001call the meeting to order everyone please rise for the flag salute I 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 liy and justice for [Music] all the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Cedar Grove board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be advertised by having the date time and place thereof posted on the bulletin boards in the district published and or transmitted to the Verona Cedar Grove times and Star Ledger newspapers filed with
002the Township Clerk and post it on the district's website may I have roll call please Mrs B here Mrs here Marell here Mr Mandela here Mr here the meeting is now open to the public for comment for any items that appear on the agenda what's the agenda I never saw an agenda there is an agenda here for the public yes would you like me to pass you one back yeah thank you this never this was never shared on your cedar website the district website in advance sir so I just want to put that on the record so noted I will U I'm going to call my committee reports and if there's an item on the agenda that you'd like to discuss then you just let me know after our committee reports and I I'll I'll
003reopen this that portion of the meeting okay Mrs Williams and also just for future for everyone there's no yelling out from the crowd we usually go up to the microphone and when your address from the president so no more yelling out please thanks so noted sir but I wouldn't have to yell out if the public received the agenda in advance of the actual meeting not it but just so you know our protocol thank you thank you at this time are there any committee reports I have one from the um January 8th North End FSA meeting um just real quickly they will will be running their book fair here at Northend co co coinciding with read Across America read Across America that's right thought I said there um program February 24th 25th 26th family night is
004February 26th um they are also in March doing an Alex and Annie event at a store in Ridgewood as a fundraiser and there is a dinner dance on April 2nd at rubell um so it's not their year to do the big fundraiser but they do something just from a community standpoint and that's what I have from Northland thank you any other committee reports no this is guy no okay um at this time before I move on to our board presentations um just uh go back on the agenda to open the meeting one more time uh to members of the public if anyone has a comment for any item on the agenda hearing none I will reclose that portion of the meeting and we're going to move on to our board presentations we have uh three
005of them this evening and um are we going in order here yes okay so we're going to have our first presentation from Michael kopka uh talking about the Washington DC for AP History government and politics and economics classes so Mr kopka welcome get all right thank you for having me tonight um what we are proposing here is our fourth annual um AP United States government politics uh AP United States history and also AP economics all right our class trip to Washington DC um as I covered here the trip will entail the three AP classes totaling 31 students to be chaperoned by myself uh Mr Steve Gallagher who has worked with me over the past three years on this trip and we've developed a good work in relationship and I'd like to continue doing so and
006also Miss D Veo the new addition to the DC field trip team um to be to be done on May 29th of Friday through June 2nd um this is after the AP exams have already been completed um typically in the past we've done it um uh a week or two earlier but there was a convention going on at DC at this week and it would have like double tripled the hotel price so we made the adjustment that's why if you're curious why we changed the date and it had to change the meetings that's why so how do we do this uh the the traveling to be done by um Amtrak train we go from nor Pen Station to uh Union Station in Washington DC it's the quickest um I don't know most efficient method of
007travel because from the DC um Union Station Amtrak station we get right on the Metro and that takes us to layan font Plaza which brings us to our well our final destination as far as where we'll be staying on the trip which is the DC um the holiday and capital which is literally one block away from this um Metro station why we choose the holiday and capital I don't want to stand in your way here you see um it's located literally a block away from the entire you know National Mall here the reason why we have M go this over here all right we good um located right here like I said it's a block away from the National Mall um the Capitol building the Supreme Court um the Washington Monument All The Monuments um
008they're all within walking distance what that allows us to do um is well to cut out all the other forms of travel to get more accomplished in uh well what is a limited amount of time we've been to DC now three years in a row and I can honestly say we haven't come close to seeing anything uh anywhere near everything that Washington DC has to offer um but being there we uh the kids like walking and seeing all the stuff and well here are some of the things we have done in the past we plan on doing again um last year actually was the first year we were able to get in the White House in previous trips they they had like the government quester going on and they had shut down the White House
009tours that was pretty cool last year um as far as you know a lot of this different stuff why why do we think it's important um it's one thing to be in the history classroom in the government politics classroom and we can you know we can read about these things we could talk about them but it's another thing entirely to be there to experience in in in person like walking through the White House where several you know presidents have obviously lived in the past and have gave you know not work the um addresses to the public um you can go in all the different rooms and all the history behind that it's really really cool to be there and experience that firsthand and in person um Congressman frailing heisen has actually been very accommodating for
010us over the past uh three years um each time has invited us to visit um his office in DC and his staff has personally taken us down to the Capitol Building um to to provide a tour um cut through the whole line of all the rest of um I guess the um the people in DC it's a very tourist popular time to be in DC um so they've helped us out and they've got us you know cut down the time and the line and go through some of the special uh I don't know things that the regular tourist in Washington might not get to see like the underground trolley that goes from the the capital offices down to the capital building where they actually have to like you know go to the floor and pass
011laws and stuff that's been pretty cool uh Supreme Court obviously uh been in the news a lot lately that's always is cool to see and talk about we talk about all the time in government politics um it's very cool to see um the other things that we have made like mandatory on the trip obviously we do a a day trip uh walking toward The Monuments and we also like to do it at night because if you ever been to Washington DC uh I highly recommend going to see uh everything lit up at night uh for one there's fewer tourists in the area um you know for picture purposes but there's also a different element that you can't experience unless you're there at night to see it um the last thing that we that we make
012mandatory as part of our our agenda is we go to Arlington National Cemetery um and we walk through there we see The Changing of the Guard um it's pretty cool last year um and again you know putting a face to the history um they have these Honor Flight tours where um veterans they pay for veterans of like World War II um to go and visit all these monuments as as their right um it's provided for them a free trip tour they they were all there last year in Washington and and you see them all watching the change in the guard again it puts a little perspective to what you're actually looking at and watching uh what you're what you're witnessing when you're at that event and I thought that was really cool um some pictures
013from the past uh in front of the Capitol building White House lit up at night uh Vietnam memorial and that's another thing the history to go there and okay we can talk about in history class but to go there and see the names on the walls uh and just how massive that wall is and how many names are on it I still remember the first time I saw it uh in middle school I tell the kids a story every year and it'll tell it again but um I remember my principal from uh Middle School was a Vietnam veteran I remember my first time ever been there is that night we were on a class trip with everyone and came to the wall and he was there and you see him like broken down like crying
014like I and he came and he showed us the book and he's like I knew him I knew him I knew him and again that's that's something else to talk about in history class but for you know the younger generation of America to get them to feel what that actually is and what it was like to be there uh and see someone who you know was there and there's every time we go there you'll see veterans who who were there and they knew people again it puts a little more depth um to what we're talking about and what you can see in person there uh this is the Marine Corps war memorial uh that's the famous EO gima right flag raising World War II Memorial lit up at night time again something go in the
