality data with it. Um so throughout the year we met um with our BOE student services committee and our district leadership and we kind of aligned ourselves make sure we were looking for the right things. Um we finally landed on Panorama. Um we felt like that was the best one to um meet district goal 4. Um and we worked with them to really customize the survey to you know we identified those uh needs at the beginning and we worked with them to customize the survey to match up with that. Um so we administered it um and you know we picked some questions kept it concise and uh you know we look forward to doing future administrations to get some additional data >> and just

029before going into those areas you know part of the research also u we spoke to a lot of different districts and there was a lot of hey what what are you doing? you utilized this framework that we met with this organization that you partnered with and finding out what was working uh for other districts and that was certainly part of our process this year uh that led us to Panorama. Now Panorama has 23 uh different areas that you can measure uh using student surveys and uh we really wanted to land in that sweet spot of like 10 to 15 minutes you know for our survey. So, as you're building the survey uh with their team, you can start to get a feel for how many different areas uh you can work within. Uh and we

030we landed on six uh different areas that we were going to measure with the student survey. And we chose these six areas. Some of it was just anecdotal with uh administrators, uh CST members, counselors, just a variety of stakeholders districtwide in a room talking about our students and the things that we're seeing. Uh and then we after those conversations uh we did put together a more uh formal survey amongst uh those people and then we we got a feel for what people really thought we should be prioritizing and these are in alphabetical order no area of of priority. Uh so we wanted to measure emotional regulation. This is defined by panorama as how well students regulate their emotions. An example question would be how often are you able to control your emotions when you need

031to? And then students would answer uh using a liyker uh scale. Um pre uh perseverance was the next area area. How well students are able to persevere through setbacks to achieve important long-term goals not limited to academics taking into account their experiences and identities. Example questions here would be if you fail at something that is important to you, how likely are you to try again? uh school climate uh students perception of the overall social and learning climate of the school. Example question is how clean is the building uh where you go to school? School safety uh perceptions of student physical and psychological safety while at your school. Example question is how often do you worry about violence at your school? Um this it's sort important to note school safety also would include kind of those

032things u that fall into like the HIV uh domain as well. Uh social awareness um how well students consider the perspectives of others and empathize uh with them example question being during the past two weeks how carefully did you listen to other people's opinions? Uh and then the area of supportive relationships. How supported students feel through their relationships with friends, family, and adults at school. An example question being, do you have a teacher or other adult from school you can count on to help you no matter what? Uh these uh the survey was administered um uh either just prior to spring break or uh the week after. Uh this was uh administered grades uh 3 through 12. And so, uh, Marissa is going to go over a overview of the data. >> Okay. So, we're

033going to look through the data a little bit here. Um, a couple things to note as we look through it. First, um, these are favorability ratings, right? So, through a student self assessment, so they're assessing themselves. Um, so when we see these numbers, it's just important to note that, you know, a 47 isn't comparable to like a 47 on a test, right? So, we're just looking at how much of a positive answer versus a negative answer they gave on these. Um the other thing to note is that um this really is a baseline for us. So we don't have any other data to compare it to. We're looking for growth as we continue to administer these assessments. Um so as we go through them, it's pretty consistent um among schools. So the district is very

034consistent here. Um I would say a strength that we've noted is supportive relationships with peers, with staff, with family, all of those things. Um, and I would say an area that we're really looking to focus on through our initial data is emotional regulation. Um, so the coping skills, being able to pull themselves up when they're down, things like that. So this is Wildwood. Uh, this is Briercliffe. And you can see, you know, we we are really close to um, you know, 100% with getting the students to fill these out. And this is the high school. So very very um consistent AC am ac amongst three schools and like we said this is really a baseline so we can kind of see where we're at as we go through the next school year. Okay. So after

035we reviewed the data and you know we talked to the committee the recommendation is to continue to expand Panorama as our district seal tool while increasing our focus on emotional regulation across the district. Strategies may include classroom check-ins, morning or classroom meetings, um opportunities for the students to build empathy and perspective. Um we also recommend that we should administer a staff survey so that we can use that to kind of uh see where there may if there's any gaps so that we can strengthen all of this across uh the board and you know from those findings then to implement it with programming moving forward interventions and more professional development opportunities and then lastly we could explore a school community book study just to kind of um have everybody the students families community staff members members

036read the same book so that we could kind of all learn from that and take that and build it into the programming throughout the school year. >> Thank you. Uh any questions? >> Hi, I I think this is great. I was actually just talking about this um social emotional kind of learning curve that we are all on. But um one of the question I have two quick two questions just on methodology for survey. Um is there a breakdown between students who are on an emotional regulatory plan such as an IEP or a 504 like are those is there like a subset? So our ability to aggregate this data is is extraordinary which is really a huge reason for using you know panorama was the way in which you're able to break down the data whether

037it's by grade level by gender there's this is an extremely broad overview of data >> that's that was my first question about that. So that's good to know that there's like even more data that can be I love data so that's exciting. >> Um and then the surveys >> I know I I love surveys like it's like my favorite thing. Um so the uh second question I had was for the methodology for determining emotional regulation um programming taking the the data subsets for each individual school and then like breaking it down even further into each individual subset. So you have your noniep kids or IEP kids your all the different kind of student body you know makeup of student body. How are you guys going to develop that kind of program with s are you

038doing it with a broad stroke or >> well some of it so on on the individual level let's say that there's just individual student survey they received that you know we feel as though responses need to be addressed they can be addressed on the individual level panorama also comes with a playbook that currently is like let's say 980 lessons deep >> that we can um >> so there's resources not something you have to make up yourself or >> yeah This comes with a a large large amount of uh you know of of lessons that we could do on an individual le level at a classroom level on a larger group level. Uh so that's certainly you know part of how we can you know establish interventions. >> I would love to see >> but there's

039so much data that studying the data is just a >> oh that's a whole I mean I do that for a living. So like I love this but I I just one other just really brief question. If you have the data subset for just let's just say for Wildwood just because I feel like the younger population even though everything was pretty consistent across the board but the younger populations is it possible maybe in the future to have like just like one school at a time broken out with >> we do we did do with the committee a bit more of a breakdown. >> It would be I think everybody would benefit. >> So I think what we're trying to do is this since we've it took us this long to figure out that we wanted

040to work with Panorama. We did a baseline now and then each year would be two to three administrations so you could see a pattern of growth. We also have national comparisons that we could use. Um but I think that the playbook is definitely helpful. The training resources are helpful but that is not the only work that's being done. I think uh Msino referenced some programmatic changes or curricular changes that we're looking at particularly at Wildwood. things like having class class meetings, but being able to tailor these resources to emotional regulation and um and social awareness. Those were the two. The emotional regulation I know was a little bit stronger at um Wildwood and Barkley. I again like I this is not a criticism just genuinely curious like I I think it's so I can imagine

