Dover Public Schools is live!

001side. Thank you. That's left or right. >> Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. >> You can hear the fan. >> Uh for those who wish to provide uh public comment remotely, a Google form was posted on the district website at 6:30 p.m. Those remote comments will be addressed in the second public comment section. This meeting, which is hereby called order at 6:31 p.m., is in compliance with the notice requirements of the law. Public notice was posted in the office of the board of education and communicated to the municipal clerk and the daily record on January 15, 2025. You please all stand to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. and provide opportunities

002for our students in a safe and successful learning environment to become creative, empathetic, resilient, and choose. Mr. Hime introduce our presenters roll call. Mr. >> Here, >> Miss Towns >> present. >> Mr. Marco >> here. >> Miss Phillips >> here. >> Miss Pes, >> Dr. Senn shower >> here. >> Miss Son >> here. >> Mr. Miller >> here. Now, good evening. Uh for tonight's first presentation, it's our NJSLA presentation by Mr. Josh Chewy and Mr. Rory Carl. Good evening. Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Rory Carl, chief academic officer, and I'm joined by Mr. Joshua Chewy, our administrator of student performance and strategic planning, and we're here to share the NJSLA results from the assessment that was taken last spring uh by students in grades 3 through 9. But before we do that, we're

003going to play a game that we started last year called Guess at Grade Level. And part of this is just to experience what a student in grades 3 through nine experiences. At least when it comes to the math assessment and Mr. High made good promise for anybody who gets it right, there are prizes. Everyone need a car. Um, and here's the problem. The number of science fair projects entered each grade and a citywide science fair is shown. So, they're provided a table and then they see part A. The science fair projects set up on tables. There are 99 long tables used. Each long table holds seven projects. The rest of the projects are set up on short tables. Each short table can hold four projects. What is the fewest number of short tables that will

004be needed for the rest of the project? And before we test guess that grade level, I put myself back uh into the mindset of a student who might be in this grade. And immediately before I got to part B, here's already what I saw in my mind. A room that is just exploding with tables and projects. And here comes part B. The science fair judges will be science teachers and volunteers. Each judge will only have time to do five science fair projects. There areund 133 science teachers. What is the fewest number of volunteers needed to have enough judges for all the projects? Does anybody want to guess that grade level? Grades through nine. This is a fourth grade math problem from the NJSLA. And so some of the things to consider, we we work really

005hard to help students develop connections to the math. I don't know many fourth graders that are planning a science fair. Uh really they're probably just getting started to participate in a science fair. And so that connection piece, but the fact is a part A and a part B. If I miss part A, my chances of getting part B are not as strong. And if I get to part B and I got part A right, it's that chance of losing some of those points. It just shows how in-depth, how involved and a lot of these math assessments have also become reading assessments. But we are here to share the NJSLA results. I know this is a lot of information, but this is sharing the math results for levels four and five on the NJSLA. So the

006NJSLA has five levels, levels one through five. We are sharing the level four and level five where students are either meeting expectations or exceeding. But I do want to draw your attention down to the bottom right where it shows our overall uh passing rate level four or five compared to the state. The state was at a 38% meaning 38% of students in the state of New Jersey in grades 3 through nine are considered to be either meeting expectations or exceeded. So if we were in a college class and we wanted to bump these up, let's say the state was at 100, that would bring us to 84%. And so it's one of those things we grappled with, we talked about it last year, an assessment where the state is still trying to find their groove

007in the new math standards and the way that they're assessing. We are meeting those challenges and we're using this data and we'll share that later to continue to move forward. But the focus tonight is on growth and it's the growth that we want to share and how it relates to this in the next couple slides. But I want to pass it over to Mr. Chewy to talk about ELA. Hello everybody. Um so like Mr. Carl mentioned uh it's the same thing. This was based off of meeting expectations level four and also exceeding expectations for level five and it compares it from 2024 to 2025. um the district verse the state. So if you see uh the way it's broken down three, four, five, and six, I just want to explain that is the overall from

008all three of our elementary schools. That's North Dover, that's also academy and also East Dober Elementary. The seventh and eighth grade is DMS and then the nth grade goes up to the high school piece. So when you look at it, it's the same. It's basically based off the same thing that Mr. Carl presented off of the map. the state did reach a 53% so that means basically half of the students who take this assessment in the state are proficient or exceeding expectations in ELM um we were at 33% as Mr. Carl explained we like to base it off of growth but this is the data that we do report to the state and the state does post on the NJ report card when you do look it up as far as the district goes. So

009later on in the presentation we will get more into our growth as a district um rather than proficiency. On this piece uh if you look this is science. Science is not taken in every grade level. It's taken only as you can see all the way to the left. It's taken in fifth grade elementary 8th grade middle school and 11th grade high school. If you look in the bottom right hand well before I even go to that it's a little bit different. It's not based off a one to five. It's based off of a one to four. So a three is being proficient and a four is advanced proficient. The biggest thing I want to bring to your attention is if you could see in the bottom right hand corner as a state only 27% of

010the students who take this assessment are proficient in science. At Dover we are at 11% but that indication of 27% should let you know what that test presents to our students at those grade levels. So again that is why this year we are creating benchmarks and other ways of data to follow and track our students for growth purposes rather than proficiency purposes. So on this slide right here it's a breakdown. Uh this breakdown is something that is required as well to look at our subgroups within the district. So, it breaks it down by all the different subgroups, whether we're looking at um the Asian uh population versus African-American versus Latino and white, or if we're looking at students with disabilities, RL's, MLS, um and economically disadvantaged uh students. So, this breaks it down as far

011as how they perform on the the reading, the ELA, reading and writing, math, and science based on those subgroups. Uh we do take a look at this piece to look at for different resources for those subgroups to see if we can make them more successful on the assessments, but it is a breakdown that the state does require on this piece. This is what we were talking about for growth. So this is more what Mr. Carl and I do look at and this is what we do meet with building administration and department supervisors and also with the directors. Uh we look at growth where our students come to us in the beginning of the year and where they end up in the end of the year. This is a true indication of what our students are

012a able and capable of doing and how hard our teachers work with our students to make sure that they are growing from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Mr. Car ready data because you're going to see leaps and bounds where our students are growing at one full academic year to up to a year and a half because of our teachers and their hard work working with these students. not only with exposing them to grade level content, but as well as meeting with them in small groups to close those achievement gaps. That's the biggest piece of it. But we do know our students do come with other things with them when they come show up to school. So, we have to make sure that we have all the support in place.

013Um, this is kudos also to our BSI teams, our OG specialists. Um, this is all hands- on deck. This is also our par professionals. all staff that work with our students in kindergarten that work with our students in the special ed department. This is the true indication of what our students do and what our district does. If you look at this uh form right here or this slide, you'll see 2023 and 2024. If you look across, everything's in green. We met standards in everything for the past two years as far as NJSLA goes for reading and for math. And if you look at ELA for ED, that's in yellow. uh ED in last year was able to exceed standard growth uh for the state and they were in ELA last year. This slide right here

014gives you a little indication of what we the students that we have sitting in front of us in our desks every day. So if you look it goes from proficient to non-proficient. The main thing I want to point out in this slide is that if you look at grade three through five, if you look at it where you see proficiency, you'll see that based off the data, we're finding out that our students need to be with us from kindergarten up to that grade level to make sure that they are proficient in those subject areas. As far as ELA and math go, that is not the case all the time because we do have students who show up to us after kindergarten and they're not with us for the full four years. So if you see

015it takes a while to catch them up. However, this goes again, kudos to our staff who work with our students because you'll see after fifth grade, you'll see that start to decline because that's when you start seeing our teachers, our staff and our students start to close that achievement gaps because they are getting the resources and getting the instruction that they need to be successful. Now that's also like I explained based off proficiency. That's not good, but we are getting there. This is a breakdown just to let you know of what we are seeing as far as the data goes when we talk about the last slide of proficiency and when we're getting our students. So, I'm just going to read this one to you. So, 29% of our sixth grade have been in the

016district for 3 years of or less. 29% of our students in sixth grade. 30% of seventh grade have been in the district for three years or less. as well. 23% of our seventh graders have been in the district 2 years or less. 34% of eighth grade group have been in the district 3 years or less. And then 21% the eighth grade group have been in the district for 2 years or less. So, this is just trying to show everybody what we're getting within the district and how well we are trying to work with the resources and the supports that we have on a daily basis to catch those students up because of the last slide of trying to get them to proficiency and Mr. Cross coming back for the rest of the institution. And so

017this is where we really just wanted to highlight the growth that we've seen as a district and and much of this data will come from our internal benchmarks. Uh so we use I ready in grades K to8 and then we go to the Lincoln benchmarks uh for our high school. And so on the slide right now we're looking at our reading growth data from last year. So on the top was the fall. So this time last year and our students sitting in K8 classrooms and where they fell compared to the grade level that they were sitting in. So at the beginning of last year we had 25% of our students in grades K to 8 who were three or more grade levels below when it came to uh the content of the area of reading.

018On the bottom we have the spring. So within one year from 336 students who were three or more grade levels below down to 207. That doesn't just mean they moved into that next section, the red, where it's two or more low, because we see that yellow room really populate, that 33%. So, when we share the slide on proficiency, yes, we're looking at the students in the green, but look at the number of students who moved into that yellow who are now within one year of one grade level below. But what does that mean in terms of growth? Well, for math, we had 116%. That means for I Ready in the average year we'd want to see 100%. On average, our students bid 116% growth. So that's where we're seeing students who are growing a year,

019a year and a half, two years worth of growth within just that one year of being in our classrooms with teachers. And here's what that looks like on the bottom. 16% were three or more below. That was at 23%. from 6% on the opposite side who start at mid or above grade level to 19%. Again, that growth within one year getting them towards that proficiency, but again, the focus being on growing a little more each and every day. For math, again, the top we have where we were this time last year in the fall of 2024 for students in grades K to 8, we see 23% or 436 students who are three or more grade levels below. If you look at the bottom, that was just at the end of last year, uh the beginning

020of May, that dropped down to 9% or 179 students. And look at that next red section. That didn't grow dramatically. It's only at 12%. If anything, that decreased. And it's that yellow where we've now captured 42%. And those who are in the yellow have moved to the green again within one year. And that translated to 119% growth. Again, the goal being 100 with our students averaging 119%. Again, accelerating that growth within one year's time. And some of the areas where we're able to do a lot of this work, we talked about link, a thing we use at the high school for our benchmarks, but we use it districtwide to really analyze data. So, all the data you'll see is just demo student data. These are not real for students, but just to share how we

021can use it. So this is just one example but we can generate this view for any data point. We can use it to reduce state uh data, benchmark data, um look at domain specific skills. So you'll see the one on the top, we can see how much time was spent uh what their scale score was and then breaking that down into each of the different domains. We can compare multiple assessments. So everything we're looking at today, we're able to compare them not just to an NJSLA, but let's look at NJSLA compared to I Ready. And the bottom right corner is something new we're able to do. It's decorrelation. And we can see how predictive is our I Ready benchmark that used three times a year to NGS. And almost within every grade level, we were

022at that 82. Anything between a 7 and a one is a very strong correlation. And that meant that eight out of every 10 uh I rating data sets we got predicted the score on the NJS1. And because we do those at three points in the year, we can start making adjustments in real time knowing that predictions being made are accurate and those adjustments happening in the classroom are going to have a dramatic effect. We can also look at things like attendance. So again, not mild over data, but we have grade K attendance, grade one and grade two. We can look at attendance uh against uh scores that we get back from an assessment. We can look at daily attendance rate. Uh look at absenteeism and how does that connect academic performance and then the ability

