001Mike's not here. So, >> okay, let's call to order. Uh we're going to start with the New Jersey open public meetings law which was enacted to ensure the rights of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which time any business affecting their interests is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act and board of education policy 0162. The board of education of the burrow of Bound Brook has caused notice of this meeting to be posted in the board office and at Bound Brook High School and mailed or facts to the Courier News, Bound Brook Clerk, Southbound Brook of Education, and any person who has requested individual notice and paid the required fee. We please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge
002allegiance 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. Okay, can we please have a roll call? >> Here. Okay. Thank you. Um I don't have any president's comments, so we're going to go right to our superintendent. And are you going to go right to our presentation as well? >> Well, I just want to say good evening everybody. Uh welcome to our July board meeting. We are in the middle midst of uh getting ready for September. Summer's halfway through. We're really looking forward to this year. We have some great plans. Um not too much for comments tonight except for a presentation on the NJGPA scores done by Mr. Ross. >> Yeah. Did you Did you expect
003a hand or something? Welcome everyone. Is this working? Can you hear me now? Here we go. Walking down the street. Hey. Hey. Where the monkeys? Here we go. All right. Everybody settled in? So, welcome board. Um, first I need to start off by saying a thank you to all the people who helped create this presentation. This was a very joint effort um with Allison Winter, our assistant superintendent, um Jill Tulooki, our supervisor of math, Eric um Schmidt, our supervisor of English and social studies, Robin um Griffin, our CEO, chief academic officer, and then I was in there somewhere, too. So, what you're going to hear is our character at BBHS is built on intentions for student success. So, this is our story. It's an allegory of intention. So, what we're looking at is Oops, did
004I get there? We're looking at the NJGPA scores. We've received the preliminary reports from the state which gives us their passing scores and those students who did not meet graduation readiness. The key for us is that we have focused on intentionally all grade 11 students. So when we come to future slides, you'll notice that we are capturing students who might not be in the onpace grade 11 cohort. So that would include students who are credit shy, i.e. they're still 10th grade students or students who might be 12th grade students who are trying to get back on track. Um the key focus for this slide is that we are testing people to make sure they're graduation ready and we are encouraging them to stay on track so that our graduation rate is also increasing. That's another
005number at the end of the presentation that we'll talk about. So the cutoff score for the NJGPA is 725. So that's where we will be focusing some of our review of distributions and domains when we look at where students are in their graduation readiness and how we help those students who don't quite make graduation readiness. So key for me is with that we're doing intentional data reviewed strategically decided additional supports. What do they look like? They look like providing alternative school program during the day rather than after school. They look like providing fall NJ GPA testing for the first time ever and doing summer testing for students so that they can keep on track. We are also moving forward for 2526 to provide ASI for thank you Miss Griffith and team for ASI for English
006and math at all grade levels. Um that's the first time at a high school at our high school to make our students graduation ready. So those are part of the additional supports that we are doing. Next, oops, I went the wrong direction. Here you go. So, now we're going to get into the math scores and what they look like for this year. In order to give you a picture of our progress, we're looking at the mean, right? Our intentions recognize the supports of all students. So, what you're seeing here is a three-year summary of math results for all students tested. Those mean also students who may not be on pace for their cohort. That includes for this year 18 students who are only 10th grade ready as far as their um graduation requirements and some
00712th grade students and we had 12 of those. So we're looking at a 30 more students than the 11th grade cohort is in itself. So we made sure that we were testing every student to keep them on pace to graduate with their four four-year cohort. So you can see in 2022 23 we were at 712 with a mean. We had an increase of six points last year and we've plateaued. With that plateau, um we have, you know, set up different specific targeted um assistances and you'll see that as we come through. Now, one of the key pieces that we wanted to point out as well was the three-year summary of math with that grade 11 cohort specifically. So that would be 159 of those 186 that were tested. So in 2223 our 11th grade cohort
008who were on track to graduate were at 697. We had an 8 point increase in that mean last in 23 24 this year with that group who are on track and focused 16 point growth. So we wanted to sh show that the intention of moving the needle towards graduation readiness is being met. One of the pieces we'll talk about in the future is having tutoring. So we've had specific tutoring by the supervisor of math in order to support students and watch them grow. Next with our math score distribution. Yep. Oh, I'm not there. Sorry. I keep forgetting that's not moving me over. Sorry. So, this was Sorry, my screen wasn't moving it. So, this is the scores that I were talking about. So, our grade 11 cohort, let me just go cycle back. So, I'm
