Dunellen Board of Education Meeting - 8/26/2025

001Okay. >> Good evening. Good evening. >> Hello. Okay. Okay. We're going to go ahead and get started. So, call to order. Uh, in accordance with the open public meetings NJSA104-6, uh, adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the courier news and posting notice in the board of education administration building and district schools and filing notice with the burough clerk. I hereby call to order the regular public meeting, Tuesday, August 26, 2025 in the Lincoln Middle School Cafetum, 400 Denellan Avenue at 7:02 p.m. This meeting is broadcast live. For details, check www.danellonsschools.org. Moving on to item number two. Roll call. Mr. Pepe, can you please call the role? >> Mr. Anderson, >> present. >> Mrs. Condit, >> present. >> Ms. Ibeck, >> present. >> Dr. Gendrono, >> present. >> Mrs. Howard, >>

002present. >> Mr. Senoi, >> present. >> Miss Shy, >> present. >> Mrs. Shep >> present. >> Mr. Walker is not present. We have a quorum. >> Great. Thank you so much. 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 specific exceptions to the Open Public Meetings Act, CJSA 104-12B. The confidential uh matters discussed by the board of education during this executive meeting include items related to uh individual privacy, collective bargaining agreements as well as 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 confidentiality no longer exists. All individuals who may be discussed in

003executive session have been adequately notified. action will take place after the conclusion of the executive session. May I please have a motion uh to go into executive session? >> Move to go to exec. >> Seconded. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Okay, we'll be back in about uh 25 minutes or so. Okay, we are back. So, um, so, uh, may I please have a motion to return to public? >> Motion to go back to public. >> Seconded. >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Okay, up. Moving on to item number four. Uh, pledge of allegiance and moment of silence. Please stand. The flag is over here. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

004indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Will you all 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 five, approval of the minutes. Looking for a motion to approve uh the minutes from the Denellan Board of Education meeting on July 15, 2025. >> Move to approve the minutes. >> Second. >> Uh open for questions and com or comments. Last call. Okay. Mr. Pepe, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Condit, >> yes. Miss Ibeck, >> yes. >> Dr. Gendrono, >> yes. >> Mrs. Howard, >> yes. >> Mr. Satanoi, >> yes. >>

005Miss Shy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shep, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Wonderful. Okay, moving on to item number six, uh, president's remarks. So, uh, good evening everyone. Hope everyone is having a great summer. Uh the new school year is just around the corner, next week to be exact. And we are all very excited. Since we last met in July, a lot of great work has been done to get our schools ready for this year's start. So many improvements. Um of the improvements, I am particularly excited to see the opening of the new art room at Lincoln Middle School, which we just got a chance to tour uh briefly. This means we now have uh art rooms galore. uh and covering our whole uh K through2 uh uh students. So um I would like to

006give a great big thanks to Mr. Ross, the school administrators, teachers, and staff for getting us prepared, not just the art room, but everything so that we are ready to go uh come Tuesday morning. Thank you. Changing gears, yesterday I shared the honor with Mayor Sento of meeting our new teachers and giving them a great big welcome to the Denellan School District. I look forward to seeing all of the administrators, teachers, and staff at convocation tomorrow to welcome the group as a whole. As I've done in the past and will continue to do, um I bring up the topic of monthly celebrations. Um August, in August, we have the International Day of the World's Indigenous People, which is on uh the 9th of August. And this day recognizes and celebrates the rich cultural heritage and

007contributions of indigenous peoples worldwide. There's also women's equity day on the 26th of August, which is today. Uh on this day in the United States, we celebrate the 1920 certification of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution that gave women the right to vote. Uh a little premature, but Labor Day on September the 1st, this is a holiday in the United States and Canada honoring the contributions workers have made to those countries. Now, you're probably wondering, why am I talking about all this? Well, I mention these things. I mention these recognitions to underscore how important diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are to the lives and the world uh to our lives and the world around us. With diversity, we are able to welcome and appreciate different views and perspectives and how that makes our lives

008richer and stronger. Equity is important so we are all playing on the same field by the same rules. Inclusion is key. So there is equal access to opportunities and resources for everyone. And with belonging, you feel you are a part of something, a group or a community where you are accepted, valued, and comfortable. You fit in and are an important part of the whole. These things have an unbelievable impact on our community, especially our kids. Open, honest, and genuine communication that is respectful, positive, supportive, fair, and most of all, kind goes a long way in strengthening a community. Hope you enjoy the last week of summer before the school year begins on September 2nd. Thanks everyone for your time and listening. Moving on uh to the superintendent's report with Mr. Ross. Mr. Ross. >> Thank

009you, Dr. Gingano. We're going to start the superintendent's report off with a presentation of our access scores from spring 2025. And so I'd like to invite Miss Drapkin up to provide that presentation. That was close call. Oh, sorry. Did I unplug it? >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for uh coming tonight and I will go over the access for English language learners. We did the spring administration in February of 2025. So what is access for English language learners? What it does is it assesses our students and comprehension and communication in English. The English language proficiency assessment is administered to all of our K to2 multilingual learners, even those who have declined services. There's four testing test domains that we focus on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They measure prof the scores measure proficiency from level

010one, which is entering to level six, which is reaching. It's delivered through the WEDA consortium and New Jersey is for 41, one of 41 states that do the WEDA test. The alternate access is English language proficiency assessment that is designed for our multilingual learners with significant cognitive disabilities, ensuring they receive appropriate language instruction aligned with their abilities. So here you will notice that we have the different scores one through six. One is entering. So that's when a student knows and uses minimal social language and minimal academic with visual and graphic support. When they're emerging, students start to know and use some social English and general academic language with visual and graphic support. As students continue on, they become developing. This is where they start to use social English and some specific academic language with visual

011and graphic support. Then we have expanding. So students now know and use social English and some technical academic language. Students that are bridging, they know and use social and academic language working with grade level material. And reaching is when students are at the highest proficiency level measured by the test. In order for students to exit, they need to receive a 4.5 or greater on the access test. So here you will notice our results by the students at Denellan Faber and Lincoln Middle School. Here you will notice that 35 about 36% of our students are still in that entering range at the high school. 40% are emerging, about six 16% are developing. Now we're starting to hit that expanding where 6.67% of our students and we have 2.2% that are bridging. In our middle school, you

012will notice there are similar trends through the middle school. Down we have about 17% of students that are expanding and 2.44 that are bridging. And then if you take a look at our middle school, we have students that are in the bridging and we had a few students that did not receive a score for this round. >> You want me? We'll break it down a little a little more. So our district average overall was a 2.9, which is approaching the developing range. Our listening is our strongest domain. many students scored a five and six. So what we did was we took the item analysis and we broke this down even further and we were able to look at all of the domains. We saw that writing was a 2.81. So students are demonstrating consistent difficulty

013across grade levels. Reading is a 2.78. So significantly weaker. Many of our students are falling in that one to two range. And our speaking is our weakest domain. So what we're recognizing from this is that students can understand more than they can produce in the writing and speaking portion. And if you take a look at their compos composite scores, listening and reading is a 3.09 which is still below proficiency. Their oral language which contains listening and speaking is a 3.06. It's a wide variation in our scores. So when we did an item analysis, we saw that and then our literacy reading and writing is a 2.73 and it highlights a major barrier to reclassification. So the data confirms we need stronger oral language and literacy interventions. So what we're doing here in response to the

014data is we are adding a new students with limited or interrupted formal education which is known as a sife course in our 6 through 12th grade. We are redesigning our English as a new language which you'll hear maybe some of the students saying an ENL teacher um formerly English as a second language. Their instructional blocks to prioritize student engagement in speaking and writing. We're strengthening our phonics and phmic awareness for early multilingual language learners. So students that are coming in that will be a very big focus. We're using I ready diagnostic to pro uh progress monitor growth and this year they have come out with a uh Spanish version which will allow us to look at the literacy from the students native language to see where they fall in their native language. We will continue

015to implement and provide professional development on highquality instructional materials that we purchased in the 2024 2025. So last year was the first year of using our Vista learning from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. We're expanding our small group using evidence-based instruction in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and academic writing. We will continue our partnership. This is our third year that we will be partnering with up the bar to provide coaching on implementing sheltered English instruction strategies and we will also continue to support our staff using John Convvic through our Tissel trainers. What we do with that is we train each grade level. We try to do about two teachers per grade level each year. They go through the 15-hour SEI training and that helps with that provides the teachers and they get the certificate to

