001started. >> Good evening everyone. Um I feel like it's been a while. Uh I don't know why it's felt that way. I think because the beginning of the school year time goes a little bit slower and then it like speeds up through the holidays. Um but it's great to see everybody. We're excited because we have some student presentations which is always the board's favorite. Um, we are going to get started and we will change the order of the meeting a little bit so that the kids can go first and we can let them leave so we don't hold them hostage to our very important business but not as entertaining as they will be. Um, so we will rearrange the the schedule a little bit. So I call the meeting to order. Um, pursuant to the
002open public's meeting act, public notice of this meeting has been given by the board secretary in the following manner. Posting written notice on the official bulletin board at the Vorhees Township public schools administrative buildings on August 4th, 2025. Sending written notice to the Courier Post on August 4th, 2025. Filing written notice to the clerk of Vorhees Township on August 4th, 2025. Posting on the Vorhees Township website on August 4th, 2025. Please rise for pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Board secretary, will you call the role, please? >> Mr. Bryce, >> here. >> Miss Ktover >> here. >> Mrs. Mon >> here. >> Mr. Rosen, >> here. >>
003Mr. Rosner, >> Mrs. Ruer >> here, >> Mrs. Stewart >> here, >> Miss Birdie >> here, >> Watson >> here. >> There is no executive session today. Can I get a motion to approve the board minutes of the September 15th, 2025 regular meeting? >> So moved. Rudder. >> Second. Stewart voting is open. have two abstensions and six yeses. Motion carries. >> Excellent. I have no um president's comments tonight. Um okay. Um so we are going to actually move up the student presentations from Vorhees Middle School to this point if that would be acceptable. Thank you. Good evening, President Watson, the entire board of education, Dr. Hackett, and the Vorhees community. My name is Alicia. I'm the principal of Vorhees Middle School. I am here tonight with Mrs. Jacqueline Connor. She is one of our amazing
004school counselors at BMS. We are also here with some of our students who act as mentors. So each year at BMS, a select group of approximately 30 eighth grade students are chosen from a pool of 50 applicants to serve as student mentors. Candidates must obtain teacher recommendations, demonstrate active participation in the VMS community, and submit an essay articulating their desire to serve as VMS mentors. Once selected, mentors report to their designated eighth grade counselor. This year, Mr. Steven Buenelli is actually our eighth grade counselor, and Mrs. Jacqueline Connor is one of our six is our sixth grade counselor. Once selected, mentors report, excuse me, I said that up already. Um, this year, I apologize, we brought our mentors new t-shirts and we wanted to show them to you. We've had mentors for a long time.
005back. I apologize. So, this year we decided to buy our mentors t-shirts because they're going to explain to you all the activities they attend at VMS and we wanted to identify them. Our parents use the mentors and students also look to the mentors at VMS. So, tonight I bought five representatives. They are an amazing group of students and they're going to give you some insight about the activities and how they help us at BMS. Clifton. >> Afternoon y'all. My name is Clifton Dimma and I am the A and I'm an Ara mentor as Ara mentor. And as an Ara mentor, we have sixth graders on a sixth grade orientation to help them adjust adjust to VMS. We help them open lockers and make their way around the building by touring and doing fun scavenger hunts.
006Sixth grade can be hard and I'm happy to help them because I remember being a sixth grader. Thank you for your time. >> Uh hello board of education. My name is Rohan Mathther and I'm an eighth grade mentor. Mentors are home room helpers. We go to sixth grade home rooms and help sixth graders with their lockers, read their schedules, and assist teachers. The first weeks are hard and we are there to help them. It's an honor to help sixth graders feel comfortable, feel comfortable, and succeed in their new school. Thank you for your time. >> Hello, my name is Alexa Besser and I am an eighth grade mentor. All mentors attend both VMS back to school nights when the parents are lost or can't find the next class. We escort them to class and show
007them where to find the rooms. It's fun to help parents. They really appreciate when you show them where the class is located. I enjoyed making back to school night a success. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Charlie Lindsley and I'm an eighth grade mentor. Mentors attend camp and Nicken with the sixth graders. We are assigned to a group and act as role models and leaders. We cheer on the sixth graders and encourage them to try new things and make friends. camp was really fun and as a and as a sixth grader and really cool as an eighth grader. Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Victoria Clark. I am an eighth grade mentor and in November mentors attend parent teacher conferences. Even though parents attended back to school night, they still need help navigating
008BMS for conferences. We escort parents to classrooms and help them find the exits when the conferences are over. As a mentor, we enjoy helping and hanging out with with our friends during these events. Thank you. >> So, as you can see, they are definitely some of the leaders in our school. They're articulate, they're kind, they're respectful, and they help us navigate a lot of our activities. I just want to thank them again. So, let's give them another round of applause. Thank you to our mentors. And I just want to be clear, our amazing counselor department, they're the ones that facilitate the mentor program. They take all the applications, they read over their essays, and they help us choose who are going to be our mentors each year. We have an amazing counseling department, and we
009really appreciate all they do at VMS. Thank you. Thank you. We have a couple We have a gift for all of you and we want to say on behalf of the board, thank you for representing all of us. Um, you did an excellent job. I know it's very nerve-wracking to speak in front of an audience, but you all did exceptional and you you all make us incredibly proud. So, thank you so much. Thank you. We will give you guys a few moments to leave if you so choose. Yeah. Right. Uhhuh. Right. Do you want to do the present? Okay. Um, enrollment as of October 15, 2025 is on the attachment. Fire drills and safety drills also on the attachment as well as the harassment intimidation and bullying report as well as bus evacuation drills for
01020 for fall of 2025 2025. Um, suspension data is also included on the uh on the attachments. We have a couple of Oprah requests, three, four. They've all been closed out to date. Um, board secretary report. >> You good evening. Uh, we have two items under the board secretary report. One is just, uh, a reminder that Tuesday is election day, November 4th, and we host we have polling places within this building. Uh, this this room here is a polling place for two or three sites. And then down the hall, the right Oh, sorry. Should I start over? Okay. We this building is used as a polling place. Um there's more. We used to just have some in this room and now we have some down the hall too. So a lot of the polling locations
