Board of Education Meeting - Public Session - 6/11/26

001Wood Board of Education. Mr. Acker, would you please take the roll call? I'll see you. Can you hear me? Okay. Jeff Bennett, Deirdre Brown, Elizabeth Callahan, Meredith Higgins. Here. Jamal Capita. Here. Will Meyer. Here. Melania Nayar, Shiana Sackett-Gable, Stephan. Here. and the student reps, Penel Shapiro and Scarlett Strogoff. Okay, we have a quorum. Please stand if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Gotcha. Adequate notice of this evening's meeting was sent from the Office of the Secretary of the Board. On May 26th, 2026, to the Maplewood and South Orange Township clerks and the editors of the news record. Oh, Casey, could you just mute

002your my feedback, brother? Thank you. And the editors of the news record star ledger tap into Soma and the village green. This is a special meeting, not one of the board's regular meetings. We're holding it for a few separate purposes. Originally, this meeting had been scheduled for celebration of our retirees. However, that was moved to last month. We are this evening sitting down in an executive session with the superintendent to present him with his annual evaluation, which was a very thorough and comprehensive process among all nine board members. Prior to that, however, we will be addressing a couple time-sensitive action items that we're having on rather than have them wait until our regular monthly meeting. And we will have a public speaks opportunity. I know there are several folks here to speak to the board,

003and we are eager to hear what you have to say. However, the first piece that we will be doing is tackling our HIV and SSDS presentation with Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Wabel. So I'm just going to turn it over to the superintendent for any preliminary words, and then we'll turn it over for that presentation. We were looking for you, Dr. Wabel. Hello, Mr. Morgan. Tech needs two minutes. You got it. Our tech needs two minutes, so if we could all be patient. Last presentation was done January? January, February. Okay, so we're going to kind of wink this thing a little bit. Get started without the video presentation, if that's okay. I want to introduce Dr. Wabel, Director of Data Research, Planning, and Evaluation, and also Paul Morgan, our Director of School and Community Safety. Thank

004you all. So tonight we're presenting the Annual Report for Student Safety Data System, formerly known as the V&V or commonly known as Violence and Vandalism Report. They changed the name a few years ago. Mr. Morgan, can I ask that you just keep that mic a little closer to you? Sure. If you're able. I was intentionally trying not to be heard. Okay. So by law, the state requires all public school districts and charter schools to report this information twice a year. Reporting period one is September through December. Reporting period two is January through June. So what we're presenting is reporting period one, September through December of 2025. They don't have slides. I can pretend to say next slide. So normally what we would do is present you with a explanation of the terms on the screen.

005I'll just go into the vandalism part, which sometimes is a little tricky. In this presentation, vandalism includes arson, computer trespass, damage to property, false public alarm, as well as theft. That isn't counted in our report or the state report if there is no person responsible for those incidents. So if there's graffiti on a school wall, but we don't know who's responsible for that, the state doesn't require us to submit that. Part of that is because sometimes schools are rented out over the weekend, some damage might happen, and so we don't know who to attribute those things to all the time. The next, we'll talk about the analysis of the school data for the entire district from period one. And what we have is 15 incidents, reportable incidents at Columbia High School, five at Maplewood Middle

006School, one at South Orange Middle School, and three at Delia Bolden. Right now, I can go into the categories for each of those totals. So like I said, at the high school, there were 15 totals, and those are broken down into four incidents of violence or what is categorized as violence. And then there were 11 incidents of substance. And something to note about those 11 instances is that seven of those occurrences was one incident. So there may be a party or something where kids were. doing something they shouldn't have been doing, but there were seven kids in that area. For Maplewood Middle School, the areas of one, violence, one, vandalism, and then four, Hibb confirmed. The next one is South Orange Middle School. Again, that was one incident of violence. Go to the next one

007is Delia Bolden. They had three incidents. And that was it for the elementary schools for a total of 24 total reportable incidents. Going to each category for substances total, 11 for the district, nine incidents of violence for the district, and vandalism for period one, and HIP confirmed four. We'll do incident by type and grade level. And so there are approximately 7,041 students in our district. And of those 7,041, we have 24 incidents. And that doesn't mean 24 students. There's 24 incidents. As I explained before, some of those incidents have more than one reportable infraction. So there were 24 incidents out of the 7,041 students here. By grade, again, the high school, 1,934 students and 15 incidents. The middle schools, 1,565 students and six incidents. And the elementary schools, 3,118 students and three incidents. So overall,

008pretty good comparisons there. Totals by grade. We've already gone through this, but you guys can't see the graphic is really pretty so we did it again a little bit of Redundance, but I thought it was great. So we'll move over to the data trends over time and what we did was compile the Incidents over a five-year period for period one not for the entire year And something to note, which is really impressive for our district, and I say we do a really good job here, is that less than 0.1% of students were involved in incidents at the elementary school level. Less than 1% of students were involved in an incident at the middle school level. And less than 1% of our students were involved in an incident at the high school level. So we did

009really well there. Our incidence of substance may be a little skewed, may be underreported from a previous period because we had a sack that was out at the high school. So there may be some lapse in reporting. So and you will see that data in the moment. Oh, you'll hear that data. So data trends over time. And I'll just read them off because they're not on the screen for you. In 21, 22, there were close to 50, 50 incidents total. in the district. And this year we're down to 24. So 24, I'm sorry, 25 period one, 24 incidents total. So that's down from 50. We'll go by category now over the last five years. So we'll go total from 21, 22, there were 12 incidents. And at the end of period one for this year,

010we were down to nine. And that was for the, that was total for the district. And I'll say that again. In 21-22 period one, there were 12. This year, there were nine. We'll speak of just in terms of the high school. In 21-22 period one, there were seven incidents. This year, there were four. So each school and each grade is trending downward. And I'll just give you the best of the best. In our elementary schools, in 23, 24, there were eight. This year, there were two. So we're trending in the right direction. I really wish you guys could see these graphics. You did a great job. So vandalism over the last five years from 21, 22 until 25, 26. And again, remember that these are only. reported if we have someone who can be responsible

011for these incidents. So at the high school last year, period one, there was one incident that was reportable. This year, there was zero for period one. A significant trend. At the middle school last year, there was zero for this period. This year, there's one. So we're back to the substance area, and we'll start from 21-22. And we'll go to this year. So in 21-22, there were 17 reportable incidents district wide. This year, there were 11 district wide. And remember, seven of those was one incident. So again, in terms of actual physical incidents, we're trending down and we're doing really well. As far as weapons. We'll start from 22-23. The high school had one weapon reported in 22-23. This year, period one, zero. I'm going to go overall in green. So overall, in 23-24, overall, there

012were three incidents of weapons that were recovered or reportable. This year, there are zero. Again, trending in the right direction. When we're speaking about other incidents that led to removal, these are incidents that are not into a specific category within the SSDS reports, but are infractions to the Code of Conduct. So we call that other incidents. That could be for anything that's an infraction. And at this point, I'm going to try to see if I can pull up the totals. Last year at this time, 24 and 25. We were at the high school, we were at three. This year, we are one. Last year, 24, 25 at the middle schools, we were at two. This year at the middle schools, we are at zero. And we can go to the elementary schools, 23, 24, there

013were two. This year, there's one. So again, we are trending in the right direction. We're going to go to confirmed Hibs or H-I-Bs. Over the last five years. So we'll start from 21, 22, and we'll go with the total. So in 21, 22, there were 17 confirmed. Hibs this year for the total district period. One reporting. There's only four. So again, the stuff we're doing is working. Do I need to go into this? No. So let's talk about the alleged HIVs or alleged Hibs. I'm just going to go from 23 and 24. And the reason I'm going to do that is that seems to be a year where there was a spike in reporting 23 and 24. I wasn't here, so I don't know what that spike is, but I can show you the significance

014from 23 to 24 until now. So I thought that was interesting. So we'll go, we'll start with the high school in 23, 24, there were 15. alleged this year in reporting period one, there are three. At the middle school, there were in 23, 24, there were 21. This year, it looks like we're at 14. Elementary school in 23, 24, which is really high, there were 61 alleged. And then this year, which number is this again? It's at 14. So I'll repeat that. And these are alleged but unconfirmed. In 23-24, there were 61, period one, and now there are 14. And then overall... Just a reminder for the board and those new people is we were not doing preliminary determination. So if, you know, someone had an eraser thrown at them and a parent was concerned

015about bullying, that case would have been investigated. The principals now determine those as to not warrant an investigation. So we'll go with the district total from 23-24, reporting period one, close to 100. Is that right? So they were close to 100 overall for the district in 23 and 24. This year, reporting period one, we're down to 35. The state also requires us to report the professional training and student programming. And I'll read off the professional learning that we've done so far and that we've accomplished. We've done HIV staff training, restorative justice training, restorative justice tier two, SSDS training for administrators, actually showing them what should be reported in the SSDS numbers. Suicide prevention. suicide protocols, how to address that, suicide ideation, mental health, and team response, school climate, team training, supporting student behavior, social-emotional learning

016in the classroom, which we've actually worked on this week. We've explored some curriculums for social-emotional learning this week. Some of those include Wayfinder, the New Jersey Bar Anti-Bullying Curriculum. health and PE, and there's a litany of things there, and then media studies, including digital citizenship, which... We know it's a really hot topic these days. Parent school and community collaborations. We couldn't list a whole bunch of stuff, but we did list what we thought was the most significant, our safety and security town hall, something we were really proud of. The Stop It Online and NJ Stop It Anonymous reporting system. I think we may have put that on another slide, but what we're doing in September is we're actually going to put those. applications onto student devices. So when they open up their computer, they will

017actually be able to report something anonymously from their desk. We're not sure, but Kerry and I are still talking about we're going to start with freshmen or sophomore. One way that it will be available to the students. We've also worked on our HIB letters. And then we talked about areas to support in the future. And we're talking about substance abuse at the high school level with the 10 reports. We addressed that decrease, talking about the decrease in violence in period one, which was significant. Areas of possible success, overall decrease in confirmed HIVs, which we just showed you, and a decrease in incidents with weapons, which was down to zero this year. We're not going to brag, but we're very proud. Thanks. Just some areas for success. I think it's really important when we're doing SSDS

018to acknowledge where we need support and work over the year to really hone in on those certain areas. And so this year, just implementing a safe stop it was really important because it's another opportunity for our families to communicate when their students need help. the restorative justice professional learning. We have been a restorative, part of restorative justice for many years. But when Dr. Gilbert came in, we realized that we needed to really strengthen that. the core belief and really implement, re-implement it and really start talking about what does that look like in the classroom to build communities. We've done a lot of work around that and this year some of our teachers are stepping into what does it mean to have that next level conversation when two students may be struggling with each other or

019You know, you have to talk about something. So really, it's that first level of community building that's been so important. And now we're continuing to build on that. We're really excited that our sixth or eighth grade is continuing to use Wayfinder. And we are continuing into our... We've continued into our second year of Collaborative Proactive Solutions, which is an evidence-based trauma-informed model of care when students are struggling with difficult concerning behaviors. And our administrative teams and INRS and JTSS teams are getting coaching for that. So that's been really wonderful. So continued planning, as Mr. Morgan was saying, we are over time going to roll over, roll. out, stop it on district devices. We are doing, which we'll talk about in the next presentation, a marked push for digital literacy across the schools. Expansion of our

020restorative justice professional learning will now go to the high school next year. And we're looking at social emotional learning supportive resources at the elementary level. And just a little bit. on what we're doing for Freshman Academy specifically is that year two focus is going to be around social emotional learning and dialogue because those things will continue to help show a decrease in incidents over time, right? If kids learn to talk to each other respectfully, if children are learning those. positive decision-making, interpersonal relationships, and also self-regulation, that does decrease what we're seeing behavior-wise. So those are some focus areas. Okay. Next slide. Fun stuff. Any questions? So we're at the question part. We are concluding that part of the presentation and looking forward to hearing from you guys. All right. Are there any questions from board

021members? Board Member Higgins. First of all, thank you for putting that together. That's my first time seeing an SSDS. So my questions are kind of more just learning how this gets reported, that period one, period two. So the fact that we've been down over five years was really exciting to see that in general, there's this really long trajectory of reducing all of these things. So that was a very helpful slide. So I guess when thinking about period two, because period one is September to December, we're going to next get January to June. Are we is the goal to look at the impact of like the professional learning and the student programming and how that sort of being what the impact is of period two? Does that make sense? Like all the programming that you're putting

022in place? Is that part of like the tracking? So it should have an effect on period one for next year. Great. Okay. Makes sense. Other questions? Well, I remember Callahan. Great. Thank you both. So. I think that was really helpful. I also really appreciated the context you provided at the outset of the presentation, that these data reflect kind of a relatively narrow set of incidents because they're defined by the state. I think that's really helpful, especially given some of the concerns that we've heard from students and families throughout the year about school culture and climate. I think it's important. contextualize that ahead of kind of presenting the data. So I appreciate that that was done. But I wonder if we could maybe spend just a touch more time helping the public understand what is and

023what is not kind of captured in this criteria. Specifically, like, are there climate concerns or behavioral incidences or other issues that... might be addressed or kind of on people's radars that wouldn't necessarily be reflected in this report. I think you gave an example of vandalism that resonated, right? Because we often hear about that. But then to look at this data, I think there might feel like a little bit of a disconnect. So I just think if you could kind of help fill in that gray area a little bit more so the community can understand a little bit why this might feel slightly different than maybe what the perception is. I also wonder, I wonder. They can go to slide three. Yeah. I just want to show the, yes, all the things that are included and

024aren't. I think it would be helpful. So this is the slide that has the explanation of SSTS terms, and it'll show you what's included, even by category. I just mentioned. I think it's also important to to note that not every bullying incident is is reported to us. So things like that, if something isn't reported and that does happen. Right. For various reasons, for various different students. Right. So if something is unreported and we don't investigate it, then it wouldn't be on this list. You know, one of the things we've done is gone to focus groups with families and students this year. And what we've heard is some of these are not being reported because a student does not feel like they would be supported or for whatever reason, right? One of the reasons why STOP