023to track benchmark growth data over time. So at the high school although this is not real over data we have benchmark A for English 2 benchmark B or sorry benchmark C and then benchmark A. So we can say, okay, the students who have started here with us last year, where did they get by the end of the year? And then our new group that is now sitting in our classrooms, where are they starting to last year's group? And we can have those discussions with our middle school team and talk about the growth that we're seeing in areas where we may make some adjustments again all in real time before we get to the end of the year. And just to highlight all of that data work uh with Mr. use and I you know been

024doing a tremendous amount really getting ready for this year. It just allows that continual growth um predicting the future trends but again these are just trends. It's what's happening inside of our classrooms by our teachers who year after year that is where the magic is happening. Uh we just get to come up and share it. Thank you. I really appreciate all the hard work that's gone into this. Congratulate you along with your team. I know this has been a long time coming to kind of come full circle with all that disappointment. Can't predict how our students are going to do on the test and the challenges you face when you have students that just come to the district. sometimes little or no education at all, but yet we make sure that we provide a good

025education for everyone to bring them along. So, I really appreciate the you're doing and I look forward to the uh the next session of data uh and that continued growth. Is there anyone from the board uh that has any questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Thank you very much, Mr. Mr. This is such we may at home in depth details of this report. I thank you very very much. A quick question when we talk about students that are new to districts if they possibly are new to state does the students information follow with them from another district? Um and obviously they're near the country. No, but from um inside the state of New Jersey, they may be taking the same test. Um outside of the state of New Jersey, a similar test. So can you give

026us the difference between coming from out of uh country to out of district? >> So I'll I'll take this one. Um when I was at East as the principal there, a lot of the students that we did get out of the country, it depends on the country they were coming from with the information. Um whatever we could get, we we used um some some some areas were a little bit easier to reach out than others to try to track and try to get more information. But as far as students that are coming within the state, they do travel with basically all their data. So if we have a student coming to us fourth grade and up then and they came from New Jersey, they you typically would come with their previous state assessment scores and

027we would place it inside Genesis where we house all the information so the teachers, staff, administration and support um can utilize that to figure out how we can support the student as best as possible. um that comes along with not just the NJSLA scores but if they come if they come to us with access testing scores um any type of information or data that we get we always try to put it inside Genesis and we try to see how we can utilize it whether that's through our guidance counselor administration district personnel um on how best to support it >> thank you >> um Thank you for all the hard work you put into this. Um, I'm going to ask the the hard question. Um, I mean, there's no sugar coating it. The the passing percentages

028are not great. Um, and the only percentage that went up was level five math. Um it seems to me that we are certainly with the IR data moving in the right direction. Um but I'm curious if you are able to glean anything from the data as to why there was a drop from 2024 to 2025. And um secondly um why doesn't it seem at least in this that um the really amazing growth we're seeing in the IRA uh data leading correlating to increasing an increasing passion meeting expectation. Great uh question. So, um, the data that we presented today is very surface, right? We're comparing third grade last year to third grade 2 years ago. That's really not how Mr. Carl and I really analyze and look at the data. What we do is we compare

029apples to apples. So, we look at the third grade that was 2024 and then we'll look at the fourth grade for 2025. When you look at the data that way, you will see the increase and you'll see how it matches up to either rate. So that's really the best answer I could use for that piece. Um we'd be more than happy to share that with you guys if you would like to because that is something that Mr. Carl and I do track. We do track the students that from each building specifically like let's say East Elementary. I always look at and Mr. Carl and I will sit down and we'll say okay the students that were taking the ELA assessment in 2024 how do they look in 2025 taking ELA? because you're comparing the same

030students that are traveling along the sets that are up there on on your presentation slide. You're comparing a whole new cohort, a cohort of students. So that data won't always align. So where it looks, it's deceiving because it looks like there's a drop. But I promise you there is we will see the increase in those pieces. If we do see a drop, Mr. Carl and I do look into it and we look at curriculum based. We look at the questions. We see where they fall and then we see if we can make any changes and we do meet with teachers during common planning time or during the PLC's that we're utilizing this year to see how we can strengthen whatever it is that we see. >> Yeah, I think that's a very important distinction to

031make for anybody looking at this report thinking wait a minute um and I would certainly love to see the data you mentioned. Um and I think that that might be worth sharing um at a future meeting as well just to give everybody a a more in-depth look. It's heavy stuff, right? It's not it's not easy to digest, but um the last thing we want people to do is to look at this and think things aren't working when actually it very much seems like they are. So, thank you. >> Understood that. And I just want to add on the students, every student clarify the students that must take the test. There are some students that don't know the English language or there's cultural differences in each way that everyone has to take the test. I think

032there's like one segment of the population that doesn't have to at one point. >> Yes. So all grades uh all students in grades three through nine will take the exact uh the assessment except for the language arts component. Um if a student is new in the country during that first year they do not to take the language arts portion but then that next year that expectation is that they are now willing to take that um you know when the district is really as well. I I just want to add one more piece because we had just recently gone through the Qat moderate process and during that process was when a lot of districts received their scores and every district within our cohort would not have passed um the uh assessment section due to the sports.

033that is when the state quickly shifted. Um we received a letter that said okay we're going to now focus on growth which we have been showing and really highlighting and so we met that expectation now and so that model has shifted even at the state level and now we're preparing for a new assessment. Uh the NJSLA is uh now going with a new company new vendor. It is now going to be adaptive. Um and for Mr. Pandalfo has been working tirelessly to get this um test practice round going that the state only announced to us uh less than a month ago. So there's a lot of shifts. I did ask the state if there would be adjustments to the assessment at that time sharing information because I think they knew some things were coming. But

034it is something that not just do grappling with everybody in a cohort was in that same where the state is facing the same um you know performance indicators not to say it won't take a challenge and we're using that information to drive growth but there is questions about how valid that assessment is and what it really means to our students especially those that are nine or 10 years old in our classrooms. >> All I know is that probably Twitch so Any other comments? >> I want to thank you. Um, the board has been asking for data for a long time and um, this is a great that we can use it. What do we do for those students that hold low average? >> So, um, through title one funding, uh, we do have to focus

035on three goals. Uh typically that's an ELA and a math goal and an SEO goal, right? For cognitive culture. Um as a district, we look at the data pieces and we find out so let's say we see um our students last year through the data are struggling in reading for fifth grade. So then that gives the opportunity for that building principal to provide after school um basically clubs to support those students that we're identifying who are struggling in fifth grade who are now in sixth grade to help support them with them. So that's one aspect of it. We also have um reading specialists, we have uh we have OG uh teachers and we also have BSI. If a student that we see is two or more grade grade levels behind, then we identify those students

036and we put them in with the extra supports. Um, outside of them being exposed to grade level content, then we put them also get pulled out to get specific focused instruction based on their deficits and things that they need help and support to get. Sometimes it's kind of like Swiss cheese that fill in the little pieces and then it kind of makes a big connection. You see leaps and bounds through those students. some students do stay in there a little bit longer because they do need that extra support. Um, as a district, we're also looking at how to support them as far as the language bar because we have BSI and English support, right? So, we started to have Spanish support in our primary grades where we support the students in the Spanish side of,

037you know, them being successful in the classrooms as well. So, we do have a lot of things in place, but we are still looking to see how we can improve as a district to keep on supporting the students who are struggling. Thank you very much. [Applause] And for our next presentation, Mr. local on HIV and SSDs. >> Good evening everybody. My name is Patrick Pando. I'm the director of student intervention and testing. Um, I am also the anti-bullying coordinator for the district and I am also the one that receives and certifies the school safety data system reports received from the principal that has student removal uh aka in school and out of school suspension. She's lost. >> When finally goes up there, you see two parts. what is the uh the SSDS reports that came

038in for the first period the second period of 2425 that was in January to June 30th um and we'll look at that data and look at the the whole year in its entirety compared from previous year and after that is the HIV self assessment scores which hopefully uh you'll go through and I while I'm up here out the poweroint is the some assessment scores there's a lot of confusion I don't understand why the state does what they do because we're always looking at like a previous year so what happens is after today the board approves the scores Mr. Hind then certifies it certifies it to the state and then time goes by and then about April or May then but April or May uh we get the actual official report card that's been approved that's

039that's what gets posted then up on the website and then again the same exact scores from the previous year a year that's so here's almost 256 mill over and we're still reviewing 24 to 25 so it's it's very confusing but that's the way we're required to report it by the state so let's start off with the SSDS reporting. So there were a total of 191 SSD SSDS reports in the entire district. As you can see, the biggest chunk was HIV alleged. Now with HIV alleged you it has to be reported SSDS which is really that you're really reporting student removal but a lot of the alleged cases violated the code of conduct and in some cases there were suspensions in school or out of school but in many of the cases uh there was no

040suspension at all. there might have been some discipline uh as far as like a detention because when you're doing uh you reported in SSDs on an HIV alleged it does ask if there's any other type of discipline and you would do chicken deaths but you also had a lot of uh HIV alleged that had no discipline at all with no violation of conduct. It's just kind of way that the system works. remember with uh HIV and we do try to really review not using the word bullying but it's it's kind of such an embedded part of our society and our vernacular as soon as those words are uttered this investigation even if we might think what you're saying is no way bully we still have to go through the process so that's one of the

041reasons why you're going to see that a lot of the uh the HIV alleged reports are are up this year So the other categories are incidents and under incidents they have HIV confirmed which are the 20 uh weapons score. Now weapons sounds scarier than uh we actually deal with. So for instance a student uh a parent's working at home who's using a carpet knife. The student thinks it's cool, puts it in his book bag, and they come to school and someone says, "Hey, so and so has a knife." That's a weapon violation. So, so it's not as because some people they they imagine all the weapons in the schools. It's more so like that that kids are actually bringing weapons to school and threatening one another. Uh oh. Three substances uh conferred vandalism, nonviolence. That's

042all considered uh to specific categories of your uh incidents. And then other instance leading to removal uh with 52 would include students being uh disrespectful to the teachers, the principal, to one another or creating some type of danger. There's anything else that is a suspendable act that doesn't fall under uh the incident smart. So if you look at the the entirety of the year, there were 315 total SSDs reports uh 132 alleged HIVs, 85 incidents and uh 98 uh other incident removal which also includes uh vaping. Baking was actually down for the most part uh for most of the year. Uh so there was there definitely was an increase in other type of disrespectful behavior in that particular category. So when we break it down you can see that there was a little bit more

043of the violence but it wasn't the same. The substance confirmed was much less. Basically uh I surmised that because over the course of time that students got the message with the vape detectors in the bathroom. So once a student is putting in the bathroom or sent out for a test and comes back positive instead of being reported under other consistency and removal, it's reported as confirmed confirmed substance. So my guess is there was there was less vaping which also led to less confirmation of this substance category, less weapons. We did have more HIV confirmed but we had a lot more cases and 132 HIV alleged a lot more uh than the previous year and a little bit like I said other instances and so so the total compared uh up the top the total compared

044this year this past year is 15 234 is 277 so definitely an increase in total amount of SSCS reports Then if you look uh by school to high school at basically because of the lack of uh baby suspensions went down uh by significant amount east over state about the same and the middle school academy in north uh defined uptick in reports and a lot of that was had to do with HIV alleged reports. So the next section is the HIV uh self assessment uh for your approval. So what the self assessment is is the it's compliance with the a lot of times people say well how can our our self assessment score be so high? We have so many uh cases that that really um it's one really doesn't really relate to the other. It

