Bridgewater BOE Meeting 10/14/2025

001We're going to be back in open session now. Thank you for your patience. Uh we're going to switch around the agenda just a little bit and move to uh the president's report. Uh and it is my great pleasure and honor to introduce our 202526 student representatives. We have Crystal Chen, Paratosh Ble, and Matthew Harrison. Um, and welcome. We're so happy that you guys are here. And if you could each take a little bit of time to tell us about yourself, uh, what you do with the high school, uh, we'd really appreciate it. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Crystal Chan. I'm a senior. Um, some facts about me. I'm a swimmer. I've been swimming for like 10 years um at the school. I'm part of a lot of clubs like FBLA and I'm one

002of the co- vice presidents of the Makea-Wish Club. Um I'm part of the Somerset County Youth Council. Um and I'm a member of finance club. Um and I'm really excited to be here and just learn a little bit more about the administration and advocate for people at my school. Good evening everybody. Um, thank you so much for having me here today. U, my name is Perto Ple and I'm a senior at the high school. At the high school, I'm involved in a couple of um, organizations. For example, I'm the editor-in chief of the school newspaper. I'm the vice president of the forensic speech and debate team and I'm also the captain of the mock trial team. Uh, I applied for this position because I felt like it was really important to have a student voice,

003especially in these sorts of settings. And I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you today and having some great conversation discussions over the course of school year. Thank you. >> Hi. Oh, wait. Okay. I'm Matt. Um, I go to Bridgewater High School. I'm a senior. I play hockey for the hockey team. I'm a defenseman. I like to go to the gym. Um, at school, I am involved in a lot of clubs and organizations, but I'm president of the finance club, co-president finance club, co-president of project VR, which is a volunteer organization, and then another volunteer organization on top of that. And then I was class president of the senior class for two years. Um, so I'm very involved with the student body. I know kind of a lot of people talk to me about

004a lot of different things that they feel like interest them. Um, and I just I talk to a lot of students about a lot of different issues and I feel like this board is really a good opportunity for me to relay those messages onto you guys. And I see the work that the administration is trying to do to work with students and hear from students with a couple of programs that Miss Kaiser has brought in. Mr. Leman has brought into the high school. So, I'm excited to try to join uh these two forces. >> Well, thank you all and welcome. Do you guys have a report for today or not yet? >> Either way is fine. >> Yeah, we do. >> Yeah. Um okay, I could start. >> Um so, what I was just talking

005about with the unity between the students and um the administration, Miss Kaiser a couple weeks ago brought in this program called Ignite to Unite. So it was a it was called a 4A workshop where we participated in different leadership building activities and the four A's represented the arts, academics, athletics and activities at our high school. So it was basically leaders from all of these different activities. They came into one one place in the small gym at the high school and we had six hours together to establish what we thought was our school culture and climate, how we can improve the climate and our culture and what we thought was wrong with it and how we can go about fixing that. So, we were talking about all these different things. People were bringing up, you know,

006freshman year not many people were showing up to homecoming and now a lot more people are showing up and pep rallies were not as fun, but now they're so much fun. So there's a lot of these traditions that people are talking about like zoo crew. I don't know if you guys know about that at the football games. Yeah, of course. Um so it's a blast and but those kind of traditions people were talking about our culture, our climate. Um and from that Mr. Hamburger actually put together a leadership council. So of these 100 students, we're now going to meet once or twice a month and talk about the school culture and climate and how we feel like we're moving towards a better community. Um, all of these these students were in so many different clubs.

007Everybody that was there was appointed. You didn't sign up. So, it directly is impacting almost every student on campus. If anybody's involved in any club, they have someone that was at that meeting and on this council so they can get impacted from this program. Um, besides that, I don't really have anything else to say. I mean, sports are going well. Football team's five and two playing Westfield this weekend. Uh, blackout game. I'm excited for that. I'm gonna be dressing up. But, uh, yeah, it'll be pretty fun. All right, Pertos, you got it. >> All right, thank you, Matt. Um, I'll be talking about a couple of the general topics. First of which being the club activities happening at our school. As Matt mentioned, we had the Ignite Unite workshop, I think two Fridays ago, and

008it was a really great success because it brought together the leaders of these clubs and give them a chance to kind of see how we can progress um the student activity and involvement across campus. Um, a lot of the clubs that are happening right now have done really well in terms of traction with the underassman students, specifically freshman and sophomore classes. Uh, personally, I've seen through my own clubs and involvements that a lot of these students are very excited and engaged about it because they're really interested in the um topic or the like field that their um club is exploring, whether it be academic club or even like a fun cultural club. Overall, I think there's been a lot of great participation involvement and I think we're seeing a big change in improvement over the

009past few years in terms of students being more willing to participate and there being more opportunities for these students to get involved on campus. Additionally, um the next main topic is college admissions, which is obviously the biggest priority for the senior class this year and for every year. Uh generally, I think that college admissions overall has gone fairly well ever since um I mean we've became seniors. there is a good balance between our responsibilities in class in the classroom and our own responsibilities in terms of finishing our applications and maintaining that and overall I think there's a good culture that's happening um students are feeling comfortable going to the counseling department or going to their counselor to ask questions or seek advice about specific parts of the application and generally there's been um just more

010progress happening uh my friends and myself personally have generally seen um like good culture and good like atmosphere in terms of being able to meet their own deadlines and kind of get their own goals and overall I think it's going doing really well and the high school itself their personnel has really given us a lot of great tools for example Mrs. Kaiser's workshops which I'll speak about shortly and overall there's been a lot of great resources for us to feel comfortable during this time lastly uh is the college visits so these are um organization like events that are organized by Mrs. Kaiser who is the college counseling um individual at the high school and basically representatives from various universities and schools come to the high school on a specific um aotted time and they come

