001Okay, let's go ahead and get this started. So, uh, moving on to item one on the agenda. In accordance with open public meetings NJSA 104-4-6 and NJSA353-2, adequate notification of this meeting has been posted on the district's on the district's website in the board of education administration building and district schools and with the burough clerk. I hereby call to order the special public meeting Monday, June 15, 2026 in the Lincoln Middle School Cafeterium, 400 Den Denellan Avenue at 7:05 p.m. This meeting is broadcast live. For details, check www.denellonsschools.org. Moving on to item number two on the agenda. Roll call. Mr. Pepe, can you please call the role? >> Mr. Anderson >> is present. >> Mrs. Condit, >> present. >> Miss Ibeck is not here. Mr. Mitchell is Oh, I I skipped you. Dr. Gendrono. Dr.
002Gendrono >> present. >> Mr. Mitchell is not here. Mrs. Moore, >> present. >> Mr. Senoi, >> present. >> Miss Shy is not here yet. Mrs. Shep, >> present. >> And we have a quorum. Okay, great. So, moving on to item number three, executive session. The Denellan Board of Education will now adjourn into executive session to discuss items that fall within the public uh excuse me, which fall within specific exceptions to the Open Public Meetings Act CJSA 104-12B. The confidential matters discussed by the board during the executive session include items related to individual privacy, collective bargaining agreements, pending or anticipated litigation, and personnel. Uh any discussion that does not need to remain confidential will be made public as soon as it is practical. Minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for
003confidentiality no longer exists. All individuals who may be discussed in executive session have been adequately notified. Action will take place after the conclusion of the executive session. May have a motion to go into executive session. Please move to go to exe. Second. >> All those in favor? I opposed. >> Okay. We'll be back around 7:30. Okay, we are back. This is on. Yeah, it's on. Great. So, uh, may I have a motion to return to public, please? >> Move to go back to public. >> Seconded. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Okay. So, uh, item number four, pledge of allegiance. So, the, uh, flag is over here. To the flag of the United States of America and to the United States, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Will you
004all please remain standing for a moment of reflection and respect for our troops serving throughout the world, our troops who have served, and our troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our United States of America. Thank you. Moving on to item number uh item number five, president's remarks. Uh first of all, I do like to say first thank you to everyone who is joining us here uh in the room. Um as well as those joining us online, thank you for uh for joining us uh to hear what we what's what's coming about today. Also, I'd like to thank uh Mr. Kaggno uh for coming out as well and uh providing us with a lot of great information that we'll be be hearing in just in just a few minutes. But I'll
005keep this short and sweet so we can get on uh get on with it as they say. So um I'll move on to item number six, presentation. So at this point now I'll turn this over to Mr. Kaggno. Mr. Kaggno, you have the floor. >> Thank you, Mr. President. team is phenomenal by the way. You all know that community knows that. >> Indeed they are. >> Oh. Oh. All right. Let me get out of the way. >> What's that? >> Hey fellas, >> is there a presenter view in your PowerPoint, you know? I think it's right here. where it says use presenter view. No worries. Awesome. There we go. Thanks so much. Good evening. I want to uh thank you, Mr. President, members of the board, Mr. Pepe uh for hosting me tonight. I want
006to uh congratulate those members of the community who are here who are taking their time out to come out and hear uh about our work, our ongoing work. I want to welcome those folks who might be tuning in from home. Uh I also want to thank the community for welcoming us. I feel part of Denellan as does Dr. Thalenstein, as does Dr. Botti. We're really enjoying uh learning the Denellan way. We're really enjoying learning your community and hearing your candid feedback. Uh we've got an opportunity tonight to provide a data report, to talk about themes, to talk about opportunity areas, to talk about areas of pride, to talk about goals in vision. But I want to put this in the context, folks. And we had six sessions, some uh in person, some virtual. We've had
007ongoing data collection uh electronically. We're going to provide uh before uh I'm done my remarks tonight, another opportunity through survey for the community to provide additional feedback, ongoing feedback. Uh what have we heard? We've heard genuine [snorts] candid comments and we've also heard from the community. Gratitude uh to you members of the board that you have invested in this process and are elevating community voice and staff voice and asking folks to assist in this most important role that you're playing. Six sessions staff community parents 65 total respondents that includes staff that includes administration that includes folks who were here folks who tuned in. I want to be very clear that through those six sessions, the board provided an opportunity for as many folks as wanted to come out and be heard to come out and