016be a sheltered English instruction class. So before we wrap it up, I just want to we are um we're not just identifying the needs but we are really acting on them. I have been working very closely with our ENL team. Um we have structured the block. They're very excited the implementation, the new curriculum, and we just continue to be dedicated to supporting all of our multilingual learners, not just to acquire English, but to achieve success academically across all content areas. Thank you. [Applause] >> Board members, do you have any questions for Miss Trapkin? >> Uh, yes. I was trying to look for the presentation online just to get reference. When you displayed the scores and and the averages that were in there, what was the scale that it was measured on so we can get

017like a better understanding of where that like 2.3 and 30 that I think the next slide. >> So what we did so we get an item analysis from WEDA, >> right? >> And they break it down into all of the domains. They item like analyze everything. So what we did was we took each individual score and we did the average overall from students that took the test K through 12 to get an overall throughout the district. >> So the maximum score would be like a 40 or a four. >> So they can get up to a six they can go up to a 6.0 but 4.5 is exiting. >> Okay. It's the same the same scale as the regular test. >> Okay. >> For each of the subdomains. >> Oh yeah. >> Okay. And then

018with the wide variation, is there any kind of understanding on what was causal for the wide range and is it better to take the median on that average versus an average? So what the way they have that's how they break it down in so they have those composite scores broken out that way. But what we did is speaking we noticed that our students that is something that they have to do and they have to speak into a microphone like this and it gets recorded and we recognize that many students you know they they're overwhelmed they're a little embarrassed they're nervous. So with that, we do take the lease the listening and speaking and we just we were looking at K through 12 just to see what it's like throughout Denellan to you know just the

019different changes. Um but with that we can move forward look at that data and we are working on how are we going to implement that into the classroom. So we'll start with speaking we'll get the students to feel more comfortable with it. Uh that just that tends to be if What is bringing the student scores down? The speaking part. >> Can I can I add context about the speaking? So the this test um assesses a student's ability to produce academic English language, not social English language. So the speaking scores tend to be lower nationwide because students are asked to record on topics related to science, social studies, math, and English language arts. So, this isn't um um a test where they have to have a for informal conversation with a friend. They might have to

020talk about the life cycle of a butterfly or or how sea turtles hatch their hatchlings. And it's it's very complicated language that students are expected to produce. So, it is challenging >> chemical coalance bonds and things like that >> perhaps. Any other questions from board members? >> I did have one. I'm sorry about your mic. >> Dr. Jano, >> you need to be on the mic just for the uh the video. >> So question, sorry. Question I had was uh can you go back up one slide with the bar stacked bars? >> So this is our our kids. Is there a benchmark that we we compare against or >> question? >> So we compare our scores to our scores. >> Okay. >> Yeah. What what I would say is that so access we also will

021present on DM which is dynamic learning maps uh next month when we do the NJSLA. >> Access score results are partially about programming. Um they're also a lot about the kids. And so in communities where there's different types of immigrant populations that might have a stronger formal academic background, those students might do better on an assessment like this. And so depending on where you are, what types of communities you're in, and how um how long students have been in the country, that's also a very strong indicator of how students do on these types of assessments. from a curriculum perspective or teaching and learning perspective, understanding that listening is the highest score and speaking is the lowest, right? We obviously then say what we should do is we should prioritize students speaking every day to the

022extent that they can become comfortable and then when it comes time for the assessment, put them in a an environment, a testing environment where they then can reproduce that at, you know, their highest level. >> Thank you. I ju I also just wanted to um give a compliment to the district for creating this life classes. So this is an increasing trend we're seeing across the state for students that have limited or interrupted formal instruction from um whatever country they might be immigrating from. And um it's really great that the district is being responsive to those needs because to those the needs of those students that are um that need a lot of support not just academically but socially and emotionally. So thank you. >> Thank you. I was going to introduce Ashley. Did she is

023she leave or is she still here? Okay. All right. So, uh, first of all, thank you, Miss Drapkin. And obviously, we'll we'll continue to report out more on progress being made in in those areas, and I'll share some updates as well. Um, before I get uh deep into my report, I do want to just recognize and welcome our newest um administrative hire, Miss Ashley Powell, who is um being appointed today officially as the new assistant principal at Denellan High School. So, congratulations, Miss Powell. And now you can give your 10-minute prepared speech. Um, so I'm going to uh I have a quite a number of updates um to discuss. I'm going to go a little bit out of order. I'm going to start with the district goals. The district goals for 2526 are um in

024the education section. So they are attached. If you have access to um the computer, you can see them. The district goals, however, do pretty much remain unchanged uh from last year. So we have four district goals. The first is academic success and the use of data. The second is about improving school climate. Um the third is operational efficiency and the fourth is community engagement. So those goals will have associated metrics and outputs that are that um the district will be tracking. We've also identified quite a number of action items that will be tracked on a weekly or monthly basis. And so we'll do some reporting out on the district goals. For the last couple of years, I've done a mid-year district goal update. And so we'll we'll continue that uh tradition and and share updates

025as well with that. Um we also have an enrollment update which is um also on the website and all my papers are out of order. Um but the enrollment update for uh for this point in time is interesting because we do have still 40 some odd um pending enrollments. So the enrollment update is available on the website under the the board meeting agenda site. Um Eileen Sanic who is uh the business office secretary does is also in charge of uh the enrollment process and so she's her head is spinning right now. We actually have 45 pending enrollments. 17 of those are new pre preK students. Uh but currently the district numbers uh the total enrollment is 1318. Um, and with our private uh provider preschool students, we're at 1386. So, we anticipated being around 1380

026or 1420, like thereabouts. So, we're a little under now. Um, but I anticipate uh that in September, October, we'll see those numbers get back to where we expected them to be. But, as of right now, um, starting the school year, we have 56 students uh, in preK at Faber. Um, we have 80 kindergarten students. Uh 90 first grade, 92 second grade, 92 third grade, 93 fourth grade, 89 fifth grade, 88 6th grade, 107 in 7th, 117 in 8th grade, 109 in 9th grade, 90 in 10th grade, 105 in 11th grade, and 110 in 12th grade. So the high school has 414 as its enrollment, middle school has 312 currently, and Faber has 592. And then we have 68 students who are enrolled in our private prek. So again, where we are right now, um we'll

027see what happens over the year, but we've also added the re-registration process. And um we we often see a dip at the very beginning of the year for registrations. So more updates on that uh each month as I've done in the past. So uh it is August 26th. Um and uh the first thing that I will say is uh the agenda that was posted was updated mod uh with two modifications that came in this afternoon. The first is the resignation of Emmy Odorardi who is the cheer coach. Um she has been for for some number of years. Um and luckily we have a staff member uh Dena Sweeney who is very excited to take over that position. Miss Sweeney is a middle school science teacher and so she will be taking over as the cheer

028coach. So those are the only changes from the agenda that was posted last week. Um in addition to Miss Pal, I also want to congratulate Kyler Tobin. Um Mr. Tobin has been in the district for about 20 years. Uh he started as a math teacher and then served as the assistant principal at the high school for the last um decade or so and he is now the principal of Lincoln Middle School. He's very excited for the position. and staff members are very excited to have him. Um, and I know he's going to bring a great energy to the to the school. This has been a very busy summer, so I'm going to start with some facilities updates. I want to thank the whole facilities team, Ronnie Haynes, uh, William Castro and Andreas Ramirez, um, who

029are our custodial supervisors, Kyle Pulka, and Dave Groves. Um, Dave Groves is back from retirement doing some work in the district. Um, all of our custodial staff and obviously our tech folks, Dave and Ronnie, who are here with us today. they've done just a tremendous amount of work and a lot of these spaces have really been transformed. So, we're very excited to show them off um during back- tochool nights and other events. So, at the middle school especially, there's been a lot of work done um to try to improve uh the facilities for students and give them more options um in their classes. So, we have converted the uh faculty room uh which is this room right over here into an art room. Um, and so that will be a fully functioning art room. As

030you know, last year we hired a new art teacher, Isaac Howard, um, in about January. And we were able to um, get a fully functioning art room so that students can have access to that and not have to go over to the high school or learn art in a regular classroom. Um, we also have a new STEM room that we've created upstairs. And so there will be a dedicated art room and a dedicated STEM room for our dedicated art teacher and our dedicated STEM teacher. Those are very very exciting spaces. Um I can't wait to uh have them fully functioning in September, October. And in the meantime, they'll be very usable spaces for the kids, which is great. We also have a number of offices that were created. There's a new counselor office um down

