001process of reflection guided by the NJSBA through which the board strives to improve our governance. This evaluation is required annually for the board to maintain our certifications. That's it from my report tonight. I hope everyone's having a great summer and I'll pass it over to Dr. Thank you, Mr. Senic. Keep my report maybe not equally brief, but also brief. Happy New Year. School year officially started on July 1st. I'm excited. This is my 29th year in education. my seventh as super which is the longest in the last 50 years in this district. We think may be longer but we don't have the data for but nevertheless really excited for the 2526 school year. Uh last week we had our admin retreat uh which we found to be very successful was a really satisfying experience. Uh
002we focused on data presentations from each of the five schools. The real focus there was on proficiency and standardized assessments as well as some internal metrics. We also looked at cohort progress and other trends. We won't necessarily have the growth data until September or October when the state releases that, but we were able to at least compare how cohorts are fairing over the years. And by and large, the results were were quite strong. So, we're really excited about that. I am looking forward to the October 27th district assessment data presentation. Mr. Vancle may or may not be aware that she's going to largely lead that. I'll be there as pretty much the pip to your glattest night. But I'm excited about what we're going to be sharing at that because if the initial results are
003any any evidence, we're we're doing quite well. Um and actually tonight when we when we present on the NJGPA data as well as access also strong data there again I will be more or less the the backup singer there. Um we also focused on goal setting. This this comprised a large portion of the first day. The data presentations should inform what we're looking for those goals. First goal, we're going to focus on the profile of a quantic student, quantic graduate. Again, it's a three-year goal. This is the third year of it, but truthfully, it's actually a four-year goal because year four is the implementation thereof. Third year is completing the planning process and determining where we can apply this through curriculum and other avenues. And I do think it's a really nice show of the
004stability that we have in this district right now, which is a byproduct of this group at the table, including those who are absent, as well as so many other stakeholders. But it's nice to have that type of continuity so that we can focus on a three-year goal and then look to implement in the fourth year. Our second goal focuses on gathering and applying data to measure student learning growth. This follows the ensuring student sorry staff success component of our strategic plan. This one is incredibly d We're really excited about that. This is right out alley. So, I know she was leading the charge there, but I think our our supervisors and principles were really excited to get get involved with this and look at how they can help staff members to generate meaningful data from
005what they observe in their class from their students and then can present that back to the administrative team. And then the final one is uh family and community partnerships. That's the strategic plan thread. Uh, and that one we titled collaborating, informing, and improving communication. We're looking at developing a couple different communication plans. One is the crisis communication plan. Mr. Riner and Mr. Lucas have already made a lot of progress on that one. They're looping in Mr. Sheay as well to make sure that we can push it out in a electronic medium and use technology to our advantage. Just got an email today from Mr. Hazler who was asking if we can loop in formation of an alumni network as part of that. It's a wonderful idea. So some really good ideas coming out of this.