009sorry because that wasn't changing. You can see 697 is where we were. Those are just the 11th graders, 159 of them. Then it was eight. And now that same group who are on track are 16 points higher. That's important. So now what we're looking at is the distribution from 650 to 800 plus or 790 plus with all students tested. We look at and strategically support those students who fall within the 690 to the 724. Those are the students who are just barely missing out on graduation readiness. So with all students tested, our number of students that we're focusing on ranges about to just 60 to 70. With our 11th grade cohort, you can see our bubble. We are focusing on the the same uh section of students. So we have 22,4 and 18 who are
010in that bubble of the 699 to 724 that we're setting up ASI for that we're setting up tutoring situations for and that we're making sure that we're attending to their needs as we watch them grow. So the key for me is you get to see the real growth from year to year in the distribution from 23 24 to 2425. in 2425. U you can see that there's been Oops. Here we go. Sorry. Can you see that bottom line? That's what I was worried about. Can people see the bottom line? Yeah, a little bit. All right. So, this is the big one. So, the math score distribution is the key piece that we're looking at. So in 2324 which is in the blue you can see that we had and this is where the 690 to
011699. So those are students who are whoops struggling to get to graduation readiness at 724. We're seeing the increase of se 10 students who are moving up the scale and then also at the 700 to 709 we're getting people from the 650 range and moving them up towards the 700. Right? So our goal is to move the students up the proficiency scale so they're more graduation ready. Another big growth is in our numbers above graduation proficiency which is 725. When you look at if you can see it's 740 to 760 we're seeing the growth in the number of students who are in that range of upwards of 15 to 16 students. So the next piece that we look at is key areas for student growth. The intention for graduation readiness has been leading to focused
012um work in math which has increased the reasoning and the modeling for the students. So when you look at 2023 on the top and 2024, you'll notice the growth that's happening in the reasoning and the modeling in 24 and 25. So you'll see that we have 55 students versus 30 29 who were succeeding and graduation ready in reading in reasoning. So this increases something that we're looking at and has been important to focus on. So with more intentioned focus I got to remember that we're doing this. So this is ELA. With ELA, you can see that we've leveled off with all students tested 751, 751, and 752. We're seeing a growth. With that plateauing, we've identified that we should look at what we did with math. With math, we added tutoring. With math, we added,
013you know, ASI this year. So for this first year we had ASI in the math department and that's led to more growth. When we look at the grade 11 cohort which is those students who are on track and have shown strong skills in their English classes and are on track. We've also noticed that they're growing in their mean. So in SE 22 23 it was 751 then it's increased to 754 and this year we're seeing a huge growth of plus seven for our mean score. So what caused this? Last year when we saw our growth we also shifted our teacher assignments. So for AP and CP courses, we shifted teachers so that they were attending to both those classes. That is that teachers were teaching AP as well as CP. We also shifted English teachers
014to teach lowerassmen, 9th and 10th grade as well as 11th and 12th grade together. So a teacher will see a ninth grade student and an 11th grade student and know how they're growing and know what they need to do to be graduation ready. So that was some of the specific pieces that led to this growth. Same thing when it comes to the distribution right here in ELA. This is the all students. So again, we're looking at that bubble group that we're trying to give specific targeted approach to. That's including ASI. That's including uh tutoring. That will happen. When we look at the 11th grade cohort, that bubble shrinks, the number is reduced by 10 students. But again, we're focusing on those students to help move them towards graduation readiness. And the big piece for me
015is here. We recognize the movement of the mean by moving the students up the proficiency scale right towards graduation readiness. So when you look at this piece I think the biggest difference between 23 24 and 2425 is the number on the right. So if you can't see that scale, we have the number of students who are above 800 increased almost double. So I think that's why us focusing on the kids who were at the bubble, us focusing on students who needed supports at all levels through either ASI, through changing the teachers assignments have helped move us towards graduation readiness. For the next part, when it comes to written expression and written conventions, we've kind of leveled off. You can see we have 35% in 2324 and 36% in 2425. So the key element for us
016is to then implement what we had done in math. So as I had mentioned earlier with last year, we had set up ASI in math. We had also set up a tutoring program and those tutoring programs and that ASI has led to student success this spring. So here's the student wins. So the key for me is with the growth that we've seen, how did we get there? What intentional actions did we take to see this cohort become more graduation ready? So number one, right, the NJGPA tutoring for math was implemented last year. So all of September students were given and October were given supports for math. Of those students who were given those supports, 66% of them demonstrated graduation readiness. So the other piece is it's helped us increase the total junior cohort graduation readiness,
017which is important. The other big piece for us are what happened in ELA and math. You saw the number of students who were 800 and above in ELA. That would be an 83% increase in students who are scoring above that level. The other big piece for um English is that there's an increased overall average score specifically for us in the 11th grade cohort especially in written expression. So that was key for us. So ELA is showing growth with math. You saw that the junior cohort had a 16 point growth in the mean from 2023 to 2425. So that's a big win. The other big increases were the increases in modeling which moved from 17% to 31%. And then the other increase is reasoning which move from 12% to 41%. And those areas are historical areas
