BOE Public Meeting: October 9, 2025

001the meeting. There we go. Yes. Test. Good. Good evening. We have the privilege of celebrating some um 25-y year veterans here of the district and newly tenured again like we did last month because we had a conflict with back to school night. So starting with we're going to start with our newly tenured teachers which some of them could not be here but I'm going to read their names anyway but if you are here when I read your name please come up and get your tenure certificate. Jeffrey Bigas, Carrie Cahaley, Tron Lee Hill, I know she's here. No, >> there it is. >> It was just out of order. This is Debbieman Campbell. [Applause] Congratulations, Ashley Seaffort and Samantha White. Congratulations to all our new newly tenured staff at the middle school. Okay, at this time

002I'd like to call up Mr. uh Saferni, principal of the middle school, as well as Anna Nasimento. [Applause] There we go. Good evening everyone. Uh tonight we celebrate Anna Nasimento for 25 years of dedicated service to the Summit Public Schools. Anna uh is empathetic, compassionate aid, instructional aid who goes above and beyond her support on a daily basis. Her hard work, professionalism, and genuine kindness are what shine through in everything that she does. Anna's caring nature and unwavering dedication make her not only an invaluable member to our team, but also a true inspiration to those around her. She always strives for the very best for her students, her colleagues, and also her community. A little story about Anna, not to embarrass. This is all very positive stuff. Over the years, Anna and I have bonded

003over her home country of Portugal. On rough days, we joke that a private jet is going to be awaiting us in behind the school at 300 PM on Fridays to whisk us away. Also, Mr. Z. In 2021, the district sponsored a COVID 19 testing um for students and staff when we were returning from winter break. And that day, the administrative team was helping out and working the event. Um, and feeling bad for everyone involved, Anna drove to one of her favorite bakeries in Melbourne at the time and came back to the testing site, which was the middle school, um, with a dozen a dozen Portuguese custard um, cups. And I was trying I couldn't remember the pronunciation of the >> Belle data. Um, and it was such a joy and I will remember that day

004very much and just the selflessness behind that moment and the genuine kindness. So, congratulations to Anna and her 25 years and hopefully we look forward to many more in the summit system before you choose to retire, but hopefully not too soon. Congratulations. Thank you. >> All right, Matt Ramstead, your turn. I should also point out the the irony is both Anna and Matt were our teacher of the year and our power professional of the year last year as well. So, both hitting 25 years. All right. So, we recognize Matt Ramstead for 25 years of exceptional practice um and service to the middle school community. Throughout his distinguished career, he has served many vital roles including team leader, club adviser, coach, um teacher of American history, and member of the school culture and climate team. Always

005leading with integrity, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to students. During my first year in sum summit, Matt was one of the first teachers that I met and welcomed me in with open arms, warmth, and hospitality. Although I was anxious to start my new position at the time, his kindness helped me feel at ease and ready to dive into the challenges of the year. Last year, when Matt was awarded teacher of the year, one colleague described Mr. Ramstead as a fearless student advocate who holds students accountable while inspiring them to grow into thoughtful, responsible citizens. Another referred to him as the ultimate gentleman and professional, a shining example of excellence in education. Mr. Ramstead is known for his steady leadership, collaborative spirit, and genuine care for every student. Whether lending a helping hand or offering a

006listening ear or thoughtful thoughtfully considering what is best for the whole child, he consistently models the highest ideals um within the teaching profession. As we honor his 25 years of dedication, we express our heartfelt gratitude for his countless contributions to our school community. Congratulations, Mr. Ramstead. Your impact over the past yes quarter century which is hard to say and believe has shaped generations of students and colleagues alike and the LCJS SMS community is truly fortunate to have you. Congrats. Okay. Well, at this time, I'd like to ask Miss Selene Bennett to come up. Thank you. And is Mr. Gil. Did Mr. Gil make it this evening? >> He is 3 minutes away. He drove in from New York City from upstate New York and uh has been on the road since 310 this afternoon. So,

007I cannot thank you enough for just bearing with us. He apparently is parking. >> Okay, we can wait. And uh is Stephanie Nunees? >> Yes. >> Is she here? >> The two of them. >> They're together. >> All right, we can do a a little recess. I can't thank you all enough. You know, I will I will take an opportunity before I before comes in to simply thank the multiple people that I see present tonight supporting the 25 year um nominees and the recognition that we're receiving Uh this is clearly something that is shared. It takes a village and this recognition is shared with each and everyone of the people that have made it out tonight. Um this is a wonderful city. It's a gem in this huge world of ours. This is a city

008that um offers each and everyone, adults and seniors so many wonderful opportunities. And it is through the love and generosity of so many that so much happens in this town. I've had the enormous pleasure in 25 years of service to work with extraordinary individuals from administration to um colleagues some of whom are present this evening to city officials through the years and none of the work that I have been able to do or anyone else for that matter would be possible without so many wonderful people. This is a very unique city and and one that we need to hold incredibly close to our hearts and feel pride. We're diverse. We're generous and kind and so truly thank you because this is something that I share with each of you. So thank you. [Applause] Well, a

009fun announcement. If those of you that follow our boys soccer team, they beat Scotch Plains today, two to one. Big game, big win. >> Like to welcome Dr. Gil to the microphone. Dr. Gil, we've never met. I know Dr. Gil used to work in the district from 2008 to 2015. Yes, I believe. and you got to come stand up here. Selene, >> thank you for >> I apologize. Thank you. Um, absolutely my honor to speak on behalf of Seline who has spent 25 years contributing to making Summit a place for all of us. Um, she joined Summit, as you know, in the last century, 1999. I thought she would appreciate saying that. Um, she helped launch the district's first FL program, a program teaching not only Spanish, but also giving children a window into the

010beauty and diversity of the Spanish speaking world. From the start, the classroom radiated energy and joy, and the district very quickly realized her reach extended beyond the classroom. Um, this in great part led to the creation of the mentoring program, Smart Summit mentoring around respect and teamwork. a program that started with just eight students but very quickly grew to about 200 with mentors that ranged from central office administrators building principles and more than 100 teachers. Um she went out to found to found chat community of Hispanics in action for summit which educated Latino families and residents across the district on opportunities available for them for their children gave them access to for civic engagement and in doing so helped many find a true sense of belonging. As the Hispanic population grew Seline also built quentes

011or bridges linking families and schools in lasting ways. Her contributions spilled well beyond the schools in large part and in large ways and small. Selene served for six years on the Summit Public Foundation board, taught English as a second language to parents twice a week for four years, and personally helped families find resources they needed when they needed them. Doctors, eyeglasses, extracurricular activities, jobs, things that seem small but were actually very big. things that help you find a steady footing in a new country and a new community. She has led five Hispanic heritage celebrations, some of which drew over 400 people, and has been recognized with the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Award along with the Boy Scouts of America Good Scout Award. Through it all, she's remained a trusted voice of care

012and belonging. I left Summit 10 years ago, so why am I back today? And two and a half hours of traffic. Uh first when I arrived here I was also new to the community and the state. During my time in summit I was the only Hispanic on the admin team of 30 plus admin colleagues. You all welcomed me which I hold dear to this day. When Selene saw me, she saw all of me. Not just the professional but the person behind it with it, the culture, the family, the history, all which she could understand in a moment. She literally and figuratively spoke my language. Always a step ahead. Selena's energy propelled me in ways that she'll shape me today. That's the kind of presence she's offered uh to the entire community. I know the Nunes

013Betta and Ariano family Ariano family are here tonight. Um I'd like to introduce Stephanie Nunees who will speak for Seline as well. Summit High School Hill Topper, class of 2015. [Applause] Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. I was asked, "Who is Seline?" I've known Seline since I was 6 years old. From the very beginning, she was always that phone call that you would make when you needed help in school, in the community, or just in life. She was the voice on the other end of the phone saying, "Yes, always. Always showed up and always knew how to make things happen." or just make you feel better. For the Hispanic community and truly for so many others, Seline was our voice. She made sure we were heard, seen, and supported. Whether it was advocating for students,

014organizing events, or simply just being a source of strength and wisdom, she never stopped giving and always pushed us to reach our goals and potential, even at times it seemed challenging. She's the person that shows you that you're capable of more. Who pushes, supports, and celebrates your successes as if it were one of her own. Selene, your 25 years of teaching are only part of your story. You've changed lives, shaped communities, and left a legacy that will continue for generations. You've shown us that we're capable of more, that with love, pride, and joy, we can lift one another up. Thank you for everything, and we really all love you. So this is the kind of love and connection that defines Selen's time in Summit. Through her words and action, she leaves no doubt when she

015says, "You have a place here." Selen's relationships are rooted in genuine care, shared history, and love. Seline, for 25 years, you've done what few people can with absolute ease and elegance. You've made people feel seen, valued, and dignified. You've built bridges between language and love, between schools and families, and between who we are today and who we might become. You've enabled us in your care. Thank you for the beauty you've brought Summit and congratulations. [Applause] Thank All [Applause] right, we're going to take a brief pause and those of you that have been recognized tonight, if you can go out into the hallway for a photo and this would be the moment for everyone else to escape if you're not wanting to watch the rest of the board meeting. If you're here for the board meeting,

016we will resume in about two minutes. Um, by state law, by state law, we have to report out the outcomes of all standardized tests within 60 days of receiving those results. So, here tonight to do that for some of our standardized tests is Miss Heather Roco, our director of curriculum and instruction. I am not that tall by any stretch of the imagination. Thank you so much. Um so we are looking at um the state assessment report for the spring season. This is the second half. You heard some of the earlier um reports, the access testing and the GPA in the August meeting. So this will include the SLA and the DM report. Let me put my glasses on so I can see. So, tonight we're going to talk about the dynamic learning maps uh assessment

017first and then we'll move to NJ SLA um presentation. Uh we'll look at the reports on ELA, math, and science. Then we're going to talk about how we utilize that information and the next steps for moving forward with some of our data analysis work that we're doing. I've added a piece um based off of feedback from the board last year as well as our ED committee meeting recently that looks at comparison to regional partners. Um so we'll talk about that when we get there. And then what the upcoming testing season will bring, which is a little bit different than it's been um for the last several years. So I wanted to update the board on on that as well. So first we'll present on the dynamic learning map. The dynamic learning maps are an alternative