006I felt like the collaborative environment of the admin retreat helped make this happen. We also received legal training. Administrators are supposed to receive two hours annually of legal training. We took care of that and it went quite nicely. spent a lot of time focusing on best practice in terms of whatever we're doing from a leadership perspective and also spent some time in team building because you really want people to feel like they can trust one another um and be able to depend on each other. So, it was nice to see and um yeah and just gives us a lot of optimism heading into this upcoming school year. Uh in August, we have a few things coming up. The senior portraits are going to take place August 12th through 14th. Uh, new staff orientation is going
007to take place on August 18th through August 20th. Um, this one, Mr. Vans also gets to lead on that one. Um, I'll I'll give a nice three three bless you three minute greeting on the 18th. Make sure everybody feels welcome and happy, but I'm excited about that too because it really you want to set a strong first impression with the new staff and hopefully it leads to long productive careers for them. And then we have new student orientations coming up later on in August. We're welcoming new students to the high school as well as the middle school and then as we welcome families who are moving to our community into the elementary schools as well as our kindergarteners. So, a lot of exciting things there. And then I alluded before to an August 27th presentation
008on district assessment data. We're also going to present at our Cedar Crest meeting on September 15th. We're going to present information of the portrait of your graduate that's going to be led by Dr. O'Keefe and Mr. Hazler. I think our our friends at Cedar Crest are really going to enjoy the content of that and and I think they're going to really enjoy the energy and information from Dr. O'Keefe and Mr. Hazler. And then on October 6th, we're going to present on our AP data. We also want to do some recognition of our AP scholars. Mr. Hazler is going to lead the charge on that one as well. Uh, spoiler alert, the information is really good. So, we're very excited about it and are really looking forward to helping to spread the good news and and
009share our success with greater community. One final note, I should point out that we're in the process of forming our QAC committee. Mrs. Vance Cole received something from somebody who might be moving into the county to work with our committee. >> Yep. Um, but apparently it sounds like the person wants to get started with us in September and to point out that Mrs. will blame me because my position is, hey, you guys want to come here early, come here early. That's fine. Um, that position is not uni unilaterally positive. But, um, something I'm really proud of is we've had at least four board members volunteer to be on the CUAC committee. Um, which I think shows tremendous commitment and involvement, admin team. I'm getting a lot of people want to be a part of this.
010So, um, it's not the most exciting of processes, but it's a really important one. happens every three years and we're going to be gonna be be ready to go whether the county comes in in October or perhaps much later which would be preferential to my friend to my left. But anyway, lot lot of good things coming up and it's been a good summer thus far. We're making good progress in getting our buildings ready. Mr. Anderson gave me a quick update yesterday. Sounds like we're making tremendous progress and get a chance to check out the SJG parking lot. Looks good. That's my report. I just want to say that you were such a teacher that you made a joke and you said happy new year because the school year started again. It's like the same joke
011that the elementary school teacher used to get me on every year when we'd leave for Christmas break. She said see you next year and I'd be bewildered. So good good joke. Okay, let's make sure my clicker works. Okay. Um All right. So, uh we're going to present on the NJGPA and the access results. So, first NJPPA. Um just a real quick um to recapture the uh New Jersey GPA assessment measures graduation readiness. It is given to the 11th grade students in English language arts and mathematics. Um, basically the ELA component is aligned to grade 10 and the math is aligned to algebra 1 and geometry. They're not very long. They're like 20 questions for ELA and 30 questions in math. Um, basically students who we'd like them to get a 725 to pass to show
012their graduation ready. Um, if they do not, they have the opportunity to retake it either in the summer or the fall. um or they can possibly um use another test like the SAT or something in order with a different cut score um in order to substitute for that. Um there's another option also with a com a portfolio appeal where basically they have to create not create complete performance tasks um that will then count as their substitution for the ELA or the math component. So this graph shows the where puquanic um students rated on the different questions based on the standards. The questions are in order from most difficult to the least difficult. Um the blue line is the state average and the green dots show Pquanics average. Our students are really outperforming the state average