045has to do with the compliance with the anti-poline bill of rights which is uh the laws that govern that very meticulously govern like no other state uh the way we think about bullying the way we handle. So we have the same scores that we had last year. Everybody has a 77 and that's really a a credit to the collaboration of all the ads's all of the administration. Um at one point a few years back schools were all over the place but there really wasn't uh there really wasn't a means of collaboration going on. Um all the schools work uh with one another to make sure that uh when we we actually sit together and we look at the rubric and make sure that the we have the documentation that supports these scores and have the

046programming that supports these scores. Now I know last year we had the 77. We're still going for that 78. If you look through most of the county, um most of the scores are in the 70s, probably somewhere between like 72, there's a couple with 78. Um and the way the way the it's the some assessments set up is there eight core elements and there's indicators underneath. And the uh under each indicator, you have to give yourself a score of one to three. One being you're not meeting the expectations. Three, you're meeting expectations, three who are exceeding expectations. It's a deal. Obviously, we're all back in uh the category, but to be quite frank and really look at it closely, for the most part, you almost have to score in the 70s or pretty close to

047it or you're not really following the law. Um, so that you know, that's the reason why most of the scores are in the 70s. But the one point that has eluded us has to do with uh parents training for school safety in climate team uh meetings. So we looked at our documentation. We didn't feel we had we did do some sort of it last year but we didn't really feel like we had actually enough documentation for when we're monitored um to actually give us that point. So the change for this year to try to get us that extra point and assuming that everything else stays the same um as far as the score is concerned is that we actually have parents signing statements of assurances that they actually understand it's clearly defined what their role

048is and what their uh function is on the school safety and climate. So with and all the schools I've been at some of the first uh school safety planning meetings and all the schools are are definitely uh doing that. So I thank the parents who are participating and on board and in almost every case there's multiple parents on the school safety kind uh boards. So, we're supposed to go over uh the items that support the scores of 77. So, a lot of this stuff is the same as in previous years, last couple the last few years scores. Um the one thing with the So, the ABS's originally took a uh 16-hour course that gave him a special certification. It's the highest type of training you can have to be an ABS. APS is the antiquity

049specialist that do that does the investigations um in the school. We do have an antiquity specialist who does investigations throughout the district. Um but a lot of times you do have to use the school antiquity specialist. So anyway, those certifications, the people that originally got certified, they're still in that position. They're going to have to be retrained uh next year. any new person that's coming in for that role of ABS they have gotten the training and then there's other different types of trainings as well that we uh have we on a regular basis the the ABS the HIV team through uh that's how we have the articulation across schools and we make sure that the faculty is trained correctly by the ABS uh each year at different faculty meetings. I trained support staff during the

050winter uh community meeting and then also we've added HIV training and teacher recommendations. Um we know that uh the school safety climate team the minimum meetings are supposed to be two. We need four times each school had these four times a year. uh we make sure that it would be and a lot of times we we advertise about HIV that we pushed it over the years with the SE seven liberal meetings and not not just stuff that support the school climate but things that specifically that have to do with process of HIV how to report HIV what HIV is and even though we go over the criteria many many many times uh I think a lot of times we actually are anytime we have those presentations our numbers actually increase as far as reports. That's

051not really a bad thing because really most of you know what's going on in our schools and the students feel comfortable coming to a staff member uh and reporting that you're being a lot of times being bothered. um the ABS's uh list of classrooms with presentations. Those those classroom presentations are adjusted according to the appropriateness of the grade level of the different topics. you're also adjusted if a lot of times in our our meetings uh when we meet at Belmont is we look at different trends that are going on and we actually adjust the training to make sure that we're including uh the topics of the latest things that is uh come to a head that really shouldn't be going on. The principles take the lead with the messages. Uh last year I attended a

052county meeting for symphony uh that uh collaborated with the other ABCs uh in the county. Yeah. And then all schools rec these are things all schools recognize you respect school violence awareness week. We're mandated to do that. That's still part of our score. Uh all those postings on the website that's again we're mandated to do that. That's part of our score. There has to be some type of anonymous reporting. That's part of the law. We do stop it. Most districts do use that. We constantly complete HIV reports within 10 days. We always do because again that's the law. So that some of the stuff is just it's in law. And uh keep that link. I just want to give you an idea of the facidiousness of the way our ABS's uh keep documentation. So when

053we're monitoring it, it's all going to be there. So we call this the uh HIV binder. So about 10 years ago, each school and if they add it up would have a binder this big. and one of the really really thick binders. Now they're electronic and what what they do under each core element. I know you can't see it up there, but on each core element, they put the documentation that supports each core element, it supports the score. So we're very confident that even though our score is very high, we can we can support that based on the documentation uh that each ABS keeps. This one is from this monle here at the high school last year, but it's like six, seven, or eight pages. Some of the stuff does remain the same, but a

054lot of it does change and even if you change things to uh support the element, you know, you don't want to have the the same exact program coming in every year. So, it'll change around different assemblies, but it supports the supports the element even though it's a different it's a different assembly. you know, that's that's kind of so it doesn't get too dry that the kids aren't very uh you know, the same things over and over again. I I've been told on the school safety and climate team meetings uh that the kids find the uh HIV original HIV assemblies kind of boring, which they kind of are, but it's one of those things that are required and it's not really something you really want to really want to take it seriously and not something really

055want to jazz up. So these are just some of the uh programs at the elementary schools. Some of them are unique to the ele each elementary school. You know, they they make it they have their own culture and and make it their own. So some some of the programs are a little bit different. I mean, PBIS is uh is a district-wide program, each used by each school, and they've made that their own as far as concentrating on uh positive behaviors, different types of programming and pep rallies in support like uh club being tickets uh type of thing. So to deposit the haters are a bogus and not uh not uh breaking laws or uh the punishment or the consequences for uh not doing your best. The focus is on trying to be your best. But

056each school has developed a program develop you still have our regular core values that are universal but each school has uh also added their own uh twist to that. So there's a uniqueness to each school, but at the same time, there's still a common bond, a common language uh with each school. And like I said, some some of the things over the course of years, uh the programs may have changed a little bit, the assemblies might have uh changed a little bit, but the uh the core of the message getting through that supports the self assessments there. And then at the high school again the assemblies in the middle school the assemblies are again some of the stuff is the same but an appropriateness for the grade level uh and the age level of students

057at that school and there were some things up there that we had last year I know you see mental health clinician that that was part of our program last year. Remember these are last year's scores. So when you see this again in June say oh no we don't have that anymore. This is again based on uh the 24 to 25 school year. At all times we always focus on when you have an HIV case no matter how uh some some of the HIV cases are much more severe and much more serious than others. Uh but we've always we're always uh the consequences will be the same, but the focus really is on remedial measures, restorative justice practices that have students reflecting on what they did in conjunction with in conjunction with the code of conduct

058because I know originally the the idea of restorative practices, a lot of it somewhat that the idea was we're just going to go with restorative practices, but really any any uh program like that has to be in conjunction. We had training uh this summer. Um any type of remedial measure has to be done with that particular uh focus in mind because ultimately we want our students to be productive citizens and if you do something like we want them to correct the behavior before they become adults become adults you get in big trouble if you do some of the things that kids do. So uh but the focus is to have them really reflect on what they do uh what the consequences for themselves and others and just be the best person that uh they can

059be. So, uh, some HIV stats from last year. Uh, so I know you probably can't see the numbers. The confirmed we had about 20 around 20 21% of cases confirmed, which means we have 80% unconfirmed. In a normal year, the state usually says around 40% is normal. So, we're we're at half of what the normal confirmed rate is. The incidents pero you see ninth through 10th grade had a pretty high uh percentage but there were not a ton of uh confirmed cases at all at the high school. They had the most cases but they I believe had the least amount of confirmed cases. Um statistically speaking they said the middle school is usually where you see uh you see most of uh the HIV cases. So we're a little bit off on that and you

060can have high in the sixth grade and if you consider taking through sixth grade and middle school grade we're kind of outliers on the way down out of elementary school. Uh as far as who it's reported by half of the HIV reports are reported by uh students followed by followed by parents and then staff. If you look at uh you know that little silver up there is the stop app. Um, if you look at where it takes place, the biggest chunks are the classroom, the cafeteria. Now, you might say, well, the classroom because most, if you look at the next next little pie, it's mostly it's mostly verbal type of HIV physical and part of the paradigm in education is student collaboration. So, there's going to be, you know, discussions and talking going on in

061the classroom. And a lot of times you really can't control what's going to come out of people's mouths. So, uh, you know, then a lot of times it starts in the classroom and then then it's it's out um on the internet and social media. So, we really do try to focus on students thinking before they actually say something. For instance, uh there's a big portion of the the verbal HIV that had to do with like racial comments. And in most cases, the students thought they were being funny. They thought that it was okay. Obviously, they picked it up from somewhere where that's funny and that's okay to joke like that. And um so that's one of the one of the purposes of looking at this data is that we're going in specifically mentioning uh when

062we train the students this is not funny but you don't understand how insensitive you're being mean and how personal you are um because that really was a majority of the case cases you know it was verbal racial it was it was it was verbal most of the times the kids thought it was it was a joke they were there was you know put down but they thought they were being funny so each school exam this the data that was specific to the school develop action plans um in the areas of of concern served by uh developing these proactive strategies and a lot of it they used and incorporated embedded in the the PBIS system of Louisiana schools. Um so just the closing we focus on who we are as as a district and our core

063values and we've got the focus again with the students being upstanders that we're here for one another. We stick up for one another. It doesn't mean you know someone starts facing bullying and start a fist fight. That's definitely not what we teach. You just you teach proactive ways how the students are are part of the whole and when you injuring other people, you're injuring yourself as well. So, it's uh something that we really focused on and uh why honestly is such a a great place. Thank you, Mr. I'll go on all the detail provided before I know that answer a lot of questions but I do love the entire student profile that's here as well for T for trustworthy honest dependable I for integity accountability G for giving generosity spirit E for empathy understanding others

064feelings, respect or treating others with care and kindness and for service helping work for others. I think this is a fabulous student. Are there any questions for the board? Um, first off, not to get ahead of the agenda, but um, whoever has to do this report next year will have some mighty shoes, but um, thank you for everything you've done. Um, for all the years you've done, thank putting this together for us. Um, you may have said this and I if I missed it, I apologize. uh what what qualifies as an other incident? >> Um vaping falls under that. But uh if a student does something disrespectful, let me give you an example. You know, sometimes students act emotionally and they start cursing at a teacher or principal. That will do it. >> Um I'm

065curious and if we haven't done this, totally understand. But I'm curious if um because obviously the numbers came down like to see what you mentioned the reports went up. Um, I'm curious if we've looked into whether um a report on alleged HIV was found to be unconfirmed, more likely if it was reported by a certain uh was it more likely to be unconfirmed with a parent did it versus a student doing it versus a staff member doing it? I think it's most the one thing with the most of the time those parent ones it seems like in fact I'm pretty I'm pretty strong that it's the younger person younger students parents call in and they they they call up and they want to call the guided counselor vice principal and they say oh my my

066my child's being bullied and and sometimes we're being annoyed that's that can be for sure and we encourage first parent show to report that. We try to mucci and I made a video that we put online. It's in the pamphlet of how to report it. So, it's not automatically triggered in HIV because I know I Dr. Series ago said that it it uh compromises some resources which it does especially when we have a lot because it trickles down from guidance counselors who then have to do the investigations. Um but uh those particular uh reports most of the time they're they're not founded. So most most likely you're coming from the students or a lot of times um a lot of times other students will report I saw this online like especially with the cyber stuff

