001[Music] good evening and welcome to the Franklin Township Board of Education meeting today is Thursday November 17th 2022 can I get a roll call Mr banana Please Mr Tsai here Mr grippo Dr Hopkins president Mr Jackson here miss Maris here Mr Siobhan Miss Singh here Dr Smith Miss lacorte here and for the record um Sami Siobhan and Mike Smith let me know ahead of time that they would be unable to make this evening's meeting can you read the open public meetings act please in accordance with the open public meetings ACT public award 1975 chapter 231 Sunshine Law copies of the public meeting notice were sent to The Courier News the home News Tribune The Star Ledger the Franklin reporter tap into Franklin Township Franklin Township Clerk manager district schools offices and associations PTO presidents and
002posted on the district website thank you can I get a motion to adjourn to confidential seconded by artiman all in favor aye we are adjourning to confidential to discuss confidential matters including a special education settlement student matters and employee settlement and a workers compensation settlement minutes of the confidential session will be made public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists and welcome back we were in a confidential session discussing confidential matters which included a special education settlement student matters and employee settlement and a workers compensation settlement Menace of the confidential session will be made public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists bill can you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please thank you Bill would you also read the mission statement please mission statement of the Franklin Township Public Schools Franklin
003Township Public Schools Embraces its diversity forces excellent educational innovation and empowers all students to achieve their Highest Potential thank you can I get a motion to adopt the agenda tabling A14 a special education settlement until next month so moved move moved by artiman seconded by Nishida all favor aye okay now we're on to our student representative report married okay so now we are going to go on to our recognition of some amazing people our SGS HSC players who are all volunteers and um Bill since you were like where Mr Sampson why don't you read this the resolution so this is a resolution that we're going to pass this evening of the sgsh SC players volunteers whereas the Franklin Township Board of Education wishes to express its appreciation and gratitude for the following volunteers for their
004years of dedicated service to students performances at SGS Sampson G Smith School their efforts in the past have built a legacy that continues today for the students at both the Sampson G Smith and Hamilton campuses of Franklin Middle School therefore be it resolved that the Franklin Township Board of Education formally recognizes the volunteers listed on exhibit three thank you can I get a second on that motion opposed okay congratulations now let's go shake your hands and thank you presentation first if that's okay welcome everyone tonight the Franklin Township Board of Education would like to take this opportunity to recognize some of the volunteers who have supported the SGS theater program which has now grown into the SGS HSC players the efforts these early volunteers some of whom still help out has truly formed a legacy
005that continues today so I will talk a bit about the program and then ask the driving force behind their Productions Ms Terry Sergio to come up and say a few words with her co-part Mr Connell she will call the names of those being recognized if you are here when your name is called please come forward and receive your certificate you can then greet the Board of Education members and then when everyone is done we can take a nice group photo of that okay Once Upon a Time some 17 years ago the SDS theater program began with no budget to speak of but with the spirit of a few determined volunteers their first production of Annie came to life the following year a few more volunteers came and they stayed Moore joined them because those who
006had come before made coming in on a Saturday to build a set piece paint or sew fun and through this camaraderie subsequent Productions as seen here unfolded through with Incredible energy beautiful costumes and some very special effects volunteers were behind all of these and served a variety of roles Terry has referred to the group as a village the way it takes a village to raise a child her team raised a beautiful production small groups worked independently and they pulled together in the end to create the final show there were producers t-shirt designers stage manager and crew those in charge of tickets Refreshments set construction the playbill props costumes kisses for the staff and the cast bulletin board one of the things that made these shows so special was that there were always two full casts
007so this more so that more students could participate so some of those students have joined their parent volunteers and returned to help the next generation of the now SGS HSC players Bill Connell who has been with the program for many years and who frequently stops by the Boe meeting bringing pieces of the most recent set about the beginning of the group there were a lot of personal chemistry involved but at its core a strong start allowed parents to get engaged and to contribute I would like to call Terry said you up now to say a few words and call the names of those the Boe will recognize tonight okay so first I'd like to thank the Board of Education past and present for always supporting the Arts in Franklin and our program at SGS from
008its Inception when we were a 5-6 model which Bill grippo started and was our wonderful principal at that time it's been a privilege and a pleasure to teach and direct for the past 23 years um and I'd like to thank bill for helping to get me this job 23 years ago thank you so much for hiring me um and after I finished directing at Connor Lee with Bill and we moved over to the Intermediate School which was the new Samson G Smith intermediate five six school um we wanted to continue that theater program and at the time you know we really had as Mary said we didn't have any funding but we had incredible support by our principal and parents that came over from Connolly road so when we came to SGS we had three
009amazing parents um that came over with us Diane Carter who's not here tonight but CJ Carter is here which is why Diane volunteered so CJ's here with us tonight uh Tracy Donaldson who is here tonight came over and Jeff maskel wave Jeff came over from Connolly and they were the three parents that helped to get this program started we had two producers and a stage manager in Jeff Tracy brought along Alvin Jowers who has been with us since the beginning and he did professional sound and for nothing at the time because um his niece was in the show he decided to do our sound system and didn't charge us anything for a while which was really kind of him and he's been with us till till today um also Nancy bowling a teacher at the
010time was kind enough to paint the sets the very minimal sets that we had and so that first production of Annie began we hoped that it would sell a lot of tickets because the only way to have the next year show was to actually have some Revenue so we're really lucky we sold a lot of tickets and so Cinderella became our second show and we were able to put on a full-scale production but again we needed more volunteers so Along Came Bill Connell who everyone knows and bill has been with us you know throughout the entire process since that show and the one thing he brought was this gorgeous Cinderella carriage made of foam never did I think you could do a prop peace meet out of huge foam but Bill showed us that he