013um across the board. So these are the breakdown of the numbers. So all of these are based on percent. This is ELA first. We have the track record going from 2022 to 2025. We had 151 students take the test this year. The score changed to 725 in 2023 from 750 in 2022. And um we show all the different demographics. Just a note on the multilingual learners. We have a super teeny teeny tiny little portion of 11th graders that were multilingual learners. So, um that score represents one of like five. So, it's very very small numbers. Um what we're excited about is our average scale score. Um you can see Bquanic had an average score of 806 compared to the state of 768 and you need a 725 to pass. So really our students are doing
014outstanding. We had 94 and a half% of them pass the state average is only 80%. Um, and then you can see the demographic breakdown of students. Yes, that was 750. It is a strong compelling reason for why it was lowered the bar. So they say I also don't Yeah. And I don't know that the state realizes it's 20 questions. That's it. Your whole college career or your whole high school career, 20 questions. Um so then we just did some notable achievements. Um as I noted already, um our percent of passing and our scale score. Um, and then in our demographics, we also noted the average scale score in some of our demographics was awesome as well. So again, with that average of 768, just look how high these students are scoring. Um, and then yes,
015how many Yes, the mic. How many students are in each demographic? >> Yes. Um I could break it out but if it's less than 10 I'm not supposed to share publicly because that then is a >> okay >> indicator. Got it. >> So >> um other notable work we use common lit benchmarks um in order to help our teachers uh get a gauge on where the students are with their reading um proficiency. Um we've been providing more professional learning on small group reading and reading and writing. Um, and we're also doing a bunch of curriculum writing this work uh this year on writing benchmarks. Um, so we're really trying to increase the writing stamina. Um, and then we have ongoing vertical articulation. It says grades six to 12, but really we're doing a lot of
016vertical articulation across K to 12 and different grades. So interventions for ELA. So again, we only had a few students not pass it. Um but what we want to pay attention to is if we have students who are um in any of those demographics in particular that we realize based on their grade nine NJSLA data and or earlier that we can actually start compiling a portfolio assessment for them earlier. We don't have to wait till grade 11. And that way if they don't need it, great. Well, we already had it and it was good practice. But if they do need it, we've already started that process. So it makes senior year a little less stressful. They don't have to worry about um making that up in senior year. So I think that's one important piece.
017Um when I just got the data that I can break down by student. So uh right now I'm in the process of putting that into a form where the ELA team members, the teachers, and the supervisors can go over and the principles can go over that very specific data on the students. Um get a sense of trends from last year and the year before moving forward. Are there particular domains where we notice students need more support? Um, last year it wasformational text. So, we kind of want to see where we're at with that. Uh, we also have our science and social studies department working collaborative collaboratively to increase the amount offormational uh, reading skills and writing. Um so there's a lot going on across departments in order to increase um student ELA proficiency. Um if
018we need to do any remediation, we can use common lit in order as a tool for learning instruction as well as a benchmark. And um this year they're going to be focusing as well as our district goal has a lot to do with teachers identifying data in their class. We want to also get the students goal setting on their data. So then math um again the blue line is the state average and the green dots are the puquanic students who had those questions how they fared ordered from most difficult to the least difficult and um I will tell you that this test is mostly it's half algebra half geometry 30 questions so um again same process All of these numbers represent percent except for the first uh well the first three the second and third
019columns. Those are the scale scores. So same uh process as ELA. The score change to 725 in 2023. Still had 151 students take the assessment. Our multilingual learners actually did much better in math than they did in ELA, which actually makes sense depending upon how well they're um how far along they are with the English language. Um the state average on this is only 736. We were at a 756. So, we're still outperforming the state in that zone. And we had 83.4% of our students show graduation ready. So, we have a few more students in math that had to um do another test and we actually had several students take the ACUPPLACER after this and then they passed that and that counts. So, we're already I think we we're down to like two or three
020students that have to um either do the portfolio or take the NGPA again in the fall and see if they could pass it there. Um, anything else on this? I don't think so. So, again with some notables, our demographics still outperforming uh the state average, which I think is great. Again, we have ongoing vertical articulation between our different courses. U, we're going to be breaking down the data. Again, in the geometry and algebra, I can get it right down to how many points um each part is worth. So, we'll go over that with the teachers and anal um anywhere we need to improve our tier one instruction. Um and we're still doing conquer math. So um we have high school teachers attending that as well. So we're excited to keep going with that. Um similar