041how much data you're looking at now that you've kind of said that and so I I just think it would be really >> very interesting to kind of see it between the different school populations and how each one of those school populations responded you know >> and one of our earliest goals you know for the upcoming school year is is that staff survey as well so I'm actually meeting with Panorama on Wednesday to start talking about that piece Because if you're going to talk about lessons that are existing in the classroom, we're we're going to need some feedback from the staff as well because this is a self assessment for the students. >> And will the parents also be brought into this at some >> at at some point? You know, they certainly may. Um

042we actually didn't enter into the contract with Panorama until like March. So the fact that we turned this around this quickly, uh it's certainly going well. >> Well, thank you. >> Just so you know one thing, we we did look at five programs before we landed on Panorama. know a few were me mentioned but there were five full programs that were >> that's great >> go ahead >> really quick anything surprise you in the results that you got that's number one and um I personally like look and I don't know how the rest of the board felt but like school safety we've been hyperfocused on it was actually kind of good to see how highly the students >> the students feel safe >> that's a good thing >> and the supportiveness of the school environment

043I thought is that's fantastic that they feel supported. So >> I I wasn't personally surprised. I felt as though some of the anecdotal conversations that we had had as an administration, as a counseling team, as a CST team, I felt like the survey substantiated a lot of the conversations that we were already having. >> Okay, >> Dr. Hel, >> you could you flip back a slide or two to the >> Yeah, that one. Um >> yeah, those those that grouping of slides. So, I was just kind of wondering, I mean, um, I'm I guess I've been on the board, but I feel like I'm new to this survey type. >> We all are. >> What? >> Yeah, we're all in it together as far as newness. So like when you look at this um like

044I'm not used to s like percentages where you don't have any kind of either like norms or baseline or population >> and that and that's the come and that that's the come that we we were using this to establish a baseline for us. >> Yeah. This is our baseline. So if we turn around and we're we're starting with emotional regulation as as as a goal for 26 27. So with increased focus on that area where in future surveys where students self assess in that area in comparison to the baseline is is what we have in our minds at the moment. >> And then thanks and then like another question. So like regarding uh you know incidents that might occur uh in the schools are are you um like do we have a place in and

045maybe it's too vague but like do we have like lessons or you there's there's 800 lessons or whatever it was that we can utilize. So is there are you immediately thinking like okay we can tap into these resources in Panorama you know to >> absolutely the counselors in CST you know across the district all have full access you know to the playbook to to be able to to utilize these things you don't you don't can use it as a reaction to an incident but certainly we're doing this work so that in the future we can get less reactionary right these this is this is a goal of us being more preventative at Mountain Lakes more power to you. >> Thank you. Um, thank you. This is great. Um, looking at the high school population, I

046think what I focused on is the school climate because that was that's lower than the other two buildings. Um, and I I'm just wondering if it's possible to dig deeper into what is it about the climate and the environment that's making it less favorable? >> Yeah. And and we're able to do that, you know, utilizing, you know, specific questions because obviously we have the data on specific questions. I also think that that's another reason uh for the staff survey, right? Because, you know, climate is is all of us. It's it's it's everyone in the building. So, I think that if if we're going to be able to address that, we have to make sure that we're getting, you know, staff, you know, feedback in those areas as well. So, I'm interested in meeting with the

047team on Wednesday to find out how their domains break down and how this kind of can parallel what we give to the staff. >> That might have been a that was definitely an area that we want to make sure we look into further. Again, only doing one administration. They're taking about 10 or 15 questions in each category. Um but for any board member you know because this is so new I can share with you the types of questions in more depth in some of the cluster areas but we want to be cautious about making too significant of u an evaluation of any of these other than you know at this point the one consistent area is emotional regulation and social awareness two areas that we see clearly and you know one of the things that

048the team here um didn't speak as much about is that we had a whole committee that's been reviewing this all year. We've had ongoing meetings. We've done our own research. So that um we're looking for like some cooperation between the staff the student survey and it is the initial assessment. But I can tell you that the school climate number at the high school um is not as uh strong as we thought it would be. >> And I think one of the things that's important is school climate is a lot. So it's not just one version. It's like it could be related to morale. It could be related to motivation. It could be related to inclusivity. And that is a pretty eclectic area. So again have to break down the questions a little bit more. But

049we don't want to make uh too strong of a sort of evaluation of it with only doing this one time. >> Yeah. And I have one more followup on the emotional regulation being the lower end the focus maybe going forward >> because this seems to be the EQ um emotional regulation, self-awareness, social awareness, self-management like they're all interwined. So if you just focus on one element, I just don't know how it's because it's tied together, right? So I don't know how that's going to be part of your recommendation going forward. >> That's a great point. I think we see things similarly. Um and I I think that um you know the emotional regulation is just not one thing. You're it's all tied into EQ. Yeah. >> But that was consistent across the board for all

050of the schools. We do have our late drive kids who are included uh in this population too. But also understand that we have access to we have seen the data disagregated and I think even like something like school climate you know one of the things just to be cautious about 46% doesn't seem that good but we do have access to like national comparisons. So like when we say to you the emotional regulation out of these scores we have a sense based on a little bit of a wider view of the data but not don't want to jump to any quick conclusions. Um, but I agree that they're all intertwined, >> the emotional regulation with the self-awareness, all related to EQ. >> I just wanted to add one last thing quickly is that uh a piece

051that I personally found helpful was there was an open-ended response section. Um, so that gave us very specific things um that the kids are feeling, right? And it also kind of let us gauge how seriously they were taking the survey, right? So based on those comments, I felt very confident that, you know, they were taking their time, they were putting thought into it, and it's stuff that we can do right away, like those those classroom meetings and things like that. There are things that we can do quickly, and then there are things that are going to take a little bit longer. >> So, I just wanted to point that out, too, >> um, no, just to follow up on Brad's point. And um I it in committee we saw these numbers next to also sort

052of the national how they compare to to nationally. And I think it's helpful too to maybe look at the data. um not just I mean this is the great baseline but also to understand that you know we might be 46% for school climate but nationally that's about average or I mean I'm not that's not necessarily correct but I did think that was interesting and something that the board if he wanted to see panorama has a >> yeah you know I'm I'm sitting here thinking somebody very smart once said we get what we measure and I think what that means That's where we put our attention and our time and our focus and and and we look at those results and then we can do something with them. The fact that you guys are already putting

