Board of Education Meeting - February 2, 2026

001Hello everyone. I need to read the statement of adequate notice. The New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to advance notice and to attend meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provision 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 to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >>

002Roll call, please. >> Mr. Chang, >> here. >> Mrs. Foreman >> here. >> Dr. Hersshfeld. >> Mr. Johnson >> here. >> Mrs. Carney >> here, >> Mrs. Parker, Dr. Chef >> here, >> Dr. Silva McIntyre, Mrs. Sparks >> here. >> We have executive session this evening. Be it resolved that the Mount Lake Board of Education enters into executive session. We need a first and a second, please. Mrs. Foreman and Mr. Chang. Thank you very much. That the board of education adopts the following resolution. Um, this motion is approved at Oh, all say I. I. I. This motion is approved at 6:34. Be it resolved by the Mountain Lakes Board of Education on this 22nd day of February, 2026 at 6:34 p.m. as follows. The board shall recess into close session in accordance with the open

003public meeting law NJSA 10:4-12B1267 and 8. The general nature 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 to reconvene and proceed with business action may take place. This resolution shall take effect immediately. See everybody in about an hour. >> We need to officially open the meeting. >> All right. We need to gavvel the meeting open. >> Good opening. That's [applause] a very good opening. Thank you, L. [laughter] All right. >> Uh we need a motion to leave

004executive session. We have Mrs. Foreman and we have Mr. Johnson. Thank you very much. The motion is approved. All say I. >> I. And we return to public session at 7:33. Hello everyone. This is so good that we get to be together tonight. I'm sorry we were a few minutes late, but I promise we were doing good work for the district back there. So, thank you for your patience. Um, so let's go through a couple of these. Um, we're going to go to tonight. You'll see we're going to go a little out of order on some things, but work with us. It's going to be a good meeting. All right, why don't we begin by with the student government report. >> Um, for those of you who do not know me, my name is Bianca

005Piccolo. Um, tonight I'm going to highlight the growing together group, winter athletics, the performing arts, junior focus academic update, and upcoming events. So, first I'm going to brush upon the growing together group, which involves junior and senior girls visiting the Wildwood School to work with younger students. This group focuses on helping girls understand the challenges of growing up, especially navigating friendships, handling drama, and learning healthy ways to respond to difficult social situations. We talk openly openly about drama and how you grow older with these certain situations and more importantly how to prevent but how to prevent it by walking away set setting boundaries and avoiding spreading situations in large groups. As a fifth grader almost 10 years ago, I would have benefited from this so much. Learning early how to handle drama, communicate calmly, and

006understand that not every situation needs a reaction. Having older students share these lessons would have helped me normalize those challenges, especially moving into my high school career. The impact has been meaningful been meaningful on both sides. Wildwood students have shared that they have started trying these new strategies such as stepping away from drama instead of escalating it and choosing to talk about things calmly rather than involving many people. At the same time, the high school girls have also been very involved with this too and have have gained such a great experience. They've gained leadership skills and perspective by me mentoring these younger students. Ultimately, we want these girls to feel empowered and to to be be able to handle these challenges independently and confidently. And if they carry even one of these strategies with them

007into middle school and beyond, especially growing into high school, just like me, this pro this program will have made a very big lasting impact. Okay. So, now we're going to talk a little bit about winter athletics. Our winter sports season has been very active. Uh we have the boys basketball team which is four and 16 record. Our girls basketball team which is nine and 16. Wrestling 5 and 20. And for our winter track in the 2026 winter track season, the Mountain Lakes High School girls have secured eighth place at the Morris County Indoor Track and Field Championships within 20 points, which is very great. Boys and girls swim team. For boys, we are five and eight and girls four and eight. And we have gained many medals this season. So overall for winter athletics, [clears

008throat] um it's continuing to be an important out outlet for our student involvement, leadership, and school community. Next, I'm going to talk about the theater program. So, as some of you may know, we have the Frozen production, which will be coming out in March. Our theater department has been especially busy busy with our preparations for the Frozen production. As a member myself as a production committee, I'd like to highlight some of the promotional efforts that are being take that are taking place before um Frozen begins to get launched. So, first there is going to be a Hop Goods eatin fundraiser that is being held from January 26 to the 29th. There is also an upcoming partnership with the Corner Crearyy where there will be exclusive frozen themed flavors and specialty items that are offered to

009support the production. These two events have helped build excitement within the community while supporting student creativity and collaboration. So, make sure that you guys please go check those fundra fundraisers out because we've all been working very hard on them and it's very important to support the arts. Okay. So, next I'm going to talk about an upcoming event taking place this Saturday, which is the high school senior uh the high school winter formal, which will be taking place on January 7th from 7 to 9. Uh the dance will be winter wonderland themed and it's open to all Mountain Link students grades 9 to 12. The tickets are 20 $25 per attendance and the event is expected to provide a fun and inclusive opportunity for students across all grade levels to come together during this winter season.

010Finally, I'd like to focus on uh the juniors for a second and the new score application. uh score has been a very helpful tool for juniors um in the beginning beginning the college exploration process with me also being a junior it has helped this process go so much so much smoother. This application allows students to research schools, compare programs and understand admission requirements and even see how their academic profile aligns with potential colleges. This has helped juniors feel informed and confident while also navigating the early stages of planning for their life after high school. So overall um students are continued to be engaged in the high school and across all uh academics with athletics, leadership and the arts also be involved with Wildwood. And these programs not only strengthen our school community but also support

011student growth beside the inside and outside classroom. Uh thank you for your time and I'm happy to answer any questions if there is any >> for the board. Any questions? >> I know Bianca has stayed with us for most of the meetings but today is her birthday >> and I believe that she's got a maybe a basketball game too. >> Yeah, the basketball game was at fort today. >> Oh, you had it. Okay. >> It was a good win. All right. So, you're definitely excused today. Thank you so much for your report. >> I appreciate that. >> Happy birthday. Good luck next week. >> Can I just make a comment? >> Oh, yes. >> I I like what you said about the score. >> We're finding we love it in our house. So, >> thank

012you for sharing that. Yeah. Yeah. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Of course. >> You have a great night. Thank you for coming. It's always the best part of our meeting. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. >> Bye. >> All right. Are there any other Mount Lakes School District students that [clears throat] would like to make a comment this evening? >> Okay, then we move on to comments and requests from the MLEA co-presidents. I always say you're the best part of our meeting, so I guess we HAVE I MEAN WE GOT A LOT OF BEST PARTS. >> We got a lot of best parts. [clears throat] >> Good evening everyone. Oh, that's uh Mike Alves, MLA co-president. So, I just like to take a moment to acknowledge something important that took place here

013only a few hours ago. Uh, today our district engaged in the first uh of a series of sessions focused on productive disagreement. Uh, and I want to thank and commend our staff for taking the step uh and for showing up with openness and professionalism. Meaningful work like that takes effort, trust, and a willingness to engage. And that should not go unrecognized. Uh, I also want to acknowledge the collaboration that made today possible. This was really a homegrown initiative born out of honest conversation uh and shared commitment among the MLEA, MLA uh and our central office administration. It reflects the time, the care and thoughtful dialogue that happens when people come together with the goal of strengthening our district. We know this is just the beginning, but today's work matters. The seeds that were planted through

014these conversations have the potential to shape how we listen to one another, uh how we navigate disagreement, and how we move forward together. We look forward to continuing this work and to seeing the growth that comes from it in the months ahead. So, thank you very much. Have a good night. >> Thank you, Mr. Board is very appreciative of of the fact that we had our staff, our administrators, our central office all working together in this way. It's a wonderful initiative. Takes a lot as you said, trust and courage and you all are demonstrating that. So, thank you for that very much. Um, at this point we have some presentations. So, I'll turn the meeting over to Dr. Seagull. >> Sure. I I see on the agenda here, um, we have two presentations. We are

015going to flip-flop them, uh, in order, and we are going to begin with a Wildwood Elementary School update, uh, led by our principal, Mr. Higgins. I see he has brought along some young guests uh who will be part of the presentation and this will be a general update on some educational areas but in particular um our new literacy writing program at grades 3 to five uh and some other work we're doing with uh educational assessments at Wild. Mr. Higgins is going to represent that for the board and the public tonight. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening everyone. Uh thank you to the board of education for this opportunity to talk about Wildwood which is a great thing to talk about and thank you to everyone uh that's here in the audience tonight. As Dr. Dr.

016Seagull said, I'm going to talk to you tonight about a few of the initiatives that we have uh some started this year and some have begun uh began a few years ago and are now uh coming to fruition. Uh so firstly, I want to kind of start the conversation um with this idea of Wildwood as the launching point for the district. Um, we come to come to board meetings all the time and we love to see the the accomplishments of the the high school students that come through, the academic accolades, the scholarships that they receive, the colleges that they get accepted to, uh, the athletic awards that they receive. It's really an amazing thing that this community uh, we're all so very proud of. Um, but we like to say too, the path to these

017accolades has to begin somewhere. Um, and we'd like Wildwood to be that place. And so when we look at that, um, I I look at that very closely. And I know that that our staff cares very deeply about the success of our students and our community. And although in this short presentation I can't go into the depth of all of that, uh, I do hope we can highlight some of the practices that show the importance we place uh, on being that launching point for Mountain Lakes. So three areas we're going to take a look at tonight. Uh very quickly we are going to focus on uh our three to five writing program. Uh the writing program was an initiative that we launched in August uh after we spent the good part of last year in

018committee uh with the assistant superintendent uh with Mr. Henry the uh ELA supervisor uh staff members at Wildwood and myself uh looking at various programs uh that we could bring in to change the the direction of our our writing program. And so we settled um on the writing units of study. Um and we'll talk about three significant shifts within writing that the program represents and we'll hear from some students that I interviewed uh about the changes they see in their own writing already. Uh secondly, we're going to take a look at some assessment and data. I'm not going to show you any like, you know, graphs or anything like that tonight, but I'm just going to talk about the processes we employ at Wildwood to take a look at data. Uh this year the the

019NJOE mandated that we report out on universal screening data in reading. Um and Wildwood we're well positioned for that. Uh we've over the last few years we've really started a culture of assessing and looking at the trends in that data to help us make educational decisions for classes and individual students. Um so we'll look at that and we'll look at uh you know the intervention processes we have for students who need it as well. And then lastly, we'll take a look uh at the the program that Miss uh Le Piccolo mentioned in her update, the Growing Together program. We'll have one of our students here, a fifth grade student, talk about that program as well. Okay. So, new for this this school year, launched in August, was the units of study for writing. This was

020launched in grades three through five. And this program is different in in many ways to the the way that we had approached writing at Wildwood in grades three through five. um because of the way that it focuses on it's a highly structured program that when you look at it from an exterior like if you walk into a classroom where this is happening you would wonder exactly how structured it is because a lot of times kids are working independently or in small group but it actually is a highly structured program where we teach kids the basics and the building blocks of how to write within genres and so the students in grades three through five have really undertaken that. So first off, it was a huge change to philosophy not only for the the staff but