015day go in the night it's completely different to see at night time it's a whole different um perspective there's Changing of the Guard here oh yeah last year was actually the first time uh they opened the Washington Monument to go to the top because there there was the earthquake in DC a few years back and they had to do uh um repairs to a lot of the work to a lot of the structures in Washington and I got a at like I don't know 6:00 in the morning and waited online because it was the first weekend it was open to the public in literally years and I took all you I could get limited tickets by I took all the seniors and we have to go to the top that's a picture of the top
016out over Washington at nighttime inside this is Congressman Fring heisen office and he's got tons of artifacts his his family's obviously been in United States and involved in politics for a long time it's pretty cool to go there and literally see the history on the wall uh from his great-grandfather he's got his like his desk from the old Senate and he's got a story behind everything he knows everything about and the whole staff knows everything about everything in that room he ask him like hey what's this for and they'll tell you about it for you know 15 minutes bunch of seniors we went on a little Bike Tour it's also Tradition now to you know dress up in patriotic attire and uh I think that's it do you have any questions for me how many
017students are going to be going 31 total and um it' be the three of you chaperon correct and the cost is is entirely paid for by the students by the students yes parents or working there's also potential fundraising but yeah it looks like a great trip I we've heard about it in the past from Mr Gallagher and we thank you for for bringing it to us tonight so anybody have any any further questions thank you very much welcome that's for me tell them I'll call them back okay our next presentation Miss J is here to talk about the New Jersey Vermont music Music Exchange trip welcome Miss Jess thanks okay just move this a little closer here okay nice presentation Mr kopka this is a different trip educationally music education and um we've done this
018in the past uh previous years we've done a You've Got a Friend exchange concert with the music of James Taylor and car Carol King and then we did L mizen concert Le Mizer Rob um with the same high school and um my best friend goes uh or teaches the same program that I do uh at Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington Vermont and please excuse my scratchy voice it's musical season chronic laringitis so uh we chose this year to do hair spray and it'll involve our choir our band and our orchestras together um I just want to make you aware that uh Mr Savino and myself are incorporating the music and the time period the plot of hairspray into our curriculum the students will be studying music of the 1960s not just the music
019of hairspray but also for a spring concert incorporating music from the 1960s and students um will be having discussions on the history and pop culture of the 60s um they're creating each a PowerPoint slide that will will put together and it'll be showing during our concert of personalities from the 1960s music groups of the 1960s history all important events from the 1960s um we'll be having full Ensemble rehearsals with band choir and Orchestra uh Mr SEO and I team teach at um period 5 and so in the hour periods we'll be getting together and rehearsing that music uh together and then sometimes with the choir AP music theory has a big task and that is to trans ose one of the string parts for viola we um looked at the score and the score has
020every instrument that we have except Viola and we have Viola players excellent Viola players so the AP music theory class is going to be transp transposing um some parts for the viola players as well as if any of our vocalists need transpositions lower higher Keys um so it'll be a great assignment to get them ready for the AP exam um they'll also be analyzing the full Orchestra score which usually they only look at you know their part soprano part or uh violin part we're going to encourage them to look at the full picture um I just listed all the different things that or where we're staying where we hope to stay their first payment is not due until February 11th because we wanted to get approval first or first approval um it's called a stay
021andplay package and uh We've stayed here before when we've done this trip it's the Great Escape um Lodge which is very similar to The Great Wolf Lodge with an indoor water park and four kids to a room and so they have the indoor water park um the breakfast buffet there's an arcade our bus can park there there's discounts for our chapons and admission and meal plan to the park across the street which happens to be now a Six Flags um and so there are are costs the Friday night dinner contribution is they have um a Music Matters like we do we have a Cedar Grove High School Music Matters parents help make a potluck dinner well they have mampa and their parents will make a potluck dinner but also order pizzas so that's our contribution
022oop okay there's our itinerary um there are a couple options up here Friday May 15th through Sunday the 17th is when we're proposing um going from New Jersey to Vermont and there's a total price for them for all the kids that are going to do that then we also when Bennington Vermont comes to us we're rehearsing all day Saturday the 30th but then Sunday to get together with them more we're planning a Broadway show trip to uh honeymoon in Vegas Jason Robert Brown's honeymoon in Vegas and then lunch at the Hard Rock and that's another cost so the kids can do either trip they have the option what they can afford what they'd like to do um fund raise and we have to make a deposit soon as you can see um what we're asking
023is um for the students to be allow owed to miss one day it would be Friday May 15th to be an excused absence um that would be the day when we leave um probably 6:00 a.m. and get to Vermont between 8:30 and 99 and then rehearse all day and then that night we put on the benefit concert which benefits their music department we have approximately 45 to 50 music students interested and again their deposit will be solid on February 11th and then we would have a better number for you the chapons are myself Mr Savino and the um seven parents students have a choice to attend one or both trips and uh Mr Savino and I came up with some criteria because uh the music it's difficult and to put it together it takes a
024lot of work we found out what lame is so they're required to practice the music of course at our rehearsals and outside and to attend sectionals to work as a full Ensemble Mr svino comes on Mondays and Tuesdays during lunch and then I have SE C rehearsals during lunch sometimes and then we're going to monitor their progress through performance assessments we have a national music rubric that we use use for large group ensembles any questions do AP exams end on the 15 correct there is one student um interested in going on the trip that's taking um micro yeah ecomics right the that morning and um I would subtract the transportation cost from his package agage he still wants to go and he's talking to his parents and we have a Music Matters meeting February 11th
025in which we'll discuss on how to get him to Vermont there's a few kids that said they don't want him to go alone and that they would do that as well with him in the past the bus filled up to Vermont and we actually did have a parent bring her van with our instruments because we couldn't fit everybody it would be vanderhof charter bus to get us there and back thank you make sure you bring back back um lots of uh video and photos of the trip and yes yes and attend our May 30th concert at 7 p.m. here right yes thank [Applause] you okay uh moving on we have our final presentation and this is our presentation for the uh regarding the park exam can't leave now we're doing the park presentation D going
026wait one thing sure I'm so sorry I mean Mr Mandela reminded me um I'm just going to plug your in town okay it's a great funny witty Musical that is February 26th to the 28th don't miss it get your get your tickets through Mr canel um online online sorry online um but I forgot to mention one of the most exciting things that a lot of you will take happiness in as I have gelani Remy a former student Cedar Grove student is now the official well starting in July Broadway Simba in Lion King okay he's still he's still on tour and of course you know finishing that up in July he'll be the Simba New York City his poster is up all over and the commercial it's him that's galani but anyway he's playing seaweed for
027us in our hairspray and in Vermont I sealed the deal with before he got the Simba in New York but yeah he's playing our seaweed which you know it takes two baby it that's okay that'll be galani aesome thank you Miss Jon okay um are we ready for our Park presentation ready ladies and gentlemen Mr featherman you thanks for coming out folks you know the first thing I want to say is looking at this room it's I wish it were filled up like this more often because I do feel like I'm with friends and I mean that we work so hard every day doing the things that frankly others cannot and I just want to thank you for that and how cool is it to see and I'm looking out again I see mostly K5