025is going to be on everyone's computer, right? So there's another avenue to report something like that. And also bridging the gap and really honing in on some of our curriculum so that students know where to go to get help. And we're doing that in various forms because... I think that too, sometimes, you know, that's where that comes from. Thank you. So if you take a look at the screen or your screens, you can see the explanation of terms. And under the first category, you see violence. So violence, most people think it might be, you know. obvious, but it isn't always obvious. Sometimes a push can be violence. Certain kinds of threat can be considered violence. If you move up to... weapons, who is the person determining what is really a weapon, right? So a hammer

026is used in a certain context can be a weapon. A shoe could be a weapon in a certain context. So it depends on how that item is used. As far as substances, it could be tobacco. That's a substance. It could be beer. So substances are kind of broad. If you move over to the vandalism, theft and trespass again. We don't report it if, well, the state doesn't require us to report it if there is no person responsible for that. And again, if there's no responsible person, it may not be related to our schools. So they don't really want that information. Was that thorough enough? Okay. So if I can actually follow up on that. This presentation is interesting because, of course, you are required by law to make reports to us under the statutes that

027require both of these programs. Right. And so we've talked every time we have an HIV conversation, we talk about not every bad thing that happens in school falls under the statutory definition of an HIV. So it may be a something else. It just can't be defined as an HIV. And similar with SSTS. you know, we have very few instances of vandalism reported here because you have to sort of catch the student in the act of vandalizing and much more commonly we're seeing it after the fact and there's no proof of who did it, right? So I guess the question is, this is helpful data and it's required by the state data. Is the district keeping track or otherwise trying to focus on the larger instances of the things with the terms we commonly use them,

028right? Vandalism more broadly than when you have a specific person, right? Do we track that and act on it separate from this data? Yes, we keep the data 100%. You can check with our incident reports, central office incident reports, but that's always part of what's submitted. So, yes, we do keep track of the data, although it's not reported to the state. We know that it's happening. Great. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Okay. Warrior Callahan. I think the multi-year trend data was interesting. Again, just to pivot back, you know, we've talked a lot this year about HIB process. I think you mentioned Dr. Weibel, the principal determination piece. Could you provide some additional context around the implementation of principal determination and how it relates? potentially to the data that we looked at in that five-year

029trend. And then specifically, like what kind of safeguards are in place to ensure that concerns are appropriately reviewed and referred for an investigation when warranted. And then if there's any operational benefits, like, you know, improved staff, like increased staff capacity since that process was implemented, I think it would be helpful to kind of understand because there is like a very kind of distinct kind of difference in the data year to year when you see that come into play. Sure. So I think it was in 2320. So we have had principal determination since about probably 2012. So what that means is a principal looks at an incident, a parent calls, a teacher calls and says there was an incident. I think it might be bullying. And a principal before 2022 could say, that's not bullying. I'll

030address it in some other way. Code of conduct, student conflict, something like that. And in 2022, the law shifted to provide some more accountability to that piece, but we eliminated altogether in 23-24. What we did see was a stark increase in alleged offenses and not a sharp increase in confirmed. What we saw was that there was a lot of retaliatory So if someone put an HIV on someone, then someone else would do it back kind of thing. And we also saw some about literally throwing an eraser at someone because a kid was being, you know, goofy, making a bad decision. And we would do a 10 day investigation on an eraser being thrown. It was it was taxing, which is fine. if it had gotten good results, but it did not. So the board then,

031we took some data on it and we undid that. In 2022, the state changed the HIV law, which now requires the central office, the superintendent, which Dr. Gilbert does, to review each preliminary determination and evaluate if that principle, if we're in line with that decision. And so it's not just one person making that decision, but we're also saying, OK, we agree that that's not bullying. It's something. whatever it is, right? And we're going to talk about that in the next presentation of, it might not be bullying, but it is something. And we address it that way. And so we do approve or deny them. And we do send a number back. We're like, you know what? And if we feel we maybe should, then we do, right? That's kind of where we're at. We do

032look at a three-pronged test to see if it, you know, if an... If an incident hits a possible motivation, like there might be some specific characteristic for the student, if we believe there might be substantial disruption, or if the student was insulted, we kind of, if they hit two out of three of those, we move forward. So that's how our program moves, helps us make the determination, and our online program helps us with that, and it gives us a confidence score. on whether we should investigate or not. So that's been really helpful too. So it's a more accurate way to look at it than just a gut feeling, which we don't want. You're welcome. I wanted to elaborate on my response to you, Mr. Meyer. Some of the graffiti is, if it's biased graffiti, it

033isn't reported to the state in the SSDS numbers, but it is sometimes reported to police if it's biased, right? And still doesn't go into the SSDS data bank, but it is reported to the police if it's considered biased. So just a clarity. Thank you for that clarification. Any other questions on this presentation? No. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. You know, you can hang on. I got kicked out. No, stay. Stay with me. Okay. So we're ready for the next one. And we're on to part two. We're on to part two. Very good. Okay. So. So just as a reminder, and for new board members, I always find this really confusing to explain. So every year, we end the school year, and what we do is we kind of reevaluate, how did

034we do on bullying intervention? And in September of this year, we did a self-assessment. How did we do? Okay, and that self-assessment has a rubric that's many, many pages long that the state puts out, and each climate team for each school has to review that. I then show you that presentation before October 30th. It has to be into the state. The state then takes it, reviews it, and then sends us back the grades. The grades are the exact self-assessment numbers that we have provided them. So a lot of this is, I did add a few slides, but it is literally a copy and paste from what we showed in October. What we've done over the past... three years is we've included four hiv goals every year so that we can identify where we need some

035more support and how we work through them just because showing you something beginning or after doesn't show you how we're trying to help our students so that's what you'll see what you'll see here next slide and one more So the self-assessment, again, which is done in September, so you're going to see me back up here in September, reviews these areas. And in each area, there are some subgroups. So there are a total of 26 indicators that we can grade ourselves on, and you'll see a little bit more about that in a minute. Next slide. And this is just a timeline, because I find that this process is a little challenging to explain. So it shows that the September. October through May, you know, the whole process. Okay, next slide. I normally don't provide data, but

036we liked Paul's slides, so I thought I would copy it. So just to look at the amount of students in each school, and then there's a tiny... There's a tiny gray number that shows how many incidents we investigated last year and a tinier blue number for how many HIVs were founded. Now, I do want to remind everyone that what we just said in the last presentation is this is not every HIV that happens in this district, right? It is the reported HIVs that we are able to investigate. The other slide that we did show with the families at our parent seminar was just the motivating factors. And so many of our HIVs that we investigate are around no identifiable nature, which would mean they're not HIVs. Our next biggest is appearance. And you'll see continuing,

037they don't equal the number of HIVs we investigated because sometimes someone's being mean about appearance and gender. So there's more numbers than there are HIVs. But just to show motivating factors. Next slide. So just a reminder for the legal definition, a founded bullying incident has to hit five categories. Something has to have happened, right? Verbal, written, social media, something. It has to be motivated by a real or perceived characteristic. It can occur on or off school grounds, which means anywhere. It has to substantially interrupt or disrupt a student's education, which has a... you know, a specific threshold. And then it either has to be insulting, create a hostile environment, or cause physical or emotional harm. So that is the standard that all of our anti-bullying specialists have to measure each incident on. So they gather

038their information and they identify if they hit all five categories. And I think that's sometimes where there's a disconnect and what we're really trying to explain. You know, because obviously when families come to us with HIVs or bullying, they're very concerned, as they should be, right? And so, next slide. We want to show them just because something is not... A founded HIV does not mean it doesn't get taken care of. Right. And that's really important. So just for you all, an incident might fall under code of conduct, which means it goes against our code of conduct and a principal or administrator would address it in that way. It could be a founded HIV and they would address it in that way. Or it might be a student code of conduct. Sorry, a student conflict. A

039student might be mean to another student. It doesn't rise to code of conduct, but it's a mean moment, and then we address that as a conflict. Next slide. And just as information, what do these three mean? The goal for the intervention is always to stop whatever is happening. It is to support the victim or the student. It's to identify any skill gap that a student might have and teach the student to do better or make different choices, right? And so to support both sides, right? And so I show this because it's important to identify that we do have a number of bullying incidences that aren't actually bullying, but that doesn't mean we don't take them seriously and we want everyone to know that. So next slide. And these are just some examples of how we

040support the victim, how we support the offender, and how we try and rebuild the relationship if both parties agree. And that would be in all three instances. And that does not always happen, right? Not all parties want to reconnect, and that's okay. But no matter what, the kids will get what they need. Next slide. So under and one more sorry so to understand the self-assessment scores we used a zero to three scoring process the rubrics are very specific so our team either gives one of the indicators a zero a one a two or three over the last several years we have worked really hard on identifying the steps we need to give a three because it's not just about the good grade right although I do love it you know a good grade it's more

041about what is behind that three what program do I need to support my kiddos with what training do I need to provide for my teachers so it's really about what is something that we're missing that we can really move forward with and help our students next slide So this is a list of our schools and scores for last year. And it says self-assessment. It is also the grade because it's both, right? Same thing. And next slide, my favorite slide. So this shows really how we've gone over the years. So we have identified a number of areas where we could improve over the last five years. The two in green, dark green, didn't change, but... I don't know. They still got the top score, so I felt that they should also have a color. But really,

042all of the schools did a beautiful job, and we're very proud of them for all the work that they're doing. And we still have more work to do, right? So it's not over. Next slide. And not shown, but the board has it. Individual schools are all broken down. You are welcome to see that. That should have been in your packet. And also, these are all posted online. They were posted online at the end of May for all families to see on our bullying website. And one more. And if you can just hit it down because it just keep clicking. Keep one more, two more and one more. Perfect. So we identified four goals in the beginning of the year of what we could improve on for HIV. We wanted to add more lessons around digital

043citizenship. We wanted to expand a training for our staff around social emotional learning and what to do when students enter into negative interactions with each other. We wanted to expand opportunities for families around digital citizenship, and we wanted to build additional supports for students who have initiated negative interactions with peers. So if you go to the next slide, so I will tell you, normally these are all green. And just keep clicking. There should be four. So goal one, we found, was a really large process, and we wanted the summer to really dig our teeth in and have teachers and social workers do curriculum writing. We didn't feel like the time that we had during our professional learning time was enough to really get all the digital citizenship lessons that we wanted. So this goal is

044going to continue. You'll see it again next year. And so that's why this is in process. Next slide. Goal two, we did expand training for our teachers and staff around social-emotional learning. We created SEL resource support manual. We provided professional learning around NJTSS tiered interventions. Our teachers got a new part of the manual was developed for them specifically this year. tiered support for challenging behavior. We talked about collaborative proactive solutions in our last presentation. And we included a one district, one response. We've started to train all of our staff, including lunch monitors, around that process. And we've also had restorative justice and equity training across the district, which helps this as well. Next slide. So this was completed. And one of them was ongoing. So this is expanding opportunities for families around digital citizenship. This

045will not be done even though we completed what we were looking to do, minus one. So we did have parent seminars around bullying and have short videos around it and a social media campaign. Hopefully some of you liked our Instagram posts on digital citizenship. But we do want to create communication for every digital citizenship. lesson that children have so that that goes out to the families. Right now we do have we do have letters for each hib lesson and that goes to families with table talk conversations so we're proud of that. And then finally we have build additional supports for students who have bullied. This is an ongoing process but we do keep putting it on here because sorry next slide. We think it's important to really make sure that our students who make poor

046choices around bullying have a lot of supports. So we continue to build our resources very specifically. If a student is bullying someone around race or around someone's hair or anti-Semitism or... gender, LGBTQ, we want specific resources that are going to target that specific behavior and thought process to disrupt that. So we've been continuing, the anti-bullying specialists have been continuing to compile resources for that. That's it. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you so much for that. Questions? Board Member Brown. But yeah, thank you. I appreciate the data that you added. As you know, I love data. I would just suggest to the points made earlier by board member Callahan and President Meyer, it would be helpful, I think, when you're presenting data to not only show total number of incidences and total number of founded. But

047if there's a way to also provide total number of code of conduct violations so that parents know, to your point, that just because something doesn't meet the HIB criteria, which is extremely difficult to meet, that doesn't mean that nothing is done. And I think kind of showing those numbers might help with that messaging too. Thank you. Board Member Higgins. Thank you so much. And also thank you for the trainings that you gave us new board members. I think it was last month. It was very, very, very helpful. I had a question about when I was looking at the different schools, it seems like element seven investigation procedure stood out as being like the 11 out of 12 for a couple of the schools. And I was just curious, like, what is, if you could give

048me a little bit about the investigation procedure, what do they feel like they will need to improve upon? So if they have one HIV that was more than 10 days, they don't get to give themselves full points. And a lot of times if students are absent on your last day of investigating, that does happen. But we do make sure that they, you know, dock themselves that point because it's really important for us to keep a timely timeline. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. Board of Callahan. Thank you. To piggyback on Board Member Higgins, I think it might be helpful for the board. I know we just had a training, which was really helpful for us. In terms of how this scoring happens, it might be helpful to review what are the criteria? How do you assign

049those to these? Just so we have a little bit more context as we're kind of viewing the data. in a presentation like this, just to know exactly what you just said. This is what would kind of ding a school if they exceeded the timeline, things like that, I think might be helpful for us in just understanding. That'd be great. And then I had a follow up on the areas of focus for next year. So in looking at the report, it seems like the most frequently identified motivating characteristics were appearance, race and ethnicity, and gender identity and expression. So could you share how the strategies that you're proposing, I think it was addressing inappropriate cell phone activity with elementary school, specifically fourth and fifth grade, strengthening our social emotional learning, building relationships, social awareness skills, kind

050of providing more effective responses to negative interactions. How are those, how are you working to tailor those to address those specific areas? in terms of the motivating factors? So we didn't in that particular area. We recognized middle of 24, 25 that this was going on. And so specifically our middle school where we were seeing. kind of where those areas were hitting, we created four lessons specifically around racism, LGBTQ, anti-Arab and Islamophobia, as well as anti-Semitism. We created lessons specifically around those areas because we were identifying some upticks in those. So we did that in the middle of the year to make sure that we were hitting that. And so that's a... that's a process that'll continue. So we didn't have a goal in it because we were very proactive but reactive immediately. Sure. That makes