031this hallway here right past the bathroom, which used to be a former electronics closet. Um it is a brand new space with a brand new window, brand new floor. Um you know, drywall the whole thing. Um and um there's also a waiting room in that space so that when students come in to speak with a counselor, they can actually just sit there and you know, there's a a proper sort of flow there. The um the faculty room that was located here has been moved to the basement. Um and that is also a fully furnished um brand new space with three new windows. um a lot of really beautiful lighting and all new facilities. There is a restroom uh downstairs as well as the two copy machines and um all of the things that one needs

032for a faculty room. Um we have uh changes at the main office in the middle school as well. There's been a number of shelves that have been added. We're also going to if you've been to the middle school, you know that when you walk in the main door, there's a a glass feature which is a it's an opaque glass feature that is going to be removed. um probably late fall and a clear glass frame will be put in so that it increases security visibility and allows for for uh more access there for the the secretaries. Um the facade of the middle school um has been problematic and there was a facade update that was done on the Lincoln A side. There's a small parking lot um on Lincoln A uh Lincoln Avenue that is um

033had some debris that had fallen off of it and so that facade repair was completed. And then at the high school we have new offices for our uh new security guard. Um we also have a new office for our SRO. Um so we will again have a school resource officer who is a Denalan Police Department sergeant, Sergeant Christopher Lavell. um who will be joining us. And then we also have an office for our school wellness counselor and that's all now on the first floor um sort of in that same main area main office area. So um good v visibility for for visitors and access for students as well. The DHS facade, if you've been um by the front of the high school, you've noticed that the front has been um completely redone and repainted. Um

034there is a lot of uh uh cement stripping that has also been repointed and there's going to be some repainting that's been done there, but a tremendous number of repairs were were completed. Um the remaining marble is going to be cleaned and then we're going to make a determination about whether that should be painted or it should be um kept as a natural marble. And then the last real significant update was at the Faber Gym. The floor had some sign significant repairs that were needed. So it was repaired and refinished. And then there are brand new bleachers that have been installed in the gym. Um, and I will share pictures of a lot of these things in my welcome back letter to parents. Um, but the the gym looks incredible. The bleachers are beautiful clothes.

035They have the big Denell and D and the logo. Um, and the the space looks uh looks exquisite. So that's a lot of work to get done over summer. Um, our team is just working tirelessly to finish everything. As always, we have some delays with things that may that might have been ordered that had a longer lead time, but um but it's definitely going to be a wonderful change for for the spaces that were updated. We had new staff orientation over the last two days. We had approximately 30 educators in attendance. Um, new staff orientation was organized by Miss Drapkin who really did a wonderful job involving all of the administrative team and setting up a good schedule for teachers to get the kind of training they need and also have some time with their

036buildings and the and their classroom set up and um just some sort of mental space. Um yesterday's uh first day we had Mayor Sento uh join us to welcome uh all of our new staff to the community and just make the connection between you know the burough leadership and um the school district and of course Dr. Jano. So thank you very much for for for sharing your words. >> It was my pleasure. It was fun. >> Yeah, it was fun. >> It was great. >> Yes. Um today we had lunch for for everyone. Um and uh just people feeling really good. So bless you. um we have surveyed the staff and so we'll get um a sense of the kinds of things that we need to continue or need to improve upon in the future.

037Um but it was a great mix of kind of value setting technical information and then time with their their their building. And I do want to uh especially thank the PTO for providing breakfast on day one. Um everyone was very well fed and uh and very happy. So that was new staff orientation. Uh tomorrow we welcome back all of the rest of our staff during convocation. This is uh tomorrow and Thursday. Day one of our convocation is really sort of about expectation setting and goal setting for the year. Uh we'll recognize our newly tenured staff members. We have a keynote speaker Todd Nestle um who focuses on staff leadership and staff empowerment. Uh and so he'll he'll give a speech as well. Then we have school and department meetings and uh once again the PTO

038coming to the rescue by providing lunch um which is always a wonderful event. So uh that's day one of uh of convocation and day two is workshops led by our learning experience leaders um which is our our new initiative that is funded through the teacher climate and culture grant. So these are staff members who have received a ton of training over the summer basically to be teacher leaders. Um and the work that they're doing is great. They're going to be leading workshops on professional learning communities on Atlas which is a curriculum platform and um and AI. So uh targeted training for our power professionals as well and then security updates and self-directed time for staff members. So again a balance of kind of what they need and then also time. Our goal setting work um

039we are partnering again with stutter. We have um metrics that will be shared out with the community uh probably at the next meeting. We have some priorities that we'll be focusing on during the 2526 school year. They are uh PLC implementation uh multi-tered systems of supports which is really about giving kids what they need to be successful both academically and in terms of school climate um instructional uh improvements. So looking to systematize good instruction through differentiation and um small groupoup learning and and um and uh intervention curriculum implementation with a lot of new curriculum um options in in uh in in play. We want to make sure that we're doing right by uh the the proper curriculum implementation. We still need to look at attendance. Our attendance has been improving. Um we still are chronically

040absent in some of our schools in some of our areas. And so we want to incentivize students to come to school more. Um find ways to engage kids to come. Um talk to families about the importance of attendance and and all of that. And then feedback, staff member feedback primarily, but also student feedback and parent feedback as well. Um we've done a lot with staff member feedback over the last year uh with a process called rounding. We've also done 30 and 90day check-ins with new staff members to get a sense of um their experience in the district. And we've also had student uh student groups and parent conversations um about areas that we can um that are things that are going well and obviously areas where we can continue to improve. So um in addition

041to that we are also partnering with an NJA uh and national group called the learning management I'm sorry the labor management collaborative. The LMC is a uh it's a team of administrators and staff members who basically work collaboratively to solve problems and it is a formal set of meetings with formal trainings that have been set up. So over the last two weeks, our staff did eight hours of training over two days um in person. Really, really collaborative, positive, um a lot of sharing, a lot of openness, just a really, you know, valuable set of discussions. So we'll be doing the LMC work throughout the year and that'll be also a good place for conversations about discipline or cell phone usage or master scheduling or other kinds of things can really come to fruition with really

042val valuable staff member feedback. So that's goal setting. Um I want to just uh pivot now to talk about federal funding. Um our approvals for uh federal grants and federal funds uh is in the operation section. So you can take a look at the agenda. Our projected versus actual revenue from federal sources um did increase. We were pretty close with our projections. Um the way these are budgeted is typically 15 to 20% below what you have in a normal allocation. Um, and our actual amount was a little bit above what we received last year. So, we have a total of $655,000 from the federal funds this year. 324,000 of it is in our uh ESA grant, which includes all of our title funds. So 228,000 in title one, 37,000 in title two, 44,000 in title

043three which is really uh funds that is dedicated towards uh students and families uh multilingual learners and then title 4 is 14,000 um which is for uh students with special needs and those services we received $331,000. So, we're very very pleased that even though this funding was about two months late, um we actually did receive the full funding that we expected. What happens in the future, we don't know. Um and we're probably not going to plan to receive any title funds in the future. Um unfortunately, we think that maybe we will receive IDEIDA funds. Um but we're going to have to do a lot of belt tightening to try to ensure that we're not overly reliant on these funds. and we've used the funds in a really uh responsible manner. We don't have staff members

044salaries that are associated with any of the funds um or anything that's that is recurring um that we would need the funds in order to continue exactly what we're doing now. So in addition to those funds uh we have also done uh quite a bit with grants as you know um we have our expanding innovations and teacher climate and culture grant which is $61,000. This is the second part of a grant that we received last year for $125,000. We're funding the LEAL's program through that and also the learning management collaborative work. And at the end of July, we had the pleasure of presenting at the college of New Jersey um as part of the NJ DOE teacher climate and culture institute. Um so Miss Japkin and I were there as well as Patty Bodak who's

045the high school biology teacher. Um and uh Christy Johnson who is uh one of our elementary teachers. So, great work continuing with that grant. We also have a $50,000 grant from the Department of Education. Um, it's the AP uh course expansion grant, and that that grant is really um focused on improving access and performance in our AP courses. Um, we have historically had sort of moderate AP uh participation and and uh AP scores. So, we're really trying to improve access to those uh classes and then also the instructional priorities for those classes and the training that teachers are getting as well. So, we've had a successful summer AP boot camp and we're doing teacher trainings and a lot of parent outreach about the importance of the AP classes. We also have four grants that we've