053your time and your focus and your expertise in this area, you know, gives us, I think, a lot of confidence that we're going to move forward to something better. So, thank you for that. Sincerely, this was this was great. And I I I know we're going to be interested to hear the followup. So, so we want you back. >> That's great. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Ray, don't go anywhere. >> No, Ray. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you for spending your evening with us. >> We're delightful. >> I'm gonna just grab Miss Fling as she's walking out. Go ahead. >> Great. So, as I prepare to give our our postsecondary outcomes, you know, presentation for 2026, I'm just going to share, you know, personally, I I had a a

054wedding this weekend in the Catkills, um, you know, with with family members on my father's side that I haven't seen, some of these people haven't seen in over a decade, and, you know, was catching up, uh, with them. A lot of people were like, well, are you a principal now? Like, what what's going on? you know, and asking these questions and me being able to tell the story about how um I'm the director of school counseling and how I'm able to do this work and how close uh this work allows me to be both on one side of things with with SEAL, which we know is just so important uh with raising children and in education, but then also to be next to the college admission side of things uh and tell them how really

055moving into this area was was the best move of of my career. Uh it was nice to be catching up with family who I haven't seen in a while and be able to talk and feel so good uh you know about the work that I'm doing here at Mount Lakes. Um I'm going to open up with um you know reviewing all of the factors uh in admissions decisions and these really are the same factors as last year but but reordered each year. Some of the prioritize prioritizations kind of move up you know and move down. This is based off of some of the things that you see in the national admissions for college admissions counseling. Um, and always begins with the grades. You know, I remember when when when the students come as eighth graders

056at the open house, I give them all in in their little folder a blank transcript and talk to them about the Mountain Lakes transcript, the value of the ML on top, and then the grades that they're going to fill it with. So, so, so it begins there with those high school grades. I made sure that I added the quotation marks for grade point average because, you know, I we have about 200 to 250 college reps come through here a year and all of all of them confirm that students grades are stripped down and put into their own formula to create their own GPA. So, you know, students a lot of times get a little bit wrapped up in the GPA that they have here in Mountain Lakes, but ultimately the schools uh are creating their

057own formula uh you know, for that strength of the curriculum. Not only the strength of the curriculum that Mountain Lakes offers, but your pathway, the courses that you took in comparison to what the school offers. So, you know, sometimes, you know, 4 APS at Mountain Lakes, um, four APS at another district, it might be seen if if the other district only offered four APS. They are making comparisons in terms of how you took advantage of what your school uh offered. So, the strength of that curriculum, love seeing this move up the list, positive character attributes that continues to kind of, you know, move up the list uh each year. uh what they're looking for out of their their student population. Uh I was surprised to see essay or writing sample move up because you would

058think in the in the world of AI uh that perhaps um this would go down a bit, but a student's ability to demonstrate their character with AI. I'm reading more and more that schools feel as though they can filter through this, that they can tell what authentic voice sounds like. And so even more because of AI uh essay or writing samples are are holding a prevalent uh factor in college admissions. Students demonstrated interest uh you know we know this this is kind of the you know in some ways the business piece of things as as colleges look to improve their yield and they want to make sure that the students that they're letting in are in fact uh going to come. So students demonstrating how interested they are or big uh letters of recommendation that

059um substantiate the positive character attributes that they're looking for. Um extracurricular activities, most importantly the impact through extracurricular activities, not the breath but the impact. Uh and then standardized test scores u which are certainly I'll touch upon that in the next slide. certainly uh making uh their way back uh into the fold in terms of college admissions. So the state of admissions um 2026, no surprise here that the application volume it just continues uh to increase. Common app reported 1.4 million firstear applicants um submitting 9.4 applications. This was a 2% increase in applicants and a 5% increase in total applications and they're coming in earlier. So their numbers these numbers are big by November. Um select selective admissions increasingly uh un unpredictable. So we we can do everything we can to try to um you

060know create a handbook for college admissions but it continues to be uh more and more unpredictable uh each year. standardized testing is making its return. Uh the number of students reporting a test score rose 11%. That that's that's a significant jump, 11% in terms of the amount of students that are submitting a score. Um so now we know most IVs are now requiring it and we're seeing uh you know more and more of the top schools uh asking for this early decision a major strategic advantage. Uh we're hearing schools are, you know, getting as much as 50% of their rising freshman class um through ED. Uh public flagships increasingly competitive. Rutgers, Penn State, Indiana, Maryland, uh Clemson, Delaware, schools that that may have once been, you know, a safety to some kids, uh are certainly

061not. Those schools are getting uh more and more competitive. essays and recommendations mattering more for the reasons I pointed out in terms of authentic voice uh and being able to see evidence of character. And then this piece I love, you know, value over prestige uh excuse me, when I was in uh Columbus, Ohio earlier this year at the National Admissions Conference, uh somebody said prestige is a proxy for value. I thought that was such a good quote. Prestige is a proxy for value in the college admissions landscape that sometimes families will get so wrapped into the prestige of a school. And we need to get the focus on value. And what does that mean? A lot more schools uh focused on promoting what their value is, hands-on experiential learning. talking more about where did you

062uh going from where did you get in to what will that college help you become >> more and more of that uh and colleges trying to focus on talking to you about what you will be doing and what you'll be prepared to do uh afterwards and seeing that conversation of value uh more and more as part of the admissions landscape application data So, as you look at the the four-year trend, the word that I I think of is consistency. So, a lot of consistency uh you know here. Yes, we can see some um small small growths here, but we are um a small district and a small high school. Um so, the change in in in one or two kids um certainly is is a change in percentage points, but 87% um of students in

063the class of 2026 are off to four-year colleges. So, we've we've been very consistent uh in this area >> in our acceptance data. Um so, you know, small drop as far as 59% to 56, but I think the the massive jump from 50 to 59 uh the previous year, uh it's it's settled down. I think it's interesting to see that we're we're on average 10 applications uh per student which actually if you would have if I would have guessed off top of my head I would have thought it would have been higher uh than that because anecdotally we hear you know more and more we have you know plenty of students who are 15 to 20 if if not more um so so an average of 10 um but 56% overall acceptance rate at the

064school is certainly a success for the class of 2026 our schools most applied to um Ruckers which which was number one last year actually 12 more students than last year applied. I mean 69% uh not 69 students of the class applied to Ruckers. So um more more than half of the student population uh is applying to Ruckers. Um Michigan, James, Madison, and Virginia also saw a significant increase in applications this year. they each saw uh seven more applications uh from the previous year. And then when you look at most enrolled, I mean what jumps out of me, I mean five going to Cornell and uh three going to Boston College. Those those certainly, you know, jump out to me. enrollment data. You know, this is a data, a slide that sometimes we really don't give