018assessment for students um with the most significant learning disabilities. Um they are assessed in English, math, and science. These are students who are not taking the SLA but are are taking this assessment instead. It is an online assessment and it informs instruction as well as meets the state requirement for reporting student achievement. Students in grades 3 to 11 are assessed as well as in the science it's grades five, 8, and 11, which aligns with what the SLA is tested at as well. We had 19 students take this assessment this year. Uh the performance levels are as follows. There's four levels. We're emerging, approaching the target, at target, or an advanced level. And I'll report out here ELA and then math and then science by those levels. And it is a cumulative 3 to f uh

01911 excuse me report. So this is are the results for the proficiency in ELA this year. And here are the results in math. And this is the results for science. And as a reminder, it is a very small um sample size because it's only assessing students of those 19 who are in five, eight, and 11. So it's just something to keep in mind as you're looking at those results. So I'll move on uh to the New Jersey student learning assessment. Uh so this assessment is um aligned to student learning standards. It is NJLA ELA is assessed in grades 3 to nine. In math, we assess in grades three to eight as well as then end of course assessments for those students who take algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2, and I'll explain that a little bit

020more detail in a second. Um because we do have some students who are taking algebra 1 as eighth graders, some teacher students who are taking it as nth graders. Um and then the NJSLA report for science which are students in grades five, eight, and 11. The SLA is rated on five performance levels from level one to level five from did not meet expectations to partially met to approached expectations and then levels four and five are the met expectations and then exceeded expectations. So we're always, you know, hoping to have students hit the four and five um level. Parents were informed of students um results uh in September. We mailed those home so everyone should have a paper copy. Uh as well as these are uploaded into the Genesis portal so parents can access those as

021well. And we sent home information as to how to access them um in Genesis. The New Jersey Department of Education provides a link and this presentation will be posted on the um district website here, but to provide additional information to help understand and interpret the scores should you wish to reference that or you can always reach out to your principal, teacher or myself for um additional help in looking at those scores more closely. Okay. So, we'll begin with the ELA report. So this uh ELA report shows overall a really strong performance. I added this slide which is a little different from last year's report to show a comparison at each of the five levels um from grades 3 to nine. In this case you'll see that the line on the top I tried to put

022it maroon to keep in the spirit um are the summit results and then the line underneath it are the state results. So you just have a comparison at each of the five levels. You'll see levels four and five, the column is denoted in green because of course that's what we're um hoping for and because those are students who are showing that they're meeting um the proficiency. I know it's a lot of numbers. So I do have bar graphs coming too which I know sometimes are easier on the eyes too. But it's something that then when it's also posted for the public to look at too um online. So this slide and then the next few slides will show the total percentage of students who have met or exceeded so that level four or five the

023expectations. So in this slide we have grades three to five. The column on the right um is the dis are the district scores and then the column on the left shows the state scores. So it's just another way of looking at some of the information that was presented on the previous slide. This uh slide shows the total percentage of students in grades six to nine who met or exceeded expectation. Uh while the state average ranges between 50 and 57% uh proficiency, Summit's performance level is approximately 25% higher than that in um all the cases. We also do a study and look at the performance year-over-year. So we um go back and look at now three years worth of data in comparing grade three, grade four, and grade five. Um, so you can look and see

024the comparison um, to last year's group. It's also something to keep in mind that those groups move forward. Um, so there are cohorts that we study as well that I'm not necessarily reporting out publicly here, but you can line up and see this year's um, grade four students were last year's grade three students, etc. And that's something that we take into consideration as we do some of the data analysis work, which I'll talk about in a minute. This is the similar information but grades six to nine. I would like to point out in grade nine, we did see a small little dip in performance. However, when we looked back at the performance from last year and the state average from last year compared to the state average from this year, the state's average dropped eight

025points um as well. So the summit um numbers kind of align with that a little bit um better than that. So it wasn't a moment of alarm after we kind of drilled down and look at that data. The state requires school districts to report um provide a report by subgroup. So we report out subgroups that are categorized by race, by program, and then by gender. Please know that we have students that appear in more than one subgroup and they're reported out of course in all the subgroups to which they fall. Um this graph then shows a report uh the subgroup report for race and this reflects students in grades three to nine. We don't break it out um by the grade level here. This is a report of the subgroup for ELA by program. This

026includes students with IP 504, students who are currently in the ML program and those who are e um qualify for as economically disadvantaged. And then lastly, the report out by gender, male and female there. Okay, moving on to math. So, something to keep in mind, the math scores differ because the assessment differs a little bit. So, all students in grades three to eight take a math assessment. All students in high school only have to take one end of course exam and the sequence might change depending on the pathway that they are for math. So, we have some eighth grade students taking algebra 1. We have some great eighth grade students taking um math 8. So just know it's a mix of those students in the initial report out which we will see. But I also

027disagregate the data when we get to the column so you can see how students performed in eighth grade of algebra 1 and then in high school in algebra 1 too. So I show it to you both ways. So this year's report um shows really strong results uh overall again structured just the way that the ELA was. This is grades three to eight. And now this is the algebra 1, algebra 2, and geometry report out. And this is the mixed grade level. Some of these students are in middle school. Some of these students are in the high school. Going to the graphs. They're a little bit easier to process on the screen. Um, so this is the grades three to five. um comparison as well with the states for students who have met or exceeded the

028expectations strong performance. Again, this is grades 6 to 8. And this is where the data is disagregated. Could so you can see the eighth grade students who took um algebra 1 assessment. Oops, sorry. This then reflects the students who are taking it in the high school level. also the algebra 1, the algebra 2, and the geometry um assessment. And we're performing exceptionally strong um particularly the geometry scores are really impressive. Algebra 2, too. You'll see the comparison. We've done well um year-over-year in those areas. So, this is the similar grades three, grades four, and grades five over the last three years. Here we are looking at grades six to eight. Um, want to acknowledge grade six. We've been continuing to focus on the grade six math U performance and we're continuing to do that. But

029you see the results here have been really tremendous. Last year the increase to 76% is a success overall. One of the things that we've been working on is an alignment be or vertical um articulation between fifth grade and sixth grade. Um and we're continuing that work into this year actually where fifth grade teachers are going to visit sixth grade math classrooms and vice versa. Um and looking at how we are assessing the language that we're using. So we're really seeing gains I think um as noted there. Uh the other point that I I wanted to address is the grade eight. So the grade eight math, these are students who are typically math is more challenging for them. Um and the report out for this year was a 37% um met or exceeded expectation. Last year

030we were at 47%. The year before that we were at 40. The year before that, which isn't recorded on the screen, was 39. Um, so the 47% was fantastic and we want to continue to look uh for ways to support those students and get to that um area of strength. The 37 might look a little startling on the screen, but it does tend to align with what is traditionally reported out. So, but it's something that we're taking um note and a close look at as well. And then finally, these are um the secondary students of students at the high school for the last three years. and then we'll move to the subgroup reporting. So this is the first um subgroup and that's reported out by race. Next one is programs. And then finally the gender

031report. Okay. Last we'll look at the science reports. Um so the SLA science assessment differs in that there are only four performance levels as opposed to five in the ELA and math. So, that's something to just keep in mind as you're looking um at the results. Below proficient, near proficient, proficient, and then advanced proficient, we are only assessing grades 5, 8, and 11. Um so that reports out in comparison with the state here met or exceeded expectations again in comparison with the state. Um, and I will say and uh that under the direction Mattie Travi is the science supervisor. She was uh new last year. We've been putting a lot of effort and thought into the assessments um in science program in particular and looking at the instruction how to better align with um how

032the SLA presents some of their assessments, not making it only kind of so state test focused necessarily, but they've been doing some really good work at looking at the standards um and looking at how to again common language and assessments that are reflective of the types of questions that they'll see on assessment. Uh so this is the of course the three-year comparison. I want to highlight grade five. Uh here we've seen tremendous growth 10% increase over the last three years. And as we think about why, one of the things that we drew the conclusion around is the instruction is shared for science between the steam teachers and the gened teachers. And those steam teachers provide students opportunities to build their knowledge around those science and um technology and engineering standards which are part of what's

033assessed on this exam. So I wanted to give credit and you know the focus of the board over the last several years on funding and supporting that program particularly at the elementary year after year has really um showed to help to increase um our scores in this area. So and students love it. Here's the report out um from subgroup by subgroup for race program and then gender. Okay. So, what do we do with all of this information? there's a lot of numbers and a lot of things for us to think about. So, it is one data point that we look at to examine our practices, look at how we go about assessing um students as well as to consider what's how we are meeting st the standards um set by New Jersey. So, we very

034much take time and look for areas of strength um as well as areas for growth. This is a picture from today um with the data team that's a fifth grade team over at Washington. And the the SLA results are also taken into conversation with other data points that we collect. So that includes I ready diagnostic. This year we have the Aadian diagnostic too which is assessing skills. So we continue to look at these results in conversations with the other results to help us highlight the standards on which we really want to focus our instruction and areas for improving our instruction. Um so that's the work that we're doing right now. So this is um this is actually one of our newest instructional facilitators here meeting with that fifth grade team going through I ready data

035as well as them pulling in and looking at the district evidence statement analysis. So I just wanted to show you an example of what we receive um on the district level and this is just a sample um and how we go about utilizing this. So this gives us a report across the bottom those little tiny letters and numbers um are the standards the state standards. the line then that goes up, you'll see the blue line. That's where the state average was on each of those standards. And then the green circle reflects how the district did with those standards. So when we look at a document like this, we traditionally outperform the state as noted in our results. However, we are looking for those places where the standard might be a little closer to what the

036state result is. So you see there the fourth one over that green circle is right on top of the blue square which is the state. So then we ask ourselves a question how else might we or what might we want to add or focus on to help improve in that area because it seems a little off pace with what how we're achieving other standards. Um so this is one of the documents. So we have districtwide. So I'm looking at the district-wide analysis as well as then there are ones specific to schools. Our coaches, literacy coaches and the instructional facilitator are looking at those along with our principles as well um to really identify areas where we want to focus some of our support of teachers both in the classroom as well as with our professional

037development program because those are our next steps. So then we go through, we share the results with teachers, we um seek their input as well. And then we are looking at um other materials, ways to pull small group to utilize tier 2 interventions to help fill in some of those gaps where we see them. And we progress monitor and assess students throughout the year to track our growth. Okay, almost there. Uh so last year during my presentation um as well as during ed committee we talked a lot about looking at regional partners and how do our scores kind of align with what's going on in um districts around us. The 2025 data what I just showed you I cannot yet do the comparisons because all of those reports haven't been released. Directors of curriculum right