046now applied for um that we should hear uh decisions by the middle of September on. These are four grants that are related to uh comprehensive literacy and um instruction uh throughout the district on literacy. So there is a $150,000 grant which is a a five-year renewable grant at $150,000 each year called the coach grant. Um this would support a K12 literacy coach who would be working in all of the schools to support our uh students and our our staff members. We have the impact grant which is a $100,000 grant which is uh related to high-quality instructional materials which we would be focusing at the high school on. The RISE grant which is about uh intervention um and that would be a secondary 612 focus. And then the Lyft grant, which is a $40,000 grant dedicated

047to family engagement to families of zero to three year olds, um which is really about getting families and students uh on board with sort of the the public schooling aspect of things prior to uh being accessed to uh to pre universal prek. We have our New Jersey inclusion project for K12 systemic change facilitation that is ongoing. We this is an NJDOE opportunity which is a three-year support uh from the state on improving inclusive education. Uh we have two of our three schools were selected for this grant. This is the Faber uh and the middle school uh leadership and and Dr. Santelo in special services put this application together. Um and right now we're in the process of building sitebased leadership team for the 2526 school year. Um that's going to be a great a great

048opportunity. We also will have folks from the DOE helping um make our classes more inclusive, more successful um instructionally etc. The high school is also participating in the whole school whole community whole child um partnership with school health NJ. This is the CDC's framework for addressing health in schools. Um we have a health and wellness team leader who is um going to be Ava D. Ola who's our school-based wellness counselor at the high school. Um, and then we have a team. There's a self assessment on a variety of topics and then there's an improvement plan that's put into place. There are 10 components of the WSCC model and they focus on physical health, mental health, um, social and emotional health, counseling, and community involvement. Um, and that funding is $18,000 over the next three years.

049Preschool update. We have uh four classes planned at Faber. We have seven classes planned with our private providers. Um we have 85 students or so at our private providers. Um we did have one um significant sort of um stall um in our our private provider partnership and that's with Big Hugs. Um we are uh using two rooms at Big Hugs in Middle Sex and unfortunately due to construction delays the Middle Sex site um is not available. It's not ready on time and so they've offered us uh two spaces in their Piscataway school. Um, so it'll still be free preschool for those families. Um, that's about three miles from town. Um, and because of the delays, they are offering free before school um, coverage, free after school coverage and free full day coverage on days when

050the district is closed. So they recognize the their error and they've provided a lot of support um, to the district on the back end. We do anticipate the Middle Sex site will open January 5th um, which would be the first school day of next year. And then we also have the preschool facilities project which is moving along. Um there was another meeting about things today. Um we're uh pretty much on our timelines as we had expected. The bidding and award is planned from about September 12th to October 10th. So by about midepptember we should have the bids um issued. Then we'll do a pre pre-bid walkthrough later that week. Um and then an addendum and any other issues will come after that. Bid opening is planned for the beginning of October. And so if we

051can do that then our board meeting uh on October 14th would be when we would award the bid and then you know it would be up to the contractor to uh to sort of you know continue the process from there. So a lot of exciting stuff happening in prek. Um and uh we also have uh uh an update on our annual schoolwide plan. Um this year uh was the first complete year for Faber as a schoolwide title one school. Um and what that basically means is that uh the title one funds that are sent to the district that are shared can be used throughout the school without any kind of uh restrictions on which students access th that fund those funds. And so all of our schools are eligible to become schoolwide title one schools

052um because of the high amount of economically disadvantaged students that we have in the community uh and and resident students at each of those schools. So we applied uh two years ago for Faber and Faber last year spent its first year as a to schoolwide um title one program. The middle school we did this year in the planning phase and uh it was approved. So next year all of the title title funds that go to the middle school will also be able to be used for any student in the school for intervention enrichment all the things that are that that we use title one for. And then this coming year we will do the same for the high school. Um and that process is really about um stakeholder input. Looking at data, we have now

053a pretty robust set of data that we look at for these things, attendance, discipline, academic performance um on state and also local assessments. And so um so that's that's a a great thing because it frees up that money without the kinds of restrictions that being a targeted school has on it. Um security updates we have um we are on this agenda. If you've looked through it, you've noticed that the resignation of uh Mr. Marinberg, who was our district coordinator. Um so Mr. Marinberg did resign. Um he spent a year in the district. He made really great strides and was a really productive member of our team. Um I think he's going to enjoy retirement. Um and uh we certainly wish him the best. Um as part of Mr. Marinberg's work, district security team uh was

054to recommend the personnel moving forward. And so we added a district security guard position. Um and we are welcoming Mr. Antoine Ferret for that position. Mr. Ferret will begin tomorrow um the first day of school. So when school opens for kids, we will have our SRO, our school resource officer. That that gentleman will be uh uh located at the high school middle school uh sergeant level. And then Mr. Ferrett will be located at Faber. And we we have posted for the district security coordinator position. Um we anticipate probably closing the position Friday or Monday and then we'll go through the interview process and hopefully by the September board meeting have someone to recommend for that as well. So we'll be back to where we had anticipated which was to have three uh individuals uh overseeing

055security. Um but some some updates and some um some things we've done along the way. We have new uh staff parking hang tags for all of our employees um which will help us identify uh cars in the lots that should be there or should not be there. Also helps the PD when we have staff members who have to park on the street, especially around this building when there's very little um space in the lots. We have new signage um blue light signage to alert folks regarding security procedures. So, when you come up to a school and there's a security event happening, a blue light will be um a strobe will be going to to say basically stay away, um something is happening in the building. We have new no trespassing signs that will be added

056around the building. We've done a lot with internal wayfinding um and new window signs. So, if you drive past any of the schools, you'll see crisp kind of clean uh uh signs in each of the the windows. Um and all of that is basically for first responders. So, if a a member of the sheriff's office comes in because they're responding to an emergency, um they don't know which which room 2011 is, right? But internal wayfinding signs will will help them with help them with that. And obviously the external window signs as well. Part of that uh the updates that goes with that is something called CRG mapping, which is uh mapping. That's digital mapping done through critical response group. Um, and that is mapping that's available to all of the first responders and local uh

057authorities when there are uh security events that they need to respond to. We've also done quite a bit with camera descriptions. Uh we've also added quite a few cameras in new areas or areas where we needed more coverage. Um and then we've we're we're planning external wayfinding signs um to help uh visitors and again first responders just identify where they need to be going. um you know which doors lead to which uh location etc. So that's the security update. Uh and then lastly I just want to uh update um provide some updates about scheduling um fab uh we have new instructional blocks that that have been outlined more clearly. This is in math and ELA. Um we've had also a lot of conversations with about team meetings and how PLC's are going to be structured.

058So during the school day, favorite teachers had been working. They have in the contract that they have a team meeting uh each week. Uh and that some of those meetings have been data meetings and some have been other types of meetings. And so we're sort of clarifying how all of that time should be used. We also have a new uh music teacher and a new art teacher um at Faber. So we're very excited to hear their perspectives on those programs and how we can uh enhance what's happening down there. At the high school, we have new course sequences for multilingual learners as Miss Drapkin uh shared. And one of the really interesting things about the process of supporting multilingual learners is there there are so many different ways that students come in. Some with uh

059interrupted education, some with strong formal education in their home language, um and some, you know, sort of in the middle. So finding exactly what those um course sequences are to to be able to support those those students has has really been essential. So, the Slife CLA classes, the heritage classes, uh strengthening core resources, that's all been very, uh important as well. At the middle school, um we also have the Slife classes and we have stronger uh ESL programming now to ensure a proper sequence. Um the reason I imagine most of you are here is we've also um leveled uh we've gotten rid of levels uh next year for certain classes at the middle school. um sixth grade classes um did not have levels other than for language arts and math. In math throughout the middle

060school um sequence of courses, they're still um leveled classes. The honors designation has been removed, but sixth grade students are differentiated into two tiers essentially. Uh math is a much more skill progressive um set of learning. And so sixth grade students will be able to take uh pre-alggebra or math six. Um previously those classes had been called six honors and six. Um so pre-alggebra is you know what what one would term sort of the honors class. We just are not using that designation anymore. In sixth grade um there were no levels in science or social studies. All students were heterogeneously mixed. Uh have been you know since uh I'm not sure when. Um there were honors classes for world ge geography and ancient world history. We're actually in the process of redesigning those courses um