011have been consolidated into this building. So on Tuesday, we may see some of you. I don't know. Um so anyway, so Tuesday is election day. The next item is the budget calendar for 2627. Uh we do start early in preparing for that. um come January, we'll be full swing into preparing for 2627, but um we have to always make a list of things that are on our budget calendar and we present it at this meeting each year. So, it's kind of like the kickoff of starting to think about 2627. So, thank you. That's all I have. >> Great. Thank you. Superintendent report. >> Evening everyone. I want to once again commend the middle school students. I know they're gone, but I want to commend them and the guidance department for building leaders. That's what is
012that's what's so important is that we build kids to be leaders and I think we're doing a phenomenal job based on their performance today. So I wanted to commend them as well. Um it's remarkable to think that we're going to be in November on Saturday. Um our students are engaged in their routines and classrooms. Curiosity and excitement fill the hallways. Our teachers are doing an amazing job as we uh finish the first two months of school. I'm so proud of the collaboration, dedication, and positive energy that continue to define our school community. At our last board meeting, our VTA president shared some comments regarding longitudinal assessment data and teachers purchasing classroom supplies. I'm pleased to share that the concerns related to the longitudinal data have been clarified and addressed. In addition, I engage in a
013productive discussion with the VTA about an alternative option for providing staff with supplies. So, I appreciate the ongoing partnership and open communication between the administration and the VTA as we work together to support our staff and our students. During the October board meeting, we normally recognize the staff members who have completed 25 years of service in our district as of September 1st. But over the past several weeks, we have been exploring the possibility of extending a deadline to provide the monetary portion of service awards for our staff members at 15, 20, and 25 years of service. As a result of this review, which just concluded on October 21st, we were unable to send the invitations to this meeting in time for the staff to make arrangements to attend. So, we will now honor those staff
014members at the November meeting. I am pleased to inform you that as a result of those discussions that we had with the VTEA and VTAA, we have agreed to extend the cutoff date for staff to receive their monetary service awards. The cutoff date is now December 31st and it was September 1st. So more staff will receive their monetary award earlier. So we're pleased that we were able to work with both unions to make that happen. So we will see our staff with 25 years of service. Oh, thank you. >> We like clap. >> Yes. Um, week of respect was October 6th and it was wonderful across our district. I'd like to thank all our staff for their efforts in recognizing this week as we aim to promote respect and celebrate our diversity. Uh, as a
015result of parent feedback on our survey in 2025, I'm pleased to announce that on Wednesday, November 12th, we will offer a workshop titled Supporting My Child in Understanding and Addressing Their Emotions Grades 3 to 8. And this is what our parents have asked for. The pres presenters are two behavior certified analysts and our guidance, our school counselor from um, Signal Hill. So basically the workshop will be an interactive workshop for parents and we will explore practical strategies for supporting emotional awareness and healthy coping. Parents will learn how to help children name their emotions, navigate challenging feelings, and build resilience. So parents on November 12th, we will send a reminder out for that workshop. At this time, I'll end my report with two annual presentations. First, we'll have Dr. Allegria and Miss Ross from our department
016of special services and they will present information on the dynamic learning maps which are the alternative assessment data for last school year. They'll be followed by Miss Donley who will present our student safety data system report from last school year and our HIV self- assessment for grades. Okay. So, we'll first start with Dr. Aligree and Miss Ross. Okay. So, good evening everyone. Good evening board president Watson, Vice President Ketover, members of the board and our community. Uh we are excited to share our DM which is a dynamic learning maps assessment data and talk about the meaningful growth that we're seeing with our students. Um this assessment gives us an opportunity to celebrate progress, not just proficiency. So our data points represent students who are learning, growing and engaging in their own way. Okay. So just
017a little bit of information on what the DLM is. It is helps us to measure learning for students who have most significant learning disabilities who are not able to take the NJSLA. Uh so these students are assessed through the DLM. It is not necessarily about what our students can do but really capturing what they c or what they can't do. Excuse me. It's about ex um capturing what they can do and how they're progressing towards the essential elements which is what our students are being assessed on. It is personalized assessment. It's done on the computer. Uh we'll talk a little bit about that assessment in just a moment, but it is personalized and it does adjust based on our students responses. So, as they're taking the test, it does respond to their responses that they're
018inputting and it really reflects their own individual learning path. So this is just a some information on who can take the DM. So we have to as an IEP team go through this criteria that's very specific in determining whether a student is eligible for the DM or if they would be a student who's best to take the NJSLA. Some of the criteria as you can see on the screen is that the student has a disability that significantly impa impacts their intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior. that the student is primarily being taught using the DLM essential element. So, not necessarily the curriculum that's within our general classrooms. This student also has to require extensive repeated individualized instruction and support that is not temporary or transit in nature. The student uses substantially adapted materials and individualized methods
019of accessing information. And the last criteria is the students has a significant intellectual disability that will impact postschool outcomes. Examples are supported housing or employment. So when the IEP team is meeting annually, they have to have this discussion on what assessments a student would be able to take. Those are the criteria that we have to look at when we're looking at DM. And the student has to meet that criteria, all of the criteria in order to be a candidate for the DM. So the DM is administered by our teachers and um prior to taking the assessment the teachers create what's called a student learning profile. They have to just identify key elements of where the student is functioning and from there testlets are developed. We start well in the next slide you'll see we start
020the assessment in April but once the tesllet is developed um it only puts out like one little tesllet at a time. Once a student achieves that, it depends on how their performance is rated. Then another testlet is developed based that's adapted according to their levels. Um like we said it is based on the essential elements and um those are aligned to the student learning standard. So every student learners learning standard is scaffolded and essential elements of that standard are developed and that is where our students are um instructed and that's what our curriculum is based on. um they are assessed over a period of time and it is appropriate for each learner. So some students or testlets are um populated quickly, others it might take a day or two for the nest next test to