065enough attention to talk about how impressive this is for a school with 135, you know, graduates, right? 135 graduates attending 77 different colleges in 21 states. Two students are attending college outside the US. 25 are staying in state, but then that means, you know, the amount of kids that that are leaving the state that we've prepared uh for life away uh further away from home. Um 98 students out of state or country. And then the balance of private verse public. This this is the change that we haven't seen this. This is a really nice balance here of kids that are going uh private and public. Um >> is the change more public or what? >> Actually, more private. >> Really? Yeah, more private this year. Yeah, this was a big ship. >> Now, you know,

066I can sit here and I can give you a nice quote about, you know, prestige is a, you know, proxy for value, but this is a pretty prestigious slide here. Uh, you know, nine acceptances to Ivy, seven enrollments. This is up from five last year. um 80 hidden IV acceptances up from 69 uh last year. Um the public IVs is uh where there was actually a drop. That one was is down uh from 189 last year, which yes, you can say part of that is because the increase in the others, but really it shows that how much more competitive those public IVs uh are getting. And then honors college acceptances 35 is up from 31 last year. intended major and career. You know, this is this is something that um really could have broken down

067into our top area if you took all of this and started to, you know, group it. STEM, engineering, and technology certainly our leading area uh for the class of 26. Next would be the health, life sciences, premed. Next would be uh business, economics and finance. Then government, law, policy and the social sciences followed by arts, design, communication and humanities. Uh and lastly, skilled trades, technical and career pathways. When we talk about um early decision uh data uh we had 38 students um who applied uh through ED uh which is 28% of the student population 22% were accepted ED1 six were deferred 10 students were denied uh and then uh we had eight students ED2 usually takes place in January we had eight students who applied there uh clearly less success in the ED2 uh pool.

068>> Overall using early decision uh data uh 46 applications were submitted 23 acceptance. So the overall acceptance rate uh was 50%. And then you can see here uh where we had our success for early decision in the area of athletics. um you know 14 14 students heading to to D3. It's some great data there. So we have four students who are going D1 in their respective athletic areas and 14 students um who will be at participating in collegiate sports at the D3 level. And comparison uh to past years, this is actually pretty consistent um with the past two years. I mean overall this is the f full picture you know of the class of 26 uh 26 of mountain lakes. We're enrolling enrolling in Ivy League institutions, highly selected private universities, public flagships, international universities,

069uh New Jersey schools, community college and also heading off uh to career pathways. really continues to show the outstanding work uh of of students, many of which have been part of Mount Lakes's uh school system for the last 13 years. Questions about that data? >> Any questions from Dr. Chef? >> Uh thank you so much for the data. Uh my eyes glaze over because you loop me, but I know it's all good stuff and I'm very proud of what our um students can achieve. Um I had a question. When you talk about military um where do the servicemies fit in like the naval academy and all did that go into college or does that count? >> So when we have the data here it's usually here. So we have no students in the class of

0702026. >> Oh no, but it like so military is directly to the military or >> Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. >> Or the like does the Naval Academy >> if we had if we had a student going since so in previous years if we had a student going like West Point or Naval Academy it would fit into the military. >> It would fit into the military. >> We would separate that. >> Okay. Okay. Got it. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> One quick question. >> Foreman. um with the um technical schools, is that also including like if somebody just goes to become a pilot or if somebody just goes to become is that what you're count because like that's not technically college. It's like >> train college. >> No, I'm not talking about >> No, we

071would consider a technical school. Okay. We would as opposed to say maybe you know gap year, >> right? Yeah. Like that's what I was wondering just where that would fit. >> Yeah. No, it's technical >> or like a culinary school. That would be like a technical school. depends >> that I I we don't have that this year but that would be other >> okay I was just wondering thanks >> it depends though it also could fall under you know depending on those I'm talking about like like cord on blue or yeah you know >> it depends on the school >> yeah we would >> anyone else thank you for coming and sharing this this is unbelievably impressive and clearly a result of a lot of hard work and good care and good education from a

072lot of people including your department, families, teachers, administrators. Thank you for just helping us celebrate this. This is fantastic. >> Very much. I appreciate it. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Move on. Okay. So, the board president report. I don't know if um some of you were able to see there was an interview done by one of our students following the last championship lacrosse game. Holton Gillespie was interviewed and spoke about the power of the public school >> and the idea of the phrase that has become so well known here in Mountain Lakes, the idea of stay public. I gotta tell you, it was a great interview and it was um a really joyful moment that he he shared credit with coaches and players and parents and this entire community of a

073school that supports our kids. It was a great great moment. um he captured it so well and the idea that my last president's reporter of the school year would focus on the the power of staying public could think of nothing better. So um to everyone who helps our students every day and really celebrates who they are and what they get to become what better way to say it than stay public. So pretty great. All right so then we move on to the superintendent assistant superintendent update please. Yeah, I think tonight we're going to keep it very brief. Uh we don't have a formal report. Uh we do we it's an extremely busy and celebratory time. Uh as mentioned, we we're still involved in athletics competitions. Uh when you get that far ahead, but uh this

074week, today we had our Wildwood moving up ceremony. Next is Brier Cliff, and that was a great event. Tomorrow is our Brier Cliff uh moving up ceremony at 6 PM. And then uh the capstone which is the Mount Lakes High School graduation on Wednesday. Last Friday we had our Ivy Hall preschool uh promotion. Uh and this is really just uh an exciting time. It's been a very challenging school year for all of us, but also you know when you see things like Mr. S's report, I know that only pertains to the seniors. Uh all the hard work um some of the frustration and challenges that you face are really worth it in the end. And I just want to wish everybody a wonderful summer. You deserve it. Get the break. Thank you uh to our

075MLEA uh who are here, but your entire organization um that's responsible for these educational results and for your partnership. So, thank you. >> Thank you, >> Joanne. Just real briefly, may I say something? >> Because the final score is in, >> right? The final scores. So, 14 to9 over Sparta and Holden Gillespie, who you were referring to, had six goals. >> Not bad. Wow. >> Which is great. And that tomorrow night we play Dell Barton at Keen 7 p.m. >> and we have Brian Cliff right before that. So >> definitely. Thank you. Joyful news to share. Um is there anything from our assistant superintendent? >> No. All right. Thank you, Dr. Tracy. Then we move on to the school business administrator update, please. >> Okay. >> We're good. All right. Then we go we have

076approval of minutes. We do have some regular and executive session minutes from May 11th. So we need a first, Mrs. Foreman, and a second, Mr. Johnson. In order to move these, we're going to vote yes, no, or abstension on both the regular and executive session. So all in favor say yes or raise your hand. So any nos, any abstensions? We have two abstensions. >> I cannot hear >> Dr. and Miss Karn. Thank you very much. All right, then. Any comments or requests of members of the public? All right, we carry on and we move on to any communications at this time. No. So, we have the Booten County report, please. >> So, we have not met since our last meeting, but I don't think at the last meeting I was able to give an update.