051sense. I guess to follow up to that, I think if we're seeing some of these pieces kind of prop up as kids, it sounds like fourth and fifth grade seems to be kind of a point at which we're seeing a little bit of it come up and then into the middle schools. And you guys were, like you said, responsive to this. Yeah. I'm curious if there's... there's any thought around how do we back this up so that kids are entering middle school, having contacted some of this, kind of trying to, like you, to your point, kind of shift a little bit from being responsive to being proactive by backing up some of that that was provided this year in that way. Yeah. So the summer curriculum writing, we mostly do digital citizenship, but we are

052going to look at, so this isn't this year's data, but we'll have this year's data by the summer. And so we'll be identifying if there's any additional data points that need additional lessons and we'll put that in. Most of the lessons we're creating, because we feel fairly confident in our New Jersey Bar Foundation for K-3, it's really fourth, fifth and up, which is kind of developmentally when it starts to happen. And so that's where we'll see some of those additional lessons. And we also are looking to add more tier one supports and lessons across the board at the elementary level for SEL. And we think that that'll also help. Great. And then just one last follow-up. Sure. I'm curious, you know, I think we talk about this, you know, like this is part of our

053school community, but certainly us as caregivers have a piece to play in this. So curious if there's any thought behind how we're inviting families into some coaching, training, development around, like, how do we have some of these proactive conversations with our... kids at home around, particularly as we're looking at it, like these kind of motivating factors, supporting families and having some of those difficult conversations and how to be an upstander and addressing some of these issues at home too. Yep. So one of the things we did this year, which we're really proud of, is we created an HIV toolkit for families. It has been advertised mildly, but we're going to ramp it up next year. But it does have conversation starters and how to talk to your children about bullying. And we also look each

054year to parent seminars. This is the first year we've done two, right? But each year we identify what are some things that our parents need to know. And a lot of our parents don't necessarily know the ins and outs. So I always give that first, what is an HIV, right? That'll happen every year. But then for the second one, what will that look like? And two years ago, we did around how to interact with your children, how do you talk about this, things like that. So that's something that we can always bring back. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Board Member Stephan. Could I ask you, and maybe if we could put up the slide seven that has the motivating factors. I wanted to ask, you've raised anti-Semitism a couple times. I'd kind of

055assume that would be under religion. But I don't see that as a category here. So is it under a different category or? No. Can you clear that up? Well, it would be under religion. It can also be under ethnicity. So these aren't all the categories. Right. So you can be found. It could be a founded bullying if it's a perception of. So if I look. like a particular religion, sexual orientation, something like that. That can be part of an HIV. It can be ethnicity. It can be background or immigrant status. So all kinds of categories. These are just examples. But there's a long list. And there's two sets of lists. There's protected classes, so protected under federal or state law, but also Like someone's weight is not a protected class, but that would be under

056a motivating factor. Someone's wearing glasses wouldn't necessarily be. Someone's height, something like that. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Okay. Thanks very much for your time tonight. Thank you. All right. We've got a couple next orders of business. First, I want to note for the record that we have been joined by our two student representatives and we have news hot off the press that we've been joined as well by our elected 26-27 school year representatives. So big congrats, Scarlett and Pat. Congratulations! I didn't know I got to break that news. That's very exciting. Listen, this is what I've been told. I'm not guaranteeing anything, but congrats. Okay, we are going to move in just a moment to public speaks. And I want to just highlight a couple of things. Because we have more than

05720 people signed up for public speaks, the provision in our policy is triggered that changes the public speaks time from three minutes down to two minutes. So please be advised. We're going to have two minute clock for each person speaking. Right before we get to that, though, I know there are a number of speaks that are on a few different topics. We received emails on those topics as well. And we always want to make sure that we're all working with the same information. So I know Superintendent Bing wanted to share just a few comments before we get started. So I'll turn the mic over to you. Thank you, Board President Meyer. Thank you, Dr. Wabel. Thank you, Mr. Morgan. Appreciate the presentation. I do want to thank everyone who turned out for our end of

058the year budget recap on Tuesday? Tuesday? June 9th. We had about 111 folks turn out. We know this time of year is very busy, so the fact that you took time to attend the meeting is truly appreciated. We also want to thank you for all of your thoughts. Your concerns your thank yous your advocacy and also your best wishes regarding our 2627 budget as well as our 2728 budget which we will start developing probably for the next month or so as we noted at every board meeting over the Last few months and through the many memos phone calls and postings on our website We're at the point of this year where we couldn't rely on our savings anymore in regards to balancing our budget. We also could not rely on federal or state funding in

059regards to the pandemic funding that has dried up since 2019. We are currently sitting at about $4.6 million in our capital reserve, about $3.7 million in our fund balance. Even if we attempted to utilize our savings, we would not have enough to close the budget, the gap in the budget for the 26 and 27 budget that was just approved by the state and the county. So we're at a point right now where we have to have some very difficult conversations moving forward as we start developing the 27 and 28 budget. These conversations. Have been avoided for the last 15 years As noted the district has gone into its savings to avoid such conversations We're at the point right now where we we can't avoid them anymore So as you've read in newspapers if they still

060have newspapers online You have seen the devastation happening not only across the state, but in particular around our neighbors including the reduction of athletics, reduction of staffing, reduction of transportation, the closing of schools. And those are our closest of neighbors. We have wished them the best and also have provided support for them as well over the last few months as those districts had to go through a very, very difficult time. Budget cycle goal since we've started, which has been less than two years, was to protect the classroom. That's what we've been trying to do for the last two years. I think we've been pretty transparent around that. we've been utilizing really in lying relying heavy on the strategy of If a position is vacant due to retirement due to non renewal due to resignation We

061will try to fill that position through transfer within the district if we cannot fill that position within transfer within the district Then we need to go out and post That is a new strategy for this district for the last 15 odd years if there is a vacancy the district simply posted they did not have a PCR a position control roster Last year we had developed we developed the PCR we now position control roster and we're utilizing that as we make some of these decisions We're also utilizing data that we're seeing from our schools. An example of that would be probably at our high school. For the last two years, we've had a variety of teachers that have not had full schedules. We have been utilizing them as pseudo-power professionals, meaning they had maybe three courses

062to teach, and the other two courses we've been putting them in with another full-time adult, and not necessarily in their content area. We can no longer do that. We can't do that as a public school. We wouldn't be able to do that as a small business. We wouldn't be able to do that as Google. We cannot have personnel who do not have full schedules or full loads. We are past the point of being able, as I noted, to use pandemic funding or to go into our savings to run a class of 12 students. We can no longer do that. This year we had 22. Staff reductions use utilizing the strategy that I just mentioned We were able to get that down to eight reductions in staff Moving forward to the 2026 20 I'm sorry 2027

06328 budget Keith if you could pull that up. Oh you do have there So one of our main goals moving forward is to address our structural funding gaps So if you look at a historical audit of our budgets this district is averaging about Anywhere from a five to eight million dollar gap every single year for the last five years That ties closely with the fact that the state initiated a new funding formula five years ago they have Started to fully fund that formula as of two years ago however We are not receiving what we should be receiving from that formula. For my two years here, we are at about close to $3 million of funding that we were supposed to receive, if you calculate the formula properly, that we did not receive. We have gone

064down to Trenton. We continue to meet with our assembly people, our senators, our representatives around advocating to change the funding formula. It is our understanding at this point, our new governor, Cheryl, has undertaken that task and is working on that funding formula. For those of you who attend board meetings, Jeffrey has spoken many times about what's broken in the formula and how it's impacting South Orange Maplewood School District. So we will continue to advocate. You will find on our website. within the next couple weeks numbers to call avenues to send emails to as we start moving forward and Formulating our 2728 budget and our 28 and 29 budget part of our work when we first came into the district Was a fiscal audit And we've publicly stated this many of times when we came into

065the district our fiscal software was not being utilized We were still back in the 20th century of using carbon copy papers, POs written on papers, and everything was siloed in relatively two people. We've changed that over the last 18 months. We've instituted a new electronic system. We've put some checks and balances in place so we don't have POs out there that we have no idea that are out there. And when we're looking at our budget lines and it says $10 million, that $10 million is actually $2 million because we have POs out there that we didn't know about. So we have now put systems and balances in place where that will not happen moving forward. And for those of you who have followed districts such as Montclair, you will notice that was one of their

066biggest issues, a lack of checks and balances in their fiscal system. If you take a look at our slide, these are the slide decks that we shared with our folks on Tuesday. Again, big thanks to everybody for coming out. We have made projections for the next few years. You will see currently our 2027-28. Budget, we are starting with an $8.8 million gap. I want to repeat that. We are starting with an $8.8 million gap. I am looking at everybody in this auditorium. We have gone line by line and reduced. We have looked at everything that's non-personnel. We are past that point. There is no longer meat on that bone as of this current budget. Ergo, the eight reductions in force. For 27-28, we are anticipating an even worse year. If the state funding formula doesn't

067change, if the federal funding doesn't change, we are anticipating an even larger impact, similar to what you are seeing in districts around us. So I want to emphasize that we are already starting with an $8.8 million gap. That is not anticipating a boiler breaking down in one of our buildings during the upcoming school year. That is not anticipating a possible rise in health care costs in energy costs For us as we work through our numbers We utilize a pretty strict formula for every million you're looking at about 12 to 13 staff members if you're looking at 28 29 We're anticipating a 13 million dollar gap if we push out to 29 30. We are anticipating a 17 million dollar gap for our budget This is taking into consideration that we have a 2% cap. We've

068been advocating that the state change that. This is taking into consideration the increase, the normal increase in energy costs, in personnel costs, transportation costs, and this is taking into consideration utilizing the current state funding formula. Go ahead, Kate. Did it move? Oh, yes. Oh, it didn't move on my screen. That was a delay. I'm using the live. Oh, there you go. I'm using the live footage. Bit of a delay. So I want to really closely take a look at what we utilize for the 26-27 in order to balance that budget. Oh, can you go back? Three second delay. So in order to balance our budget for the 26-27 budget, that is the upcoming year, we had about $8 to $9 million budget gap, if I am correct. You'll look on the right side column. You'll

069see what we put in place to reduce. That budget gap this is posted online by the way along with all the memos that we've sent out that have detailed these reductions We had a one-time health care health care waiver gap of five million. I want to stress one time That waiver will not be available as we're developing the 2728 budget We corrected a pre-k projection numbers for our special education students saving us around half a million dollars So that should carry over to our 2728 budget We eliminated elementary security at a cost of $300,000. We went back to pre-pandemic, the way our buildings were prior. Our elementary schools never had security guards. They were funded through pandemic funding. Currently, all of our elementary schools are getting upgraded video cameras, and they all now have safety

070vestibules due to the capital project that was just completed. We tiered buses. We also put new school start and stop times and we also eliminated pre-k courtesy busing at a savings of around two million dollars We transitioned out of the state health plan for those of you who have been keeping Tabs of what's going on on our side of the coin here in the education field You will know that the state state health plan that many districts have been in for four years including South Orange Maplewood School District the rates went up around 31% And they are going up double digits mid year next year again. The prediction is around 12 to 13 percent The district was able to get out of the state health plan and self-insure. We still received a hit of health

071insurance costs, which was around 11 to 12 percent, but we did not have to take the hit of 31, 32 percent, which would have devastated the district. So I do want to thank our associations, our ASCA as well as our SOMEA for working collaboratively around getting us out of the state health system. Private contract rebids, as many of you know, 99% of our services are privatized, whether that's custodial, whether that's transportation, whether that's security, we are privatized. We wanted to be better stewards of our taxpayers' money, so we decided this year to really do a robust request for proposals and re-bid many of those private services to see if we can get lower bids that came in. We also utilized one of the best practice formulas for custodial using square footage instead of the old

072formula that the district had been using for about 20 years. Those bids are currently coming in. We are now reviewing those bids. Budget freeze. So we froze the 25-26 budget in November. That is not a best practice. That is not something we can continue to do. We cannot continue to freeze our budget in October, November every single year. It makes absolutely no sense. That is something we did in 25-26. Shared staffing model we are moving to sharing staff Whether that's between our buildings. We've also been having discussions with districts such as West Orange Livingston and many other districts in our in our immediate area around sharing staff because we are all in the same place currently fiscally As noted previously we've been using the strategy of not filling vacancies due to retirement resignation Or non

073renewal We had eight RIFs, saving the district around $2.5 million. And the line-by-line that I previously discussed brought in about $6 million worth of savings. Go ahead, Keith. You can go ahead, Keith. We'll go past. This isn't a memo we sent out. We did want to talk about some of the things that we're putting in place next year. We got some good feedback from those things. And new initiatives at our meeting they are online as well. Go ahead Keith. You can go move through those Go ahead. Keep even go back one Keith to middle school. You don't mind Thank you, sir. So some changes now and what to expect at the middle school level moving forward to next year. Obviously, the budget has affected all levels of our schools. So if I am a middle

074school student going into middle school, I can expect everything to look exactly the same. The only difference being I will not be provided a choice in regards to choosing related arts. Students will be placed in related arts and through their three years of middle school will hit and be exposed to every related art that that school supplies. So we're moving to more of a philosophy that districts like Livingston, Milburn, and around us have in regards to exposing kids to different related arts at our middle school level. Go, Ike. At the high school level, which really had the most reductions in force, obviously they are our largest school. They have our most employees. You can expect a revamped schedule, a schedule that resembles Livingston High School, resembles Milburn, resembles West Orange. For us, it's been a...