008be heard. And if anybody's tuning in tonight that hasn't been heard, going to be providing a link for you to continue to provide feedback if you'd like. So the information we're looking at tonight comes from those respondents. Again, multiple forums. You can see who the respondents included. We engaged respondents to surface priorities and expectations. How do we see Denellan? What are we proud of in Denellan? What's our vision for education in Denellan? What is our vision for leadership? What do we think gets in the way of effective leadership? open-ended questions, word clouds, ranking exercises, amongst other opportunities. We asked, "How does community and staff rate the district?" Zero to 10. Zero not effective, right? Missing the target. 10 grand slams around every corner or more than one goal in a 90-minute soccer game. I'll put
009it that way. Average just around six. is actually a little less than six. I would say that that's typical. No session overall rated the district on average above a seven. The largest concentration of ratings clustered at five to seven. What's that tell us? Well, that indicates that the community sees real potential but significant gaps in current performance. And that number is given meaning when we look at the rest of the information that we have to share. The next superintendent must understand what's working and what urgently needs to change. District strengths in their own words, staff and community, what's right, what's working, what's effective. Community came across more than any other word. That's why it's the largest there. Your community understands its community and wants to share its community. And I will tell you folks, and
010I'm just the latest turnup off the truck. Your community wants a leader that wants to be in this community. Your community and your staff wants a leader that's going to embrace this community, that is going to seek to understand this community before it asks of this community. That was overwhelming. this sense of small town and pride in small town, this strength in diversity, veteran teachers, dedicated staff. There's a lot of pride in the staff that we heard from the community and there I know is pride at this board table amongst our staff. What does Denellan do well? Number one, community and small town feel. Number two, dedicated veteran staff. Number three, cultural and economic diversity is a strength, a core strength, one that should be embraced, not overlooked. And four, caring atmosphere. But 35% of
011respondents, folks, community and small town feel small town, close-knit, a village. Denellan's tight-knit identity is its greatest asset and must be protected, must be honored, must be respected, must be from our perspective as recruiters communicated and sold to our next leader. as a reason to be here. Dedicated veteran staff. Many staff have met their spent their entire careers careers in Denell and they know the community and are deeply invested. I met so many of them. We met so many of them and we really enjoyed meeting them. I want to thank I should have thanked before Asella if she's listening in in particular for her assistance uh in coordinating sessions with the staff and in speaking on behalf of her staff. Cultural and economic diversity. Respondents across groups named diversity is a core strength. Again, in
012a caring atmosphere, teachers caring about kids. Not just a professional commitment and an academic commitment and a pedagogical commitment, also an emotional commitment was consistently praised. What community members love most about Denellan? 40% small town feel, 25% community and the people, 15% diversity. key priorities for the new superintendent. Look at what is trending there and we see this consistently. Improved communication when we drilled down into that. The ask was not more email or more flyers. Improved communication. when the request is substantive, is explanatory, is visibility in that communication. Next, staff retention and support, student discipline and climate. And when we talk about communication and we talk about staff retention, folks, that is not uncommon. Excuse a double negative. We see those uh asks, we see recognition of the importance of those qualities and priorities in
013many places. But number three here, student discipline. Uh this is fairly unique and community specific. And we have seen broadly across uh the community and staff concerns about student discipline and climate. That is an area of opportunity and attention that our next leader uh needs to be aware of. Focus on special ed and ESL or MLL upgraded facilities curriculum rigor. Uh these were highest priorities, top desired qualities for the next superintendent. Not a surprise. Approachable and visible. Dr. Falenstein in multiple sessions drew distinction between communicating and being visible because one can communicate and we and we know and I often refer to the bad days where we learn to use things like virtual technology. We've learned how to communicate in different ways electronically and across different medium. That doesn't mean one is visible. Approachability and
014visibility trends and we heard it time and time again and it's a consistent theme and you can see here folks the top desired quality for the next superintendent. uh followed closely second by effective communication, collaborative and team focused, honest and transparent, extensive classroom experience and we continue from there. Classroom experience trended high as did building level experience uh also trended high and you will see that further. Overview desired qualities are top desired qualities. Here they are key priorities as I've touched upon in different ways and again this consensus of the Denellan way of Denellan one thing that Dr. Botti noticed, and I thought this was interesting. And apparently this comes from the municipality. Small enough to know you, large enough to serve you. That resonates, folks, whether it's a coincidence or not, that resonates with