061as well. Um and so science in seventh and eighth grade and social studies in seventh and eighth grade. Uh the honors designation has been removed. Um those classes are going to be continue to be heterogeneously mixed now. And so that has you know a lot of implications for uh for you know class size and the way that the classes will be instructed. And I'll talk a little bit more about that as well. um and language arts as well in sixth through 8. So again, math is the uh one subject for which there will still be a differentiated level uh provided students uh you know uh year after year and um you know there are a lot of reasons that the changes were made. Um it is very typical first and foremost in in smaller schools

062and especially in middle schools um to not have level classes. Um the certainly you know there are many examples in the county as well as throughout the state and throughout the country where going from a fifth grade heterogeneously mixed class to suddenly we need to split students into different levels in sixth grade um there's not a lot of good research that supports doing that. And so um because small schools have such small set of resources um there are also massive benefits to scheduling and class sizes that can be um uh effectuated as well. the big part of uh of instructional changes and things that we've been looking at. We've spent basically the last year, last two years really working on differentiation within the classroom. Small group instruction was a you know firmly stated um targeted

063piece of what we do last year uh last year and with PLC's and tiered systems of supports um we're really looking at an intervention model as opposed to a tracking model. Um intervention is uh the response to intervention is one of the highest uh research based practices for improving student outcomes across a system. Um when you think about uh the types of classes that are heterogeneously mixed, all sorts of students have all sorts of needs and uh we've added an intervention position and the interventionist will be working with teachers working with students but also working with teachers on identifying very quick ways to assess where students might be with a particular type of learning that they're going to be doing and then uh respond to those needs appropriately. Uh so that is the instructional background

064for um for for this type of change. The research around um you know th the the types of uh intervention intervention with students with um with needs um and the teacher perspectives on students abilities to be successful. Um these are really massive effect sizes according to you know the thousands of of research studies that have been done. And so we're looking at basically trying to set up a system where we are bringing all of our students forward. Um within the model that we have right now, if a student is placed into a non-honors class, the chance of them going to a non-honors class the subsequent year are about 99%. Um in the numbers that I was looking at uh in I think it was science, we had something like three students make that change uh

065from 7th to 8th grade. So what we're doing is when we put students in a level like that, we are uh we're saying this is where you are. This is the type of student you are. This is your potential. Um and students often uh really embody that, right? They they they feel that. And then they're in this class with students who all feel that way and then sometimes even the teacher says, you know, I feel this way too, right? And that's not because the teacher doesn't care, but because that's the environment that we've that we've created. And uh so that's not an environment that we want to create. What we want is we want students to have multiple on-ramps to be able to be successful. That means that yeah, you might not be the greatest

066in sixth grade, but in seventh grade, you might be able to ramp that up. And then from seventh grade, you might actually, you know, really hit your stride. And what we know is that when we count kids out early, they felt like we've counted them out. And we've also eliminated a pathway for them to be successful in the future. So by doing this we are we're not touching high school classes certainly and by doing this what we're what we're really looking to do is raise the floor for all of our students. Um if you look historically at the performance at the middle school whatever metrics whatever things we've been using at the middle school have not been working. So for us to stick with status quo for us to not try to be innovative and

067really try to bring performance up um is I think just the wrong way to approach it. The middle school uh administration is very supportive of this. Staff members are supportive of the kinds of flexibilities that this creates for students. And will this be perfect when it gets implemented? No. But the model that we're using now isn't perfect either. What we are focused on, however, is uh supporting teachers who care deeply about their kids um to ensure that they get the best outcomes for all of their students and to provide opportunities for as many kids as possible to be ready for that honors track or honors sequence by the time they get to 9th grade and then as they're approaching AP classes. So in addition to all of that, there is data to support the fact

068that these this is not a particularly um welcomed approach within the district that we have a pretty significant disproportionality among our honors classes. We have zero multilingual learners, zero students with IEPs. Um in these classes, this is all of our honors classes throughout the middle school from last year. We have about uh 30 to 35% of our economically disadvantaged students are in these classes. the district is about 55% and we have about 30 to 40% of our Hispanic students, middle school is about 60%. So, not only are we uh sort of sorting kids out, you know, for for this reason, but this is also not an equitable practice. And so, you know, again, more reasons to try something else and really support this the uh the staff members to to support their students. Um we

069have a lot of structures that are in place that staff members are very supportive of in order for this to be a successful uh move. Uh obviously we've talked about PLC's. We're doing a lot of assessment with I Ready and Linkit to take good data about what students can do and what they need uh additional practice in. We have a multi-tered system of supports which is going to be looking at um tiered students and how within a classroom we have students who can access the material the first time. If you think of sort of a normal curve, one standard deviation to the right and to the left is about 68% of students. That's about the number of students who can access, you know, instruction and sort of the first goaround. And then, you know, additional

070supports that need to be provided through small group instruction within the classroom um at tier 2 and then having interventionists and having tier three supports for academic uh need is very essential as well. And so we have that in place um in addition. So, um, the last piece I would say is that, you know, uh, the middle school is a title one schoolwide school. Um, and we recognize that parent involvement is important in the conversations that happen around, um, these types of decisions and also all the ways in which a school is functioning. So, last year we ran a title one schoolwide committee. Um, we had, I think, maybe one parent who is interested. Um, but what I would say is I would encourage parents at the middle school uh who are watching or who

071are here in person to um to participate in the schoolwide committee. Um, obviously the more voices the better. Um, we love to hear from parents and we want parents to understand what we do and why we do those things. So, um, yeah, that concludes my update. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Ross. And just to add, and I do have a couple points I'd like to come back to if that's okay. The first is that um I even though I wasn't um on that I did participate in that committee not so much as a parent but as as a board member and president and I I found participating in in those um committee meetings being very enlightening and it really helped to understand because at first I had a very similar sentiment oh my goodness

072what's going to happen here but after participating hearing seeing the data having those discussions with other others um that were on the call it made it very clear to me but why we were doing this and why this made sense. So, I would highly encourage parents, folks that would want to join, you know, I I don't believe there's necessarily a ceiling per se, uh, for the size of what those committee meetings are. And if I recall correctly, it was a total of three over the year. I think it was three three meetings which were roughly about an hour a piece um over the entire year. Uh, so I think the commitment if anyone is willing to join is not that much. it's not much of a a lift to join and I think the um

073the rewards or the return on that investment of time um far outweigh that investment initially. So would highly encourage that. Um I did want to come back to a couple of other things just real quick. First of all um the um uh can read my own handwriting. um the favor construction. Uh sorry, sorry. Um so with the deadline, um sorry, the t the timelines that you you set forth, we could be basically breaking ground in the spring or the winter. That's correct. >> Yeah, probably more like the spring. >> More like the spring. >> Yep. The the bid process and the and the contractor organizing who the subs will be and what type of work they need is going to take some time. Um, but then we, you know, we we do have to figure

074out exactly what will happen with the construction right now. And just for those of you if you haven't sort of been made aware of this or you haven't been following this conversation, the preschool facilities expansion project is going to is designed to build eight classrooms at Faber on top of where the existing APR is. Um, and then into that hallway. So if you walk into Faber um you know there's some offices to the left and then if you sort of walk around the APR that kind of rectangular chunk. So the reason that we selected that space is um it doesn't disrupt classrooms. Um we can do the construction on the second story without uh displacing classrooms. >> So we can start in the spring. The question is exactly what we can do and obviously there

075will be a disruption because there will be construction vehicles and materials and other sorts of things that we have to work through. Um, but I think the design process, um, obviously we had a we had we had to redesign the project. And so trying to figure out that piece of it and the construction management, that's really what's been taken the longest. Um, once we get rolling, then we have also more control over, well, it would be really good to start during spring break because you could do this or it would be good to start during July because you could do this or whatever it might be. >> That's great. >> Yeah. >> Finally glad that we're able to move forward with that because I think that'll help help so much. >> Yes. And I'm you'll

076keep us a breast of uh the possible disruptions ahead of time so we can anticipate it and >> have the public prepared. >> Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean I I will be sending once construction starts. I'm sure Mr. Tenant will be sending updates, but I will be sending updates about the construction as well. So >> um another point you you mentioned about the universal prek and it is unfortunate that they were not able to start in big hugs but they made I think they made it right. Yeah. >> Um and we'll be able to um uh have functioning uh rooms that could be used. Um I just wanted to put this into perspective and correct me if I'm wrong. This is our second year really kind of fully doing this. And last year with