011to speak to any interested students who were wondering about the application process there or their specific school uh for example there's been schools like Chicago Michigan um Carnegie Melon and several other schools from all parts of the country and it's been a really great opportunity for students who are interested in those specific schools to ask more nuanced questions that they may have not been able to ask on email or didn't get a chance to visit the school itself. And personally, I've attended one of these sessions. It's been very informative. I think that it's a great resource for both not just the seniors, but also um juniors and underassmen that may be interested in working towards the college process. And that will conclude my report. Thank you. >> Okay. So, I kind of wanted to talk

012about some new things, not new, but like open campus and phones, which have been developments that have been that the administration has been working for for the past couple years. And I wanted to talk about how like it's been developing this year. And I think that they're both going pretty well for open campus at least. Um it's giving seniors a sense of responsibility and more independence instead of being stuck at school. And I think it gives them a lot of freedom of what they can do with their time seeing as they're going to go into college and they're going to be 18 soon. And I think it gives them the choice to go home or hang out with friends or catch up on work. And basically I think it's going really well and I think

013it's a good privilege that seniors can have. Um for phones I think I know that's been a big development the past few years to get kind of um away and more collaboration in the classroom. And I think this year more more than ever this the teachers in the classrooms are really focusing on limiting phone usage. There's been an increased I feel in the use of phone caddies, which is where every student will put their phone um in a little like like a shoe caddy almost like before class. And that kind of allows them to not have their phone and really pay attention in class and collaborate with their um classmates. And me personally, I feel like for the majority of my day, I end up putting my phone away anyways. and it really just it

014like the time flies by and I just realized I've like been able to focus a lot more in class and although like some people might be kind of against this I think it generally does benefit everybody because it kind of forces you to be more present in class. Um just like a final thing I wanted to talk about homecoming and the prep rally which was like two weeks ago a week ago and I think the turnout was really well for both of those. the prepar typically the cafeteria will be filled with like upwards of 500 600 kids who are disinterested and they don't want to go so they'll just sit in the cafeteria but um as Mr. Hamburger reported there this year there was only about like a hundred kids who were sitting in the

015cafeteria. So that kind of just shows that more students are willing to to participate in these community building activities and they're more um they're more focused on um the school's community. And I also think at homecoming the turnout was a lot better than it was in previous years. There was like 400 kids there. And I think that these two events are really fostering um community um grow and I think that the homecoming is a really great way for kids to relax after a few stressful weeks of school. >> Well, Matt, do you have anything more? >> Yeah. Um, Mr. Hamburger also wanted us to talk about Yeah, he also wanted us to talk about the future. So, what's going on next week? Um, the PSATs are coming up. As seniors, we get the to sleep

016in as in the morning. Um, I'm very excited about that. But uh for every other grade, they're all taking the PSATs. It's a great opportunity. Um because people can earn national merit scholarships from those. So really high scores, they can get awarded for it. Um everybody else can still get recognition from their scores. It's a very good practice and get used to the SAT, standardized testing, and prepare them for college applications and getting ready for the next level education. So, additionally, uh, this Thursday at the high school, um, Miss Kaiser also organized an event called Down and Dirty with college admissions where a former dean of admissions, um, Peter Van Buskerk is coming in to speak to students and parents about the general college admissions process. And I think that these types of events are

017really helpful because it kind of clears up any confusion or general questions that both students and parents have and it just gets everyone on the same page. So, that's going to be happening this Thursday in the high school and it's going to be a great resource for any seniors or even juniors that may be applying to college next year. >> Okay. And then finally, I just wanted to talk about the drivers assembly that's going to be happening next week for seniors. And it's kind of interesting because I remember sophomore year we had another driver's assembly that kind of introduced everyone about the safety and driving and a little bit of the rules. But that was when we were still taking driver's ed. And I think it's interesting that now as a lot of seniors have

018their license that there's going to be another driver assembly probably to talk about um some guidelines for new drivers and how to stay safe on the road because especially when you're starting out it can be really confusing and scary. So I think this will be a good opportunity for um some positive reinforcement in just staying safe on the roads because it could save lives. Um if there's any questions about um anything that we discussed, please feel free to ask and we'd be happy to answer. Just want to say thank you, you know, for all of you. That was a great report. And as we go through in the year, there are some issues that come up from time to time where we may ask the three of you to to weigh in on something from

019the student perspective, which would be another twist from what we've done in the past, but certainly, you know, a step I know the board would be willing to take. And I like to that that you're participating in all of these u meetings etc with with building administration and and I I know firsthand that that your principal and and all of us here you know we want to hear that student voice we want to make it a better place we want to make it it you know better for the students and uh and I'm glad to hear that things are are going well so far so great report thank you and welcome >> yeah I mean, I'll just reiterate what what Mr. Beer said. We're so happy to have you here. Um, we have had years

020where uh the representatives do stay uh for the meeting as long as they can. Sometimes our meetings do go long. Um, so you're w more than welcome to stay. If you have homework though, if you have, you know, uh, tests and if you have college admissions that you need to work on, we fully understand and it's it's not a problem. But with that said, welcome. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. I'm sorry. Unless there are any other questions from the board. >> Can I ask real quick the open if I can? >> Yeah. >> The open campus. Is that just for lunch or is that a What is open campus? Just to refresh my memory if you don't mind. >> Sorry. Um it's for seniors basically during lunch during the whole period

021they're allowed to leave if they if they get permission from their parents and they're going wherever they want. There's also like another form I guess that's just senior study which You can have a study hall and you can leave early if if it falls like next to lunch or at the end of the day. So kind of give students more chance to do whatever they want with their time. >> And I could say as a whole just to give an update I know it was two or three years ago that we started to go down this road and and our thinking and there were student leaders uh in the same chairs as you who we had these discussions with. We said, "Look, if if the majority of these kids are going to be on a

