001can you tell me when you're ready it's going live you are alive I just want to do an audio all right you are golden okay we're going to call to order from public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public but advance notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which time any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon according to the provisions of this act and Board of Education policy 0162 the Board of Education of the borough of Bound Brook has caused notice of this meeting to be posted the board office and at Bound Brook High School and mail or fax to The Courier News Bound Brook Borough clerk southbound report of Education any person who has requested individual notice and paid the required fee stand
002for the pledge [Music] allegiance to the United States of America the problem foreign [Music] ER Mr Januzzi Mr Vice President you have a Quantum president this evening thank you I'm going to skip president's comments go right to superintendent Court okay well good evening everyone Welcome to our August board meeting we are in a great place we're looking forward to students coming back in a couple of weeks putting a lot of hard work over the last couple of months to get ready for this upcoming school year we're very excited um hopefully I'll get to see some of you at the teacher or at the student orientation uh that happened this week and um we look forward to having you back in a couple weeks that's it for my comments however is not here tonight so we'll
003go right to committee reports starting uh with education with Mr Dawson thank you the uh education committee met on August 7th our Focus was largely around reviewing the results of our summer programs we as a district offer a variety of summer programs for kids who may need academic attention Credit Recovery or additional programming to meet their developmental needs this year the program was redesigned and reimagined and it included stem art other fun activities as a result the district noted dramatic increases and improvements and student attendance as well as a decrease in problematic student behaviors we did some surveying of students and staff and parents about the conclusion of the survey and the results overwhelmingly indicated that people were not only satisfied with the programming but they found meaning and value in it uh during our
004summer programs students need to determined through assessments and teacher data elementary students were able to be assessed through the eyewriting program which is an Adaptive test that we will be utilizing in the upcoming school year initial feedback was very positive from the use of that program teachers are able to use the data along with data from the spring Benchmark tests to design really targeted small group instruction in both language arts and math the results are very positive post-test results indicated high amounts of growth and there's a lot of excitement and enthusiasm that perhaps sharing this data with teachers as you begin will really bring about the enthusiastic racing and instructional approach that's targeted and responses data in the upcoming school year initially the extended school year program also enjoyed great success there are a variety
005of fun things kids did both in the buildings as well as in the community and all of these improvements of the administration really thought was possible because of really dedicated teacher leaders in our programs we want to recognize those folks I apologize if I am not pronouncing your names correctly those folks included Brittany Nelson Jen daravanic Bethany Wagner Diaz the board thank you thanks you for your work and your leadership in our summer programs and that was our education meeting this month for education okay uh governance is next I can do this in under a minute only because we talked about setting our goals for the upcoming year and we kind of spit both some ideas so that we can bring ideas to you guys later tonight so pretty much everything we did at governance
006you will learn at the second portion of our meeting with Gwen this evening so I really have no other report and that brings us right to human resources for Miss muscle I was not an attendance okay okay same thing for a while we're moving is anybody here from the community engagement and well I guess actually now that's the um excuse me extracurricular committee have a report no okay and miss high what about you anything from Somerset County this we met on August uh August 2nd and it really was um it was a quick meeting and the superintendent uh is how done Savage who's been there for 43 um [Music] um just discussed what the division was with operations putting money into reserved um passing knowledge taking over and extending the education program very well it's
007since ended there were 50 students in attendance the building was hit by one of the storms by lightning and one of the storms and it affected the fire system so they had to have a 24-7 fire watch and that was contracted until 8 15. um they have 120 students scheduled to start in the fall as you know in the last report the busing they have done away with the busy part of their program and Hunterdon County purchased there's no removal equipment it costs 14 Grand to set up set that up and take it down each season they didn't just have the committee reports which were not eventful and um that was it the only other thing is that they lease the central Bridgewater where they were storing all the buses equipment they leased it for
008one extra month for 13 000 as opposed to one actually a year for 180 that 180 000 so they could just get rid of all the equipment stuff that was that was happening um new business there is that we're going to be discussing goals influence it okay thank you any questions for any of our committees all right then at this time we are open to the public for agenda items only so there is no one coming up here at the top give us a look online real quick can I say I'm excited for the kitties to come back can you say that yes you have to put your name on the thing and sign in you can say that yes uh agenda items are open to the public uh nothing for the agenda online oh
009to approve d professional record tenant approve the minutes for the following meetings regular and executive meeting minutes of July 19 2023. and I have a motion please both miss high and a second is that Miss muscle okay Miss muscle yes I'm sure there'll be a couple extensions any discussion at all okay yes sir real cool on the minutes Mr Bell yes Mr Dawson yes Wilson yes Mr mittenhouse yes Miss hi yes I have five affirmative votes amendments that's the majority of the members see if it's no motion passes thank you moving on to Personnel resolutions the years all the superintendent recommends for approval the resolutions as outlined in District Personnel resolutions which 7.2 through 7.45 so there's a lot there to look at and I have emotion motion all right Mr zubko in a second
010sounds like Miss muscle again all right any comments give you a minute because there are quite a few of them and it's on 77. seven seven yeah I thought that Mr benedetto had retired no son he has a son Junior oh okay thank you anyone else um quick question for the number of folks that have retired or left um how are we doing compared to the year before that are retiring or left let me replacing filling open spots yeah because last year we had a lot of music and how are we doing this year from first glance and I've talked to uh I was talking to the union of the day it looks like it's much better but I'll get you uh specific so it's trending down yeah yeah because along with all those you