028k678 how cool is it to see what we're doing at the high school level and know that you helped shape these young men and women that were here one of which still is had a girl and there's more seats over here seats seats over here come right across you can just walk right again appreciate I'll just finish by saying clearly one of the things we do well here in Cedar Grove as you've heard tonight has provided the depth the richness of an educational experience for those that are so inclined to be involved right we are small the Small Engine That Could and we have been criticized for not having expansive programs as others do but I argue and I'm sure you'll agree that if you're so inclined to be involved you'll have a wonderful experience
029here k12 and thank you for that you can applaud I love applaud thank you so we've had some fun and no I'm not going to sing only Jen jessen could pull that off and and exceptionally well but we do need to talk a bit about not a serious topic but a very important one it's the park assessment so much of what you'll hear tonight is not new in terms of standard-based instruction and thinking and learning and pedagogy and Technology all these things have been going on since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution but the park test is new so let's talk a bit about that so what is Park well as a chemistry teacher and biology teacher I tend to sort of start from a broad lens so here is Park it's the as you
030see there the partnership for the assessment of Readiness for College and Career but you all knew that well what is it yes it's standards based it's aligned with the Comming core we've all heard Pearson and the ational testing service in their role and certainly the content in which you'll be tested not you per se although we'll get to how this affects you a little bit later but more importantly our students so let's start with the standards you know certainly that road to the Common Core that we've all been traveling down since 20101 now we've we've had some turns in that road haven't we but I'm not afraid to say that in this room because this Collective group is working tirelessly to get it right and together we're doing that so we'll talk a bit about
031that tonight as well more about the Common Core we've been working on implementation and Alignment securing common core align materials K through five most recently this year we've we've developed a district Improvement plan a long-term plan many of you have been involved in that process and we're proud to say that we're putting our best foot forward and making progress but what does the Common Core emphasize well you see it there we're talking about it if you read the superintendent reports past and present you'll hear all about I think succinctly spelled out for you in bullet point form what our teachers K through 12 have been working on relative to implementing the Common Core relative to preparing for Park it's been no secret what we've been doing and in fact we've been reaching out to all
032of our stakeholders either through FSA or AP meetings certainly board meetings parent universities parentes K through 12 talking about it and engaging the public so we've been here many of you have been listening and beyond that participating in the conversation so what are some of the shifts and again we've talked about this but here's that broad lens the shift focus on non-fiction you can read it there for yourselves mathematics fewer but deeper Concepts real world examples folks it's happening it's going on in your classrooms I know that I've seen it and it's exciting what about history of Assessments now I'm going quickly because in part we're going to be having a parent Community uh presentation on February 19th at that time we'll have the entire cabinet that you see sitting in the back there dressed
033in their nice suits and ties and scaves and things and we'll all be with you on that night to discuss in more detail where we were and where we currently are and where your students we hope will be through hard work but previous to this year grades 3 through 8 took yes the NJ ASK we're all familiar with that in the high school we were talking about the hespa and in in small quantities the Assa and certainly we can't forget about the njs in science in grades 4 through eight and yes believe it or not the state still has us take the high school biology EOC or end of course assessment not quite sure where that's going yet but with the Next Generation standards being launched we'll get you an update on that so what
034kinds of assessment have we been doing here historically and currently well you see them there the SAT the act the PST and so forth map testing we brought map testing in a couple of years ago in part to prepare for the park test map testing as you all know is done online it's a common core aligned assessment we use it at the beginning of the year and predominantly at the end of the year to measure our students progress well that sounds familiar that form doesn't it well it's been going on in New Jersey for a very long time standards based assessment let's talk a bit more specifically about Park the implementation of Park this year we're going live we're operational let's talk a bit about that the test will be given this year to grades
0353 through 11 March and in may we have the performance-based assessment it's the first part we'll talk a bit about that and then in April we'll have the end of year assessment actually it's probably May when we're doing that so when will these tests be going on well we're exclusively targeting the am sessions now as you know you may have kids in different buildings the am session runs different times so the tests generally will start 8:15 to 8:30 and end between 11 11:30 maybe even as late as 12:00 the plan is to Target the morning research shows that's when best to test and leave the afternoon to resume the all important instruction you'll see we have we'll have large groups we'll have small groups we will be catering to IEP and 504 kids we'll talk
036a bit about that as this test does a nice job of embedding the accomodations and it will be all hands on deck every teacher and support person will be involved at some phase of the implementation as for makeup exams well well it depends on a number of things and it depends on which school you're in but makeups will take place after the first couple of weeks of testing are done overview of what I just said let's look at testing time for grades 3 through 8 Mr Fe the previous slide so those dates are what the state says you can th those are the ranges the date right this St is given us and then we schedule inside of those St exactly so we're not testing from March 2nd to March 27th correct I'm glad you
037clarify that we're given a 20-day testing window from the state for both the performance-based assessment which is the first part and the eoy or end of year part of the assessment and So within those time frames we've sat down and we've we've calibrated the best times to assess our kids again sticking with the am schedule in language arts and in math and we've each of us have sat down and and and mapped it all out I'll share a snapshot of the high school uh test schedule tonight but what we will be doing uh within the next week or so is e blasting to the specific parents that this spef that this pertains to the exact schedule okay so this is the window of time we have to work with so between March 2nd and 27
038we have our regular tests and all of our makeup tests have to be done likewise when the eii rolls around the window opens April 27th we're going to start right away hope to get done as soon as possible but we have until May 22nd what you see here are the the units of time that the doe the Department of Education has outlined for us as a guide and we use this information wisely to develop each of our schools testing schedules this is not rocket science they're saying you have this much time in ela and math figur it out you know how many kids you have you know how many Chromebooks and laptops and and workstations you have have at it local control figured out and we've done that and we will share that with you
039very soon these are the Middle School unit times here are the high school or grades nine through 11 unit times same thing the state tells us it's it's this use these as the guide and get together with your team and your list of resources and the important players and develop your schedule all of our schedules have been developed maybe they need to be tweaked we met again this morning to just sort of take a Second Glance but we're we're pretty much there so we were saying by Monday we'll be e blasting that information we'll have a website set up for all of you to access in perpetuity as well as a section of the Friday folder to visit anytime you like gota love that Friday folder huh it really is a nice place to visit