018that students struggle across the state, not just at Boundbrook. It's one of those key areas for learning that students are challenged with. So that's important with the growth. We're seeing the number of students who are on track increase by a let me just go to this by doing these next things. So here's what we're looking at. How do we get Oh, I have to do it over here. Sorry, I keep forgetting that this isn't connected. So our last bit moving forward with intention. We are making sure that we're intentionally keeping the students on track. What have we done? We're testing more students than we ever have before. That's why we showed you the all cohort to the 11th grade cohort. The all co all cohort includes 70 more sorry, excuse me, 30 more students than
019the 11th grade cohort itself. Those 30 students consist of students who are still technically 10th graders and or 12th graders off track. Why are we doing that? to keep them on track for graduation. Right? So, what are the moving forward with intention next steps that we have done? First, the rotating drop schedule is going to increase instructional time from 6,700 minutes to 8100. Students are going to take one less course. So rather than eight courses to fill a full schedule, students are going to have seven courses so that they can increase focus on their core classes and have targeted supports as well. Hence, if they have a free period, we can give them ASI, we can have tutoring for them. And they have been already students who have been identified as bubble students ASI classes.
020We're continuing our alternative program during the day. We used to run it after school from 4 to 7 and that was not very successful. We've seen students get on cohort and become graduation ready with those supports. We're continuing the fall NJGPA um test and we will also do NJGPA tutoring in math and then we're adding this year English tutoring which we did not do last year. Moreover, we've added ASI. So all students who were at risk and struggling with graduation readiness from 9th grade through 12th grade are getting ASI supports in targeted areas for both math and English. The other key p pieces that we have in place are of course curriculum. We're in we're implementing reveal math in grades seven and eight. We're transitioning to link it benchmark assessments which going to help us
021be able to measure students and set up a consistent benchmark for where they are in relationship to the NJ SLA as well as the NJGPA and we can modify them in relationship to standardsbased teaching. And the last piece that we have is we've done targeted AVID professional learning. And what does that look like? It's related to academic language. It's related to rigor and it's related to student agency. And student agency means having students be in an algebra class, take an ASI class, and get the supports that they need in order to be successful. And the last piece that we need to mention is looking at all of these pieces that we've done with the NJGPA and our intentional changes, our graduation cohort, and this is a potential number to be determined, but from our data
022research and the analysis is preliminarily between 90 and 95%. up from uh 80% three years ago, 88% two years ago, and then 88.9 and then 88.3. We are now with the preliminary results, and I won't we won't have the finalized until the NJ Smart pieces come out. We could be at 95% or higher, right? We are certainly I can say 90 to 95% with that cohort. So the essence for me is that these pieces that we've put in place by doing the tutoring, by doing ASI this year in math, we're seeing results almost immediately, especially because people are maintaining graduation readiness and that's where we are. questions. Yes, >> a lot of numbers might I notice arts. >> Yes. >> Language arts approaching 760. >> Yes. >> Is that you see across the state where
023language arts is typically higher than that or is that more specific? >> That is a state piece as well. Absolutely. So the state is similar. We are seeing I think we have seen in ELA over the past three years larger growth. Um what can we attribute that to? I think for me one big piece is the changing of the teacher assignments and then giving them both grade levels. So a ninth grade teacher is also teaching 11th grade and that's been attent um also though we are seeing an area that I needed to highlight is reasoning and modeling is something that in our discussions before the presentation are statewide areas of struggle and those it's a math teacher um you know those increases are substantial here for us even though Um, it doesn't increase or if
024we go back, it doesn't increase our math mean that much in the first year, but we're still looking at a true cohort here. 16 point growth is big, right? Versus when we're testing all students. So that's why it's important for me to understand the difference between with this we're looking at 189 students 30 of those students who are technically still 10th graders right we're testing them because if we don't our graduation cohort drops off right because we don't keep them on track we don't test them then we can't test them a second time and then they can't take the portfolio assessments or do something else. So, by capturing all of the students when they're all tested, we're seeing they're leveling off. But when we look at the 11th grade cohort, and those are those students
025who are on track, on pace, you'll notice that 16 point growth, which is the direct result of tutoring, the direct result of an ASI program that was been functioning for a year. Yes sir. >> Okay. So um first I want to say thank you and you can definitely see all the hard work that's being put in especially seeing the growth in both math and uh ELA. So definitely want to just give a kudos to Dr. for Freeman and the rest of the administration. You guys are doing an awesome job. The fact that the graduation p um percentage has gone up to as high as 95% but definitely like 15% higher than the 80% that you mentioned from like three or four years ago is amazing. So, you know, hats off. Congratulations. Um you know, pat