021populate. There are four different levels so you can score within the emerging level, the approaching the target level, at target or advanced. Um and the individual reports are mailed home to the families every fall. A performance level descriptor is given to the parents. Um and that is just basically an overview of the knowledge, the skills, the understandings that the student student would typically demonstrate at each level. Um and within each essential element. Not every level or not every student will demonstrate the skill in each level. It really depends on their individual um skill set and ability level. And the interpreted results are provided in our website. They're available for teachers, parents, and administrators. And we do review them yearly. So this spring, um, we had 19 students who were assessed using the DM and ELA
022and 19 students who were assessed with the DM in math. Our teachers, as Donna explained, they do administer these assessments individually. It is a huge effort that definitely reflects our ongoing commitment to each student success. So, here's the breakdown for who took the assessment. We had eight students in our LLD classes, n uh three students in our MD classes, and eight students in our autism classes who took the DLM assessment. Science was only given to five students based on their grade levels. When we're looking at the actual results, we see um kind of a breakdown and we'll see another slide that compares from last year's scores. This year in ELA, we had nine students at the emerging level, six students at the approaching target, four students at target. It is important to note that this
023year's DM students were much of our younger students, so more in the grades three and four, versus last year's scores, we had more um upper grade students. And so when we're looking at the younger grades, that is an area where our students have a lot of language developmental gaps. And so you'll see that our math scores are much higher than our ELA scores, but it is something that we're continuing to work on. And we'll talk about some interventions that we're putting in place. In terms of math scores, we had seven on the emerging level, four at the approaching target, four at target, and we had four advanced students in our DL for our DM math. So we definitely are seeing a lot of success in the math area. Um, and when you're looking at the
024math assessment, of course, it takes out that language piece. So, it is more accessible for our students. In terms of science, we're unable to report the science results based on the numbers because we didn't have enough students who took the DM. Uh, we do have to have a minimum of 10, but I just want to say that our students are still engaging meaningfully through hands-on activities, thematic learning, and different activities that we are implementing in the classroom to meet the science essential elements. When we're looking at our scores in comparison to last year uh for ELA in terms of emerging the number did increase by 3% again that is due largely in fact that by the point that we had um we have younger students taking the assessment this spring approaching target it decreased by
0254% and at target or advanced increased by 1%. When we're looking at math again we're seeing higher numbers there. So we see that emerging has decreased by 11%. Um the approaching target decrease by 1% excuse that extra percentage and then but we are seeing the at target in advance increase by 12%. So we are seeing some some nice gains when it comes to our math assessment data and again we are looking at some additional uh interventions and supports that we're putting in place for ELA which we're going to talk about. Okay. Okay. So our plan for spring um for the administration this year is the teachers do complete an online training and review. So every year they go into the portal, they have to complete these modules and then we meet as a PLC to
026review those modules and to see if there are any questions that they need answered. We start the testing window in the beginning of April and it ends at the end of May. And um prior to administering the assessment, parents are informed via letter that is sent home. So some of the interventions that we are implementing this year in ELA, we're continuing to use our star and um we actually should have taken out links. So we have kind of stepped away from links this year. Um, our star provides discrete trial and data and it is aligned not only to the essential elements but it also shows us what student learning standard that essential element is aligned to. Um, we collaborate with our related services so that way our speech and language therapists are in our rooms
027frequently getting our AAC devices promoting functional language. Um, we're using pivotal response training and natural environmental teaching so we help generalize skills. We started last year with an accessible learning literacy learning program which is an online reading program designed to work around our augmentative communication devices. We use reading milestones and we use Edmark as well which is more of a sitewordbased literacy instruction program. Again for the math we're using STAR and instead of links we should have taken that out. We apologize for that. Um it should be we are transitioning to Everway unique learnings which is an online component for a middle school and it is more closely aligned to how our setup is and more closely aligned to the student learning standards. Um we're using intense teaching trials. We're also including some gen ed
028modificated um modifications to the curriculum for math. We're able to take the language piece out of it and focus on the skills. We're using programs like TouchMath, Happy Numbers, and again, we're continuing to work with our related services personnel personnel in science. We are using a lot of activities that incor incorporate um just hands-on connections with science. We're using our STAR theme thematic units. We're using our unique learning systems, which is that new program that we just bought this year. And we're also incorporating community- based instruction. At the middle school, we are again incorporating that unique learning system. We also started using more of symbol sticks, which is an augmentative communication system to support language and vocabulary in ELA, math, social studies, and science. And at all grade levels, we have um a program called
029autism helper and the symbol sticks to support functional communication. And thank you. And that is the end of our presentation. Just to recap, we really are looking at every step that our students um have taken. Every uh we're celebrating each success that we have with our students. We're going to continue to build on what works. We're using this data to help drive our decision- making as we're supporting teachers and also the students. And it's just truly a teamwork between our teachers, our therapists, um our case managers. It's all hands- on deck. So we definitely appreciate all the support everyone has put in to help our students as they continue to take the DM and move forward. >> Any questions? So not so much a question but first and foremost thank you both for this presentation.