015the data that we have seen in the school operational and personnel priorities. And this draws from not just uh the exercises we engaged community and staff in but also uh open-ended responses in uh communication tools that we've provided during this data collection process. uh operational management, key review areas, areas where the community and staff feel ought to be high priorities uh for our next superintendent. Staff support and retention. Again, we touched upon this. Actively value staff input and expertise. Create a work environment that prevents burnout. Priorit Prioritize long-term retention strategies. There's a lot of conversation about data as well and about initiatives and programming in a sense that we are in the midst of uh several new programs. How that data is going to be used, where those programs go is going to be another
016important task for our next superintendent. leadership and culture and concerns about leadership and culture. What the community and staff see as opportunity areas with regard to leadership and culture, which I touched upon uh already trend frankly higher than many of these substantive asks. The community seeks a visible, compassionate and transparent leader who fosters a collaborative environment. move away from topdown or condescending styles. Those are words that were used uh and used frequently in sessions as well as in written feedback feedback we received. Uh a goal to build trust and respect professional expertise. Actively engage with staff, students, and families. You're going to see that later when we talk about suggestions for early action items for our next leader. Accountability and discipline. Primary concern is the need for consistent, fair and firm discipline policies. This was
017not shared just by staff. This was not shared just by community. This is a consistent trend across stakeholder groups. The community and the staff want to prioritize student safety and learning environments, address HIV in serious misconduct, and hold staff and students to high expectations, but in consistent, fair, and firm ways with some sense that there is not clarity when it comes to accountability and to discipline. This is a policy and program and procedure area that our next leader is going to need to attend to quickly. Critical areas for improvement. Number one, staff morale, pay, and retention. Most frequently cited concern. One respondent shared, "My child has had four teachers in one year." Secondly, communication and transparency. Again, there's that reference to top down. Several references to quote unquote boys club dynamics. I've never been invited
018to the boys club. I kind of sense I should I if there were boys clubs be invited to the boys club. Maybe I should feel offended. Kind of feel like I'm the definition of it. There were regular references here. You get the point. Community wants two-way honest communication, not condescension or hidden agendas. student discipline and accountability. Consistent call for clear behavioral expectations. Consequences, real consequences, meaningful consequences that teach, consequences that stick. Uh empowerment of teachers to enforce classroom standards and academic rigor and programming calls for honors programs, advanced curriculum, and more extracurriculars, especially in the middle and high school level. There's a perception that test scores are declining. There's a perception that families are leaving. I will tell you folks, we heard very frankly and very candidly in community sessions, the folks that took their
019time to come out, the folks that took their time to come out in person, the folks that took their time to come out virtually, uh, giving specific words to it. We don't want to leave. We've thought about leaving. We don't want to leave. Uh, one of your constituents actually shared, we listed our house. We felt we needed to but we don't want to leave. What must change? Areas for improvement similar to what I shared before with regard to what we're proud of, what we think is working. You can see here areas for improvement, communication, discipline, morale, pay, rigor, these trends we've touched upon. rank superintendent qualities. And I've got a statistical note here from one of my colleagues. While teaching experience ranked lowest on the structured ranking exercise, interestingly, it was the number one quality
020cited in open text responses across uh all uh sessions uh uh involving different stakeholder groups. The community overwhelmingly wants a superintendent who has been a classroom teacher and a building principal. Those qualities top five number one collaborative then communicative superintendent and building level experience four visible and present five long-term commitment. We heard this repeatedly. The community does not want a leader that views this gig as a stepping stone. And the community wants someone who chooses Denellan as a destination, as a home, wants to become part of the community, wants to embrace the community, wants to understand the community, as I touched upon before. Most important superintendent qualities you can see trending all the way at the top. Teaching and building level experience, empathy, and humility listed third. long-term commitment at five, barriers to effective leadership.