077So from two meetings ago um we I want to congratulate the upper grade band and chorus both earning superior ratings at their high notes festival performance. This is old news. This happened about a month ago but wanted to congratulate him. Uh Dr. Panero uh provided board training to the RBS. The subject was referendum as we have our upcoming referendum. Um and we have a meeting tomorrow. So I'll have more probably in the next meeting. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry. Meetings Wednesday. Any comments or questions there? Well, then thank you for sharing all that good information. Um, we can move on then to committee and liaison reports. Is there anyone that has a report to share tonight? Mrs. Foreman. >> Hey. Um, the facilities committee met last week and we actually met in person at

078Briercliffe to do a tour of the Briercliffe vestibial redesign. Um, and you'll see later on in the uh meeting, we're going to be approving the um bids for the vestibular redesigns, not only at Brier Cliff and Lake Drive, but also um a minor readjustment to Wildwood as well. Um, we're going we we had a lot of discussion in addition to the tour and just kind of being able to walk through the buildings and visualize like where the doors were going to go, where the windows were going to be, just having that space awareness of of what this was going to look like. Um, you know, I I I'm speaking for the committee, but I think everybody was impressed with um the plan and where we're heading with this. And um hopefully the disruption to, you

079know, convenience is minimized, but we it's important for the community to be aware that there will be some adjustment just to understanding construction. And you know, no kid will, you know, be displaced or anything, but there will be some minor inconveniences for a couple of months. But I promise that once that is through, we are going to have an amazing new structure in in the Brier Cliff building while retaining the historical significance of the building. Um that is a very important priority not only of our committee but also you know of our architect and and of our um amazing you know facilities director uh Mr. Dunn. He's taken such care into preserving as much of the original woodwork and repurposing things in a way that can be you know it'll feel new but we'll still

080have that Mountain Lakes you know hapg good feeling about it which is kind of fun. Um, and then we also, um, discussed, like I was saying, the bids that came in, and it's very, very, very good, guys. Like the last time we bid these out, it was a disaster. And so this time, we had multiple bids. We had multiple contractors to choose from. Um, you know, who were submitting proposals. Um, and, you know, we're very confident that the group we're going with is doing a really going to do a really good job. Um the last thing that we discussed was our long range facilities planning document which um you were all aware of from earlier this year. We put in a lot of work um to develop the long range facilities plan and the long-range

081facilities projects. And we had a lot of stakeholder involvement for this, not just at the board level, but from the administrative level, from the teachers, from, you know, just general school community um participants to make sure that we were really being very conscious when we thought about what needs were and what wants were and the needs are going to come first. Um and so as a result of that, we're going to uh kick the long range facilities committee um recommendations report back to the finance committee where we can now dig into as we look at some of the other financial constraints that um we're going to be facing in the next couple of years. You know, healthcare costs continue to rise. I don't have to tell everybody on the board, you're all aware of the

082way our financial projection is kind of heading. Um, so we're going to do some fine-tuning of the long range facilities committee report and then we're going to do it in finance and come back to facilities after finance kind of does it five fine tooth comb with it. Um, but we are re really confident that this is going to be a really well organized well done system once we get everything back from finance. The last thing I want to say is we're also approving a major donation from our community tonight. Um the Mountain Lakes Alumni Association and a number of other groups um who have done just tremendous tremendous generous work in our community um to finish up some of the field projects that we have as related to Flynfield and as related to Wilkins field.

083Um there the donation is going to come in tonight for the Wilkinsfield scoreboard which is just an incredible gift to our school community for years to come. Um as well as the landscaping projects which I know a lot of the homeowners who are around Flynfield had a lot of questions about it and I've been trying to answer everybody's emails as they've reached out to me about what we can do about some of the landscaping and the way it is. And um as I promised them and as I'm going to say to you all now, we're going to have all of that taken care of. It's going to be beautiful. It's going to look like it was always there and and and really fit really nicely into the into the natural environment as well as make

084it something where you know the kids are going to have kids and spectators are going to have a really amazing place to go. So all of that is happening tonight. So it's big in the facilities world. It usually is in this meeting. So big facilities meeting and uh if anybody has any questions you can always ask me. I mean you can ask here but if you have any other questions you can always ask me too. >> Any questions? >> Thank you Mr. Foreman. >> Um any other committee reports? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Um policy committee we met on uh June 12th and um it was like a sort of a twofold meeting. So one is I think this is the time of year and um Dr. Dr. Seagull, I'll ask you to jump in if

085I miss or misspeak. Um, so Strauss Esme kind of reviews its policies and kind of sends out policy alerts to all of the school districts. So those were fairly minor. I'm not going to go through them. Some of them are just like changing a name. So instead of something uh instead of a policy reading, career education and academic guide guidance counseling, they've dropped the word guidance, you know. So like really really minor things. So we sort of reviewed those though um uh Miss Lavine and uh Dr. Seagull had already sort of gone through all of that. Um but then we had our own cyclical review of policies that the administration had been going through and we've been sort of systematically going down the list of of all of those things. Um so probably the ones

086that are most important and that I think some of you have heard about and if you haven't we should discuss it. Um tutoring services. Um so that was um you know so so as you know there are many students in our school district probably in every school district that require additional support with academics and um so they employ tutors and often the tutors are from within the school district and that's fine. Um the policy the change to the policy that we've made and that we've that the the committee approved um is that any tutoring that happens private tutoring cannot happen on school grounds anywhere in on school grounds. It cannot use um well textbooks or >> district district issues >> district or any district materials educational material should not be used. Um and um and

087that's really it. And and the third one, which is probably the most important, is if there's a student in your class who's enrolled in your class, you cannot also privately tutor them. Um but go ahead. >> Oh, so but I mean if the student has materials like to go over, the student can use their textbook. That would be >> the student can use the textbook. Yeah. So it's it's intended and thank you for that clarification that the tutor if if it's a district employee who is providing resources to the kid they the individual cannot use district issued materials >> and they shouldn't be using like teaching guides that are used in the school as as as something to >> have to enforce. >> But again it's it's something that happens everywhere. We appreciate that students