011could and he then stayed after him we had um High School Musical and Alyssa chin who we now know as our cardboard Queen came along for the ride and again being Bill's Partners stayed until the very end also and then High School Musical was a challenge because Bill and um avonage at the time and a wonderful group of parents helped to raise money to reinvent that Auditorium which had seats as billowy says from the time of Lincoln so um we redid that Auditorium but with the supply chain issue like we kind of have a little today um they told us that we couldn't have our seats but our show was going to open so Dorian Healy all the way from Delaware who's here today was our producer and she was like oh no that that
012we're going to have seats and between her and evenage I don't know what they did but we had seats and we opened our show I still don't know what happened but we did have a show that year and High School Musical was our first show that we completely sold out so we made a lot of Revenue and as you can say from that point on the SGS players were known people came and this program kind of grew a life of its own um so Mary told me I have to not speak long and as you all know I tend to do that sometimes so I'm going to not now tell you about every single thing that has happened but I am going to kind of fast forward and I'm going to say that today Bill
013Connell and I had a conversation and I said to Bill my biggest fear is sitting down and forgetting somebody and I torture myself every time because I want to I can't adequately say what is in my heart to all of the people each year that come out and with their children build this amazing thing so I said to bill you know what do you think about that and and he was like you know what just keep it and and say what you what you have in your heart so the past 17 years as the SGS players and now the S SGS HSC players is about an evolution of people and chemistry to quote bill it's about parents loving and supporting their children's interest and giving back to the community in the process and those of
014you who are here tonight or the parents that could not be here and we will say their names because you have stayed for so many many years and if you didn't stay for many many years but were with us for the time that your children were here the parents today that are here tonight went above and beyond what anybody would expect a parent to do for a program um I can't thank them enough for all that they've done and every single parent that has come through this program whether they baked a brownie or they spent four months with me it's their time and their ability to bring their children each week that help to add to the village and to this program's success but without the people that are here tonight um who came from
015the very beginning who came along the way and stayed there are truly no words to adequately Express the Gratitude and love in my heart so you are all the foundation of this program and the village that it was built on each of you created an inviting and fun space year after year for new parents to want to come and join us and together make the magic for the kids because as Dr avali says it's always right about the kids and that's why we do it so because of you you helped your children Grace the stage with their beautiful presence and their talent year after year and for this I am forever grateful for every one of you that have done so many wonderful things for me and the children in this program so with that
016said I will now call you up and I might say a few things as you come up [Applause] so Bill if you could join me and Mary oh thank you thank you thank you um so when we think about as Mary put in the following volunteers who started the Once Upon a Time by lending their time and talent to the SGS theater program and whose spirits still inspires us to start us off these are the people that again were with us from the very beginning so Diane Carter is not here but CJ come on up please because your mom was an incredible producer Diane also helped start the alumni the Alumni Association to give scholarships to seniors Tracy Donaldson again a first producer who also helped us start the alumni um Association to give scholarships
017to seniors in the Performing Arts go shake hands Jeff maskel who is with us for 17 years as our wonderful incredible stage manager [Applause] Alyssa chin 16 years with us and as a credible partner to Bill Connell with set Construction Doreen Healy our third producer and the producer that had the most stress getting that Auditorium opened Alvin Jowers again with us from the beginning on our sound I have to say Linda Stadler and Noel Piercy who are not with us but our dance teacher and our original musical director um spent a lot of time volunteering to get this program um started so give them a round of applause even though they're not here tonight Mary okay Alex stefaniak working backstage with Jeff as our assistant stage manager and and doing anything that was needed all
018these years if you're here please come up Alex Annie heinberg um did our makeup for many years uh Brandi Evans worked on our parties did an incredible job um doing all of the cast parties Claudine glooly Blast from the Past Claudine was our first huge ticket mom who had a deal with so many different issues as we were working on selling our tickets Eddie Aiello working backstage with Jeff changing scenery and all of that fernan Escher fernan one of the gang with our set building and construction always there always working so hard with Bill Casey Patel I know you're here Casey an incredible producer for many years and getting us through so many things as we moved from a 5-6 school to a middle school lenise Owens oh gosh Lenny's working on costumes sitting backstage
019managing 80 kids and always smiling parole Patel another parole amazing producer working many years as a producer getting parents to come on um helping to put together our baskets after she finished producing still supporting me now listening to me Rebecca Peron again another incredible producer costumes helping with makeup helping with bulletin board putting together whatever she needed I'll take a second so we get this we're catching up we had a flow going shall I sing another opening okay well little musical interlude there you go door you go are we good yeah and parole should have been parul Shaw that's okay we still love you pool occasionally occasionally make a mistake we got it okay we're going to continue uh Scott glasson let's see Scott you made a house fly you fed me you made electricity
020happen we don't want to tell anybody about that uh we won't tell anybody about that thank God but you worked for PSE and G so it was all good um anything that was needed any came tonight and he had a lot going on so thank you Scott Ted manzalakis couldn't be with us tonight but Ted helped um with our set Construction and building that beautiful piano in Seussical and spending years backstage Amy Rice incredible on her costume sewing creating doing everything that we needed for many years and is now going to take over that role this year so Amy will be around for years to come uh Jeff and Jeff heinberg also working backstage all the years alongside Annie um on those years and we really appreciate that Carol Holzer started with us when we