021We asked what gets in the way and we asked specifically what are concerns about how leadership may prevent the district from becoming what your constituents want it to become or what you see it becoming. We selected a number of these statements uh for their cander and also how consistent they are statistically with the information that we collected and and I I have to read the first one. Don't try to flip us like a house. We're weird and we don't look like a knockout at first, but we have a lot going for us. Not my words. One of your constituents words stated with a lot of heart. Keep your mouth closed and listen. You don't get to tell us what to change without getting to know us first. We aren't your agenda. We are a community.
022Again, the Boys Club leadership has to go. Curriculum has to reflect current standards. We're looking for someone who stays. We're tired and really needs someone who cares. Meaningful comments. meaningful comments that are consistent with the data that's collected and I know are going to guide this board in its recruitment efforts. Someone who notices good work, not always having all the answers, not always assuming they know best. Barriers to effective leadership by way of word cloud. You can see what's larger than others that was trending in the feedback received. Keys to success with the Denellan community. Asking the community what works within the community. Asking the community what is important by way of leadership strategy by way of leadership action. Number one, transparency and honesty. Number two, visibility in the community, relationship building, long-term commitment, understanding
023Denellan's culture, and it continues. Our task is to assist the board with regard to the next step in this process. Crafting the job description, the advertisement, talking about how and where we're going to recruit, right on through to questions in the interviewing process, like tell me about your last month in your current position. How many community events did you go to? Where are you in your buildings? How often are you in your are you in your buildings? What are your what does your day look like? Those are important questions for staff and community when you're discerning who ought to rise to the top of the pool. Day one expectations. Listen, restore trust and learn. Build relationships. Meet with staff, union presidents, principles, parents, community members. Implement nothing until meaningful listening has occurred. boots on the
024ground before plans on the board. Bless you. Number two, rebuild staff morale. Establish a culture of two-way communication. Replace top down with collaborative and genuine follow-through. And we heard that as well in data sessions and learn the community. Spend time in all three buildings. Have lunch in town. That led to Dr. Faulenstein asking for I love it. One of our community friends is here and and heard, uh, give us restaurant recommendations and we've been haunting a few places, some great coffee down on Main Street. Uh, have lunch in town, attend events, get to know us, not just on paper, our demographics, our history, and our history and strengths before making a single change. Don't impose a will and a vision without understanding what the community is, what the school is, what the community sees, what
025its aspirations are. Day one priorities. What comes first? Meet staff and listen. Rebuild. Learn the community. Be visible. You can see right all the way through setting expectations runs behind. Defining great school leadership. Asking what is great school leadership and what best defines it. Look at look at what stands out which again is consistent with current opportunity areas. The ideal candidate a community defined profile distribution of candidate priority emphasis. This goes directly to uh our next steps in crafting a job description and looking at our recruitment strategy classroom teacher and a building principal understands both sides of the deck committed to Denellan long term not a stepping stone a destination some community asked for 15 plus years I will note we had this conversation uh in at least one session uh asking what do you