077the rooms that we had, we were at roughly about 60%. Meaning that 60% of the kids in Denellan um that could go to preschool went to preschool. Right. And now with this expansion that we've essentially done, not the not the building part of it, the fact that we've added classrooms, we're closer to around 90%. >> We're we're just we're just at 90%. Yeah. >> Which means that we're 10% shy of having every single kid who wants to go to prek have a space. >> Have a space. >> Yeah. For free. >> Right. And what's what I think has been most interesting and and board members have followed this, but just for the members of the public is universal prek is, you know, we have a portion of the seats are at Faber. Um, and that's

078almost everybody's first choice is can can I go to Faber? Um, but then, uh, we have A+ Academy, which is on Jackson. Um, and then Big Hugs. And um we've we've offered these seats and there are actually a number of parents who live in town who have declined um participating in universal prek because either they prefer their current provider or the hours don't work out or the location is better. Um so we so again it's the number of seats compared to the universe. Um the actual number of enrolled students is always going to be a little bit less. >> Right. >> Yeah. Fantastic. Um I did want to just point out that um the you and your team going after all of those grants, that is a huge change from what we've we had before

079and I commend you and your team for doing that. That is money that we didn't count on and hopefully can get. And to that ties into the point that I'd like to just make the fact that we're not reliant on those grants to keep our teachers because I mean to put this into perspective and please I'm not an educator so correct me if I misunderstand this but the way that I'm seeing it I'm seeing school districts that are going bankrupt. I'm seeing school districts that are selling off schools. I'm seeing schools districts that are having a lot of financial difficulties right now where teachers are being laid off and it's it's pretty awful and we're not because we're financially healthy and I think that is fantastic. >> Yeah. I mean we want to we want

080to recognize that the majority of the the problem that these districts are are facing is not it's not a mismanagement issue. It is a funding issue. >> Yes. >> So we have been expanding. our population has been expanding. Um the our um free and reduced lunch um or free and reduced meals economic disadvantage p percentage has also been increasing. We've been able to reach more families so that they can fill out the form. Um and when those forms are filled out and um that's reported to the state and we have high enrollment um and there aren't other community factors, we've been able to maintain our funding. Um we don't know what will happen next year, >> right? And so even with, you know, even if we receive title funds, we could lose half a million

081dollars in our general fund. Um, we have been, again, we've been very careful to budget staff members for our regular programs through the general budget. >> And so the only way we will lose staff members is if we lose funding or if we make the determination that a staff a staff position is not necessary, is no longer necessary. some of the some of the other grants that you know there are a lot of districts that use title one funds for example to fund interventionists and so they're funding salaries they're also paying a tremendous um bump on FICA and uh you know the the the distributions that have to come out >> um through the federal funds >> and those districts arees that they provide the basic services >> we're not in that position thankfully >>

082yes >> you know um I don't want to count our chickens before they hatch so to speak. But, you know, I think we're we've been in a good position and hopefully we'll be able to maintain that funding. >> A couple other points I wanted to just mention. First of all, I'm glad to see that we are moving we are wanting to go to the three security officers in in in you know in line of designation we were we were just we were on the cusp of that. Um but having two uh officers compared to one or uh personnel compared to one last year I think is fantastic. and the fact that we will eventually have three to support us is I think what we've been wanting or looking to do for some time >> and

083I'm glad that we're able to to make that happen. Um I did also want to just note the the part about the re-registration part that you mentioned. I think that's also good to highlight because it that's correct me if I'm wrong that's at the entry to high school at 9th grade, entry uh to middle school at sixth grade, entry at kindergarten. Correct? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. The new the new process is predominantly for rising sixth graders and rising nth graders, >> right? >> That's the thing that's the process that's been added. And um some of you may have rising sixth graders, so you're you've you've sort of gone through the process, which is relatively simple. Um but when changing levels, there's often uh some data kind of discrepancies. And so the goal of

084this process is to just ensure that all the students that are in our schools, belong in our schools, are residents of Denellan, have proper documentation to show that. We've also changed the way that we're um reviewing lease applications and affidavit that are submitted each year. So that if you submit a lease application, it's an annual lease, you have to submit another lease application the following year. You're you're there's a flag that we check on and and all that sort of thing. Again, it's just to ensure that we're serving the students that we should be serving. >> Great. And and I know there was a concern in the community about that. I'm glad that we're taking those steps. >> Yeah. >> And um I know I don't want this to go super duper long. The last

085thing I wanted to just mention was um did you want to say something about the US News >> the >> Yeah, sure. Yeah. I mean, uh, if you've been to the district website, you'll notice that there's a now a logo on the district website on the on the scroll, um, that Denalan High School was selected, uh, one of the I think it was in the top 40% of high schools in the country. Um, so it was designated, uh, US News's best high school, um, sort of silver winner or something like that. So, um, it's exciting news. Mr. Lynch is very pleased about it. Um, and you know, we'll we'll try to figure out what the metrics were that got us there, but um, you know, it's good news. >> Absolutely. Mr. Anderson, >> it's on

086the scroll on the main page. >> It's going to see when we when things show up like that that are great, we should uh definitely underscore that. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Thank you. >> I will uh I will stop there. Thank you, Mr. Ross. I appreciate it. So, um, any questions, guys, before I move on? All right. So, moving on to item eight, public comments on agenda items only. Uh, so the board invites uh public comment on agenda items only from members of our community in accordance with board policy 0167. Public comment sections are intended to provide an opportunity for members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. The board and administration will be taking notes during public comment, but will not provide substantive responses to questions or concerns raised

087by individual speakers. If necessary, the superintendent may provide a brief response after the entire public comment period is completed. The board appreciates and welcomes feedback from the community, but it is not at liberty to engage in a back and forth dialogue with members of the public during this portion of the meeting. Prior to making your public comment, please state your name and municipality. Please note that all statements must be um directed to the presiding officer. Please come to the microphone at this time if you would like to make comments on agenda items only. Prior to beginning your comment, please state the agenda item you would like to comment on. Hi, my name is Rebecca Gendrono and I live in Denellan and I would like to comment on Mr. Ross's uh discussion of the proposal to

088remove leveling. Um I want to begin by acknowledging that I have close relationships with people on the board of education and I know you all to be good people doing what you think is best for the children. >> I'm sorry. Can I think we're going to have to move this to the open public comment section because this is this was not an agenda item >> even though the superintendent was commenting on this extensively. >> Um I I think we need to get through the quick reports and the um approvals. We shouldn't it shouldn't take very long. if you could give us just a few minutes to get through that because I anticipate this to be a long discussion and would rather have us have the time to hear everyone out and that's if that's okay.

089>> You're the board of ed president so it is okay. >> I am the chair. Thank you. Okay. Are there any public comments on agenda items only? Last call. Okay. So, let's move on to um item number nine, education discussion items. So, uh at this time, I'm going to move to the education committee report and um turn the microphone over to our education committee chair, uh Mrs. Howard. >> Okay. Thank you. The education committee met on August 18th. Um present were myself, Miss Ibec, Dr. Jenjano, Miss Japkin, and Mr. Ross. The education committee discussed a number of item items including an update on the district's goal setting work for the school year, a number of staff development opportunities that occurred this summer, an update on the district's partnership with the labor management collaborative, information about

090the district's summer academic programs, including a new uh AP summer academy that was run at DHS, details on grant work throughout the district, plus four new grant applications that are on tonight's agenda for approval in the operations section. New curriculum documents that are on tonight's agenda for approval, recent information about the district's preschool expansion and partnership with Big Hugs, student conduct related regulations and policies that are on tonight's agenda for first reading and a variety of other items and confidential matters. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Howard. So, moving on to um agenda item number 10, education action items. >> Actually, just uh sorry, just yeah, just just want to add a discussion item. I emailed everyone about um policy regulation 5600 and um 5530. Um these are not going to be recommended as action

091items for this agenda, but if you could all just read that email, take a look at the all the track changes are on the education committee agenda. Um this is the code of conduct and the substance abuse policies or regulations. Um the nature of the changes is really about just referring the regulations back to the code of conduct rather than having them be a very very lengthy documents. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Moving on to Oh, sorry. Go ahead, >> Mr. President. >> Go ahead, Mr. >> Um, can we please have the record reflect that I was present at the meeting? I didn't hear my name. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Your name was wasn't on the minutes. I'm sorry. >> Can we update the minutes? >> Yeah, we'll update the minutes, please. >> Thank you.