040here is a glimpse of Mr menil's revised tentative Park testing schedule this is not the entire schedule but it gives you some sense of how it is we're playing out there you have on Monday March 2nd we're getting started right out of the gate here English part 1 75 minutes 114 students day two and so forth again it's just as we've done over the many many many years for NJ ASK and HSPA okay we're we're seasoned in in these strategies okay Mr Manilli has an aggressive plan and by March 13th or so if all goes well he should be capturing those makeup testers at that point who made Park where did this thing come from let's just talk a bit about this well we all did we all had a say you know in terms
041of surveys and meetings and at the state level at the county level many of us had a seat at this table contrary to what you may have read or heard and it grew out of concerns just as you see there out of just how prepared we are in this Global competition New Jersey in particular has a great education infrastructure but globally there are concerns right so the governor's task force gets thrown together with was business people and and and college folks and and Educators like you and me and here we are so why Park well we needed a better test to measure how students do things the old pen and paper variety just wasn't cutting it wasn't giving us useful enough information on how we're teaching in the classroom I believe and I think many
042of you agree despite what our differences of opinion are in terms of how this thing has come to fruition I think you'll agree that this test will achieve what it's setting out to do and it's measured just how prepared our kids are or aren't for the future can we read and write critically synthesize information can we develop an argument based on non-fictional text our kids can do that but we want them to do it better I think I think the park test ultimately will help us do that let's stay the course how about some rationale for the park well it's measuring a lot of what the other standardized tests have done a lot what map testing does what njes has done espa it measures the skills and knowledge of our kids but it's going to
043do to do so in a very different way we'll talk a bit about the dragging and the dropping and and the highlighting and and and the way in which this test is very different from its forefathers in terms of producing timely information now sort of it's sort of a running joke right now because the state acknowledges that in the first year of implementation this year the word timely really you know it's taking a bit of a hit why because the information the scores won't be given back to districts until probably late September early October now you're thinking well Mike you know the school starting uh you know the first week in September isn't that a little late how you going to help Place students in in in honors courses or or or or basic skills
044programs well we're not doing that the first year and we've been open about that fact the park test this year and its first year of implementation is not going to be used to do that and our Educators and our counselors and our administrative team is well aware of that and so we have uh other ways of placing students in in their uh chosen paths for 15 16 without this test now moving forward the state assures us that the park test will be or at least the results of which will be returned to us much sooner they're telling us early in the summer that would be the summer of 16 stay tuned more rationale well as I had said before this test is very different the park test is new there's no question about that if
045you've been online you've seen these practice tests or maybe even you've taken some of these tests yourselves it's very different clearly I know as I look across the room all these teachers you all have been uh sampling these practice tests and questions yourself your students we'll talk a bit about bit a bit more about that as we close the presentation but we're actively partic participating in the types of tasks that your kids will be asked to do next month but there's all kinds of of neat things that we can do using an online platform from text to speech for Math and certainly in terms of the accommodations for 504 and IEP students uh the things we can do now from the logistical side of things you know we talked about this more this morning there's
046a lot going on behind the scenes to select the different accommodations that students with IEPs need but we're working behind the scenes with with the technology folks very closely to make sure we get that right in terms of the test assessing a full range of students yeah if you've taken those practice tests if you haven't I encourage you that you do there's some really hard questions on it and there's some easier questions and there's a lot of them somewhere in the middle so we're really going to find out what that full range of students can provide to us it's engaging we'll find out now we piloted last year we volunteered to do that and again kudos to the staff for taking this on there were some issues with Pearson delivering the platform and we managed
047through that but to watch the kids when it went well was reassuring wasn't it it was reassuring the kids you know the kids don't have this archived stuff like we do in the back of our heads you know from the old pen and paper days our kids they know how to drag and drop they know how to highlight they know how to move things around use an equation bar they know how to do these things for us you know we guide them we we give them some practice in the classroom and and in many cases I know my kids anyway they they're so much more proficient at it than we are so how will it be different for students well the students will get feedback on just how ready they are for colleg in career
048now if you've seen the performance reports that were recently released from the the Department of Education you're looking at a superintendent who knows we have our work cut out for us and I'm talking to a group of teachers who knows the same but I also work closely side by side with you and I'm reassured that the works getting done that we're making the adjustments the daily five the cafe model I love going into those classrooms and seeing how that's transformed what it is that we're doing it's pretty cool so the information that we get for for our students will be just that and for our teachers it's how to improve instruction what about the parents well we were at a Leadership Academy myself and a number of other administrators last week and we got our
049first Glimpse at the individual student uh reports the test reports and wow I mean we're talking about the next level here you know the njes provides these individual score reports but uh the park Consortium will those reports will really tell us something about our janies and Johnnies and for the states well as of right now there are 12 of us 11 states plus the District of Columbia that are still in the park Consortium so yes we're going to be put into that large bucket of those 11 states and and to at least at some level be compared to those how about the inment design well again just you're following along as I sure you are here's the PBA the first part of the the test given March and here's the end of the year and
050here are some of the the differences a little different from the njes how about Ela there's your PBA on the left and eoi on the right different kinds of tasks kids will be watching videos they'll be reading passages non-fiction passages and they'll be asking to simulate research and do some literary analysis and create their own narratives they're not doing that in the njs per se and we're doing so online yeah there's keyboarding issues that we've been working on our media Specialists have been hard at work filtering all of our kids through making sure they're at least partially proficient in keyboarding we'll be ready how about test features for all students well there's lots of little little gizmos that that this test allows us to sort of use that frankly our kids are quite comfortably using
051from highlighting to uh striking through answers flagging uh you they can you know there'll be a digital calculator that you'll see on one of our sample problems I'll show you uh all kinds of neat little things that a pencil and paper test does not allow us to do and again our kids welcome this they'll do very well in this environment and it's not without our help right we are integrating these kinds of practice skills in our classrooms again read through those superintendent reports you'll see at every grade level you're doing practice tests and you're you're embedding your instructional practices around preparations for Park how about calculators well some grades can use them some can't and these these devices will be provided on the screen how about test preparations well what have we been doing all
052this time we've been doing a lot tremendous amount to get ready for this assessment in addition to practice assessments both online and on paper yes there's still value in paper tests I'm sure all of you have given them this year we've been participating in map testing for two years now which I think has been uh exceptionally supportive of of The Next Step our media center Specialists as I've mentioned have been working on the mechanics that our kids will be expected to do we don't want them to be surprised or be seeing something for the first time oh I click and drag what is that they won't be and resources we've got all kinds of things at our disposal that we're using from the actual test nav 8 stuff this is the actual Pearson site that