011know not all the retirements and resignations there are quite a few buyers on this well anyone else on number seven and it is it's 7.34 and it's just to say I'm happy that Sony solid Sonic inter topic is retiring but I'm also so sad about our teaching team okay seeing no further comment we have a roll call please yes sir Personnel action items yes yes item eight be resolved the Bound Brook Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in districts and solutions that is equal to two through eight 29. I have a motion please it was high and second second Mr menos yes sir thank you Mr midnight discussion every year the virtual learning plan yeah every year oh no no we don't have to do it we just have to have a plan
012yeah I've learned to change to last year can they speak into them yes they're talking about the virtual learning plan which is 8.3 just asking if that's something that we do every year which it is and there have been no changes from last year to this year yeah I have a question he says he says I have a question uh 8.3 is this uh have we is this a new facility that we're utilizing or abuse that before it's important it's foreign can we turn it up a little bit it's for a new purpose that was my question yeah no oh no all right um so jumping down to 829 is more about the elementary school hours yes um T3 and P4 so those are just ones right you know and some parents still happen to
013have kids that are in two different breeds little that's that's a basically a great time for getting one child at 2 30 and you haven't been to the next one and three okay all right we uh we spoke about a Google look into yeah but I mean a lot of it comes down to the data like how many how many kids are in there so you know that impacted me I don't know that where what their um how the logistics will work yeah we we have we'll put a plan in place for those that have difficulty left with that Google have um the afternoon program stuff and you know all right I just wanted to uh congratulate the administration for the comprehensive for the comprehensive [Music] concentration of Mental Health Services and I I as
014a clinician myself I think it's extraordinarily helpful and not only students but staff have those resources I can't tell you how bottom of my heart I I I'm excited because as a post-pandemic that's what I wanted to say and thank you we have a continued adherence to this because I think this is this is uh has and it will be uh upcoming issues so thank you very much any more discussion okay can we have a roll call please yes sir education resolution just about yes this is awesome yes yes Mr Wilson yes Mr Midas yes Miss High yes and moving along to board action resolutions be resolved the Bound Brook Board of Education improves the resolutions as outlined and board action resolutions these owner items 9.2 through 9 126 can have a motion Please Mr
015self code thank you in a second second like it was high any discussion estimated correction to one of the agenda items if I make okay item 9.19 approval change order number two and number three to bison Contracting due to the diligence of our facility director soliciting additional quotes for the service next time I would like to pull the current number two from the agenda and make the number three to do number two is to keep the sequence with the change orders and just for clarity I'll read the motion yeah be it resolved at the Bound Brook Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent and as recommended by drg Architects to approve the proposed change order number two which is currently listed as number three and that is 16 178.80 for revisions to electrical service
016upgrades the total amount of the change orders for this new number two 16 178.50 the next meeting you will have a replacement for the previous number two which was called and it will be materially less standing okay any other comments questions nope okay then can you please have a roll call Mr Bob yes Mr Dawson yes okay yes yes Mr benhas yes it's high yes motion passes thank you other matters come for the board or new business has anyone has anything they'd like to discuss at this time sailing through okay then at this time we are open to the public for discussion into Utah there's nothing online nothing online anyone here okay then we are moving along to executive here um Board of Education inter executive session as well by mjsa 10 4-11 for the
017purpose of I don't know what numbers were going in for tell me that Mike yes 13.2 update on security and advice regarding saying 13.3 harassment intimidation bullying 13.4 update on bbea negotiations 13.5 we know what numbers they fall under and then that would be one three four seven okay one three four and seven and I have a motion going to Executive motion thank you Mrs up though in a second thank you Mrs Austin that's what I thought all in favor all right foreign thank you very much foreign thank you very much thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you when you're ready Tom you are unmuted okay we are ready to reconvene an open session can I have a motion
018to reconvene motion give us up go second all in favor all right I moved to I had a 14.1 didn't get yeah we're gonna be resolved report of Education the approval of the resolutions as outlined in approval of hip cases under high school only which is just item 1442 have a motion promotion Al Dawson yes thank you Mr Dawson and second second okay Mr Homer thank you any discussion I guess we can't really discuss him so we have a roll call please yes awesome yes Lima Christine yes looking past okay and item 15.1 be it resolved the Bound Brook Board of Education the approval of the rest Solutions as outlined in approval of hip cases under middle and elementary school can I have a motion [Music] thank you Ms Russian and in a second thank
019you miss high any discussion okay can we have a roll call please yes yes thank you yes yes it's high yes Mr Coleman yes motion passes okay uh procedurally Mr Gorski we're up to 16.1 which is our Workshop here do we just move right into that I would recommend but we don't do anything here as far as we adjourn after that okay all right let's move down thank you usually it says very nice okay what hey how are you good how are you doing it's hard to leave so much time so much summer so much although Sue's tree has started falling into my pool so you must be getting close it's hey John thank you never they have a way of growing thank you sir it really is um are you giving him ideas so
020I know you've already so thank you for having the patience to this and it's actually it's appropriate because we because there are last year's goals they're also in the PowerPoint but I sat down and it's like there they are um so we actually titled this year's old setting sustaining the learning and accelerating the growth really because this was the first year um that we were really back full time from Cohen and now it's really as we begin to play catch-up how do we think about accelerating the growth um and talking about goal setting for 23 and 24. so really is studying the course for Student Success I just love this picture of a girl on a pencil writing into the sun um closing those opportunity gaps so that we are reaching all children um and