038now are doing that. Um, however, I wanted to go back and show you the comparison for 2024 since our scores really align this year with our performance last year. And the districts that I've chosen are ones that we often talk about when we're looking for comparison. So, it's a sample. It's not every district, of course, um, even in the county or in the region. Um but um there are ones that are often brought up when we have conversations about um where do we stand, you know, in relative in relation to our neighbors. So the way that I've structured this, you'll see this is the mets met and exceeded um expectations from grades three to nine. This is the ELA report and along the side you'll see the um school districts that I'm highlighting here. The

039way that I went about getting this information was I did go through each of these school districts presentations from last year and pulled the data directly from the school district um just so you know where um it all came from. So when you go are we're at the top keeping with the maroon theme there and then the comparison underneath are the other districts. So when you look vertically there you'll see that we are in really good shape. There are moments of outliers. there are questions, you know, that will help to guide some of our instruction, but I'm really proud of the these results. Really proud of these results um in comparison. So, so that's the ELA. I broke out just like I did with the math before. So, this is 3 to 8 and then

040the next slide will be the algebra, algebra 2 and geometry. the math sequence can be a little challenging because school districts do it a little bit differently. So that's one of the things that I'm looking at as we kind of consider some of the comparisons. And then lastly, the science um comparison. I know the science assessment itself gets um well, I will say that curriculum directors have some criticism of the science assessment because the state numbers, their averages aren't great. Um and then I know questions get raised about well it's only 55% of students who have met are exceeded but when you look at the regional partners we are outperforming in some areas um from our regional partners and doing well in comparison. So I thought that might be a helpful data point for the

041board to look at um again these are 2024 scores. Okay. So, the next testing season will be different. So, I wanted to update the board on some of the decisions that the NJ DOE has made. Um, which I will say is causing some extra work for your already busy um administrators, but we're working really hard to get it all of this done and do it to our standard. But in mid August we learned from the DOE that they were changing this testing platform. So we have been using the Pearson platform for many years now. I think it goes back to 2017 might be 2015 and we the state has made a decision to change it to Cambium. And so that includes a field test and this state has required all districts in New Jersey to

042participate in the field test. Um and that involves all students from grades 4 to 11 in ELA and math. The platform is not changing for science. The science standard, the science assessment is remaining as it has. So currently all of the building administrators are have been trained. They all attended the state training and then we actually just met yesterday along with Doug our who is our supervisor of technology um to prepare for this. It's a different platform, different systems, different uploads. So there's a a learning curve for us but um we're in really good shape and want to give a shout out to those administrators who are and Mr. Orur for working so hard to get this right. Um so from October 27th until November 14th the window is open in the state to participate

043in the field test. Parents will be hearing on the identified dates for their schools um soon. Um but the students must participate in the field test and then in the spring of 2026 it will roll out these new tests which they are calling the NJ GPA which you remember that's the um graduation required assessment um and adaptive as well as the NJSLA adaptive. The state hasn't given us a lot of information as to I I will say they haven't given us any information as to what the scores will look like reporting wise. They have provided us information like sample questions which I shared with supervisors and they're sharing it with their teachers. Um but the adaptive piece of it will be new and so comparing this year's scores to last spring scores might look different

044and I just want to make the board aware that there there are changes and we're not actually quite sure, but we will report out as we learn more about what that all entails. The adaptive piece is um based on students answers then the test adapts. So there the argument is or the the not argument but the presentation is it'll give us a more precise result um and the performance level because of that. So, we'll see. Uh, so more to come on that, but I just wanted to make you aware that it is an adjustment that is happening um right now and parents will be hearing about the field test soon. The field test two I should close with. Um, we don't get results as a district from that. So, they don't the uh state will

045not share that. So, I won't have anything to share with you um or us uh the administration to adjust. But that's my conclusion I believe. Yes. Any questions from the board? >> Yes. Sorry, >> Eileen. >> Great. >> Sure. >> Yes. Students test is to make sure students understand and use the platform. >> The state's intention is to make sure the platform is working the way that they think it needs, you know, should work. So, it's a test for the state. Yes, it does also expose our students to what it will look like. When we look at it on the screen, it doesn't look all that different from what they're used to, to be honest. Um, but really the field test is to test the systems, you know, behind the wall sort of and and

046make sure that they're working so they get data about that and to get feedback from us about, you know, school districts, what did work, what did not work, um, etc. >> Yes. >> Yep. like question. >> That's our understanding. I'm really interested to see. I haven't even seen a demo of necessarily what that looks like from the state yet, but yes, that's our understanding that it's all based on grade level standards, but based on students responses, it changes the questions that are offered to better fine-tune um the results and where students fall within that standard. It's okay. >> Sorry. We'll get there. >> Yep. >> Sorry. >> No. So those students get broken out. So some of those students in grade seven went to grade 8 math. Some of those students in grade seven went

047to algebra 1. >> So roughly what percent I'm trying to understand differential that went to equates to staying in line 70%. Does that make sense? >> It does. So when you like put those scores together, um the total uh as I dropped the binder, I believe the total result was 70% when I looked and kind of place it. I have to go back and double check that number. Um >> but yes to >> the remaining Right. >> Correct. [Music] >> Do you think that's primarily cohort? Did we change anything in the last? >> So we didn't change anything. Um so we like looking at the cohort is something that we do when we go in and do that um graph that I showed before and looking at the standards that are and are not being

048met. Is there something that year-over-year maybe that when we looked at it in math grade seven it was okay because of the students who were demonstrating you know more profic proficiency now with the grade eight cohort being smaller who are taking that what maybe is there a foundational or background of a skill that probably needs more development there those are the things that we look at yes >> the last question I just gender breakach teaching Yeah. >> Yeah. It's a national trend. Yeah. >> I haven't had conversations necessarily in terms of the learning approach. So often what we're talking about too is um informational text versus some narrative text. I know in my previous role as a supervisor, we were looking at males tend to respond and interact with some of theformational texts in ways

049that they enjoy it more and invest more time and energy in it. Um, and so that's something that we're having conversations around. the teaching of in terms of varying how we teach males versus females hasn't been part. But the material and making sure that we're offering a balance of materials that might kind of more typically appeal to males and more typically appeal to females is part of the conversation. >> Great. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> Any other questions? >> Yes. very field test. How many days? >> Oh, thank you for Yes, I should have included uh that. So, uh it's they're calling it three units. So, we'll do two units one day and one unit the second day. So, it's going to be over two days. The field test for reading is 60 minutes. For math,

050it's 60 minutes. So, we'll typically be doing that on the same day. And then the third one is on writing and that is a longer 120 minute field test. >> Can parents out their kids? Just >> Yeah. I mean, yes. Yeah. Yep. >> Yeah. We encourage everyone to take it. >> Any other questions from Thank you. [Applause] Yep. >> Thank you, Miss Roco. That was great. Um, next I'm going to present the uh student safety data system. There are two reporting periods that we are required to report out. This is for all incidents of violence, vandalism, suspensions, and hibs that occurred between January 1 of 25 and June 30 of 25. So that's the second reporting period. We have to report that out this fall. So I'm going to start by just showing you some

051of the categories that are included in this report that we need to track and share information with for these incidents that occur in our schools. See the violence category, the vandalism, substance and other incidents leading to removal, which is code of conduct type behaviors that excuse me, code of conduct type behaviors that would cause for removal. Okay, those are the categories and here's our actual data for that reporting period. And we do go back and take a look at uh the previous reporting period as well as the second reporting period of last year and previous years um to track and see if there's any abnormalities or something standing out. Um and this data is pretty consistent every reporting period that we have. One of the biggest components of this report is all the information about

052HIV, which is harassment, intimidation, and bullying. And Miss Kaplan is our anti-bullying coordinator for the district. So, she oversees all of the schools anti-bullying specialists, which do the investigations at each school. That's the bulk of the information. So, I'm going to turn it over to you, Laura. Thank you. >> Good evening. Um I'm Laura Kaplan, director of counseling. Tonight I'm the anti-bullying coordinator for the district. Um so the upcoming portion of this presentation is really going to provide you with context for our HIV information. HIV is harassment, intimidation, and bullying. As Mr. Huff said, twice annually, we are required to report out the total number of HIP cases that are investigated. Of those cases, how many are affirmed by the school board during that prior reporting period? Um we're going to show the different number

053of confirmed cases, the types of remediations that occurred. Um and as we're also required to report, this started last year. Instances of preliminary determination. That's where both the principal and superintendent agree that what was reported which may have been initially reported as a HIP did not meet the criteria and was handled as a code of conduct. Um, as I said, I'm the district coordinator. At the elementary levels, the school counselor acts as the anti-bullying specialist. At our middle school and high school, we work in a team approach with our student assistance coordinator. So, new at the middle school, that's Molly Malinsky and our two assistant principles. At the high school, I'm doing a little double duty for the first half of the year. Um, so I'm working with our two assistant principles until our student

054assistance coordinator, Monica Galasso, um, returns from leave at the end of January. When we look at this side, um, what it's going to show you are the number of HIV cases investigated and then confirmed at each building. As you can see, that first column is showing you the number of cases investigated but were not confirmed. So what that means is that it was an alleged HIV but it was unfounded to meet the criteria of our policy. The second column are those that were alleged and confirmed to meet to violate our HIV policy. And then that third column are how many instances um there was the preliminary determination used in that building. And again this is looking at January 1 through June 30th of last school year. We are also required to report out the nature

055of the HIV investigations that took place during this reporting period. Um these typically remain pretty consistent. These are basically all of the protected classes that um are part of that policy including race and ethnic origin, gender identity and expression, ancestry, mental, physical or sensory disability, appearance, color, religion or sexual orientation. And then remediation is ranging anywhere from parent contact to suspension. In in many cases, several of these are occurring to address HIV. What I want to point out though is that um these are all similar to how we handle any code of conduct violation. So just because an incident is investigated or founded to be in violation of HIV, it does not mean that the approach to responding to or remediating that situation is any different. Um, and it's handled immediately as as potentially code

056of conduct and then may subsequently also be investigated under our policy. We also in these reporting periods report out to the state level the types of programs and trainings that take place to um address proactively to train our staff, students and community and to remediate um any bullying type behavior. So you can see here we we do annual training with our staff. So we're required to complete an annual training at the district and we also do it again at the building levels. Um in our opening faculty meetings we also receive annual training on suicide prevention. Um there's different um nurtured heart and restorative practices kind of exist throughout the district at different capacities in different buildings. As a district we celebrate the week of respect. That's actually this week. So, your children might have had

057spirit weeks or different announcements and activities happening in their buildings this week. Um, Red Ribbon Week is later this month. Um, we also have programs kind of embedded into our school day experience like our advisory programs, our thrive lessons at the elementary school, our peer leadership at both the middle and high school. Do a lot of push-in support, mentorship, leadership activities with younger students. Um, and then we've done larger um, community events, self-care affairs across the high school. This is just a few um, that we felt were worth highlighting. In addition, because we're doing the second reporting period right now, we are also required to complete a self assessment. So the anti-bullying specialists in each building chairs a school climate or school safety team that usually consists of teaching staff um potent an administrator a

058parent um maybe the nurse sometimes I know at the middle and high school we will bring in student representation in those conversations and one of their tasks at the end of the year is to do a self assessment. So what that is looking at is eight core elements down that right hand side and they are rated under in these four scales. So under each of those elements there's different criteria that we're looking whether we do not meet partially meet meet or exceed those requirements. There are a total of 26 indicators that fall under those eight categories. So for this past 2425 school year um here are our selfassessment scores. These will be submitted to the state level at the end of this month. And you can see that out of a possible score of 78.