021also for the students. It requires a different structure within the classroom. Uh the classroom is broken up into segments. A short mini lesson where kids are taught at the lesson of the day and then it's kind of broken out where after that the kids have to practice that independently and the teacher then confers with individual or small groups of students and they come back and they share out the work that they've done for the day. Uh that's a big structural shift for a lot of our staff and for the students as well, especially in third grade. They're new to that level of independence and it's taken some some time and some excellent professional development uh provided by um Mossflower, who is the the company that creates the the product. Um we're moving away from writing

022as just completion or writing what my teacher told me to write and towards students seeing themselves as authors who write for real audience. Uh so for example I interviewed a few students in third, fourth and fifth and one of the students told me she now writes for everyone to advocate for the changes she wants to see. And another student in the same conversation says he writes his arguments because they write arguments in third grade. It focuses on issues outside of the classroom, not just the stuff that's happening in that classroom there, but things that he sees in the world that he'd like to change. One of which, you'll all appreciate this, was the third grade entrance to Wildwood is in the back by the playground. And the students in one class all wrote the arguments

023about how they should we should upgrade that space. They want awnings. They want a bench. They want better lighting. They want uh colorful bricks. So, I had to listen um gladly to a gl a class kind of pitch me the the different designs they wanted all through this process that they go through on a daily basis. Um and as another student really beautifully put it, writing has become a way for her to express her feelings. She said that uh we could talk about it, but if I write it down, it's permanent. Like it stays there. Other people can see that and I can share that. So it's it's a definite shift in terms of the the students as well as the staff. Secondly, uh one of the other big shifts is this expectation. So we're

024trying to push kids to be more prolific when they write. Uh so they were looking for an increase in stamina, their ability to write for long periods of time and the number of pieces that they produce. So that jump some of the third graders told me that it's very different in third grade than it is in second grade when it comes to writing. One of the students observed that while last year was just about like learning how to make sentences that were longer, this year is about taking all those sentences and putting them into bigger paragraphs and making sure that his paragraphs have lots of hard sentences in them. Um, we're also seeing a lot a big increase in independence. Uh, one of the students said that now he's like when they teach us something,

025you know, within a genre, they expect us to practice it right away and show it in our writing that day. Um, and then we come back at the end and he's like, then I have to show where that was. And he kind of was saying it like he was angry about it. But in actuality, it's a really good thing because it's uh we're showing them a skill or a trait that a writer would use and we're expecting to see it. Um so but in terms of stamina so I interviewed about four students and each one of them I asked them the question how long could you sit and write without being interrupted like without having to ask a question without having to stop and like you know walk around or anything like that and each

026one of them said definitely 20 minutes but if I really push myself 30 minutes so if you think about that this isn't on a keyboard this is actually writing in a notebook with a you know handwriting that's a really big jump that's a long time for a child to sit there and write and the way that we do at is we don't just say you must sit, you can't get up and you you must write. We teach them different strategies that they can be recursive and they can go back into their notebooks and look at the things that they've learned and try them out. They have a page that they create the beginning of the year, a launching page kind of where they can look back for inspiration. If they're stuck, it's a thing, a

027page that they've created with all the different things that motivate them or that inspire them and they can pull from that and write it within that genre. Um, so one of the students even compared the fact that she could always sit and read for a very long time to now she thinks she could write for just an equal amount of time uh without stopping. So I thought that was really amazing when it comes to this program. One of the things I've always said about it is I love that kids can write from zero. If you gave them a blank page and you said I need you to write on this topic um and I need you to go right from here. Most of our kids by the time that they course through this program for

028a year would be able to write from that without difficulty because they have the ability to understand and create ideas from zero and then output. So one of the great things about this program is that it is genre based. So I I mentioned before in third grade they write argument but they also write arguments that matter to them. So things like I I mentioned about the the awning at the at third grade entrance, but there are other aspects too that they've written about um that matter to them. So um when you talk to them, they they share with you the the amount that they've written this year. So for example, one of the students has said he's already completed four information stories and one argument speech. So when they make these stories, they create books

029in third grade and he's created information stories. His quote too was um every time I begin researching or being in starting a new project, I get so excited. I make these really long lists of all the different things. And he was going through my favorite football players, my favorite uh basketball players, my favorite colleges, like all these different things that he creates. Those are the things that he writes about. Um one another student I interviewed said she's written eight different argument speeches already this year. And while she said she writes slowly, um everything that she writes, she says, "I'm really proud of. I like this." And in talking to her teacher, she said she says she writes slowly, but eight is a lot of arguments to write in one year. Um and students are really

030choosing topics that they care about, which I think is driving them to write more and more, which is exactly what we want to see. So in in all so far at at like the midyear point, this has been a a really big success um in third, fourth, and fifth grade coupled with the professional development that the teachers receive. Every six or seven weeks, we have a consultant come in and work right alongside with them. Uh she'll be coming in actually this Friday. Uh it's really a a new endeavor for them and the the results are are are excellent so far. So we're really hopeful about where this will go in the future. Okay, the next one we I wanted to kind of brief you guys on is uh the assessment for learning that we're doing.

031Now, this is nothing new. Data driven instruction, I think, is one of the most overused buzzwords in education. Um, but we wanted to use, you know, at Wildwood, we like to use data as as a meaningful tool to have conversations. So, one of the things that we do at Wildwood is we do data meetings. Now, data meetings, I remember when I first started doing them years ago, were like dreaded events because you're looking at data and it's it's it's not so great and you know, you don't know what you're looking at now. So, we've tried to simplify that process as much as we can. So, our data meetings happen uh three times a year where we get uh we bring teachers in one by one for a grade level and we talk to them about

032every student in every grade. So we go through their roster and we look at all the data that we have for those students. So in K to one we're looking at things like uh classroom products. What do the teachers have that they can share with us and teacher feedback and input is one of the most important drivers of the decisions we make about students in these data meetings. But we also look at their dibbles which is a reading benchmark assessment and we look at the um the status the envision benchmarks that we use as well. all that comes into conversation and we talk about every student in that classroom um and we make decisions about where we you know things we might do. We also in those meetings we start looking at trends u some

033of the dibbles assessment data that's come out for us is great because it shows you clusters of kids that have a similar weakness and that leads right into um one of the board goals that we had this year goals about small group instruction. It really feeds into those type things. In grades two to three, we we we do the the dibbles assessment, but we also add in the benchmarks as well. So, we have those two data points, and we also have uh the reading benchmarks as well. In four and five, uh it's we use and the reading benchmarks in these data meetings. So, these meetings are coming up for our midyear assessments, and we're really excited. Uh those meetings are typically led by our interventionist and the INRS coordinator and myself, and we literally just

034walk the teachers in. Everything's on the table. We have all the data about every student and we just have conversations and move forward. It's actually been a great process uh that we've undertaken. One of the reasons we do these data meetings is to help us identify intervention as early as possible. So when kindergarten students come in in the fall um it's a you don't know exactly what level they're coming in at. Um and so the assessments that we do early on are really helpful in determining where kids are and what types of supports [clears throat] that they need right away. And that's same that that that goes for every grade level as well. So we're trying to use these meetings and the information that we have about these students is to identify the gaps early

035so that we can provide the supports needed so they can move forward and move through their education. So we've had students that are needing intervention right away in kindergarten and first grade in the fall. They've already exited that program and they're doing well. This middle round of assessments we're in right now has shown that some kids haven't progressed at the rate we need them to progress at. So they'll be entering into intervention program as well. So all of these things are really valuable trying to really get kids the help that they need as soon as possible and as early as possible. And lastly, one of the the great aspects of the world we live in now is data visualization and looking at using the data that we have in a way that helps people see

036it and they're not scared by it. Uh so one of the tools that we've been using lately is uh it's called intervention manager and it's from linkit. It's part of the the link package that we have. It allows us to take all of these pieces of data and upload them upload them into linkit and then we the the intervention interventionists, Mrs. Liberado, uh the INRS coordinator and myself, we look at that data and we provide that data to teachers. So they can see those pictures and they can see those groupings and images so that it helps us in these meetings. Um it also allows us to tier students based upon need. Um and it's really been a great tool so far. So, we're really we're exploring that now and as we move forward through the

037year, you'll uh you'll hear more and more about that. All right. And lastly, um so Miss Leiccolo in her update, um mentioned this program and so in conversation with her over the last few weeks, um she agreed to do her part in that update there. So, we're going to hear from Clara, who is one of our fifth grade students who's in the program. So, Clara, why don't you come on up? SO AS [applause] so as Micolo said, this program was born out of an idea that Miss Detroit here at the high school and Miss Liberado at Wildwood had to connect uh students in high school and in fifth grade around five areas typically or so we're looking at building connection connection fostering mentorship identifying trends early and encouraging reflection and informing programming. One of the

038goals that we have as a district, as you know, is to to look at SEAL programming. And this allows this program allows Mr. Trolio and Miss Liberado to really take a look at some of the trends they're seeing not only in fifth grade, but also do those trends track through high school as well. So, they've done a great job in organizing this. Um, and it's one of those situations, uh, where the girls kind of take over and the activities come alive when they start talking and sharing information. So Clara and I have been talking the last few days about some of the I'm going to ask her a series of questions and she's going to give you guys some answers to those questions. Let me go to your page and I'll lower the microphone for

039you. Okay, Clara, what are you learning from the program and from the high school students? Um, I'm learning that it's important to stand up for yourself, but also stay in your own lane and not getting into other others business if you're not involved in the first place. Um, I'm also learning from the high school girls that drama still happens in high school like everywhere. >> Very true. Very true. One of the trends we noticed is that that that theme kind of ran through that um the fifth grade girls were saying there's so much drama, there's so much drama. And then the high school girls would say the same thing. And so one of the aspects we're trying to teach is how do you solve those problems? How do you avoid those things? How do you

040put yourself in situations where you can make good decisions regardless of what's happening around you? So we had some really good conversations with Mrs. Liberado over the last couple days and Clara regarding that. So it's been pretty good. All right. Ready for the next one? Okay. What are you looking forward to over the next few meetings? >> I'm really looking forward to our snack time together and sitting in the circle again. I really love this time to talk about what happened what has happened over the week. I think about like I think about what we talk about in the circle when I make a decision outside the group like with other um people and like advocates. >> Yeah. Clara was telling us a story today where she had a situation that as she was making

041a decision, maybe a not so great decision, right? You said, "I stopped and took a step back because it remembered something in the group." So, it is what they're talking about in the group is really sticking with the the fifth grade girls, which is great to see. Um, the other part we had to edit out of here was >> the the candy salad you guys were supposed to make, but you can't make now because of allergies. >> Okay. >> So, uh, the last question I'll ask for you, Claire, ready? Um, how do you feel the conversation and activities are helping you in your daily like interactions with your peers? >> Um, well, it made me realize that the high schoolers still have drama like I said before and it has helped me have more courage

042and faith in myself because I know that like everyone has drama. Um, I also know that when to stay out of drama. Um, I've learned about being true to the people I care about. Um, and we also learned to keep information to ourselves when we are told somebody by a different person. >> Yeah. >> Like because you wouldn't want if you tell somebody, you wouldn't want them to go tell like somebody else. >> So, it's kind of like the golden rule. >> Yes. Uh Clara was talking about today, remember you were talking about how um if you hang out with somebody on the weekend um you want to make sure that it stays the same when you go to school. >> Yeah. Like you can't ignore them the next day, >> right? Yeah. So the