022college campus next year, um I'm sure they can handle the responsibility of all right, I I don't have to get right back for class or what have you and I'm going to take an hour and meet with a few friends uh and grab lunch and come back." And I've got to say, for for the most part, right, there's always a problem here and there. The students have been fantastic, right? It's it's a privilege that that they they definitely care about and Now, I'm proud over the last few years of how Bridgewater students have represented themselves, not just here, but out in the community because remember that a few hundred kids go somewhere for lunch and and if there was a problem, folks will be calling us and and there never has been. So, so again,

023kudos to tell your classmates we appreciate >> turning it over to you. >> We're up to the super. >> Okay. So, so my individual comments are brief. We we have two presentations this evening. Uh the HIB HIV self- assessment presentation from Mr. Aini who's our director of guidance through 12 and then the state standardized assessment results presentation from Jason Morella. So we're going to start with uh Mr. who is going to give us the yearly and and this is a mandated report that we have to give to the publicans to the board of education that um tells us how we're doing and and I think as we go through the critical part to realize when you see the scores I think the maximum score is an 80 is that not 78 I'm sorry see I

024was incorrect so when you see scores in the 70s it doesn't mean we're getting a C so to So with that, >> okay, thank you, Mr. Beers. Again, my name is Alan Aikini. I'm the supervisor of school counseling at the high school this year. Um, and I'm here also as the anti-bullying coordinator for the district as well. U providing my annual report uh as required by state code regarding our self assessment. And I'll go through some of the the slides here that you can see on that screen there. Dr. Fonder is working on getting it up there. Um but essentially um the law came into effect in the year 2009. We've been doing this since then. Uh again it's a statemandated report that uh we are to provide to the board of education and also

025to the state of New Jersey each year. Uh the self assessment which is done on a building level. each uh school building school safety team conducts a self assessment at the end of the school year and it's reflective again being very specific from July 1st in this for this particular report 2024 till the end of June of 2025. So again the self assessment is reflective of that period of time only. Again this is a requirement of all school to all public school districts of New Jersey. So at the end of the year in June, the school safety teams meet and uh they have a a rubric in which they score themselves on a scale of one to or 0 to 78. And then there's different components within that requirement. Again, they're listed here. Uh it

026refers to HIV programming approaches and other initiatives. Training on our uh board approved the policy HIV policy, staff instruction and training programs, curriculum instruction on HIV uh school level HIV incident reporting procedures um and HIV reporting. Again, within each core element, I forget exactly how many there are, but it's their their teams are rating themselves for zero to three. Zero obviously is is not very good. Three means we're exceeding the requirements. And then each of the team has a list of what those you know examples of what exceeding means was what examples constitute does not meet the requirements. And again the scale the scale the scores reported on a scale of 0 to 78. These are the scores u for this past school year. Again I broke it down. Uh the district average is a

02775.64 based out of 78. Again, our primary average is a 75671. And then I have the individual scores for each of the buildings. I have an intermediate average for Eisenhower and Hillside and then an individual school uh score for the middle school and then for the high school as well. Um these are a range of scores over the past three years period. Um, as you can see, the the first column is from the 22 23 school year and then it shows a progression over the last three years of how those different what you saw on the previous slide, what those averages were over the past three years. So, for the most part, we're going up. You know, there's a little bit of a fluctuation. Um, again, these are um subjective ratings. They have criteria in

028which they rate themselves and then it's a subjective rating. Primarily when you see a lower score, a lot of times what that's reflective of is that the the school safety team feels that they didn't receive um or they they were in need of or they desired more training. So uh Lisa Larulo who's the K to8 supervisor of counseling and I are working together to provide opportunities for school safety teams uh to uh participate in more training in school culture, school climate and HIV as well. Uh these are the uh this is again reflective of the past three years. These are allegations uh these are allegations made by students um over uh the course of the school year and again these are allegations that are unfounded again so these were all were investigated and they were

029found to be not to fit the definition of HIV according to the state. Uh so as you can see primary schools there's not a lot of allegations that occur to begin with. Um but what is nice and you'll see this in the next few slides is we're seeing a downward trend. Um so again I think that's going to be reflective of what the students were talking about. We're developing this culture uh in this school district. I think it's also uh a result of what we've been doing over the past 16 years uh in HIB that we're really working with the students to try and build their confidence, their relationship skills um getting along with each other uh and being respectful. These are confirmed. And again, this is a telling uh uh stat right here where

030you can see that the confirmed HIV cases again according to the state definition have dropped dramatically over the past school year. I think this is a very important slide. Um um what happens next is then the school safety teams again they meet two three times a school year. They're going to meet in the fall if they haven't already. They're continue and focus on the development of school climate in their buildings. Uh they're going to continue to monitor the implementation of the law according to the state. Uh they're going to develop plans for the upcoming school year. And then in those areas where they felt that they rated themselves a little bit lower than they should, they're going to focus in again on how they can bring up those scores. Again, in the school district again,

031we continue to focus on career education, mental health, and wellness throughout this. Any questions regarding what I've been able to present this Thank you for the presentation. What would you attribute the drop in HIV to? >> If you could I think it's I don't think you can point to one specific thing. I think it's again it's a collaborative effort by administration uh the school administrations and throughout all the buildings the staff and I think importantly as well is the students. I I think they're they've learned to get along better. They've learned to be able to manage their emotions better. I think over the years, uh we start in in the elementary and the primary schools and we've develop we help them develop, you know, the relationship skills, how to be empathic, how to be respectful.