088need that extra tutoring. appreciate that staff uh you know had this is another way for them to sort of support their livelihood. So um it's really to streamline it and to make sure that it's not happening primarily on school grounds. Um so that was probably the most significant one that we um that we reviewed. Um the other one is around um non-resident students and specifically students um of staff members. So we changed the language. The language was very restrictive to only include teachers and it really should be district employees. So any district employee that has >> because that's the that's the policy >> that is or Yeah. But the policy in the language in the policy was a little inconsistent. Yeah. >> At different points it said teaching staff members. At other points it said

089district employees. So you just made sure it said district employees everywhere. >> Yeah. So that was again, you know, just an update um for everyone to know. Um then the other one was about visit you know guidelines around school visit and I think again that's fairly streamlined I mean the fact that we've now implemented the government issued ID across all school district all the three buildings or four buildings um and that you know the the additions are that visitors will be accompanied by authorized personnel while they're in the building and then there must be a clear purpose for anyone that wants to visit a school. You can't just go there to say hi to your kid. There's got to be a reason to go there. Um and and I think that was it. Did I

090miss anything to see? >> That those are the major there was a lot of work that went into it. So our entire administration looked at uh about 15 to 20 policies. We will every uh year with a different set that ones that are most commonly uh used. And beyond like looking at revision to policies, we also looked at uh from the lens of does the policy need do we need to train people on the policy? Is it not being implemented correctly? Is it enforced? So there was a lot of hard work that was put into is it consistent with the code of conducts. So we did look you know strictly at this point it's from revision from the board standpoint but there was a lot more that went into the policy review and the committee

091was uh extremely uh vigilant for this. I also since I have a chance to talk now, Miss Lavine uh played a critical role in putting all this information together, doing some of the analysis. She attends the Strauss Esme uh broadcast, the webinars, and she gets information from those. So, and she's a very active part of our um committee. So, Miss Leavine, if you're listening at home, um >> yes, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, she absolutely I totally agree. >> That was it. Any questions there? Thank you. That was very helpful. Anyone else on committee reports? >> I'm going to do my committee next time. I just didn't have a chance to do my notes. >> No worries. No worries. Anyone else? >> Okay. How about the Aison reports? >> All right, then we

092will actually I have a quick one. It's >> I didn't mean to. >> No worries. No worries. We had our last meeting um of the photo um group for the year obviously. Um and just some highlights. I mean, you know, in terms of I think I've been sort of updating you guys with membership. So, they ended the year with about 50 members. Um, but a lot more revenue than they had collected. So, people actually uh donated at a much higher level. Um, they did hand out scholarships. I know, you know, every year they um hand out scholarships about $1,000. Um um and they had there were three winners uh Grace Fu, Laura Blandon, and Sophia Serbo. um and they were presented their awards um at the senior awards ceremony which was exciting and and Mr.

093Henry obviously is a huge support to this group. Um I should also say at this last meeting um which I thought was really great he invited all of the art um all all the teachers that you know are either doing music or art. Um and it was good to sort of hear their feedback. um this was their opportunity to talk to the members of the photo board directly and to a express gr gratitude but if they needed anything you know and and it's little things I mean sometimes it's just you know cases for tubas or you know replacing a shelf or you know but but I think the amount that this little group does and it is it's like the little engine that could and they they really do a good job. Um so I

094just wanted to give a shout out to them because it's a terrific group of ladies. >> Well, I'm glad you did and I'm sorry I cut you off. >> No, no. >> All right. Anyone else? Okay. So, now we will move on to the report and recommendation of the school business administrator, please. >> Okay. We have a lot of really important things to look at and hopefully approve. Uh standard. We have our presentation of bills. Budget transfer, treasurer report, board secretary report. Um those are the first four. And then what we're looking at um here for five, six, and seven are the adjustments that we're seeking for reserves uh that are scheduled for the next school year. These are what we anticipate uh not to exceed. These are not the actual numbers. That information won't

095be available till June 30th. We will get that specific data to the finance committee, but this is a not to exceed. Uh but we do need to have a motion to approve those. So it's for tuition reserves, capital reserves, and maintenance reserves. We also have the very important certified tuition rates thanks to Mr. Brandon, Mr. Robinson, and our finance committee for um we analyze these in finance committee last week. And we have our our late drive certified tuition rate for 2425 as well as our 9 through12, K15, and 68. We did have some uh important adjustments that Mr. Robinson worked on with the finance committee. And this is again for the looking back a year. So this is for 202425. We have all of our ESY uh here for Lake Drive. all of our students

096that are for tuition and extra services and our US ESY for bri those are new students for bio sorry 72 and 73 professional services uh we have our training which is mandatory for administrative team every year uh through Ivon's office with strong associates uh we have additional support here for different providers that we use for professional development, for educational services, uh services for uh related services and counseling, home instruction. Um these are again slated for the 2627 school year for travel and conferences. Uh we have a lot of activity happening um over the summer which is great and the end of the school year to see how active our staff and you'll see our administration is uh also taking part in a lot of professional development over the summer and for our Wildwood staff you

097see here on the bottom this is really critical. This is the week-long reading institute. Uh this is highly important professional development uh for our language arts instruction and you can see a number of our wildwood staff who are taking part of it. Goes on to the next page. The donations grants uh as uh Mrs. Foreman mentioned we have the generous donations for the Mountain Lakes Alumni Association where they are supporting uh further beautifification and development of the Flynfield project. Uh we also have here uh last month we approved or last meeting we approved the Mount Lakes Educational Foundation grants. Uh we Bootin Township also works in conjunction with Mount Lakes Ed Foundation and will support grants specific to the high school and they worked very cooperatively on that. So we have Bootin Township's Ed Foundation

098grants listed here. Under fundraising, we have uh one additional fundraiser that HSA is looking to add for next year. We did approve all of their fundraisers last year. Um we are reapproving those as is. We have one additional new one and that would be uh an event sponsorship program where different families uh can entirely sponsor events like the popcorn Friday or the dunk tanks. um and they could they can uh pay for all the uh event activities there. So that's something that they're are looking to start. We have um online liquor clothing for DECA. That's number two. And then lastly, we have a food pantry uh donation or fundraising um for food pantry in Dendle and that's for our upstanders club at Brier Cliff. We have uh a typewriter I didn't know existed at Brier