021were a 5-6 School in the very beginning working backstage then took a little break then came back for years as a parent help her with everything incredible producer over the last coming couple of years getting us through covid producing shows through covid and now helping to segue this year our new producers Dana lasalva uh 12 plus years being our costume coordinator doing an amazing job putting together crazy shows 80 kids sewing pasting cutting and Manning and also organizing our costume closet color coordinating it with Incredible boxes that are labeled Edwin Leong and Ann Leon helping with ticket sales um and anything was needed the years that they were here um George Wade incredible on the years that you would hear George working backstage and helping whatever was needed with set construction so come on down
022I know you're here Uh Kevin McCarthy Kevin working backstage and um working on uh helping with moving the scenery and whatever was needed and during our coveted years made sure that Susan was adequately fed and nourished and got her to rehearsals during a very crazy situation Nancy Bolin our incredible art teacher painting our sets for years and years and years we love you Nancy Pache stage crew set building you turned around Pat was there helping the boys with whatever was needed uh robin demiglio our past producer doing what was ever needed um producing our show thank you Robin Sean check we want to acknowledge Sean for doing a great job as our custodian and doing whatever was needed especially on set construction Saturdays Tori Kowalski spending many years doing our playbill Tori with her creative
023clicks and all these sometimes last minute changes always had a smile on her face and did the playbill for many many years thank you Tori Anne-Marie Hill during those years Emory managed backstage kids I don't know how Ann Marie did it but she always had a smile on her face and she did a great job helping whatever we needed Bill Griffith doesn't even have a child in our doesn't even have a child in our school system um but came when Sandra started helping and Bill Griffith loves it and he just comes and he's part of that stage you know backstage building the set crew thank you Bill uh Chris Schwartz again doing whatever was needed helping with set and and pasting and and crafts and whatever was needed on stage Depeche Patel painting over and
024over and over again at Bill's will never not smiling helping with set construction and in and out for many years yes laughs Emily russianello incredible artist Emily always there when he needed her to paint to do whatever and still continues on and on painting our doors Jack eurell um helping with sound uh with Alvin and whatever was needed Kim Silva helping with props Nick dimaglio did a great job um with our Cafe on the years that he was here helping with publicity also Nick he's all over the place and helps wherever you need him um not that my husband wants to come up that he's going to have to my husband Phil seggio [Applause] um because we forget that we had two children that went to Franklin and a daughter who did theater so he
025was the theater dad on his on those on those years and then supported me all of these years with whatever I needed so that I could be here all right Phil uh Sabina Shea Sabine is everywhere Sabine is helping backstage props smile on her face whatever you need her to do always helping another incredible producer Susan McCarthy Susan again her and Cara through covid getting a show done um and then continuing to help get our new producers for this year and all of the years that um Susan had her boys and did whatever was needed Willie Chang our amazing photographer did all of our photography for years and years and years always helping with whatever we needed um Bill grippo we're going to recognize Bill because if it wasn't for Bill we would not have
026this program without his support as a principal come on down Bill and get your certificate uh Clark Graham again early on Clark did all of our sets with Phil Doug Carnaval um incredible Doug gave all of his time and talent to program our lights for over 10 years just did it because he was a parent and because he does this professionally he came year after year and did all of our lighting design hung the lights could not have done it without him um avonage is not here tonight but Ava was instrumental in getting our new Auditorium off the ground and always supporting as a board member Kathy Proctor um amazing working with our Cafe for many years helping to get everything donated Laura moly amazing on costumes helping Amy and Dana always coming back helping
027lenise Laura was one of that one of the crew uh Nikki Tatum Nikki was a parent like I had children Nikki had children here Nikki helped wherever was needed with costumes um whatever we needed her to do uh Ray Holzer when Ray joined us the set lit up like a light and incredible our jukebox for Greece um incredible lighting for Frozen we actually had it snow on stage Elsa made lightning strikes and that was already designing and and just volunteering a million hours to get all of those lighting done so thank you Ray Sandra Garcia when Nancy Bullen left Sandra what she had to pick up that paintbrush and spend hundreds of hours work in those sets and um painting and doing whatever was needed thank you so much Sandra and then another incredible producer
028Suzanne Wade spent a lot of years helping and producing and making sure that everything ran smoothly and we could not have done it without her Charlotte is the rock behind Scott is that it Charlotte Charlotte I do have to mention that even you know you were in and out and always around and your love and support men so much so even though you sent him out on that set construction we know you were out there yeah um I got anybody because then I don't sleep at night okay all right okay and I Jeff I'm going to mention Patty your wife because you spend thousands of hours at our school and she supported that right so we have to applaud power I'm sorry okay Michelle okay and where's Friday fernan and is Nichelle here uh and
029Michelle Esser because again if frontin spent a lot of hours right Nichelle um being at our school so we want to give Michelle a round of applause for supporting and always being there when we needed her also also and last but not least my partner in crime um Bill Connell you know [Music] when the School Bus shows up at a board meeting and the duck sits in front of Nancy Nancy you're so good with letting it sit there um and the texts come at 4am when he's up and I'm sleeping um you know it's it takes a village to do this it took a village to do this I was lucky to man it but um when bill came along and then all of you loved what Bill did right and you had fun and
030he was kind and crazy and inventive and and um and then he brought on Alyssa chin who is his his calm to the storm um and then she said you know hey we can do it with cardboard and we can you know do it different ways and then she took all of you out into the cafeteria and gave you a paintbrush and glitter and everything else um so with the two of them and all of you and all of the parents that started this and the support of the Board of Ed and the support of all the principals and superintendents and everyone along the way of my 23 years in this District um I am so thankful and so grateful and there's no words that could ever say how thankful I am for all that
031you've done but I'm so happy that the board has recognized you and you've all come out and um we do this for the kids and you we did it for your kids and you did it for your kids and Phil and I did it for mine and um I tell my students each year that the greatest gift you can give anyone is to give back and all of you are shining example to your children because that's what you've done you've showed them what community service looks like you've shown them what giving with your hearts looks like and they will grow up and they will go out and they will do the same thing and that's all we can hope right because we just need a little kindness in the world and that's what we have