075About a three and a half year journey. This work was started by a committee before my time. It was brought up again this year at the start in September in regards to its versatile eighth period option. Also, the fact that we could alleviate some of the workload on our students moving forward. That was a big issue amongst especially our AP and honors students when we surveyed them was the heavy workload. This new schedule will alleviate that. Students will not have, for example, five AP classrooms and five APs in one day. We're using a drop schedule. So we're hoping that it will alleviate some of the stress that our students expressed to us in surveys. It also will extend some of our class periods as well. We also, as noted, we changed our school start and

076stop times. Part of that work was prioritizing our adolescents' mental health. We've had a couple virtual. town halls this year in regards to our mental health issues we've been having. In South Orange Maplewood School District, we've brought in our municipality as well. We had a nice panel of speakers a few months ago. We will continue our work around mental health. We will be instituting universal screenings starting next year, opt-in screenings. They will not be mandatory, but parents will have the option of universal screenings. However, I... I do want to call out the fact that our screenings this year have skyrocketed into mental health. Our out-of-district placements for long-term care for mental health have skyrocketed. The amount of our students that are going out permanently for out-of-district for more than eight months have more than quadrupled.

077Our amount of self-harm issues have skyrocketed. As you all know, this has been a national issue. I can tell you our numbers by looking at them are quite more than the national average and quite more than the districts around us. So we have made mental health a priority moving forward. We reduced nothing from our mental health lines. No social workers, no programming. We want to support our students moving forward. Mental health. Our facilities, which I'll touch on in a second, and student achievement will be our three main objectives as we move forward into 26, 27, 27, 28. Those will be our three focuses. You will see those reflected in our strategic plan, which should be posted sometime in September. We're excited about that. We also want to thank folks who showed up for those work

078sessions. In addition to the revamped schedule, you also note that we have instituted career pathways. at our high school. Such pathways as aviation and aerospace, auto technician, early education, music technology, health sciences. We also took our other courses such as our arts courses and we took those and sequenced those into career pathways. So starting next year, students who are in taking film have the opportunity to get an industrial cert, industry cert, by the end of their three-course sequence. So we've now arranged all of our courses to reflect 21st century skills and offer students the opportunity to do work-based learning, to get dual credit at the end of their sequence, to take industry-based certifications, or to get digital badging. This year we piloted some of these as many of you know we actually had the opportunity

079to pilot our auto technician program Fiscally we cannot afford a auto technician lab auto technician labs cost about three million dollars We were able to work with local dealership and also a national auto retail organization and have For students who are interested in the auto technician realm go over to the dealership every day after school for 20 weeks Receive training as an auto technician complete that training receive $2,000 worth of tools and now have been offered positions as auto techs when they graduate South Orange Maplewood School District That model will be replicating Moving forward, we're hoping to replicate that with HVAC, with electrician, with plumbers as well. As we move forward, we cannot afford to rebuild those labs that we did have some 10, 15 years ago. We do not have the funds for that.

080I did receive a good question today in regards to why don't we use Perkins funding. To fund those labs and those programs how Perkins fundings work in New Jersey for those you don't know Perkins funding That is what many districts use to fund their career in technical education programs such as Auto such as plumbing such as electric culinary in order to qualify for Perkins funding districts have to Run programs for three years straight on their own self-funded supply that to the state, the state looks at your student number, your student success, and then qualify you for Perkins funding. We are not able to do that. We do not have the funds to invest, as I just noted previously, to invest in auto labs into a culinary kitchen. We do not have those funds. So we

081have to look at alternative ways to bring that to our students who are interested in those things through more innovative methods. Good. Just a quick focus again We're expanding our Orton-Gillingham training K-2. We're having a really strong focus on early literacy. We've made a change to a new reading curriculum We've also made a change to a new math curriculum a new K-8 curriculum for those of you who have been in the district for quite some time you will know that our Math curriculum has been developed in-house for over 15 years by our own folks. Last year we transitioned to a research-based math series and are now moving that into our middle school. So we have a K-8 continuum of a research-based math series. You'll also see this year we ran the pilot of Freshman Academy,

082which I want to thank Dr. Wabel, is she still here? I don't think so, who really pushed that. And we'll get into the reasoning for the Freshman Academy in a little bit, but I did want to shout out Dr. Wabel and also share some of those successes in a little bit. We were also able to bring in a data warehouse a couple of years ago, Google AI training, and also this year as part of our summer curriculum writing, we'll be integrating civil discourse and digital literacy into our core subjects. Go ahead, Keith. Noted in regards to our math, we are reorganizing the way we supervise those subjects. We will have a dedicated person for K-12 math. We will have a dedicated person for K-12 science. For those of you who have seen our achievement scores

083via New Jersey performance reports, which are linked on our website, we have a lot of room for growth in both those areas. Go, Ike. Investment in arts and facilities, despite staffing adjustments, I want to reassure everybody this district will remain an arts district. We have cut no arts programs, none, for the 26 and 27 budget. If you've read any of my memos, you will see that I used the word yet. We are now in the classroom in regards to budget. So for the 26-27 budget, we did not have to cut any programming through the list of about 10. strategic moves that we made to close our budget gap. We did make staffing changes. We had eight reductions in fourth. At the high school level, I believe two were English, one were art. At the middle

084school level, I believe art, and we also had media. The rifts that we did do this year, we based on data, meeting course schedule. We had to make a few cuts this year in regards to staff who did not have full schedules as I noted previously. We cannot run this district anymore with staff that do not have full schedules. It's just not possible. Every elementary still maintains a full-time certified art teacher. That remains. Infrastructure, as noted, that will be part of our work moving forward. We are moving towards getting a state ESIP energy savings plan. For us, that will focus on LED lighting and solar panels. We have already done the heavy lifting in regards to HVAC work. We are finishing that capital project. All of our buildings have updated HVAC and energy efficient equipment

085right now. So our focus for our energy savings plan will be around LED lighting throughout the district, as well as solar panels. We'll also be identifying capital projects that need to be done over the next year. That will be done via bonding. We are probably looking, moving forward, at a $20 to $25 million bond. We have a $20 million bond dropping off the books. in 2028, a previous bond that was taken out. This new bond will take the place of that one, so our taxpayers should not see any difference in regards to impact. But we have to do something with our buildings. Part of the strategy over the last decade or so in regards to balancing this budget, aside from taking money from our savings, has been taking money from our capital reserves. I'm going

086to take monies that we need to maintain our buildings. We're at the point right now where we can't do that anymore. Not only because we don't have any money left in that fund, but because our buildings are falling apart. And our kids deserve better. Our staff deserve better. Our community deserves better. So over the next couple weeks, we're presenting a priority list of facility needs that we will be bonding for through the Board of School Estimates. That'll be shared as well on our website. We'll also be sending information home via emails as well. Go ahead, Keith. As noted, you'll see some of the staffing adjustments that we had to make, how staffing works in public schools. We use seniority, tenure, whatever you choose to call it, and seniority has bumping rights. Therefore, we have to

087follow the state tenure law, which often requires bumping of positions and often requires if you reduce and force those staff members that are not tenured are the first to be reduced. That is state statute. Go ahead, Keith. As we move forward, one of the safeguards we're putting in place, and we talked about checks and balances and making sure we have those, we will be having an academic dashboard online and also a fiscal dashboard, a live fiscal dashboard that will be in real time. We've been pushing transparency, moving through this whole process for the last 20 months. We'll continue to be transparent. A fiscal dashboard or academic. dashboard will support our transparency. Go ahead, Keith. I've noted this. I think I've said this since my first two months of looking at this budget when I came

088in in early 2024. We can no longer pass the buck on tough conversations. Past leadership transitions from superintendents to business administrators to board members have pushed these issues down the line to avoid public conflict. To avoid this gonna be very I cannot be more honest here. You've had 10 to 15 years of people trying to avoid this We can't avoid it anymore. We can't we have to have these conversations And we have to confront that collaboratively Right. So one of the main issues this district has struggled with and we've mentioned this multiple times is I believe we've had one board member that has had more than one term In the last 15 years. One. So take a strong look at these people up here. They'll be gone in three years. And we'll start over again.

089Putting this in the business. Could you imagine if you ran your business like that? If your board of directors switched over every three years. And had new priorities. That's what we've done for the last 15 to 20 years here. We've been a turnstile of administration. A turnstile. Mr. Sanchez is one of the first high school principals that have been tenured in this district for 20 years. That means that has been at that school for more than three years. You've gone through about eight or nine superintendents in about the last 11 years. We've gone through about seven BAs in the last nine years. In the last six years, you've gone through about five directors of transportation. I could go on, by the way. We have to get this house in order. If we're going to move

090forward in 26, 27, 27, 28, 28, 29, and serve these kids the way we should be serving them. And that means some stability. And that means putting checks and balances in place. That will be there forever. So when I'm long gone, whoever comes in, we've got a system in place. We know how this works. We believe we have that or we're getting there. As many of you know, we've been without the VA for quite some time. We've been very lucky to have one of our consultants step up and help out. He leaves July 1st. We've been interviewing BAs. We're down to another second or third round this week. We're hoping to make an offer soon. I want to thank Frank for all his work. Frank will also stay on and help with the transition as

091we move forward. We have broken down every silo in this district. I can promise you that. We have teams in central office now that are working really well together. We have admin that are working very well together at the building level. We are no longer doing this in pockets. You can't run a district in pockets. It has to be collaboratively. I believe you've done a nice job around communication. There's room for improvement there, but we'll continue our communication and transparency with our public as we move forward. Go ahead, Keith. Go ahead. You know, just a quick, I just want to give a quick picture of the work we all have in front of us. Because this is done by all of us. It's not just done by the people at Dias, who I want to

092emphasize, volunteer their time. And when I say time, it's a lot of time. You'll see our ELA, you'll see our math standardized test scores. We should be in the blue. We've got work ahead of us. We've started that work. We've been sharing that work online. As noted, that's getting new systems, new series in place. That's training for our teachers. That's training for our admins. We've been doing a lot of good work around it. We put in a multi-tiered system of support that the district's not had in over a decade. So we can intervene earlier in the general ed classroom so kids aren't thrown into our special ed services on a regular basis. We have solid intervention systems right now we put in place. And we're training our staff on. We're doing the work, I promise

093you. Good night, Keith. We are one of the most affluent districts in this state. We are not meeting the state graduation rate. I want to be very specific right now. I am not talking about the achievement gaps that we've had for decades in this district that we are also working on currently. This is not our African-American Latino rate, which is also below the state rate. This is every student. This is the entire high school. We are one of the most affluent districts in this state, and we could not meet the minimum high school graduation rates of the state. That is work we are currently doing. That is one of the reasons why we put the Freshman Academy in place. Go ahead, Keith. We are a district that is now on cap. That is a correction

094action plan. We are one of the few in our socioeconomic status that has one of those caps for chronic absenteeism. We should be at below 10%. Honestly, we should be at 5% if we compare ourselves to our peer districts around the area. We are at 11.2. We are working on that. We have done work on that. I can prove that. The high school was at 18.3, sorry, 18.4% chronic absenteeism last year, 23, 24. In 24, 25, when we came in, we were able to drop that to 13.2%. You will see that drop as we move into 26, 27, below the 11.2%. I promise you that through the work we're doing. But there's no way we should be a district of chronic absenteeism, nor should we have a state cap plan. Go ahead. We're at 0.5%

095dual enrollment. That means kids that are also accumulating college credits while they're in high school. That is part of our work in regards to our pathways. We're increasing the opportunity for students to take classes and also earn college credits as they move through our system. For us, as we move forward, our goal is that kids that choose the dual enrollment pathway, they graduate with nine credits, they graduate with 15. They graduate with 30. One, to make their family's life a lot easier. Two, to make their life a lot easier. I want kids graduating before four years in college. For graduating kids with that amount of credits, they can graduate after three years, after three and a half years. So that's one of the pathways we're also putting in place. At this moment, we're at about

0960.5%. We should be about 25%. That is some of the work we are doing. We are working with Seton Hall. We are working with Syracuse University to put in some of these sequences so kids are graduating with college credits. Go ahead, Keith. I keep mentioning the Freshman Academy, and I wish Carrie was still here. We put in a true Freshman Academy this year, and what I mean by true Freshman Academy is a dedicated team of teachers, a dedicated team of counselors, a dedicated team of social workers, a dedicated curriculum. for our kids. There's our data right now. This is comparing it to last year. So in comparing quarter one of our new freshman academy this year to quarter one last year, you'll see a reduction of 37% in regards to cuts and absences. That is

097how we are able to lower our chronic absenteeism numbers to 11.2. You'll see that even lowered in our 26-27. numbers. That's currently not on the DOE website. Total students chronically absent, reduction by 6% as compared to last year. Fights, reduction by 100% as compared to last year. We now have our freshmen in a certain wing in our high school where we can transition them to Columbia High School. For those of you who have been in that high school, it is massive. As an adult, when I walk into that high school, I'm overwhelmed. So you could imagine what an eighth grader feels like who is becoming a ninth grader. So we made a separate academy for them. Ninety nine percent of their time is spent in that academy. It is not walking through a building that

098is ginormous. Individual students fail in courses. We reduce that by 53 percent as compared to last year. Course has failed, reduction of 78% as compared to last year. We're now getting quarter four numbers, which will be posted on our website. This is live data. It's on our website. I did just want to share the work we are currently doing is working. It's moving us in the right direction. I receive emails on a regular basis. Why are we restricting electives for our ninth graders? This is why we're restricting electives for our ninth graders, to get these results. We believe our ninth graders should be taking as many academic core graduation requirements as possible so their schedule is freed up their sophomore, junior, and senior year, which will enable them to do work-based learning, to take internships,

099to take those three core sequences we talked about to earn industry certifications, to go over to an auto technician shop. and learn skills. That will enable them to do that. Go ahead, Keith. I noted this previously. This is one of the main objectives of why we're putting pathways in at the district. Currently, we're at about 0.1% of students earning industry certifications and things of that nature. So that is really an impetus of, one, why we're doing it. Second, we asked our kids. You know for a fact, every adult in there, we're not survey shy here. You probably had six surveys just last week. We are not survey shy. We are not survey shy with our kids Our AP kids are telling us our workload is too much. Okay, so let's change our schedule So that

100workload isn't too much our AP kids are telling us every class we go to grades differently Okay, then let's systemize the way we're grading Which we're doing that work right now. Our kids are telling us what their interest areas are And about only 15% of our classes that we offer are hitting those interest areas. Ergo, we're going to introduce pathways. Pathways that not only tie into their interests, but also tie into the New Jersey Department of Labor projections for over the next five to ten years of what careers will be most fruitful and available and needed. So if our kids choose to graduate high school and go for that job, they have the industry cert to do that. If they choose to go to college... They know maybe I should major in this because I

101got some of this in high school and I liked it. So I'm going to major in this. Or, you know, I took these two classes around this career, accounting, and I hated it. So I'm not going to waste any money and major in accounting moving forward. We want to make our seniors better consumers moving forward, no matter what they choose to do, whether it's military, career or college. Go ahead, Keith. I did want to put an extra focus because I answered some emails this week, and I do want to thank folks for reaching out to me. As many of you know, we have a tendency in this community to go to social media and take that as Bible truth. When you reach out to us, it's truly appreciated. And maybe what's on social media is

102true. I'll tell you it's true. It's been my experience here for the last 20 months that about 85% of what's on our social media is not true. So feel free to shoot me an email. Feel free to call me. I will get back to you within 24 hours. Promise you that. So as I noted previously, there are no cuts in the arts programming. None. We'll be running the exact same courses as we ran last year for 26-27. I cannot tell you what's going to happen in 27, 28. Those are conversations we're going to have to have collectively. For 26, 27, we made no cuts at our high school level. We made no programming cuts at our elementary level. We made no programming cuts at our middle school level. 2D, 3D art will still be offered.