032And I think what's happening is it's carrying over from year to year. If we look back, you know, the seniors now, they were introduced to this this information, you know, 10 years plus ago. You know, it started when they were in first and second grade and it continued all the way up until now. And I think what's I would like to contribute to the fact that I think they're getting along better than they ever have. And I think they they respect each other much more than they have in the past. Again, I can't point it on one thing. We do a lot of stuff for these kids. It seems like it's it's sinking in. >> I don't know if that answers your question. >> I I agree, Mr. I. And um I think the students

033had mentioned an improving culture >> and that's something that we know to to say look we want to improve the culture of a school for a district. Well well you can't just go and pull a lever and have it >> happen. It it takes time it takes effort. There's trial error and everything. And and it's not to say that everything's perfect, right? Far from it. There are things we can certainly improve on. But um no, I I I appreciate that answer. I can tell you there are a lot of dedicated individuals from teachers, security, counselors, administrators, um, everyone, everyone in the operation really trying to support kids and the right climate. It's great to hear. >> Yes, I have a question. Uh, thank you for the presentation. Uh obviously we've done a good job reducing

034the number of HIV cases in our schools and I think these results really show I mean the fact that there's nothing in the primary school is fantastic from a confirmed case perspective but what do you kind of see as like the biggest risks to these numbers where they are relatively low going up. Um I I what would contribute to that would be certainly an indifference to those uh allegations. Not listening to the kids, listening to the students. Um you know being indifferent to what they're saying. I think we take every allegation seriously. Um we follow the process. We have procedures in place to uh investigate all those allegations and claims. Um it's also a focus on conduct as well. I mean not not every situation rises to the level of what's constituted by the state

035as HIV and there are conduct problems that occur throughout the buildings and you know we're addressing them the same as if they were in HIV. It's you know there's a there's a problem we address it we follow the path depending on what that behavior is and I think if we become to complacent and kind of sit back and not really respond to it then I obviously the numbers Any other questions from the board? >> Uh, well, first, um, I just want to say it's really great to hear from the students about the programs and how involved they are and how excited they are to see, um, a change and shift in culture. Uh my question is um I I remember back when I first got on the board that when it was discussed um like

036how long it would take to change the culture of the schools that it it would take a number of years and it seems like we're start we're starting to see that happen now. Um could could you give me or could you tell us like about when um it was that you started to address uh the shift in culture? Um I would say probably three four years ago I think there's been a there was a concerted effort by administration by staff in each of the buildings um by the counselors uh and everyone involved that you know we really need to address these issues that are going on. I think you know um society also impacts that. I think there's there you know we were in COVID five years ago. There was a lot going on. Uh

037a lot of you know issues related to mental health. Um people were scared and they didn't understand what was going on. We came out of that positively. Um we've learned to be more sensitive to our students and what they're saying and what or what they're not saying. Um I would say probably three four years ago as we came out of COVID and we started going back to school on a full-time basis then I think eventually you know we started to see a small dip as you can see in these numbers here it did like in the high school it went up a little bit the previous school year from the previous school year. So 2223 it went up a little bit and now it's gone back down again. That's that's a significant drop. Am I

038correct that there's also been a more concerted effort to standardize and give every student in the primary schools more of a consistent experience when it comes to character education and conflict resolution and counseling? >> Yes. And I think Mrs. Latero has been a vital part of that. uh being able to um spend, you know, much more time with the counselors, the staff at each of the primary and intermediate schools and devoting her time in developing that character program, visiting all the elementary schools, the intermediate schools, and saying, "This is our message. This is what we're trying to do. Let's all get on the same team and making sure that it's consistent from building to building." Mike, we actually at CSA today had a conversation with Miss Lola >> about this where she talked about using

039the castle model and what they're doing in it and the and the um what's the name of the soft >> thank you everyday speech. So it was nice that they were doing it impact impacting those kids and so it's been the second year third year now >> third year. So we had that this morning which was great to see that you know working on it well. So yeah, that's some of the program that's being done. So pushing from the starting earlier and younger the elementary schools moving up. So it's great great opportunity for >> getting old kids on get that culture. >> I have a question um like for the HIV process obviously kind of involves a lot of different people. So like has there been like a change in like how we investigate the

040HIVs? Maybe that might be contributing to the decrease or do you feel like a lot of it is generally related more to like the training and the climate? >> Well, I think the procedures haven't changed over the years. I mean, it's it's pretty cut and dry. You know, we have an allegation. Uh if the principal feels that it's something that we need to investigate based on the circumstances presented there, then it kicks off the procedures. The ABS becomes involved. Not not parent notification. Um the ABS's are meeting with all parties involved in it, you know, from the the victim to the aggressor, any witnesses and such like that. U we formalized the process and using hipster so that we're consistent as far as how we're reporting it, the information that we're reporting it. Um I

041think over year over the years we become more and more comfortable with the definition and understanding what it is. Um we have yearly training as an administrative staff and then um the ABS's also um participate in yearly trainings as well not all of them but some of them participate and they turn key it um going to um presentations which are updates on the law so which talks about case law and how it's how it's changed over the years and then that helps us to develop and understand a better the definition of HIV according to the state and also investigative procedures which are shared during those trainings as Got it. And I guess you know for the process of an HIV going from an allegation to being uh confirmed like what are sort of the sign

042offs in that process typically is it >> can I just I I can I have no problem going into the process of HIV but the topic is an HIV self assessment. Mr. Aini was kind enough to provide his time and give us this presentation. We could certainly go over the process of HIV in our our training, but yes, it goes from the investigator to the principal to me to the board of education. >> No, just wanted to ask about that. That's all. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Matthew, go ahead. >> I just want to add um those are obviously numbers on a graph. So that that's not like showing people's faces, but I I feel the difference in schools. I mean after co we came back, I was in

043middle school for a little bit like after CO, but I came to the high school and freshman year it was still it was still kind of disconnected. But my sophomore year, I noticed like I was sitting in the cafeteria, there were more vice principles walking around. They were on you about lunch trays getting cleaned off of tables and just these things of respect and their presence was just it was a lot more there. It made us feel a lot more connected. We were being seen and just the more involved that we became. And then sophomore year student council started working for a homecoming dance. we started getting all these traditions that we see on social media platforms that every other student gets to have and we just they were they were lacking before but now