067they'll say I saw this online and they know it's wrong and that's why honestly stop it. That's a lot of times that's the type of stuff you get. >> Yeah. And and that that brings me to the last thing, more of a comment. Um, you know, and I I don't want it to sound like I'm saying I wish people weren't reporting because I want students and parents and staff to report incidences. Um but you know the the number of of of um the number of uh reports going up and the number of actual confirmed cases not going up tells me that that you know there's still something missing. Um whether it is a training aspect for the parents or for even the students to let them know you what actually rises to the level of

068bullying and being careful as you said without applying that phrase to something that's that's not technically bully because it does take up resources and and so I would just you know I know that work is ongoing. >> Okay. It's funny you say that there's to be honest with you. So that's key of the the number uh you know it was up I think it was eventually was it was one there's still some that aren't completely done because they're on stage but uh the numbers are about 172 as total cases but what we really looked at over the summer and a lot of those cases it's the same student or student the recidivism rate of just reporting it. So a lot of times we have we have students that deal with a lot of trauma and

069a lot of time we have a lot of check-ins with and a lot of times these students are already see receiving uh the remedial measures intervention sometimes to our our highest tier. So they report things even though we've been told not to report it that way they still report it that way and then after investigation. Um, also, you know, I know the same with uh the testing. It was interesting that there were several students new to the district last year that were recidivous, not in being confirmed, but that reported uh reported it as an HIV. So, there's there's a lot of different factors. There's certain uh segments of the student population that have special needs and they sometimes don't understand uh as you know we try our best but don't understand the actual way the

070law is written and honestly all our trained the word they say bully you have to open investigation >> yes >> I don't have a question but I did want to relate some information that I did relate the full board at our last meeting about um the Mars County School Boards Association has asked for some input from our board in reference to HIV. I sit on their committee and we are both approaching our uh leaders in trending about possibly asking for a review of the whole HIV program because it has been now since 2013 that was initially established as you well know um and so many things have changed and many of the school districts that are in our committee are facing the same thing that we are facing that some of the HIVs are not

071actually HIVs and some go even further than HIV. So the whole process needs to be evaluated to see if it is still working, what needs to be updated, what needs to be analyzed, and what needs to be brought into the 2026 2027 school year. So um your your concerns are not going unheard. We did ask I asked all of our board members to contribute any concerns that they had based on the reports that we received and um I appreciate Miss Phillips gave me some awesome input which are related to the county and we're going to be using her information. So I thank her very much for her input. Um but I always thank you for your efforts and just look forward to shar if if I may if the and this is just you know

072I've been dealing this since the beginning with HIV um a parent calls up of a preschool student and says uh my child's being bullied. a preschool student does not have the capacity to being voted from the way that it's any public school student and the way the state identifies early childhood is prek to three. So my suggestion is a change in the law was okay start because the independent law is excellent. Um but pres younger than third grade I think is in my opinion is ridiculous. They're just not at the age of reason yet and they really don't know what they're doing. So right now we still have to investigate when a preschool parent says one child's being bullied even though there's a there's a teacher in the aid in the room and they're constantly

073supervised and most of the time is the child fell into the other kid fell down and that's what they're called bullying. But the way we're doing it right now, that's that's honestly when things like that is one of the cases. >> Well, Mr. Palfo, you just made your poison. I would love to have that recommendation from you last year, Mr. K. He also had some great insight um that he's going to add that I can present at our next member meeting, which is the first week of November. So, if you could give me a short synopsis of what you just said. I know that that was one of our homeworks from September to October to find out what does our school district do individually for the various grade levels and at what point are school

074counselors involved? Our school therapy therapists involved um and what differentiates when we're going to use a counselor and when we're going to use a therapist. So any of that information that you want to include, I would be happy to report back to the county and uh we'll use that information. Any other comments? Thank you very much. [Applause] At this time, I'm going to open u public comment for our first uh public comment session for agenda items only. There will be a second public comment section towards the end which will be for any comments. Uh the board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters to ensure a fair and orderly expression of such comment. Each statement shall be held

075to a time period of 3 minutes. Public comments limited to items on this agenda shall be entertained for approximately 30 minutes upon the discretion of the presiding officer. Please understand that public comment portions of our agenda are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather they are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. The board may or may not respond to public comments. However, all comments are considered and will be investigated and addressed as appropriate. Please be courteous and mindful of the rights of others when providing comments. Comments may not be abusive, obscene, threatening, or relevant. Please understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections. The board is not permitted to respond in public to comments about students or employees. Please be advised that if you are commenting,

076please be advised that you are commenting at your own risk. Any public comments that are directed at a particular individual or individuals could subject you to legal liability for defamation. Is there anyone in the public that wishes to make a public comment on agenda items only? >> Hi, welcome. >> Good evening. Disarno, president of the DAA. Um, in regards to the approval of the memorandum of agreement with the DAA, we would just like to thank the board of ed. Uh, Mr. recruit Mr. Su, Superintendent Haimey, our negotiations committee on a very successful negotiations and the DAA looks forward to our continued work together. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Carol Ruiz, New Jersey. I uh deeply appreciate um the HIV harassment, intimidation, and bullying presentation. Bullying is a challenge in our community, in our state,

077in our country now more than ever. Um and I'm grateful I this is news to me that miss board member Shower is a member of a committee that is addressing that from a criminal defense uh lens. There are some challenges with the law. some things are criminalized that likely should not be. Um, and I think ties the board of education's hands when you are looking to teach empathy and prevent abuse as opposed to punish and criminalize students. Um, so certainly I appreciate that work to to change the um the law for it to really better fit our school district. Um, but also to catch some of those. There's many, we've had many instances of parents and students saying, "What are you talking about? This is harassment. This is intimidation. This is bullying. I can't get

078to school safely." But the decision of of the district and or the board is no, no, no, it doesn't fit the statute. So, it's it's kind of skewed on both ends. So, I appreciate you looking into it. Um and I I appreciate that comment of um we do this now to ensure that as adults right we don't have to face those negative consequences of bullying um I think most of us are adults most of us there's a little one but most of us are adults in the room and bullying um and preventing oneself and others from bullying is a lifong lesson and I'd like to speak more on that later. Um, but I I hope that we take a moment to meditate on that and breathe on that and um decide how we lovingly call

079each other in when we make those mistakes as I've made them. God knows I've said things that that I'm like, "Ah, I wish I pulled that back. I see you smirking Mr. Miller. He's been he's been there with me." Um but but when we do that, when we hurt one another, how do we handle it afterwards? Because it's human to make mistakes when we double down and justify the pain that we caused. That's problematic. And that's what we want our kids to learn. We want our students to understand that, yeah, you might say mean things or hurtful things out of security or anger. what do you do after? And we have the opportunity to provide that example. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you, Mr. Le. Is there anyone else from the public interest?

080Okay, I will close this portion of the meeting of the public portion. Uh, now we will need to approve the minutes for September 16th, the regular and sessions. Do we have a motion for approval? >> Oh, I didn't even hear the first one. >> Okay. All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? We please have a roll call. Mr. >> Yes. >> MS. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marco, >> yes. >> Miss Phillips, >> Miss Penellis, >> yes. Miss Sha, >> yes. >> Miss Son, >> yes. >> Mr. Miller, >> yes. >> Okay. Uh, whole board communications. I have three. Uh, one letter from Miss uh, Maria Chicone, a formal complaint and call for action regarding conduct of a board member. The second letter to the board was from Miss Danielle Mendez,

081unne defamatory conduct by a board member. And a third letter today from Miss Cara Louise uh request for mental health training on impact of non-consentual sharing of intimate images. Is there any other cohort communications our student representative Miss Garcia Mr. leg. >> Hi, good evening everyone. It's great to see you all again and I'm so glad to be here. I hope tonight goes a little smoother than last. This month will be full of celebration for students as our senior athletes are recognized for their commitment to their teams. >> Tonight is the girls soccer senior night. Next Thursday, the 23rd, is the boys soccer senior night. And the following Thursday is the 30th is the girls volleyball senior night. Our homecoming game last Friday, the senior cheerleaders were celebrated and homecoming royals were announced. We congratulate

082Kylie, Lucia, and Nick Lombardi for our for winning. And our homecoming will take place this Saturday evening. Today was the kickoff for spirit week. The themes chosen started with PJs. Tomorrow is jersey day. Thursday is the class color day. Ninth graders will wear white. 10th graders will wear gray. 11th graders will wear black and 12th graders will wear orange. And we end the week with our school colors. So everybody will be encouraged to wear black and orange. On Friday, we are excited for our first pep rally of the school year and to celebrate not only the athletes, but have other competitions, fun games to get participation from all students. The updated dress code and new cell phone policies continue to be enforced by administration and is being adhered by all students. Last week, 9th through

08311th graders took the PSAT, which is an annual test that prepares our students for the SAT. And next Wednesday, we are going we are opening Dober High School to an open house for rising ninth graders and their families to learn about Dober High School from students and staff. Me and Matthew will be in attendance to conduct a Q&A for n for the ninth graders and their families to try and ease any worries and or concerns. Today the SGAA meant to talk about PTSA, parent teacher student administration committee, a committee formed for increased parent involvement and better communication because we feel we are lacking parent involvement here in do high school and believe it would benefit the school. Tomorrow the district Hispanic heritages festival festival for the whole district will be held. This is a wonderful

084way to recognize our Hispanic population in our school. And lastly, I do want to bring up a concern brought to me by multiple students that that shared with me that was also shared with our principal, Mrs. Ross. Feminine hygiene products that were originally available as a free resource in the student bathrooms have not been replenished. And can the school district look into this? That is all. Thank you so much. >> Thank you for your report. I especially love the fact that you'll be welcoming students who will be coming to the high school. Um I think that's really important. When I went when I came here my freshman year 200 years ago, uh we just heard all kinds of things. Everybody was really nervous. So, um, the fact that you're able to provide that weltering environment

085is is great so the students can feel good about coming into high school, especially ninth grade. >> Thank you. >> Are there any questions from the board? >> Good evening everyone. I'm just going to add a little bit to the rest of the report. So, I want to inform everyone about the fast night we have coming up. It's going to be held here next Wednesday along with our open house. Fast night will take place so that students and families will receive assistance in filling out financial aid forms and ensure that we give them the best help we can. And also really quick, as a member of the unified sports team, I wanted to recognize our unifor sports soccer team that just started up. Last week we recently had our first away game against Westmore Central

086High School. Tomorrow we have we will have our very first unified sports soccer game in all of Dober's history. We have been very excited and working hard in making sure our unified sports programs run successfully for its first year. And I just want to give a quick shout out to Mr. Hill, Mr. Shul, Mr. Gregorio for making this happen. And we ask that everyone please show up tomorrow and support our unified sports team and to spread the word around. Thank you. [Applause] unified sports is amazing and also your help with fast which I have a hard time saying it was hard I remember doing it so I'm glad we were able to help >> Mr. Excuse me. Sorry. Before we move on, I just wanted to say um thank you to the SGAA for having

087a store. Um I uh am always looking for opportunities to buy Dober Tiger gear, but there's not always the right size available for me. And there was something that actually had a tall and so I bought it right away. I hope that went well for the SGA. Was the deadline to today? Does does was the deadline for orders today or did it close before or is it is it open? >> Um, I believe it might have been closed, but I can double check for you and get back. >> I was just going to say encourage anybody else who might want to look at it because, you know, sometimes you don't necessarily want something that >> points out a specific sport. just went general generic type of gear and he's had that and I was very