103As with some of our courses at our... high school where we combined the content, we were able to do that as well at the middle school level. So kids will still have 2D art, 3D art in one course. The exact same curriculums. Go ahead, Keith. This is our current dashboard. Again, available online, available on our website, available on the NJDOE website. Here is our visual and performing arts dashboard. So when we're talking about utilizing data, we are utilizing data. This dashboard has actually increased from the year previously. As we get our new dashboard for next year, I promise you, you will also see these numbers remaining the same or increasing. So we're not hiding anything. We are not secretly trying to get rid of art. I think I read that quote somewhere. Here's the public

104data. I'm showing it to you. This is an arts district. We are not tearing down the arts. As I noted. Previously, our reduction in force work, our decision framework was driven by our budget, data, and enrollment. If courses were not enrolled, those courses were eliminated from the program of study. So right now at the high school, we have a minimum of 17 in classes. You want to run a class at the high school, it needs to be 17 kids. We cannot run classes of eight anymore. That is impossible for us to do. As I noted previous as well, any moves we make are dictated by New Jersey strict statutory laws, especially around the tenure laws. Program protection and fiscal reality, we noted this as well. We've been trying to protect the classroom. We did it

105last year. We did it through taking savings and making some cuts and moves using transfers. In fact, last year through transfers, we saved about $5.5 to $6 million. Again, that's not filling vacancies that are due to non-renewal, resignation, attrition. Instead, we looked in-house and found people with the appropriate cert, God bless it, and moved them into those vacant positions. When we couldn't do that anymore, we then posted and hired. We already talked about our future outlook. Anything we do will be done collaboratively. We are implementing that dashboard to be more collaborative. We are holding these town halls to be more collaborative. We are doing these presentations to be more collaborative. We have found that our virtual presentations team seem to get a lot more people. We've increased those this year, especially around the budget and

106programming. Go ahead, Keith. You can go move, Keith. Is that it? All right. So we've got a lot of work ahead of us. I hope that's the message that everyone's taking from this. We're not at the point of choices anymore. We're, hey, let's utilize this grant. Let's utilize this federal grant. Let's utilize our savings to balance the budget. We're not there. We're past that at this point. So I am trying to be as transparent as possible. I know I overload your inboxes with... An obnoxious amount of emails and memos. I completely understand that. But I rather over-communicate than under-communicate about our situation. I've worked very closely with the West Orange Soup, the Montclair Soup, the Livingston Soup, the Milburn Soup. Every district I've mentioned had RIFs this year. Some of them for the first time.

107Others, double digits in the 50s, 60s, 70s. For a second year in a row. We're trying to avoid that and mediate that and that's only going to be done collectively and together so We'll continue to be transparent. We'll continue to hold these meetings Moving forward. We are starting work on the 2728 budget literally within a month So what you will see over the next month or so Those dashboards should be posted especially the fiscal side of the house You're going to see us going out for a bond to make sure that our buildings reflect our commitment to our students, to make sure we don't have ceilings falling down. That's also an email I did receive. Let me touch on that very quickly. As many of you know, at our Maplewood Middle School during break, we

108had a small portion of our ceiling fall down in our second floor wing. That was not an infrastructure issue. That was an adhesive issue. And what I mean by adhesive is that plaster that was used 35 years ago lost its stickiness. And one of the four ceilings that is up there fell down and caused the other ceilings to also fall down. I want to thank Henry, our director of facilities, for getting on site within 20 minutes. And we were able to fix that. within five days. Kids only missed about three days of school. So I want to thank Henry tremendously. That was not an infrastructure issue. I know that is floating around on social media as well. That is a ceiling that was put in in around probably 1970 and then was covered by another

109ceiling in 1985 and then was covered by another ceiling in 1998 and the adhesive on the ceiling in 1980 or 1970 lost a stickiness and felt so part of our work in regards to the bond we're going out to Will be fixing such such such issues as our ceilings in our schools Our flooring our boiler issues that we're currently having middle fix For Seth Boyden, for example, our gyms and issues we've been having, especially around our main gym, which is not only an interior issue but an exterior issue, which will require a lot of work around the building. Part of that bond will be trying to make our schools safer. For many of you who attend schools such as Marshall, Seth Boyden, you know that pick up and drop off, it ain't the safest. We're

110working with the police around that. We were able to make some changes at MMS around that, at the high school around that. We'll continue trying to make those changes to ensure our kids are safe. Some of those changes will involve some investment. We will be very transparent around the issues and items from the long range facility plan that we are prioritizing for that bond. We will share those with you. I'm hoping to have that prioritized list within the next week. We'll be able to share that with you. We'll be able to share it with our parents council, both of our associations and our other groups and make some decisions of what we want to move forward with. We will continue the good work. I promise you that this work will not be perfect. There will

111be mistakes along the way We will take onus of those mistakes, but those mistakes will be made with our kids in mind. I'm trying to put them first so look for work to start around a 27-28 budget over the next month. We are continuing to have our community action community for our budget. So for those of you who don't know, we have a budget action community. Committee that is made up of about 37 community members that applied that help us develop our budget We run everything by them. We did the same with transportation for this year once our board gets our new routes our Transportation Action Committee will get those routes so they can put eyes on them and give us some feedback about hey The bus can't go this way because there's a steel

112fence that blocks the road there So we're getting some good feedback from our folks. I do want to thank those members again who are doing and putting in these hours for no pay just because they want the best for our kids. Thanks, sir. We have now arrived at our hearings of individuals and delegations. Thank you for your patience. And thank you for coming in person and joining us online this evening. We value public comment at our board meetings. And while we cannot engage in a dialogue with you, your comments are very serious and we take them seriously. Your input will inform our work. Our comment period this evening, as advertised in our agenda, was limited to 30 minutes. We are going to have some flexibility there. We would like to have as many folks heard

113as possible. Each speaker, as noted, will have two minutes of time. We're going to start with our student speakers. Please begin by saying your name and your town, and note that this is a single public speaks this evening. Our first student public speaks, and I apologize, I'm having trouble with the handwriting, is last name Martinez. And please make sure to turn the mic on before you speak. Thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Mateo Martinez. I'm from South Orange. I'm currently an 11th grader, rising senior at Columbia High School. I'm advocating for the arts this evening. Mateo, just get a little closer. A little closer, sir. My friend and I run the Music Industry Club of Columbia High School. We put on events like Beat Fest, which happened a couple weeks ago, Live at

114the Library, a couple other student-run events. I found in my time at Columbia High School, a lot of students similar to I have drifted towards the arts. I feel like this is the reason because we have a very important community and a very vocal community about the importance of the arts. However, now we're facing issues in assigning students to the arts. I find that most of the alumni from CHS are from the arts and the majority of them are take part in some sort of acting, painting, music, everything like that. I find that in this world full of the rise of AI, it's very important to not cut the arts or not reallocate the arts as humans are obviously very important. And it's a very important outlet for creativity where people can fully express themselves.

115The arts are incredibly important to CHS and the arts usually attract many minority and underrepresented communities which other than the arts do not receive much of a voice. The cutting of the arts, or excuse me, not the cutting, but the change in how the ninth grade are perceiving the arts, where they're no longer allowed to take specific classes, is in my opinion ludicrous. It's the point where students are most impressionable and where their brains are most developing into finding what they are interested in. I see many of my teachers relying heavily on pocket spending to help their classmates or help their students and to do what they are passionate about. Thank you, Mateo. Our next public speaker will be Sam Cooper. My name is Sam Cooper. I'm a junior at CHS. I live in South

116Orange. I'm a musician going to college for music production. My first exposure to this field was taking Music Tech 1 in my freshman year taught by Ms. Veit. After that class, I started making my own songs. After that, I realized, having making my own songs, that I really loved it and I wanted to make a living off of it. So from that point on, I started to dedicate my personal time to develop these skills. And in that regard, being able to start my freshman year was a very significant benefit to me because for someone as young as me, a year is a long time. And I got to get very good experience making music, which is going to be important for building a portfolio. something very instrumental for getting into colleges and finding scholarships as

117well as finding paid work which I can attest that I have. Freshmen are not getting this opportunity because they are not getting this class. This is also relevant to other classes like computer graphics and photography and I think the districts should reevaluate the classes that they are not allowing freshmen to take because if they are going to pick these fields, this is automatically a year of self-guided time they could be using to develop their careers taken away from them. So, yeah, that's it. Thank you, Sam. Our next speech will be Eli Groner. Hi there, my name is Eli Groner. I am a South Orange resident and I'm here today to talk about the proposed block schedule. I have spoken personally to a multitude of students. I have spoken personally to a multitude of students and

118teachers who all disagree that this is a beneficial idea to us. Not only is this a, or sorry, pardon me. I, along with a classmate, have a petition for over 450 signatures who all disagree that this is not a good idea in any way, shape, or form. And I ask you, who is it beneficial to? It is definitely not to the students who have employment outside of school and rely on the fact that school normally ends at 2.15 as it has for the past, I don't know, let's say 10 years, if not more. I will lose my employment over this actually and so will many other students which I'd like you to take into consideration. Student athletes as well will suffer major, major loss of class time as they are forced to leave for games

119and matches at closer to 1.30 or 2 o'clock meaning they could be missing almost an hour and a half of class time if you were to end school at 2.55. The amalgamation or a block schedule as you call it lacks structure no matter how many ways you may describe it and even having six periods 60% of your classes will still be the same amount of time as they are now in this current schedule and yet we are still losing two classes a day. I myself as an art student lose access to important studio time and work that can only be done in a classroom. I myself have painted a mural in our school and cannot do that when I do not have class time. And one lunch period for almost 2,000 kids plus teachers is

120just unrealistic. Have you ever solved that problem yet? I do not know because it hasn't been communicated to us. We have lacked complete communication for both our school and the school board. Have you notified local businesses that going down to one lunch period will impact their economy? I do not know. We haven't been communicated this. We have yet to receive clear communication to these problems, so I'll ask again, who is it benefiting, if not the students or the teachers or the businesses? Who are you truly thinking about? Thank you so much. Thank you. Next, we have Zee Hunt. Hi. My name is Zee. I'm graduating next week, and I'll be studying fine arts at Pratt. I'm lucky to have taken many art classes at Columbia, Art 2 and 3, AP Studio Art, Photography, and Ceramics.

121These classes were vital to my artistic development and helped me create a portfolio that allowed me to get into college with a scholarship. It saddens me to hear that Mrs. Paholke will no longer be teaching AP Art. She was an instrumental part of your team, and now there's a vacancy, supposedly to be filled by Mr. Catrona and Dr. Stewart, who is already teaching three classes. I don't see how this can be a comfortable transition for them to make. Mrs. Paholke is being let go due to low enrollment that is a result of freshmen only being able to take art one, TV production, dance, or music for their elective, meaning that Mrs. Paholke's drawing class and others like ceramics and photography have had low enrollment this year. It's frustrating that you are letting someone go partially

122because of circumstances that you created. Another thing, I've seen too many people rely on artificial intelligence for countless assignments. They cannot even write a simple one paragraph journal entry themselves. It's getting ridiculous. I believe if more people were given the chance to create that they would feel more confident in their own work and their own voice. For these reasons and more, I hope you will support the next generation of CHS artists by protecting arts teachers and classes in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Z. Next we have Margo McGowan. Hi, my name is Margo McGowan, and I'm a citizen of Maplewood. You might look at me and assume that because I'm young, I don't understand how the district operates. However, I'm here to share facts, real student experiences, and a perspective that deserves to be

123heard. Please listen to me. I'm here to represent Maplewood Middle School. Next year, my favorite teacher, Sarah Miller, is moving schools to teach at Tuscan Elementary School. Without a say, I'm here to fight that. Ms. Miller is such an amazing influence for middle schoolers. She helps us learn amazing life skills alongside art. Why should we force her out of her position when over 240 students signed this petition? Whoa. This situation is unjust and unfair. How would you all feel if your favorite teacher, most supportive teacher, and a teacher who has never failed to show up for you was being forced out by your school district after just your first year at middle school? Because I know, I feel like it's unfair and rushed. Our art class at MMS next year will just be art. Not

124art 2D, not art 3D, just art. We could be left with no program at all because our other art teacher is retiring when I'm in eighth grade. Or we could have a teacher that does not understand how to connect with middle schoolers the way that Miss Miller does. This isn't just about art, it's about our best, favorite, and most genuine teacher leaving our school. So please think about it, talk about it with each other, but don't ignore the voices of me standing before you. Thank you, have a good night, and please consider keeping Sarah Miller at Maplewood Middle School. Thank you, Margaret. Next we have Ellie Tamir. Ellie Tamir. Hello? Okay, it's on. Okay. Hello, my name's Ellie Tamir Hone from Maplewood, and I'm here today to discuss the dissipation of the arts in the