030Um these presentations can be very sometimes dense with data and this was very well presented very clear. Every time I started to write a question you answered the question that I was getting ready to to ask. So, thank you for filling in those gaps where the data doesn't necessarily add up. Um, and I really appreciated you discussing science, even though we can't talk about the data and the children specifically, but you address that. So, your proactivity is is spot on. My only question is, is there anything additional the board can do to help support you and and this program? >> I mean, I would just say we definitely appreciate the support as we're working with our teachers who administer the DM and work with our students who support. We've added in some additional interventions this
031year based on the data that we've received from the DM based on feedback from the the teachers. I know like Miss Ross said, we did have links last year. That's something that we really weren't seeing the traction that we wanted. So, we made a pivot and adjustment. So, I think just being flexible and, you know, trying to find what's going to work for our students. Um, this is a very complex bunch of students in terms of their needs and and what we have to do to support them. So, we're certainly just trying to be as flexible as possible in meeting those needs. Our group one year may be different the next year. So, we're really just trying to be flexible. Um, we do appreciate the support of the board in terms of even adding in
032additional BCBA that we were able to add in this year. That's certainly a big a big support to our teachers. We are seeing, you know, some needs where that has been successful as well >> and inclusive settings. >> Any other board questions? >> Just going to add one more thing. just also in um promoting our inclusivity. So that's definitely something that we appreciate the support. Our teachers um are volunteering to be buddy classes. So we are doing a really good job and just making sure that we promote inclusivity as much as possible. While we know that these are our students who have the most significant disabilities certainly they belong and so our teachers, our staff, everyone feels the same way and so we're just celebrating all of the opportunities that we have to have them
033involved. you. All right. Thank you both. >> Thank you. >> All right. Well, good evening, Board of Education, Dr. Hackett, Miss Haley, Miss Danella, and all board members community as well. Um, I am presenting this evening on two different topics. Although it's kind of put under one agenda item, it is two different um presentations. So the first is the student safety data system, also known as SSDs. Um it's part of an annual report that's given every year. The district reports to the state department of education through a system called SSDS. Um two report periods. So this is a reflection of the 2425 school year. So it's last year's both reporting periods combined. Sorry, went too fast. Went really fast. Okay. Um, so some of the examples of reportable incidents and this is dictated from the
034state. They they send out what should be reported and what goes into the system. So our student data system and our Genesis system um align with one another. So our principles and our assistant principles whenever there's an incident that occurs in the school it does get reported under the SSDs and it's also tracked in our Genesis which is our student data system. Um there's five different categories violence vandalism substance abuse weapons and HIV harassment intimidation and bullying. Um, and I just put some examples of some of the things that could fall under what would classify something as a violent act, a vandalism act, substance abuse, weapons. And then harassment, intimidation, and bullying is twofold. We have to report those that were alleged and we also have to report those that were investigated and that were
035not confirmed um or that were confirmed, sorry. So, both get reported um under the SSDs. All right. So, for the 2425 school year, our total incidents for districtwide were was 42. This does not include the last column, which is our alleged HIVs. So, the number looks like it's skewed because how could you have 40 yet? Your total is 42. So we do have to report it but the the alleged HIVs does not get reported in the total number of incidents by the state. Only those that are confirmed and founded to be acts of um harassment, intimidation and bullying get reported in the total incidents. So if you look through the first column um our total incidents at ET Hamilton school we had two um that was down two from the previous year. So in the
036second it's actually the third column the change from the previous year. So we had two incidents at ET Hamilton which was two less than we had the f the previous school year. Um Crescent had three incidents which was no change from the previous school year. Osage had six which was an increase of three. Signal Hill had three which was no change from the previous school year. VMS had 28 incidents which was an increase of four. So that gave us a total of 42 incidents and that was an increase of five overall um from our total incidents that occurred districtwide. Uh and then it's broken down by category. So you can see that our violence incidents um we had we didn't have any at Hamilton school. Um we had one at Crescent which was less one
037from the previous year. So the previous year there were two um Osage we had uh four incidents which was an increase of two. Signal Hill we had three which was an increase of two. Mory's middle school we had nine which was a decrease of six. That's always a positive. And um our overall reports of violent acts were was 17 which was down three from the previous school year. Uh, as far as vandalism, we didn't have any vandalism incidents districtwide. Substance abuse, we did not have any in our elementary level. We had two at VMS, which was an increase of two. In the area of substance abuse, too, it could be anything from vape pens and stuff as well. So, I don't want everyone to think it's just it it could be alcohol, it could be
038um vaping, the use of tobacco products. So, all of that falls under substance. Um, so for the district we had a total of two and both of those were at VMS. Weapons we did not have anything at ET Hamilton school. We did not have any at Crescent. We had one at Osage um which was an increase of one and we did not have any at Signal Hill which was less one than the year before and no incidents at VMS. Uh that is a total for one that had occurred at Osage. So, one for the district, harassment, intimidation, and bullying. So, our confirmed cases total districtwide, the very last at the bottom was 22, which was an increase of seven from the year before. We had two at Hamilton, which was down by two. We had
039two at Crescent, which was up by one. We had one at Osage. We did not have any that were confirmed, meaning that the district found the act to be harassment, timation, bullying. Um, at Signal Hill, Morris Middle School had 17, which was an increase of 19 of nine, um, from the previous year. And again, our total was 22, an increase of seven. As far as alleged, what that actually means is that this was a reported incident that the district took action, filed the harassment, intimidation, and bullying procedures. as we went through with the investigation but did not find it to meet the definition of harassment, intimidation, and bullying. So, this was a great increase district-wide. Um, we had three that were alleged and unfounded at Hamilton, two at Crescent, two at Oage, four at Signal