044they've slowly been incorporated into our district and I feel like as a student we appreciate that and we actually see it. So I just want you guys to know that. >> Okay, next up is Mr. Jason Morello will take us through our standardized test results. All right, thank you very much. Um, so I'm Jason Morello, the director of 21st century learning and data analysis. I'm also the district testing coordinator. Um, so we're going to go through uh the mandated reporting for the standardized assessments. And you can see this is part two. We gave part one which was on the NJGPA which is the graduation assessment um that all uh juniors take. and on the access which is the assessment that all of our multilingual learners take. Um so today we'll go into uh the DM

045and the NJSLA. Um those are the state assessments and we're also going to throw in a little bit uh graduation rate, AP and even some dual enrollment numbers um as well. So first I'll kind of go over the highlights that the presentation is going to show. Um so this is really your summary right here right up front. Um, so really what you're going to see when we talk about high school graduation rates, we're going to be continuing uh the high school graduation rates that we saw in the previous school year. In terms of dual enrollment, you're going to see a continual increase over the last couple of years and a very significant increase in the uh students participating in dual enrollment courses. Um, you'll see an increase in our AP participation and the performance of

046the students taking AP exams. And when we look at the NJSLA, which is the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment, um for grades three um through nine, um we're going to see that Bridgewater Raran Regional School District outperforms the state really in every subject area, math, English, language arts, and science um and at every comparable grade level um compared to state averages. All right, so let's go into it. We'll start with graduation rates. And uh like we were saying here, when we're looking at numbers, right, we're looking at numbers, but there's faces and there's students, you know, behind these numbers. So you can see where we were the class of 2022, a 93% graduation rate to the class of 2024, which was 97% to last year's class, which we're estimating it to be at 97% and

047that's only estimated because the state hasn't finalized the numbers. They're still going over their final numbers. So um but that's where we expect it to come in. Very similar to where we were in the previous year. So that 4% increase, that equates to about 30 students. So that's about 30 more seniors who are graduating now than who were graduating just about three or four years ago. Um so that's a significant increase and that's a real testament to all the programs and supports that are going on um at the high school level. Um and you can see it's been very consistent compared to the New Jersey rate consistently at 91%. We haven't seen the increase across the state that we have been able to see here. Moving on to dual enrollment. So dual enrollment are the

048courses that students can take right at Bridgewater Radaran uh high school and they are partnered with the colleges and the universities that you see listed there. Um and students by taking uh the course can purchase college credit through those universities. So students can actually leave high school with college credits right in those in the different courses. And you can see really just over the last two years, right, we've more than more than five times as many students are participating in dual enrollments this year than just two years ago, right? So that's a really significant increase and that's still an area that we continue to work on and continue to try to get more courses um involved, more universities involved. So we're hopeful that that number will continue to increase over the coming years. Moving on

049to our AP exams. Um so looking over really the past five years um in AP exams we look at that first row just the number of students who have been enrolled in an AP course at the high school um you see a continual increase from 753 back in the spring of 2022 to our current year right now the number of students currently in an AP class is 952. So 200 more students enrolled in an AP class now than uh four four years prior. And what's really nice to see and interesting to see is that, you know, typically when you have more students enrolled and taking the courses, right, you're looking at how are those students performing. And if you look at that last row, the percentage of students scoring three plus, and a three is

050considered um earning college credit in many universities across the nation. You can see also a continual increase in the percentage of students scoring at a three or higher on those AP exams. Um, so it's really nice to see more students participating in AP courses, taking AP exams, and performing well on those AP exams. Looking at the overall AP results really over the past three years. Um, so AP results are uh given on five kind of performance categories. They're scored on one through five, five being the highest, one being the lowest. Um so you can see the darker blue towards the top is the percentage of students um who have received five fives on the exams. So you can see over the past three years a continual increase for the percentage of students that receive that

051highest mark um that you can receive on the AP exams. You can see the percentage of four state are very similar over the years. threes pretty similar for the last two years and the percentage of ones and twos um are very low and have been historically low but are are lower last year than they were even in the previous years prior to that. Okay, so moving on to our state assessments. So the DM which is our dynamic learning map. This is the assessment that's the alternate assessment to the NJSLA and this is really meant for the students with the most significant uh cognitive disabilities. So the assessment is given between April and May and this is from last year's results. Um eligibility is determined by case managers. They make the determination based on criteria from

052the New Jersey Department of Education whether the student would be taking the DLM or the NJSLA. Um it's given to all students in grades three through eight and grade 11 take the ELA and the math components of the DM. And then students in grade five, eight, and 11 also take the science component. And the results are categorized into four different levels going from emerging all the way to advanced. So here are the results really for the last two years. You'll see lang English language arts for the first two uh bars and then mathematics for the next two. Um note that we really are talking a small number of students, right? The previous year in 23 24 school year was about 25 to 26 students taking the exam. Uh last year was down to 20 students

053taking the exam. Um looking at the overall results, what you'll notice is that you'll see less of the gray which is the and yellow which is the at target and advanced target for last year compared to the previous year and the increase in the orange which is the students at approaching target. And the rationale and the reason for that is similar to what we saw with our access is that once students score at a certain level on the DM typically the following year they will now move on to take the NJSLA. So that's why a lot of the students who in the previous year in 23 24 were at target or advanced those students would now not take the DLM the following year and would move on to take the NJSLA. So that's really why

054you're seeing the difference in the scores. And because we're talking such a small number of students, a difference of five students makes a big difference on the percentages, right? That's a quarter of the students, right? And for DM, since the results we do have such a small number of students, we don't really do any other breakdowns because anytime we have a reporting group less than 10, um we do not share the data for uh student confidentiality. Bless you. All right. So, moving on to NJSLA, which which is our New Jersey student learning assessment. So, this is uh English language arts. We'll do everything through for English language arts. Then, we'll do the same thing for math. And then we'll do the same thing for science. We'll go uh right through all three. Um so, for