043lots of small little like micro lessons being taught within these groups. I think the best thing about it too is just the the Mr. Trolio and Miss Liberado are really hands-off when the when the conversations are happening. They're authentic and they're led by the high school girls. And as uh Mr. Le Piccolo said there's so much that the high school girls are getting out of this program as well. So my hats go off to Mrs. Labrad and Mr. Trolio for organizing this. I think it's a it's a fantastic bridge between the two schools. Um and I'd love to see it continue as we go forward. I think it's it's really helping our fifth grade girls. I know that much. >> All right. Thank you, Claire, very much. >> Good job. >> Okay. So, uh, Miss

044Leiccolo was our 11th grade perspective, which you heard in her update there. So, I just want to say thank you very much for all your support. Um, Wildwood is a great place and we'd love to have you at any of our events that we have coming this spring. I'll make sure that I I forward them to Dr. Seagull and so you guys can can see we do have lots of uh events coming up this spring, HSA sponsored and also things that are in-house. Uh, we have a talent show on Thursday if anyone's free. Everyone loves a good talent show. Uh so thank you very much for this opportunity. Uh and I can take questions if you guys would like. >> Thank you. >> Does anyone have any questions at this time? >> I have a

045comment >> please. >> Wonderful report and you spoke into the microphone beautifully. I just wanted to tell you that anyone else a comment or a question? Mr. Thank you then for taking the time to come and not only bring such wonderful information but so many wonderful students over there. Um really this is an opportunity for us to hear about the good work you're doing with your teachers and your your staff and the students along with their families. So really it's very much appreciated that you came. >> You're very welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. There's no uh clear and uh fluid transition between student presentation about what's happening at the elementary school to the audit, but we will do that. Um we have our annual audit report and our auditors here from Samuel and Klein.

046>> Take a break for the cookies. >> The cookies are full. >> They get to leave. >> Oh yes. >> Were the cookies for them or for the auditor? >> The cookies are for many purposes. Partly to celebrate Mr. Chang, but also for our lovely speakers. >> Feel free to >> Would you [laughter] like a cookie? >> I think they have to go to bed. I think we should take like a Should we take three minutes so we can congratulate the >> wish? We certainly can. Okay. >> Is there a cooking for a fivem minute break then? >> Oh, the cookiey's open. >> I know. I thought that, but >> I don't think we need a >> break cookie and cookie. They stay at night. They need a >> Thanks, guys. But you should go.

047Just brush your teeth because those have >> right that's what >> I mean I'm [laughter] sure Li wants to stay for the audit. idea. That's our favorite. >> The audit's going to be really >> This is what you want, right? >> Fun >> audit [clears throat] phrase missing [laughter] out. >> Don't look at the auditors. Don't they look like a fun group? [laughter] >> All right. >> Well done, Clara. >> Thank you. Thank you. [applause] If this is what the audit report is going to be about though is this scene, it may actually be worth people staying. >> It'll help you outside. >> It'll help you go through the the 10 minutes of dry numbers. I think >> I mean I love it. We're looking at the ocean. I think that's great. >> Um Michael

048Maguire and this is my partner Andrew Pascal. We're from Samuel Clan Company. We're here to present the uh FY25 audit. Um uh the audit was completed uh timely. Uh we did issue a unmodified opinion which is the best type of opinion. Uh it's a clean opinion. Uh there were no um significant deficiencies or material weaknesses that came up uh in the audit that we needed to report on. Um we did provide the district with the audit report, the management report and during finance committee meeting I did provide them this uh audit summary report or audit results report. Uh this kind of just highlights uh some of the areas that we worked on uh during the audit um and also some required communication uh according to government auditing standards that we need to uh relate to

049you um formally. So we decided to put it in this. I'm not going to read through it because it is very dry but I would appreciate if you did take a look at it. Um the audit results uh again we we talk about the uh the different areas of um emphasis that we key on when we do the audit after we do our risk assessment. I spell it out in the report. There's about seven areas with cash, revenues, capital assets, other liabilities, expenses, and then the closing procedures. Um I do discuss some of the uh the things that we look at, the types of tests that we do as auditors. Um and if there was any significant uh exceptions noted um you know I would put them in here. Those exceptions if there are any

050are also found in the auditor's management report which um I know that you're going to vote along with the audit report uh upon acceptance later on in the meeting. Um again it was you know was a it was a a clean opinion. Um the district is doing very well financially. um you know they they were in the black uh this year u which is good. They were able to fund a lot of the reserves uh fully that they've done in the past um and still had some extra surplus too for uh the capital reserve. Um I I know that everybody's gotten a copy of the auditor's management report. Does anybody have any questions on that or the audit itself that you would like me to discuss? I know some auditors sit there and read balance

051sheets and I just don't want to do that because I don't think you want me to do that. It's very dry and it doesn't really mean anything. Um I think the orders management report kind of spells it out. You you know you're you're you're running in the black which is which is excellent for a district. Um and you had a clean opinion which is which is really good. Um and we had great cooperation with the district personnel as we always have. Um we've been doing this job for about eight years now. um eight nine years. Um and I if you can have a pleasure doing an audit, this is one of the few districts that we that's a pleasure doing an audit because everybody's very helpful um and very cooperative and it makes the the

052process go very easy. >> Any questions from the board? >> Just Mr. Pascal, Mr. Magcguire, thank you for um providing the report. I just want to tell everybody that in finance committee there was um more detailed analysis that was reviewed. Also um we have Mr. Robinson here who is serving as a BA consultant as we go through transition. He's been instrumental in helping us get through you know this pivotal time period transition in in the you know budget cycles and helping us to review the audit and to reflect on all the areas that we can grow in. and um we had those conversations and look forward to moving forward >> and I think I said it during the finance committee, but if there's anything that we need to do as far as assist you with

053as far as implementing any of these things, we're more than happy to, you know, to to lend our expertise in that area if needed. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you very much. It's good seeing everybody again. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for staying. >> You got a cookie. want me to do uh you want to do public, but I'm going to try to see if >> No, no, I think we should do that. >> Let me just make sure. >> All right. Um this evening everyone, you know, we're going to go out of order slightly. We're going to break for a second um executive session at this point. Um on the agenda, I'm just going to ask is there anyone in the public that would like to make a comment at this time? Okay.

054Um if we could why don't we do approval of minutes while we're waiting to see if we're ready to go into executive session. Can we do that so we get that off the agenda? Um there are three separate uh dates to vote on the regular and executive session. First, we need um someone to give us a first and a second in order for us to be able to vote on these. So, is there a first? We have Mr. Chang and a second. Dr. Sheth, thank you very much. We're going to go through each date. We're going to say yes, no, or abstain. So, with regard to December 15th regular minutes and executive, I think everybody was here for for both. >> Yes. Vote yes on that. >> Yes. >> Is there anyone that votes no?

055Is there anyone that abstains on December 15th? >> Okay. Then we move to January 5th, regular and executive. All vote yes. Does anyone vote no? Does anyone abstain? >> Mr. Chang and Mr. Johnson. Thank you very much. >> And then we have January 12th regular session minutes. I'll vote yes. >> Yes. Does anyone vote no? Does anyone abstain? >> Mrs. Parker abstain. Okay. Are we ready? Okay. So, at this time, we're going to break for the second executive session. If you hang on, we have to take up first and second. Be it resolved that the Mountain Lakes Board of Education needs to enter into a second executive session. We need a first and a second, please. We have uh Miss Colarnney and Dr. Sheth. Thank you very much. Um the motion needs to be approved.

056All say I >> I. Thank you very much. Um be it resolved with Mount Lakes Board of Education on the 2nd day of February 226 at 8:12 p.m. as follows. The board shall recess into close session in accordance with the open public meeting law NJSA 104-2B1267 and 8. the general nature of the discussion including matters of personal 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 the board shall reconvene and proceed with business. Action may take place and this resolution takes effect immediately. See you in about

057an hour. Thank you everyone. motion needs to be approved. All say I >> I and the board returns to public session at 9:03. Um we need to move we'll move right into the superintendent assistant superintendent update please. Yes, we are going to pull up some slides for a overview of our district goals. Um, thank you for staying. >> I will be right back. >> You have the uh keyboard. [snorts] >> [snorts] >> All your folders are colorcoded. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, as part uh tonight for our report, um timing may not the best given that it's been a long and fractured evening, but we do want to provide since it is the midpoint of the year, an update on progress towards our district goals, we will try to keep that to very brief comments and

058be able to discuss more as we go into our committees. Uh but before that leading into uh an item that is on the agenda and that is the uh high school program studies we had a curriculum committee meeting uh several weeks back and Mesi is going to give for the full board an overview of uh a few changes that are in store for the high school program of studies. Essentially we are looking to approve the same document tonight but it is important to highlight a few of the changes. So Miss Sesi is going to start with that. She's going to cover the first two district goals and I will cover the second two district goals. >> Okay, as Dr. Seagull said, just a few highlights on a couple of new courses that are on the

059program studies. So, a few uh new electives in the business department. We have uh something that was discussed and uh during our curriculum committee is the new course is accounting. It is a fullyear five credit course uh for students in grades 10 to 12. It falls within the sequence of courses in business. There's one prerequisite for this particular course which would be the introduction to business. And so this would be then alongside the other programs that are other courses that are available that students now have an option but this would be a full year option for students in the business. >> And the intro I'm sorry is the >> is that okay if I ask a question? Yeah. >> And then the intro to business is a full year also or do we say that's

060a half year? >> That's a semester. >> And this is a college prep level course? >> Yes, it is. >> The other courses. Yep. Sorry. Is there a question? >> Just everybody eager with anticipation. It's saying in uh the technology department we are proposing two courses the advanced CAD and design studios honors level. This is the third year in the new engineering sequence. And so for this full year five credit course this satisfies the 21st century careers elective credit requirement. The prerequisite would be the year two CAD course which is called 3D CAD for engineering and and innovation. So this is a a course that prepares and advances students in their understanding of CAD program to develop computer models and physical prototypes. The other new course also within the technology 21st century careers electives um

061is the principles of flight planning and drone operations. This is for the aviation trajectory. This would be the third year of that program. This is for students that have already taken the introduction to flight and unmanned aircraft systems which is the year two program. This is also a fullyear program. All of the aviation courses are full year. This third year is what sets students on a path to prepare for u either a pilot license uh exam or the unmanned aircraft system which is drones. So if they so wish they would be prepared for those exams once they they finish the full four-year program. >> Well, can I just clarify something about that? Is that okay? >> Yeah, please. And then I just to clarify that we were also right talking about combining the first we're

062combining the year one and year two class. >> That's a a great point. So one of the things about the aviation we haven't gone through all the four years. We're preparing for our third year. And so we wanted to ensure that we lived the the program and so we implemented the first full year which is an aviation and aerospace mostly historical course. Year two, student starts to become uh more familiar. There's a few more lab activities. They become more familiar with simulation and then it becomes much more advanced in the third year. Looking ahead as we then in the following year looking at the fourth year, we can collapse years one and two and put those two years together. We can we do have the flexibility with AOPA which is the pilots association who offers