032here we have love and kindness and it has been my greatest joy and pleasure to have worked with all of you and I just want to thank everyone so that's it good night that's it yep yep that's a wrap s [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] all right folks ready we're gonna get a nice big picture here gonna have to squeeze in a little bit and Miss Sergio before we take the picture I just want you to take a look around and I want to thank you because look what you've built it's amazing right it's amazing and the shows Second To None really honestly I can't I remember eight years ago when I brought my wife to the first Middle School show and we're walking out and she goes I thought the high school was bigger
033I said honey that's a middle school there's a middle school kids she goes that's unbelievable so you've done a great job thank you so much Terry and thank you all on behalf of the board just keep it up keep doing what you do and and thank you maybe not you Connell [Applause] all right yep [Applause] [Music] um [Music] don't leave yet don't leave yet I've bought comments [Applause] let me let me just finish we'll make some board comments on this so that we'll do it right away so before you guys go um we really appreciate everything that you've done everything you've done for the kids everything that you've done for the community all the joy that you've brought it's like incredible and all the hard work that you guys do it all really shows and
034and um you know like a week before Thanksgiving it's appropriate like to say thank you to a group of people that make us always want to say thank you and applaud so the next production of the SGS HSC will be the whiz at some time in February so if you're listening it you can't miss our shows because this is where Talent is bred so Bill I'm sure you want to say something of course Terry come up here stand over there by that that Podium there just come on up here it's front and center so ladies and gentlemen it's uh it's been quite a journey for me in Franklin Township as you know one of the Milestones I'd have to say of 44 years was probably the day I met Terry Sergio she was cooking a
035spaghetti dinner at Elizabeth Avenue School and she was a parent and that I asked her what she did for a living she said well I was a teacher in Staten Island something like that and uh and I said well would you like to be a teacher here she goes yeah I think so and I said what do you what's your specialty or like what do you like she goes well I like theater I said well I'm principal over at Connolly why don't you apply and come over there and she came there and we started a theater group there and then superintendent Bill Westfield had this idea of sending me to Samson for the first intermediate school which I didn't want to do was too much work but anyway he he sent me there and we
036built this phenomenal community I see Nancy Bullitt here the first art teacher and this great community and and Terry gravitated to the new theater it wasn't a new theater then Abraham Lincoln sat on those seats they were in that theater um but she gravitated to that theater and wanted to build a production company for the intermediate school at Samson so I kind of being an Arts administrator I jumped right on with her and we came up with a a logo for the school and and uh Linda Smith was a parent she created the logo which was Reach for the Stars but we had no idea when we said reach for the stars that Terry said Joe and you the parent Community would build a community of stars of students Terry was a beacon for this
037program is a beacon it was a beacon for this program Terry was a role model for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kids that I witnessed from the first show to to the end but besides the magic of working with the kids Terry was able to build you the community I mean this is unheard of to bring parents together from 17 years of Productions and you're like a family it doesn't happen all the time this is a real blessing in Franklin Township what has happened during that time we realized that the theater was really it was ridiculous the lighting cage at the time was called Old sparking and um I mean you literally you get electrocuted if you went back there and the curtains were tattered the seats were wooden they were you'd get splinters
038in your behind if you moved the wrong way and we renovated that whole theater because of Terry's vision of what could happen even to the point of her saying I want a middle aisle see Theodore was three sections she said if we have a middle aisle the kids can work the aisle right how many times have you seen the kids well that was all Terry's Vision so this is this is a blessing for Franklin and we are honored tonight to have you here as a boy I mean I'm a little awkward you know I was I was over there with you now I'm over here but the thing is uh uh it's it's a phenomenal Journey for all of us so Terry I stand and salute you with the rest of this group foreign you
039might honor for Christmas you're about to make me cry Terry so Mary do you have the student this is so nice that you guys are all staying this is like the most people we've had at a board meeting without somebody complaining about something so this is awesome and we have cupcakes in the back I'm sorry you know what we're gonna like go through it really fast you guys could stay for the rest of the night but just save me one cupcake because these guys ate everything before I got to it so I'm sorry okay okay no presentation oh you're leaving this is the good part [Music] okay what's at Somerset Diner that's like the after play foreign there's food okay now we're going to move on to our New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment screencast by
040Dr loughran thank you for tuning in to this screencast presentation regarding the NJ GP I'll take it so last last month we had the larger presentation of In-House results State results so forth and so on that can be viewed online these results came in after the presentation it was a few days after actually so we wanted to to include them in in short this was a field test meaning this state piloted the test but it did not count so this was a graduation exit exam that is similar to exit exams that we've had in the past that the New Jersey Department of Education divorced itself from and moved away from a couple years ago and moved to more end of course exams but they've since then moved back to an end of an exit exam
041which would now become an 11th grade exam similar to the 11th grade exam we once had but because it's a field test um you know we treat the results that way it didn't count for anything other than to give us data to see how we stack up against the rest of the state who also were selected to engage in the field test so uh Dr lagrin did a screencast so that he could add it to the screencast that is online now which I think he's done and you're going to see the results are consistent with the state so it's pretty short because it's only on this particular exit exam and I say press play Biz the NJ GPA the New Jersey high school graduation assessment is a requirement for the classes actually of 2024 and
0422025 initially it was going to be thank you for tuning in to this screencast presentation regarding the NJ GPA results what is the NJ GPA of the New Jersey high school graduation assessment as a requirement for the classes actually of 2024 and 2025 initially it was going to be for 2023 in which a grade 11 students took this assessment last spring Governor Murphy however signed a new law in July after students had taken taken the assessment and basically said we could not count this assessment or any of the other traditional Pathways sort of against students who were otherwise on track to graduate so there is no graduation assessment for the class of 2023 however the assessment those students took in the spring of 2022 did provide us with helpful information because in 2024 and 2025