059That would be exceed in every single area. We are falling at a 76 in all primary and elementary levels, a 75 at the middle school, and a 73 at the high school. Those scores represent that we are meeting or exceeding in every indicated area. And that's it. Are there any questions about the hip portion? I'll save the others for Superintendent Huff. Yes. >> Oh, it could be. This is his his slide. >> Sorry. >> No, it's okay. This is a a new category they added in the last several years with all the technology. A kid breaking into another kid's device, accessing someone else's work on Google platform or something like that. >> Lowering the number of what's your feed on the effect? >> So we do um collect feedback on several of our programs. So

060um a after our for example advisory at the middle and high school the thrive programs specifically at the elementary school I would say at those we are receiving feedback from the staff that are implementing those lessons and programs and from students who are participating. We also collect feedback just generally from students about um in terms of their response to the diff many different programs. So which one stood out to them? And I would say that there there is an impact. I I don't I can't speak specifically to the direct correlation of reduction based on specific programs. What I can tell you is that we evaluate and update the curriculum for these annually. So we've been really fortunate that our counselors have been and teachers have been able to collaborate and write every year um to

061update based on those trends that we're seeing. So, if we're getting feedback that this lesson was not really relevant, we're not seeing that or this didn't connect with the kids, um, and we're seeing this change in in the types of behaviors, then we're able to able to make that adjustment. Um, but not something that I can speak to a specific number of reduction right now. >> You're welcome. I would just like to add that I I don't necessarily get alarmed what looks like sometimes like elevated numbers because we do compare from report period to report period because I instruct all the administrators to investigate every claim of HIP. Um I think it's better to be overly cautious when students are coming and asking for help than to say h that's not a big deal. There's

062always more to it when you start asking questions and the HIP process is very procedural. It's very formatted and uh I think it's important that we're not as concerned with the high numbers. We look if there's going to be some sort of outlier, but um I do direct them to investigate everything. >> Okay. >> And uh if there Do you want me to answer? >> Yeah. >> Um, yeah. Go ahead. >> Yeah. >> So, so oftentimes what happens is that an incident is reported. So, it's that this happened and so what we're looking at when that's reported is does it fall in line with our code of conduct and also fall in line with potentially violating our HIP policy. Um, if there is an incident that is just reported as a HIB, so there's a

063way for an anonymous report, there's a way for students or families or staff to report a HIB. There's there's no repercussions for reporting a falseh. It's just that that report is unfounded. There may not be if it's if it's coming in as information and not an incident that we've observed. Um there there likely will not be consequences to an incident that is unfounded for him. There may be remediation opportunities. So talking about, you know, conflict resolution, something like that, educating. Um, but there there isn't necessarily that that a false report doesn't produce a consequence necessarily. Yeah. >> Thank you, Laura. Well done. And that concludes our presentations. If the board would like to return, we can get on with the meeting. So, um, the report that we just heard was is considered a public hearing.

064So, I need to have a motion to close public hearing. Do I have a motion? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion carries. >> Okay. Um and then um following on that um 5A is the approval of the 2425 submission of the school self assessment for determining grades report under the anti-bullying bill of rights act. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? >> Mr. Maha? >> Yes. Miss Justice, yes. >> Mr. Hanley, yes. >> Mr. Gunderson, yes. >> Mr. Cho, >> Vice President Kelly, >> yes. >> President Con. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Um, so that leads to the president's announcements. I just Good evening everyone. Um, I always love to start

065our meetings by celebrating our teachers. We just highlighted early in our meeting some of the outstanding educators at Lton C. Johnson Summit Middle School. Um, our students are at the heart of everything we do and it is our teachers who make the greatest impact in their lives. So, it's always wonderful to start by celebrating them. This evening, I'd like to focus on something that runs through all of our schools. Social emotional learning or SEAL. Social emotional learning is the process by which children and adults develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy and make responsible decisions. When social emotional learning is integrated successfully, it leads to stronger academic performance, healthier relationships, and communities rooted in care and respect. This week, as noted, our

066district is observing the week of respect. Each of our schools is working with counselors to lead lessons on respecting ourselves and others. The goal is not only to encourage kindness, but also to build awareness around preventing harassment, intimidation, and bullying. The activities look different at each school, and they are fun. Today at Brighton, students were s wore superhero shirts or ones with positive messages for kindness is your superpower. While at the high school, students were dressed in workout clothes to symbolize working out conflicts peacefully. These simple but powerful activities send the message that respect is a shared responsibility across our school communities. This reminds me of a point of pride. I'm a speech and debate parent. So, I'm very proud of our Summit High School speech and debate team. Last month, they placed third overall

067at the Yale National Tournament, which had 150 schools competing. We were third. The coach, Mrs. and Pointer reminds students often, we are not only the best team, we are the kindest team. And that philosophy shows up in powerful ways. I have seen our students at tournaments offering encouragement to firsttime competitors who were anxious before their first round. I've seen our students offering encouragement and engaging with genuine words of praise and support to another team after having debated them in a incredible one-on-one or two on two debate very intense for an hour coming out of it and being kind, encouraging, real upstanders. What this demonstrates is that our students are learning. They can push themselves to excel. They can compete at the highest levels. And they can still lead with kindness. They recognize their peers even

068during competitions as people who also deserve support, empathy, and respect. That's a life lesson more valuable than any trophy and it's the culture that we're proud to nurture here in Summit. And with that, I will pass it on to the superintendent. >> Thank you, President Cohen. I'd like to in my report give the happenings in the schools. So, at the primary center, preK students had a visit from the summer fire department as part of their study of fire safety. Students learned about the parts of the firetruck, the role of the firefighter, and how to stay safe. At Brighton, students participated in Start with Hello Week. Start with Hello Week is a national initiative aimed at fostering a culture of kindness, inclusion, and empathy amongst students. The initiative was created by Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit

069organization founded by the parents of Sandy Hook Elementary School. The week's going to end with laser a laser show focused on showing kindness to others. At Franklin, they continue to focus on fostering a culture of kindness and academic growth across all grades. The PTO fall after school enrichment began on Monday, including classes for golf, chess, bracelet making, acting, etc. Our our book fair is going to be held next week starting on 10:14. At Jefferson School, the Jefferson PTO hosts its annual fall festival this weekend, October 11th. It's the largest fundraiser and it's a fun community event. At Lincoln Hubard, students Uh the student body ran a smaller fundraiser during our gold out in recognition of uh pediatric cancer awareness month on Monday, September 22nd, collecting $160 for the Brook Healey Foundation. Washington Elementary School. Summer

070Snyder presented at the Washington School faculty meeting this past Monday. Summer literally wrote the book on honoring dignity in schools. During the meeting, she taught our faculty how to create a dignity promise with students and then how to teach it each element of that promise. She will return midyear to present to the faculty again and she will also do a presentation for parents which will be given to everyone who would like to attend. More information will be out for when that event will occur. At the middle school, the Summit Police Department conducted assemblies for all grade levels on Friday, October 6 to highlight the importance of ebike safety. Officers Katiga and Lieutenant Rich met with students to discuss key safety measures and to ensure students understand the laws and regulations designed to keep them safe.

071The officers also reviewed the new City of Summit ordinance passed earlier this year by the city council regarding the use of ebikes and e- scooters in the downtown area. And uh at the high school on Monday, October 13th, the Summit Police Department will also be presenting to all of our PE and health classes about the same thing, the importance of ebike safety and review the laws and regulations for ebikes and e- scooters. And those are the happenings in the schools. That's my report. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Um, so we need a motion to um on the super superintendent's recommendations of suspensions and the recommendations of HIV investigations for the period of September 2nd through September 30th, 2025. Do I have a motion? >> Second. >> Any um discussion? >> Mr. Maha? >> Yes. >> Miss

072Justice? Yes. Mr. Hanley? Yes. >> Mr. Gunderson? Yes. Mr. Cho? Yes. >> Vice President Kelly? >> Yes. President Con. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. And now I am happy to hand it over to our student board representative, Hadley Taylor, for a report. >> Hi, I'm one of the high school's student council representatives. It's so nice to see all of you today. Right now at the high school, our athletic department is really busy getting ready for Hill Topper weekend, which is like a big fall athletic showcase. We also had a pep rally a few weeks ago where all of our team captains talked about their team and their goals for the season. And we also had all of the classes competing against each other in different games to earn Hill Topper points which

073are our way of tracking school spirit. It was really fun and was definitely a successful event. And then also last week our executive student council went on a field trip to West Calwell High School where we talked with other student councils and saw what they were up to so far this year. that was also really successful. We talked about a lot of different things and some fundraising ideas. And then besides that, for our goal of raising school spirit, we've been playing music in the hallways on Friday and we have themes every week and then we have the kids vote on what they think the theme is. So last week because of Taylor Swift's new album, we played all of Taylor Swift's songs and that was really popular. Um, also our theater department has been really