063us this curriculum for free. And now that we've lived through that particular course now two years in a row, we have enough information in terms of the type of content that's in the curriculum that we can combine years one and two and create a three-year program. >> So that could be taken in ninth grade or 10th grade maybe go and then this course could be taken as sec in 10th grade theoretically if we can collapse the two one year. >> Ask a followup question. Would you consider making that semester 1, semester two that first year or would you just make it a yearong course? >> It would be so I it would be a year-long course. We could take the curriculum and break it up that way. >> Yeah. >> But not looking to make

064it into separate courses, >> right? >> Great question. >> And all the courses are available in the program of study for next year. All three. So, a few updates in terms of courses that are no longer including the program of studies, uh, journalism in the digital age and online economics. Uh, new to the program of studies, something we've been discussing and this is something that has that has evolved over time in terms of our understanding of pathways for students, particularly in mathematics. This new waiver process would be now not a replacement for the course placement exam. It's another path for students who would like to um try for a higher level of mathematics in algebra, geometry or algebra 2 if they were not recommended for that particular level. And so the waiver process would allow

065them one-time waiver for the year. And so there's a process there that we work through as a team in terms of the criteria that would be involved in terms of eligibility which would include a se a semester uh GPA in order to be eligible to do that. in addition to consultation with parents, school counselor, teacher in order for the student to fully understand what it would mean in order to enter into the higher level of that particular mathematic course. >> And this was uh part of our review last year when we looked at the placement process for middle school math and beyond. >> So just math >> for now. The other new option for students uh is the pass fail option for zero payer courses. So students who enroll in a zero period course may

066choose the pass fail grading option in a if a final grade of an A or A+ is earned. So that is a new addition to the program for the visual performing arts. >> Sorry, what? students that are in >> uh for students [snorts] that are taking music as a zero period. >> Okay. So that's a zero period. The one that starts before school. Is that what it is? >> Yes. >> It's like music and it's band and chorus. And is there orchestra also zero period? >> Just band 10 11 12 not. >> No, I got it. I just was trying to going back. Why is it only math? Well, >> trying to pilot the program here or is it like why only math? >> Well, I think the the biggest reason is because um first

067of all, the majority the far majority of our course placement exams are happening in math like 80% of all of our uh individuals who are seeking placement is happening in math. So, that is the dominant field. But also uh because the thing about math that makes it different and I'm one of those people who always challenges the fact that course says they're different, but we place math starting in sixth grade. And once we create a system and that in the middle school, it's the only uh program that we have um grouping, we have tracking is in mathematics. And that system starts early. And there are some pathways that we looked at last year to try to allow kids because it's sixth grade. Some kids are not ready to be in whatever ability level they should

068be in. And this was a way at the high school um to give kids a little bit more flexibility in math who are, you know, whether they're taking summer courses or going through the course waiver process, the course maker placement process. So yes, for now, uh, it's because math is distinct in how you track kids starting at a very young age. Like if we were tracking kids in ELA starting at sixth grade, we'd probably be having the same conversation. >> Well, I understand that, but look, I'm I'm all for it. is obviously you guys know my feeling on this one but the my question I guess is are you considering it >> for other like >> because while I appreciate the whole math argument I not contesting that I'm sort of saying but there are

069other >> subjects that which >> yes >> it is being considered >> this discussion >> yeah so I think I I think this is an example also having a little bit more of an incremental change and um we did consider having broader uh look at waiverss across the board. Uh a lot of this work was done a lot of the analysis was done by our former mass supervisor uh leading the charge on this and we are using it I I I don't want to say a pilot but as an opportunity to see if this process works. We're going to gather data to see you know how kids are performing. We're going through the waiver process relative to kids that are placed in higher level courses. So yes, >> yes, >> it's okay. You don't have

070to celebrate me. You can just continue. >> Can Can we just pause and just acknowledge for the public and for this is TJ's last meeting. We had a motion on our agenda tonight that TJ is leaving the board. Mr. Chang, just I think just an opportunity to to thank you. Would any board member like to make a comment quickly? >> Thank you so much. Good luck at law school, teachers. You deserve all success and serving with you has been an honor. Thank you for that. >> Thank you for to the public for uh electing me as well. And thank you for having me. >> All right, >> Mr. Chang. Thank you so much. >> Of course. Uh >> we'll talk about this a little more in new business for the public. >> I'm sorry we

071just >> Sorry. Thank you. >> Bye, TJ. Good luck. >> Thank you. >> Go be a great lawyer. We need them. Thank you. >> Bye. TJ, [applause] >> sorry for the interruption. >> Yep. >> Please continue. >> No, I mean >> yes. >> Saved by TJ. [laughter] >> So, just as a note, we are going to talk about this further in curriculum committee tomorrow just like the um implementation process. Ready to move on? Anything else? >> Yep. >> Okay. All right. So, we're ready to go into the district goals update. As Dr. Single said, I will review goals one and two. So, the first one is active learning in the classrooms. A lot of that talk revolves around small groupoup instruction. So, I'll talk a little bit about some of the things that we've accomplished

072so far. And I think Mr. hand stole a little thunder from this work here, but I'll highlight from a different angle which is he highlighted the the units of study uh we began with writing and the reason this is really aligning to this goal. It has a lot to do with the job embedded PD that we have going on at Wildwood. I'll begin with K2. We have um a staff developer that you met Gravity Goldberg when she came and presented to the board. Her associate Dana Clark was here. Um they conducted a needs assessment or a focus group I should say with the K5 popular teachers at Wildwood. We entered into a partnership with Gravity Goldberg and her associate to provide the K2 teachers with targeted job embedded professional development. So what do I mean

073by job embedded is the um staff developer Dana goes to Wildwood. It is uh she's working four full days at Wildwood during this school year. She already did one day with the teachers. She goes she meets with the each grade level for a dedicated 90 minutes which includes an opportunity to teach to discuss and then to go into the classroom and put theory into action. and she models. And when we use the term lab site, we're not referring to science lab. We're referring to using the classroom as an environment for the teachers to observe and to learn from the staff developer. And over time, she will start to relinquish some of that responsibility to them as they're learning and growing in the decision- making that they the processes that they go into and how to

074determine from the data that they get in the classroom of what small group looks like, but who comes around the table? How do I make those decisions of what students I put together and what planning structures do I have to put into uh place in order to have successful targeted instruction with small group as well as onetoone in three to five we have that going on with our staff developer from Mosflower right now the attention is centered around writing and so that staff developer she has uh five sessions focused on implementation of the unit of study and writing so very similar structure she's at Wildwood, five full days in the school year. We have that cut across uh with some weeks uh in between and it's a lab site model as well. She'll meet with

075every grade level for a dedicated amount of time. She meets with them as a group. She creates um um very very structured conversations around the units that they're in and what does it look like in the classroom. So that is also um a lot of it revolving around having onetoone conferring with students and she'll sit side by side with a child in the classroom while the teachers sit around her witnessing the type of questioning structures that she engages in curiously asking students what processes they are involved in their writing and teaching our teachers how to ask those questions of and treating them as writers which is really quite remarkable. So, as Mr. Higgins intimated, it's not about the product, even though that is what we're getting. It really is about creating writers and having this

076this become generalizable. So, the work at Wildwood and Literacy has been really quite remarkable. We also have work within the universal design for learning. There's monthly coaching going on in order to ensure that there is specially designed instruction for all students, including students with with special needs. In uh Brier Cliffe, we uh Mr. Henry and I are preparing to meet with teachers to conduct a needs assessment, curiously reviewing curriculum that's in place. We are looking to have some site visits out uh to explore middle school ELA and uh look to see what the programs look like and learn a little bit more how to um how to engage in small groupoup instruction in grades six, seven and eight that includes onetoone targeted in uh interventions with students as well as book clubs. In mathematics, one

077of the things that our teachers becoming very curious about is the building thinking classrooms phenomenon which is all around creating an environment where it is student- centered instruction with a deep level of mathematical thinking and what are the tools that are required in the classroom in order for that to happen. What is the practice that's required for that to happen? That is when you're really turning the pen and the markers and the pencils over to the kids in order for them to grapple with the work together as a team and talk through it. Um, moving away from a very traditional, you know, working through problems on a worksheet or on the computer. And one of the things that really we're excited about is that also means looking at the classroom environment and looking at the

078furniture. Does our furniture foster that type of collaborative work? And so we are looking at new furniture that has, you know, much of what our 600 wing looks like, but putting that across the board where we've got kids that can much more readily and easily be in pods and talk to each other and create a classroom in which there are tools available to them where they can share their thinking and make their learning visible. Um, looking ahead, we are looking to see, well, what what layers of professional development can we put into place for grades six to 12 that really revolve around much of what I've been talking about, looking at small groupoup instruction and creating opportunities to meet with students onetoone that are very well informed and data driven. The I don't know how

079I I see I messed up the animation. told me I not to do it and I did it and I messed up my animation. Now I'm going backwards. Here are some of the things that have been going on. Uh all of our principles have been consistent and conducting informal walkthroughs in the classrooms particularly looking at the frequency that small group instruction is happening and the purpose uh why are what what data has brought kids together in order for the teacher to meet with that particular group. what data um the teacher is using. The supervisors have the meeting with teachers regularly during observation feedback. They're using the language from our strong evaluation framework indicators to ensure that the expectations around instruction are clear but also that they are supporting those conversations and focusing on pedagogy including

080questioning techniques, student response methods and problem solving. Uh then on our full day PD day on November 4th when we we uh partnered up with our VS we had a multitude of offerings that our staff led on active engagement. So it was really quite exciting. All right, I am going to be moving on to goal two which is all around STEM learning. Here are some of the great accomplishments so far. So Mr. Dr. Dave Sika, our new supervisor of STEM and science, has worked to meet with all of these constituents that are in all the schools that he wanted to work uh learn from and conducted a needs assessment and wanted to take a good look and and hear from the teachers about the curriculum and the tools that they're using in the classroom, the

081access to the important resources or lack thereof, and what are the challenges and where are the opportunities. And so from that he's also been able to evaluate the learning spaces in all schools. That's going to come up again in the next slide when I talk about the STEM think tank. But that's a very important piece in order to take a look at what spaces do we have already, what opportunities exist in which something could be happening in that space and perhaps it isn't. So looking for potential is going to be really important. Mr. SEA is also now leading the middle school aviation club. So that partnership between Mountain Lakes and RVs, we've got a really healthy number of students that are involved in this club. And he's got drones, got nice amount of drones available

082for the kids to be using, which is a great feeder to our aviation program here at the high school. >> Uh just last week, Mr. Sika brought back the STEM think tank. I don't know if you remember last year, Dr. Seagull and I led a [clears throat] couple of sessions of the STEM think tank. He brought together a large group of representatives from all four schools and from all different um positions in all of the schools and we had really great morning together where we grappled with a lot of great work around STEM and namely we began with STEM literacy. I grabbed a few pictures just so you could kind of see some of the work that we were involved in. But ultimately, we spent a lot of time talking about developing common language around

083STEM literacy. So, a lot of the the words that you'll see up on those charts came from the conversations of people around the charts and the things that they were saying when they associate with STEM literacy. Things like collaborative community um you know that that work and learn together through exploration and discovery. uh understanding, applying, synthesizing, communicating, design, problem based learning, basically real world and innovative work. And if you could see there, the little tiny piece there, it says four C's of communication. The four Cs of of STEM literacy are communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking. This is a really important piece because developing that common language is super important because ultimately what that does is it helps us to establish a a STEM vision. If we really can't name the things that we expect to