125South Orange Maplewood School District. If there's one adult at this school district who changed my life, it was Sarah Miller, our 2D teacher at Maplewood Middle School. When I was struggling socially and mentally, she took me under her wing and made me feel powerful and welcome through the power of art. She has since recently been removed from the middle school, placed at Tuscan Elementary, despite having one of the highest student satisfactory rates in the district compared to her peers. I'm here to attest to her meaningful impact and to assert that her place at Maplewood Middle School should be restored. It is detrimental not just academically, but to the social interweaving of Maplewood Middle to remove her. Furthermore, the district asserts that they are expanding and augmenting the arts education of students at the SMSD school

126district. However, they willingly took away the artistic autonomy of the students at Maplewood Middle School by combining the arts program into one class, which is actively diminishing the arts foundation of the students. As the daughter and sister of full-time artists, fellow artists myself, who write signs for a multitude of local businesses and graduate of Ms. Mulholder's computer graphics program, I can wholeheartedly affirm that the arts program and the option to choose augmented by interest in the arts has allowed me to consider... allowed me to continue pursuing such outside of school. The chain of choice is one that has allowed me to flourish and allow my small artistic passion to blossom. I share this anecdote with you to reinforce the reason behind the power of art. However, not only has it affected many students, including myself,

127in an artistic way, but mentally. Despite such a particular move, the district consistently bolsters hospitality toward persons of all races, gender identities, sexualities, religions, backgrounds, and nationalities. Arguably, the most important way to explore our under-understood emotions and feelings lie in the power of artistic expression. This leads to the recent event, to my knowledge, that have led to Psalms without an art teacher. Not only was their autonomy stripped away, but that outlet that... augment social emotional learning was stripped away. Therefore, you cannot, and I quote, broaden middle school related arts exposure to inform high school tracks. Meanwhile, you're cutting an entire arts class. Do not interrupt me, please. We'll let you finish. You don't have to go so fast. You referenced Milburn and Livingston earlier. and your communication with them. However, their academic progress surpasses ours

128substantially due to their academic rigor, which we notoriously lack with heavy grade inflation. On an economic note, you gave administrators an 8% raise and teachers less than 1%, so I urge you to stop playing the blame game and take accountability for your own economic failures. The arts has a place at SOMS, not just CHS. I would like to finish with a quote from Dead Poets Society. We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. While I could go on, I will end by urging you to please leave the

129arts alone. Thank you, Ellen. Next, we have Layla Rappaport. Sorry, one sec. All right. Hello, my name is Lila Rappaport and I am a CHS student from Maplewood. I'm here to talk about the importance of the arts program in the district. The cut in staffing to the arts program in the elementary and middle schools especially is appalling. For many students like me, a good art teacher is the most important and memorable part of school. Art teaches kids to express themselves in ways that they can't in any other subject and is pivotal for early development. Even if you aren't cutting programs, cutting staffing places strain on the remaining art teachers, decreasing access to and quality of arts programs. Also, as I said in the last meeting, I would like to ask you to fix the water

130in the high school darkroom because the darkroom is inoperable without running water and the water has been broken for many months. The darkroom is a pillar of the Columbia Arts programs and has been producing award-winning photographers for years under the guidance of Richard Catrona. And he's a teacher who will, his workload will be overly increased because of the firings of his colleagues having to do with the staffing issue. So please fix the darkroom water before next school year and remember that cuts to the arts staffing hurt the whole arts program. Thank you. Thank you, Layla. And Layla, Layla, you're talking about the sink in the darkroom, correct? Yeah, it's the sink. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Our next public's piece will be Bianca Silver. Good evening. My name is Dr. Bianca Silver. I teach AP Environmental

131Science and Dual Enrollment Anatomy and Physiology at Columbia High School. I'm also an 11-year South Orange resident and the parent of two children in the district. I'm speaking tonight as both an educator and a parent who cares deeply about access, equity, and academic quality in our schools. I want to address a serious concern with the proposed CHS schedule for the fall. The removal... of the additional class meetings currently provided to AP science courses. This change reduces instructional time for AP science students by 36 hours, which is the equivalent of seven weeks of school. This is not a small adjustment. AP science courses require students to master a large amount of College Board content before the May AP exams while also developing the lab, analytical, and problem-solving skills that make science education actually meaningful. These are

132not courses where teachers can simply move faster without consequence. This is especially concerning for students who are newer to AP level coursework. The students most likely to be harmed are the ones we say we want to encourage. Students taking an AP science course for the first time or students expanding their academic horizons and students who need more time with their teachers in order to succeed. Removing instructional time makes AP science less accessible in practice even if your enrollment increases on paper. Just two years ago, AP Science courses met seven periods per week. Last year, that was reduced to six. Under the proposed schedule, AP Science courses would not even receive the equivalent of five full periods per week. At the same time, enrollment is increasing and student needs are becoming more complex. Reducing this time

133while increasing expectations creates a serious mismatch between what we are asking students to do and the support we're actually giving them. Thank you. Oh, I do now respectfully urge that the board and district leadership restore at least one additional weekly class meeting for AP science courses. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Lexi Kirsten. Hello, my name is Lexi Kirsten. I'm here today to speak to you about the importance of the arts, particularly the AP Studio Art course within our school system. I completed all of my grade schooling in the South Orange Maplewood School District from kindergarten to 12th grade. I was a part of this community, and I had the privilege of taking a myriad of art-related courses here. It is because of these courses that I am where I am today. I've just

134graduated summa cum laude with my bachelor's in art and design education and painting from Pratt Institute and will be returning in the fall to get my master's degree. Thank you. I've just completed my senior thesis on the importance of physical process-based art making in the K-12 setting. My research has culminated into one finding. Making, viewing, discussing, and critiquing art establish new neural pathways in the developing brain and enhance academic performance across multiple disciplines like math, science, and language arts. The more neural pathways created, the more neuroplasticity the brain has, which enables children to become more dynamic and critical thinkers. In essence, art makes you smart, and at a time of increasingly short attention spans and literary crises, we need art in our schools now more than ever. My investment in our art programs is not

135only clinical but personal too. I owe a lot of my success to two of my high school art teachers, Kate Dodd and Kirk Maynard. I took AP Studio Art and it gave me the tools to build a beautiful portfolio and I would not have made it into Pratt without that class. It was their guidance and their mentorship that got me there. I worked with them one-on-one during all of that class time and that is why I am accepted into Pratt and how I'm going to get a master's degree next year. To eliminate this course from Columbia High School would be doing our community an immense disservice. We are a community of creatives, actors, musicians, and artists. This is something our district prides itself on. Our commitment to the arts and their implementation into our education

136system is the reason so many families choose this district. It was why my parents chose it. To oust AP Studio Art from the program takes away the opportunity for students to take a one-of-a-kind course that allows them to dip their clothes into the collegiate level art making. It was my absolute favorite class that Columbia offered and was incredibly influential in informing my life path. To take it away would be a tragedy. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next we have Rosanna Martinez. Hi, I'm Rosanna Martinez. I'm here as a parent, as an artist, as an art advocate. The students speaking today are the best messengers and proof that arts are essential. Their message is clear. Our classes should be available to students all four years of high school. As a parent of a junior going

137into senior year, Over the last three years, I have witnessed how he and his peers have benefited immensely from the arts at Columbia High School. The art electives for ninth graders must not be reduced. Reducing our classes minimizes students' exposure to art and their growth. They affect class enrollment. They strain teachers. The benefits of our classes are plenty. There are studies and statistics that show how students acquire important life skills when they are exposed to art. Some of the skills that I have noticed as a parent, self-identity, self-expression, leadership, entrepreneurship, creative problem solving. emotional intelligence, confidence. Additionally, exposure to art reduces academic stress and boosts performance, motivates students, brings equity and social justice to the conversation. Students learn about the world, politics, what is around them through a different perspective. For students who are not

138going to pursue an art career as an adult, exposure to art creates experiences and appreciation for the arts and culture for their entire life. A few examples of what our art students at Columbia High School have shown in these amazing events. An art history festival, a fashion show. bead fest and live at the library, art exhibitions at the Bear Center in South Orange, our murals throughout the school. I hope that you reconsider your decision. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next we have Heather Harrington. Before the clock goes, I have to see a technical. You can't hear it. Not only a couple of years ago, we- No, but we can take your comment though. That the incredible AP studio art teacher was Jessica. Discussing this decision with my fellow peers- Just so that I'm clear,

139this is, generally speaking, this is a comment from an individual. Can you- My name is Heather Harrington. My name is Heather Harrington. I'm the parent of a CHS sophomore who so wanted to be here tonight. She couldn't. She's in a dress rehearsal. She's academically and artistically inclined, and I promised her I wouldn't talk. I'd let her talk. So this is a recording. Sorry for the technical problem. Understood. Thank you for explaining. We're at Columbia High School, and today I wanted to address the fiscal crisis. Hi, my name is Lorelei. I am a sophomore at Columbia High School and today I wanted to address the fiscal crisis that is happening and how the arts are the first to be targeted. Not only a couple of weeks ago, we had just discovered that the incredible AP Studio

140Art teacher was just cut. Discussing this decision with my fellow peers had made us realize how little the people making these cuts prioritize the arts. Not only after hearing that we had lost the ceramics teacher It was shocking to hear that we had come from eight art teachers down to six. As a student, I feel like my opportunities are only being limited. If we keep choosing to cut wonderful art teachers, and if we continue not letting freshmen, a quarter of the student population, not to take 10 art electives, of course the enrollment in art classes will decrease. In a time where students' creativity is vulnerable with the rapid expansion of AI and platforms like ChatGPT, we need the arts to thrive, and if anything, we need the arts to expand. To whoever is making these

141cuts, it is clear that you do not care about the future generations. You are not listening to the students or their interests, and you do not care that school is meant to be a place for students to pursue their passions. So in all, you must listen to us. Let us help you. Let us guide you. And certainly do not cut the arts in the future. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I have to say that for freshmen, woodshop and aviation were open. I don't know why they were open and the 10 art electives weren't because then it's almost like students are steered into these classes. And then it's pointed that there's low enrollment, but it was manufactured low enrollment. Thank you. I don't know where we're going with this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank

142you. Next we have Sarah Whitcliffe. My name is Sarah Wycliffe, and I am a Marshall K parent and a South Orange resident. Tonight, I'd like to speak about our mandatory Chromebook policy and what it means for our budget, instructional efficacy, and our children's digital privacy. In 2024, we spent $500,000 on a three-year IXL contract. In 2025, nearly $200,000 on iReady. That's almost a million dollars for just two programs, not counting IT, Chromebooks, or carts. Does that value equal to what a million dollars could buy in teachers, in human beings? We know too much screen time harms our children, so we must ask, does this value outweigh the cost? On the research, zero randomized controlled trials show iReady improves learning. The most positive data comes from studies partnered with its parent company, Curriculum Associates. For EdTech

143overall, the evidence is even more damning. Recent New York Times studies directly link one-to-one device use in school to declining test scores. iExcel faces a class action lawsuit for tracking students' keystrokes, answers, and browsing, then selling that data to Google. IXL claims parents' consent simply by allowing use in school, even when it's district mandated. The suit is unresolved, so tracking continues without parental consent. And our district has already suffered data breaches in the last year. I will state publicly here and now that I do not consent to my child's use of EdTech. I understand EdTech helps teachers quiet a classroom when they're under-resourced. It benefits Big Tech by turning kindergartners into lifelong consumers. It benefits administration with easy data points. But why in the hell does my six-year-old need a Gmail address to learn how

144to read? I asked Superintendent Bing and the board, what if we offered a one-to-one device opt-out for students who learn better with pencil and paper? We could gather new data from these outliers who thrive the old-fashioned way. Many have asked my six-year-old son the question, what is your favorite subject in school? His response is always one word, Chromebook. Thank you. Thank you. Next up we have Lindley Schaefer. Hello, my name is Lindley Schaefer, and I am resident of Maplewood. I have two children in the district. My daughter Fiona, who will be graduating from Tuscan Elementary School next week, wanted to be here tonight. Sorry to read her letter, but she felt too nervous, so I told her I'd speak on her behalf with her consent, as what I'm sharing is deeply personal and vulnerable to

145share publicly. Fiona will be starting middle school at MMS this fall in the ISTEP program. I also have a son graduating from MMS who will be attending CHS. Fiona struggles with school avoidance, and I want to be careful how I say this because it's so often misunderstood. Fiona has PDA, pathological demand avoidance. It's a profile of autism that means her nervous system experiences demands, even ordinary ones, as a threat. This is not... A child who won't go to school, this is a child who cannot. Her nervous system experiences demands, even ordinary ones, as a threat. Her nervous system makes it genuinely, physically painful. This year she missed a significant amount of school. As a mother, I can tell you that watching your child suffer this type of anxiety, the kind of collapse in self-esteem, is

146heartbreaking in a way that is very hard to put into words. Our class is often the thing that gets her there. It's where she feels capable and seen and like herself. And Ms. DeFino, the new beloved art teacher at Tuscan who's not retained for next year, was very instrumental in this. Art should not depend on which school you attend or how many teachers survive the budget. It's not a privilege. It's a right. When you cut these positions, you're cutting off access to safe people for the kids who need it most, the different learners, the anxious kids, the one whom a single class can mean the difference between a really bad day and a really good day. These have real-life implications for families like mine. Thank you. Next we have Olivia Welsh. My writing deleted. Can

147we rearrange the order of people? That's fine. I'll call you later. Okay, thank you. Yep. All right, next we have Freya Balmer. Good evening, I'm Freya Balmer, a CHS parent, Chismipa board member, a co-organizer of Beat Fest. You saw our letter this morning. Superintendent Bing and Mr. Sanchez replied quickly, so thank you. I've seen tonight's budget slides, so let me be clear. We're not asking you to spend a dollar, just the opposite. We support the Freshman Academy. The drops and failures, suspensions, and HIB incidents are real. and nothing we're asking would undo them. You just put music technology on the screen as one of the district's five career pathways, future ready, hands-on, and I agree completely. But the same program you are showcasing tonight has been closed to ninth graders. By the district's own numbers,