092Okay, thank you, Mr. Sard. Any other questions? Okay, so moving on to item number 10, education action items. Looking for a motion to approve items A through F as a block. 10 A through F as a block. >> Motion to make items 10 A through F as a block. >> Seconded. >> Open for questions, comments. I would like to add I'd like to express an extra thanks to Miss Drapkin and the staff and faculty that work on the the the grants uh for um our academic programming. Um I really appreciate the extra uh initiative for supporting uh these efforts. So just extra thanks. >> Thank you, Miss Ibach. Any other comments, questions? >> For letter for letter F, um it says the subjects are integrated maths. Is are there associated grade levels for this or

093is it at a particular school? >> Sorry, this is for the high school. Uh this is the high school multi uh MD class. And so we're still using traditional format um curriculum for algebra, geometry, algebra 2, pre-calc, calc. Um, this allows for a more integrated approach to be used in the self-contained class. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Okay. Okay. Last call. Questions, comments? >> Okay. Mr. Pepe, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Anderson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Condit? >> Yes. >> Ms. Ibeck? >> Yes. >> Dr. Gendrono? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Howard? Yes, >> Mr. Sautenoi. >> Yes, >> Miss Shyf. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Shep. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you so much. Moving on to item number 11, personnel discussion items in the personnel committee report. I chair

094that committee. So, I will bring the report. Um the personnel committee met on August 18th. Um um in the uh present in the meeting were uh myself, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Shep, and Mr. Ross. Uh we discussed a number of items including new hires and recent resignations, many of which are on tonight's agenda for approval. Uh updates regarding the DHS assistant principal search process. Uh an an update on the beginning of negotiations between the board of education and the DAA and a number of confidential items. So that closes item number 11. Moving on to item 12, uh personnel action items. Looking for a motion to approve 12 A through T as a block. >> I move to approve items A through T as a block. >> Second. >> Open for questions or comments. >> I'll add

095it's just really awesome to see all of the new hires, especially Spanish teacher and um the LMS cross country coach. That's awesome to see. Really glad about that. And I would echo that that it is very difficult to get a Spanish teacher and that's commendable. We got to be able to do that. >> And uh will the website be updated with the uh updated roles and personnel? >> The which >> denellan denellinschools.org >> the the admin uh some of the like the middle school principal. Oh, yes. Yes. Okay. >> Yes. >> Oh, sorry. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions, comments? Last call. >> Okay. Mr. Pepe, please call the role. >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Condit, >> yes. >> Miss Ibeck, >> yes. >> Dr. Gingerana, >> yes. >> Mrs.

096Howard, >> yes. >> Mr. Senoi, >> yes. >> Miss Shyf, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shep, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Moving on to item number 13, operations discussion items. Um, Mr. Walker is our chair who is not here this evening. So, I will turn the floor over to um Mrs. Condit to give the report for operations committee. The operations committee met on August 19. In attendance was Mr. Walker, Mr. Gendrano, Mr. Pepe, Mr. Ross, Mr. Sinoi, and myself, and discuss a number of items including information about the ESA and IDA grants, which were in line with the district's expectations and the budget presentation in the spring. four new New Jersey of Education grants applications that are also on tonight's agenda for approval. Uh contracts with the two private providers that the

097district is working with for preschool expansion. A number of updates related to the district's preschool expansion grant which is reaching the end of the design phase. updates on the many internal construction projects occurring throughout the district, including the creation of a new art room and a new STEM room at LMS, new office spaces at DHS and LMS, the new bleacher installation of favor and other projects in a variety of confidential matters. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Condid. So, moving on to item number 14, operations action items. Looking for a motion to approve 14's A 14 A through Y as a block. >> Move to approve items A through A as a block. >> A through Y, sir. >> Oh, A through Y. >> Second. >> Open for questions or comments. Last call. Okay. Uh,

098Mr. Pepe, please call the RO. >> Mr. Anderson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Condit, >> yes. >> Ms. Ibeck, >> yes. >> Dr. Gendrono, >> yes. >> Mrs. Howard, >> yes. >> Mr. Senoi, >> yes. >> Miss Shy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shep, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Awesome. Thank you. Moving on to item number 15. Uh, old business. So, uh, does anybody have any old business that they'd like to bring up from previous meetings? Good. Okay. So, the only thing I would bring up is that uh just as a reminder uh the New Jersey school board's workshop is coming up in October. Uh I believe it's October 2021,22 and 23 in Atlantic City. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet other um schoolboard members as well as uh and and um uh administrators

099and the such um in an environment that's very much uh pro-learning um pro- education, pro kids. And it um is is a to there's great opportunities to learn about what's cutting edge and new and I believe you also have a presentation coming uh uh during that um workshop. Fantastic. So um just as a reminder, we do need to confirm um who's going to be coming. So please uh let Mr. Pepe know. >> Okay. Any other old business? >> Yes, just a reminder um with the recent storms and the use of the facilities for emergency management. uh bring up the point of looking into grants to support some of those operations and coordinations and to reap the benefits of coordination with the uh emergency services as well as the police department, fire department and utilizing government

100grants to facilitate the use of the facilities. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sanoi. Noted. Um any other old business? [Music] Okay. Moving on to item number 16, new business. Anything any new business anyone would like to bring up? Okay, last call. Okay. Um, moving on to item number 17, uh, president's remarks. Um, I think I've said most of what I was going to say uh, at the beginning so and commented through. So, thanks so much. Um, and number moving on to item number 18, public comments on any issue or any topic. The board invites public comment on any issue or topic from members of our community in accordance with board policy 0167. Public comment sections are intended to provide an opportunity for members of the public to express themselves in school matters of community interest.

101The board and administration will be taking notes during public comment, but will not provide substantive responses to questions or concerns raised by individual speakers. If necessary, the superintendent may provide a brief response after the entire public comment period is completed. The board appreciates and welcomes feedback from the community, but is not at liberty to engage in a back and forth dialogue with members of the public during this portion of the meeting. Prior to making your public comment, please state your name and municip municipality. Please note that all statements must be directed to the presiding officer. Please come to the microphone at this time. If you'd like to make comments on any issue or any topic, >> hello again. >> Okay, so my name is Rebecca Gendrono. I'm a resident of Denellan. Uh, thank you for

102giving me a little bit of extra time to edit my comments. Uh, I want to begin by acknowledging that I have a close relationship with people on the board of education and I know you all to be good people doing what you think is best for the children and families of the Denellan School District. I also know that you work hard and that work is not always recognized and appreciated. I appreciate you. I also want to note that I've been a strong supporter of the school district since our oldest child enrolled in kindergarten. Many of you know that I currently serve as the co-president of the PTO. I've been a class parent, chaperone school dances and field trips, organized community events and talent shows, all to foster a positive community atmosphere. I have donated countless

103hours to the district along with hundreds of dollars worth of cupcakes and food and supplies helping to raise thousands of dollars to support our schools. I am about as involved as a person can be. So when I received an email from the LMS principal on August 21st stating that LMS honors classes would be phased out based on family feedback, I was shocked. I never provided such feedback and other parents have told me that they feel similarly blindsided. Perhaps a small group of parents provided input, but the school community as a whole was kept in the dark. What efforts did you make to inform families of these curriculum changes? When was this decision voted on and how was notice given? The evidence available to me suggests that this decision was pushed through quickly without gathering input

104from faculty, staff, students or parents, building support among community uh stakeholders or thinking through all the aspects of the implementation. For example, when my husband and I met with my son's teachers at the end of his fifth grade year, they let us know that they would be recommending him for the honors classes. When I spoke with the principal and assistant principal of Faber Elementary School on August 25th, yesterday, they had no idea these changes were being implemented. At the sixth grade orientation in June, I received a student handbook that discussed the honors curriculum and requirements. That book was a handbook was still on the LMS website as of yesterday afternoon. Why are teachers and administrators talking about a middle school honors program only to pull the rug out from under our feet? When I reached

105out to the administration for answers to my questions, I received swift assurances, but none of the data that I need to assess what is best for my child. Mr. Ross finally addressed some of those points tonight, and I'm grateful for that. A presentation like this should have been made months ago, not two weeks before the first day of school. The strengthening gifted and talented and education act states that a board of education shall ensure that appropriate instructional adaptations are designed for students who are gifted and talented. favor students had a separate G&T program at LMS and DHS. They took honors courses. Without those honors courses, how will the district meet its law uh legal obligation to provide gifted middle schoolers with a challenging education? The act also requires each school district to submit a report