026think typical tenure is for superintendents in New Jersey? We heard three years, we heard six years, we heard five years. The answer right now is 1.7. One year, seven months or maybe one year, eight months around that. That's average across 600 school districts. Well, doesn't mean we can't ask. Doesn't mean we can't seek. doesn't mean we can't put an expectation out there and with clarity provide that expectation for the next leader. Listens before leading, visible in buildings, treats teachers, staff, parents and students with equal respect. Champions academic rigor and rebuilds trust and bridges the gap between administration, staff, community and the board. Those qualities, those characteristics, those goals are clear themes and trends. Summary and next steps. Community's message is clear. Community wants a superintendent who will be present, transparent, committed to Denellan for the
027long term. One who leads with empathy, builds trust, prioritizes both academic excellence and the well-being of every student and staff member. Recommended next steps. ours used forum findings to finalize our candidate profile and job posting. We have put time and effort and energy into this already. Uh I will share with the community that that will be our next step I believe tonight uh to actually sit uh pen in hand put pen to paper date myself saying things like that uh in crafting our posting and our advertisement incorporate the priorities into structured interview questions that will be part of our task in assisting the board once we have a pool and we begin interviewing uh sharing forum themes with finalist candidates before interviews. We're going to continue our community engagement throughout the selection process. Next screen
028has a QR code uh with a survey. Additional surveys are going to be launched this week. Uh our data collection efforts are going to continue. Uh please share the surveys. data that we continue to collect through this process will continue to sharpen the profile and will be used by way of interview questions and rubric and recruitment efforts and down the road we'll pre present a final search report to the board uh upon completion. That is the QR code uh for the community survey. You're going to see this by way of email. We'll also be launching a staff survey and we're going to be launching a student survey as well. If parents would like their students to participate with that survey uh with parent uh supervision and participation uh parents can uh facilitate that. We'll have
029some specific feedback from students as well. Questions from the board. Mr. President, thank you. Thank you for your uh continued time and confidence. >> Of course. Thank you. Thank you for your great great work and presentation and um sharing with us what you learned. Uh and we'll continue I guess to gather data and hopefully sharpen that profile. But I think uh pretty good signal. >> Yes. board members questions. >> I do have a question. Um, a lot of the current themes and I agree with is that small town feel and getting to know the community, but over the past couple of years, the community is gradually changing. So, are we also helping to reflect some of the changes in the community to go along with that still small town feel and and understanding us like
030our demographics are changing? >> Sure. Uh the question that I asked was the fact that over the past couple of years our demographics in Denellan is changing. So that is uh something that needs to be factored in and ensuring that with the changing demographics we're also considering the voices of of that changing demographics so that could be fed into our search for the superintendent to make sure all our constituents are heard. >> So I I I would say thank you. I think that's more of a comment than a question. Um, as far as what I'm hearing, um, the feedback we're providing tonight is is we're being a mouthpiece, if you will, as my father used to say, I'm the family mouthpiece. Uh, we are giving voice to feedback that we receive through these data sessions.