055English language arts, all the students were tested in May of last year. All students in grades three through nine. And there's five different categories ranging from level one, which is not yet meeting grade level expectations, to level five, which is exceeding grade level expectations. and levels four and five meeting and exceeding that's considered um on grade level. So expectations that are on grade level. So here's the breakdown for all of the different grades in English language arts and then you'll see the overall uh district average. So if you combine all the grade levels together um the breakdown of the entire district to the right. I know there's a lot of information on this slide. So typically what we do for reporting purposes is we take those top two levels the meeting and exceeding because that's

056considered the the percentage of students who are kind of on grade level or above uh expectations. And if we combine those together that's what we'll do for most of the um slides that we'll be looking at next. So what you'll see here is the blue bars is the percentage of students at Bridgewater Rarden um who are meeting or exceeding for each of the grade levels and in the orange you'll see the percentage of students across the state of New Jersey who are meeting or exceeding. So you can see really across the board, first of all, you kind of see a trend, an increasing trend in English language arts from grades three really going to grade eight, you kind of see general increasing trend, right? Grade five, it drops a little bit both in Bridgewater Radarin

057and in the state. So that kind of bucks the trend a little bit. Um but for the most part, you see that increasing trend all the way through grade eight. And what you will notice is if you look at the Bridgewater Radarin, the blue bars compared to the orange bars for the state. Um, for every grade level, Bridgewater Aridan is outperforming the state. Um, and if you look overall to the right, you can see 70% of students overall across all of our grade levels are meeting or exceeding expectations compared to 53% of students across the state of New Jersey. If we look at growth over two years. Um so what this does if you look at the first kind of set of bars for grades three to four that is students who last year were

058in grade four. The previous year they were in grade three. So the yellow bar is when those students were in grade three in spring of 2024. 60% of that cohort of students were meeting or exceeding. That same group then moved on to grade four the following year. And that same group based on the fourth grade assessment 70% of the students were meeting or exceeding. So that means within that cohort 10% more students moved into that meeting exceeding category on grade level in fourth grade compared to where they were in third grade. Right? So that's kind of what this uh graph uh shows us. And so what you can see um is really for the most part you're seeing that increase and that growth from one year to the next. Right? And if you look overall

059to the right, you'll see there's about 5% more students meeting or exceeding last year compared to the same group of students based on where they were the previous year in the previous grade. Here we'll look at all of the different subgroups. Um so the blue bars represent the different races and ethnicities and the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations for each of those each of those races and ethnicities. In the gray you'll see the gender. Um so male uh as you can see uh females outperformed males. So about 10% more females were meeting or exceeding compared to males on the English language arts which will get interesting because we'll flip-flop that when we get when we look at math and science. Um and then in the orange you'll see um our different programs. So

060special education, our English language learners and our economically disadvantaged students and the percentage of uh students in each of the different categories um who are meeting or exceeding. And then all the way on the right, that's just our overall percentage of students meeting in sitting across the district in English language arts. And now we'll go through the same process with math. Um so very similar uh with math. All students tested in grades three through nine um back in last May. Same five different uh performance levels. So here's the breakdown for each grade level. Um what's makes math a little bit more interesting and complicated right is that not every student in the grade level takes the grade level NJSLA. Um so for example if we look at grade seven that's why you might see a

061little asterisk there. Um so any student who is taking algebra 1 in grade seven so those are our two-year accelerated students in grade seven. They're taking the algebra 1 NJSLA. So they're actually not in the grade seven bar. They're included in the algebra 1 bar. Right? When we move to grade eight, we have some students who are taking grade eight math, some students taking algebra 1, some students taking geometry. So students taking geometry would be in the geometry bar. Students taking algebra 1 would be in the algebra one bar. And the grade eight would just be the students um who are taking grade eight mathematics, right? So just kind of keep that in mind as we go through. So once we get to grade seven, it's not representing the entire grade level, right? And when

062we that's why we have to be very careful when we make certain comparisons like comparisons to the state. So here you can see uh how Bridgewater Radan performed on the math assessment in each of the grade levels and also how the state performed. Um so overall just looking at the overall trend you can see really both in Bridgewater Radan and the state you'll see a decreasing trend as the grade level increases from grade three all the way to grade 8 right the same trend both in Bridgewater and the state it really decreases um at every level every grade level and then once you get to algebra 1 to algebra 2 it increases right um and same thing that you see across the state um so that's kind of the overall trend looking at the comparisons

063Bridgewater RAR Ardan does outperform the state in every level except for if you look at grade seven, right? If you look at grade seven, right, Bridgewater, 35% of students were meeting or exceeding compared to the state, it's 39%. Right? But that's really not a comp a good comparison to make because like we said before, right, we have about a quarter of our students in grade seven and there are students who are two years accelerated mathematics who are not included in that category, right? They're in algebra 1. Whereas across the state, there are very few districts across the state who offer algebra one as an option for seventh grade. So all of the accelerated students in grade seven across the state are pretty much included in the grade seven across the state. Right? So it's really

064not a com it's really not a comparison that we should be making um comparing our kind of grade seven students to the state grade seven students. And that's also similar for grade grade eight as well. If we look at growth, there's lots of comparisons because there's lots of different cohorts in math because there's lots of different pathways with the acceleration options uh that we have. What you'll see for most of the kind of growth is really very similar results with percentage of students meeting exceeding one year compared to the next, right? And even if you look all the way to the right at the overall, right, you see the exact same percentage. 58% of students were meeting or exceeding in math really for the last two years in a row. So even though that number

065is the same, that doesn't necessarily mean that there's no growth because over the course of that year, students learned an entire new year's worth of mathematics standards, right? And are performing at the same level on the new math standards as they were on the previous year's math standards. So even though we're not seeing a higher percentage of students meeting or exceeding, right, we are seeing the same percentage of students meeting or exceeding when learning an entire year's worth of new content. Um looking at some of the grade levels um looking at grades seven to eight which is kind of right in the middle there right you do see a significant increase um so the same students who went from grade seven math to grade eight math right went from 18% meeting or exceeding to 31%