026yourselves on the back. Every single one of you, you deserve it. Yourself, the administration, the principles, the teachers, everybody top to bottom. So, thank you for that. >> Yes, thank you to them. >> So, now on to some my other questions. So, um I noticed that we you were talking about the NJGPA math tutoring where 66% of the attendees demonstrating proficiency. >> Do you happen to know what is the overall proficiency rate of the junior cohort in math before the tutoring intervention even started? Just to provide some context of the 66% proficiency that you're showing. >> So I mean when we let me go back here. >> Yeah. >> And I may have missed that. Sorry. >> So well I mean when we look at over the three years the 23 234 school year we
027did not have the ASI. So when we look at it at the grade level cohort. So if you look here 2324 we did not have ASI implemented at high school. So we implemented it this year. So we were able to start that this year and then they take the test in March. So with those supports one, we also had the tutoring session. So there was a month um or longer run by the supervisor of focused tutoring sessions for those MA students in math as well as the ASI program which was supporting all students of math but certainly those students who are 11th graders as well. And then this is where you see that plus 16 grow piece of growth and that I think is direct result of getting the ASI in there having a tutoring
028percent and that also leads to like we said of the students who went to that tutoring 66% of them went from not being graduation ready to being graduation ready. So I think that's why these programs are showing their value. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. And then um the other thing that caught my eye was you mentioned something about the decreasing the student dropout rate through um some alternative program. Is there any like measurable goals or any specific anything specific you can discuss about that? >> So yes with the dropout rate so multiple pieces. Number one is with our students. So let me just go up here, show you here with our students who are struggling for various reasons. We've established the alternative program. It's been in the school for many years. It was
029running from like I said 3 to 7 after school. It supports students who have maybe issues um home issues, other struggles. having those that opportunity for students. This year we have seen an increase in those students who've made it to through to stay on track. Um that's number one. The other piece is with the ASI supports and the math supports getting the student to pass the NJGPA as well as pass their um math class. We've also implemented intermediate math, right? And that was a new course that helps us manage algebra 2 for students who are working on their math skills. And that intermediate math course is also allowed students to one pick up the skills they need to do NJGPA also get the graduation requirement that they need in order to graduate. >> Thank you.
030So that's >> yeah that's where I think those are d two direct things that have been done. the alternative program, the math focus ASI. Yeah. >> Uh my question is all the identified students did they take part in the ASI the opportunities? So all the kids who were those at risk students did they take part in the tutoring programs? So from yeah so right now I am deep in creating the schedule for next year and in developing that we specifically look at those numbers for those in that bubble and we pull those students names and those have created the ASI class for this year right so similarly last year we didn't have the ASI class in place we had the ASI teacher come in when did he start I mean October November, he started like
031October, November, we had an ASI teacher come in and the students who worked with him were first identified from scores um benchmarks as well. So it wasn't just the NJSLA or NJ GPA place them, but the supervisor of math worked with the benchmarks worked with NJSLA worked with NJGPA in order to identify those specific students. So yes, I can tell you for this year, we have intentionally looked at the students who are those numbers 6, 12, and three, those human beings who are behind that. We have intentionally looked at that. We have placed them specifically in that ASI class, both English and math. So that is the data translating into doing something specifically for students. >> So it looks like that's 21 students there. >> Yep. Okay, that's good to hear. >> Yes. So, we
032would be looking at about like 21 students where we would be placing them again in algebra 2 or or intermediate math depending on where they are in the math. And we have ASI for algebra 1. We have ASI, I think we have three sections now we're working on for algebra 1. We have multiple for geometry, algebra 2, energy immediate math. so that we can capture all the numbers because some students may be in this bubble at 11th grade taking geometry or taking intermediate math. So we have an ASI class that covers all of them. Yes, sir. What are you doing for the 44 on the right hand side or far left? You're focusing on 21, but you got 44 that are well below. No, that where the last slide where you were. Okay. So, we're
033we're doing like this with the ELA piece. Um, so what are we doing for those? We just went to Avid training. That's one piece that we're doing. So, AVID is about rigor. It's about student agency. So, AVID focuses on three things. Um, student opportunity knowledge. So, they have to know what opportunities out there for them to grow. So, that's something we're doing for the students who are high achieving. Number two, what we're doing is we've created more opportunities for AP classes. Um, also having AP classes online as well as the ones that we currently involve in that teach in the school. We have dual credit courses so that schools that the students can get college credits with that and get more rigor. Um, and the other piece that we do is we make sure that