053allows us to give these practice tests so we're not playing with these sort of artificial resources we're playing with the real deal that Parson's giving Pearson's giving to us that simulates exactly what our kids will be doing on this assessment here's a sample question we're getting close to the end here sort of I don't know if you can see that but if you if you can look at a couple of things we've got this this toolbar here that allows kids to to to do different functions and here's your digital calculator here and the question itself asks kids to perform a multi-step mathematic solution there's lots of these online and some of the resources we're going to be providing check it out sit down with your kids one night after dinner and uh give it a
054go here's a park sample question from Ela uh this is not the NJ ASK folks you're asked to do multiple things if you can see here it says you know you're going to be uh what it say here uh you're you're going to watch a video and then you're going to read a couple of passages and in part A you're asked to read these three passages and then select uh evidence from the article that best supports the answers and you've got to click and drag two of these statements that support your answer different it's not filling in a bubble it's clicking and dragging down to the evidence box this one here and drag it down there so different they'll be watching videos and interacting with content with text pretty cool so more on Cedar Groves
055instructional preparation again I'm being longwinded just wait till the 19th you think we're longwinded now you better bring a pillow all right so yeah it's being done uh we realize where we were in terms of the alignment to the common core but none of us in this room uh have have any preconceived notions of of where we are in terms of the performance reports and so we Embrace that to the extent that we're comfortable doing and we're putting the best foot forward so we've got things going on and and and not the least of which is professional development we have been busy we've been busy on articulation days we are busy over the summer the teachers have been great they're coming in uh without pay to to do the things that they know they have
056to do to get ready for things like the daily 5 and the cafe and where their way and so it's happening impact of testing well a little bit redundant here as suppose but more specific information Improvement use of data I was recently at a texo conference last week and let me tell you you know uh capitalism abore is a vacuum right so here we are this this this park assessment and every other vendor down there is catering to a new way to gather the data okay package the data you know and and provide teachers with rosters of students filled with specific data and as I mentioned to the board earlier today uh you know we've got some some discussions to have in terms of the kinds of things we bring in to help manage this
057data it's only this data is only useful if you can disaggregate it and make sense of it because the individual test reports are just Chuck full of all kinds of information and when you have you know I think of a high school teacher it's not 120 140 kids 150 kids so we need to be you know take a hard look at ways of helping them organize and manage that data and I'm confident the board will support us uh in in implementing these these new instructional pieces of Hardware so the impact on teachers well you know this particularly teachers in grades four through eight this year anyway right you're meeting SGP scores are uh are being as we speak calculated into your summit of evaluation right that's not going away uh the park test scores will
058come out and median SGP scores will be assigned to you based on your student rosters and as for our administrators well your meean SGP scores will be assigned to you based on your teachers Collective rosters so there is a direct impact on our professionals evaluation and student scores and that's the plan that's how we got here and clearly the instruct shifts again if you've been with us you've been paying attention and following along we're doing things differently in the classroom how about technology preparation we've been working on our our team's preparation for some time and it's not just the purchase of a couple of extra workstations hardly we've increased bandwidth over the last couple few years we've upgraded internet network connections and so on and so forth we're going to Proctor cash so that uh
059we're better prepared when the test window opens we're not worried about your potential problems because we'll have it here on our local servers we've increased the amount of Chromebooks and workstations that's true we've done it at nauseum we have lots and lots of them and those Chromebooks are pretty cool aren't they you like those Chromebooks yeah Danielle what do you want 50 more I know I know I'm with you and we've also participated in all of that state recommended Park Readiness surveys and where we'll be taking another intra District test simulation uh we've got a tentative date for that but we'll basically we're going to do is is carve out some time and get uh Bunches of of our kids to log on to one of these these test simulations and see how the system
060holds up and I think we're going to be just fine we'll let you know let's talk a little bit about graduation requirements not going to spend too much time but we certainly will at the on February 19th Park as of right now will not be a graduation requirement until the class of 1819 okay so the students that graduate in 2019 as of right now have Park as a graduation requirement but that could might change so what are the graduation requirements moving forward after this year uh well here they are the state has given us a an extensive list for both Ela and math and this is what we'll follow so our counselors have already uh crafted a plan and they know which scores to be gathering and our administrative team and teachers knows uh where
061we need to be pointing our kids in terms of having access to these tests that will get them out right well you notice the first part of this list includes Park scores so effective uh for the class of 2016 if you sit for park now and you score a what will deem to be a passing score whether you're in grade nine grade 10 or grade 11 on that particular test you would have met your graduation requirement not bad if not you can have a score of 400 for either the math or language arts if you're successful on both you've you've met that Benchmark for graduation how about the ACT there's a number there the Placer PSAT the armed services test and last but not least there there is a portfolio appeal process uh that we
062haven't used since I've been here in about six years but you know it's it's there so there's a healthy list of of things that our our students should be striving for and we're already talking about these benchmarks for graduation May I opt out the answer is no there is no opting out uh there's been a lot of talk about opting out but as a public school we are part of the state and federally funded program the state requires 95% participation for us to maintain our funding at least that's the position today that may change I hope it doesn't frankly it'll be one less bullet in our gun to to to reinforce the value of this test and here it is in italics the value of this test we're looking to use these scores for good
063not to harm anyone hold anyone back we're using it to learn more about how your child is interacting with our teachers in the content and we're going to use these scores to find out what they're learning and what they're not and how we can improve instruction to improve College and Career Readiness that's the point now we're not unreasonable people if you or someone you know is going to refuse to test there is a procedure for that you'll let your building principal know in writing that he or she your son or daughter uh will quote refuse to test on that given day and we will certainly uh not turn them away from the front door they can come in we will set them up in a supervised location uh it'll be warm and cozy and they
064can work on you know homework or or projects that they've been assigned but we ask that you do send them to school with something to do because we will not be providing uh a an alternate educational setting wherein the curriculum is taught we're going to be busy that day so if if you're going to refuse to test we'll take care of you but understand that uh there'll be lots of time where they'll be sitting there um reading a good book how can you help well it's not funny I don't want to be flipping about it but when you look at this list right I mean it looks familiar doesn't it I mean I'm a parent of two children a middle schooler and a third grader and these are the things my wife and I do
065all the time whether we like it or not and the park test hasn't changed that it shouldn't have changed that these are the things we do as conscientious parents continue to do them we've been doing them for years for decades haven't we not sure about the last one dragging and dropping and copying painting although I know my son and my daughter are are pretty proficient as I'm sure your kids are as well so upcoming events so where can we spend a little bit more time exchanging information ideas concerns well the first one will be Thursday we had plans to have this one here right Mr Kenny uh last week and that it was going to be tonight and then it was going to be now it's Thursday night and now they're saying more snow and