021taking them to the next level um and then thinking a little bit from this past school year what do we really learn um certainly talking about school the importance of school culture and climate students mental health all of those have been really greatly emphasized this particular year Equitable access to all of your curriculum and your co-curricular opportunities for students is an important piece of recruiting and retraining high quality staff with the staff shortages all across the state have become really challenging for a lot of districts especially in those areas such as for English language Learners particularly higher level math courses a lack of predictable funding has become increasingly complicated complicating for all of you to figure year to year how to plan effectively because there's always that level of uncertainty I mean the government just
022signed a bill yesterday to restore courtesy busing for like 10 000 kids it's just you live in a world of uncertainty so those things are really important we've learned again about the limitations of technology and hopefully also about the possibilities of using that technology to accelerate learning to help remediate those students who may need additional time on tasks and so why do we set goals because by setting those goals for the district you enable your superintendent to translate those goals to your building leaders those building leaders translate those goals to their teachers and everyone's oars are in the Water Rowing in the same direction they may look differently at different levels at the elementary middle and high school those goals get translated differently but they are essentially the same goals you're working toward that same
023thing and hopefully it will increase student achievement for all kids moving forward so here's your mission statement I'm happy to go from the beginning to the end all right that was quick that was easy last time I'm not going to read this I'm sure you know it probably by Art um but it's important to think about it so you know why set these to ensure that you have Equitable policy development that allows for students to all be recognized known and heard of moving closer to your mission statement to achieving your ultimate goals helps for the planning and implementation of your professional development you know staff need to have how do we plan through affect that it allows you for periodic evaluation to readjust if you have to realign you never know when you're going something's
024going to pop up and it's a wonderful way to communicate to your community the importance of what it is you're doing what you are focused on and in some ways it provides I hate to use the word cover but in essence it does provide the board cover that this is your focus this is what you're working on so it groups come to the table and want something that is so far afield that you can't possibly really do that within the scope of your for a year it allows you to say that may be something we consider further down the road and that's what I mean by cover because you can't do it all in a year it's just awesome so you want to make sure that you have a vision of high expectations for all
025students which I know all of you do um and then think about what should be your focus for the coming year this past Year's goals um obviously with besides academic those 21st century skills which are so incredibly important that are part of social emotional learning as well um are so important important to be thinking about as well because we are educating children not turning out widgets right and we want to make sure that they leave with a love of learning that they're empathetic that they're civilly responsible um that they're articulate that they can think critically you know there's a new standard coming out about technological literacy so that students can discern what's true and what's not true what's real and what's not real so all of those things are important here are the goals from
026last year they're in front of you um I think that at least the first one is achieved completely um and I would depend on the rest of you to look at the second and third goals to see if those need to be continued or Rewritten um and then additionally is there anything else any other areas of focus that you believe you need to pay attention to for the 23-24 school year they came out of this past year and so I would ask Dr Freeman perhaps to wait yeah to weigh in on that because I think that um the goals the way they are I mean last year we took the first steps nothing happened in years so I think it's time I think during my evaluation it was said you know one of the things
027about this environment taking risks and such with the survey which I think is valid you know because we can go by anecdotal information but you know the survey would be quality and then in terms of the measures the goal was to incorporate the qualitative and quantitative however we needed some new systems and because of that we moved from just using um link it to finding some other resources that would allow us to do it more frequently so we could have like quarterly report outs to the board based on actual uh real-time data real-time data which we showed at the committee the most recent education committee where it showed how we used it and we were very successful with a small group of kids so we're going to take that and use that uh with you
028know the entire um student body you know at each level so we've gotten the actionable qualitative and quantitative measures our tools for it now we're going to put it in place and we would do I would say quarterly report outs to the board which would show what type of progress so we spoke about all of this at governance this past I guess two weeks ago and um almost exactly what you're saying is is what we came up with so I just have a few notes Here we said board or I should say District goal one was met and we can cross that off District goal too we said should remain create the safe environment we should stay with that because while we're working towards it we're not quite there yet as far as everybody really
029feeling safe and um you know building that perfect culture that we want with it we have a we had a long way to go so we've come a long way but there's still more to do there you don't change culture overnight right and it doesn't happen goal three um we said we would like to have and I think maybe this is what Dr Freeman is saying something a little bit more tangible as far as the data instead of just saying incorporate qualitative and quantitative maybe as a board we could see like quarterly reports for instance see see more data to see exactly how that's going and then at that point we said we would have to open it up if to the rest of the board if we wanted a third goal having crossed off