021to the ELA, we're going to start working with students as early as we can in ninth grade on compiling portfolio items if we notice that there's a trend where they might have trouble passing the NGPA in grade 11. Um the math teams will go over the evidence statements and the heat maps that we'll create based on the data we're pulling together. Uh we really worked on modeling and reasoning task and we think that really is helping across the board from grade three up um in improving our scores and um we're also looking at final exam data in order to um help us get a sense of what we need to adjust for next year's instruction. Um, oh, and one other thing, it is really important to have calculators in hand while you're doing these tests
022as opposed to trying to use the computer calculator. And, um, we also using patty paper with our geometry test now, which is um, transparent paper if you haven't used it, which is great for doing, uh, different things on the coordinate plane. Um, so we're really trying to get more hands-on uh with the math as much as we can um as much as we're allowed to uh which these assessments because I think it makes a total difference. So next steps really focusing on a lot of data, a lot of growth and goal setting. Um again all of this has to do with us taking apart that data looking it down to the individual students and across the courses and looking at are there particular domains or topics where we notice that we need to do a
023better job of instruction. Um so just reviewing all those trends. Uh it's really important grade 8 maths NJSLA mimics the grade 11 NJ GPA very closely. So, we're actually looking at that data to see um what are the connections there. Um we're doing a lot of curriculum writing in math this year because we have to approve the 2023 standards by September's board meeting. So, we're in the process of doing all that um and again doing a lot of training with the teachers not only on Conquer Math um but even in the curriculum writing we've been doing over the last two weeks. had a bunch of um teachers in mostly grades three to eight, but still when you're doing curriculum writing and you're working with them, we're training them um and it's been amazing. So, I
024got a lot of positive feedback from them. So, we'll continue that growth with the high school as well. Any questions on NJPA? Looking good. Okay, so access for L's two slides. Um, so overall we had 37 students from K to 12 um have to take the access test. You can see the different languages that our students speak. Um, overall for 37 students, we had an average of about a 3.5. In order for a student to exit the ESL program, they need a 4.5. Um, and then we broke down how many students are at each uh level. Uh we did have eight students exit the program in 2425 and we had seven students refuse services. Students who refuse services but are eligible still have to take the access test. So of those 37 um seven of
025them would have not been in the program but still have to take the test. And this break this chart which put on for you um is just shows us the breakdown of there's six different levels on the access test and um you can see where most of our students land right about the between two and four right now which is great because depending upon what year they're in in the program we want them you know we want them to move forward but by the time they hit four and a half they're exiting. So we don't expect to see a lot of fives and sixes because they probably exited before um they would have shown the proficiency in that. So we want to get them past the four. So we moving forward every year. Any question
026on access? Thank you. So I know this question comes up a lot with any standardized testing and we're comparing ourselves to the state. Is there any way to drill down to more comparable schools, more demographic, geographic, you know, similarities versus just blanketing just saying the state? >> It's a good question. Um the state used to give us the they would label schools with a letter ABCD EFG. They don't do that anymore. So now So we can when the school performance reports come out, we can do that. But that's not until March. So by the time we're hitting that, we're already on to like our next set of testing. But um it's something we possibly could look at to see. >> Yeah, I think it's just a gap when we really don't know, you know, >>
027our peers. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> We can talk about it. Yeah. And I don't know how many districts are are posting their presentations, but we could do a little surfing on the internet, see what we can find. That that's something that that we can share. That's not just for you. >> And if there's particular districts you're interested in, I think that's another like we can dig deep and see what we can find in the school performance reports as well, too. >> Yeah. And something I I've done in the past is looking at the former district factor groups. We were GH, but looking one level above what we were and then one level below and just look for schools of for districts of comparable size and see see the performance comparisons. Something I like
028to you talked about the data and reasoning and how that was something we focused on. That was something that came out of last year's admin retreat when we were going through the data presentations at different levels. We realized this was reuring theme. That's something to Amy's credit. She picked up on it and really ran with it for for this school year. We see the outcomes in that in that chart, that table that shows how our students were doing on this particular standards and standards really are just skills skills that kids have to be able to demonstrate mastery of. Overall, I'm I'm quite pleased with the results. It was inevitable that our ELA number was going to go down since it was 100% 24. So, we slipped a little bit there, but um we're looking for