034we provide students opportunities for like RBCC and other programs off campus. So for those people who are the high-end, we are increasing rigor. So we're increasing rigor for everybody and you'll definitely see that programs are there. >> Does that make sense? You're talking about >> Oh, you're talking about this side or >> Yeah, I'm talking about >> talking about the other side. >> You were meant left. Okay. Sorry. >> The 650 the 650 to 700. >> What are we doing for them? the people who are like in the 650 range >> right. >> So those students are >> Thank you. >> Yes. So those students are also part of you know programs as well. I mean they again not every student can be identified for ASI. So what we're doing with that group is creating
035new courses like the integrated math versus algebra 2. So, that was something that we did starting last year. What does that allow? It creates a math course that gets students the three-year requirement and it also helps them when they're struggling with the higher level math. So, we've created new programs for those students. So, it's not just an ASI course. They still get tutoring. They still get remediation. The other piece for me is this number one like these bigger level pictures matter. So doing a rotating drop where we go from 6,700 minutes in a class to 8100 is going to help that student who's off track, who's behind a grade level. They need more time on task. That is something that we're doing globally. So that covers the AP kid that I was talking about, but
036it also really helps the student who's struggling because they need more in-class teacher contact time. They're getting that. So they meet the class 45 more days in the school year. That's number one. Number two, they're getting another 1,700 or 1400 more minutes in that class over the year. Number two, something that we've worked on very in a very focused in particular way is to take the students from eight classes to seven because they there's the core courses that they need the four core and then couple electives in PE rather than have students in an elective course that they may or may not need and may or may not be interested in we are not giving them that extra class we're giving them study hall periods opportunities where we can have access to them where they
037can be working on their you know studies in the school time. So that conscious move from eight to seven classes is a very intentional change to support that student who is overwhelmed, struggling at that 650 mark. Um the other pieces that we have we have a b you know the the dual language programs are really growing students who might be struggling. So th those programs are also attending to it. Um certainly for me um creating new curriculum is the other part like the inflation at the seventh and eighth grade so that students don't come to the high school struggling as much but I think the program changes at the top are are some of the major pieces that we're doing if that makes sense. So, I think you're saying when you say 11th grade cohort,
038that would be the graduating class of 2026, right? Okay. >> Um, and when you talk about graduation rates, we're talking about the class that just graduated, right? Okay. >> So, bringing all this together, how many of our rising seniors, >> what percentage, how, what number are on track to graduate if right now have have passed both parts? um what number aren't there yet and do we expect this coming class to reach the same graduation rate that we just saw with the numbers I see there we're obvious obviously not at 95% but >> no >> so we're not at so we're we're not at 95% graduation ready because of the NJ GPA so we have in English of the 159 students or sorry, excuse me, it's the 169 who are going to be graduating in 2026.
039We're looking at in English 40 students and in math we're still looking at about 100 students who need to take the NJGPA in the fall. So, we will do that. That's why we do tutoring um and we have planned strategies for that. The NJGPA in the fall is in October and that's where we spend that month targeting there. Plus, we also have the um ASI where if they don't make it through that fall permutation, they can take it again in the spring. So, that's where in testing our cohorts earlier, the student could potentially take NJGPA three times in order to remain on a four four-year cohort track. I think that's where we see the increase. Again, you look back three years ago, it was 80%. And then it went up to 88.9 and then it
040went a little bit down to 88.6. We've leveled off. This year with the intentions of the ASI math with also again I have to include the guidance department with sitting with students making sure that they're keeping on track with their grades and other places. We're making it ideally to 95, but right now it's looking at until we get the NJ Smart, you know, cohort, the true cohort that they give us back from our upload, we're looking at between 90 and 95% of a cohort graduation this this year. >> Okay. So, 100 in math. >> Yep. >> 40 in language arts. >> Yes. >> I'm sure some of those overlap and are the same student. Do you have a number? And I guess my question is from the outside, not knowing these students, you know, like
041I don't I don't know who they are, >> are we concerned that these students aren't going to graduate? Like do we feel like we're going to get 140 of them through? That I guess that's my question. And I don't know that there's a way for you to answer that. >> No, I mean we can. So we can get students through because there's alternative pathways to graduation readiness. So the key for us is that graduation readiness isn't just NJGPA. You could also get graduate you could also become graduation ready through the PSAT through the SAT score. So we do SAT um in the fall as well. So there's multiple pathways. There's the PSAT, there's the ASFAB, there is well actually no the ASAB doesn't count the PSAT, the SAT. Um also there's an alternative portfolio process.