030number one or if we want to stick with two and as far as the board goal our number one priority uh as far as the committee was concerned is that we have to start working on the new Five-Year Plan for the district because this is the final year coming up so we have to work through so you want to begin and execute on a five-year strategic plan right um that's all the committee came up with now that's just three of us so at that point you know anyone else is more than welcome to add input in any of those those places those were just our suggestions yeah that has to be done and from what Dr Freeman says when he walked in the door and saw it it's overwhelming and Broad and needs and needs
031to be I was going to ask you on the five-year strategic plan are you going to use the old one and build off of it or kind of start with like the zero-based Strategic plan and start from scratch what's your plan um I would well there's some foundational things we would use but uh I have somebody come in and help us with that you know what I mean to kind of show us the best way to go I have an idea of what we need I'm sure you everybody has info but I want to have somebody who specializes okay and is that something that's done in committee I feel like that if so that that's governance how is it done the building of The Five-Year Plan yeah sure old Taurus do you're asking me from
032your experience so my experiences there's two different approaches um while having five years is a long time a lot has changed in those five years so I'm not sure there's a lot of value in retaining anything from the previous strategic plan because things have changed so dramatically over the course of the last five years especially these last five years things just totally flip right so I'm not sure that there's any value even looking at that and moving forward districts tend to do it two different ways most districts will hire Consultants now if you're looking for someone to come in um and and do real data analysis and a deep dive into the curriculum and instructional program you need to reach out to people like Dr Sakowski from Kane University I mean there are a whole
033host of folks that do that kind of work we do strategic planning but you're not going to get that level of data we don't do that kind of analysis because we're not staffed to do that ours is more bringing in the community together bringing in stakeholders asking them to identify um what they see from their perspectives are the strengths of the district and the challenges that the district faces over the next three to five years having them identify what's important to them what is their vision for the future of the Bound Brook School District what does that mean to your community and it's very Community specific every District's different as you know and then having them identify from all of that work that Collective work what the where they see are the appropriate goal areas
034to put a focus on whether it's culture and climate whether it's School Safety and Security typically you know these are the kinds of things we are hearing and getting from districts out there um curriculum the instructional program itself um and then all of that gets turned over into your Administration to write the action plans from those goals that are written by the group because oftentimes if you have the community involved in writing action plans they're not really necessarily in touch with the real world and by that real world what I mean the limitations um teacher contracts you know like they may say oh we need to do X Y and Z but they don't think through well now you need busing and you need extra staff and there's a hire 50 more teachers so you
035know that is typically how we work through strategic planning but it is less I don't want to say academically focused but it's less driven by data it's more qualitative than quantitative and so I think you can you have to decide which matters most to your District in your community right a big combinations both for me I think a combination of both you've seen that right I have seen that yeah I think a combination of both because we want to give the input to the community you know this way they feel like they we've heard what they had to say right and I think that that's important oftentimes we have found though that those groups that are really focused on the quantitative sort of just do a quick survey and think that that's sufficient right um
036I am of the mind that asking people to I think there are a lot of intangible benefits that go with strategic planning that you can't necessarily measure in quantifiable terms and one of those is having all different groups in your community work together meet each other get to learn about the schools you know you may get you know we encourage folks to invite preschool parents um senior citizens the ministerium the rabbinical Council you know the police chief the fire department you know everyone in your community who is involved because there is so much that people assume about districts that they don't really know and so having all all of those folks that allows kids Elementary parents to talk to Middle School staff for example and they find out wow that rumor wasn't really true about
037the Middle School those kinds of things they learn and that intangible benefit of wow there's a whole lot more that goes on here that I just never knew about because we don't get great press coverage anymore because there is no press really left um and so what they learned is generally through social media whether it's the patch or tap into which you know they try but it's not as thorough it is complete as you might like and now the interviews don't have full time unless they're very large wealthy districts Communications or someone who's doing the pr piece that Communications plan for the district and so getting the good news out for the district has become more difficult so it's another way to get some of that good news out about what the district's doing as
038well as hearing about your warts right because you need to know what the community is thinking what is they want to see is that they're not seeing now you all have different constituencies you know because there are multiples of you right and you live in different places in town and you do different things and go different places and you have kids of different pages but it's helpful to hear from everyone and I and I think you have to have that component piece as well as the data because I think just the day that did tell us a full story right because it's a human business and so I think it's important to incorporate both for what that's worth oh I agree with you so goal number two you would you like to keep it or
039would you like to reword it that might say something about more fully utilize the data that is so our old goal three you're calling our new goal to that one qualitative quantitative measures yes yeah because they're keeping right I'm sorry I misspoke myself no that's okay I know what you meant goal number three the quantitative qualitative piece um you want to talk about we're fully utilizing for instructional purposes to run them you have to tell me I'm not really clear to review movement you know where the kids are where they you know it's not all unfortunately being on grade level but there's some that are showing rapid movement but we just need to know how they're performing yeah I think we've the district um the Administration has put a lot of this in place um