040Hill, and we had 29 that were investigated at Vory's Middle School that were not founded to be harassment, intimidation, bullying. That was an increase of 21 incidents from the year before. So overall, we had 40 incidents at districtwide that were investigated that were not founded to be cases of harassment, intimidation, bullying. That's an increase of 29 additional incidents um from the 23 24 school year to last year. So, our key takeaways um not including HIP just on our acts of violence, vandalism, um substance abuse, uh VMS had six less total incidents of violence. And Signal Hill and Osage both increased by two violent incidents with four at Osage and three at Signal Hill. As far as uh harassment, intimidation, and bullying goes, our our takeaways here is that we did have a decrease, I'm sorry,
041we had an increase in our overall investigations, but we had a decrease in those that were confirmed cases um in relation comparison to our overall investigations. Uh we had an increase in reporting by parents and staff. Um and we had an increase in awareness. Uh we did an extra parent presentation. Um, we went in and spoke with all of our grade levels at the elementary level. We broke it down and we did presentations last year for our elementary students in small groups. We did a little bit of a larger presentation gradebased at um, grades three, four, and five. And then I personally went into the middle school and did presentations for our sixth grade, our seventh grade, and our eighth grade separate. So, three separate presentations last year. So, we definitely increased awareness. um which
042I think kind of led to I can only you know take a guess that this may have led to the awareness being greater and and more reporting because of that. So we did kind of take the approach if you see something say something report it let us know we would rather report it and find that it's not than not saying anything or doing anything about it because that always comes back to like well we said something and nobody did anything or I didn't want to report it. I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid no one would do anything where we wanted to encourage the kids and empower them that report it tell somebody because it's our job and our responsibility to do the investigation. So I would like to think that that
043may have been why we had such an increase in investigations. Um yeah so our actions again we did increase staff training. Uh we did remind all staff administrators and counseling that is the the law. It's the obligation to investigate there. We do not adopt the preliminary screening. Um, so we as a as a board and as a district um cannot make the determination that we're not going to do the investigation. If it's reported to us, we are obligated to do the investigation. So, we really reiterated that. Um, all elementary students received the classroom lessons by the counselor. Again, this is just kind of what I went over already. Um, and we did continue with our parent virtual workshop. Uh, and we created a really cute the new little animated video clip that's on the district
044website under harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Also, um, that gives examples and it's done with animation so that the students can relate to it a little bit more. We also implemented last school year that the first offense, the students meet with the principal or assistant principal and they review an HIV video clip. That is if they were founded, not if an investigation occurs, but if the event um took place and that that um it was confirmed to be HIV, the offender would watch a video in the office with their principal or assistant principal. If they were founded for a second offense, they would have a a conference, the student and the parent with Dr. Hackett to the superintendent of schools. Um, and if there was a third offense, students and parents would meet with myself and
045possibly a referral to the board of education. So, we did implement that last school year and will continue to do so. Any questions? Do we have a breakdown of how many students fell into the first, second, and third offense buckets? >> We did not have any students in the third offense bucket. I can tell you that. >> Okay. >> I don't have a breakdown off the top of my head, but I want to say maybe two last school year that met with Dr. Hackett for a second offense. >> Yeah. Um, do you think there's a gap in understanding of HIV law in the community? The reason I asked that question is because um, I haven't practiced law in a long time, but I do have a law background and I've been on the board and
046I think it's a very difficult it's diff it's difficult conceptually and counterintuitive. And what I notice in the community is that there's this sort of like emotional experience of my child's being bullied and it of course it's HIV and quite frankly that's not always the case. So while I appreciate your hypothesis about awareness increasing, I'm concerned that there's still an ongoing persistent lack of understanding about what it actually looks like and how the law is implemented. So, I'm curious from your perspective, a if you agree with that, and b if you have any thoughts about how we can better educate the community. >> I definitely agree with you. Um, I think it's very challenging because behaviors sometimes tend to be bullyike. However, it doesn't meet the definition of harassment, intimidation, and bullying by the state
047of New Jersey. I often say that I wish they would change the name of it, that it's not HI, that it's not harassment, intimidation, and bullying because the word bullying is used very freely. Um, and I do believe that bullying occurs, that's not HIB. So, it's kind of count, you know, counterproductive. Um, as far as ways to communicate and educate, I mean, I do I no I mean, I I wish that I had a solution. I held a parent virtual workshop. three people. >> Well, this is what I was So, so people aren't coming to the workshop. >> They're not coming. Yeah, >> they're not coming. We are hosting um with Haden uh Haden Township, Haden Heights, Hadenfield, Vorhees, and Berlin Burrow are hosting on Tuesday, November 18th, a virtual workshop from NJPSA, which is
048the principles and school uh supervisor association and legal one. So, they're come they're doing a virtual workshop that we're all co-hosting together. So that just got pushed out. So maybe that's another avenue they had reached out um to see if anybody had an interest and we did join to have that as well. So, I just think educating, but it it is hard because I always try to encourage our school counselors and our principles. When you have an issue, like send them my way because I can talk and explain the law and try to help understand like what the difference is between the bullying and real true HIV because there really is a difference. And Miss Danella has been my sounding board. She uses the expression of >> um lowercase bullying and capital B bullying and