066so although that's you know still not the percentages that we'd like to see that's a significant increase in the students who um were in that pathway um and for the most part you'll see very similar results um or slight you know slight slight growth, maybe 1% decline. The only places where you see um a little bit more than that in terms of decline would be grades four to five, right? And algebra 1 middle school to geometry high school, right? And that is an area that our math supervisor um is is already working with our math teachers, our principal are aware and this will be um definitely an area of focus um to look at our algebra one middle school to geometry high school um into that. But once again, that geometry high school, we're talking

067about a little bit more than 100 students. That's not representative of all of geometry based on the numbers of students who actually take the NJSLA. And if we look at subgroup, once again, blue is the races and ethnicities, gray is the gender, orange is the uh program. Um, and this is where you see kind of the flip in terms of the gender where males are slightly outperforming females in mathematics whereas in English language arts we saw the opposite. Okay, moving on to science. So, science is only tested in grades 5, 8, and 11. Um, and science has four performance levels compared to the five performance levels that English, language arts, and math have. Um, so you'll see um from below proficient to advanced proficient. Um, and levels three and four are considered on grade level.

068So, here's our breakdown by grade. Once again, it's only in grades five, eight, and 11. And then you'll see the overall district average to the right. If we just look at the percentage of students who are proficient and advanced proficient, once again, blue is Bridgewater Raridan, orange is uh the average across New Jersey. Um you can see that Bridgewater Raridan does outperform in each of the grade levels the state of New Jersey right and overall 42% of students in Bridgewater Raridan were proficient or advanced proficient compared to only 27% right across the state and I know this is an assessment when we look at that only 27% of students are proficient um across the state um this is definitely has been a conversation in many of the the state groups I know we've had the

069conversation here even in previous years um this is consistent year-over-year with results that are very similar to This here's our breakdown by program. Um and once again when we look at um gender right males are slightly outperforming females similar to what we saw in mathematics. So overall kind of key takeaways out of everything that we looked at. Um looking at the NJSLA that we uh just saw overall Bridgewater Raridan is outperforming the state really at all in all subject areas and at all comparable grade levels right because that grade seven really isn't a comparable grade level to the state. And if we kind of look at the overall percentages Bridgewater routing is outperforming the state by 17% in ELA, 16% in math and 15% in science. So pretty consistent across the three different subject areas

070as well. With our AP course enrollment, we're really seeing the highest to date um in terms of number of students enrolling in AP exams. And we've really seen a continuing um increase in the student performance and the percentage of students getting threes or higher and even the percentage of students getting the highest level getting the getting fives. Um and although we're kind of seeing um overall we're performing above state averages, when we do look at some of those subgroups, there are some subgroups that are underperforming, overperforming, um so we're not all performing at the same level. So that's also areas that we're looking into. Um, also I wanted to mention that although we're kind of doing kind of a highlevel overall kind of summary of the results, this is something that we, you know, we

071meet with all of the principles, all of the supervisors and we really dive much deeper into these conversations, especially with NJSLA, um, for all the grade levels. Um, really looking at the results specific to each individual school, each individual grade level. Um, we get much more, um, involved even with the content and the standards, you know, through those discussions. Um so we are having those kind of conversations um as an administrative team and um involving you know the teachers as well. So what actions are we taking? Um we have universal literacy screening in grades K through three. So this is the first year we're using the dibbles. Expect reports if you are a parent of a student in grades K through three like me. Expect a report to come home uh probably early November uh

072with the results. Um, but what's nice about universal literacy screening is that we we will be able to identify students who maybe need some more support in literacy at earlier grade levels, right? And then hopefully be able to identify provide support, provide intervention um to help students. So this way by the time they're getting to NJSLA age, right, grades three and above um we'll be seeing those results and we'll be seeing um students being more successful. We also have uh targeted professional development that we're planning for teachers um across all different grade levels across the district. Um so we have high impact instructional strategies um that's going to be uh mainly focused for our intermediate schools um through some of our professional development days and through some meetings. Uh we'll also be continuing um our

073strategies for uh coaches and ETSs to help them be effective with supporting all of our staff members, all of our teachers um across the district. And we're also going to be continuing our sheltered instruction strategies um for all of our teachers who have multilingual learners in their classrooms uh really to provide them with the strategies to help them um support multilingual learners um in their classrooms. We'll also be strengthening our intervention program and resources across the district. And at the high school, you saw that high graduation rate, right? There's a lot of things that contribute to that, but some of it are the supports and the programs that have been put in place over the recent years. Um so that's the structured learning lab. um which really supports students who have failed some classes in

074the past, provides a structured study hall um with a a person to kind of check in with um and support them to help be successful in those classes. Uh we have the bright program uh which is for students who maybe struggle to meet those graduation requirements through the traditional kind of high school uh schedule and and and high school program. Uh we have egeneuity which is a program for students who maybe at the end of a marking period are struggling in a specific core class. There's an opportunity to help them be more successful and increase their grade before they even get to failing the class at the end of the year. So that would be during the year. And then there are tutoring uh opportunities for students um in some courses throughout the year as

075well. And we'll kind of sum it all up with all of the state assessments for this year. Um, so the Dibbles, which is that universal literacy screening for K3, we actually just wrapped that up last week, which is why score reports should be going out probably that first week of November. Um, we have for the first time the NJSLA and NJGPA adaptive assessments that will be replacing the traditional NJGPA and the NJSLA results that we just went over. So this, you know, it may look a little bit different next year when we have a new assessment that we're discussing. Um, but the state is field testing that. Um, and that will be the last week of October and the first two weeks of November. Um the field test will be for those assessments. We will

076not be receiving any score reports. That's the field test is really just meant for the state to help to kind of develop their policies, set their scoring, make sure the whole functionality runs smoothly. Um so we will not be receiving any scores as a school district um students, parents. Um it's really meant for the state to kind of help develop their policies. We then have the WEDA access which is for the assessment for multilingual learners. That'll be in February and March. Then we have the live version of the new NJGPA adaptive assessment that will be in March. And then we have the DM and the NJSLA adaptive um that will be in April and May of 2026. And if anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Had one question. >> Um