031Uh and certainly I encourage the board as you have an ethical responsibility in knowing your constituents uh to assist us in casting a an appropriate and broad net in our recruitment efforts for any voices that weren't heard. >> I I think the am I Yeah. I think the question that goes with that comment is how do we do it >> right? Like so I would just invite members of the community to reach out to the board president, to myself, the board secretary if you have thoughts about ways that we have not reached certain segments of the community and ways that we could do that. And we'll continue to have conversations and brainstorm about that kind of thing. But um any any ideas are welcome. >> Any other questions, guys? I don't think I Is this
032on? I don't have any questions, but I did want to say thank you for everything. Thank you to the community. It definitely helps give us a very good starting point and it is kind of consistent what we were kind of what we were expecting. So glad to hear all of that. Right. And I'll just say thank you again, Mr. Kagno, for putting us putting this together, doing all the work. And uh I know we still have more work to do, but this first blush tells us uh gives us a lot of information as as Miss Moore said, gives us a good place to start. >> Thank you. So, >> so as not to blur blind my eyes, I'll stay here. >> Yeah. Uh so at this point now let's open up to uh sorry to
033item number seven uh public comments. So um in accordance with policy 0167 the board of education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. At this time the board invites public comment um on the superintendent search. the board and administration will take notes during public comment. Um, so I'll I'll just leave it open. I'll just keep it open-ended like that if that's all right. >> Yeah. Just just for clarification, I asked our tech guys to leave this up in case any public comments would be helped by going back to a slide. >> Right. So, and the board appreciates and welcomes feedback from the community um you know at at this time. So, um let's go ahead
034and um open up for questions. So, and Mr. Mr. Ko, if you're willing to help us with any answers that we may have. >> Um, but just to remind you, prior to making your public comment, please state your name and municipality, please note that all statements should be directed uh to me or to Mr. Kango, depending on what the question is. So, um, go ahead and please come to the microphone at this time if you'd like to make comments on the superintendent search. Uh, good evening. My name is Cole Sigman, 534 F4th Street here in Denellan. And to protect you all from my rambling, I will read my question. Uh, so with the community engagement results being presented tonight, how do these results translate into the specific educational philosophy the board is seeking? How will
035that philosophy be communicated to the candidates? And how will the candidates philosophies be translated back to the residents to ensure alignment? For context, the previous administration was given a mandate to improve educational outcomes and the resulting strategies such as removing the honors program under the philosophy of a universal honors environment as well as the approach to student discipline revered a structural misalignment with community expectations. Uh, I also want to make it clear that as both the burough liaison and a parent who will have three children in the district next year, I'm not asking this to advocate for any particular educational path, but just to simply ensure that our process guarantees the community and leadership expectations are aligned. >> Thank you, Mr. Sigman. Do you have any comments? Or how should I start? >> What would
036you prefer? >> Um, let me start. It looks good. So, I'll I'll I'll just say um thank you for the comments, Mr. Sigman. That's that's that's excellent. I think um one of the things that we will be doing in the near term is we will be doing goal setting um both um within the district. It's about that almost about that time to set district goals. Um, and I think you know with I'm not sure if you were Yeah, you were at the last at the last board meeting where we are actually doing a board self-evaluation that we're going as part of that exercise we also will be coming out with board goals as well. So, I'd like to just start by saying I think by seeing what we've seen, information we've seen and and hearing
037the feedback that we're getting, we it helps us to inform on what we're going to put into those district goals as well as those board goals and we'll you'll be looking to the community to be helping us, you know, uh have feedback to be able to better craft those. Do you see what I mean? To to get us started. You're welcome to come back and we can we can have a dialogue. This we're open up for questions here. So, go for it. So it's I would say it's less about the goals and more the philosophies on how to achieve those goals. >> I see. Okay. >> Am I on? Here we go. I can add a little comment as a procedural thing. So just so the community knows my role in this as the board
038secretary, not a voting member of the board of education. I will not be involved in actually interviewing uh a superintendent candidate. Um I'm here to help with process. And so I think part of your question is about our process or the board's process. And one of the things that this feedback, the things that Mr. Kaggna shared tonight what we already started a little conversation earlier and will continue is conversation amongst the board members about what kinds of questions are we going to ask with with um you know not only John but his colleagues as well with their guidance and how are we going to um handle those interviews so that we get at these qualities that's kind of how I think procedurally it will Please, >> you mind if I answer from over here? So,
039my back is >> Sure, please. If you wanted to grab one of the seats, you're welcome to. >> I'm a shrimp. I'll put it >> uh red button and keep it down. >> Hello. Am I live back there, folks? Yes, I am. What a wonderfully articulate question. Thank you for it. I'll echo uh what the board president uh and our um CFO and board secretary has shared. And what I would also say and when we were here to kick off, we talked about the fact amongst other things that the board was investing into uh professional support for this process to define what the quote best candidate is, who the best candidate is. Some districts will post an ad and you get a stack of resumes and how do those resumes go to the top, right?