040and now we need to report it report it out to us I guess The Next Step they're just getting into all of these different platforms that that kind of gather all the data and teachers are learning to use it yeah and now we need to see how that's working and how we're moving kids forward that's a that's a big piece of it too using that data to really Target student achievement um one of the things we're you know looking at you don't have to do every single standard if the standard has already been met you know you need to focus on the needs of individuals and groups I think we're making that way towards that I do I do too um a Next Step might be how can we make sure that our staff members
041our administrators our fluids in the data in a meaningful way that's good so for example like when we're looking at student achievement numbers can we have school-based administrators present the story of their building as opposed to one person presenting the entire District like how do we get to make sure that the folks who are on the ground in the trenches you just using the data are really giving us their impression of it in a meaningful way and it gives a vision too of where it started you know what are we doing at the very young Etc and moving on up where are the needs I've seen it too well I think the last year has been light years ahead of where we were absolutely I just yeah I think the next step is because we've
042we've been teaching how to use the data now can they use what they've learned use the data effectively and also open report coming in that's true too the new staff coming into effective to be effectively trained so that they can use it effectively I always feel bad every year at my school when the new the new teachers just expected here's Lincoln not fun we had this training last year that's a deeper question too of do we as a board have the structure in place to Grapple with that data in a in a meaningful and logical way so for example if we're looking at student assessment results in the fall right are we doing that in such a way where we tie that to how we invested funds how we assigned Personnel what are the needs
043that we see as a board that would improve the outcomes but is that done in a way so it's done in conjunction with the development of a budget and planning for the upcoming year and putting a focus on kind of the direction we want to go do we need a certain type of personnel is there a certain trait we're looking for so is there a curriculum needs like how do we what happens there is the education committee reports out on what they find and the HR department our committee has to now act on it so to speak or operate or whoever you know whatever we find the needs are have to you know if we find a need like this one segment is you know underrepresented in some way or we need more staff there
044yeah so it's all coordination of all these different areas which is going to be observations it has just to make sure that those I just mean on our end sure as Administration that's but I think our old board went a long way in in starting that process because again before this year our committees weren't even reporting out I mean that we were getting nothing at all from each other and now it's a huge yeah I actually know what's going on in the other committees it's nice so we took the first step in your in that direction that you're saying would you like it to expand to say something along the lines of more fully utilize the data to inform instruction professional development and improve student achievement in other words the PD piece or the training
045for the teachers right but using it up fully to your point around administrators but also your line teachers have to be able to utilize it yeah yeah as I was reading this to me the top half is good it's the effective utilization now right we've Incorporated things we've put things in place the Administration has done done a great job of of bringing in a lot of PD to teach them how to teach teachers how to use the data now they have to get comfortable using and understanding how that okay but to more fully utilize the data right to inform instruction to improve student achievement professional development at least I don't really Gwen read that first Point again to more fully utilize the data to inform instruction Drive student achievement and assist and somewhere we need
046to get that PDP it almost sounds like it needs to come initially okay right I guess PD would PD would take care of right through professionals yeah I just had that thought yeah through professional development we can do those things right to inform instruction which is that in live real-time piece right and then um to inform instruction to inform instruction and improve student achievement I mean that is the total goal of it right it's the ultimate through lifetime data you can see where kids have learned what they haven't learned go back remediate that in some fashion provide those supports which will improve ultimately the outcomes in student achievement does improve imply that we're not well do you want to improve or increase or what do you mean we could say accelerate student achievement if you
047like well I I think I think improve is an honest word I think we want to improve and I I think people would relate to that the improve I mean everybody sits here numbers we're talking education I think to me it implies there's a lot that we need to make but we do I have no problem it does but I'm not an educator and to approve you're kind of telling me that it cut to me a non-educator it sounds like our students aren't doing well okay but they're not like I'm okay with saying that because where they were but if it's a matter of a word that might put others at ease could you read it and maybe we could put increase or accelerate or I don't know fully utilize the data through professional development
048to inform instruction and Target I had to Target student achievement um Drive nope increase see to me that makes it sound like it hasn't been a priority and I know it's been a priority this whole year so really we need to understand how about continue to improve continue what about enhanced questions because either way you cut it it's bad right I don't see it as bad I just think it's honest I think we're improving as a teacher like hey I want to improve general public I don't either I like enhance because that's specific to any child right you can enhance someone's individual learning yeah you could also make something that's beautiful and just say or we enhanced it but behind the scenes it's still the same class you know hey I don't go with that
049I don't believe that when can you read it with enhanced okay read it 10 more times yeah just one more time with healing yes fully utilize the data through National development form instruction and enhance student achievement okay it works I'm okay with that yes what do you want Danny what word do you want in there Danny's not happy go ahead as a parent I want to prove I feel every child can only do better yeah like just like when I go to my professional development every year is to improve me to improve well and I think that's what I or you know I mean there are times when I slip and you know can we just go continue to improve student achievementation because we are improving but we need to continue to do so what