042So that alternative portfolio process, it happens when a student takes the NJPA a couple times. they sit down and they do certain tasks in English and or math and that proves their graduation readiness. So that certainly is something that we've been doing as well, the alternative pathway. Our goal though is to get to the point where students pass the NJGPA and that's where we don't have to remediate students through the alternative portfolio process because right now I think to be on to be direct is we are portfolioing more students than we would want to. So our goal is to through giving the ASI through giving the um math classes the EAL tutoring to get the students to pass the NJ GPA so they don't need an alternative portfolio process to graduate. So can we get
043those 40 or 100 kids or those 80 kids right because there's doubles can we get those kids to graduation readiness? Absolutely. Because the alternative pathway. Our goal though is to give them the education that gets them to be NJ GPA proficient so that they can graduate college and career ready without needing the portfolio. That was a great question. All questions were great questions. Any other questions? That's it. Thank you very much. Woohoo. [Music] >> The question. >> Thank you for the question. That's it. I'm going to wait till that done. I'm waiting on the sound. >> It'll be done. It'll be done in a second, >> maybe. takes a very long time. >> Okay. So, that brings us then to our student board member report. Do you have anything for us? >> All right. So,
044since school is currently not sorry, since school is currently not in session, there's not much school news to report. However, I'm happy to report about the summer college and career readiness program that's happening at Lafayette. Currently, high schoolers grades 10 through 12 are invited to attend a college and career boot camp, which will allow them to be prepared for their endeavors after high school. The boot camp is run by many school counselors and teachers, and it involves preparing kids for the SAT, college applications, and career readiness. It runs every Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with free breakfast and lunch served. For sports news, there are no sports in season, so there's not currently any um important things going on. However, there are multiple high school teams, including boys soccer and girls soccer, that
045have been holding captain's practices at the field. And that's it. >> Okay, thank you. Um that would bring us to committees and I think we'll start with uh Mr. Dawson and education. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. Uh the education committee met last week. The primary focus was uh the assessment schedule for the upcoming school year. Uh we learned about a new assessment called linkit which will help our teachers um track how our students are doing directly related to the curriculum standards that the state has established and uh that will uh align itself with the work that we do with previously existing assessment platforms. Um, we had a some good debate about how much assessment is the just right amount. We want to be at that Goldilocks level where we're not overassessing kids. Um, but we
046also want to make sure that our teachers have the best information they have to design supportive instruction around what the kids need uh without um needing to constantly assess them. So, uh, good discussion and we'll look forward to seeing how those assessments work in the upcoming school year. >> Okay, thank you. Any questions for Mr. Dawson? >> All right, that brings us to governance. That's me. We had three topics on our governance agenda. We first asked um administration for um a yearly calendar of what reports we will see each month and to try to nail those down as best we can. We know that sometimes things won't happen exactly when when we would like them to if data isn't uh available to us. But what I mean by that is to say when we get
047our calendar of dates, it would say January board meeting and mid-year data report, February strategic plan update, March budget presentation and so on. So that we know what presentations are coming just as today, you know, we would say NJGPA um and so on and so on. So the administration actually is already in the midst of putting that together. U we got kind of a rough draft during our committee, but they are working on it and they'll get that to us. So we should see a little bit more specific calendar coming out pretty soon. Um we also briefly uh because it was discussed in education just talked about the metrics because we were talking about beginning of year, middle of year, end of year reports in the first part. We talked about what that would be
048and again we went back to link it and talked about how that would work and and um we learned that that's more standardsbased and and a lot of the same things in education. And then lastly, I'm sure you know this, but in August, we do need to set our district and board goals. Uh we came up with some preliminary stuff, some that we want to keep, some that we want to change. We'll bring that uh to your attention when we meet in August. Of course, nothing that we said is set in stone. If you guys disagree with what the committee came up with, we can of course change what needs to be changed. We did reach out to Patty Reese about a meeting. Don't know if you guys heard, but she is retiring. So, she
049will not be meeting with us in August. I was told to then reach out to Gwen, which I did. Gwen said she would find us someone to meet. She asked me what dates we have available. I told her when our August meeting is, and I said we would love it, as we used to do, if we could do it that day, just at 5:30 before the meeting, so we keep it all on one day. Haven't heard back yet. So, please keep an eye on your emails because we may have to schedule a separate meeting for that in August. I don't know. But we need to get that done to to keep up with QAC. We have to have that done before the school year starts. So, if we have to have a special meeting, I
050apologize in advance. That's just something we might have to do to get our board and district goals uh settled. And that's all I have. Any questions for me? All right. Then we move on and next is HR with Miss High. >> Okay, my mic is on. Um, you know, I I every meeting I say we start our um HR meeting with looking at the the roster of positions we need to fill, you know, any transfers that there are. We have a a a num it's a busy time of year just to make sure that everything is filled. But we have tonight a number of um positions that we're just happy to see which is new principal at Smoly School, a supervisor for bilingual ESL and world language. There's a support technician um for the technology
051department uh new confidential secretary uh TAs in the prek lunch aids and then there were assignment changes within the district whether you know they were uh transfers and just change of assignments so there is a lot going on presently I think we have 15 um positions that we're still looking at and and doing the interviewing for. So, it's a very busy time. Um, the only other thing that we discussed during our committee meeting was a position control roster. And this is something new and it's really to um organize things. What it does, it assigns each person in the district an ID number and it then will correlate to their position, their job description, the department they're in, which is going to make it a lot easier ultimately for uh reporting. And that's all with HR.