088appreciative of that and I hope that went well. >> Thank you. And I just have one question. >> What time is the game tomorrow and when it is going to be around 300 p.m. here at the high school? Um, Mr. behind me. Um, I just want to ask if once, not now, but once you circle back on the requests for the hygiene products and the restrooms, can you just let the board know just because I'm pretty sure that's a law and and so just so everybody Thank you for that. But just so everybody on the board will be aware when that is >> when it's correct. >> Okay. on to the president's report. Um, good evening everyone. Um, I had the pleasure of attending the Dober High School Hall of Fame of Distinguished Alumni induction

089ceremony that was here in the cafeteria September 28th. Over 120 people were here. The place was packed. Um there were 16 inductees and those graduates you know their their life story was shared their careers um it was really amazing to see what done and it all started here right from high school um want to thank Mr. Haimey who came and gave a speech and Miss Phillips and I were here u working the video trying to help with a lot of different things and Special thanks to the high school uh faculty and staff that a lot of work went into helping to coordinate to make this a success. So, thank you very much. I also have the honor of representing the board of education along with nearly our entire board uh our superintendent Mr. Haimey and

090our business administrator Mr. Salahulu at a recent Mars County School Boards Association meeting that was held at Bon High School. At that event, our board was recognized by the New Jersey School Boards Association for successively successfully completing all requirements to achieve board certification. This marks the first time in Dober's history that our board of education has earned this distinction. A testament to our collective commitment to professional growth, governance, excellence, and continuous improvement. Board certification requires extensive education and training and every member of this board should be proud of this accomplishment. I can remember so photo of the of the folks that were there. Thanks Mr. shower having that friend will be proudly displayed at the Belmont Street Board of Education offices as a reminder of what can be achieved through teamwork and dedication. Uh the

091next thing is recently there has been some inaccurate information circulating about the do school district's portion of the do's tax bill. And so I would like to take a moment to set the record straight and reaffirm our district's long-standing commitment to transparency in all matters related to district finance and facilities planning. In December 2022, a special school referendum proposed a $69 million bond to fund a new middle school, a project signed to address overcrowding, a challenge our district has faced for decades. Voters made their voices heard and the referendum did not pass. Since that time, the board has worked tirelessly to find responsible, cost-effective solutions to create the instructional space our students need. We thoroughly examined multiple options, including the former Joe Cubert School or the old Dober Middle School, the Saber Hart School, and

092the Newberry building downtown. But none proved fiscally or structurally viable. Our solution, constructing a sixth grade annex on existing district owned property between North Do and High School, right outside this window, meets our space needs without placing the district into long-term debt. The total cost to taxpayers is $1,686,53, not 69 million plus decades of interest payments. this one-time investment that directly benefits our students and community. When our 2003 bond for the Dober Middle Schools pays off on April 1st, 2022 26, the Dober School District will be completely debt-free. That is a milestone few districts can claim and it reflects our strong fiscal management and commitment to stewardship of taxpayer funds. For those seeking additional information about our financial strategy and ongoing projects, I encourage you to read the community update on our website entitled investing

093in Dober's future. Um, and it's under current district news on that website as well as on Facebook and Instagram. We are proud of the direction Dober is heading with a board that is certified, a district that is debt conscious, and a shared vision that always puts students first. Thank you for your continued trust and partnership as we invest in builder's future together. [Applause] Good evening. So I want to start off number one uh with the hall of fame inductees. I would definitely want to congratulate all the inductees for that day. Uh but I also wanted to give a quick shout out to custodians uh who prepared and set up everything as well with Tom uh who is our buildings and ground administrator. Uh they worked diligently with me throughout weeks on end planning and preparing

094and you have seen how beautiful our cafeteria looked for that day and in honor of our inductees was amazing. uh to have everyone here and share some of the stories. I had a great opportunity to really have discussion with some of the which was a great opportunity for me as I'm a transplant. I'm not homegrown but to hear some of these amazing stories and what has accomplished coming out of do is truly honor honorable. So once again I was very grateful to have been there uh that day and I shared that moment with everyone here. I want to also thank connecting do for their festival. We um the ro schools participated in it um not this past weekend the weekend before. uh beautiful weather. Um and it was a great opportunity to really see our

095community coming together, interacting with each other. Uh it was a great demonstration of all the resources that exist here at Dport families. And once again, it was just happy to be there and be able to represent Do public schools. Uh we have a new mural at Academy. If you have an opportunity, definitely see it on Twitter. Now it's X, right? Uh or their website. Uh we'll also be sending out more pictures. It is a beautiful mural. really uh embodying uh our tiger mascot as well as our PBIS edition for the district. So kudos out to uh Mr. Edwards and Miss Lucas uh for that and and the students have participated and really created that beautiful mural and the breezeway which is upstairs and it's a beautiful way of coming on in and seeing the beautiful

096color that they used. Um, week of respect just occurred last week and I want to thank all of our staff and administrators and leaders throughout the district who participated in different activities, lessons, and assemblies. Uh, I even saw a few superheroes over at North Door as Super uh, Girl, Batman, and I believe it was I don't think it was Robin. I can't believe who the third person was, but there was Spider-Man. That's what it was. It was Spider-Man and they were all visiting our students at North Door. So once again, thank you to everyone uh for making that that week special and really participating in helping our students understand these points of respect and uh individuality uh for our unified sports. And uh Mr. Le took a little bit of my thunder on this one,

097but I definitely wanted to continue give attributes and give credit what it deserves as Do High School did make history as a united uh unified soccer team playing the first game in school history against West Morris High School. And unified sport brings together students with and without disabilities to compete on the same team promoting inclusion, teamwork, friendship and through our power of athletics. In an exciting match, uh Chris Harden scored Do's first ever unified goal, helping Tigers finish strong at 2:1 game. A huge thank you again went on to the coaches, athletes, supporters, and made this milestone possible. is only the beginning that will promises of an amazing journey with unified sports here in do our cross country team I believe is currently at 12 and 0. Um and they will they have won the

098NJAC uh colonial division championship and I and today our top five boys Juan Torres, Christian Okendo, uh Nicholas Lombardi, Vermo Flores and Jim Torres were competing at the NJAC championship today and hopefully we were able to get the first and second in teams all overall. So we'll see how that goes today and I can't wait to hear some news tomorrow. I als I want to take this opportunity to welcome Miss Stein. She's not here today, but she started brand new at East Door Elementary and you as elementary principal. So definitely welcome to our Dober family. I' also like to take the opportunity to share wonderful news with all of you on our very own academy school music teacher uh Miss Francis Gleski has has had a research article published in Temple the official magazine of

099New Jersey music educators association and this article is a music easy or a hard discipline pedagogical vis wisdom from a compromisatory artist Martin Payne of the junior school can be found on page 46 to 47. So, nobody has a chance, please take a look. Uh, Hispanic Heritage Month will come to a conclusion tomorrow. Once again, thank you to all our teachers, students, administrators in in celebrating the culture, uh, the food, the music, uh, all throughout the month of September 15th and October 15th, which brings me to tomorrow's celebration of our Hispanic Heritage Month Festival, which is our third annual festival being held tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Door High. We'll welcome everyone to come join in food, festivity, music, and a bunch of n profit organization and resource being offered to our community tomorrow night.

100It is a great once again an exhibition of all the contributions of Latin America uh to to hear and then um Laura High School's open house is going to be October 23rd. I want to encourage all of our eighth grade parents to definitely join meet the new principal uh research courses and programs offered to our students and opportunities to learn and ask questions. And the last piece on October 18th, uh the truck retreat from town school will have their own car there. Uh we'll be dressing up believe as crayons. I believe I have the green color if I'm not on mistake if that's someone to have. So we'll be there on President Field. We're excited to see the kids. So hopefully if you're there, stop by and say hi. And you know, I want to

101congratulate again the cross country team and Dr. Kovaleki, you know, with their achievements. That's great. I also want to thank you and the staff that participated in creation of the newsletter, our first district newsletter that has gone out uh with it's a wealth of knowledge. It's gone out to the parents. It's out on social media and it's also been sent to Wine Hill uh as their ascending district and they are going to be sharing it with their parents for their schools so they can see all the wonderful things that are going on in. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Mr. Sabul? Good evening everyone. I'll be talking about finance and facilities uh section items. Item one, I would like to thank the New York Jets for their generous donation for $2,000. Item four, I would

102also like to thank the New York Jets again forwarding us $5,000 grant. Item five, our appreciation extends the field trip New Jersey 14 $1,400 grant. Uh they will be used for the field trips. Item six, seven, and eight. These items include one revised tition contract, one terminating terminated contract and one new tissue contract. Item nine, these are annual reports submitted to the county every year. The comprehensive maintenance plan called CMP outlines both total and projected expenditures for maintenance projects by school building. The M1 report details the last 10 years of expenditures as well as the budget appropriations for maintenance projects by building. Additionally, the M1 establishes the maximum allowable balance for the district maintenance reserve. Item 12, the state contract purchase 13 to district truck. While the budgeted amount was $70,000, we were able to

103secure the vehicle for just over $64,000. Item 13, the board approved this grant at June 24th meeting. We have since received the order and simply on tonight's agenda for formal acceptance. That concludes my report. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Sabulu? Okay, we're on to board reports. Uh Mars County Educational Services Commission. I attended the meeting last week. Um it was normal business really nothing to report to this body. I know Dr. Sanger is not here so we won't have a legislative report. Miss Downs March family meeting school boards. >> Good evening. The first of NCSBA hybrid meetings took place on October 7th at Bin High School. Thank you high school for hosting. Um as Mr. Mel had mentioned earlier our board was recognized um for certification. Um and the topic of the meeting was

104from budgets to brilliance. The next um item that next event would be the NJSBA workshop next week that's held in Atlantic City from October 20th to 23rd. And then the meeting after that will be um the MCS meeting at Montville High School which is also hybrid and um that will be on Tuesday, December 2nd. questions for the sounds. >> Okay, we have administrative approval items one and two. Do I have a motion? So move. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> Any questions? M. >> Yes. >> MS. >> Yes. Mr. Mort, >> yes. >> Miss Phillips, >> yes. >> Males, >> yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Mr. Miller, >> yes. >> Okay. Now, personnel. >> Good evening everyone. I would like to make a motion upon the recommendation of

105the superintendent and the board to approve items um 1 through 12 on personnel. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Is there any questions on the personal items listed? >> Mr. Ser, >> yes. >> MS. >> Yes. >> Uh, Miss Mor. >> Yes. >> Miss Phillips. >> Yes. >> Miss Penelis. >> Yes. >> Miss Shaw. >> Yes. >> Mesh. >> Yes. Mr. Mayor. >> Yes. >> Okay. Negotiations are up again. >> Yes. >> I would like to make a motion to approve items one and two on the negotiations. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Yes. >> M. Down. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mour, >> yes. >> M. >> Yes. M. Shower. >> Yes. Mess. Yes. Mr. Mill. >> Yes. Okay. Governor's

106report, Miss DS, >> the company's committee met on September 25th between 6:30 and 7:13 um virtually. The items for sorry the committee members are all present and items discussed were um a template for meeting minutes. The committee approved the meeting in its template provided by Miss Phillips. Um we also discussed creating a calendar to remind members of their responsibilities to attend events at their assigned schools. Um the committee proposed the following ideas for better awareness of assigned schools. Um one would have been is where members who are assigned to their respective schools in January contact each other monthly throughout the year and school events to see which events fit their schedules. if neither one of them can attend the event again to see if another foreign board member can cover. Um the administration will add

107board members to the parent square to notify board members that of events that they may partake in for their and the above ideas to be added to you packet orientation. Um discuss policies for meeting. Um, and another was to modify the agenda to line up goals. This bill recommended that we when doing the quarterly report, we should not modify the agenda just as the board president monthly meeting how goals are being achieved and the government's chair reports on how goals are being achieved. The next meeting is October 28. >> I'm sorry. Yes, I am. Sorry. Um, >> Make a motion to approve negotiation. >> I'm sorry. >> Approval of government item number one. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Um, any comments, discussion? >> I have a question. Um and and and