050if we think about it democracy in action I think it answers are we voting between enhancing and proof this is real minutia here it's going to be on those goals in front of us I think it's important words matter how about accelerating how about accelerate improve and enhance you know I mean I'm fine with all three yes but isn't that the idea David to help accelerate learning yeah to enhance it and to improve it I mean what if we use all three words that's a lot I think it's a lot I think it's very worthy I also think the word accelerate to me it's like maybe it's just because my district uses that word but that leads me to think like accelerated classes and TNT stuff yeah that's what I think you can take it
051that way to me accelerating means going faster that we would ordinarily be able to do with the idea of utilization of data is to be able us to enable the teachers to more quickly understand where there are gaps and close them and move the kids forward but it's all in how we Define words right it's how those connotations towards improve to me I think the same way you do I continue to improve through my professional development right I think you can reach that point where you can't get better exactly it's around continuous learning that's another way to express it if you wanted to enhance or to I don't want to say to improve but to enhance continuous learnings you know get away from student achievement where where does accountability come in where does the account
052you have a nice goal there but it's nice to say this but is accountability something that we do separate from yeah the accountability would come through Canada actually looking at has the data does the data move up on student achievement is this making a difference in learning are our kids achieving or at higher rates and at different levels than they were previously I mean that's the easiest thing to measure data makes it really easy to measure as opposed to the quantitative things which can be really squishy like that's this for me it is a squishier gold because that's really hard to quantify how do you measure that right you can say the number of meetings you attended the places he went how visible the suit went empirically it's more difficult to measure student achievement at
053least and I know that I see it number one I mean when I see it I know I know and I do too yeah but I'm just saying from a word perspective right in terms of something quantum quantically you said accountability work from your per second I so we say we want to improve the education how are we measuring that and if we're not achieving that who's responsible for our treatment and if we are achieving it who gets the credit I mean we could say this is a great thing to do but it's a it's a faculty sits there and says I'm not buying into it well the easiest answer to that is everybody yeah look we're all on the same team so administrators teachers us superintendent all the way down and it comes from
054the support and the training that they're getting so you're not leaving them to do things on their own but they're providing the support some folks that won't even do it but they are held accountable or should be through the evacuation the whole plan too is going back to you have an action point this is what the administrator is going to do and this is the professional development that's going to be provided and etc etc that thing wasn't there we're handing them the goal and now they have to send it down to administrators to teachers on down the line and create a plan where they're going to bring this home and teachers are evaluated annually and in tested grades and subjects there's a percentage of their evaluation that's direct directly tied to those scores I would
055tell you I think there are all kinds of other you need to use multiple measures to not only evaluate teachers but also evaluate learning new kids right those standardized test results but you know that's what they print the paper that's what all these various organizations measure districts by unfortunately are those kinds of Statistics not necessarily are we graduating students who are civically responsible critical thinkers empathetic you know willing to give back to their communities which is a huge piece of the educational process I mean the totality of it this speaks to one aspect of it but that is what you're here to do is to help students learn and Achieve so that when they leave they can go to college careers the military whatever they're next step in life that they want to do is
056so we haven't come to a conclusion on the word now that I've said all of that right what Bitcoin well let's vote on it then as well that's the way to go what are our choices enhance and improve are those everyone except find one of those or the other acceptable okay then let's vote on enhanced versus improve should we close our eyes and raise our hands that's how we do it in my classroom nobody can see who's voting oh my goodness with all right so who would rather have the word enhance I'm gonna say I'm gonna say four Joanna came up with a great one no you only get improver enhanced choices strength strengthen you know yeah it doesn't matter what word he's gonna do the same thing um utilize the data through professional development
057to to inform instruction strengthen student achievement I love it I love it good job all right so now we have one hold on we have two because we're keeping the only thing I'd hate to even say this and don't the second word create we've already started creating yes so we want to continue to create to continue to enhance no sustain sustainable but I think we have to keep going sustain means keep it as it is right I think okay um to already have a continue thank you I just stole it and then the last question would be do we want a third completely new goal or those two enough I mean I hate to say that I kind of do agree with that accountability something on that level go ahead I think these are two
058lofty goals I I really do and it really addresses everything and everybody in the district less is more and I think by really going after that um the data and learning about it and using it effectively Etc that's a huge test the data goal is I don't think so you know other districts have two goals or some do they do listen it's about getting the work done yeah right and that's a huge piece and that's these two speak to the two largest schools we're talking about the two parts yeah climates so so that I heard accountability again tell me what your perspective was uh yeah well I think this goes on to what Gwen is saying we need um additional uh what was already data points or additional evaluations on those we can't just go
059continuing with the existing evaluation that we have we might need to oh so I think I mean if you have tenure this is what you get evaluation make sure we're addressing different points not just like this multiple measures of Student Success I mean the thing is is that I'm thinking you know from the students that are doing sounds like you have a teacher in mind that you know honestly like I feel like I'm uncertainty right what would fix that problem I I know two teachers and yeah and I know of others that would say say something but they won't um and my concern is is does that start to become a problem because we have others that will not say a thing as well can I play Devil's Advocate using Joanna's Supply if you think