074busy. They have rehearsals for the fall play which is in November and they're also preparing for their cabaret fundraiser which is tomorrow night. And then also our speech and debate team is getting ready for their second national tournament on the 18th in Bron in the Bronx. Um we also wanted to highlight our school newspaper, The Verve, which put out their first edition this week. Um it's a super great way to get opinions and news across grades and across the other kids. Um the adi the adviser Miss Wilson is a really great person and she guides all of her kids to success even if it's their first year doing the newspaper. They work on interviewing, drafting, creating, editing, and finalizing the paper. And there's just so much you can do to help out with it. And

075we wanted to point it out because they've gotten off to a phenomenal start this year and we're really excited to see where they go to. Um that's all I have today. Thank you so much for listening and have a great day. >> Thank you so much, Hadley. >> And Hadley, if you'd like to, you're excused. You don't You may stay, but you don't have to. >> Uh, Mr. Jess, are there any additions or revisions to the agenda? >> Uh, Madam President, there are none. >> Thank you. So, we will move on to committee reports. Uh, beginning with Education and Student Activities Committee. The Education and Student Activities and Services Committee met on September 30th at 12:00 noon for an hour and 15 minutes. The committee members in attendance were superintendent Scott Huff, the director of

076curriculum Heather Rockco, board members Melanie Conn, Belita Justice, and myself. It will be quick recap as most of what we discussed have all been presented already tonight. Uh the first item was uh the presentation of the standardized test results for the NGSLA and DLM as noted by um director of curriculum Roco. And you know to recap the conclusions the consolidated results for the district were you know fairly consistent with the prior years and materially higher than state averages for each subject and grade. The science lowers were lower science scores were lower than the LM math for both the district and the state and the director of curriculum as she noted has been reviewing the results with staff to determine where improvements can be made. We also review the student safety data system report which is

077again a semiannual reporting of all incidents of vandalism, violence and substance abuse and other student incidents which was um required to be filed by the state along with public presented and we also review the HIP report for spring of 2025 as presented tonight. And then one additional item for the district calendar for this fall as noted by uh director of curriculum, the trial run for the new NJSLA and GPA testing format for the grades three through four through uh 8 and 11. While the elementary and middle school students will take them as part of the regular school day at the high school because only some students will take the test. The high school will have a delayed opening for the testing sometime in November before November 14th to accommodate the tests. And then lastly, the

0782026 and 20 27 district calendar. The proposed calendar has been finalized and on the agenda for approval at the board meeting tonight. The first day for students will be Tuesday, September 8th on 2026 and the last scheduled day will be Wednesday, June 16, 2027. So, the board action is the approval of the calendar and our next meeting will be November 10th at 12 noon. Anybody have any questions covered? >> I do. Um, if you don't mind, uh, I didn't have a chance to review your your minutes that you sent earlier, but uh, until just shortly before the meeting, I would have approached everyone out outside the meeting, but my apologies. And since it's on for the vote, I was curious if the committee gave any consideration or discussion to the topic of moving schools start

079before September 8th. Uh primarily I'm referencing probably more than a decade ago, we had a movement a foot to move in front of Labor Day and in fact move into August as several other districts had been doing that at the time uh in the state of New Jersey. And I was curious um if there was any discussion around that. Uh we did discuss that in the September board meeting when alternate versions of the calendar that included a start before Labor Day because Labor Day in 2026 and September 7th and I did recap uh for the other committee members the varying policies we've had over the years most recently in like 10 years ago there was a decision made if Labor Day was September 1 2 or three we would start after Labor Day. If Labor

080Day was four, five, six, seven, we would start before such and based on the collective view of what the district parents um want and the convention decision was made for the committee level to uh recommend the approval to stay with the start after Labor Day to be consistent with the most recent 3 to 5 year window and to make it easy for parents to continue to plan their regular routine. >> Thank you, Mr. Cho. and superintendent. Uh I appreciate the uh the fact that you might have talked about this at the board meeting that I was unable to attend because I was traveling. Um with that said, I am going to vote no on the calendar this year and it is to reflect um I understand it's a relatively unpopular topic to move our start

081of school year in advance of Labor Day. I know there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of reasons that people site um a lot of them will often refer to their Jersey Shore Labor Day weekend and I appreciate that and we respect that. Uh however, having been a parent of four students who have taken an enormous number of AP tests and were u members of extracurricular organizations that were required to come back prior to the school year. Um, increasingly as my children got older in the district, I found that uh we heard a lot about, well, we need to get tutors. We need to get our teachers are stressed and our AP scores are good, but we want better. And then we continue to expand our AP curriculum. However, uh, we keep moving

082the district start to around that Labor Day weekend. And the reason that's important for most people in the audience who may not have lived elsewhere, uh I come from Ohio, I've got family in Texas, those folks start sometimes August 1st, August 15th. There that AP test on every uh AP test is set in advance. It's a national day for each uh subject matter and it is a date set in stone and you cannot change it. You cannot do it two weeks later. So, we as a district and in many districts in New Jersey are working at a very competitive disadvantage for our students and our staff by starting so late in September. So, uh, I'm just going to revisit that topic for this board to maybe consider in the future by voting no tonight, but

083I wanted to explain myself and I wanted to just, uh, express my concerns about this that we continue to kind of kick this can down the road and yet we expect our students and staff to perform admirably on AP tests. And by the way, this is an economic this is an important economic factor for many families and students who want to get into college and get those credits. We have a number of students who could who could graduate at the at their end of their junior year because they're effectively seniors by their credits and they can save a fortune in college expenses. And as college expenses, we all know continue to go higher, that may increasingly be a factor that we should be thinking about on behalf of our families. So, I'll stop there. That's

084enough of my question. >> I mean, that's my answer, but >> the district has 4,000 students, so maybe 500 >> to 800 are taking AP exams. So, we do have to take into account consideration the entire school district. >> Yep. >> I mean, my own personal experience as a parent of four kids who took 45 AP exams and got 45s. I asked my kids that question and they didn't think a few days of school year was going to make a difference whether they were going to you how they did in school. So, I realize every experience is different for every family, but I think we do have to take into account all 4,000 students, not absolutely focused on the needs of a select few. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Cho. Uh,

085next up, operations committee. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, the operations committee met Wednesday, October 1st. Uh, the meeting lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. The committee members attending included superintendent uh the business administrator, the assistant business administrator, and board members Eileen Kelly, Carlos Maha, and myself. Uh the items discussed on this month's agenda include the following. Number one, the committee meeting was a present. In the committee meeting, there was a presentation made by Mantis on the district energy procurement and our initiatives to manage and minimize our costs related to energy. The business administrator's office arranged for this presentation by Mantis, who is a management consulting company that works on behalf of school districts, including Summit Public Schools, to organize reverse auctions for energy procurement such as electricity. The district recently entered just such

086an auction and secured our electricity resources for the May 26 to 27 time frame and an expense increase of approximately 5% year-over-year. Mantis indicated that they work with numerous districts on their energy procurement and are often seeing increases of double digits and some as up to as much as 25% increases year-over-year. Summit was commended for taking numerous steps to actively manage our energy resources to reduce or minimize our costs. For example, some of the steps the district takes include uh utilizing motion detectors that turn off room lights after a period of time when people are no longer present. Secondly, we've installed thermostats in our larger buildings that incorporate automated logic systems that can be programmed automatically and efficiently to use energy resources rather than rely on day-to-day manual adjustments. These automated systems are set in

087ranges that reduce our energy needs during off- peak times. Thirdly, custodial and teacher best practices are designed for and include day-to-day processes and behaviors that minimize or eliminate energy waste, such as turning off all computer monitors each night. Lastly, the district and its employees actively manage capacity utilization during seasonal changes. These steps are designed to reduce our overall energy footprint during key times such as the summer when few folks are in our buildings. Yet these determine our overall capacity needs and these capacity utilization reports contribute to the calculations that determine our energy rates. The committee and the administration spent a fair amount of time of our meeting on these energy procurement initiatives as they will be an important category of expense to keep a close eye on as many residents, businesses, and schools like ours

088are recently experiencing material increases in electricity costs in the state. The key drivers of these costs are the cost of natural gas that power many electricity producing facilities as well as overall availability of capacity to produce electricity and the utilization rates of those facilities that do so. Energy represents approximately 2.3% of the district budget currently. And with the demand for electricity growing exponentially to power data centers and new AI initiatives, this category of expense could face significant upward pressures in coming years. So the committee wants to highlight energy to the broader board and community as an expense category to be aware of and the potential budgeting challenges that we may face in coming years as these expenses may grow at a rate exceeding normal inflation due to the upward demand pressures and the fluctuating prices

089of commodity inputs. The second item on the meeting agenda was a review by the committee of the schedule and events around the annual audit. The auditors are currently in the district conducting their due diligence. The final auditing results will be compiled and made available to the administration later this fall. And the committee agreed that the need for a full board presentation by the auditors will be determined once the committee reviews the results. Should there be notable or material items reflected in the report, the committee will suggest a full board presentation may be warranted, but otherwise a detailed review by the committee and a readout from the committee to this uh uh to this meeting should suffice. Third item on the agenda saw the business office provide the committee another brief update on our bond projects.