043students will have to pass the assessment to graduate so this uh the results were designed to measure the extent to which students are graduation ready in English language arts and Mathematics Readiness is reported separately for each content component and these components are aligned to grade 10 standards in ela and to Algebra 1 and geometry standards so how did we do well in this field assessment it showed that our students who again are seniors this year but were Juniors last year uh 39.5 of them were considered graduation ready in ela whereas uh in the state 39.4 percent of the students who took the assessment were considered graduation ready uh similarly uh in math 48.1 percent of our students taking that assessment were shown at that time to be graduation ready as compared to 49 at the
044state level these uh following slides show how different groups of students performed on the assessment so does this one in terms of gender this one looks at additional subgroup data and then this takes a look at math Again by race in this slide by gender students with disabilities economically disadvantaged English language learners so what are our next steps the classes of 2024 and 2025 will take the NJ GPA in the spring of their junior year so this this spring our Juniors will take it and it will count towards graduation in 2024. current 11th and 10th graders who based on State and internal assessments may not be ready to demonstrate proficiency have been enrolled in instructional lab support courses already and if you'd like to know more information about the acceleration learning efforts in our schools
045we've included a link on this presentation which will be embedded on the website that takes you to our presentation from October which has additional information on how our different departments are addressing accelerated learning efforts you also can click on these links to find out more information about this assessment and how to use the parent portal and also different guides for parents about um various assessments including this one if you wish to contact academic supervisors with questions regarding math English language arts or any other content area please click there and also if you'd like to know more about this assessment or any of the topics presented here please reach out to me d lockren franklinboe.org thank you very much and thank you for your time thank you Dan does anyone have any questions Dennis no I'm
046good Lori no thank you Walter um no no question Nishida I have a quick question so this is um given in 11th grade for the next two years that's the starting what is considered the cutoff or what makes you graduate or not graduate and what is the follow-up if somebody does not do well in the 11th grade state state hasn't given that to us yet they they have determined a cut off for that assessment but right now what they're saying is you got to pass the assessment and I'm sure when we get to that point we'll hear more about what if somebody did not I can just share if history repeats itself last time we had an 11th grade exit exam um what would happen is you'll have your first shot at it early on
047as an 11th grader if it repeats itself you'll have it again when we had hespa which was the old 11th grade exit exam you had your first shot as an 11th grader in your fall of your 11th grade here you had a second shot at it the spring of your 11th grade year and then you would have another shot at it again in the fall of your 12th grade year and during that time if you fail to be proficient in one subject or another what would occur is you would enter into a supplemental course so maybe instead of taking an elective you would enter into a supplemental English course or you would enter into a supplemental skills-based proficiency-based Math course and in order to better prepare yourself for the exam and you would be at
048the sacrifice of an elective that's how it was and then all else failed and again they haven't said that this will be allowable but all else failed there would be a portfolio process where you can demonstrate skill absent to test and through a portfolio which has been the process even with end of course exams but they've not said that that will be a viable option so you could you know right now or previously in the old 11th grade test the hespa you could have passed by passing the test or you could have passed by completing a portfolio demonstrating skills and then having that portfolio evaluated at the state level at which point than you would pass and be granted your diploma but again to Dan's point because this was a field test they've not they
049being the Department of Education has not determined you know what will be next I'm sure they're utilizing the data just like we are to determine what their steps should be so we'll use it to better align our curricula they'll use it to determine what do they have to do and what should they do going forward to provide opportunities for kids to to move on so I hope that answered your question Phil do you have any questions Dan how does this align with um the fast thought efforts the strong start assessment that they've given the last two Falls were actually sort of superficial measures when compared to the state regular assessment that we've done historically which we did in June in Spring of 2022 so the njsla is a the full range of Standards the start
050strong assessment was a smattering of important standards it's hard to compare that really to to anything it's its own thing a lot of districts don't have I ready or link it which we do we have very good tools to measure our students success on the standards this start strong assessment was kind of providing that opportunity for districts that didn't have that so we also had that but you know this is similar to that uh the state is really just learning what to make of how students did on these different standards so our folks are looking at it studying it and doing our best to make sure that we maximize the opportunity to do much better on the next rollout of the assessment this coming spring Hartman do you have any questions no thank you okay
051thank you very much Dan thank you John do you have anything you want to add okay now we're on to our superintendent's report first item volunteers I would just like to once again thank the many volunteers who helped to make our middle school musicals and before that Intermediate School Musical so successful uh in fact I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the many volunteers that helped support our programs throughout the district in September we honored a team of volunteers who helped make High School our high school's Project Graduation had used success every year and this month we honored a team of folks who helped make our Middle School drama program spectacular we plan to continue recognizing groups at various meetings throughout this school year so I encourage all our faculty advisors and volunteer group
052leaders to contact Mrs Mary Clark to discuss your group's participation in this in in the board's efforts to recognize our volunteers this year so again if you've got a group you're an advisor you're a volunteer leader we would like to make sure we're connecting with everybody it's so important to support those folks who support our kids and and we want to make sure that we're inclusive of everybody so please connect with Mary if you have one of those groups strategic planning this evening you'll notice on the agenda an item appointing members to the board's strategic planning ad hoc committee as we turn the corner and return to more normal operations we've engaged Kane University to assist the district in developing a new multi-year strategic plan to guide the board's work as we move forward a