148entry enrollment has fallen from the high 60s to 31, and sections are dropping from seven toward three because enrollment is too low to run them. So we're building a career pathway while closing its front door. The district is declining to run music tech sections for lack of students while barring the freshmen who would fill them. Our request costs nothing. Let interested ninth graders take the open seats in music technology one and intrude on music theory next year without displacing a single upperclassman. Whereas section wouldn't otherwise run, freshmen are how it runs. And a true pathway should be reachable by every student, not only those who can afford private lessons to teach AP theory. On a night when every line is under pressure, this is the rare fix that costs nothing, protects something you've already paid

149for, and just puts the students on the front page. Let's make that pathway real. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Angela Matusik. Hello. Hi. I'm Angela Matusik from Maplewood. I'm the mom of Z Hunt, who you heard from earlier. I want to just take a moment to name check a few of the incredible teachers that have shaped Z's success immensely. We have Miss Chilimentris, the middle school music teacher who basically saved our kid during the pandemic. Dr. Candice Stewart, who goes above and beyond to teach that art history is world history. And Mrs. Paloki, Z's wonderful AP studio art teacher, without whom our kid would not have had the portfolio that got them into the most competitive BFA programs in the country. But now I want to speak to you as a professional. I

150work in brand marketing and the entertainment industry and frequently hire and mentor young creatives. I know when the Board of Education is faced with making tough decisions, you consider what skills the students need to be successful in this world. I can say with certainty that thinking creatively and being able to express yourself through the arts, whether that's performance, visual, or music, has never been more crucial to success or our society. 61% of Gen Z value the arts as the most important part of school and 83% say that creativity positively affects their mood and mental health. Through my work I've had the opportunity to talk to some of the most successful artists that have come through our time, especially those here in SOMA, and one of them is globally renowned artist Kiki Smith who asked me

151to share this statement with you. I know for myself and many other artists, she writes, having had the support and the resources and equipment in public schools were fundamental to us becoming artists. Most importantly, when studying arts in school, one discovers the potential powerful internal landscape of self-expression. The arts are fundamental to creative thinking, which is fundamental to culture. Students learn when they are part of continuous world history and find community close at hand. and a connection to the greater world. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Sean Cooper. Hello, I'm Dr. Sean Cooper from South Orange. Thank you for your efforts to make the budget tenable. It obviously isn't easy. I have two current CHS students and one CHS alum, and music technology and Ms. Veit have been important parts of their educational experience.

152The alum is studying music at the collegiate level, and the rising senior is sure to follow suit. The culture that Miss Veit has fostered is very palpable when you attend any of these events, Beat Fest, the clubs, etc. I see it growing exponentially each year. The energy is palpable and her work and music technology being offered freshman year has been an important part of my kids' experience. So please bear that in mind as you make your decisions. Thank you so much. Thank you, Sean. Sorry. Next, Stephanie Benchevenga. Please correct me. Benchevenga. Close. Thank you. Not the first time, by the way. Good evening. My name is Stephanie Benchevenga. I'm a South Orange resident, and I've been a Seth Boyden parent for seven years and will continue to be one for another five. I'm here in

153reference to the district's announcement that some district administrators will be reassigned to better match them with their strengths. As can be imagined, with this announcement came a lot of speculation, and I'm here to ask for more details on these reassignments, specifically the rumor... that Ms. Shannon Glander, Seth Boyden's principal, will be replaced by the current MMS principal or possibly the Tuscan principal. If this is a real possibility, I wonder how this is a match of strengths and how this can benefit Seth Boyden. If the goal is to relocate admins who are not a good fit elsewhere, moving them simply pumps the problem to our school. I hope you all have had the privilege of walking the halls of Seth Boyden and witnessing the culture of respect and kindness that defines our school. Seth Boyden has

154a unique soul and unique needs, and Ms. Glander is central to the support and the magic delivered to our students, staff, and families every day. If the district intends to reassign Ms. Glander, I request a formal explanation as to why this is the best move for the district, our school, and Ms. Glander. Our principal has consistently shown up for our children. Why risk that stability for administrators who may lack an elementary background or a proven track record of success without a proven track record of success in this environment? Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Next, we have Verna Holcomb. Hi, I'm Verna Holcomb. I live in South Orange. A few months ago, I came wondering what questions we ask to ensure the staff who are supposed to

155be protecting our children are actually protecting the ones who need it. Tonight, I come wondering similar things. Our middle school families were told that they could enroll their children in the advanced math courses. but they would have to amend their child's IEP to remove the in-class resource support for math. Not because the accommodation is no longer necessary for a free and appropriate public education, but because there would no longer be ICR sections for those classes. That's not how the law works. What questions are we asking to ensure we are properly and legally supporting our students? There are also rumors, as we just heard, about principals being redistributed throughout the district. Seth Boyden's principal, Glander, who has made amazing progress at Seth Boyden, is one of those rumors. What questions are we asking to ensure that

156one person's need for additional training and support does not destabilize an entire body of students, including both of the district's elementary age emotional regulation classes? Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Ben Deskowitz. Good evening. My name is Ben Doxwitz, and I am a resident of Maplewood, a parent of a kindergartner at Seth Boyden, and the parent of a future public pre-K student. I'm here to reiterate safety and facility maintenance concerns at Seth Boyden that have been raised repeatedly throughout this year with leadership in the district. Two weeks ago, I shared many of these concerns with you in an email that was co-assigned by more than 60 members of the Seth Boyden community and urged this board to take action. Seth Boyden, led by the incredible Ms. Glander, is home to an incredible community as

157well. Unfortunately, there are many facility issues and safety concerns. The playground is not being properly maintained. One small but serious example is a missing bolt that secures a rope bridge to the structure that has been missing since last summer and for the entire school year. A short list of other exterior issues, holes in the roof around the auditorium, paint is peeling from the building, poison ivy covers the ground, and the school buses and bike bus, which had 145 riders last week, ride through very large potholes on their way to school. We are still without specific dates when a gymnasium would be available at the school after delays in initiating repairs on the upper gym. These conditions did not occur overnight. and I highlight the safety concern of not replacing a missing bolt on a playground

158rope bridge for a year for a reason. I struggle to understand how there can be justification, including budget concerns, for not making sure that the playground in an elementary school is as safe as possible, as quickly as possible. In my limited time, I'll reiterate one change that I believe that you should consider that would help improve transparency. The board should receive and present the community with regular reporting on maintenance metrics by school, including the number of work orders completed, the number currently pending, and the age of outstanding work orders. This data would help identify where maintenance is deferred and where delays lead to more costly repairs, better informing the hard budget decisions and discussions that we need to have around facility and staffing investments. Thank you for your time and attention. Thank you very much.

159Next we have Anna Dunbar. Good evening. My name is Anna Dunbar and I'm the parent of a seventh grader at MMS and a fourth grader at Seth Boyden. I'm here tonight because I want to speak about something that cannot be measured by test scores, budgets, or spreadsheets, the heart of a school community. Having been an involved parent at Seth Boyden for the past eight years, I'm here to say that our principal, Mrs. Glander, is the heart of Seth Boyden. I've spent my fair share of time in the office for a variety of PTA things and have witnessed a lot. I am constantly blown away by the level at which Ms. Glander knows our students. Not some students, not many students, but every student. She knows every student's name and most of their parents' names. And

160in a school filled with children from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs, she's created something extraordinary, a place where children feel seen, valued, and safe. She has been the stability and the consistency that a building needs to flourish. As parents, we entrust our children to this building every day. We want them to learn, of course. But even more fundamentally, we want them to be known. We want them to be encouraged, and we want them to feel like they belong. Our principal has made this happen. She is kind, attentive, and genuinely invested in our students' success. She listens to them. She seeks their input. She teaches them that leadership is not about power, but about service. She models empathy, kindness, and respect every day, hoping to shape not only strong students, but strong human beings. her

161impacts extend far beyond the classroom walls under her leadership our school has embraced innovative and meaningful programs that enrich our children's lives our governor's award-winning stepping artist residency program has given students opportunities to build confidence teamwork and cultural appreciation. Our school became a pioneer in composting and has cultivated a vibrant garden culture and teaches environmental stewardship and responsibility. These programs did not happen by accident. They happened because she had the vision, determination, and collaboration skills to make them happen. Her partnership with the PTA is unmatched. Just as importantly, she has built an envi- she has built- I'm sorry. She has built an amazing partnership with our assistant principal, Mrs. Davenport. Together, they complement each other's strengths and create a leadership team that is collaborative, responsive, and deeply committed to our students. Strong schools depend on

162strong leadership, and our school is fortunate to have exactly that. She is present and approachable. She advocates for our children. She understands the unique challenges our students face because she takes the time to know them. I have more to gush about her, but I will say goodnight. Feel free to email us. Thank you very much. Next, we have Amy Biasucci. My class is first. Good evening. I'm Amy Biasucci. I'm a 29-year veteran teacher, a science teacher, and have spent the last 16 years in this district. I'm also a parent. When I began teaching AP Bio at Columbia High School, there was only one section with 15 students. Through intentional efforts to increase access and remove barriers, next year we're going to offer five sections of AP Biology. I'm proud that students from a wide range

163of backgrounds and academic abilities are now finding success in my challenging course and others across the board. My concern tonight is that under the new bell schedule, all AP science courses will lose 36 instructional periods. Let me be clear, the science department does support the rotating schedule. The issue is the significant loss of instructional time in courses that already have extensive curricula and rigorous laboratory requirements. The district has encouraged more and more students to enroll in AP science, but how do we continue to serve those students effectively when we have less time to complete the curriculum and offer the individualized support many students need to succeed? It is exactly that individualized support that I offer to students in class and conference that sustains their success. The district already removed labs from non-AP science courses a

164few years ago. Taking away AP labs now may look equal on paper, but it's a huge disservice to our students. I worry that we will be forced to prioritize coverage over learning. Science education is not a script that gets delivered. Real learning happens through inquiry, experimentation, discussion, and reflection that teachers carefully curate and execute with our students. Without adequate time, we will be pushed toward teaching to a test and assigning more work outside of class. That is not equitable. The science faculty stands united in seeking solutions. Please work with us to find a solution that preserves engaging science instruction and ensures that all students continue to receive the rigorous opportunities our community expects, our country needs, and our students deserve. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Jane Conrad. Is Jane still here? Oh, good.

165Okay, we'll circle back to Jane if she comes back around. Next, we have Jessica Miller. Is Jessica still here? Okay. We may have her online in a minute. Next, we have Maggie Chewy. Am I on? I'm on. Thank you. I'm Maggie Toohey. I'm from Maplewood, a 31-year resident of Maplewood and a kindergarten teacher at Seth Boyden. Some of you actually were in my classroom this year during Look Fours. So, anyway. I didn't intend to speak tonight, but as I heard more conversations of moving principals, I felt like I needed to come and speak. And so I'm speaking now from the heart and from something that I know a whole lot about. I've been connected to Seth Boyden Elementary School for 20 years. I began working in the garden in the year 2000 when it just

166was beginning with Maryland Davenport. In 2005, my oldest daughter started at Seth Boyden, and all four of my children went to Seth Boyden, Maplewood Middle, and Columbia High School. I've been a volunteer. I was then the garden teacher for many, many years. And then fortunately, I started as a kindergarten teacher inside the building three years ago. I can easily say that I've been in that building every week for 20 years and I have seen a lot. I'm extremely, sorry. I could say without hesitation that Shannon Glander is the strongest principal that school has had. I've been there for five administrators. She understands the community. She has built trust with families and with students and with teachers. She has created an inclusive, joyful, strong learning community. She understands child development, and she understands and she knows

167what children need to learn and feel good in their learning. Seth Boyden needed this. It needed it desperately when she came, and she built it. This school is growing strong, smart children who feel seen by her and supported by her. To switch this administration would be harmful to her and to the teachers and to the families in the community. You were talking about stability. You spoke about stability, Mr. Bing, and this is a case where she has created the stability and the environment, and we need to keep her there. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Ash Hendon. Hello. My name is Ash Hendon. I live in Maplewood and South Orange, and I go to Maplewood Middle School. First, I would just like to state that I am confused. When my school seems to claim

168that they prioritize our students' well-being over smaller things such as I don't know whether someone stands up during lunch at their table, but when me, my friends, and other LGBTQ kids are being bullied for who they are at the school, being called slurs, all that really seems to happen is a forced apology and a call home. Everything is blamed on poor education when that is not the issue. The issue is homophobia and intolerance. don't know what to believe whether my school I don't know what to believe should I believe what my school claims to do or what their actions state secondly I it's beginning to be more and more difficult to desert what qualifies as bullying versus a mean or unfavorable action because some things that seem very important and large issues to me. feel

169like they're being treated as a misunderstanding or a small bicker, whereas small issues feel like they're being treated as preposterous, something that no one should ever do to another human being. I don't know anymore, and I want to know how my school can change this. These are all genuine questions. My email is stated on the form. Thank you. Thanks, Ash. Next we have Christy Frank. Do we have Christy Frank? All right. Olivia Welch. Hello. My name is Olivia Welch. I'm a graduating senior at CHS. I'm here because I'm deeply concerned about the future of arts education in our district, whether or not you say you are trying to tear down the arts program. While courses may remain on the schedule, us students are losing an education with teachers who are equipped to teach the classes

170that they are being told to teach. Offering our education in school is not about students getting a brain break, even though that's how it seems to be being treated. It is an absolute necessity for students to have access to proper... arts education. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I developed a severe anxiety disorder. Going to school every day felt like a living nightmare. I missed so much school that if it had happened any later in my school career, I honestly do not know if I would be graduating next week. I used every single resource that the school made available to me. I met regularly with the social work intern. I got a 504 plan. My teachers, my counselors, everybody knew what was going on, and they did what they could to personally support me.