066so you know these things have been in the works but one thing at a time the next opportunity we have will focus on Park and special education uh if if that interests you uh we'll see you on on Thursday 7 o'clock in the high school media center Mr Kenny promises to do a little Dona Shan and and make thank you very much and make it as engaging and Hands-On as is human ly possible and if you know Mr Kenny I have no doubts he will deliver on that and the Big Show here will be on the 19th we're hoping uh you know we'll get a snow date out there as well we'll send an eblast out and advertise C again the cghs media center it'll basically be this presentation with some extra practice sample tests
067questions and some other things and if you want to email us between then and now and offer some suggestions for how we can expand on this we would love to hear from you for more information you can park online.org but there are a plethora of sources of resources out there and as I mentioned before we're going to get those up on our website and uh you can go through those at your leisure any questions yes should I come yeah you can come up here my name is Frank mandala yeah can you fit through there you just have to state your name and address hi my name is Tara Williams I live at seven Bradford way here in lovely Cedar Grove first of all I want to thank all of my son's teachers in Memorial Middle
068School they are awesome they have gone beyond what they really have to especially given the fact they've been working without a contract since June so I applaud my son's teachers I think they're great and I thank them for just really putting in uh energy and their efforts um so I'm just wondering based on the October 2014 article in the Verona Cedar Grove times that basically said that the New Jersey Board of Education said that the Cedar Grove School District needs to align its Common Core uh or rather the English language arts curriculum and the math curriculum better with the Common Core now if I understand it correctly the park test next month is dovetailing or reflects the learnings or the teachings or the lessons from the Common Core so my concern is how can the
069results that come back be an accurate indicator of anything if there's this huge disconnect between the the curriculum that isn't Common Core aligned according to what the state said and the park test results that come through so how am I supposed to interpret those if we reverse engineer sort of the chronology um the foundation that's supposed to be used which is the curriculum to teach our children and if that curriculum not is not aligned with common core and Common Core is aligned with Park then I'm concerned you're not alone in your concerns Mrs Williams we we are aware of of what the qack committee came in and uh interpreted for us what was going on in our district but to characterize it as a huge disconnect I think would be incredibly inaccurate and so why
070did the scores from qac reflect the numbers they did well first and foremost they they really hit us on the fact that our K5 instructional materials weren't more current they weren't new enough to be quote aligned to the common core and and that's because let me finish let me finish now that's not to say that every teacher in this room wasn't doing the best they could every day to supplement those those Antiquated K through 5 materials to align their daily instruction and lesson planning to that common Corp and as a superintendent who's got his boots on the ground I'm well aware of what our limitations are what our strengths and weaknesses are but I certainly know that the strength is is our Acuity of what it is you're referring to and sort of sensationalizing we
071we are aware of it we've we've been discussing it since July we're not happy about it I've met with most everyone in this room I've participated in professional development in the summer with most of the people in this room and we've done nothing but accept the fact that we have our work ahead of us and I've seen nothing or close to nothing to say that we're not making an incredibly positive effort to do that we have map testing that's been doing so for two years that is aligned to the Common Core we're getting we're getting positive results from that so we're not operating in a common we're not operating in a common core vacuum here we're we're we're using assessment materials to help gauge where our our alignment issues are and in spite of the
072fact that historically some of our materials weren't current enough we've been doing a pretty good job can you talk about some of the long-term plans that you submitted this to the state um I believe the state mandated a long-term plan to further align our curriculum with the common cor sir sure I'm glad they did and so is everybody in this room because it gives us a perfect excuse to sit down and and and use our resources and our time and our energy to focus on what we already knew was one of our issues and that's common core alignment and so we sat down beginning last summer with a group of people from each each different stakeholder and we developed a district Improvement plan and a long-term plan plan that includes the purchase of of awfully
073expensive uh language arts and soon to be mathematics instructional materials to help uh bring our materials to the 21st century and and we're glad that we've had the opportunity to to focus on it and and I couldn't be more proud of the progress we're making and let me just add Mrs Williams I know you've been asking me for that long-term plan since Thursday and just so you're aware Mr fedman was out of the district he's aware that that you you're um interested in seeing that I've spoken to him about it we did have a snow day yesterday uh today uh he and I discussed it and I thought it was already up on the website I was I was incorrect however it will be going up on the website in short order so you'll be
074able to view that plan as will every uh teacher and parent in the district sure thank you Mr sakala um I also it's it's heartening to know that more information is going up on the website there are some parents who do not participate in some of these groups these parenty so they are sort of operating in a vacuum um unless they go out and actively seek information on a peacemeal basis and Mr Dort he's great he listens to all of my questions and he's very patient but I think if we can communicate on a higher level with more people at once we don't have to my words waste people's time by trying to pull information on a piece by piece uh situation um sit by situation type of um time frame here so I would
075request more information shared at a higher level in other areas or through other channels because again like I said many parents or this parent does not participate in in this parent acad Academy group so I would not know the information that you had mentioned was communicated through these parenty understood and and and I I agree we can't be proactive enough in getting this information out to those parents that may not be so inclined to go to FSA and AP meetings and attend these parenty we've even filmed some of them we've posted those uh recordings on the website so we're we're not running away from it we're providing it we'll we'll Prov more and we're happy to do that thank you welcome can we just get the lights back on we get a chance please holding
076up all right okay well thank you for that presentation Mr featherman that um the park information has been a uh I know you've been working on for a very very long time putting it all together uh it's been a work in progress for several years and it's great to see this because now we have an idea of what what the culmination of of all your hard work and all the people in this room's hard work has been over the last several years so thank you for that and we look forward to hearing more on the 19th if I may not to belabor the point but in addition to the teachers I don't want to single anyone out but the group of Administrators in the back uh live this every day and I'm envious of the
077fact that they're in the buildings every day and they they can hear your concerns and they can respond to them and as I think you'll find that they've been receptive to the things you've had to say and things like this these presentations wouldn't be possible without their input uh from the front line frankly you know as superintendent's job Takes Me Away often from what's really important and I know that I mean I struggle with that but I know that you know my job is to do things that they cannot per se because their hands are tied every day with with the good work so thank you for that okay let's move on the agenda from the office of the business administrator and board secretary under minutes may I have a motion for B1 through B4