108this is I guess probably um the policy includes language that does not apply to um it it you know there's there's a section that is only applicable for county vocational school districts. Um, and I'm curious if that needs to be included in the policy that we adopt. Um, or should it be strictly like wind screen? Uh, I it sounds like it's clear that it only applies to kind of vocational. It sounds like it it probably wouldn't matter. Uh but if and I'm just not familiar with the with the policy. If it uh if it could be ambiguous and and assuming that it really does only apply to county then I think it could it would be appropriate to strike that is this a first reading or a second first. So this is I think that

109the type of thing that could be looked at between now and the second reading and uh if appropriate on the second reading would be I also want to uh thank you the governance committee for the uh template of meeting minutes. Looks great. So I think that will be great going forward. Are there any comments on the report or agenda item call? >> Mr. >> Yes. >> MS. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mor. >> Yes. MS. >> Yes. >> Melz, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> yes. >> Mess. >> Yes. >> Mr. Miller. >> Yes. >> Miss, student achievement curriculum. >> Thank you, Mr. Miller. Uh, Dr. S has asked to u information to you. The student achievement and curriculum meeting uh was held on October 8th uh in our Belmont administrative building. Um the facilitators were

110our superintendent uh Mr. Reese Highbe uh Mr. Mr. Chewy and Mr. Hicks um committee member for Dr. Ser myself um Mrs. B and um Mr. Mill uh at Dark High School there's a credit recovery and academic support for 2025 2026 school year. This is an effort to raise the bar and hold students accountable using Edmonton food which includes the transportation feature that has 75 languages. There are five goals. Provide academic support to students in classes where they are struggling with attendance or grades. Create a solution that prevents AI from completing their work. Communicate the plan with all stakeholders to enhance buying. Provide an incentive to attend sessions offered throughout the year rather than at the end of the year. Students with five or more absences for quarter or failing grades will need to complete admin

111work in order to be eligible for free summer school. First step is for students to take pre-EST that guides the lessons that they do in Edmonton. More parent contact uh progress reports counselor calls etc to get parents on board. Uh number two is the curriculum for review and approval in October um BOE meeting which is the uh English as a second language intermediate for grades seven. Uh number three is the grants update. Um it's called cultivating ongoing achievement through coaching in literacy coach L. Um we were awarded $150,000. Uh the district will receive the grant um each year for the next five years would help this will help bring a literacy coach into the district for five years and would provide PD to the state. The coach would be based at the elementary schools. That's

112exciting. Uh number four, Nevada's Girls in Science and Business mentoring program. There'll be four Dober High School students applied and were accepted in into the 2025 cohort. Um October 14th 2015 concludes with students presenting a medical case study in collaboration with students from other districts transportation provided by robots. Uh number five is link summary science benchmark development. Mr. Kis Kinski and the do high school science teachers are creating assessments that mirror the do middle school level. Um number six is the walkthrough summary. uh walkthroughs, analytics, um lots of data collected and discussions among among admins about what the data means. Um round one uh almost completed and today for approval um are the certified staff graduate courses, PV travel forms, field trips, and curricula. This concludes Dr. Sor's report. I move that we approve items

113one through four under student achievement and curriculum. >> Do we have a second? Second. >> Second. >> Any other discussion? >> I just want to mention one thing. The the credit recovery program is every semester so that students don't find out towards the end and there's not enough time for them to be able to make it up. This this I think is a gamecher because it gives every student every opportunity each semester to be able to recover some of those credits and still have the fail safe of having summer school. So it's wonderful and the personal attention that each student is getting for this I I'm hoping is very motivating and everyone is successful. >> Mr. Miller. >> Yes, Mr. Ch. >> Thank you for that. I was going to mention about the credit recovery.

114I think that's awesome. Um I also want to thank Novartis who are still partnering with us. It's been going on for many many years now for our students uh to shadow their staff members. And did I understand that they are including transportation this year? Is that what I heard in the in the report? That's awesome because I remember having to drive girls back and forth to the artist uh for weeks on and so that that's great. That's awesome. I also want to um thank Mr. Haney. I know that this was a conscious effort to get our field trip request and the professional development travel forms far in advance, bringing those to our attention so that we can see what's going on and what's moving ahead for the future. So, thank you very much. We promise

115and you will be following that. So, thank you very much. >> Any other comments? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. >> Yes. Miss Downs. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mccor. >> Yes. >> Miss Phillips. >> Yes. >> Miss Penelis. >> Yes. >> Miss Shower. >> Yes. >> Miss Son. >> Yes. >> Mr. Miller. >> Yes. >> Community relations. Mr. McCort. >> Thank you. Uh the community relations committee met on Tuesday, September 30th from 6:00 to 6:30 at the Do Public Library. All committee members were in attendance. Um we discussed um and sort of circle back around ahead of the first citizens advisory committee meeting of the new school year um what the purpose and mission of the citizens advisory committee is uh so that we could communicate that to the members um which we did more

116on that in a second. Um, we also uh briefly talked about some ideas for the student forum uh which I' I've mentioned in the past um that we are hoping to have um in the in the new year in early 2026. Um it would be a first of its kind um in the district. Um I know that Mr. Hime is is is having discussions with the climate and culture committee um which now has students on it. Um and so we will be out I owe him a communication on the things that we discussed um for this feedback and uh and we'll have more on that subject at the next meeting. Um I also do want to briefly just talk about um the first citizens advisory committee meeting of the new school year mainly because uh

117and I mentioned this to the uh to the members present um that it was one of the most substantive and and in-depth uh meetings conversations that that uh I have had um either as a member of the CAC before um or um as the liaison essentially u from the board. Uh all of the members were incredibly engaged. Um they took the the direction we gave them well as far as what their purpose was and what we sort of hope to see from them. Um they they did something which we didn't always get in the past um which was communicate uh successes um uh you know things that the district was doing well. We don't always hear that. Um, and you know, we're just sort of left to assume that maybe it's working, maybe it's not.

118Um, it was great to get that feedback. Um, there was a really good in-depth conversation about district goals and what that means and and how those are met and, um, I want to thank Mr. Himeme for making himself available for that meeting. Um, he was very much the star of the meeting. Um, I didn't have to do near as much talking. Uh, so thank you for that. I'll be inspecting him at every meeting now. Um um but it was it was a very very good conversation and I think bodess well for this this year's um citizens advisory committee and and hopefully the the feedback and input it can provide us to make things better for all of those students. So that concludes my report. >> Thank you Mr. McCor. Any questions for the uh community

119relations? >> Okay policy miss panelis. Good evening everyone. The policy committee met on October 8th at this p.m. All committee members were present along with Mr. H and our president Mr. A policies have been revised. Policy 611 the special education medic Medicaid initiative SDMI program. Updated statutory and regulatory references have been revised. The waiver process have been clarified. revenue recognition threshold. It clarifies districts must recognize at least 90% of this SDMI revenue projections from the NJD city county superintendent approval to use their own projection and supporting data. The it defines the definition of maximum participation as that districts are required to achieve 90% return rate of our intermediable students. It specifies that a student's entry into the SPMI third party system may occur without parental consent or eligibility tracking purposes. There's accountability for non-compliance and

120the there's a there has been an expanded language. There's cost set compliance clause. There's a new section that specified that districts not meeting cost set requirements may be required to refund SDMI reimbursements. There has been outdated school year references removed, redundant language streamlined, repetitive statutory explanations removed, and minor grammatical and formatting updates. The revised version clarifies responsibilities for compliance and accountability with within FBMI. It provides more specific guidance on labor procedures, participation rates, and fiscal reporting. It introduces a new compliance safe word. Policy 5117 on interd district public school choice has been revised. Expand the definition section. Add a clearer definitions for choice district, choice program, choice student and unfunded choice student aligning with NJAC. Introduce a new definition for a specialized education program. choice programs with admission criteria. It clarifies the student eligibility rules

121detail sending district restrictions and hence lottery and preference procedures choice applications and timeline revisions. There's a new section on post enrollment provisions. It specifies that on students are accepted they must remain enrolled throughout terminal grade without reapplying. Provides rules for students in districts or when a program ends allowing continued attendance as unfunded choice students. Appeals and accountability parent information center transportation and funding non-resident student clubs policies. That's the policies. And then policy 5117 on interd district public school choice on regulations for first reading. We have regulations 5117 on interd district public school choice revised expanded definition section added clearer definitions for choice district choice programs choice students and unfunded choice student alignment with NJC regulation 611 a special education Medicaid initiative SEMI program has been revised and these regulations now provides clearer guidance and accountability

122for SDMI implementation. It strengthens fiscal compliance by detailing documentation, timelines and penalties. It promotes transparency by requiring accurate projections, participation tracking and cost settlement monitoring. For second reading, we have policy 6220 on budget preparation, policy 1620 on administrative employment contracts, policy 1570 on internal controls, policy 5430 on class. For regulations on second reading, you have regulation 6220 on budget preparation and regulation 1570 on internal controls. There's some job descriptions that have been added. daily substitute teacher and permanent substitute teacher. Our next community policy committee meeting has been is to be determined. With that, I conclude my report and I would like to approve items one to five on the policy. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> You have a second. >> Any questions or comments for anyone? Please. >> Mr. S. >>

123Yes. >> M. Downs. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mor. >> Yes. >> Miss Phillips. >> Yes. >> M. Penales. >> Yes. >> Miss Shower. >> Yes. >> M. Son. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. Finance and facilities. Mr. Shower. >> Thank you, Mr. Miller. And good evening to everyone here and at home. Um, the finance and facilities committee met on September 30th at the Belmont building location starting about 5:30, ending about 6:35. Our administration in attendance was Mr. Hime, Mr. Salulu, and Mr. Toe, our built into ground correction. Members in attendance were Mr. Miller, Dr. Sanger, Missel, and Miss Esabdo. Uh, facilities projects that are still ongoing and in project in progress. I'll start off with our route 46 building. That's 242, Route 46. Um, the application still remains with the state department of education. We

124have confirmed through our architect that they do in fact have it. They are looking at it. I would only assume that because this is a preschool location that they are looking at this with a fine tooth comb. Um, and they do promise to get back to us very soon. I want to because this has been ongoing for so long. I just wanted to remind the community because there has been some question over what that building is going to be. This is the older sport building. That building is going to be remain standing. It is not being knocked down. We didn't buy it just for the property. Um this will not be a school bus parking lot. There will be some onshore preschool buses that will go in and out of there. We're dropping them off

125of our students, but this location will be used exclusively for our Dober preschool students to bring all of those three and fouryear-old students who have been scattered throughout the county at various locations. um it's bringing back the majority of them to that location and we look forward to the day that we can say that we are starting the work on renovations inside that building. Moving on to the Dober High School generator project which is right outside this door here. Everything has been completed the pad, the electrical, the gas is all been installed and we are still anticipating delivery of the generator itself for December 23rd. A nice little Christmas give to the Dober School District. Installation will then proceed with the hookups and the job will then be completed. HVAC upgrades for Dober Middle School

126and North Dober Elementary, which were our ongoing ROD grant projects. The majority of the projects have been completed. The contractor has some minor items to come back and complete and with some of our Airdale units being removed from East or because of our new HVAC unit. Uh Mr. Toe is trying to come up with efficient and um creative uses of the space from where the Airdale units are being removed from inside the classroom. It's a large space. Um and he shared with us some of the ideas that he had. Anything from he definitely said no storage with closet doors. Definitely nothing with closet doors. He did hope to utilize the area for some small storage and possibly bookmarks. Uh the sixth grade annex project, as Mr. Miller had um explained, was is going to be