084see happening in classrooms or the things that we want teachers to learn about, it's hard to really have that north star. So with the STEM vision, we talked a lot about what should the STEM literate graduate look like? What do we want our students to be able to do? And we should be able to recognize the strengths gaps and the priorities within our own programs in our curriculum in our in our pathways and the outreach. And that when we say outreach, we're referring to community. To what extent is there an opportunity to do this better and creatively and the voila of looking to see well how can we create teams in every school and call them the super sun squad. And so some of the things that we talked about that comes out that came

085out and you'll see them here pictured um you know in the STEM vision we started to do some word smithing and there's more work to do in this but it was really interesting to see what other people had to say and when when they put their words together um they said things like well our vision should say things like fail forward and iterative iterate iterative experiences and inquiry, reflection, perseverance, resilience, confidence, and meaningful impact. And we talked about, well, who should be on the STEM squad? What is that? What does that look like? These group of people, that shouldn't be like a position. It shouldn't be like, oh, that's our IT guys. Oh, that's the computer teacher. No, these are a group of individuals who in every school. They are the tech-savvy people who are

086design thinkers. They are resourceful problem solvers. These are people that are going to bolster staff willingness to be embedded in STEM work and skills. So Mr. SEA is very excited with uh this this approach and the team was very excited to even you know consider a STEM squad for every school. So looking ahead, we want to solidify that vision statement that I mentioned before that we started to grapple with a little bit. We we really made I'd say really really nice advancements in in what we were able to frame. But one of the things that came out of the conversation is do we have a consistent design thinking process framework K12 and we really don't. We have pockets of it uh here and there. Particularly here at the high school where the technology teacher, our

087new technology teacher in the engineering, she uses a very very consistent but also flexible design thinking process. But what does that look like and how can we create a framework that's consistent in language? So we were talking about that and as I mentioned before, what spaces can we look at in terms of redesigning them for STEM learning? We talked about our media centers being one of those places in every school and do spaces already exist that could be something different and so let's identify that in every building. >> Okay. Yeah. So with regard to the two goals just as a summary are small group instruction active learning that is beginning stage exploratory goal. Uh what you can expect and I think this slide really captures it. These are the things that we should have by

088the end of the year which would be recommendations around curriculum instruction um around facilities around outreach and uh these are the areas that we will have focused on and we'll have uh concrete recommendations by May. So I will uh without the animation I will go quickly through uh goal three and four. Uh the first goal is around articulation. So uh last year we had a goal where to establish and strengthen articulation practices of RBS. This year we wanted to reinforce that and continue it but also look at articulation just for our district in general in many ways and this is a goal in getting feedback from our administrators that we feel very confident in the progress we're making. So the first set of work expresses uh what has happened between our district and RVS in

089Mount Lakes and that was started on November of uh early November on election day where we um had a full district-wide professional day of learning with RVS staff. It was led co-led by Mountain Lake staff and RVS staff on topics that related to STEM active learning but a wide range of areas. And the key here was the articulation occurred where we're forming relationships, our staff are forming relationships. There was time to reflect um and also share best practices and that's something that we want to institute regularly in our model. We have also started to uh look at scope and sequence um between uh subject areas and grade levels. Uh when we come in March, we have another delayed opening uh that has been planned from the start and our elementary and middle school staff from

090Mount Lakes will meet um at RVS with their uh K8 staff and that's where the curriculum conversations will begin where we're looking at scope and sequence. You know, what are we teaching at each grade level in each subject? What are our commonalities? How could we learn and grow from each other? There have also been this year more frequent meetings especially in mathematics um at the middle school but even at science there's been some uh light articulation with regard to the elementary science between uh Mount Lakes elementary teachers and RVS and um the last one is a continuation of our shared music programs performances uh K to2 across the year for RBS and Mount Links. Um, [snorts] switching now just to the Mountain Lakes District level. Um, one of the things that we wanted to do

091is to have better practices with regard to vertical and horizontal articulation with a goal of having better alignment for understanding. So, it's really important that the fifth grade teacher understands what the middle school math teachers are teaching uh to be able to know what they're preparing for. Um but also to just like with our across the town uh articulation, it's the sharing of best practices and the ability to improve the collaboration. So this year we have um structured planned departmental meetings that are multiple grade level, multiple buildings run by all of our department supervisors. We are also in uh in the process of planning a shared faculty meeting between Briercliffe and Mount Lakes High School uh which will be run by the supervisors again to look at uh curriculum assessment alignment across middle school and

092high school. And we also recently had a vertical articulation session and it's not the first one at Wildwood between the K to5 teachers. It was led by the ELA and math supervisors. [snorts] Um, also just uh at the building district level in terms of articulation, one of the things that I got to observe multiple times this year is articulation between school counseling and CST. There are different departments. The school counseling department is part of the general education student services and special education uh being the the child study team and oftentimes those two worlds have to intersect. So they've had um meetings together to discuss roles, responsibilities um and where they can work together collaboratively and that's an important articulation. Um also our late drive component with uh having the opportunity to have a supervisor who's

093supporting the program doing better articulation with regard to curriculum but also uh with our IEP goal development for our late drive students. And then referenced today by Mr. Alvis um and which the board will get more about just this uh priority of focus around productive disagreement how we work together and having we have a full scale of activities starting today with our um district faculty meeting around strategies on how to work together with productive disagreement. So that's another example of articulation and I think for us some keys here is having cohesive curriculum improving the quality of best practices and continued improvement. Ultimately if our curriculum and our practices are aligned uh we do believe and research has shown that it does lead to changes in student outcomes. So lastly, our fourth goal and this is

094an exploratory one um is around social emotional learning and the goal at the end of the year is to have um some recommendations around a framework or plan K to 12 in the area of social emotional learning. Uh this has started this year with K to2 planning meetings that has involved administrators, counseling staff, CST from all four schools. We've had multiple meetings and we have agreed that the castle framework uh which is a national framework should be the basis by which we evaluate our current social emotional learning competencies and the goals that we provide. And we have done four thorough reviews of programs already uh led by our director of school counseling but also supported by our director of special services uh using Panorama, the Jed Foundation, the New Jersey school culture and climate initiative

095and Ruler. These are very different kinds of programs that have very different um kinds of needs. the and one of the things that we're going to be looking at um in the second half of the year is we're going to do a student assessment on social emotional competencies. It would be for grades 3 through 12. Um and I think for us it's important to understand from the counseling perspective what do we see as areas of of growth or strengths in social emotional learning? What are our weaknesses? Um the improvement survey is um a researchbased instrument that is provided through Ruckers University that we have the right to use. Um the other programs um Panorama is a student information sort of uh data ca uh gathering very much like linkit. The Jed Foundation is focuses specifically

096on mental health initiatives and has started actually at the college and university level and is just getting interest uh involved with high schools. The school culture and climate initiative is probably the most comprehensive of the four. Um and then the ruler program focuses heavily on the research at a Yale University on emotional regulation. Um these are really well reggarded programs and systems but uh at this point we don't know what direction we're going in. There is a cost um with any of those four that's pretty significant. Uh but by adopting resources around this um you know that has to be consideration. Just some other initiatives around SEAL. Uh at the high school, we will have the second year of a wellness summit. It's scheduled on April 2nd that has been um a series of planning

097meetings between our sack, our school principal, uh and in connection with partnership with HSA, but also the Lakeland YMCA has been involved in helping to support this just with program ideas. At Briercliffe, we have uh utilized uh pro pilot programs, the rocks and building champions. um which has been a strong start in terms of and I think you heard the young lady today um speak to us um from Wildwood. Uh these programs are very much in that vein for the middle school students uh to support students as they navigate some of the most difficult social conflicts uh at that level. And you saw examples of uh that is not the only program uh they're growing together. There are other buddy programs that have been used by the Wildwood counselor and principal. We had a parent

098program that was sponsored by the HSA, always connected. And then I think what is also very significant, we utilize lifelines for a lot of our support with SEAL, mental health training. And we have 60 staff members. And this is combined between Mountain Lakes and uh RVS who are getting um asynchronous and synchronous training through uh to get a mental health certificate uh so that they could be better equipped to handle. And that's a very large number of staff members who have volunteered to do that and hitting across uh a lot of different groups. So we're looking by the end of the year to have some recommendations for the adoption of a K to2 framework andor program to support SEAL and wellness education. And that is it. >> I can't even get to say are there

099questions? And right up there, Mrs. Foreman, what do you got? Ma'am the survey that you're doing you put that it was qualitative not quantitative are you going >> it is quantitative okay >> it so first of all one thing I will say that is something that will get uh review we have a committee that will look at the survey and it would absolutely have parent uh they would have to give active consent >> okay a quick another question on that too is it possible to maybe um have that as a final form. So that this way we can up the participation of it or the declination of it through a final form for at least for the high school because parents are very accustomed to going through final forms. Um and then it the students

100also have to go through final forms if they want to play a sport or participate in an activity or any of these things >> and um it just might help your numbers the quantitative part of it. >> Thank you. >> Just a suggestion. >> Yeah. No, no, that's that's good. We need to have like close to 100%. >> I I mean as close as possible. Yes. So yeah, >> coercive. >> Yes. >> Anyone questions? Dr. McIntyre. >> So very comprehensive. I'm having very specific questions. So I apologize for one detail. So in goal number three, the articulation with RBS, it reminded me of um something. Where do we stand with the eighth grade um math differentiation and how they come into Mountain schedule. Are there three levels like there are at Briercliffe now or >>

101I think they're two to go into three. I think it's going to be gradual. So they were at one at 8th grade. I think it's moved to two. >> They were at one for a period. They only had algebra. >> There was no math eight last year. >> Right. So that would be two. There would be >> So this year I think they it's math eight and algebra. And I think for the implementation that they will get to the third. They also had geometry. They always had geometry. >> They had geometry. So if we had no math 8 last year. >> Yeah. So I guess it would be three. Yes, you're right. >> It was we they would do they had a dual track in 8th grade. They would take geometry and algebra 1 and

102they would come in as algebra 2 if they participated. Not everybody took that program. Only a select few got selected for geometry. Now we're going to have a track that's going to start earlier similar to what you have a wildwood that will put folks into the kids into a track. So they'll take algebra, geometry and algebra before they get here but not in the same year if that makes sense. >> I think that's the the delay. >> Incoming ninth graders >> they will have had math eight. There would have been kids that have there are kids that have >> now you're going to have algebra and seventh geometry and eighth or you're going to have >> succinctly they have the exact same track you have. >> Yeah, that makes sense. It's the exact same pathing

103into uh what will be algebra 2 uh math 8 or it won't be geometry already. >> So ninth graders coming from RBS will be placed either in algebra one geometry or algebra 2. >> Yes. Yes. >> There will be three. >> Yes. >> And there is a ma the key is that there is a math eight this year. There wasn't last year. >> Got it. So there. So I guess there was technically two with the geometry. >> All students took either algebra 1 or algebra 1 in geometry >> last year but now this year there's different choices. >> Now there's different. >> So previously they had >> the difference this year though it's not quite there yet because it has to they had to phase it in but they're phasing in a a a track