078that's a motion on B1 to approve the public and executive minutes of January 6 2015 B2 is a motion to approve the budgetary transfers for the month of January 2015 B3 is a motion to approve the T excuse me the treasures report for the month of December 2014 and B4 is a motion to approve the board secretary certification to the Cedar Grove Board of Education pursuant to the administrative code that no line item account has encumbrances and expenditures which in total exceed the appropriation and violation of the code may I have a motion for those items please so moved second any discussion roll call please miss bur yes Mrs Dy yes Mrs Marinelli hi Mr Mandela I Mr yes under bills may have a motion for B5 which is a motion to pay the bills
079uh that were provided to us in our packet uh dated January 27th 2015 15 so moved second any discussion roll call please Mrs Burke yes Mrs D yes Mrs Marinelli I Mr Mandela I Mr s yes under business may I have a motion for B6 through B13 B6 is a motion to approve travel to and related expense reimbursement for the staff as listed B7 is a motion to approve MTM Metro's final payment application in the amount of of $4,790 for the removal and disposal of asbes as set forth in that item B8 is a motion to retroactively approve m i n a g a uh to use the lrp gymnasium for a video shoot B9 is a motion to appoint Lincoln Land Landscaping to perform spring 2015 track and field maintenance as set forth in
080that item B10 is a motion to approve a waiver of the semi program for the 2015 2016 school year for the reasons set forth therein b11 is a motion to approve the submission of the Ida Part B FY 2015 Grant as set forth therein B12 is a motion to approve William Xavier Monclair State film student to use the high school Cafe ceria on the dates set forth therein and B13 is a motion to retroactively approve the use of facility rental uh at the Cedar Grove High School cafeteria for the Cub Scout pinewood derby as set forth in that item may I have a motion for those items please so moved second any discussion roll call please Mrs bur yes Mrs D yes Mrs Marinelli I Mr Mandela I Mr Cala yes from the office of
081the superintendent Mr featherman believe you have your superintendent report I do thank you Mr sakala don't know we've got a bunch of copies of the report here if you want to come up and grab some didn't realize there' be this many people here so you can share and if you can't get your hands on a hard copy it'll be posted online in short order you can certainly read through them and what you'll find is a recognition of of of countless successes going on in our our classrooms K through 12 please spend time reading through them it's a great read the text is Rich it's descriptive and it it lets you know hey we're doing great things and yeah things like Park and Common Core you'll find it embedded throughout the report so rather than go
082through that what I'd like to do is read uh letters from four very special people Dear Mr featherman and Mr mangilli I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to teach in the Cedar Grove School system you and the various Boards of Education superintendents and principles have allowed me to live my dream of being a high school English teacher for 33 years teaching has brought much joy into my world and I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience my dream has changed after much thought many years and tears of both sadness and joy I've decided to retire at the end of this school year please accept my resignation for retirement effective July 1 best wishes to you for a successful run it's been a fulfilling ride for me sincerely Ivon [Applause] miao Dear Mr featherman this letter
083is to inform you of my intention to resign my position as a music teacher with the Cedar Grove board of education for the purpose of retirement effective June 30 this is one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make in my career basically I've spent my entire teaching career in Grove since 1972 I was 3 years old amazing as I've mentioned to you in the past I feel especially grateful that I had the opportunity to return to Cedar Grove schools after I raised my children I have worked with so many wonderful administrators teachers and children it has been an amazing journey to see all the changes in the district and the changes which occurred in education since I began teaching exclamation point I especially am grateful for the support you and the Board of
084Education have given to me and the music program during those years teaching elementary school music takes a lot of energy and I feel this is the time for me to retire this will give me the opportunity to spend time to travel enjoy my grandchildren thank you again for all the kindnesses you have shown me sincerely Evelyn obendorf two more Dear Mr featherine and members of the Board of Education and to you all after much thought and with mixed feelings I've decided to retire at the end of the current school year please accept this letter as notification of my retirement as physical education and health teacher effective July 1 it has been an honor and a pleasure to have worked in a fine as District as Cedar Grove and I will carry many wonderful and fun
085memories with me as I leave I was originally interviewed and hired by superintendent Ken Beckle and I have taught for my entire career despite a long leave of of absence for health reasons in Cedar Grove as this time at this time pardon me I would like to express my gratitude to you for your support during my tenure in the district and for all of your efforts on behalf of the students faculty and staff of the cedar Gro Public Schools although I am looking forward to retirement I will miss my students and I will miss teaching in such an outstanding School District lastly I wish the best for the Cedar Grove administrators teachers staff students and parents many of whom are former students of mine since cly Louise oble and lastly but not leastly Dear Mr
086featherman and the Board of Education this letter is to inform you of my retirement as of June 2015 this decision has not come easily as I have given this a lot of thought I have taught for 25 productive years here in Cedar Grove teaching the subject I love most I feel I am so lucky to fulfill my passion my love for the Arts every single day I walk into my classroom I am an artist first endearing myself to the art of creating since I was 5 years old I painted Drew collaged and sculpted anything that expressed the power for invention throughout my childhood through high school and finally College it was there I realized I needed to share my visual expression and that is how my career got started a decade later after graphic design
087employment owning a business and two amazing children teaching Art became my new passion I feel so fortunate that I had the opportunity to teach in Cedar Grove a place where family and education are so significant in this community as you cannot have one without the other I have had the pleasure of working under the guidance of caring administrators as I cannot ask for more supportive principles and vice principles all my years of teaching I think it's rare to work for 25 years in the same place with many different bosses and co-workers and still love the job I've also had the pleasure of working with a very supportive staff from the elementary to the high school many of whom friendships will continue long after retirement my teaching family also includes parents as well as many students
088who count on me to make a difference in their lives every class I teach I'm very grateful for that fulfillment it is this connected force of people from students parents and faculty to our administration at bard of Ed that embody the complete teaching dynamics that are essential to education thank you for 25 years of support and belief in me to best serve this community as a teacher and as an artist I will treasure every moment of every year thank you Barbara [Applause] fry thank you Mr scalla thank you Mr featherman that sure beats the superintendent's but I will be sure to read it as I hope everyone [Music] else from the office of the superintendent under Personnel may I have a motion for S1 through s17 S1 is a motion to approve the superintendent report
089S2 is a motion to approve Jacqueline gameta South End fizzed teacher maternity leave uh teacher beginning February 12th 2015 for the remainder of the school year S3 is a motion to approve the retirement of eelyn endorf south then music teacher effective June 30th 2015 S4 is a motion to approve the retirement of Louise able MMS school um MMS physical education teach teacher effective June 30th 2015 S5 is a motion to approve the retirement of Barbara fry MMS art teacher effective June 30th 2015 S6 is a motion to approve the retirement of yavon miao high school English teacher effective June 30th 2015 S7 is a motion to approve the submission of the 201425 statement of assurance to the New Jersey Department of Education as per the New Jersey quality single accountability Continuum S8 is a motion
090to approve on second reading the proposal to allow the Cedar Grove High School varsity cheerleading team to participate in the battle at the boardwalk S9 is a motion to approve on second reading the proposal to allow the Cedar Grove High School boys baseball team to participate in the preseason trip to Orlando Florida S10 is a motion to reimburse the school-based volunteers as listed S11 is a motion to approve the school volunteers as listed S12 is in motion to approve the substitutes for the 2014 2015 school year as listed s13 is a motion to authorize the attendance at the events as listed in that item S14 is a motion to approve the uh students listed in that item for classroom observation S15 is a motion to approve Nicholas Murphy as head girls track and field coach