127right outside this window on our former tennis court area, moving into the bus parking lot. Um and we discussed the bus parking relocation, which will now be pointing towards the pond area. So that work has started to happen. Um there will be some electrical work that has to be done and of course some blacktop work that has to be done in conjunction with moving the buses. We're going to move some parking spaces in the area of the pond and we'll recover those from the triangle area as you come into our high school parking lot, the grass area. We'll be removing a slice of the the grass area towards the parking lot for 18 spaces to be used from that area for parking. Um he also Mr. Toe also shared with us that the do high

128school maintenance garage renovation is ongoing. It has been painted. The garage has been painted. It has been cleared out and it looks great. He shared some photos with us that looks awesome. They are working on the interior now and will be removing the ceiling and all of the debris that's in there and replacing it with new ceiling. Uh the North Dober Elementary and East Do Elementary, both schools have had extensive roof repair and replacement projects done. Those continue with only minor um items still left to be done. Uh North D Elementary School has some work that will be done during the teachers convention to avoid disruption with noise to students and staff inside the building. Um this project is nearly complete and as this project and also the um air unit project HBAC for both

129of those buildings. Both of those projects have come in under budget which is always good news for the district and for our community. Easttover Elementary School has had a roof ongoing roof leak and that has been repaired districtwide. Uh Mr. Toad has been communicating with Mr. Sperry from our global fire department in reference to an ongoing situation of problems with some of our antiquated doors. It is also an issue that remains on our five-year facilities plan and he has been chipping away at all of those. He's done a he and his staff has done a good job with is in many of the doors showing us photographs. Beautiful job done. Um he is also Mr. To is also investigating various solutions to refreshing and renewing the high school baseball field outside there. Also, um that's

130also being used by our new soccer team. It was used tonight. The soccer players were out there and it gets a lot of use. So, it needs to be refreshed. It's been quite a few years since that's been worked on. um projects completed at this time. So we have the Academy Street School HBAC units have been installed in every class and this will aid in the longstanding problem of either a two pot or a two pole classroom and I hope that they're happy with that over there. The Dober High School cell phone holders which were a hanging pocket holder have been replaced with metal storage cabinets called cell phone cubbies. Uh we saw them, the board saw them this evening. They're great and much more mature for our older students. The Dober High School gym

131painting has been completed and the banners and signs have been refined and that's great news with that. The uh under finance, Mr. Salvul shared with us that the 2024 25 audit continues as of this date. We're still on track and doing well. Mr. on the goal. >> Hopefully this is the basket. >> Yes, that's excellent. Um the ROD grant as I mentioned earlier their reimbursement status is now has been uh submitted with all sections complete payment for 100%. uh the SNAP grant SNAP gap grant for 202 for 25 and 26 school years which was approximately $25,000 will not be received by addition this year. The cafeteria account um which board members had and the committee had some questions from Mr. saw over the change in um use of some of the the uh cafeteria count

132information, the way that it was being shared with us. He gave a comprehensive complete report to us and we're pleased with the outcome of that. Um so we appreciate the time and effort that he put into it. That is my report for the finance and facilities committee meeting of September 30th. And with that, I will move on to items number 1 through 13 on the agenda for approval. I'll make a motion, please. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Do we have any questions for Mr. Shower? >> I did want to add that again, we have received with generosity from the New York Jets another donation as Mr. who said earlier of $5,000 with um equipment for flag football uh team and also a $2,000 donation. And I did inquire to Mr. Subu,

133what do the jerseys look like? I want to make sure that our Tigers are represented. They are uh with a small Jets logo and a small um Special Olympics logo. So that's great. Our orange and black jerseys represent. Great. >> Any other comments from from the board? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Suo, >> yes. >> Miss Downs, >> yes. >> Mr. Mro, >> yes. >> Miss Phillips, >> uh, yes. And I will excuse myself for payments to that 1950. >> Miss Shon, >> yes. >> Miss Sun, >> yes. >> Mr. Miller, >> yes. Uh upcoming board meetings November 18th, December 16th and then our reorganization meeting is January 5th. We have facility requests from the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey for East Dober Avenue Street and North Dober schools. Uh do we have

134any old business in the court? >> Yes. Um just one thing. Um this neither Mr. Hime or or Mr. But I'm just curious if you have any insight or update um on how a new arrangement with menum um is working. >> What is it sir? The new contract with menum township for the >> actually it's working. We didn't have any issues complaints. They're very happy. Great ticket. Thank you. >> Any other old business items? On to new business. Do we have any new business items? That's right. Okay, we will move on to our second public comments portion. Uh, the board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters. To ensure fair and orderly expression of such comment, each statement

135shall be held to a time period of 3 minutes. Public comments not restricted to items on this agenda shall be entertained for approximately 30 minutes upon the discretion of the presiding officer. For those who wish to provide public comment remotely, a Google form was posted on the district website at 6:30 p.m. Remote comments will be read by a member of the board of education. The board of education will alternate between in-person and online comments. Please understand that public comments portion of our agenda are not structured as question and answer sessions, but they they are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the with the board. The board may or may not respond to public comments. However, all comments are considered and will be investigated and addressed as appropriate. Please be courteous and mindful of

136the rights of others when providing comments. Comments may not be abusive, obscene, threatening, or irrelevant. Please understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections. The board is not permitted to respond to public comments about students or employees. Please be advised that you are commenting at your own risk. Any public comments that are directed at a particular individual or individuals could subject you to legal liability for defamation. Is there anyone from the public that wishes to address the board? Please state your name and your address. >> Robert, one Fred Terrace, New Jersey. Mr. Miller, members of the board of education. Good evening. I'm a member of the class of 75. And uh October the 4th, we have our 50-year reunion. And the vice principal of the high school was gracious enough to come

137on the morning of the fourth and to give several of my classmates a tour of the building so they could see how it changed from 50 years ago. And they were really impressed with the addition of the robotics classes and the uh dance studio that uh that's now in the school. Of course, we had oil mechanics when I was here and the cosmetology department and mechanical drawing and all that stuff that we're on which are no longer here. Also, I'm a little bit uh tired of this town always getting into the negative impact of the school system here. It seems that the residents of this town always hear the negative and they don't hear very much of the positive. And I'm sure there are a lot of accomplishments that come not only from our students

138but also from the faculty that the residents of this town do not hear. So, I was wondering if maybe if it might be possible to maybe have a quarterly school newsletter go out to the residents of the town, not only to the parents of the students, but to all residents, even those that don't have kids anymore in the school system, so that they're aware of the uh what's going on in the schools and they can see, you know, the accomplishments of students and faculty, you know, to be recognized which orally don't go recognized. and perhaps uh a copy of the schedule of the uh athletic teams so that maybe they might see more participation from the town at their school events. There's nothing more disappointing than to play a sport, not have your town come

139out to to support you. Also about this uh school budget, I know that the letters went out to the students parents explaining the breakdown of the school budget. However, again, a lot of the residents in this town don't have kids anymore in the school system. And being that part of their taxes go to the school budget that perhaps a letter could go out townwide to all residents that they see, you know, where their money is going to uh as far as the school budget is concerned. Thanks for your help and this is my first meeting, first time attending the board of education meeting and was very impressed, very informative and uh good luck to you all. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments and I'm glad to have a great reunion. >> Good evening

140board 15 Harvard Street. Um I just wanted to thank the uh district for the staggered start times. I think it's working really well for traffic mitigation. However, I do have a suggestion for the coming year. I think most of you are pretty far removed from having a preschooler at this point. And those 9:00 a.m. start times or the 920 start times are brutal. Um, and it's definitely it's a little confusing to me why the district went that way when uh, you know, most parents aren't at work by 9:00 a.m. Most of uh, the programs don't offer a quarter option. Um, I happen to be able to get my sons one. Um and then plenty of studies have shown that the students who benefit the most from delayed start time are your high schoolers who will

141in this case are starting the earliest with everyone. Um so I definitely urge the district to reconsider uh the way this aggress times lay out for the coming school year. Maybe consider starting the high schoolers latest. Um, I think most high schoolers are okay to get to school alone or or not have to have mom and dad with them till 9:00 a.m. for the most part. Um, but I definitely can't my three-year-old after gets on the bus at 8 a.m. Um, so thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Hi. >> Hi. Good evening. My name is Elizabeth Tia. Um, and I'm 429th Street and I'm here to talk about um, something that has recently taken place. The sharing of explicit photos of a private individual by a sitting member of this

142board is not only disgraceful but deeply harmful to the moral integrity of my thinking of our school district. I think if as someone who's been a lifelong Dover Tiger and as someone who has siblings and nieces and nephews who attend the Dober district, um I think that we entrust our board of ed members with the responsibility to serve as role models, people who lead with a focus to our children's well-being. And let me be clear, I don't think this is about politics or personal opinions. Um, this is about accountability and the example we are setting for our children. I urge this board today to take a stand tonight, not just with words, but with action, condemn this behavior publicly. Make it known that the Dober Board of Education or any board for that matter will

143not tolerate the exploitation of others for personal or political agendas. We taught our students to treat one another with kindness, to stand up to bullying, and to do the right thing when it's difficult. Now, it's our turn to live up to some of those lessons and make a make a a comment on this. I also urge Mr. Pendalco to think about his suggestion on early childhood bullying. Children are more aware than we think and bullying can start early, especially with today's rise in social media use. Every situation is different and that's why these cases should be looked at individually, not dismissed in my opinion by a blanket rule. Please remember that the goal of HIV policies is to protect, educate and support our children, not minimize their experiences. And once again, I urge our board

144to condemn these actions taken by members on this board of education. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Good evening everyone. Johnio 24 road. Just wanted to take a quick moment tonight to give a huge shout out to Debbie Aso, one of our board members, for all of her help organizing another community school supply drive for, I believe, the third consecutive year for our Dober students at the beginning of the school year. Debbie and all those who assisted her put in so much time and energy making sure both our staff and students had what they needed to start the year off right. From collecting donations to organizing countless boxes of supplies in her own home to consistently updating the community about the drive on social media, she really went the extra mile

145and made such a big difference. Because of your hard work, Debbie, our community came together to give every child a chance to start the school year prepared and confident. Thank you for your hard work, your positivity, and for always stepping up when our Dober community needs it most. We truly all appreciate you. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Mr. Miller. >> Yes. >> Are you intentionally ignoring me? >> Oh, I forgot you have online comments. All right, let's start with those. We'll do a couple of those. Okay. All right. The first one is from Daniellea. Tonight I am submitting the statement deep disappointment and anger at the disgraceful behavior of a sitting member of this board of education behavior that has no place in our schools or in public service. A board member has chosen

146to engage in partisan political attacks, distributing confatory and deeply inappropriate material, including alleged pictures of hate and lingerie in a deliberate attempt to humiliate and discredit. Let that sink in. a board of education member entrusted with setting an example for our students engaging in this kind of conduct as a fellow community member and keep it against another current member of this board. It is beyond shameful. It is unethical and it violates the very principles this body is going to uphold. The New Jersey school ethics act is clear. Board members must act with honesty and integrity. Place the interests of students and the district above personal or political motives and treat the public and one another with respect. This behavior is the antithesis of that standard. It is an embarrassment to to this district and a