053big part of developing a meaningful plan is to hear from as many stakeholders as possible in the near future the boards committee will work with Kane University staff to develop data Gathering instruments that will provide a voice to all those who want one and those interested in contributing to the plan's development please stay tuned and be on the lookout for upcoming surveys upcoming meetings that will serve as ways to gain that stakeholder input and then what will happen is Kane University and the folks that gather that data will put it together and try and help us to identify where our priority goals should be and then we'll craft a plan from that presented the board's committee will present it to the full board hopefully by the end of the school year and that will guide
054our work for the next couple of years so um we we because of the pandemic our last strategic plan was near its end just as the pandemic was hitting we put everything on hold in order to get through and there were so many changes to teaching and learning during the last couple of years that it made sense to put it on hold until we could return to something more normal which we kind of feel like we're at right now which means we're going to get back to engaging in this process and and creating a new plan and updating our plan and doing the things necessary to to help guide our work as we go forward so looking forward to working with Kane University first time we'll be doing this with Kane University last time we
055used a Consulting Group and it was an outside agency out of Pennsylvania Kane University is now doing some of this work and we're excited that we're going to have the opportunity to partner with them so um that's it for me and that's it for us thank you so parent-teacher conferences are the week of November 28th through December 2nd and um our education support professional of the Year Wednesday of this past week was educational support professional recognition day last month we adopted a resolution recognizing the day and all the support Professionals in our district we just received word that one of our own Franklin Warriors has been named education support professional for the 22-23 school year by the Somerset County Education Association Miss Teresa came in a paraprofessional at FHS who has been with the district
056since February of 2017 assists the students with special needs in a variety of classrooms and we are very proud of her Franklin High School fall drama this year is The Bad Seed in 1954 Thriller about a seemingly perfect little girl who may not be as innocent as she appears um the shows are November 18th 19th and 20th and for more information and a link for ticket sales it's available on the district website and calling Warrior alumni in the upcoming issue of the Franklin times newsletter there will be information about a video project the district has begun we will be asking Franklin Warriors from the past to share their memories and their thoughts on what being a Franklin Warrior means to them stay tuned for more information and congratulations to artiman Singh who just received her
057certificate from Cornell University for diversity equity and inclusion for HR so congratulations Arvin and um we have cupcakes in the back of the room um that arteman and I got but we told Bill they were for his birthday which um apparently you celebrate for the entire year so um although his birthday was on the 7th Walter had a major birthday Sammy had a birthday um and my birthday is next week um but Bill happy birthday because it's all about you Bill and go get your cupcake um and the other thing cupcakes are great okay good um the other thing is we're what we've been doing is talking about what what we are thankful for so what's the best thing about Franklin so nishita what's the best thing about Franklin what's best about Franklin well um
058we just acknowledged Terry Sergio and the village that's fantastic about Franklin that volunteers give and help each other raise another's child um can I continue with the other stuff besides yeah okay I wanted to congratulate can I do that now yeah um congratulate Nancy uh you ardman Singh and Walter Jackson for being elected back to the board I'm looking forward to working with you this year and making our schools even better um wanted to welcome and congratulate Kelly for the new position as the high school principal um and I wanna I'm very thankful that I have had opportunity to work with the board for five years um which not only provides excellent educational opportunities but amazing extracurriculars and Fine Arts and I've said that in the past that High School wasn't the easiest for me
059and every day when I am sitting in on meetings I feel like I want to be part of high school again um and last but not least I wanted to wish everyone a happy healthy safe Thanksgiving it's beautiful thank you Bill what's so great about Franklin besides your birthday well no besides me but uh I really said a lot about Terry's group and that sums it up uh volunteers um and the work they do in our town is just amazing so um right now I would just suffice it to say what we saw here tonight is what's great about Franklin thank you Dennis I was just piggyback on what my other two colleagues said that what we saw displayed tonight was great in a sense that I'm I'm a big opponent of um it takes
060a village to raise a child and with the volunteers and the support that the volunteers gives to the community itself uh without that um the The Village itself may be lacking resources that um those individuals share with our kids so um tonight was a great display and it just proves we are warriors strong thank you Lori I think to take it even a step further it's the opportunities that we give our kids to show their gifts you might think that a drama program is all about those that sing and dance and act and I know firsthand from my child's experience that it's also about the lighting and it's about the Arts of painting the set building the set coming up with the costumes there's a lot of opportunity for all of our kids to really
061find their Niche and what will make them shine and what their comfortable participating in and supporting each taught to support each other that you're not always the one that needs to be the star that it's just as important to support and the next time maybe then you're the star and your friend is supporting you and that builds community and that's very very precious thank you Walter okay I'm going to piggyback up the piggyback off the piggyback but definitely um this was a great opportunity to to recognize the uh SGC players um my daughter had an opportunity to be a part of a few of those Productions and I mean those are some serious Broadway Productions I mean the the price that they sell those tickets for I would pay a hundred dollars to go see
062one of these plays because they're that good and um I could see the growth in Chloe in terms of her enjoying and appreciating the Arts and and being a part of those Productions and the camaraderie with her classmates and the the the staff and and everybody who's working the scene and she's she's constantly acting so it's it it's it has put a serious fire in her to um continue to do the work she loves it and I'm glad that our district had opportunities where she was able to to shine so um I love this District um I'm glad that we took took the opportunity to move here and I would tell anybody that I would run into that Franklin is where it's at thank you Arden so I want to share the same stuff my