049I love that. So I use that often as well because there really is a difference of what classifies the law versus the behavior. So and it's hard it's hard to understand and it's hard because I mean you've all seen because you see the reports that come through some things are very inappropriate behavior that are bully like that just don't meet that definition and it's hard to tell that to parents. It's hard to explain it. It's hard to explain it to the kids. It's it's hard to explain it to us sometimes and we have to go back and forth. So we do work very collaboratively though the school counselors who are anti-bully specialists myself the building principles like every case is not just stamped and moved on you know Dr. Hacket goes goes to Dr. track
050it. She reviews it, looks at it, we we discuss it, we talk about it. You know, it's lengthy. Sometimes it gets sent back. We'll re ask these questions, make sure this is done. We have to deal, you know, it's a it's a process. So, and we do we do take it very serious. >> Well, and if there's anything the board can do to support you, I you know, I'm I'm interested in and curious about it because I do think it's a gap in the community and I don't put it on you at all. I just think it's a very difficult thing to explain and these investigations take a lot of time and resources also. So, I'm thinking, you know, if there's anything we can do to support getting the the word out or or some
051education, you know, >> thank you. Appreciate it. I mean, anything you can do to help promote the events that we have, right? You know, or if people are questioning, send them my way. I'm happy to speak to anyone. So, >> I'd also like to go on the record and say that we we do have an ad hoc disciplinary and you thankfully came and spoke to the committee. I'd like as an afteraction like item from this meeting that that committee look to other ways, not just the virtual conferences, but maybe educational materials or thinking of another way to inform the public about what the differences are. Um, I think we need to think a little innovatively. Um, since people aren't coming out, we need to meet people where they are. Maybe it's updating to the website,
052maybe it's a pamphlet, maybe it's I don't know. It's a think think outside of the box. >> Yeah. So, we did just make that new video. I could send it out. >> Yeah, maybe. Yeah. >> See how many people watch it. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> I have one question. Um you mentioned that a lot of the behavior is inappropriate but not necessarily rising to the case of it being HI. Um if that is found if it's found to be inappropriate behavior, even if it's not a HIV violation, are those students still referred for some kind of corrective action in some way? Okay. >> Yes. So it's often an infringement of a code of conduct. So corrective action, discipline, school counseling, remedial measures. Okay. All line up. Yes. Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank you. On to
053the next one. >> Thank you. >> Back to bullying because it's still the same. >> Oh, right. I forgot you have a whole another presentation. Yeah. >> Go for it. >> Normally this is done in September, but we pushed it and just combined them into two. So, um, so our anti-bullying bill of rights selfassessment, uh, the district every year, again, it gets reported to the part to the department of education. they come up under the anti-bullying bill of rights act. They produce a self- assessment that every district every school and then the district gets a score based on how the schools um assess themselves. So our school climate safety teams who are run by our anti-bully specialist. Um they go through and they answer the questions for the self assessment. So I'm just going to
054give you a quick capture of what this actually means. The rubric is broken down that we either do not meet the requirement, we partially meet the requirement, we meet the requirements, or that we exceeded the requirements. And there's eight categories. So, it's programs and initiatives, training on policy, um staff programs, our curriculum instruction as it relates to HIB, um HIP personnel, our school level reporting procedures and investigative procedures, and our reporting procedures. So of those eight categories, there are several questions in each and they can either meet, not meet, exceed based upon how the schools themselves score themselves. So our first indicator which is core element one, our approaches and our initiatives, um our district average out of 15 possible points, we were at a 14.6, six, which means that one school did not say
055that we met all the require I'm sorry, one school said that we met the requirements, that we did not exceed at the requirements. So, that gave us slightly off of 15 points. Um, as far as training on on policies and procedures, out of nine possible points, um, our we were self assessed to have a total of nine, which means that we exceed at all of the requirements. Core element three is instruction and training of the program. Um, again, this is similar to the first category in that we were at 14.6 out of the 15, meaning that we're not exceeding at all the requirements. were meeting for one of our schools that then again that's what the anti-bully specialist felt at that um at that school. Um this one too is our school safety and climate
056team is provided with professional development. So, this has come up a couple years and I did reach out to the New Jersey Bar Association and was able to get a um virtual program that's also taken place in November that all of our um school safety climate team members from each school is going to meet in this building on that day and have those virtual trainings. So, we are rectifying that by providing next month, well, yeah, next month training for our school safety climate teams. Um, we had six out of six as far as curriculum and instruction on HIV and related information. And core element five is HIP personnel. Basically stating that we have an anti-bully specialist at each building, that we have an anti-bully coordinator in the district. Um, so we had nine out of
057nine points and we had 5.8 out of six points for our incident reporting procedures. Um, which means that one school didn't think that we were exceeding. They said that we were meeting all of the requirements. Oh, sorry. Um, as far as our investigative procedures, we we scored 12 out of 12. And for HIP reporting, we scored six out of six that we were above and beyond in our compliance with reporting um and and our procedures. We use a program called Hipster. So, Hibster itself really keeps us on track and in alignment with our dates and things that need to be completed on time. So, out of 78 total points, last school year, we had 77.2, which was an increase from the year before of 76.2 and an increase from the year even before that of
05876. So, these were our findings um that we either meet or exceed all the requirements for the core elements of the self- assessment. Any questions? >> Who fills this out? >> Our school counselors who are anti-bully specialists. Okay, >> thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Audience participation. Anyone wishing to address the board, please approach the side table on the right and write your name and address on the login sheet. While the board is limited in its ability to respond to the public on matters involving personnel, litigation, negotiations, and attorney client privilege, the board will now hear comments from the public relating to items on the agenda for this board meeting. Comments are limited to three minutes. The board will not take action this evening. You will be notified at some later time by