052>> Okay. Does anyone have any questions for Miss High? >> Seeing none. Okay. So, operations is Mr. Zupkco. Was anyone at the meeting and prepared to You want to give a report, Miss High? Okay. >> I will give the report. >> Okay. >> It's um Okay. So, we actually at this meeting had two presentations. One was from Berto who was telling us what was going on in the district and that 50% of the work that needs to be done is done. It's probably a little bit higher than that now. Uh talked about the boilers at Lafayette Lamont, the asbestous abatement at Smallley School. Um just in the high school in the gymnasium, the the cuts, the rebar, everything it is on its way and actually I think completed. Um, what else? Looking at uh Lafayette,
053looking at the elevator, there's a pipe that's going to be removed under the floor. And the same thing at Small, you know, the the crawl space under there has a lot of uh surprises and those are all being taken care of. And there are a few things because of which we didn't discuss because of the weather over the last week and there was a lot with water and just getting the water out of Lamont getting it out of was it Lamont and Lafy? No, it was Lamont correct Dr. Freeman. Yeah. >> And the annex. Yes. Um and and that seems to be taken care of. there were fans brought in so that it was all airrated and so that it's you know just getting to the point that we could all be that we could
054be in there. Um the other presentation was by Laura Bishop and she came in and we were looking at the communication that is you know with throughout the schools and throughout the community and they came with the presentation because we did have some concerns on you know um what are we going to be doing looking forward you know and there were a number there was a it was a very good discussion and um one of the things that we decided It is, you know, we are still, you know, absolutely considering them, but looking at alternatives to see what is there that could best represent our uh our district and really just to up the communication and do it in a very timely way and as easy as possible so that all stakeholders are know what
055is going on. And I think that's it for operations. >> Okay. Hey. Does anyone have any questions about operations? >> No. Do you have another report for us? >> No. >> Okay. >> The Somerset County ESC does not meet regularly in the summer. They're just doing ESY. Um, our next meeting is scheduled for September. >> Excellent. And that brings us to Mr. Incalcera. Do you have something for us from southbound? >> Uh, currently we're in summer session. So, we're replacing the roof is uh wrapping up and the asbestous remediation that we have that is classroom to classroom replacing the 11in tiles is finishing up this week. >> Okay. Anything for Mr. Encalcitara? All right, that concludes our committee reports then unless anyone has any last minute comments. No. Okay, that brings us to item 5.1,
056which is uh open to the public for agenda items only. I'll read really quickly our guidelines. In accordance with district policy 0167, public participation in board meetings, meetings of the public are required to sign in either at the podium providing their name, address, and group affiliation if applicable. When addressing the board, please state your name and address and limit comments to agenda items only directed to the presiding officer. Each participant is allowed three to five minutes to speak. No individual may address the same topic more than once until all others wishing to speak have had an opportunity to do so. Does anyone anyone want to come forward and say anything in the room? No. All right. Then we move along. We go to number six. Um we have approval of minute. Be it resolved that
057the Balber Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent approves the minutes for the following meetings. Special board and executive meeting minutes of June 19th, 2025. Oh, sorry, just those two. Oh, shouldn't there be June 25th on here as well? I'm sorry. There's 61 and 62. They're listed separately. Okay. And the regular and executive meeting minutes of June 25th, 2025. Do I can I have a motion, please? Miss High and a second. Second, Mr. Dawson. Uh, any comments, questions? No. Okay. Can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Yes. But abstain on 6.1. Yes. >> Okay. Item 7.1. Be it resolved. The superintendent recommends for approval the resolutions as outlined in district personnel resolutions. This is 7.2 through 7.39. Can I have a motion, please? I'm sorry I missed that. Who was that? Oh,