063boys went through the theater program at SGS and they were excellent memories I volunteered when they were part of that I even sold uh kisses at the recession you know when recess happened during in between I was there volunteering and it's the volunteering of the Warriors that you know brings us on the board here it's the volunteers that makes Franklin and since it's Thanksgiving I also want to be thankful and grateful and express my gratitude thank you for recognizing me for the certification that I did but that was because of Franklin the Dei work that we are doing in Franklin the two sessions the board had with Lenny Stevenson at Johns Hopkins that's what encouraged me to go ahead and get the certification so I accomplished that and I'm thankful for Franklin for that thank
064you I'm going to take it in a completely different direction because I love volunteers and we are all volunteers but I'm going to thank I'm thankful for our administration because we forget about them sometimes the work doesn't end obviously at five o'clock um the work that they take home the phone calls the the staying with the kids and just and making sure that they're safe and that they know they have somebody to go to somebody to ask them what is their why um it's not just that building administrators it's also the people on that that are the liaison so John and Brian and Dan and Orville and Jackie's um and Mark there's and Mary there's so many um administrators that are there to help the board to do better business um to serve the children
065and to serve the community better so I'm thankful that we have the relationship that we have um that we have people that are Innovative and thinking outside of the box all of the time and thinking how can I make Franklin better um and um and then doing it so that's what I'm thankful for and now we are on to comments from the public can I get a motion to open public comments if I nishita all in favor oppose public comment is now open and I see council member patoznik is with us um just three quick things I maybe quick who knows um one is I noticed in the presentation at Dr loughran uh set up there it was kind of stood out that our English language Learners didn't score well in English so it reminds
066me that when you have a test it's important to make sure that that test is testing the things that we value and I think one of the things I'd say I'm thankful to Franklin is embracing folks that don't speak English and bringing them in through the ESL programs or the bilingual programs that are happening within the district so they could perform well in a mathematics session if you compare those two slides we see high performance there and often those mathematical questions are also asked in English so they have to get through some understanding to understand the instructions but still demonstrate the math performance and you know with a high number of folks that we have that speak Mandarin or Spanish or other languages that's something we Embrace we love our diversity I mean those those
067tests just like kind of get that snapshot so that stood out to me and I know we're doing lots of things to help bring folks that are for the first time learning English into the fold so that they can Thrive here in our in our community the second thing I wanted to mention is I was really excited to see agenda vitamin C7 which is the approval hopefully of the um health professionals Academy I know uh Dr Ravalli and I have been talking for years about academies within the school or schools within the school and many of you know this as well that in the healthcare industry there is quite a shortage of qualified people to take care of us when we're sick and I think we saw that in covid the breakdown of our health
068care System but it continues it was a problem before it's a problem post covet if we even are post covet it's hard to know but it will be a problem into the future and these are great paying jobs where folks can earn dual certification right in our school and get to work and providing for for their themselves and their families and taking their degrees to new heights you know nurses Health Care Professionals that are not doctors sorry Dr Hopkins are doing a lot of the work in our medical system they are the front line and often sometimes correct I'm seeing Rashida shake her head her husband's a doctor too so I didn't mean to offend um but uh you know are often correcting doctors especially when they're first out of med school or in their
069rotations and um I'm just so excited about that and I want to congratulate you for taking the step to create two new classes in biology and chemistry that are specifically geared towards what you need to know in the practice of saving lives and keeping people healthy extending longevity so that's just awesome and then the third thing there's a point of personal privilege I just want to thank and the people of Franklin for doing the right thing and electing uh Walter Jackson Nancy lacorte and arteman sing back to the school board with a decisive margin um I think you know one thing that impresses me a lot is the participation in the elections in schools and the school board are just such an important part of what happens in our community and you guys have done
070an excellent job you know you had my support I consider all of you on the board friends not only to the schools friends to Franklin Township but for our young people you've really been an inspiration and I know in the campaign a lot of stuff comes out they say people say a lot of stuff but Franklin voters saw through all of that and did the right thing and I just want to say thank you to them to the community and good luck to you to continue to do the difficult but important work at the school board so thank you congrats that's it thank you very much is there anyone else who would like to speak on agenda items only seeing no one I moved to close the public session so second motion to close public
071second by Bill or made my bill seconded by Dennis all in favor I opposed public comment on agenda items is now closed and now we are on to our new business oh I'm sorry our committee reports and our liaison reports let's just read those into the record because um uh it's getting late okay like put them we're not going to read them yeah that's fine well I know so I would like to make a motion to move the following and new business R1 monthly reports and one minutes of board meetings A1 travel and related expense reimbursement A2 or firm harassment and dependation and bullying decisions A3 revision of District organizational chart A4 District safety plan a five School business emergency exit drill report A6 revised policy second reading and adoption A7 new policy second reading
072and adoption A8 revised policies first reading A9 ftps revised safe return plan a 10 covet related protocol a11 ad hoc strategies plan committee a12 land easement a13 facilities use B1 warrants and payrolls B2 Financial reports B3 contract approvals a through M B4 change orders B5 supply chain assistance funding B6 authorization to solicit contracts B7 designation of positions B8 disposal of equipment B9 long-range facilities plan Amendment C1 out of District students school year 2022 2023 C2 field trip destinations C3 field trip application C4 FHS and FMS winter athletic schedule C5 preschool plan 2023 2024 C6 course proposal C7 health professional Academy HPA revision C8 memorandum of agreement P1 salary allocations P2 workman's compensation settlements P3 settlement P4 Personnel report number five dated November 17 2022 so once again R1 M1 A1 through a13 B1 through B9