040Who do you interview? How do you interview? How do you discern? What I hear in your question is that h how do you in interviewing in assessing those credentials get to what is a philosophy of leadership? What is a philosophy of pedagogy? What is a philosophy of community feedback? What is a philosophy of how do we how does that educational leader assist the board in defining goals but then achieving them? You can already see through this data process that data is going to be used in creating criteria and rubrics which will wait through those questions in the process these candidates as best as anyone can to discern who they are and what they are and what they bring to education. And from my perspective, that's what the board has sought in engaging us in asking
041all of you who and what and where. And you you heard tonight overwhelmingly certain and saw certain themes. I think it's consistent with your remarks and your remarks no doubt were prepared before you heard that >> much. Yes. >> But your constituents, your co your neighbors, staff, others, they're singing the same song, right? We heard the song. They're hearing the song. Everybody's singing the song now. We want the candidate to sing the song as well. >> Absolutely. >> But from from my perspective as far as professional assisting the board, that's how we feel that process lines up in discerning things like uh approach and philosophy. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Other questions? Whatever. Kimberly Green, I'll stand on my toes. Denellan, >> just turn it. Push push. >> I didn't want to
042break it. >> There you go. Fine. Okay. Um, more of a comment. We're talking about engagement. With our population changing, the demographic is going 60% Hispanic. We don't have the board meetings translated or, you know, an interpreter here. Um, now I say that with reservation because we had six sessions, you said four sessions and 65 people. We have 13 people watching on tonight. >> Um, the board has done wonderful with making, you know, uh, attempts to engage the board, engage the community. Um, but I don't know what else can be done, but I'm definitely willing to try whatever the board suggests if you guys have ideas. Um I do feel we do need more participation and quite honestly for me the 65 was a little disappointing and that included teachers, right? >> Yes. >> And
043administrators and the whole lot. >> The whole lot. >> Yeah. I hope the community does better. They asked for this and they're not here. So, but thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Green. Other questions, comments? We got an open open uh session here. Any other So, going back to the board, any last questions before we close up? Okay. So, uh this isn't a one and done like there will be other opportunities here, but this is this gets us going off uh gets us getting started. So, all right. Um moving on. So, that was the presentation again. Thank you, Mr. Kagno. Um moving on to the back to the agenda. Item number eight, old business. Are there any other items from old business that we should uh come back to? Uh the only thing I would
044uh bring back to well two things. One is uh school New Jersey school board's workshop is coming up in October. So if you were able to participate um that would be great. There's a lot of educational opportunities there. A lot of things that we can bring back to our communities. And um second thing so al so so we'll you know it's a three-day four-day session that happens in October um where all of the different um school boards and administrators and such get together uh to talk about what's what's you know what's what's current practice what's going on what are the what are the current issues of the day um I don't mean to put you on the spot but is that um how I want to bring back an old business the um board self-evaluation
045We we we've started, right? I saw the first email. Yes. >> Yes. So, the first email went out last week to everybody with the link so that the board can complete their process or their questionnaire that they need to fill out. Um, as I let the board know, I'll send reminders every like every other week just to keep reminding us. We put our deadline of July 31st for us to wrap up our our input so that our field rep Maryanne has some time to compile everything. And then in August, we when we meet as a board, we can take that time then to review and and assess how we feel and how everyone on the board feels about what ways what's working, what needs to be fixed, what needs to be tweaked, and working on
046setting our board goals to be to be a better board. >> Right. And for the I guess for the public, do you would would you like to just explain to them again what the the board self-evaluation is since it's something that we are kind of doing new this year? So a it's so a board self-evaluation it's um each board member is going to individually there's certain rubrics and we we didn't have board goals before this so it's just basic it looks like it was just basic board tasks or requirements >> so the board is each going to assess the board as a whole and then there's a proc a point where the board assesses themselves elves as well as in the process. Once that's all filled out, then we meet as a board to discuss