058Mr. Encalcitara and a second. >> And that was Miss Gazino. Um, any comments, questions, concerns? Give everybody a second. There's quite a few there. No. Okay. Can we have a vote, please? Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Item 8.1. Be it resolved. The Bound Brook Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in district education resolutions 8.2 through 8.6. Can I have a motion, please? motion. >> Thank you, Mr. Dawson. And a second, >> Mr. Encalcitara. Thank you. Any comments in section 8? Questions? >> Can we get pet therapy for the board? >> Yes. Um, we will put that on the agenda next month. >> I know the kids love it. So, um, do you have any pets? And we can you bring them. >> I have two cats. I don't know how well >> I
059don't know if that's going to work then. No, never mind. Anyone else? >> Oh, Miss Hi, do you have a question? >> Well, take your time. We're here. >> It was It was the question concerning QAC. >> If anybody can find >> on QAC, did you? >> Yeah. >> Oh, here it is. It's 9.21. >> All right. We're not up to nine yet, so hold on. >> Oh, we're on eight. We're only in eight. >> I have a question for nine. >> Okay. Can we have a vote on section eight, please? >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Item 9.1, be it resolved the Bound Brook Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in board action resolutions. This is 9.2 through 9.21. Can I have a motion, please? >> Thank you, Miss Hy, and a second.
060>> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Dawson. Okay, Miss High, >> I have a question. >> Go right ahead. >> Um, just on QAC, just, you know, I'm looking at the um the 23, 24, 25 scores, and it was uh I mean, >> it's gone up, which is very nice. Is there um there were a couple things that I you know there were um scores you know I know you get a a zero or a one and that it all adds up in each category and there were some that were you know I guess it was you know a grant wasn't submitted on time and things like that. What are first of all in order to pass QAC and not be in any kind of corrective plan what does the score have to be? >> 80%.
061Oh, okay. Well, that really a thumbs up. Good. >> Yeah. So, we scored we scored high in all areas with the exception of instruction and programs and that was because of the weight that was given to the test scores. >> Okay. But if you see and something to be very proud of and I was going to put it in this this uh weekly confidential we were able to through the work of principles supervisors and under the uh guidance of Robin we were able to put in the corrective action plan which eventually uh got us the letter that's uh included in the attachment got us the letter which actually said that we pass. >> Yay. So we we pass in all areas now which is uh beautiful for us because that's something that we hadn't done
062in a bit >> and you knowing CUAC and knowing the work that goes into it. Wow, it's a lot of work and that was a lot of change in a short amount of time. So absolutely >> very nicely done. >> Well done. >> That was it for me. >> Okay. Any other uh questions from section 9? No. Okay. Can we please have a roll call vote? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. That brings us to uh other matters to come before the board or new business. I wasn't made aware of anything, but does anyone have anything they'd like to bring up now? Okay, seeing none, then that brings us to uh number 12, which is open to the public for discussion. This is anything, even if it's not on the agenda. Same rules apply as
063before, so I don't think I need to read it again. Anybody have anything they want to bring up at this point? No. Okay. All right. Well, then that brings us to executive. Um, where are we? Resolve the Bound Brook Board of Education enter executive session as allowed by NJSA104-11 for the purpose of >> We have nothing. Mr. Marman, we have no executive tonight. Does anybody want to go back there and talk? >> Just hang out. >> I heard there's a therapy dog in there. Yeah. >> No. Wow. Okay. We have no HIPS to move. Apparently, there's nothing to do in executive. All right. Well, that brings us all the way to number 16. I would I need a motion to adjurnn. >> Let me just So, I just want to do two things. One, I
064want to welcome our new Smallley School principal, April Morgan. If you would stand. >> Yay. >> Welcome to the Bound Brook family. And also, I want to congratulate Christine on her first board meeting. >> Yay. >> Yes. Well done. Good job. And that's it for me, Mr. Vice President. >> I promise Mr. Januzi runs things a little more smoothly than I do. It'll be much easier once he returns from vacation. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, resolve the bound board of education adjourns. Motion, please. >> Motion, >> Miss High. And a second. >> Second. Oh, Miss Gazino. All in favor? >> I We are joured. >> I'm going to go see.