104for that starts in fifth grade for assessing students and then puts them on the same track as you would for students exiting Wildwood. All right. Okay. All right. Any other questions? >> I just have one quick question on SEAL and the, you know, >> the Ford Yeah. the Panorama and so forth. So, I know you said there was um significant investments possibly with each of them in order to do that. So, what is the timing, Brad? Because I I thought it was going to happen before the end of this year. >> So, the recommendation would be made by the end of the year if we adopt one of the programs. So, we're not assuming that any of the four are going to be adopted. >> Okay. >> Um, so one program, they all the programs

105offer different benefits to us. So, anywhere from 15 to $50,000 a year is what the cost could be. I could tell you that the Jed Foundation is likely ruled out because it's not going it's so mental health focused which is not to say mental health is not um >> critical and it is also more high school oriented than it would be K to 8 >> but the other three are all possibilities and by the end of the year we'd have a recommendation if any of them were to be adopted. Uh but also keep in mind even if we did consider adopting them, it might not necessarily be like in one year we're adopting the program. It could take years to do that. Um the key though is the castle [clears throat] framework will be our

106orienting framework for how we look at the competencies and I think a lot can be achieved just looking at our own program and curriculum through castle and some of the uh collaboration we've had already. But we had felt that if it's important because these programs are heavily used across the state that we and we had the vendors come in and do big presentations um that our counselors reviewed. So there there was definitely a commitment to going through the process. >> Okay. Okay. So, I'm going to go what you were just talking about with RBS and Brier Cliff then what we were talking about with the math and the leveling. So, is RVS and Brier Cliffe going to be aware of this new program where they can level or whatever wave >> especially RBS because they're

107not in our school like system at that time >> and placements are made early on and judgments made that are again you know my feeling on this that are not always accurate. So, And are parents even in our district going to understand? First of all, I'm sure the math process now because there were so many problems with it several years ago and I know it's also changed since the like the junior class that is now that whole math program changed when the junior class came into the high school. So, do people understand the process, which was not clear several years ago, but I think it's gotten a lot better and now with this new waiver system, will both schools understand >> the process behind that, what's required because, as you said, there's going to be

108requirements >> and how because you're going to clearly a system that is supposed to mirror ours, which at one time [snorts] was very complicated and not understood. by everyone. So if if the waiver process is supposed to work for both schools, it's got to be understood. Sorry, it's a long >> Let me just correct. It's not necessarily mirroring, but what we did is we were forcing eighth graders if they wanted to come in and have the ability to take algebra 2, they had to double up in math, their eighth grade year, which took them away from other things, which was so exactly the same. What we're doing is sequencing algebra through geometry so that they can take algebra 2 if they want to when they get here. That's the only change and it puts them

109on a track earlier and identifies those students through some criteria that are testing their stu teacher evaluations and it's a discussion to figure out who should go on what track >> and we did not have a math a track. So, it's not mirroring the exact program you have, but it's similar in its concept in that it's just tracking students earlier on, which I believe you have because I'm seeing confused looks that that may not be what you >> So, we have we our our tracking is in sixth grade, not not fifth to sixth, it's sixth to 7th. >> Okay. But it starts >> right. But I think the key thing is just to verify you do have math 8 this year, right? >> We do have math 8. It was the first year we have

110math 8. >> Right. That for us was a significant difference. >> Yeah, that has been. Now to Mrs. Parker's question. Uh, yes. >> But [laughter] >> I hope so. >> So, we have to approve it. It has to be approved tonight, the program studies. And then um tomorrow in curriculum meeting we are going to look specifically at the waiver form to see if it's clear and if it's appropriate and if any edits need to be made. Uh and then yes once we start our process of going into so we go into RVS we go into Briercliffe we have multiple meetings with families. Um there will be opportunities many opportunities for people to understand what possibilities exist. But I still expect that people might not get it. So every way possible that we need to communicate

111that so they understand that there is a waiver uh we will do so. Um I think that you know the sixth grade program this year we have not gotten any questions or push back on any of the process. Doesn't mean that there are parents who don't know. Um but you know people need to know that we have a waiver process just like we have a pass fail option now for zero period. So these policy changes we need to we can't just have it in the fine print in the program of studies. >> Yeah. In addition to that level of communication the waiver is not going to be a piece of paper. It's going to be a Google form. And so it'll have all of the language embedded with stopping points or signature indicating that and

112acknowledging that you understand the statement each for each of the major components that are going to ensure that this is this is this is my understanding this my students understanding and this is the criteria. So we're trying to be as clear as possible with the language on the Google form. >> Mrs. Yeah, very cool. I just want to say from curriculum, we're all here like the um the topic of making sure that parents were informed and like actually understood has been at the forefront of every discussion that we've had about every single piece and every component of this. And I think that's why Dr. Seagull alluded to the fact that this current sixth grade class has felt assured. There's like been a lot of direct communication and indirect communication just about the process and how

113it doesn't feel. One of the a sixth grade parent actually came up to me in town at Hopkins and said, "Thank you guys so much for changing math because it doesn't feel daunting anymore. It doesn't feel like I need to go out and hire a tutor. It doesn't feel like I need to >> summer school." Exactly. It doesn't feel like I need to be, you know, sending my kid to Mathnesium. I understand the process. I know that kids mature at different times. You know, it was a very it was a lovely I thank that parent very much. It was like a very lovely conversation to just recognize that they felt heard and they felt seen. And I I think from everyone that I mean I can only speak for myself, but for everyone that I've

114spoken to, you know, about this specific issue, people feel like there's an in and an out and it's it's not just a zero- sum game anymore. And so I just I hope that helps assure some of the feelings that were like very very valid around a lot of this. And hopefully with RVS being on the same gradients that we're on, we're not going to have any of the you know there's not going to be any like weird weirdness once everybody starts nth grade because everybody's preparing from the same level. So we felt very good in curriculum about that. Just so you you know >> we do too. are the changes we've made like math has been for both districts kind of in and out of different uh methodologies that we want how we want to

115sequence it and handle it. So it's been challenging. Um I'm excited as Dr. Seagull said about the introduction of math 8 which gives our students another option which helps their transition as they come here which will help. >> It's not that zero sum game either because just because you're in math 8 does not mean you will graduate high school never taking any kind of calculus. Yeah. It just means it took you a little bit longer maybe to get down that path, but there's not a limitation anymore about who can do what. It's it's really wide open with this waiver process and with a couple of the things that we've been talking about tonight. So, it just I hope everybody feels good about that because this has been >> Oh, we feel I feel much better

116and I think I'm on the program committee and how >> Yeah, sure. So >> the waiver just I mean the waiver goes from enriched to >> college prep and college prep to honors. It doesn't allow you to go from math 8 to >> correct one level. It's sequence. >> Yes. It's not >> and right now not to not to the AP level. It's restricted to >> Got it. >> The advanced and honors >> but you can take honors calculus like you >> you can't skip a year. You can't go from math a to >> yes >> algebra too. >> Right. No, you can't skip the foundation. That's not what I >> Okay, >> any other questions on this presentation? >> That was very comprehensive. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> We're going

117to jump back into the agenda. Um, in terms of the school business administrator update, will the can the audit serve for that this evening or do you have further information? Okay, then we're going to carry on. We already did approval of minutes. So then uh we're at comments and requests from members of the public. Seeing none, people going to carry on. >> All right. Have it. >> Any comments? >> My favorite favorite question. Are there any communications at this time? >> No. Okay. So now we go to the Bin Township report. >> Uh really brief, just one item. Um we had a brief meeting uh back in January and we have we're holding the Bin Township board is holding on February 11th a special board meeting to discuss a possible referendum with the community. So,

118we're hoping to have an engaged conversation. Our architect will be there. Um, we're hoping to get as many people as we can to to show up. >> Thank you very much. Any comments there? >> Okay, then we move on to committee and liaison reports. Um, maybe these can be like a streamlined version of of what we've got this evening. So, who would like to go first? Go ahead, Dr. Mack. >> Finance. We met on the January 14th and January 27th with Steve. Um, I appreciated his attendance. We um started talking about the budget preliminarily, revenues in particular. Um we discussed the audit the first meeting um the report and then the second meeting the auditors came in and gave us a very thorough um review of the audit and then Dr. Seagull um discussed some

119of the budget priorities. Again, just very preliminary stuff with the budget and then uh we discussed the search for the BA and and where that stands. Um and that's it. >> Thank you very much. Comments there? >> Okay. Anyone else with a committee report? We have Mrs. Foreman. >> Very quickly, we had a facilities um committee meeting on I I just want to get the date right. >> Yeah, I know. I'm getting there. Um on the 15th um actually right after our meeting we discussed the progress of the new turf field. Everything is good to go. Knock on wood. Every single person in this room >> except for the snow is obviously killing us right now. But um >> you know eventually it will melt. [laughter] >> Um and everything is we were fortunate that

120everything is in place to just lay it down once we don't have it blanketed in snow anymore. So, it will be a very quick turnaround, a very quick process. Um, we also discussed a couple of trees that are um we're we're investigating a couple of trees on the across the street from the Lake Drive school that are precariously leaning that are actually in the burrows right away. Um, but you know, there's a lot of discussion around these trees and the implications if they fall. They're pine trees. They're not um hard woods, so they have short roots and shallow roots, and we're just hoping they don't fall. Um so, we're we're we're talking about what we're going to do about that. Um we're also working with um trying to work with um everybody on the snow

121removal. Um as you guys have noticed, it's we don't have any place to put it. Um, and our amazing facilities team, all the maintenance staff, I mean, Mr. Dunn, they have done God's work to try to keep everything safe and operable and open. But, um, we just, you know, as a committee, we want to make sure that everybody has some patience with snow removal if, god forbid, again, knock on some wood, someone we get another monster storm. Um, so just please, please be patient. And Dr. is the last person who ever wants to cancel school or delay school. He is stickler for that. So, um the children can all be mad at him, but um we are trying very hard to keep everything up and maintained in the snowy weather and heat maintained and all

122of those kinds of things. So, just if everyone could be patient, that would be a really keen takeaway from everything. And we have another meeting coming up this week, but we may end up postponing that just for everybody. the trees if they're on burrow property. They're >> because James, we can talk about this later. >> So anyway, >> sorry. Any other comments or questions for that report? >> Any other committee reports? >> State committee I get to report. Thank you, Julie, for getting the notes together for us. Um, so we met on January 16th and the big there were a couple big topics of discussion. And one of the biggest one was the new New Jersey law around cell phone um bans. And so obviously what we have adopted in in our school district is

123the beltto belt. Um and we're sticking with that for now. But just know that there's noise and and I'm sure you've all read about it that they what what the new law is trying to do is to say that there can be no cell phone usage at any time on school property even during recess in between classes not on a school bus. So, so there's some stuff that will need to be managed as we move through, but I think for now there's no change in our policy and we're sort of awaiting to see what happens um with this new look because it seems a little bit extreme, shall we say. Um the second thing is I think um Dr. Seagull and the admin team met and reviewed um district policies um back in December. Um

124and I think you do this pretty routinely, right? This is something that we do on a somewhat regular basis. So, um, in reviewing several policies, um, we kind of went through them. I'm not going to go through all of them. The majority of them we did not feel like action was required and and Dr. Seagull shared that with us. Um, you know, there were a couple things like the activity fee participation. We're removing a sentence um, from that. I don't know, Dr. Seagull if that's important to share here or Well, we're going to do any changes from cyclical review would be at the end of the year. There were going to be some minor changes. >> Okay. >> Um, a lot of it was around implementation and training. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um, student vaping.