147betrayal of public trust. Our children are watching. Our educators are watching. And our community is watching. When a board member weaponizes lies, cruelty, and slander, they forfeit the moral authority to lead. No one who behaves in this way deserves to sit on a board that makes decisions for our students. I urge this board to take a clear stand, condemn this conduct publicly, demand accountability, and if this member has even a shred of decency left, they should do what integrity requires and resign. Silence in this moment is over leaders who model respect, not hate, ethics, not exploitation, and truth, not toxicity. The next one is from Jessica Pini. I am a quala board of education member who was supposed to be a leader for students and the community is engaging in the distribution of the famous

148material and personal images of a former board president and community leader who led high school with courage and inspiration making a significant impact on the school community. This disgusting and disgraceful act of conduct not only sets terrible example for students but also undermines both the trust and dignity of the school board. The board must uphold accountability as allowing a board member to serve while engaging in such acts of hate by weaponizing misinformation for political gain is inappropriate and unacceptable. I urge you the board to condemn this shameful behavior and take appropriate action to restore confidence and trust in the entire Rover community. Do not deem this act of hate to be acceptable. Please do the right thing. >> Carol Ruiz, do New Jersey. It pains me to name a woman whose achievements I've celebrated as

149the source of harmful behavior against our entire community. Victoria Panales, your fellow board members are kind and diplomatic. Based on their body language tonight and what I know of them personally, we know each other. We're all neighbors. I imagine that none of them except maybe your co-conspirator. >> Excuse me. Uh excuse me, Mr. Speaker. Uh under board policy and and procedures, please direct all of your comments to the board president, the presiding officer under board policy is not permitted for members of the public to directly address uh by anyone. >> Well, also as you know, >> I know that you're going I also just want to point out as indicated earlier and I know you were yourself that uh when you name a specific individual, you are speaking on you know at your own risk

150could be the subject of a question but again please direct your comments. >> Thank you Mr. Crew. I imagine that none of them condone Victoria Panales's non-consentual sharing of intimate AI images of board former board of education president Daniel Mendes. I'm not here to shame any board member, particularly Victoria, nor to defend former President Danielle Amendments. I'm here to speak about myself and about the many women and girls in our community who have suffered bullying, harassment, and defamation connected to the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. In June of my senior year here at Dober High School, I was an undocumented immigrant without access to a driver's license and with a need to drive to work. One afternoon, the 21-year-old man who drove me to work regularly locked me in the car and refused to let

151me out unless I flashed him and allowed him to take a Polaroid picture of my breasts in a bra. Feeling trapped, afraid, and desperate to get out of the car, I lifted my work shirt and he took the picture. But he didn't let me out of the car. Later, he showed the deep scratches he got from my defense of his sexual assault as a badge of honor along with a Polaroid picture. It was 1996. I wasn't a political candidate then, so only my peers saw that picture. my neighbors, my parents. There was no social media. No one else saw it. But even still, the shame and the harassment and the bullying and the the gutwrenching emotional pain I felt from the sexual assault and the picture led to depression, which led to psychiatric hospitalization. I

152recovered. How many of our girls, how many of our students, how many of the women in this room in our community have suffered an ex-boyfriend or a predator sharing intimate pictures with them? And what policy does this board have to protect our students against that? And how can we trust the policy chair to support and defend and enact such a policy when it names this harmful behavior? Mr. I had interrupted you earlier. So I appropriate to allow you a little more time which I have already done. But please uh please finish up. >> If this board or board member Victoria Victoria Panales doesn't care about me and my nonconsentual um image story doesn't care about Danielle Mendes and the emotional pain that she is suffering now. Please at least care about our students. This happens

153daily to our girls and our boys cuz some of the gay boys, right? That's why the harassment, bullying, and intimidation law exists. Because a boy was engaged in homosexual sex. And those images were used against him and he died by suicide. That's what these images do. They create such pain. Imagine Imagine your honeymoon pictures were blasted all over town, Maria. The next one just for me just Okay. So, so you don't want me to repeat that. You just want me to say >> because that's what you're saying. >> Yeah. You say just read the names, not the statements. there's not a name. Okay. So then the next one would be Joshua. I would like to bring attention to the activities of some of our members on the board of education, Victoria Panales and Maria Sus.

154Miss Pales and Miss Selena were soon passing out a campaign wire which can be best described as disgusting throughout the time of business. This wire included a Menddees, a former member of the board of education, and portrayed her in a defamatory and important manner that is simply unrepentant of anyone, especially someone entrusted to the schools that educate our children. The flyer contained doctor with photoshopped images of Daniel Mendes and revealing clothing implicitly endorsing candidates Toro and Ismael. All I can imagine is how one would how one could do this knowing there's a possibility that a child coming home from school picked up this wire from their doorstep. Politics and education shall never coexist as it has dangerous consequences. What Mr. Canal and Miss agreed to do in distributing this require authorized by the mayor and

155his allies in the red dignity and trust we have in this institution to the nonpartisan but solely preoccupied with the social and educational advancement of our children and to teach them to love and not hate one another. This act without any doubt is an endorsement and advancement of transphobia, bullying and intimidation. We the concerned parents and citizens of Victory Gardens work ask that Victoria Canalis and Maria Sus be held accountable for their actions and ensure that such behavior by all those complicit in this institution shall be worth worthy consequences and ensure that the bullying have no police in our schools or 14. Is >> there any ones from the public that was just made comment? Good evening, members of the board. My name is James, 261 West Street. I'm here tonight acting in my personal

156capacity. As we all know, what we do in our personal time as private citizens is protected under the First Amendment. the United States Constitution. I'm here tonight to defend the two board members that were brought up recently in this conversation. One in particular, a proud Dober resident, graduate of Dover High School, a Rucker's alumni, the daughter of a teacher and mother of a Dober student. She has served our community through local nonprofits and help families, children in crisis. Her commitment to Dober has been constant and selfless. And yet she is now being condemned not because she did anything wrong, but because she shared information that was truthful and already of them. Let's not avoid what this is really about. The controversy is not about her or either one of them. The controversy is about an

157individual seeking public office. Proof for years has posted illicit adult material and online solicitations under multiple online pages with false names. The kind of conduct that under New Jersey statute 2C34-1 constitutes prostitution and promoting prostitution. Everyone is focusing on one thing to change the narrative. This is not about lifestyle or identity. It's about illegal and unethical behavior that violates both the law and the public's trust. Under AJSA 2C34-1 and 2C34-1.1, it is unlawful for any person to offer or accept sexual activity in exchange for anything of value to solicit or promote such activity or to knowingly participate in any form of commercial sex acts. That is what the law states. that is the standard of decency in the state of New Jersey that upholds it. And yet this rather addressing this conflict, some have chosen

158to attack the person or persons who revealed it by distributing some literature and even the volunteers who support the group. Let's be honest. When members of this board or their associates express political opinions, endorse candidates, or distribute campaign material, it's always justified as being done in their personal capacity. No one challenges that, though. But when a working mother and community advocate distributes factual information, the response is suddenly to call it unethical, offensive, or inappropriate. That is not integrity. That is hypocrisy. The material they distributed shared on was not obscene or hateful. In fact, out of respect for the community, the most explicit examples were deliberately withheld. The purpose was transparency to inform voters about a conduct that if ignored could bring national embarrassment to do. M >> Mr. Do your time is up, so please

159uh please finish up your >> I will wrap it up. We are raising children in an age where nothing only dis nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing truly disappears online and you all know that a single search can uncover anything from the past. I think we must focus on the real issue here. It's not the distribution of the material it's the content. And let me let me say this to the board members and members of the public here. The things that are posted online and anybody here can identify. Go online. I encourage members of the public, I said it in our council meeting tonight and I encourage you all to Google escort and recruit. So you will see that individual come up and you want to talk about elicited pictures, that's what you will find online.

160What these board members did was inform the public and I believe they have an obligation as citizens to do that as I do as a citizen of this town. Thank you for your time. I was just um generalized and not >> um so the next comment is Trisha Matary. Um, I have been extremely disappointed and disgusted by the dirty politics, inappropriate actions, and reprehensible behavior exhibited by some unsupervised people related to the current political campaign. Tactics are being employed that denote disrespect, disrespect, and damage not only the candidate Daniel, but the public trust, the people of as well as the entire voting process. Most recently, a video of a Denver board of education public officials handle agreeing on the specifiers in an obvious attempt to sling money at Daniela was captured on the ring camera

161of a concerned building resident. This type of dirty politics is shameful and should not be tolerated. Daniela has been a compassionate, inclusive, and empathetic community leader with an outstanding record as a past building board of education president. Those who cannot fight fair and square have lowered themselves to absolute base levels and should be held accountable for their actions and personal attacks. They should be invited to do better, be better, and stick to the issues that impacted the people of the work. Perhaps if they have time and money to hand color printed inappropriate materials, they will be better served using the time to clean out their own closets and donating the money to people in need or the new school system. The world has changed. We no longer expect people to all fit in the same

162boxes. We celebrate diversity and are strengthened by unity. Bullying, character assassination, and dragging folks through the mother behavior as we fight to teach our children not to do. Now they see Now they can see videos of board of education members trying to drag, bully, and assassinate the character of a known community leader simply because she does not support her as a candidate for town council. This board member should be ashamed and embarrassed and the board of education must endeavor to inspire her to do better. I strongly recommend some sensitivity training and standards within decency classes. Failure to condemn her behavior would be akin to board of education. Is there anyone else from the public that wishes to make the comment? Okay. At this time, the rest of the comments we will look at at another

163time, but we are out of time as far as public comment. So, at this time, I've closed the session to the public and should we have a motion for adjournment. >> Mr. I I did want to make a comment if I could. >> Sure. >> About what just took place here. Um, as someone who has sat on this board since and who has suffered hours for several years um of attacks from the audience, attacks personally. Um at that time social media was not so uh crazy as it is now but these so these were personal attacks in person in our board in our very small board room starting out with so they were right on top of us and moving to our media center. Um, I know that when I left the board, the then

164board that took place after me in um, 2018 came up with our statement, what the president says at every meeting twice. I want to remind the public and ourselves of one of the paragraphs in it. And we know why this took place because our our meetings should not be political. Our meetings should not be attacking from the public. Um so I'll go on to the third paragraph. To the public, please be courteous and mindful of the rights of others when providing comments. Courteous and mindful of the rights of others when providing comments. Comments may be not may not be abusive, obscene, threatening or irrelevant. Irrelevant. Please understand that students employee and employees have specific legal and privacy protections. The board is not permitted to respond in public to comments about students or employees. Please be

165advised that you are commenting at your own risk and public comments that are directed at a particular individual or individuals could subject you to legal liability for defamation. Now we we put this in place. We say it at every meeting and we have to mean it. So when there are attacks from the audience to the board, I believe that they should be interrupted and stopped. That's just my opinion as a board member and that's how I take this protection that is a part of our agenda and a part of our board actions. Thank you. I do want to circle back to a couple comments that were made particular with the preschool start time. current newslet um in regards to the staggering times and the work that we put into making those changes this past year.

166It was something that was done as a committee uh as a group in hopes of improving traffic pattern as well as allowing our transportation department to be able to uh meet the needs of our district. Um, of course, with that said, you know, we can always revisit and reflect on how the year went and look at other options move forward and see what works best uh for our district as we move forward. And then in regards to our newsletter and and getting information out to non-parents, you know, I have to to admit that that's something I really haven't thought about in the past, right, and conversations. But I think that uh it definitely is going to encourage me to explore how else I can get that information out to the public, right, about what we're

167doing, how we're doing it, and why we're doing what we're doing here at D public schools. So, you definitely challenged me on that one. So, I'll find a way to get that information out to our nonparents and to the community. So, thank you for that. Does anybody else have any comments before we adjourn? Can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. Have a second. Okay. All those in favor? >> I. Thank you. Have a good night, everyone.