090The Tatlock fieldhouse project progresses as expected. As previously discussed, the project was originally budgeted for $2.5 million but was recently estimated to be overbudget by approximately 50% at $3.7 million. However, the district has worked in partnership with the city and with the new various thirdparty constituents and contractors to identify acceptable reductions in the project, and those that have been identified and adopted now represent savings of almost $450,000, including examples such as switching to less expensive manually operated thermostats from automated ones. And I'll note that this is a relatively small structure as compared to the high school or the middle school. So there was negligible impact on energy and electricity utilization in a building of this size. Secondly, we're moving away from more expensive automated flush toilets to manual ones. And thirdly, we've made adjustments to

091the locker room layout and resources being used. So, these are just three examples representing steps the administration is taking to adjust the project cost downward and to get it more in line with the original project budget. These initiatives are also behind tonight's agenda item section 14 item R, which is an adjustment to charges for the district's architect on the project and amount to $22,200. During this portion of the meeting, the committee also reviewed the LCJS SMS roof project as it is moving to a synthetic artificial roof material and away from a more expensive slate roof, thereby saving approximately 500 to a mill 500,000 to a million dollars for this project. The business office is also now exploring if there is any market for and resale value of the slate that is currently on the roof

092once it is removed. Another item on the agenda was a discussion by the committee of the statemandated policy that has already had its first re readout in the September board meeting and outlines the state requirements for school districts to have a budget process and how it is to be formalized and conducted. Residents should rest assured that summit schools go well above and beyond the minimum requirements outlined in the newly mandated policy. Lastly, as you may recall, in the spring, the district proposed an almost 9% increase in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year and ultimately settled on an increase of close to 4%. If memory serves me correctly, I can attest to the fact that this increase in our school budget was the second largest percentage increase in our schools in the 25 years I've

093lived in Summit. and the almost $2.9 million increase in our school budget for this fiscal year that we are operating now. We are now in that is far and away the largest dollar increase in 25 years. As a result of that increase, the committee agreed to revisit all of our budget practices to ensure that the district is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible and to take important steps to further increase our transparency to the community as it is your tax dollars that we are responsible for spending. And we take that responsibility very seriously. The incremental investments this year alone of almost $2.9 million are important to all residents, not just those with students in the schools. Our committee, the full board, and the administration are committed to regularly gauge community inputs as to the

094direction and types of investments being made, as evidenced most recently by the extensive strategic planning meetings the community was invited to attend and contribute to, as well as the regular inputs we received from community members such as you here tonight, both informally or in public comment sections during our meetings. So as part of that commitment, we the operations committee agreed to conduct a post-wardenom on the budget process from last spring. And following that review in May, we suggested several steps of improvement for planning and reporting purposes. As part of the review, the committee has asked the administration to gather significant market intelligence around other districts budgets and their planning processes and also to gather historical data on key categories and spending buckets within our own district to look at over the last four years so

095we can get a better handle on what are the key drivers of our budget, understand where we've invested recently and how those investments are progressing, and to identify where future budget initiatives and investments might be warranted. All this is to ensure that we continue to deliver the highest quality, most robust and complete educational platform for our students and families to take advantage of and to provide our administration and our staff the support and services that are necessary to deliver the high level of student outcomes that we've come to expect in the student public schools and to do so in a financially responsible and sustainable manner. Finally, the committee received an update in this area from the business office on the progress made gathering and reporting this historical financial data from the past three to four

096years of fiscal budgets for further analysis, review, and discussion at the upcoming operations committee in November. Most of the data has been collected and grouped in key categories and buckets for the review period postcoid and the committee continues its review to clearly identify areas of the budget that are growing most rapidly or possibly have been neglected in an effort to better prepare for fugitive budget cycles and planning processes. So next month we will review be reviewing these reports in detail that the administration has so diligently compiled. We're greatly appreciative of the the extensive effort that the administration has put forth to do this reporting. This review will be reported on at the next board meeting and we will further guide and inform us as we begin compiling the framework of the budget that begins to

097take shape in December with all the inputs from the building principles, supervisors, and other staff members to establish the upcoming fiscal year's budget due in February, March of 26. With that, uh I will complete my comments. Uh, I will I have we have no recommendations tonight for the full board. So, I will ask my fellow community members if they have any comments they'd like to add or we can take any questions. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Hanley. Next up is the policy committee. >> The policy committee did not meet this month. We will have an update for you next month. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um and after that we have the communications committee. >> Thank you. The communications committee met on September 30th at noon. Uh committee members in attendance were

098uh board members Mark Gunderson, Siling Kelly, Superintendent Scott Huff, cabinet member Lorine Dickinson, and myself. Topics discussed included the coffee conversation events are being scheduled. Uh, the first will be at the Franklin Elementary School Library on Friday, October 24th at 9:00 a.m. These are informal events held a few times annually featuring the board president and vice president. The events are hosted at a school library for one to one and a half hours to allow parents to meet with board members in a relaxed setting to facilitate community engagement, answer questions, and introduce board members. Strategic planning communication. The goals are being formally approved tonight at this meeting. A public campaign is being developed to share goals, mission, and value statements with all families in the district. The campaign includes building a robust website and distributing information

099to stakeholders. The recent Summit Scoop newsletter included an update from the superintendent highlighting the strategic planning progress. The emergency communications test, school messenger update. The test was conducted in September as required within the 15 days of school to test the emergency communication system for school closings or critical updates. Parents must opt in via Genesis for text, voicemail, or email notifications. The results were a 96% delivery rate for phone calls, 90% delivery rate for emails, and 3,800 text messages sent to optedin recipients. A security letter was sent to inform parents about the district's relationship with the local police and communication protocols during emergencies to ensure coordination with police to align messaging and avoid confusion during incidents. We discussed the cell phone policy update. The new policy enforces stricter consistent cell phone rules in classrooms. Phones are

100not allowed during active class time unless part of a lesson. Principles discussed the policy at opening day meetings. Minimal issues or confiscations were reported in the first few weeks. Schools are finalizing and will be sharing the week of respect activity plans. The week of respect is a statemandated week in October to promote community building in schools. Activities include pajama days, school spirit days, and other events to foster respect and community. The committee has no recommendations at this time. The next meeting is scheduled on Tuesday, November 4th at 12 p.m. Are there any questions? >> I just want to make an additional comment on the uh coffee with the board president, vice president. That that that's a morning slot and and we are trying to also plan an evening slot for anyone that's obviously working during

101the morning time and cannot attend. So that will be I believe Loren's helping us schedule that for later in the the year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mitcha. The negotiations and personnel committee did not meet this month. Um are there any liaison reports? >> Yes. Uh Mr. Con, the um SCF uh had their first board meeting for the school year on uh September uh 16th. Uh the co-presidents for this year are Susan Daniels and Shelley Donnelly. The fundraising is well underway primarily through uh backpack mailers as part of the back to school envelope for the older kids. This is the 40th year of operation for SCF and also the date has been set for the spring for excellence which will be in March 14th 2026 and the grant process I believe is well underway.

102>> Thank you. Any other leazison reports? Okay. Thank you. So we are at item 11 public comment. Mr. Jess, could you read the >> Yes. >> statement? >> Yes, madam president. Uh good evening everybody. Anyone wishing to speak so first seek recognition by the presiding officer. Please come to the microphone and state your name and address in a clear audible tone for the record. Please direct all comments to the board president and not an individual member of the board. And please remember to conduct yourself with decorum and respect when speaking and addressing the board unless additional time is granted by the board president. Please be respectful and keep your comments to three minutes or less. In addition, please note that this portion of the meeting is for public comment and not meant to be a

103back and forth. Upon closure of public comment, information that is available to answer questions will be provided. If information is not readily available, the question will be answered by the superintendent or his designate as soon as the information is readily available. >> Thank you. So, we are going to begin with public comment on items that are on the agenda. Seeing none, we will move on to public comment on items not on the agenda. Hi there. My name is Amanda Greywolf. I live on 16 Oakidge in the Brighton School District. This is my first time attending a board of education meeting and I just want to honor like this was very informative. Thank you all so much for your service. It is clear you put a lot of time and energy into this. So, thank you.

104I have come tonight on behalf of my second grade student Olivia Wolf who attends Brighton. I came tonight to share concerns on class sizes which have been raised earlier this week with Superintendent Huff, our Brighton principal, Miss Ziegler, and Miss Kelly. I was unable to attend that session due to some work commitments. Last year, Olivia had 22 students in her first grade class. I had the opportunity to be in the class to read a book for her birthday, and hands down, it was an overwhelming experience. There was shouting, there was hand raising, there was wrestling on the floor. Truthfully, I'm not sure how our veteran first grade teacher handled it day in and day out. My takeaway from that time was teachers in those elementary years deserve extra pay because I'm not sure how they

105can not only manage all those behavioral issues, but also get them to be learning to read, to write, to do math as well. I was looking forward to our second grade year in Brighton as that class ahead had four teachers and I was eager for Olivia to experience a class size with 17 to 18 students. But that was not our experience. Instead, the teachers were reshuffled and again we have another year of 22 to 23 class sizes. To compensate, Olivia's teacher has sent home multiple classroom behavior contracts for the students and parents to review in hopes, I imagine, to try and limit the time she has to spend in the classroom on behavioral issues. Studies have shown that small classrooms are valuable to the learning environment as well as for teacher morale. Living in the

106Brighton school t district district, I can attest that our tax taxes continue to rise and any repair that requires a permit brings out the tax inspector to re-evaluate our property taxes. I would hope that our daughter would have a similar experience to other her other second grade Summit peers at schools like Jefferson where there are 14 to 15 students per class or Franklin with 18 students. But that has not been our lived experience. I would ask that this team speak with our current second grade teachers to understand the realities of teaching 22 to two 23 students and find a solution to address this. Thank you so much for your time. I think you said earlier um before I Sarah Stevenson 166 Okrav and I'm also a Brighton parent um but I believe it was said

107earlier that the students are at the heart of what we do and it's with that notion that we're all here tonight. So um I'm here tonight as a concerned parent of a second grade student at Brighton Elementary School who for the second year in a row is in a classroom that exceeds the district's recommended class size. A situation that for us deserves urgent attention. While I understand that larger class sizes in Summit are not unprecedented, every additional student stretches our wonderful teachers ability to provide individualized instruction, manage the classroom effectively, and support the social emotional development that is so critical during these foundational years. For the second consecutive year, Brighton's dedicated teachers have raised concerns about class size personally to me um during back to school night, at parent teacher conferences, and in individual conversations.