099Cliff. I was going to say I would really like that typewriter. I think that could be very a very cool I just Googled what it looks like and that could be very cool. So maybe don't like smash that yet. >> Yeah, >> could be like a museum. >> I know. Like I kind of want to like see it. >> I'm writing a book. I mean like it could be kind of interesting. >> I Mr. Alvis maybe can help you. >> Yeah. >> All right. We have um two facilities use requests for summer activities. Um the uh I want to point out here as per our audit recommendations, we're being very closely monitoring any stale or outstanding checks that um have exceeded the six-month time period. So there are two that were identified, one from Mount

100L High School, one from Briercliffe. Uh these are very important uh developments with regard to district business. Uh the district uh put a bid out for an auditor uh which was a competitive process. This was reviewed closely with the finance committee and we're very excited about our new arrangement with let's see if I get it right >> missia. >> Missachia um which is a uh from all recommendations highest caliber auditor greatest services um and they were very excited to take our business. So we're enthusiastically recommending our new auditor. We have the projects that um Mrs. foreman talked about regarding the security vestibules. Uh we had a bid competitive bid for that as well. This is in encompassing all the work at Brier Cliff, Wildwood, and Lake Drive. Um and you see that there. We have

101a partial window replacement. This is an ongoing project at the high school. It's over a seven-year period, I believe. Uh but each year we have to bid out uh the windows that were done. And this is the lowest bid that we're required to take um from pexic windows and doors. And then as we've discussed through our long range planning meeting um extensively, we have two district initiatives for capital projects. One for the adoption of a two-way radio system. Uh one for a complete overhaul of our phone system, including the wiring. Um and part of that will be leased over a longer period. Uh these two initiatives are consequential to district's security and operations. Um and it's very important that we move forward with these over the summer. Uh just one comment on the phone system

102installation. Uh that work will start this week um as soon as this is approved. Hopefully it is. And um even with that it is possly that it will not be done by the first day of school. What would likely happen is that basically all the schools have to be rewired. That work is extensive. All the rewiring will happen over the summer and then the actual phone uh pushed into the schools will likely happen in the fall on a extended break like a long weekend and uh we will train for that but that is a very significant operation. Then we have our annual appointments. Uh these are people who have authorized signatures. Uh this is mainly our auditor and our anti-bullying specialist uh our district coordinator. Thank you again to Miss Cortezi all the work overseeing

103that and all the individuals who have uh the exhaustive work of doing uh HIV investigations but not just the investigations, the training and the work in the classroom with the students to hopefully prevent the HIVs. We have um very exciting news here. Uh continuation of our agreement with the SoundStar Babies program for the deaf and heart of hearing children that uh had expired on is set to expire on June 30th. We have up the two-year contract. Thank you to Mr. Mitchell and the trustees for Southstar Babies. Uh thank you to Jen Parker who's not here and our negotiating team. Uh this was a very um effective and fair and um good process to go through. It's a great partnership and very excited to move forward. We have um a the adoption of our dibble system

104for next year. This is what we've been using the previous year. This is for our screening. We have our drill evacuation reports which are mandatory that have been conducted in all of our four of our schools. And that covers our business agenda. This is a lot. We need a first and a second. We have Mrs. Foreman and we have Dr. Chef. Thank you very much to hear those. Any objections to hearing these together? >> No. >> Any comments or questions at this time? >> I just have one. >> Mrs. Foreman, >> I just again want to reiterate how generous it is of the alumni association to make this donation to the district. I mean, it's over $100,000 um in total. It's it's really an a massive amount of money and for the community of graduates

105to be so generous to want to give back um is just beyond um we're beyond grateful that they're doing that and also a thank you to Bin Township Education Foundation >> for donating to the high school grant programs. And as we said in the last meeting, we know volunteerism is down like a really significant amount districtwide. Um, and you see this with even the HSA having individual families now sponsoring Popcorn Fridays. I mean, my kids were in Wildwood. It was like like a death fight to get to be able to be a volunteer, to be a room parent. I mean, it was like it was impossible. Like, you had to like wait your turn. And now I think it's a big struggle to try to fill these roles. And I think it's really important for

106the community to start to step up, especially, you know, get engaged, like get to know your your kids f, you know, the parents of your kids' friends and and also parents of kids that aren't your kids' friends. I mean, there's a lot of really great opportunities for community building here in our schools and getting people to come out and volunteer for organizations like MLF, like HSA, like Laker Sports Club. you know, they keep the the clocks ticking on a lot of the bells and whistles that we have. So, I just want to make that clear again. >> I completely agree. We we can't do the things we want to do for our children without our our partners, our community partners, and and the generosity of of of certainly all of this money and and all

107of this time and all of this commitment. So, sincerely on behalf of of everyone, just I thank you seems small when these numbers are so big and I'll say thank you. >> Yeah. No, and I think the time and the volunteering is cannot be overemphasized. I mean even in photo we're having the same discussion where Emily Khan's kids are now she's been leading the charge and her kids are graduated and she's trying to pass the baton and there's no one that really wants to take it on. So it's it's a real it's a real struggle I think across the board. >> Across the board and I forgot photo but they are also an equally important volunteer organization. not drain out. >> No, I know that. I'm just saying it's just it's across the board. It's

108where you're just not getting the support. So, >> yeah. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Oh, one other. Everybody should come to the game tomorrow on the board at Keen. I mean, this is like we're playing Dell Barton. This is like the evil empire. Like, it's time. >> Remember, it's it's also prior to graduation. After that, >> we got two things going on. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Any other comments, questions? >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Don. >> Yes. Miss Foreman. >> Yes. >> Dr. Hersshfeld. >> Yes. >> Mr. Johnson. >> Yes. For all high school. >> Miss Karn Carney. >> Yes. >> M. McVey. >> Yes. >> Dr. Sheth. >> Yes. >> Miss Parkowskis. >> Yes. Thank you very much. We move on to the report and recommendation of the superintendent, please. >>

109Here we go. So, we have a a position that is created added uh for the purpose of increased enrollment uh and that's with the late drive program speech language therapist. I think I've mentioned this already in personnel. We are already at a deficit with the amount of services we need to provide for our Lake Drive students. So, this is part of this was included in our budget. It's for an additional speech language uh specialist who was also going to be on the agenda for approval. We do have a number of approvals. I really want to commend our administrative staff at the end of the year to be able to balance all the end of year closing while also managing to finalize our staffing and going into the summer. Uh we are fully staffed except for

110one one leave replacement teacher at the high school. Now I say that and they're probably angry because I'm sure things will come up over the summer. So you don't want to uh get too excited, but it's a lot of work that was put in. And in that vein, we uh have here a part-time French teacher uh due to increased enrollment. Uh this French teacher who is moving from California uh is ults also multiple certified Spanish and ESL. Um this is a great um hire for the district. We also were able to get a part-time business teacher um who is excellent as well. So those are two positions that are extremely difficult to find that uh moving forward with confidence. Here on the agenda, we also have revisions to appointments. Um they're just contractual changes. Um