059letter, electronic mail, telephone, or in the context of a later board meeting of any action the board does take. Okay. business meeting. Oh, so Oh, >> I see. I was looking for you and then Yeah. >> Good evening. >> Just a couple items. >> It's okay. I apologize. Uh, just a couple questions. Policy for first read 0143. Um, I just had a question. On page one of six, it says reference policy 181,20235, but I couldn't follow find those in our policies. And then on page four of six, it references vocational schools, but we're not a vocational school. Um, so it has quite a bit of policy change. Um, but we're not a vocational school. And then on page five of six um for removal of a board member, but it's under vocational school, it says
060missing of eight consecutive weeks or four consecutive regular meetings, but our policy 145 says three. But I think it just might be that it's that policy doesn't belong there. Um because it's I mean I found it under Canon County Vocational School, the exact policy it's written, but I just don't think that's the right policy for us because we're not vocational. um policy for second read 1636.01 notification of promotion and new job and transfer opportunities. Um I just wasn't sure what would be a good example of a a promotion for an employee awarded on basis of years or experience. Like what would that be? It's a new policy we have. I wasn't sure if that was um in reference to if we had a specific example we could use to show what that means. Um, >>
061I just have that number page. >> Uh, I think there was only one page on that, but it um probably about the >> third paragraph. >> I if you don't mind, I can give you a little context on that. Here, I'll stop my I'll stop my timer. Um there was a law passed this that went into effect this summer that required this policy and um the Department of Labor will is is in the process of drafting um regulations that implement aspects of the law including defining some of the things that you're talking about. Those regulations are still in like the public comment period, so they're not finalized yet. So TBD, stay tuned. There'll be an actual legal definition at some point. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, and my other one, it sort of goes
062along with uh the the the u minutes from the last meeting be approved. Um, I've never seen a confidential resignation where it didn't include an employees number and when they resigned by. So, I wasn't sure if that resignation the job would be posted, when is the resignation effective. Um, I just haven't ever seen one before where it was a confidential resignation that nothing was listed on anything. That was on the last board meeting. Mr. Rosner said it was going back to executive to vote on it. Um, but I just wasn't very familiar with that and um I just didn't know anything about that. I just haven't seen one before or at least some identifying factors would be with that. Thank you. Yeah, I watched the video too to make sure I heard it right. So,
063it's like towards the very end of the video. >> I'll give you a call. >> Thank you. I just couldn't figure it out. Thank you so much. >> Sorry, Perry Menopause does not allow me to remember things that happened at the last meeting. Um, I need to like check the record. Um, but we will get back to you on all of those. Okay, business portion. As we move into the business portion of our meeting, we want to recognize that it may appear as if the board takes action with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote. Before an item is placed on the board agenda, it is thoroughly reviewed by the superintendent and administration. The superintendent then presents the recommended action to the appropriate board committee and works with the committee to ensure
064that the members are fully fully understand the recommendation. Once the committee is satisfied, the item is placed on the board agenda for discussion and action of public meeting. Board agendas are made available to the board members several days in advance of the meeting, giving us ample time to review the agenda and have all of our questions answered. Further, we are kept up to date between meetings on the ongoing work of the administration and end the end any important issues in the district. All of these efforts ensure that we are well informed and prepared to take action at our meetings. Moving to policy committee report. Miss Branch Stewart, could you provide that? >> Yes. The policy committee met on October 21st for about an hour. Dr. Hackett, Mr. Moscowitz, and board members Julie Kettover, Crystal Munan,
065Julianne Verie, and I were present. The committee discussed and recommends full board approval for all policy items on tonight's agenda, which include for first read policy 0143 and policy 2422, and for second read, policy 1636.01 and policy 5339.01. The committee also recommends the addition of the three new field trip offerings under regulation 2340 as listed on the agenda. Lastly, we discuss policy 7250, school and facility names, and policy 9280, parent conferences. Our next meeting is scheduled for November 11th. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Can I get a motion to approve all of the items under policy? >> So moved. 30 second. Stuart online voting is open. Motion unanimously passes. Can I receive a report on the academic excellence committee um from Mrs. Rudder? >> Yes. So the academic excellence committee met on Monday, October
06620th for about an hour. It was myself, Miss Cadover, Dr. Hackett, and Mr. Moscowitz. Um there are no decisions or recommendations at this time for the board. However, we would like to update you that we did discuss um as a follow-up from September's meeting about virtual clubs and we are going to stick with in-person afterchool clubs for the children. We talked about extended day information and we received enrollment um acceptance rates for all of the schools. We discussed VMS team building activities, NJSLA adaptive um testing updates. We also talked about the K to3 universal screener that has officially been completed, the first round of it for the fall for the students. And we reviewed um the school parent climate survey that was completed last year. That is all. Perfect. >> Thank you very much. Can
067I get a motion to approve all of the items under curriculum? >> So moved. Ruer >> second. Head over. Online voting is open. The motion unanimously passes. Can I get a personnel committee report from Mrs. rudder as well. >> Yes. So, the personnel and community relations committee met on Thursday. Um, it was Mr. Rosner, myself, Dr. Hackett, and Mr. Moscowitz. We talked about the approval of the VMS EL, excuse me, ELA teacher. Um, and we are recommending that for that person for approval. We talked about three new full-time IIA positions that will be replacing a um teacher position that was not actually needed. So, we were able to open up three new full-time IIA positions and we discussed a matter of residency. That is all. >> Thank you very much. Can I get a motion