091as set forth therein s16 is a motion to approve Nicholas Murphy as head Cross Country Coach as set forth in that item S7 is a motion to approve Christina rerio girls assistant track coach as set forth therein may I have a motion for those items please so move so second any discussion uh just to clarify Mrs obendorf it said South End music teacher but it should be North End and South End thank you um yes number [Music] S3 we'll note that correction in the agenda any further discussion comments roll call please Mr yes Mr yes I Mr Mand I Mr yes under policies and regulations may I have a motion to approve on first reading uh the policies as set forth in that item and I'm sorry and on uh s19 a motion to abolish
092the following policy on the um policy set forth in that item 1522 on first reading may I have a motion for those items please so moved second Mr featherman before we um vote on that motion I would ask you if you can please review the um the policies that we're uh we have on the table at this time we'll do thank you I feel like Mrs Jess the voice is getting scratchy here I don't typically do this much talking I'm a listener you see I like listening to people rather so what I'd like to do is read a a brief synopsis of those policies and regs that are being revised updated and or abolished 1522 School level planning will be abolished this code provision was repealed because the quality annual Assurance report has been replaced
093as we all know by NJ qac therefore policy guide 1522 is to be abolished by the Boe with a simple motion as it is no longer required 2361 acceptable use of computer networks and computers and resources it's a revision this code provision requires school districts to update their acceptable use policy or AUP to State the district is educated is quote educating minors about appropriate online Behavior including interacting with other individuals on social networking sites and in chat rooms and cyber bullying awareness response school districts May determine how this education is provided to pupils and a revised AUP is being developed by our technology committee as we speak 5305 Health Services Personnel revised New Jersey Administrative Code has been reopt with minor revisions this code section prescribes roles and responsibilities of the school physician certified school
094nurse certified school nurse non-instructional and non-certified school nurse the most significant revision eliminates the specific Services a non-certified school nurse can provide and indicates the non-certified school nurse will perform Services permitted under the non-certified school nurse's license issued by the State Board of Nursing this revision was made to give school districts increased flexibility to use these nurses to provide Specialized Care as appropriate and as permitted by their license resulting in potential reduced cost to school districts policy 5306 Health Services to non-public schools is a revision New Jersey Administrative Code has been re-adopted with minor revisions this code section prescribes a school district's responsibility and Prov providing school health services to eligible students that are enrolled in a non-public school within the school district boundaries the minor revisions to this reopt code section have been incorporated
095into the prised policy and red guides 5306 policy and red guides 5306 outline mandated responsibilities of a school district that has a non-public school within its boundaries a school district that does not have a non-public school in its boundaries does not need to adopt this policy [Music] 5308 student health records is a revision New Jersey Administrative Code has been reopt with minor revisions this code section prescribes the school district's responsibility in maintaining and transferring student health records while limiting access to and disclosure of such information pursuant to law 5310 Health Services revised health services policy and procedural requirements and and New Jersey Administrative Code 616- 2.2 required health services have been reopt with minor revisions the first section of the policy guide that listed all the policy requirements has been removed from the code and
096removed from the policy guide as the New Jersey Department of Education indicated these policies are required in other sections of the code and there is no reason to list them in this section the other changes in the policy and regulation guide are minor 53 339 we're allware of this one screening for dyslexia it is new uh New Jersey New Jersey administrative code regarding screening for dyslexia was approved and codified in summary the new statute requires every school district to screen students who have exhibited one or more potential indicators of Dyslexia or other reading disabilities with a screening instrument provided by the commissioner NPS the district may use one developed on their own 5530 substance abuse is a revision procedures for alcohol and other drug abuse intervention has been reopt the reopt code provides clarification when
097the superintendent May and must disclose the identity of a student to law enforcement authorities depending on whether the student is under the influence of alcohol or other drugs or has in their possession or distributes certain substances on school grounds the statute New Jersey sa 1848-9 defines substances and the administrative code 6A 6-41 a expands the statutory definition of substances there are a few places in the administrative code that reference quote other drugs however the term other drugs is not defined in the statutes or the administrative code therefore and finally the revised regulation guide 5530 in includes a definition for other drugs and includes substances as defined in Administrative Code it's important stuff just takes a lawyer to write it 5600 student discipline and code of conduct it's a revision New Jersey Administrative Code 16a 16-7
098student conduct has been updated this chapter includes the requirements for a code of student conduct conduct away from school grounds and student records and confidentiality the revisions are not significant and will not change the manner in which a school district administers its student code of conduct and lastly I believe it's lastly it is thank you 5756 transgender students this is new school districts have requested a policy guide regarding transgender students New Jersey's law against discrimination njlad prevents discrimination or harassment on the basis of transgender transgender status gender identity or gender expression however there is little guidance from the New Jersey school districts on a reasonable identification process and the accommodations to be made for an identified transgender student policy guide 5756 has been developed considering laws in other states and the position of various advocacy
099groups this policy guide requires a student's parents to be involved in the identification process enables the school district to make reasonable inquiry into the asserted gender identity if there is a credible basis for believing the identity is being made for an improper purpose the policy is not specific as the accommodations to be made for an identified transgender student and indicates the superintendent or design and the parent and child will meet to discuss such issues as name and pronoun to be used restrooms locker rooms Etc this policy is very general as there is no statutory or Administrative Code guidance on this issue as of yet a school district considering any transgender policy should have it reviewed by the board attorney before presentation to the board for [Music] adoption thank you thank you Mr featherman and I
100know the board is aware but just so the public is aware um any of these policies that are adopted have to be adopted on uh first and second reading so tonight we'll we'll put them up for we've put them up for for approval on first reading and we'll bring them back to the at the next meeting um for final approval does board have any questions about any of the policies I have roll call please Mrs bur yes Mrs D yes Mr I Mr Mandela I Mr yes under curriculum may I have a motion for s20 and S21 s20 is a motion to retroactively approve Jackie C cycling for curriculum writing as set forth therein and S21 is a motion to approve Joe cardal for curriculum writing for the new business course as set forth in
101that item may I have a motion for those two items please so move second any discussion roll call please Mrs bur yes Mrs D yes Mrs Marinelli hi Mr Mandela hi Mr salala yes at this time I'd like to open up the meeting for comments from the public for items that are either on or off the agenda seeing none I'll close that portion of the meeting our announcement of future meetings we have our next meeting on February 24th 2015 in the North End media center right here uh 700 p.m. for executive session public session beginning at 8:00 p.m. and March 10th is the follow the uh follow-up meeting to that here 7:00 p.m. for executive 8:00 p.m. for the public session of the meeting do the board have any final comments this evening we're done
102may I have a motion to adjourn so moved second roll call please yes yes iand hi yes thank you all for coming meeting is adjourned