060improve is negative go ahead and put on there we want to weed out the bad apples you know like you can't put that on you can't put something like that you're looking you're looking at outliers you're not looking at the uh by the way in committee Dr Freeman has already talked about this to us about having his his evaluations more closely aligned with the student achievement and why some aren't aligned like he's already aware of this so I don't know if you want if you need to put in words because he knows he's already told us in education and I understand you're concerned about accountability yes um I think a couple of things have to happen we talked about PD we talk about data we have to create a focus so we create a focus
061of what we're looking to do we have to identify specific practices and then we have to evaluate what the what the goal of making better but I think and this is what I'm working with the principals now is honing in on what good evaluation looks like but also having a consistent Focus between the principal the teachers the supervisor so everybody's looking at the same thing the PD is aligned to it that's what's really going to make it better I understand what you mean about it yeah I don't disagree with you you have people have to do what they're supposed to do and we have to support them but I think creating a focus is very big because right now what happens is we evaluate there's a bunch of sections on the evaluation you try to
062get every section there's no Focus right so we have to narrow that down to a specific Focus that aligns with what we're trying to improve and that's where we're going with it but that's where the data piece comes in as well so that's the other goals which one the safe environment to me a periodic review of the data and quantitative measures to make sure that we are on track with accomplishing goals similar to that but that's part of the action plans that you will get from doctor um from your superintendent so that you will know when those things are being achieved and I'm a little confused here you're talking about staff accountability right um could be teachers yeah yeah no I'm not criticizing I'm just trying to make sure that I under understand your point
063some of that Dr Freeman is absolutely on because it speaks to Innovative reliability because when you have more than one person evaluating staff if the if the evaluators aren't on the same page and looking at with the same Focus as the other person then you can get really skewed pieces that that don't align right and then the person sort of skates right down the middle which is what oftentimes happens so that PD for your educational leaders supervisors directors principals Vice principals the people that are doing that evaluation is critically important in getting that accountability to work effectively I think oh sorry we're gonna I was gonna say that the two goals are great and that we have to we're thinking about things from a district Labs right really broad that's going to impact everybody what
064I think was would help refine the accountability piece is perhaps if we could develop some indicators for each goal some examples and non-examples of different aspects of the district where we could say okay over the course of the year we want to get here so what does it look like what are some things that would be achieved by December by March so for example second goal is a safe environment for students and staff who are comfortable taking risks to work collaboratively toward a common goal so I I see that I think okay you can do a climate survey implemented by December review by March action plan by to align with the budget and we look at a budget we see okay the budget supports the things that were identified yeah you need the results by
065March so that you can plan effectively for what that survey shows and now it shows a program that we need or an initiative we ought to undertake because otherwise you're not going to get that in the budget and I think if we break those goals down a little bit further and I'm not saying we have to publicize exactly yeah that's the action plan part but I think we've got a pretty educated board here of people who you know know the community know the kids know the buildings no education that I think we could probably identify amongst ourselves here are some things that would be indicators that were making progress of this and here's how we would know it and here's how we would not because maybe we have different definitions of so these are our
066goals then just as an example education committee then would have to come up with those you know for this for the more quantitative one would have to come up with you know what measure do we want to see right responsibility of the administration to put together an action plan with those specific deliverables so that you'll know what it is you need to know I think we've got a board that could have a good voice and then I think you can through time and talking in committee about what the expectations are you are the what folks making it happen is their responsibility so sharing what it is you're looking for what is critically important let's make sure we Define our conversation that way we're the goal Setters and yes okay reciprocal and they Implement they so
067what I was going to say about accountability before this is just me being an optimist this is me trying to yeah that goal right there with the safe environment the culture change if that if you can achieve that those teachers you think won't do it Buy in not ever not 100 you're never going to 100 of human beings but the people who you think oh that teacher is never going to buy in all of a sudden like I've had really good leaders and I've had principals who I could couldn't stand and you can and you can see the difference in the Enviro in the way people work and and I I mean this is me just being an optimist if the culture keeps changing the way it is you're going to see less and less
068teachers say no I don't want to do that because they're they're all they're gonna either Buy in or less effectively but it happens everybody else is going to buy and they're gonna be like oh no I I either Buy in or I'm I'm left behind so that's just the Optimist in me thinking that we're kind of accomplishing what you want and the third goal would also better yeah of course and then the third goals yeah yeah you know if you create that safe environment you will get those who want to do it right yeah and again then you're always going to have an outlier on either side sure and have somebody who's appears all right all right I'll always be a few in any job in any profession are we are we saying we're okay
069then with two goals the point of reference is is when I first came on the board I looked through The Five-Year Plan that was established 2018. and I looked at it and I basically said this is all boilerplate anybody in the world could have put this together and I looked at items items too another friend said the same thing all right that's good can they accomplish that show and I look at A Five-Year Plan and I said well there was no accountability and did we do all these wonderful things this is me being the pessimist um yeah every district has that stuff and you never really find out if it works that happens a lot no no go back you don't have to make it less time and to make it less things you have