171But none of those changed the fact that simply walking into the school building triggered debilitating panic attacks day after day until I got home. Then... During the second semester of that year, I started taking ceramics too with a teacher who knew what she was teaching and who was dedicated to sharing her passion with me and the rest of her students. Suddenly, there was one period in my day where I felt like I could breathe. For 50 minutes, the anxiety was gone. I don't know exactly why or where it went, but I know that that class was the only resource that the school could have ever given me that would truly help me survive what I was going through at the time. It truly became one of the only reasons I was even motivated to go

172to school. And I genuinely do not believe, like I said before, that I would be graduating on Wednesday if I didn't have the art classes throughout my time in this district. And I know that many other students feel this way. As we know, it is impossible to know what students are carrying with them when they walk into school every morning. Art gives students an outlet when words fail. It gives them confidence when they feel incapable. It gives them a space where they feel like they can succeed, belong, and simply be themselves. I am begging you to remember that art is not an extra. It should be a top priority, and for many students, it is a lifeline. Thank you. Thank you, Olivia. That concludes our in-person public speaks. We do have, I believe, three individuals

173left, possibly online. Do we have... Oh, do we have another sheet out there? Yeah. All right, thank you. I apologize for that. All right, next, Izzy Sandoval. Hello. Hi. My name is Izzy Sandoval, and I am about to graduate Columbia High School. I'm from Maplewood. I want to start with saying that I am the president of Music Studio Club, the club at CHS that runs Beat Fest, the biggest music event of the year. I am a soon-to-be college freshman at Bard College, minoring in sound engineering. I have been in more than half a dozen bands throughout high school, with NEP coming out soon with my band, performed at Beat Fest all four years, and organized Beat Fest three years. And absolutely none of this would have been possible without my exposure to music technology freshman

174year. and I cannot be more genuine when saying this, most if not all members of Music Studio Club are exposed to the club through Music Tech freshman year, and it is just so vital for us to be able to take that class, especially when we're trying to figure out what we like or not. For me in particular, Music Tech was a place where I could... like Olivia said, express myself without the need for words and is going to be now a part of what I hope to be my career. Next I want to talk about some of the contradictory policies within music tech. We have just moved into a bigger room with more space, more computers for our students, which is wonderful, but now with the restriction for freshmen to be able to take this

175class, it doesn't really make any sense why we would need more equipment if our size is to be restricted and therefore lowered. And it is also contradictory to have a Grammy-nominated music teacher to be teaching non-music classes. Like, are we serious right now? And just, I cannot stress enough how important these, now to be seven semesters of classes that you can take. have been to me and have been to many people in this community. And to restrict freshmen to take this class is to restrict so many more people like me and so many more careers to have been built. And it would be a tragedy for future students to not have some of the rights to the incredible opportunities that I have been presented with the music tech program. Thank you. Alexis Francois? Hi, I'm

176Alexis Francois. I'm a South Orange resident and a parent at SMS. I wasn't planning on speaking tonight, but so I'm going to read the email that I already sent to Mr. Bing on Monday. I'm here today to discuss the rumors regarding the principal positions throughout the district being reassigned. Why I understand that staffing decisions are complex and made with the district's broader needs in mind. I wanted to share my strong support for Mr. Mason and his continued leadership at South Mountain. There's a significant contingence of parents who believe that Mr. Mason has been an exceptional principal and has helped create a school environment where students feel safe, supported, and able to thrive. At a time when many districts and even some elementaries within our own districts have grappled with challenges relating to bullying, racism, and

177anti-Semitism in student behavior, SMS has benefited from Mr. Mason's proactive and thoughtful leadership. Mr. Mason has consistently addressed concerns before they escalate, setting clear expectations for student conduct, and fostering a culture of respect, accountability, and inclusion. He's been proactive in nipping undesirable behaviors in the bud and cultivating a community where students can grow, learn, and feel safe. As parents, we greatly appreciate his visibility, responsiveness, and commitment to maintaining a positive school culture. While no school is without challenges, many of us feel fortunate that SMS is not experiencing the same level of angst and concern that parents in some other elementary schools in our district have expressed. We believe much of that stability is due to the leadership Mr. Mason has provided. For that reason, the prospect of losing a principal who is succeeding in his

178role is deeply concerning. When something is working well, continuity matters. Removing a trusted and effective leader from a thriving school community would be devastating for many students and families and staff members. Similar to other parents here this evening, I am concerned that rather than addressing deficiencies at other schools, we're moving them to a new home. SMS is the largest elementary school with nearly 600 students in two campuses, which is a large responsibility to manage. Mr. Mason knows each student and each family. He walks the campus each morning and greets us daily. I respectfully urge the district to consider the tremendous value Mr. Mason brings to SMS and the strong support he enjoys among parents. We hope that he will be given the opportunity to continue his important work that he started seven years ago, I

179think maybe eight. and to build upon the positive culture he's helped create. Thank you. Thanks. Next, we have Sun Jackson. Hi, my name is Sun Jackson. I'm a junior at Columbia High School, and I'm extremely passionate about the arts here at Columbia. I actually just got here from an a cappella concert. So while being a tour guide for upcoming freshmen last week, I found myself spending most of my time talking about my passion, music. I showed the kids our music rooms along with the many murals on the wall and discussed our musical classes and the clubs I have personally been a part of. While talking, I could see the eagerness of the students and I found it ironic that I was discussing our artistic amenities while they were actively being pushed away. These teachers that

180I praised were getting budget cuts or getting laid off and our artistic classes were getting cut. It made me wonder, what is CHS without art? The alumni we consistently brag about, SZA, Lauryn Hill, only exist because we have fostered that love of art in the past. I myself am a privileged artist with access to music technology and art supplies at home, but some of the most creative people I know do not have the same access and cannot thrive without what our school has to offer. Recently, one of my friends came to me sobbing about how her guidance counselor said she suddenly had to choose between two art classes that happened to meet at the same time. It wasn't until we talked to one of the art teachers at Columbia who told us no one really

181knows the schedule yet. that we realized she didn't actually have to choose between those two classes. It was just one of many instances of guidance and administration making it look like our students aren't naturally artistic that we chose this. My friend later reached out again and her guidance counselor said she was right. The classes actually didn't meet at the same time. I guess my point is most of us are naturally artistic and we always will be. When I think about my school, I don't think about STEM or sports regardless of how great we are in those fields. I think about our incredible musical performances, emotional plays, the cheers and love felt at special dance performances, the emotion felt in Guild Script magazines, and the vibrational heartbeat of the murals on the walls. I think about

182the teachers Columbia High School doesn't deserve right now, such as Ms. Veit, who has left a musical legacy behind here at Columbia through Beat Fest, music tech classes, music studio club, music industry club, et cetera, and has suddenly heard that music tech might no longer be available for freshmen and has to now teach a class that has nothing to do with her specialty, music. In a time of political tyranny, Books are being cut, free speech is being silenced, and our neighbors are being taken away by ICE. Our artistic freedom is one of the only things we have left. Please don't take that away, too. Thank you. Thank you, son. We will now be moving to online public speaks. Is Alicia Humphries on? She is. Okay. Next, Max Kravitz? Maxwell Kravitz. Hello? Hi, Max. We can

183hear you. Okay, I'm Max Kravitz, CHS class 23 member of the Maplewood Arts Council and founder of Beat Fest at the high school. I'm here today to enthusiastically voice my support for the music technology program at the high school in the arts department broadly. Last month I had the pleasure of attending the fourth annual Beat Fest. And it was a wonderful night seeing Newport, Two Towns' next generation of performing artists and reconnecting with all of the alumni. And I want to thank Mateo Martinez for highlighting the original intention of the event, providing performance opportunities to those who are not served by the district in orchestra, chorus, and band. I just have a couple of things that I want to remember today. And one of those is I want to thank Superintendant Bing. I recall that

184when I was in the district, there was a sense of that leadership was very nearsighted. And while I'm not as in touch as I once was with what is happening, his stewardship from afar has been a breath of fresh air. Just again, some things to highlight. Emily Veidt, Grammy nominated. And she runs the only musical or Beat Fest is the only music festival run by students in the state. It is incredibly important that we retain talent in the district. I recall as a student, it was deeply upsetting when teachers such as Greg Tuttle, Joshua Enyart left the district when they felt that they weren't being respected. Assigning teachers courses outside of their subject they were hired to teach can be upsetting to them. I have. two family members, an aunt and my father, who were

185and are public school teachers, who were on the receiving end of this. And it just leads to more prep work. It makes them busy and it makes them less enthusiastic about their work and students suffer. And I understand and I think everybody watching virtually or in the room understand that things have to be done to balance this budget. I was deeply concerned. I didn't know. about the projections, but I ask that please keep the music technology program in mind while you're putting together the budget for the next two, three, four years. And yeah, thank you. Thank you, Max. Next we have Jessica Miller. Good evening. I was a math and science student who wanted to go to art school. I attended a high school who only valued traditional academic subjects or music. I felt so

186unsupported when my high school counselor told me, we recommend for students to go to community college for a year to build an art portfolio. I was fortunate enough to have parents who could fund art classes outside of school. I sought a school district for my kids that would support whatever path they chose. One that doesn't lump arts together and treat them as fluff. One that gives freedom and exposure to explore new fields without being hammered about career readiness. From the moment we moved here, we have a few traditions. Always attend the CHS musical and whenever we're in CHS, visit the art gallery. I know that there are budget constraints and that we need to be having difficult conversations, but I don't actually feel as though those conversations are being had with district parents and students,

187but rather simply being handed to us. I didn't know that when certain courses or elite programs were being added, that we were sacrificing art instruction. I didn't know that we would be riffing our award-winning AP art teacher. I'm not confident that the downstream effects of limiting middle school and freshman offerings are being fully considered. As the mom of two kids in the district, I feel like much of the wonderful programming we look forward to is falling away before my kids even get there. I work in a creative field, and while AI can reassort all of the thoughts and creations that brilliant minds have put out into the universe, it will only continue to recycle the same thought pool without new material. Our students and school districts should know that the world is already sick and

188tired of the lifeless AI slop offered up to us on the regular. The skills of authentic expression are what we should be honing. That's what art teaches. I pushed my freshman to choose his single elective with very limited choices wisely, as I wanted him on a track to be able to take more visual art, not because he'll be an artist, but because the skill set to express oneself visually is an important component to so many fields. But also, creative expression is essential for being a successful human being. Giving our students the room and skills to dream as they plan their lives should be our goal. Thank you. Thank you, Jessica. That concludes our public speaks for this evening. And we are now going to turn to the action portion of our meeting. We have two

189different resolutions on the agenda for review tonight. Resolution 4983 in two portions approving summer employment and summer curriculum writing for summer 2026 and resolution 4984 approving a the corrective action plan that was required as part of our most recent audit. and B, a resolution rejecting the bids received for paraprofessional services. So we're going to move on those two resolutions first. As a consent agenda, do I have a motion? Board Member Callahan, do I have a second? Board Member Bennett, any discussion on these items? Okay, hearing none, Mr. Acker, would you please call the roll? Board Member Bennett? Yes. Board Member Brown? Yes. Board Member Callahan. Yes. Board Member Higgins. Yes. Board Member Capita. Yes. Board Member Meyer. Yes. Board Member Nayar. Yes. Board Member Sackett-Gable. Board Member Steffen. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Next, we're going

190to take up resolution 4985. This is a resolution affirming the South Orange and Maplewood School District's commitment to LGBTQIA plus inclusion and recognizing June as Pride Month 2026. Do I have a motion? Board member Callahan. Do I have a second? Board member Bennett. Discussion? I'd like to ask first, I had first Vice President Callahan read the last resolution. What if we get to have second Vice President Nayyar read our Pride Month resolution into the record tonight? Sure. Thank you, and I'm honored. Whereas, Pride Month, celebrated in June, commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a pivotal moment in the gay liberation movement. The uprising occurred after a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, sparking six days of protests. The first Pride March was held on June 28, 1970, the one-year anniversary of the uprising.

191whereas the South Orange Maplewood School District is home to a diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual LGBTQAI plus community, along with allies whose contributions enrich schools and strengthen our district, and the district remains committed to supporting dignity, equity. visibility and belonging for all members of the community. And whereas the board recognizes that LGBTQAI students are entitled to equal education opportunity, freedom from discrimination, and access to school environments in which they are treated consistently. with their affirmed identity in accordance with New Jersey law and further recognizes that LGBTQAI plus students, families, and staff may hold multiple identities and experiences including race, ethnicity, disability, language, religion, and socioeconomic status requiring ongoing attention to belonging and inclusion across our school community. And whereas Despite advances towards the equitable treatment of LGBTQAI plus individuals, many

192continue to experience discrimination and bias, particularly transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive individuals, making it essential. for schools and communities to demonstrate continued commitment to inclusion, respect, and support. And whereas the board recognizes its ongoing responsibility under New Jersey law, including the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, to maintain safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying. And now, therefore, it be resolved that the South Orange Maple would Board of Education hereby recognizes June 2026 as Pride Month and celebrates contributions, resilience, and diversity of the LGBTQAI plus students, families, staff, and community members. And it be further resolved that the board reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that all students have access to learning environments that are safe, welcoming, inclusive, and free from discrimination, including the continued implementation of board policy 5756 and

193related district policies that affirm the rights of transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive students to be treated with dignity and respect in accordance with New Jersey law. And it be further resolved that the district will continue to enforce anti-discrimination policies, support LGBTQAI plus students through student-led affinity groups. professional development for staff, and visible affirmations of support ensure that LGBTQAI plus identities, histories, and contributions are accurately reflected in curriculum, school libraries, and the classroom learning and experiences in accordance with New Jersey's LGBTQ plus inclusive curriculum law and work collaboratively with LGBTQAI plus community members on shared goals related to education, equity, inclusion. and visibility and it be further resolved that the board encourages all members of the school community to continue fostering a culture of dignity respect understanding belonging equity and inclusion throughout the year thank you

194do we have any further comment or discussion on this item all right hearing none mr acker would you please call the roll yes board member bennett yes board member brown yes board member callahan yes Board Member Higgins. Yes. Board Member Capadia. Yes. Board Member Mayer. Yes. Board Member Nayar. Yes. And Board Member Steffen. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. That concludes the action portion of our meeting. We are now going to move into executive session to discuss the superintendent evaluation. We will be adjourning immediately after that point. So this will be the end of the public portion of the meeting for the night. No formal action will be taken in executive session. Do I have a motion? Board Member Stephan. Do I have a second? All in favor, show of hands. It is unanimous. All right, folks,

195that concludes the public portion of our meeting at 9.42 p.m. Have a good night.