125Again, there was a discussion, no changes, booster club suspension. So, there was a wide v variety of things that we um talked about. The biggest thing I think coming up for all of us as we look forward is AI. And um you know, we're not going to come up with a policy as a district, but we're going to look at best practices and how other school districts are handling it. Um and the goal is to have something in place and have it be adopted by the beginning of the next school year. So there's some movement that needs to happen on that. Um and then we we'll probably review these again in March, but maybe the next time. >> And I think that's it. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions there? >> I have

126one. I'm so sorry. With the AI um is Strauss Esme. Oh, they are [clears throat] >> they have a policy. They have uh right now 14 or 12 different options and we are going to review all the options. >> And that is something that will get like a full board review not just policy committee. >> Amazing. that just a followup to that is are we reviewing the policies pertaining to students and faculty or is it just students? >> It pertains to both. >> Okay, cool. >> Any committee report? >> Yes, Dr. Sha. >> Um, special education student services met on January 16th. Um, Mrs. Gus, I'm going to have to know how to say her name now. So, how do I say her name? >> Did you? >> I don't know that I can say

127that that quickly. >> DG Center. Okay. Um, she talked about how there's been a decline of referral services using the comparative data for the last four years. Um, she actually reviewed how the referral system works. and um she commented that the decline in the referral services were due to the efforts to provide intervention and support before a referral made to uh child study team. Um and then switching to the new literacy program. Um it's that was applied consistently did provide structure and support for students in the early grades to help with um awareness and reading fluency decoding are usually the basis for referral services and related to wildwood doc uh Mrs. Gioento explained um how professional development progress with co-eing modeled using allin to train staff on the universal design lesson development uh was explained

128to us. She also talked about an upcoming CPAG and transition meeting support for 8th through 9th grade students. Um Mrs. Lazeration talked about uh staffing update. Good news is that the district hired uh for three of the four open positions and the remaining position the work is going to be spread uh between the high school lake drive teacher and Mrs. Lazeration and that's specifically for the math program. Um the lake drive program updates uh the wingman in high school for the Lake Drive elementary groups and there will be studentto student peer training. Uh I think that already happened last week. Yeah, that's it. >> Thank you very much. Any comments or questions there? >> Any other committee reports? Dr. Hersshfeld curriculum. Uh we met on uh January 6th. Um Mr. Surles presented on the changes

129to the program of studies, but that's that was uh reviewed earlier this evening. Um, and then uh we did you I don't think did you mention the nutrition class? Was that in the that's like a not a firm thing. So it wasn't in program. >> We did not get Ruckers has not finalized what they're going to be offering. So we we're not able to recommend that yet. We were looking at a introduction to nutrition class uh which was going to be taught um by very interested um PE teacher but that's I guess that's percolating but it can't we can't offer that this coming year. >> Percolating is a good word. >> Percolating. >> Yeah. For that for that situation. >> It could still be offered this year, right? if they approve it or no, >>

130it uh we're looking we're looking to see whether this is going to be something that Ruckers is consistent with. >> There you >> percolating seemed a lot more upbeat than fizzling now. >> Yes. >> Um let's see. Uh we talked about the survey already. Um we talked about the waiverss. We talked about the STEM update. talked a lot about that. Yes, we talked that was talked discussed quite a bit and uh we talked a lot about option two and so there's a suggestion to uh decrease the number of quarters that ninth graders can utilize the option two program and uh we also uh talked about sort of ways that the PE department um could entice uh the students in the school to register for classes, PE classes rather than enrolling in option two, even if

131they have that opportunity. >> Um so we're we're looking to >> volleyball. Yeah, like make volleyball mania for other things. >> We're looking to make um PE honey. >> PE honey. >> Yeah. Honey attracts bees. >> Attract those students. That's our directive. PE honey >> great descriptors this evening >> and you know and honey >> that that really [laughter] >> any comments or questions on this report? Dr. Sh, >> is the honey for ninth graders or sorry the the idea of trying to increase the PE enrollment or is that for all grades? >> All grades. >> Okay. All right. Mrs. Parker. >> Okay. I have two comments. Um, first comment is, don't we already have nutrition? Is this different? >> It's different. >> Yes, >> it's better. >> It's different. >> We don't We don't

132have nutrition. We We It was renamed to really represent what it is, which is it's a cuisine course. >> You call We have a food science of the food science. >> Food food scientist. Food scientist. >> Food science. I would go with >> the internal nutrition with Ruckers is under their allied health program which has much more to do with the chemical side of understanding the new the ingredients of >> I'm sorry to interrupt. >> No, go ahead. I was going to say sort of attract looking to you know attract and and maybe build up a whole like a whole group of classes that could be uh uh for students interested in health related careers. >> You know we want to be competitive and and uh attract students to stay in our school. So if

133we have a whole suite >> of um >> he's really I I [laughter] spent your vocabulary this evening. Fantastic. >> I think I had already used that word >> twice. >> No, no, sweet. Seriously, [laughter] that's not not the sweet honey. Just partner had a second question. >> Wasn't a second question. It was a comment. So, that is the honey for PE is the best um the best alternative to option two that I have heard since I've been on this board for the past whatever six years. All I've heard is how they don't want kids to do option two. I told him. >> And as let me just say this. As the mom of an athlete who [snorts] does I right now my my daughter is at soccer practice. It's 10 o'clock at night. She's

134there. She's there for another 30 minutes. She's it goes till 10:40. She does not need to do PE. But when volleyball mania goes on, she does it because she wants to. And that's So you want to attract my kid to do PE? More powers. Like I think that's such a great option >> and that was our uh you know not that we want to tell the athletic director how to run his department but that was our directive you know. >> No but I mean I I like the option of option I >> I am all for option two but the because I I do think some kids actually need a break. Like I think it's it has its place >> and that was totally recognized too. It has its place, but this like if if

135there is excitement behind a class that kids get into, I love it. >> And we told um you know, we suggested to the athletic director that he would have the full support of the board to implement any creative ideas that they have >> for programming that would be >> amazing because I know it's been a point of contention and I just think that's such a great idea. Whoever thought of it. >> Any other comments or questions at this time on that report? How about any other committee reports? >> Very few committees left. >> How about any Oh, wait. To uh let me just make a point on shared services. I had a lovely conversation uh with our new mayor in town and we are going to be planning an upcoming shared services committee meeting when

136a time found. Yes. When we can find a a a time that works. So maybe some issues like you raised tonight can be you know points of conversation. But it was a a wonderful conversation. So I look forward to >> I'm sorry. We did have a long range planning committee. Dr. Don's not here. Um, but I just wanted to tell everybody that Mr. Santos did a strategic planning presentation around technology for like a 10-year plan. Um, maybe Dr. Don can give a quick summary of that at the next meeting. >> Okay, great. How about any leaison reports? >> Mrs. Kofarni, >> hello. >> Um, back on January 9th, um, we had a meeting of FOD and um, just I'm going to be super brief. Um, one really exciting event that I wanted to make sure

137all of you knew about on the 25th of February, they're going to have um, Jazz Fest at Mountain Lakes High School. >> It's pretty cool. I had never I I didn't know anything about this, but every um, they basically get all the four schools from the district come together. >> Um, each band plays for other bands. So, they kind of play for each other. Um, and then they get critiqued and they get instruction from a professional jazz m musician. on that day. Um there are breakout sessions. Students have a great time learning from a clinician like from who's who's from outside the school. Um and there's about 120 kids that participate. So that's like pretty big deal. So it's Bri, Mount Lakes, etc. So that's one um thing that I wanted to make sure everyone

138knew. [clears throat] Secondly, lots of spring stuff happening. So Frozen, I think um our student um representative talked about it, but Mountain Lakes High School, March 5th through the 7th, Frozen. um 101 Dalmatations at Wildwood March 13th and 14th and then Willy Wonka Jr. at Briar Cliff March 27th and 28th. So they're all super busy with all of that. >> That is wonderful. >> Comments or questions there? >> Why is anyone not commenting on the fact that they're doing Frozen this year? >> I mean just no one >> I mean was it a premonition to our current status? [laughter] >> It's very dangerous. >> All right. Any other liaison reports? I thought it had something to do with like our illustrious frozen graduate. >> That's true. >> All right, then. Here we go. We are

139moving on to the report and recommendation of the school business, please. >> All right, we have our presentation of bills under number one. Um, our transfer board uh treasury report, board secretary report. Um, they are all included. We have some new tuition students. Um, again, this is a sign of our growing enrollment at Lake Drive. We're at um, I believe 126 students now. >> Where are they putting them? >> Wait, well, sorry. >> Are they high school or are they like at Lake Drive? Questions after we finish? I'm sorry. We've got to keep going and then recognize that. I apologize. Got stick to that. [laughter] >> We have um an additional psych evaluation. Um, contract not to exceed. Um this is not just for one but this is um uh required what we need to

140do for students with uh disabilities. We have home instruction here. We do have an adjustment from our last um estimate from the architect which is now a little bit more comprehensive. It is higher. I know we were boasting about our low cost. It's like five or $6,000 higher to encompass all three of our vestibial projects. I'm informed that this will be the last one [clears throat] that we will see. We have a number of travel conferences uh for administrators and staff district and for each school. We have a donation from the HSA to the uh broadcast class of 2026. We have five fundraisers um that are up for approval for various clubs and activities. We have one disposition of property um involving technology equipment. We have some facility use uh requests, one being the uh

141election on the 5th for the burrow to use the high school auxiliary gym. Uh we have a number of programs out of uh Lakeland YMCA that we've been evaluating uh in terms of uh increased usage and also from the recck department for the spring and summer. We have the auditor's management report which um you would have copies of uh our waiver requirement for semi which is a um annual uh piece of legislation that uh piece plan that we have to approve. Um we are at this meeting looking to approve tuition for our Ivy Ivy Hall preschool programs for preschool four and five for the four day and the fiveday. um here for our different age groups. Uh under miscellaneous, we have a settlement agreement that was discussed uh involving a former employee during um executive

142session at the last meeting in general. >> Thank you very much. Um we need a first and a second in order to discuss these motions. We have Dr. Chef in with the second. Mr. Johnson, thank you very much. Any objections to hearing these motions together? Any comments or questions at this time? >> Okay, then roll call, please. >> Mrs. Foreman, >> yes. >> Dr. Hersville, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson, >> yes. For all the [snorts] high schools, >> Mrs. Colarnney, >> yes. >> Mrs. Parker, >> yes. >> Dr. Chef, >> yes. >> Dr. Sil McIntyre, >> yes. >> Mrs. Barkowski, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. We move on to the report and recommendation of the superintendent, please. >> Personnel, we have three retirements. Um, we have Miss Gates from the Lake Drive