070less items on there that's that's a strategic foreign is accountable right and you 'll be able to pull your annual goals right from that strategic plan because that strategic plan should articulate what it you know these kinds of pieces I looked when we do I I just know the the best analogy I looked at The Five-Year Plan said this looks like the State of the Union speech whether you're public or democrat has laundry lists all these wonderful things I'm going to do and nobody says nobody comes back to next there's no uh they don't check it out they only check every four years if you have action plans that will safeguard the accountability and that's what really makes a strategic plan work also at the end of every year when you do your goal setting
071say and with your community having that conversation you know bringing them back in and saying here's what we worked on here's what we weren't able to accomplish it's sort of the how am I doing you know those of you remember Ed kochy Instagram saying how am I doing how am I doing but looking at making sure that you are taking stock every year what did we achieve on the Strategic plan we what did we get to is there anything that's no longer valid listen Hurricane Sandy blew through here you'll all remember that I had districts that lost their roofs right their strategic plans were like you know we got to get into the building put them in a seat and hopefully educate them while we you know build our buildings back so there are the
072pandemic everybody's strategic plan went except for their technology piece right yeah all of a sudden went you know accelerate accelerated by at least a decade it really did or we would still be back not one to one not doing all those things or doing it more slowly so um I would suggest whoever you get to do this I mean annual annually whatever month generally April or May and have a meeting with everyone and go through usual what's outstanding do we need to so that it stays down because if you have a fear of government yeah forbid um that never comes back that's not it becomes not an endemic um then you have to adjust and and that's an important piece with that accountability it does come through those actions and I'm encouraged to with the
073five years strategic plan that they now have people who specialize in it because it was you know Community member the school board and everybody kind of putting in and just trying to get everything in here with so much that to actually have somebody who does this and to guide you I think is important it's very helpful so we're sticking with two two and one board goal which is The Five-Year Plan it's two redo The Five-Year Plan yeah you can probably Gwen's gonna write it much nicer than that she's not gonna write redo The Five-Year Plan but no I'm not going to read that anymore when it's down here it looks looks wonderfully I wouldn't be surprised you just did it one day oh my God no all right are we good you guys everybody here
074good any other input I have just a random question I like related to schools what time is lunch should I asked this is a year ago inboard dogs when we have a committee meeting are we as board members supposed to be uploading an agenda or minutes I sent it to Mike he takes care of it so we send it to you okay now should we actually send it to Russia or or do you how do you send it to me okay um I can incorporate that into the agenda yeah I send them an agenda no it's also I forgot the Simon said I'm this morning normally I send them pretty quickly and he gets them on then if it's convenient send me the notes afterwards and and I have a question just on that because
075I go back to look sometimes can they all be in like every time we send them and they stay there what do you mean I mean like sometimes I look for them and I'm like where okay why aren't there any notes for this or that is in the library under under the Committees yeah they're not the old ones aren't in there not a lot I'll take a look they should be in there they're an important documentation of the committee's work and the public has access to that too to see in the notes what you're actually doing so yeah it is important I'll make sure okay the other piece that I included in your packet and it really has nothing to do with goals whatsoever but this whole ethics commission finally put out comprehensive chart around
076familial relationships and what is considered a conflict so this is the first time in my more than 20 years seeing a complete list from the ethics Commission commission so I made you all a copy because I thought it was so incredibly helpful which probably says I don't have a life but I thought it was exciting because we get so many calls right and and we then have to call the legal department or you have to call your board attorney to say is this a conflict is this a conflict and this lays out everyone you're related to and those folks you haven't even thought you're really okay um so I just bought it for you because I thought it was important okay all right thank you thank you thank you for coming Amazing Days of Summer
077I will look forward to seeing some of you in October at Workshop it should be a wonderful piece it's back to four days mandatory training for new board members is on Monday keep in mind that new folks who probably don't have anybody who's new at this point but now you only have 90 days to do new orientation from the school ethics commission they've shortened it from a year to 90 days so in January I just want to remind you we won't have anyone know unless someone resigns between now and then because the only three people running are the three people who are already sitting here so we're good okay no one leaves never mind it doesn't matter we're the future to the boards for the future because it is quite a change so yeah it's
078a huge it's a huge change so it's a teacher it went just an announcement to that we have four members that signed up for the Atlantic City conference it's four nights now you don't have to stay for all four if anybody's schedule changes and you have one night that's open that you want to come down just let me know and I can I'm only going to I'm only staying Tuesday Wednesday I work Monday and I'll go back to work okay 24. I'm gonna say 24th and 23rd Sunday these four days the law firm is on Thursday today trainings and mandatory training a Thursday is the law foreign does not count but some districts won't even let them go if they take their personal things yeah do you know where we're staying because last there was
079a shuttle from our hotel to the convention center there will be a shuttle as well I mean from every Hotel yeah does anybody have a preference where you'd like to stay keep in mind the cross is very whatever whatever's free okay if Tropicana Last year was free then we'll stick with that Tropicana was great the Tropicana actually is really good because the a it has two different Starbucks [Laughter] Carmines it is Cuba Libre and Cuba Libre there's always this uh swinging yes I learned that when I arrived by somebody in that space one of those nights so yeah it's it's um although I hear rooms in other hotels are nicer but it was fine it was nice all right so from here we just had to adjourn can we adjourn from right where we're sitting
080all right thank you