106to the state detailing its gifted and talented services policies and procedures. How has that plan been updated to reflect the removal of the honors courses? Are parents able to review this plan? Does our district have an equitable system for identifying which students qualify for advanced coursework? If not, then it's incumbent on us to fix that problem instead of eliminating honors coursework altogether. I believe strongly that we need an equitable system with many on-ramps to the more challenging courses. I'm sure that many parents agree with me that we need all of our students to be achieving academic excellence. How does eliminating honors actually get us there? If honors courses are eliminated, how exactly will differentiation be practiced? You're asking teachers to turn on a dime and change how they've done things. Such innovation is fine, but

107how are you supporting the teachers through this change? What inservice trainings on the topic of differentiation will deal with the needs of high performing students? I respectfully request that the board of education and superintendent pause the implementation of this major LMS curriculum shift for one more academic year. Taking the time to educate families on current challenges and build broader consensus on possible solutions will benefit everyone. I also ask that the board of education begin sending monthly district-wide emails outlining upcoming meeting agendas and explaining major votes. Communicating with parents in a timely manner is an important part of your job. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening, members of the board. Uh, my name is Jacqueline Wiggins and I live in Denellan. Um, I have two daughters, ages 12 and 11, who attend and will be attending Lincoln

108Middle. Um, we come before you regarding the board's decision to phase out the honors program in Lincoln. The honors program provides gifted and talented students with the opportunity to be challenged and thrive in an uninterrupted and undisturbed environment. This program greatly benefited our 12-year-old last year. She excelled in each of her honors classes, making high honor role for the first three marking periods and finishing with honor role in the fourth. She was also inducted into the National Honor Junior Honors Society. We wholeheartedly believe that this could not have been accomplished without her being in the honors program. To no longer have this program be available to her is heartbreaking. She is left feeling discouraged and hesitant as to how she will be able to continue to thrive in her non-honors classes. The same sentiment is

109felt with our incoming sixth grader who was also looking forward to entering the honors program. For this program to be taken away from these students only to be placed in a non-honors classroom that are already disruptive and overcrowded is unfair and a slap in the face to the students who have shown throughout their educational journey that they have rightfully earned their spot in the program. Additionally, we are not happy with the manner in which it was casually announced via the new principal's welcome letter less than two weeks before the start of the school year. There was no advanced notice to the parents and students that will be affected by this decision. Not once was it even mentioned during the sixth grade orientation in June, nor in any of the written materials and program of studies

110handbook that we were distributed at the orientation. Needless to say, this has left the very bad taste in the mouth of the parents and students who were left confused and outraged by the revelation and decision. to not have been given advanced communication and a clear understanding as to the dismantling and elimination of the only gifted and talented program offered at Lincoln without the opportunity to oppose it is unfair. I am here tonight along with other parents to ask the board to reconsider this decision and reinstate the honors program effective immediately. There is a way in which the board's educational agenda can be accomplished without the removal of the honors program, especially since these students have already been screened and assessed over their educational journey. To have them reassessed and in essence start over is a

111waste of time and resources which would be better served with the students who actually need it. Thank you for your time. [Applause] My name is Jillian Alonzo and I live in Denellan. I wasn't going to speak, but then I heard the words open and honest communication and it doesn't really get much to get me talking anyway. Um, I heard open and honest communication and I felt compelled. I've been an educator for 20 years. I've been a parent of this district for six years. My husband's family has been a part of this district for over 40 years. Full disclosure, prior to Mr. Tobin's letter, I unenrolled my high achieving sixth grader. I did not feel she was being challenged in her educational journey. It was a choice that was so hard it took us all the

112way to August to make. Uh but ultimately, we did not feel Lincoln would offer her enough challenge and opportunities for growth. I have another high achieving student making his way through Faber. Um, and we hold out hope that we can keep him in his neighborhood schools to see him graduate in Washington Park, two blocks from our house. Whatever the reasoning was for this change, which now we know because Mr. Ross presented it, um, the communication was not open and honest. Families should know the reasoning behind the changes prior to two weeks. We should know how these changes are being implemented. Again, what support is being given to the teachers. All of this should be shared with us. You are within your duties to make changes to our schools and do what you believe is right

113for our children. This is why we have elected you. Mr. Ross, your your explanation is completely logical. striving for equitable practices and representation and fair representation in our classrooms. This all makes sense. But where was this information in June? The lack of transparency and communication did not put Mr. Tobin in good light and it did not put this team in good light. A few sentences at the end of a welcome letter did not feel very open and honest. Mr. President, thank you. [Applause] Hello, my name is Vanessa Maer and I am a resident of Denellan. As you've previously heard, I am I share feelings with these other parents in the sense that the communication was completely lacking, was not there, and Mr. Ross' I'm sorry. Uh Mr. Ross' explanation and insight that he provided was

114much appreciated. But the one thing that I did note that was lacking was what kind of support are those high achieving students going to get other than a a a spectrum of the math classes. What kind of support both emotionally for? So ensuring that they do not feel demoted from an honors class that they've already been told that they were placed into to now they're just I don't want to say not worthy of it, but this district this the middle school students are not worthy of an honors class is how my son interpreted it. And he was devastated to hear last week that he is no longer going to be in honors classes. So, I just reiterate, what kind of support do these students get? What kind of support and prevention? I hear the word

115intervention, but that doesn't address the support that a high achieving student would need in a mixed class or a heterogeneous class structure that that we've heard about. So, that's what I would like to hear in in the next type of communication that goes out when these types of changes are being made. What kind of support are those high achieving students getting other than just being forgotten about, left in the classroom, and then because they don't need a one-on-one assistance or additional assistance or intervention, forgotten about in the back of the classroom and just left to their own devices because, well, they don't need the help, they can get the work done on their own. That's my fear and that's my child's fear. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, Nicole Moore, Denellan, New Jersey. I'm just going to

116speak on the communication because I know a lot of parents here don't attend every board meeting, but I do. So, like many of the parents that are here tonight and recently learned of the changes at LMS with regard to the honors program, when I saw that post and started hearing the people talking about the change, I was genuinely shocked to hear that this was happening. And then to hear that there are parents that have expressed their concerns to current board of ed members and those board of education members have responded with, "You should be more involved and attend board of ed meetings." Again, a bit of a shock. As all of you here know, I attend pretty much every board of education meeting. In the last school year, I only missed one meeting due to

117illness, but I still watched it at home. And I have been incredibly active, involved parent in the school community since my oldest started kindergarten, and they are just about to enter their senior year. As PTO president, I made it a point to attend or at least live stream every board of education meeting and to pay attention to what is going on in our schools. I wanted to make sure that I was always informed, not just as PTO president, but as a parent. So for me, an incredibly active parent in the school, to be surprised at such a drastic change in the curriculum on these in these schools, it was shocking and it was that lack of communication on this change. I do not recall any discussions at any public meeting of the board of education

118during the last year with regard to removal of the honors program at LMS. I went so far as to review every agenda and meeting minutes on the website. The only time the honors program at LMS was mentioned in the agenda was in the January 7th reorganization meeting when the then current school education programs were approved to continue for the school year. There was no other mention of the LMS honors program from what I could see in the agendas or the minutes or from what I recall being discussed in the meetings that I have attended. So that's why everyone is so shocked to hear this when it's not ever being discussed here as well. Thank you. [Applause] Hello members, this is Jacqueline Wiggins again. Um, I know that the turnout seems small, but on paper and

119at least in the petition form, we do have other parents that share the same sentiment. today. Tonight I have about 36 numbers, but I saw online that there's more numbers filling in for that petition. So, I don't know if you guys want the petition now or wait until it's fully signed, but I just wanted to make note of that as well. Thanks. >> Thank you. Okay. Any other uh public comments? Last call. Okay, closing up the section. All right. So, we're going to move to item number 19, executive session. Uh, the Denellan Board of Education will now adjourn into executive session to discuss items that fall within specific exceptions to the Open Public Meetings Act, CJSA 104-12B. The confidential matters discussed by the board during this education uh, sorry, executive session include items related to

120individual privacy personnel. Um, 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 confidentiality no longer exists. All individuals who may be discussed in executive session have been adequately notified. Action will not take place after the conclusion of the executive session. So, uh, may I have a motion to move to executive session, please? >> Motion to move to executive. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I I >> opposed. Okay. So, we will um adjourn from the executive session. We're closing it out here. Our next meeting is September >> Sorry, >> September 23rd right here. Uh 7 p.m. Thank you. Thank you so much.