047those findings. So we can see what are our board strengths, what are our board weaknesses, what are individual strengths, individual weaknesses. So that way the board can then work together to the best of their ability. >> That's a good way to explain it. And then this way we you know we we come up with and I and I wanted to bring that up because as as I mentioned earlier we'll you know we will work to develop board goals in addition to district goals for us to you know to target for for the year. So was was there a question you had a question? >> Okay. >> Yeah. No. Okay. >> Talking to me. Um all right. So any any other old business? Thank you, Miss Morton. Just so you know, I was picking on you
048because you're the co-chair so of that committee and Greg's not here. So, um, last call for old business. Okay, new business. Anything new you guys want to talk about? Okay, moving right along to uh item number 10, public comments on any school related issue or topic. So in accordance with policy 0167 board of vacation board of education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest at this time. The board invites public comment on any school related issue uh or topic. So, we'll take notes during this public session and um uh we'll not provide substance immediately to questions, but we could answer, you know, probably at afterwards if we're able to come up or talk about that
049afterwards. Um so, we welcome feedback from the community, but we're not at liberty to engage in a big back and forth. Um but, um you know, we would still like to hear if there's anything that is on your mind. I mean, we just went through the part about the superintendent uh search. So, if there are other uh issues that are pressing that you guys would like to bring up or things you want to bring up, now is the time, you know, to do so. So, prior to making your public comment, please state your name and municipality, please note that all statements will be should be directed to to me and come please come to the microphone at this time if you'd like to make comments on any school related issue or topic. Hello, my name
050is Rebecca Stark Gendrono and I live at 367 Whittier Avenue in Denellan. Um, I just have a very simple question. I'm curious to know if the honors program will be restored for the upcoming academic year and what are the criteria for determining um if it's not going to be restored, what are the criteria that are uh being used to decide either in favor of restoring it or not restoring it? um and what sort of information will be shared with the community about any decisions regarding the honors program. >> Thank you for your comment and just to give a little bit we will uh it's it is a topic of discussion that we will be we will be talking about but we we do not have an answer this time. We'll have to come back to
051you on that one. Right. Any other questions, comments? Open floor. Last call. All right, then. Okay. So, moving on to item number 11, um, executive session. So, the DEL board of education will now adjourn into executive session to discuss items that fall within specific exceptions to the open public meetings act. Uh, CJSA10 4-12B. Confidential matters discussed by the board during this executive session include items related to individual privacy, collective bargaining agreements, uh pending or anticipated litigation, um and personnel. So any discussion that does not need to remain confidential will be made public as soon as it's practical. Uh minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. All individuals who may be discussed in executive session have been complete have been adequately notified. action will not take
052place after the conclusion of the executive session. So, uh, may I have a motion to, um, move into executive session, please? >> Move to go to exec. >> Seconded. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Okay. So, we will be adjourning from executive session since we'll not be taking action. There is really no reason if you to stay unless you really want to wait until we're done, which I'm not sure how long that'll be. Um but you're we we have our next uh full board meeting on July >> 20 >> July 21st >> 21st and uh just as a as a last reminder before moving along um Denellan graduation is this Wednesday. Denellan High School graduation is this Wednesday um at uh hopefully weather permitting in in the park in uh Washington Park. Um
053and the LMS eighth grade promotion is Tuesday at Favor School. Um that's not weather dependent because it's going to be inside. Um but uh you know, please join if you are able. It's a a celebration of our community and our of our students in our community. Oh, Mr. Pepe. Yeah, just one note for the community um people here and people at home, keep your eyes and ears out for possible um extra special board meetings over the summer. Um as we go through this process for the superintendent search, we may need to call additional meetings. Most likely those meetings will be for interviews, in which case you're welcome to come as public, but there's probably not going to be any discussion in public for those meetings. But just check the agendas and keep your eyes out
054because there will be special meetings over the summer. >> Okay. >> Extra special meetings. >> Thank you, Mr. Bevy. All right. So, we are uh we are out.