029perfection and keep striving for it. >> Thank you, Mr. Gibbs. You have a report. >> Yes. Good evening. Uh tonight's port agenda is the approval of a new SDA grant in the amount of $2.9 million of which the school will be responsible for 1.7 million. The grant is for new air handlers and some HVAC units for each of the schools. The grant will be budgeted over the next three years. Also on tonight's board agenda is the approval of the purchase agreement for the new board office at 494 Newark Pton Turnpike in the amount of $575,000. There is an acceptance of non-public school nursing funds in the amount of $27,690. These funds will go to non-public schools in the area for nursing supplies and services. On July 7th, the resurfacing and striping of the parking lot
030at the Steven Jerice Elementary School was completed. The fieldwork part of the 202425 audit started on Monday, July 7th, and is anticipated to be completed by October 15th. The audit is due to the state by December 15, 2025. Finally, this is just a reminder for those board members planning on attending the New Jersey School Board's Conference in Atlantic City in October. If you haven't done so, please confirm the dates that you'll be staying at the hotel. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Now move on to approval of the minutes. I'm going to ask MO to please move the minutes. >> I would like to move the minutes from June 23rd, 2025. >> Second. >> Question or discussion? Mr. G, please call the RO. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sesi, >> yes. >> Mr. Gon, >> yes.
031M IO. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mcween is absent. Mr. Pompeo is absent. Mrs. Shentton's absent. Mrs. Estazito. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Sen. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. It brings us to the first opportunity for public comment. And there is no public here. So, I'm going to move on to approval of the action items. Uh, first up is PMC. And I want to ask Mr. Sesi to please move the items under PMC. >> I would like to move PMC 01-26 through PMC 22-26. >> Second. >> Any question or discussion? >> Yeah, I'm just going to I know this isn't formal workshop, but I know at each of the workshop meetings I provide a staffing update, so I think it's relevant here. Um, we are currently in search of two Spanish teachers. We had
032two who had accepted our offers um and then later expressed otherwise. So we see one being rescended, another one we were able to pull before the agenda went public. So uh the search continues there and Dr. Keefe is also looking for backup options. We're not able to find someone through the search process. As you know, there's a shortage in the state and um we're doing our best to find people who could put who would be effective instructors for our students. Um we also have posted for a um special ed science teacher at the high school. This is another one that's a very difficult find. This falls under the highly qualified umbrella, but the person needs a science as well as a special ed. We do have a staff member who's currently working towards achieving that
033level. She's not quite there yet. So, in the meantime, we're posting for the position, but it's it's fishing in baron waters. And then we also have a posting for part-time LDTC. This is again, this is a difficult position to fill. We're not so sure that there's anybody out there. We had a lead on someone, but taking their talents to another district. And then we of course posted for elementary lunch aids for anybody who's ever been a lunch aid. It is the single greatest job in the history of humanity. It's fulfilling. It's exciting. It's really more things than I could possibly describe. So if you know someone who might be interested, please spread the word of the most gratifying and outstanding job. >> All right. Mr. Gibson, >> Mr. Bloomer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sesi. Yes,
034>> Mr. Gon. >> Yes, >> MOO. >> Yes, >> Mr. Mcween is absent. Mr. Pompeo is absent. Mrs. Shinton's absent. Mrs. Espazito. >> Yes. >> And Mr. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Up next is CIS. Miss Esposito. Would you please move the items under CIS? >> Yes. Give me one second. I would like to move CIS-26 through CIS07-26. >> Second. >> Question or discussion. >> Mr. Gibbs, please call a role. >> Mr. Bloomer, >> yes. >> Mr. Sesi, >> yes. >> Mr. Gon, >> yes. >> Miss Ao, >> yes. >> Mr. Mcween is absent. Mr. Pompeo is absent. Mr. Shenton's absent. Mrs. Esto, >> yes. >> And Mr. Sen, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Okay. Up next is FFA. Mr. Bloomer, would you please move the items under FFA? >> I'd like to make
035a motion to move FFA01-26 through FFA 18 uh-26. >> Second. >> Any question or discussion? Mr. Gibbs, please call the RO. >> Mr. Bloomer, >> yes. >> Mr. Sesi, >> yes. >> Mr. Giddon, >> yes. >> Miss AO, >> yes. >> Mr. Mcween is absent. Mr. Pompeo is absent. Mr. Shenton's absent. Mrs. Espazito, >> yes. >> And Mr. Yes. Motion carries. >> I'd like to take a moment just to thank the PTHs Association of Music Parents for their generous donations to the high school. >> Okay. And next up is policy. And I'm going to ask Miss Esto again to move that item. >> Sure. I'd like to move um policy P 01-26. >> Second. >> Let me give that one to get. Any question or discussion? >> Mr. Giz, please call. >> Couple quick things.