068to approve all of the items under personnel as recommended by the superintendent? Can I get a Can I make a motion that 15.23 be pulled out to be voted on separately? >> 15.23. >> Correct. >> This is just a motion to >> So, can I get a motion to approve items one uh 15.1 through 15.22? >> So moved. Rosen. >> Second. Stuart. >> Online voting is open. >> I get a motion to approve item 15.2. Oh, sorry. I'm still waiting. >> Oh, still waiting for vote. Sorry. >> Yeah, sorry. I got I got signed out. um uh eye on those, but I'd like to explain my vote before we vote on 15.23. >> Okay. So, um being as that I'm not on the personnel committee and I just wanted to >> Can I I just
069a point of clarification. Are you voting yes on the the group of yes for you? >> Yeah. Yeah. I know. I said I on those >> those items unanimously pass. >> Okay. >> Can I get a motion to approve item 15.23? 23. >> So, I'd like to make a comment before we vote on that. >> Okay. Second, Rosen. >> Again, I'd like to make a comment. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. So, being as I'm not on the personnel committee and I do want to note that I noticed that only two board members attended the personnel committee. Um, and I noticed that in a few committee reports that there were only two board members attending committee committees uh committee meetings. And I'm concerned about that and concerned that not enough board members are being um informed
070and involved in decision-making. But being that I'm not on the personnel committee, I do I must rely on the limited notes the committee report um provides to evaluate the situation and vote accordingly. I did ask a follow-up question to Dr. Hackett and she did answer. However, I am still unsatis unsatisfied um that there is uh whether there is sufficient evidence or not to deem a child a non-resident um based on the information provided in the committee report um that there was some information provided to the district about this um students residency. Um, with the limited information I have and in light of current events, I cannot in good conscience vote to punish and remove a child from this district based on a mere technicality without real evidence supporting that this child does not live in
071the district. And therefore, I am voting no on 15.23. Thank you. >> There's a current motion on the table that's been seconded, so voting can open. >> I have to call the role. Yep, that's fine. >> Mr. Bryce, >> yes. >> Miss Katover, >> yes. >> Mrs. Monan, >> yes. >> Mr. Rosen, >> yes. >> Miss Ruer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stewart, >> yes. >> Miss Verie, I already recorded your your vote. Is that okay? >> My votes no. Thank you. >> Mrs. Watson, >> yes. I have seven yeses, one no. Motion carries. Mr. Rosen, can I have a finance committee report? >> Uh, yes. The finance committee met on Wednesday, October 22nd. Uh, in attendance was Julie Kettover, Crystal Munion, Helen Haley, Daniel Kerry, Alicia Den Danella, and myself. Um, we reviewed all the
072items on tonight's agenda under finance, transportation, and building and grounds for vote. and the recommendation is approval of all items. We also discussed the update on the solar initiative and the district is meeting with a solar consultant through the New Jersey uh school boards association for consideration and coordinating this project assistance in preparing an RFP and a vendor review process and we're waiting further details to determine the next steps. We also discussed the uh mayor roto field agreement and we're awaiting action by the township on the agreement. Um we also discussed additional change orders for the Vorhees early childhood development center. There was extensive discussion on the newly requested change orders. The recommendation is to table consideration of these change orders until satisfactory clarification is received and reviewed by the committee. Um, also on the
073VECDC currently is operating on a temporary certificate of occupancy. There are a few punch list items and the district is seeking a firm date for the final construction closeout documents and a final CO. Other items discussed was the renewal of the lease on the two district owned buses. Um, a Xerox managed print services to reduce printing and copying expenses and no action is needed. Um, the next finance committee meeting will be on Wednesday, November 12th, 2025. >> Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to approve all items under finance? >> So moved. Rosen. >> Second, Munan. >> Online voting is open. Motion unanimously passes. >> You get a motion to approve all of the items that are transportation. >> So moved. Rosen. >> Second. Rudder. >> Online. Voting is open. motion unanimously passes.
074>> A motion to approve all the items under buildings and grounds. >> So moved. Rosen >> second. Cut over. Online voting is open. >> Motion unanously passes. >> Public comment. Anyone wishing to address the board, please approach the side table on the right and write your name and and address on the login sheet. While the board is limited in its ability to respond to the public on matters involving personnel, litigation, negotiations, and attorney client privilege, the board will now hear comments from the public. Comments are limited to three minutes. The board will not take action this evening. You will be notified at some later time by letter, electronic mail, telephone, or in the context of a later board meeting of any action the board does take. Seeing no comments. Um, comments from the board. Miss
075Ferie, maybe. We'll see. Mr. Bryce, >> no. >> SMan, >> no. >> Skettover. >> Nope. >> Mr. Rosen, >> no. >> Shredder. >> Uh, yes. Just because I see them here. Mr. Lans, I want to thank you so much because your emails that you send every day may only take you a few moments, but they make a world of difference in my household. They start conversations between my daughter and my husband, which is not always easy when you have a teenager. So, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. And Miss Greenwood, my son is still devastated that he is not in second grade anymore because of all of your hard work and dedication at ET Hamilton. So, thank you very much. And to everybody else in this room who my
076children have not had, I want to thank you all for your hard work. We truly truly appreciate you in this district. >> Miss Branch Stewart, >> no comment. >> Right. Can I have a comment? Um, so I'm just wanted to comment on uh looking at the academic excellence committee report. Um, I just want to say that I'm glad that we're finally looking at the data regarding the morning club enrollment rates and you know noticed in the committee report that um the enrollment rates the acceptance rates to morning club participants was between 57% and 67%. Um, you know, I think that that is concerning data and I'd like us to be looking at that more and understanding um why um why our students aren't accepting that. As I've, you know, brought up multiple times, I'm concerned
077that morning is not going to work for all families and that so we should be meeting families where they are and offering after school tutoring. Um again I also just want to mention that you know committee members not showing up board members not showing up to committee meetings repeatedly is a problem. Um and that if committee if board members are not willing to attend a majority of committee meetings that they should wave their committee assignment so that another board member can participate. Thank you. Next meeting is November 17, 2025. Meeting adjourned. >> All in favor? >> I motion for to adjourn the meeting. >> Take charge. >> First and second motion to adjurnn. >> Move. There we go. Second. Favor. Hi. >> Hi.