143program um, who put in her notice of retirement. Mr. Hoffman, high school teacher, uh, social studies at the high school. And we have Miss Wjek, who is the high school nurse, all in for, um, retirement. We have a a termination of employment from Estonian uh that was based on job abandonment. We have the appointment of a teacher from Lake Drive who was approved as a long-term substitute upon completion of her certification and now has that. So she is uh going to be an itinerate teacher full-time on the tenure track. And in our hand carry, we have the appointment of a weaver replacement at Wildwood for a school counselor position, which is a big one. Um, very excited to have a a good candidate for that. And that is our appointments. We have a change in

144leave of absence due to an early um a change in the terms of leave. So uh you see two through five is all for one employee. Uh we have one custodian who is on a short-term leave. Um for athletics we have um extra services we have most prominently most of our spring coaches who are up for approval here for all of our spring sports. Additional compensation for home instruction and chaperones. Um we have a a trip down to Orlando music trip that is upcoming. Um also training for Destination Imagination. We have a few substitutes including one for the trip uh to Orlando. We have our volunteers for our spring sports on number 20 under substitutes volunteers interns. We have field trips here for the high school in Briercliffe that are um in the spring getting

145close to the end of the year. And then for uh new course approval, we have uh the courses that Mrs. Sesi identified in the report for the program of studies under board policies number 23. Uh these are all from Strauss Esme. Uh they are technical updates really just language change. I do want to uh raise the point about the library materials and resource materials. Um we reviewed those in policy committee and that was making sure that we had the proper protocols in place uh for any questions regarding any of our classroom or library materials which we do hand carry we have the program studies for approval and number 25 we have the resignation of a board member uh Mr. Thomas Chang uh as member of the board and that is effective uh tomorrow. You need

146a first and a second in order to hear these motions together. We have Dr. Hersto and we have Miss Carney. Thanks very much. Any objection to hearing these motions together. Any comments or questions at this time? Mrs. Foreman. Um I just wanted to say Mr. Hoffman is certainly going to be missed as a high school social studies teacher. He was fantastic. And also wanted to just shout out nurse Wooshack because how many of us have bothered that poor woman over the course of her tenure here? I feel terrible for her to um I hope she's going somewhere sunny and warm. >> Anyone else? >> Just a question about what happens when a board member resigns >> in new business. If you give me a minute, I'm going to walk us through that. All right. But

147[clears throat] on that motion, just to publicly again thank Mr. Chang for his service to this town, to our staff members, to the district, to the children, um giving his time and his energy and his good work. We sincerely thank him for that. Any other comments? Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Foreman, >> yes. >> Dr. Hersville, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson, >> yes. For all high schoolers, >> Mrs. Karnney, >> yes. >> Mrs. Parker, >> yes. >> Dr. Chef, >> yes. >> Dr. Silva McIntyre, >> yes. >> Mrs. Barowskis, >> yes. >> Motion pass. >> Thank you. Any unfinished business? >> Then under new business. Let's talk about >> Wait, we have unfinished business, too. >> I said that's first. >> Unfinished is before. >> I said unfinished. >> Oh, I thought you said new

148business. >> No, first I said unfinished. Nobody said anything. >> Sorry. Sorry, I didn't hear you. >> Do you have unfinished business? >> I do. Um, elections, we have the one this week. Do we have any progress toward the actual primary which is during school in June or do we not have any updates on that? >> We are trying to get um our our request has been duly registered with the burrow. Um I have followed up looking for a response. The town clerk has been away and I was told that we would have uh an answer shortly without any definitive terms. We are also having a shared service meeting that is being scheduled. Miss Lavine is going to be reaching out and we absolutely need to reiterate our position >> before the county solidifies the

149date as this being the location. And >> can we just tell the county that we're it's not >> No, you can't. It has to go through the town. It can't come from us. It can't come from us. It's just legally it can't come from us. >> We can't mandate it, >> right? >> We could advocate. >> Sure. Sure, we could do that. But the point is like if we're going to have to like have another delayed opening or we're going to have to have something like it's just would be nice >> to like actually like be able to plan for that. It's during like finals. It's during like all these things like >> I thought it was April >> though the well we have the election in April and then >> the other one is

150in June. >> There's an April and June. >> Yes. >> Well the June is always that's always the primary day. The April is the general election for >> for this special because this is a primary but the April one is still we could maybe have another location though. >> It is uh we are losing >> we are running out of time. >> The window is closing so we need >> crazy. >> So >> they're so dysfunctional. >> How do they not respond? >> Like we just need to know basically by the end of but we need to know by the week of the 20th. Do we need to have some kind of PR pressure campaign >> that we don't want to have to close the school for all these elections and if everyone needs to

151contact the burough manager and tell them that they don't want these elections being held in the school because it's causing a disruption to education. >> We're trying to plan a shared services meeting maybe as the first step. I think >> it's not happening. >> Well, we just she's like talked about it tonight. So, give us a second to try to schedule. >> All right, Julie. Okay. >> I mean, I'm putting a lot of pressure on you, Julie, but like [laughter] I >> have a schedule. It's okay. >> You legit can schedule anything. Like, it just [clears throat] happens. People just listen. I don't know. >> All right. >> Is there any other unfinished business on >> I like to thank Julie for like the selection of flavored selzers? >> Business. >> Let's go to new

152business. Okay. So, let's talk about um the process with the board member. Um we will advertise tomorrow that we have a vacancy and that people can um express their interest. In the past we have asked people to submit something in writing saying that they were interested and then we've had interviews whether they're in public or in executive session. Boards have changed their mind in terms of how they want to do that. Then we deliberate as a board and we select the person who will complete just the term. It's not for another three years. It's just the end of Mr. Chang's term. >> Um, so the question becomes if you'd like to have a special meeting for that or if you'd like to do this at our next board meeting, >> which is when? >> March.

153>> That's a long time. I feel like we should get on this personally. >> We have a February meeting. >> We have the third week. We have the three day. I just I would like to just make a point that we need >> we are all we have a lot of stuff on our plates and it would be really nice to be able to share some of that with another board member. >> Correct. >> Um what's the is there a statutory time that they have to apply? >> Yes. >> Which is two weeks or >> No, I don't I don't I don't know what it is, but I know there's a timeline we have to have to complete the whole process within 65 days. But I think we should give people at least a week,

154I mean at minimum to be notified and maybe submit whatever we're asking them to submit and we need to collectively decide on a date. So why don't we propose this maybe Mrs. Being can send around a [snorts] couple of of dates. We can all sort of see when we are available before we then decide collectively that that'll be the special meeting. Can we see what what we can come up with? All right. Maybe if you could send that out tomorrow. Yeah, >> before you I feel like you're jumping ahead. We need to know the time that is required for notice and the application process, which I feel like is not just a week. >> We have to complete the entire thing within 65 days. >> But I feel like people need more time. So we

155can't say we give people a week to submit applications. We have to go on what that I don't think there's a standard time. I think we can decide that. >> But I I do think >> Yeah. I think we give notification and then at least all of this weekend by next Friday. >> That's >> Yeah. So that so then we're looking at the last week of February because the third week we have the uh break. >> Yeah. I recognize that >> but there's other days in that week. >> Our break isn't the full time. >> So >> we could do it. We could target the Thursday. >> To to Mrs. Parker's point, is is the board comfortable with a two week window for people to submit >> if it's legal. If it's legal. Yeah. >>

156Can your question? >> So, our next meeting is March 2nd. We could potent if we waited until that meeting hold the interviews [snorts] vote and have them say when's February break >> and have them and start the uh 14th Saturday 14th 14 16 17 18 >> weekend >> I think that's fine. >> I I'm okay waiting till the following March. >> I think we should do the interviews before the March meeting because we're going to have to do that all in one meeting. >> Everyone's going to want to be there. We already have it on the calendar. We we always in the past we haven't had special meetings. We've done it all in one night. People interview, we vote, they sit that night. That is the way. >> Seriously. >> So that means >> huh?

157>> That would be like the like the 23rd. >> February 23rd. >> You you you have to get fingerprinted. >> I had to have that. >> Yeah. I had to have fingerprints before I could sit too. >> So here we go. >> Can we print them before? >> But we can talk to them. Do you guys want to do a special meeting on the 23rd? >> The 13th would be when they would be due. Then we have break, but we're back here. So, we could theoretically have a special meeting on the 20th. >> The 20th. >> February 20th. >> That's a Friday. >> So, what? >> What's your problem with Friday? >> It's a business day and a week. >> You mean like during the day? Oh, go ahead. >> Or Thursday. [laughter] Is Thursday

158better than 19th? >> What? I was looking at the Monday. I was looking at the 23rd. Yeah. I mean, 23rd is fine. >> I just figured like people are probably free on Monday nights often. >> 23rd would be easier. Oh, I'm not I'm not here. I'm not here. >> Oh, that's fine. Do it on the 20th. I don't care. >> But I mean, I'm not If we have 60 days, why this special meeting instead of waiting until March 3rd, >> we still have plenty of time for the person's fingerprint. And I we we did we did it in the same meeting during a regular board session. >> You want to make sure you have enough time is already here on March. That's a standard meeting. I I think it makes more sense to pick a

159a timeline when they have to submit everything and then we we do it on the day we're already here. >> Is that a busy meeting? >> Yeah, every kind of stuff. >> But we have another meeting that's close after that. >> Exactly. Have them in by February 20th, giving us the next week to look at them. >> We could do that. >> Yeah. >> How do you think that I vote for that? Keep it on the >> I mean, in the past, we haven't gotten get a little slug is is that >> you don't get candidates waiting for us. Is it going to make it any better? >> Um the I do I do want to point out to the boards there is a chance given whoever we select and the experience they walk in.

160We may have to shuffle committees a little bit. So I just think that may may be an out >> you know >> what given the experience or the interest of whatever person. >> You might shuffle. >> We might we might don't get I'm just saying it might happen. So, I just think that that's a natural flow with everyone else. [laughter] >> All right. So, did we just collectively decide turn in >> until a letter of interest by the 20th and we interview at the March 2nd? >> Sarah's point was that they won't be able to be participate on the March 2nd meeting. >> Yeah. They're not going to be printed and like how long are we going to like it could take forever because New Jersey is so annoying about this. But I think we

161can ask them to expedite and be ready to go. >> Yeah. If they go into the city and get fingerprinted, it finds the same day. You find out >> they want it. >> Well, yeah. May it right. >> I mean, we do if we do get done. >> I mean, if we do it before, it's not like this person's going to be put on committee so quickly and already on things like I just think it's >> and I think what's trumping for me is you said everyone's already here. I think knowing that we have that established for the board, everyone can hear those interviews. I kind of like >> Right. That's right. Because Jen said she's not here the 23rd. >> No. No. >> Yeah. So that's a good enough for me. I want them

162to be here. >> There's a second meeting in March so they can be printed and be back in. >> We're trying to get in there. >> So submit by the >> We will also confirm all these requirements. >> We're we're leaning towards submit by the 20th interview on the second. Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Can we carry on? Any other new business? Okay. Then we look at um any pending legislation, no comments or requests from the public. No third executive session. So we move to a motion to adjourn. >> We have first and second, Mrs. Foreman and Dr. Hersfeld. All in favor say I. >> I. And we are journ at 10:31. >> Thank you for the >> Well done everyone.