036Sorry. Um, human meeting extender. Um, one thing that, uh, Mr. McWe and I had had discussed via email, um, is we are currently putting up for approval our acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence. The policy focuses on AI for students. We did talk about whether we should have something in place for staff and I don't know that we necessarily need a policy to regulate staff use but I do think it's good almost as a position statement to say we do support staff using this as it can help create greater efficiency for them save time whether it's in providing assessment feedback planning a few other things can't be used right now for writing IEPs or anything else that involves sensitive data or information until we get our own internal AI which is probably not too far
037down the pike But I just want to point out that that's something we have discussed. There's been no noise or movement from Strauss on that but internally we've discussed it and then board has access to living document that I have about policies that we're looking to address. And I just want to point out there are four that I'm looking to get finalized in time for the start of the school year. We do have two more board meetings before the first day when we have students and those policies are 2340 which is field trips. We want to tweak about the transportation language. Uh 2624 is grading system. There are actually a number of changes we want to make there. Not the least of which is about the philosophy governing grading. 5430 class rank there. I have
038several issues with the language. I feel like it's not not written as clearly as it could be. Um 8454 management particulosis is lice. Our nursing team had presented a few recommendations and what they believe is best practice. We do have to make sure we follow the law and that we're consistent with serving our community as best we can while also being efficient and effective. So, we we'll piece that together. So, those should be ready for first readings in time for the August meeting. >> All right. Thank you. Mr. Gins, please call the role. >> Mr. Bloomer, >> yes. >> Mr. Sesi, >> yes. >> Mr. Giddon, >> yes. >> Miss Ao, >> yes. >> Mr. Mcween is absent. Mr. Pompeo is absent. Mr. Shanton's absent. Mrs. Espazito, >> yes. >> And Mr. S. Yes. >>
039Motion carries. >> Thank you. Mr. Gon, would you please move other? >> Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to move other O-1-26. >> Second. Question of discussion. >> Mr. Gibbs, please call the role. >> Mr. Bloomer, >> yes. >> Mr. Sesi, >> yes. >> Mr. Gon, >> yes. >> Misso, >> yes. >> Mr. Mween is absent. Mr. Pompeo is absent. Mr. Shentton's absent. Mrs. Espazito, >> yes. >> And Mr. Sen, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Okay, that opens it up to the second opportunity for public comment. And again, no one has materialized, so we'll move on to unfinished business. Is there any board member with any unfinished business? >> Yeah, real quick. Um the the date of the uh retreat are what what's attendance going to be? Because I I'm just I wish we
040kind of gathered more dates of availability to see if we could find a common date for full attendance. Um >> it's going to be eight out of nine. >> What? out of nine. You still should have gathered the information. Anybody else? Anybody with new business? Board member announcements. Okay. We do have consideration for executive session where we will discuss uh contractual matters and personnel matters. No action will be taken. We will adjourn from there. Uh our next meeting will be August 18th here at the high school. 7 o'clock. Is there a motion to go into executive? >> Motion to go into executive. >> Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Good night everyone.