108As a parent, I can't help but worry about my child and her peers um that they are not receiving the same level of focused high-quality instruction that Summit schools have long been known for. What's especially troubling, and Amanda also mentioned this, is that we learned this week that another elementary school in our district successfully advocated for and received additional uh an additional second grade teacher for this school year. Um bringing their class sizes down to just 14 or 15 students. Meanwhile, despite two consecutive years of my daughter's class size exceeding district size uh district size guidelines, it appears there was no proactive planning or advocacy from Brighton to address or present uh this issue for students um our students this year, class of 2036. So, we come tonight in the spirit of collaboration, wanting what's

109best for our children, as we know you do as well. Our request is twofold. Um, immediate support. Number one, we ask for your help this year in providing meaningful support for Brighton's class of 2036. Specifically, we requesting a dedicated classroom resource to assist during core curriculum subjects, ensuring that students receive the individualized attention they need to thrive. Second, in planning ahead for next year, as you consider teacher assignments for the 2026 2027 school year, we respectfully ask that you take into account that although the class size guidelines do increase to 24 students for next year for our kids in third grade, the class of 2036 has been learning in maxed out classrooms for the last two years and have yet to experience the benefits of learning within or below the district's recommended class sizes. We

110strongly urge you to consider allocating a fourth teacher to this grade next year to ensure their continued growth and success. Thank you for your time, your attention, and your continued commitment to doing what's best for our children. Thank you. >> Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh my name is Scott Sullivan. I currently live at 133 Maple Street and was born and raised right around the corner at 5 Laurel Avenue. I'm here tonight not just as a parent of my second grade student Wheeler, but as someone deeply rooted in this community that had Stacy Grimmaldi, my then math teacher, as my adviser, as president of the senior class. My son is a third generation Brighton Bobcat. The school means something to our family. It's part of our history, our values, our

111hopes for the future, and it's the reason we moved back to Summit. I'm here because I believe our children deserve the resources they need to thrive. Right now, my son's grade is stretched too thin. The National Center for Educational Statistics reported that the average class size for self-contained classroom second grade students in New Jersey is 18 and a half. We're at 23 in Wheeler's class. Based upon our own district guidelines, we should have an additional teacher to meet the needs of our students. This isn't just a matter of preference. It's a matter of compliance, equity, equity, and doing what's right. When I was a student here, Cheryl Morettes was my principal. She was a fierce advocate for his students and staff. I want to believe our current leadership is doing the same. But if our

112new principal had truly advocated on our behalf, I believe be I'd believe we'd be in a different situation. And if she did push as hard as she could, I respectfully request the minutes from those meetings and I will understand. But if she's fought for us, I can be if she has not fought for, I can begrudgually accept where we are. But right now, I don't believe enough has been done. That's why we're here tonight. Everyone else has said it as more eloquently than me to advocate on behalf of our children when others won't. We're not asking for miracles. We're asking for fairness, for transparency, and for action. Our kids deserve better, and it's our job to make sure they get it. Thank you very much. [Applause] >> Yes. Good evening, President Con, Superintendent Huff, and

113uh board members and staff. I'm Jim Bennett, BNET, 38 Fair View Avenue. I just want to uh thank Mr. Hanley for a meeting with me last Monday to discuss a number of things that were on my mind. Now I think properly the substance of the discussion should be uh from Mr. Hanley but I wanted to highlight uh a couple of topics that were on my mind uh which I think the city does well and I could uh bring to the board of education. uh one would be the uh capital budget workshop uh that's going to take place in December at the city and the other is the uh uh budget snapshot mailer that goes around to every household in summit. So uh the other topic of discussion uh that I brought up was uh matching

114the uh terms of bonds with the useful life of the asset that the bond finances and uh that's something that uh I think would be worth looking into. Andrew, one thing that I found was very interesting that I think I could bring back to the city from here is that the uh fiscal year for the uh school system is July 1st to June 30th. So things proceed in regular order. Uh we get uh Mr. Hanley is and Superintendent Jess are working on putting together a budget uh subject to the variables that one could expect uh by February so that we could have a budget uh by sometime in March and it would be ready to go. The city unfortunately has the calendar year as a fiscal year but it doesn't set its budget until midway

115through the fiscal year in which it finds itself. So, that's one item I would like to bring from the board of education back to the city. I'm sure I'll be told that there's a statutory reason for it, but um I don't know what that is at this point. So, once again, uh when Mr. Hanley talks about involving the public, he spent time with me and uh so he's uh he he puts his practice where uh where where he professes to be. And thank you very much. >> Hi um Diego Huy Aral Court. I don't have a prepared statement. I have two things that are trivial and two things that are not. First of all, the time of the day is very inconvenient for working parents for these meetings. Most of the big boards in summit,

116planning boards, zoning boards, common council, they meet at 7:30. I have three kids behaving very very well because I have no other I had no other alternative. Along similar lines, I agree with what Mr. Henley said about the calendar. I would encourage you not to rely on 10-year-old data, but rather do a survey of parents. I know a lot of my friends, we have difficulty around Christmas and New Year's because we literally have to board planes on New Year's Day or even the day before Christmas, getting to our families on Christmas Eve and the kids are exhausted is not really good. So, I would suggest that in preparation for next year's calendar, um, not the one that you that you're voting on today, but the follow the following year, that you do a survey of

117all families and try to figure get a sense of the trade-offs for the various families. Um, those are the trivial things. Um, I do have some more serious concerns about the new grant review process for SEF grants. Um, I heard two different rationes. uh one in December was about reviewing SEAL grants, social emotional learning grants uh which I don't think should be the job of the board at the end of the day developing EQ is as important as developing IQ and in today's modern world. So um the board should not be sending curriculum. Um also um the common council recently approved and I am happy for that uh lighting up catlock field and one of the rationale for that was that the summit foundation gave money to the city and the city should not be

118reviewing it. Now that makes kind of sense um but the summit foundation grant will allow the city to install the fields but the city will still have to pay for the use of the fields. So the notion that there's operational costs that come with these grants and therefore we should be reviewing it seems to be a different principle than what the city just did for the tatlock lighting field. And I would encourage you to use the same principles for what you're doing in the city as you do in the board of education. Um, and finally, and this is really important for the unity of our community, there's a complete lack of clarity about who mandated the budget cuts that resulted in the firing of a bunch of educators, uh, the mental health clinician, and so

119on. I have yet to see the impact on class sizes. We're getting the read in in about a week. Uh, but I believe it would be helpful for the community if what actually happened was made public, who mandated what, and who decided what. So, thank you very much, and I apologize. I'm going to have to go home. My kids are behaving very well. Thank you very much for all your work. >> Hi, I'm Carly Connor, 16 Lynen Place. Thank you for all you do for the schools and the community. Um, I have to say I agree with everything that the second grade parents have said so far and appreciate the community listening and taking um, you know, what we our thoughts into account. I'm confident that we all have the same common understanding and we

120have the same common goals for our children. Um, I also have a second grader at Brighton Elementary. Um, I have the benefit of also having a fourth grader so I see the difference in the two classes and the class sizes as well. Uh, my second grader is a relatively easygoing kid. She doesn't, you know, need a lot of attention. She doesn't need a lot of extra help. Um, she has a fantastic teacher that's, you know, been with the district for a while. But as you can imagine, in a class that's at or above the mandated limits that we've set um by the board and the superintendent, um it's hard, right, without enough one-on-one time, without enough small groupoup sessions to really feel confident that she's getting the opportunities that she deserves and that my older

121child has gotten um through the Summit Public School uh system. So I I worry and add on to that the inevitable behavior issues that any second grade classroom is going to have. It's obviously multiplied with the number when the number of students um are added into that classroom. knowing how crucial these early elementary school years are for our students. As again, we're all aware. Um the fact that they've had this this is their second year as the only um class in the five elementary schools that are um experiencing these class sizes is is really worrisome and and unfortunate. And I I I really hope that there's something that we can come to collectively. Um, we want to be here uh when our kids are in high school talking about those AP tests that your kids

122have done. We don't want our kids to be a statistic that we look back on and say we wish we would have done more. So, thank you so much for your time. [Applause] Good evening. Melinda Fleer. I'm Oakland Place. My husband and I have eight children that have either gone through the district or are still in the district. And some of you are familiar faces from prior discussions here. In fact, I stood here six years ago, five years ago, and had the exact same discussion with my son's third grade Brighton class in conjunction with the full day kindergarten and the increase in class sizes. So, I know that you're all aware and that the the um town has come out strongly in favor of small class sizes. So, my question is actually not that we

123all want class sizes to be small. I know that you do, but what was missed in this year's allocation? because um teachers were inequally applied to the second grade classes. So I don't know if that was missed in the board of ed level, the superintendent's office, or if that was a lack of initiative on behalf of the administration at Brighton. And if that's the case, I hope that the board goes back and does some investigation there and looks at the administration in Brighton. Um and I would also then urge you guys to talk about uh what we can do for our students going forward because they really do need some relief in these classrooms. They're excellent teachers. Some of my other children have had them. Fabulous teachers, way too many kids in the class. So,

124I think some um you're not going to give us a second. You're not going to have a fourth class at this moment. But what I think that is a reasonable expectation is that the board and the superintendent will um push in math curriculum teachers or reading specialists every day to these Brighton classes because if you remove four kids from each class, you still have fewer kids in each class um than in Jefferson, in Franklin. And at that point, you could get a little more one-on-one instruction from a reading and writing specialist. We know that in third grade, the NJSLA start. And we watched the um information that was just posted. And it's reading, math, and writing. And those are the core curriculum classes. And they're very hard to teach 23 second graders the individualized skills.

125I mean, my own second grader, um, she's got tons of siblings. She reads really well. She's multiplication. I mean, she's I'm not concerned about her academic strength, but she's yet to be evaluated in a small group math setting. the teacher has put them in small groups but there is simply not time to get to 23 students and we all know that those are the core curriculum stu um subjects matter that we need to have addressed our students so I don't think it's an unreasonable ask and I think it's almost imperative on our board of ed to allocate resources daily help or relief that's being offered right now by the administration of Brighton is a statement that at random times on random days when there is random availability there will be an aid that will pop

126into the classrooms for 15 minutes at a time. We all know that that's more disruptive than helpful. Um, and it doesn't do anything to address the academic needs of the students. So, besides the behavioral issues, of which there are many in the classes, particularly ones this size. Um, and again, there's some issues of a same cohort of boys that caused a lot of issues last year is in this is in a similar class this year. So, again, I think there may have been some there were some misses with this grade. So, I think the best thing we can do to alleviate it is try to push in some academic support on a consistent, clearly communicated basis to all of the um all three classes at Braayen. So, I thank you for your time and your

127consideration. [Applause] Hi, good evening. Erin Lions, 194 Oakidge Avenue. I'm here along with the rest of my Brighton parents. Um, thank you for your time and for listening. Um, basically I'm here like every parent in this room. I want the best for our children. We all chose Summit because we value education, the kind that gives every child the chance to be seen, supported, and challenged. But right now, that's not what's happening at Brighton. For the second year in a row, the Brighton class of 2036 has classes exceeding the district guidelines. A first grade class reached 23 by the end of the last school year and did so without any aids. Our second graders are once again sitting in class sizes averaging 22 students with one at 23, the largest of the second grade cohorts in