073C1 through C8 and P1 through P4 can I get a second second Nishida um is there any discussion Nishida questions comments look thank you Bill no Walter no Lori no questions thank you um Dennis uh no questions orderman okay Brian can you roll call please Mr Tsai yes Mr grippo yes yes Mr Jackson yes Miss Maris yes Miss saying yes to all and I will be abstaining from 8 13 a and the reason for my abstaining is I am in a multi of the YMCA so I will not vote on that thank you Miss Lacroix yes okay great and now I would like to call up the principal of Franklin High School Nick Solomon to introduce our new vice principal at Franklin High School Cali Guerrero [Applause] good evening board and thanks for a lovely
074meeting this aft this evening this evening I'd like to introduce everyone to our new vice principal Miss Kelly Guerrero Miss Kelly Guerrero is a was going to be a former teacher now and at West New York High School is coming to us from there she's a resident of North Bergen she's a graduate of Rutgers University and she was a phenomenal candidate so without further Ado here is Miss Kelly Guerrero [Applause] thank you to everyone who is present it is an honor to join the Franklin School District and work alongside a dedicated team of professionals whose common goal is to maximize the potential of all students I am excited to support student learning and build strong Partnerships with our student families and diverse Community thank you once again for his incredible opportunity and I look forward
075to collaborating with everyone to ensure Student Success welcome to Franklin [Applause] Kelly the the first 10 years of my life was spent in West New York schools [Laughter] okay and now we are on to comments from the public five minutes per speaker on any topic can I get a motion to open public comment please so moved with my ornament seconded by a second Walter all in favor oppose public comment on any topic is now open if you're on the phone please press star five to get into the queue anybody else all right then do you have any no emails waiting okay all right can I get a motion to close public comments seeing that there is nobody wanting to speak motion second uh motion by Nishida second by Lori all in favor opposed okay public
076comment is now closed now we're on to the good of the order Walter do you have anything for the good of the order uh yeah just real quick as you all know tis the season for grace and gratitude we all have so much to be thankful for but um there are also a lot of people during this season it gets pretty rough for them um so if you can just you know a lot of us aren't wearing masks and you would be absolutely amazed of the difference you can make by sharing a smile with someone um so definitely during this season pick up the phone send a text check on your friends and your family ask them how they're doing and let's continue to do the work that we're doing in Franklin I want to
077thank my family my friends and Franklin for reelecting me and the rest of my amazing team back on the board um you saw through a lot of the mess and you continue to um allow your voice to to to to put us back where we are and we're going to continue to do the work we're excited about doing the work we're passionate about doing the work and you will see once again that you made the right choice Kelly congratulations you are absolutely in a in an amazing district and you will truly be welcome trust me as soon as you get to the high school everyone's going to love you so we we're excited that you are enjoying this team I also want to thank the administration Dr Valley and the rest of his team um
078it's it wasn't until I got into this position that I really saw a lot of different parts and there's some amazing Parts behind the scene Dr lager Mary Jackie Jackie that do some absolutely amazing work and I know that they don't get the recognition that they should get but I'm at least doing this Thanksgiving season I want to personally thank them for all the work all the support that they give us to do the job that Orville that that um that we do so thank you thank you Walter Lori I don't really have anything other than to wish everyone happy holidays and um enjoy thank you thank you Dennis uh number one uh congratulations to the Three Amigos Walter automated now Nancy on your uh re-election to the board look forward and um the continued
079work that we do here um uh we all um upon Thanksgiving and some of the things that Walters shared with us um I'm gonna just expand on it just slightly in the sense of yes we got kids coming home from college we got uh elderly out there in the community is um it's a time to reflect and be thankful that one of the things that I shared with all my patients and all my loved ones that every day that I wake up on this side everything else is easy and um you have those who may be in a dark place wrap your arms around them show them love and let's just be thankful for just existing and sharing that thanks with others that may need the uplift how about that Nick so um so yes
080uh enjoy Thanksgiving and um congratulations and congratulations to you Kelly all right thank you Dennis Nishida what I said it before okay yeah Phil do you have anything for the good of the order so uh real real quick first I want to thank Alfred and Mary Clark this is working pretty good um so it's enhancing the hearing and Alfred you could you could start a hearing business now this is this is great I want to bring to your attention at the Franklin Food Bank is overwhelmed with people coming these couple of weeks I go in there a couple of hours a week and it's just very moving to see the operation Tomorrow there's a community pickup in the morning from eight until one so if you know anybody they just have to ride in the
081parking lot and the staff loads the car they don't even have to go in so that's tomorrow so if you know somebody Dr Solomon just you know pick up some parents you might know announce it put the word out there that's good and the other thing is that um this past uh last week in October I really enjoyed my educational experience in Atlantic City with my colleagues it was just a phenomenal time with uh President lecourt and Vice President saying they just shined such an intellectual light on the experience but it really was great training and I'll be back and Jackie thanks for all your help if you know what I mean thank you thank you Bill for that arteman do you have anything I only have thank you and gratitude to everyone in Franklin
082and that's all I have to say thank you so I would like to um also say thank you to the voters who elected Walter artiman myself back into office we work hard because we're passionate about what we do and we love Franklin and we love the kids and the staff and the families and and the community um I would also like to say that um we did have our educational Workshop in Atlantic City it's New Jersey school boards Association or Boards of Education get their training and we learned a lot in the classes but it's an opportunity also for the board to bond together and this year was kind of trying for me I had a lot of stuff going on but I've gotten to know my fellow board members in different ways and I
083can't thank them enough because these are people I actually like working with and I think together as a team we all lift each other up and help each other grow to become better better board members A Better Community better administrators so I'm thankful for that and with that I would like to say that I'm sorry Happy Thanksgiving um and please check with people who are suffering from food insecurity and you might not even know they are um and being's adjourned [Music] thank you [Music]