111just edits from previous agendas. And then you see here the treasurer who we is an annual appointment. We have um number eight is the new speech language specialist uh at Lake Drive. And we also have uh an OT leave replacement at Lake Drive, which is also very difficult to find, but someone qualified. Uh we have the transfer of three staff members on the agenda from the child study team in special education. We have some leaves of absence. Oh, I had a one carry on. I'm surprised Mr. Brennan didn't nudge me, but under um administrator contract, this is for 26, we have the um reappoint of Mr. Brennan uh in this position through the end through up to the end of the summer um at the same uh PDM rate at three days a week. Um

112I will tell everybody and I told the board, we are actively in the process of hiring a permanent uh BA. We are moving forward with final interviews. Um, and we are hopeful that we'll be able to hire a full-time BA within the next few weeks for the next agenda, but of course um we're going to need some time in between. So, Mr. Brennan has greatly uh been helpful in in this process and agreed to stay for the period um that we're waiting to get the permanent. So, reason it's a hand carry is um was waiting in county office and we got the approval today I think at like 4:30. So, we're able to do it as a carrier. Going back, leave of absences. Uh we had a few adjustments there. Um for leave of absences

113for athletics, we have um many but not all of our fall coaches that are up for approval here. We do not have coaches for other seasons yet. We will be reevaluating those and making decisions uh during the summer or the start of the school year. This is for our fall coaches. We have one adviser that was added. We have a few Brier Cliff coaches. We have not filled all of our Brier Cliff coaches and we have a few assistant coaches at the high school that are not filled as well. We have uh additional compensation for itinerant teaching. Uh Miss Cortezi as the right to know coordinator. Um, these are just wanted to make sure they're for this year and next year to make sure we don't miss them on the agenda. That's sort of just

114a fail safe. We have other interpreters for extracurricular activities that are approved at the at the approved rate for the board. Um, you see these here and then we have our school safety specialists. Again, it's a little redundant, but Mr. Carlson has agreed thankfully to be our school safety specialist. um done a tremendous job in that role. Uh we're approving him. We have more individuals for doing professional development during the summer um beyond the reading institute that they're doing uh virtually. We have late drive PAR professionals. Uh we have some people for our summer uh special services for our summer program. And then we have uh one additional a lot of the summer curriculum writing was approved at the last agenda. We have individuals who are slated to work at our summer academy um at

115the rates that are follow. We have um few volunteers and subs that are being approved uh including Mr. Price is doing administrative internship with me and we have the as a hand carry we have the tuition reimbursement here. We have one that came in late and because it's the end of the year, we put it on as a hand carry. So, that was included as it on the agenda. And that's for EP Krauss. We have the textbook that's being approved for our new accounting course. Very exciting. Um, we have very high enrollment for our first year in accounting at the high school. So, that's excellent news. Um, and then we have for the class of 2026, we're approving that they're graduating. um they still have two more days left but um it's confident to say

116that it's going to go forward. Number 34, we have uh one HIB that was reviewed in the last exact session. We have uh the statement of assurance for a comprehensive equity plan that was revised last year. Every year subsequent it's more of a statement assurance to show that we are reviewing it. We have the policies that miss Mrs. Karnney uh discussed many of them part of the Strauss estimate update which are mandatory others which were part of our cyclical review process and that is a long agenda. >> Fantastic. All right we need a first and a second here in order to move these. We have Morning and Dr. Chef. Thank you very much. Any objections to hearing these motions together? No. >> Any comments or questions at this time? Dr. Chef didn't Mr. retired. >>

117Who? >> Mr. Matun retire. He did. >> He did. >> But >> he did come to the Boston trip and he was approved because he's also been approved as a substitute teacher. >> Oh, previous. >> Well, I I love seeing that name, so I >> Great. Good question. >> Anyone else? >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Don, >> yes. >> Miss Foreman, >> yes. >> Dr. Hersfel, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson, >> yes. for all high schoolers. >> M schooling. >> Yes. >> Miss McGay. >> Yes. >> Dr. Chef. >> Yes. >> And Miss Barkous. >> Yes. >> All right. Any unfinished business? >> Any new business? >> I I'm just going to make uh a statement here in terms of uh we had a letter that went out to the eighth grade families. Um,

118we unfortunately had another incident with a swastika that occurred at Brier Cliff Middle School. I I don't want to say too much because it it just happened this afternoon, but I know the eighth grade families were informed. I know our staff members have been involved with it. Um, obviously it's a horrific incident. Um, it, you know, I really, you know, want to be careful here. It's the end of the year. There's so many positive things and I don't want to necessarily make this like the the final message, but I do need to say that um swastikas and energy symbols of hate are absolutely not tolerated whether it's intended with purpose or intent or whether it's a joke u because the impact it has on people is in is really incredible and uh problematic and and

119can be really traumatic. So, uh, I have to say that, you know, given the fact that we've had a few incidents this year, uh, we absolutely have to revisit what we're doing in the classroom, the messages that we're sending and partner with parents to understand that even though, you know, not all, um, events like this are, you know, based in hate. Um, they are symbols of hate and the impact they have on people, um, is just intolerable. and we just have to continue to state that message and continue to work closely with our students to make sure that they understand the impact of these these acts. Um that said, you know, we we want to end the year on a positive note, but uh this did go out to the eighth grade parents uh today.

120So I felt it was appropriate to share. >> Thank you. >> And I think I can speak for the entire board. you have our full support in the way you're handling this with such seriousness. So, thank you for that. >> I second that. >> Um, any comments or requests from the public >> at this point? >> I I missed my queue before to to do a communication. Is it okay if I read a communication? >> Of course. Yes. >> Sorry. I might just jump right by that. Go ahead. >> That was I wrote a communication for the board. So, if you don't mind, I read it. >> Sure. >> So, dear Mountain Lakes Board of Education members, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks for the beautiful bouquet of flowers you gifted me in

121honor of my graduation. Your thoughtful gesture made my graduation day even more special. Writing my doctoral degree has been a significant milestone in my career, and I am truly touched by your kindness, support, and recognition of this achievement. Thank you again for your thoughtfulness. It means so much to me to be part of such a caring and encouraging community with sincere gratitude. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Welld deserved. >> Yes. >> Great. Now you end our meeting. Wonderful. >> Thank you. Motion to adjourn. >> All right. So we have Dr. Don and we have Miss McBay. Thank you very much. We adjourn at 9:20. We say it.