128the district. Meanwhile, children at other Summit schools have classes as small as 14 or 15. That's not a small difference. That's a completely different learning experience. Larger classes mean less individual attention, more stress on teachers, and kids who might slip through the cracks. Not because they're struggling, but because there simply isn't enough time in the day to reach every child. My daughter and her Brighton classmates deserve an equal experience to their peers across town. We're asking for fairness, for Summit to live up to its promise that every student in every school gets an equal shot at success. As many of the people who have spoken before me, we're asking for dedicated services reserved for this second grade class with special with qualified specialists providing pushin services for literacy and math. This will ensure they're primed

129for the success in the third grade and the rigor of state testing and evaluations. We're here to advocate for our children when it seems like leadership has failed them. We are asking the board to hear us and urgently take action on our concerns. Let's fix this right now. Our kids deserve better and we all know it. Thank you. [Applause] I'm sure you can guess what this is about. Um, my name is uh Melissa Johnland. I am at 100 Prospect Street. Um, I too am an advocate um for the second grade class at Brighton, class of 2036. Um, you've heard from fellow my fellow parents um behind me um on just a few of these concerns we have regarding class size. Um and to remedy this issue, we're proposing a dedicated aid for second grade, specifically

130during the core curriculum subjects, phonics, literacy, and mathematics. Um this will ensure each of our 67 second grade students will receive the same individualized instruction and the same teacher attention as their peers in the other elementary schools in the district. And we're requesting that this aid be in place by January. and we remain committed to this continued advocacy until an equitable solution is implemented. That's all I have. Thank you. All right. So we will um close public content comment. Is there a motion? >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstension? Motion carries. >> Madam President, now that public comment is closed, if I may. Um Miss Eileen Kelly and I did meet with many of the parents in the audience um this past week. um

131they shared all of those same concerns, thoughts, and ideas. I thought it was a very productive conversation. I thank them for advocating and coming forward. Um we have some open items that are going to be evaluated and reviewed, and I'm going to get back to this uh second grade parents on some potential action items that may alleviate some of their concerns. And one one correction, um the behavior contracts are actually a result of strategic planning out of one of the action plans and they're being distributed through the elementary schools, all all classes, smaller, larger, every school. Okay. >> Um thank you, Superintendent Huff, and thank you to everyone who came and commented tonight. I know that it's a long I mean this is a long meeting and you guys sat through a lot of reporting

132out so I really appreciate your coming and advocating on behalf of your children. >> Can I just add one thing um especially because I was with Superintendent Huff at the meeting. I I do also want to say thank you um for for coming and just sharing anecdotally you know your own children's experience and what's needed. Uh, one of the comments tonight was is I want to comment on the sort of the budgetary process. Um, the board, you know, just just kind of uh, describe our our role is is really we rely of course on the superintendent and his principles and their expertise. Um, as as head of ops committee, we we didn't ever delve into because I think this question was raised uh, the specifics of a particular grade or class. So, this was my

133personal first time hearing about this. So, I just wanted to mention that. Um, and I just wanted to add another comment. And I know the gentleman has left around SCF and just again add some more color on to why we'd like to see these grants. Um again it ties back to the budget. SCF so graciously donates um a ton of money to the district including paying for the teacher salaries for up to two years but two years quickly becomes five years and then we as a school uh budget have to absorb those costs. So, in order for us to understand the long-term impact to our budget, we have to understand, you know, the the cost of a teacher that's coming on, you know, um the implications around what uh health and benefits are going to

134look like three years from now. We've had double-digit increases in these areas. And so, historically, the board would get SDF grants the day of the vote. I don't personally feel that's ample time to review and understand not just the fiduciary responsibility we have, not in the short term, but in the long term. And then, of course, the content of them. We we tonight are voting on strategic goals and we do need to whether it's through budgeting curriculum, we need to make sure they match our strategic goals and I think that if we're voting on something, it's responsible um and practical to have more than just a day to look at those grants. So, I just want to share my personal reason why I advocated for more time to review the SCF grants. >> Thank you,

135Vice President Kelly. >> Mr. President, can I make a comment as well? Yeah, just to um to add a little to that. I I started last year on the board and I'm very impressed with every the process and with uh everyone's efforts and how much quality time people try to hopefully you can get an idea of we really try to do the best we can and uh so these votes come up and I'm like we're voting on something. I'm like, I'm I want to know what I'm voting on, right? So, um, we the superintendent and staff, they do a great job in the committees to provide us with as much information as possible for us to be able to look at it so we can make an informed vote. And I think that's what I

136would what I expected living here for 25 years and having three kids go through the school system. Um, and this was an area where I didn't get the information before the night of the vote. And I thought that was different than everything else. So, as a new guy coming in, I said, "Can I please get the information before the vote so I can make myself uh knowledgeable on it and then make an informed vote?" That was the original ask. It was just basically, hey, if I'm going to vote on something, I'd like to be given the opportunity to review what I'm voting on, right? Um, and this year, as part of the operations committee and the budget process that we had and the challenges we had, we were looking for areas that uh we need

137we want to make sure we do a due diligence on, get ahead of get ahead of the process, right? So, we can get um, you know, mitigating the risks ahead of time. And um the the committee unanimously agreed that hey, you know, it'd be a good idea to make sure that if we're going to get financial commitments uh that we're going to be making at some point, as Miss Kelly said in example, that we'll get a teacher paid for two years, but after that, we have to fill that gap. So, we'd like to plan for it. How are we going to do that? So, I think it's just common sense, right? If you're asking the board to to vote on something, we should be looking at at what we're voting. I certainly and I'm sure

138all of everyone here does not just vote just to rubber stamp things. We really want to do and and as a as somebody who lived in Summit, I expect the board to if you're going to volunteer for this job, do your due diligence to make sure that whatever we're voting on you, if you have questions, ask them. if you whatever the feedback is, make it not just rubber stamp it. So that was really the the origin of my request when it last year um was about getting information available so that I can make an informed vote and I think that uh that's really a basic a basic uh justification I think we could all understand. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Maha. And I would like to add one more point on that in that

139uh because we review it, it is definitely the board's purview because we vote on it and we have that responsibility. And secondly that we uh actually did this same timeline about 10 years ago when I was on the board previously. So this is not the first time we've asked for that information to come in a timely way so that the board had much more time to conduct its due diligence and review the information. So, uh, this is kind of getting back to a practice that we had 10 years ago, eight years ago. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Hanley. >> Um, I guess I'll just also weigh in on SCEF. I want to make sure that, um, all of the all of the parents and community members who have supported SCF over the years and

140do so today. um as well as the volunteers who work with SEF know that the school district is very very grateful for all of the support that they've sh that they've shown to the schools historically and into the present and we want to continue to have a very good partnership with SCF. I think everyone here um on the board feels the same um in terms of the relationship of the school district with SCF. the school district would be a much different place without the support of the SCF that we have had for for the many many years that it's been around. Um I think it's back to the 1980s as I recall. Um I I will also note that the board of education is governance not administration. So when it comes to um the looking

141into the grants and whether or not it matches our um our strategic plan, it really is the administration that does that as they are the ones who have the educational expertise. Um many of us are parents. Um although we do have some educators on the board, we are not all educators. So, we really do need the educational expertise of our administration and they're the ones that are on the ground teaching our kids, working with our kids, um doing all of the evaluation of our children's performance um through the year. So, we really do need their oversight of the administration. Um so, to that and it's part of the ethics actually of the board of education that we actually don't get into the administration of the school district. it's part of the state um ethics. So

142um we will not be voting on individual grants. Um we will be voting on the whole slate of grants whether we're basically voting on whether to accept the money of the grants or not and not on the individual grants because it really is part of the administration's duty to um make sure that the grants are being that are being submitted um are in keeping with the goals. And that does happen through the superintendent's office um in in conjunction with Summit Educational Foundation. So um so again, most important here, we want to really make sure that SCF knows that we deeply deeply value their um work over the years and that they have had such a huge impact in our school district. Okay. And with that, let's move on to item 12, approval of board minutes.

143Do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any comments? >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Any >> one abstension? Motion carries. >> Next up, item 13, curriculum instruction and program. Um, items A and B, which includes the district calendar. Do I have a motion? >> So move. Second. >> Any discussion? >> I I have just one question in this section. Um the question around have we surveyed parents? Superintendent have have we done that any of our surveys around the calendar? I was just curious. >> Not in my time. We have not. I I don't know previously if there's ever been a practice to do that. Um you're when you go to your coffees, that's going to be a topic. It's it's very consistently a topic for discussion

144>> because I know the district surveying it get great response rates. It's it's very thorough. I think that suggestion was a really good one around the calendar. I think we should look at that for the upcoming school year. >> That would be 2728. >> I think I think that's a great >> I can certainly bring that in front of ed committee for discussion. >> Thanks. >> Any other discussion? >> Mr. Maha? >> Yes. >> Miss Justice? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hanley? >> Yes. With the exception of approval >> item B. Yes. Uh, Mr. Gunderson, >> yes. >> Mr. Cho, >> yes. >> Vice President Kelly, >> yes. >> President Con? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Item um 14, finance items A through S. Do I have a motion? >> Any discussion? >> Mr. Maha?

145>> Yes. >> Miss Justice? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hanley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gunderson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cho, >> yes. >> Miss Vice President Kelly, >> yes. President Con. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Item 15, A through D. Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Mr. Maha? >> Yes. >> Miss Justice? Yes. >> Mr. Hanley? Yes. >> Mr. Gunderson? Yes. >> Mr. Cho? >> Yes. >> Vice President Kelly? >> Yes. >> President Con? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Item 16, personnel, items A through W. Do I have a motion? >> Move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Mr. Maha? >> Yes. >> Miss Justice? Yes. >> Mr. Hanley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Gunderson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cho? >> Yes. >> Vice President Kelly? >>

146Yes. >> President Con? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> And agenda item 17, policies and reg Re regulations. It's the second reading of the regulations from last month. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Um all in Oh, any discussions? Sorry. >> Mr. Maha? >> Yes. >> Miss Justice? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hanley? Yes. >> Mr. Gunderson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cho? >> Yes. >> Vice President Kelly? >> Yes. >> President Con? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> I've taken over your job, Mr. Ch. >> That's fine. >> You don't want it. >> All right. And so that leads to adjournment. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any attentions? Motion carries. Thank you. Good night, everybody.