077do you know when um the NJSLA results get sent to parents? >> Yes, they just got sent. So parents should have received their NJSA results probably in the past week. I believe they were mailed out last Wednesday. >> Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I actually have one question. >> Um do you guys know why I noticed that um it's nice that you're tracking grade like a three to four or four to five to see that cohort and how they're doing. Um I noticed that there was a dip in math and language arts larger in math than in language arts. Do you attribute that to the school change or like what do you attribute that drop? Do you have any idea? No. I know it's a hard question. I was thinking the school change maybe. >>

078That's when they move for the first time ever. >> Yeah. When they go four to five, right? So that's their first time moving schools ever. That's >> right. We we've had many discussions about this and and that that could be one of them. And so we're very curious what's going to happen when we do the shift with the schools next year and we have K3 and four or five. And you know, we're going to there's going to be a lot of changes because we're changing schedules, we're changing curriculum. And so that is where Jason mentioned um let me just go back to the actions we are taking. The high impact instructional strategies actually that's as Jason mentioned before is where we're focusing because we noticed this last year as well. >> Yeah. Especially fifth grade.

079Yes. >> Especially in fifth grade. So that's where we're doing that work with teachers this year and we you know started that work in the intermediate schools last year but we are wondering if this shift might also help you know because we've also identified that dip now >> I mean did you have anything else you want to add to that Jason did we talk about anything else? Yeah. No, I I think that is something that we actually identified a little last year and that's where we have those conversations with individual schools. That's where we kind of go more involved and you know last year we've had conversations with teachers looking at the data and yeah so that's a continuation of what we're going to do and that is one of the areas that we still

080are targeting some of our professional development on >> standards. >> Thank you for that. Um just question about the is the one that you have to take as a junior in order to graduate. >> NJ GPA >> and for the for either of them for the kids who are at the two most like near proficient and not proficient I know we're using this information to to develop curriculum and to fix the situation but is anyone individually noticed to like say this student in particular was really low on this and let's pull them out because I know we're using some information to put kids in AP classes, but are we also doing that? >> Right. So, this assessment is really used in conjunction with other assessments because what's kind of difficult with this assessment is by

081the time we get the results, a lot of time passes from the time the assessment's taken to the time that we actually get the results. Whereas more of the other assessments that we utilize, we get the results a lot faster. So we're able to utilize it and you know provide those supports kind of quicker because really by the time we get the results for NJSLA the school year is over. So at that point it's done for that school year and then we're into the next school year already. Um but we also have other assessments really at all the different grade levels that are utilized to help identify. Um but this is kind of when we have that results the results for this we do look at them and you know use that to help support

082students when possible. Right. And when you're in high school, it's also some of it's used for your meeting a pathway for graduation requirements. And so we are identifying students who might need different pathways too, which also requires that we're providing some kind of um additional support or remediation or you know class. Speaking of time, is there a score on that test on the GPA that would prevent you from graduating or it's just an assessment to see what else needs to be done >> on the NJGPA? >> So, it actually it's not meeting, right? What is it called? >> Yeah. So, it's there's two options. There's only two performance levels. So, it's uh graduation ready and not yet graduation ready. Um so if it's if a student is graduation ready then that student meets the graduation

083require the graduation assessment requirement in order for graduation. Um if the student is not yet graduation ready then there are those alternative assessments such as SAT, PSAT, ACUPPLACER um that students would then need to have a passing score on one of those alternate assessments or complete a portfolio in order to be eligible for to graduate. Yes, we would not allow that to be an option for someone not to graduate, but they do have to sit for the test in order to be eligible for these other pathways. >> Thank you for your presentation. If you go back to one slide before, there's a schedule of the tests that's scheduled for the year. Um, I noticed that there's two adaptive field tests. Are they going to be a full-blown test that or our kids are going to

084be involved for that test, >> right? So the adaptive field test, right, for NJSLA and NJGPA is not a full length test. So it is mandatory that all districts across the state have to provide the field test and it's for students grades four through 12, right, in the area. So very similar to kind of NJSLA. Um but no student is taking a fulllength test in any area. So that's where the field test comes in because really they're field testing the questions. They're not field testing student performance like for individual students. Um so all students will be participating because that's a mandate from the state. Um, but nobody will be getting any individual student results or even schoolwide results because the purpose of the field test is for the NJDE to see how students perform on

085the different items to know whether certain items should be utilized, shouldn't be utilized. Probably using it to set overall cut scores like what would be, you know, a passing score, so to say. So, they're going to be using that. I think they're also using it to make sure that the it's a new platform that's also being used. Alo making sure that the platform can handle testing across the entire state of New Jersey at the same time. So I think there is kind of making sure that it's going to be a smooth transition. So this way when we have the assessment in the spring that will be the new adaptive assessment any hiccups will be realized during the field test when it doesn't impact individual students. So this way by the spring everything should hopefully be

086be smooth. >> Jason, is it is it true that the adaptive field test is indeed not adaptive? >> So that is the word on the street. Just okay just checking. >> So it it has not been uh written but um yes it is hypothesized that uh they are using the results of this field test to help with the adaptiveness of the spring >> spring actual test. I feel like this might be a situation where uh we might to we might want to communicate with the families real well so that this is a test for the test instead of test for the students so that there's no miscommunication misunderstanding you know why is my kids being tested but I don't see a result. Yes, definitely when the communication goes out that actually exactly is in part

087of the communication that the purpose of this test um is for the state to kind of test their items and for a smooth transition and is not meant for individual student performance. And we will say that also there will be no score reports from for any students for any families or for any schools. Right? So all of that will be in the notifications. Um some of them have actually already gone out already and some of them will be coming out very shortly um from the schools. Uh thank you for the presentation. Uh I know we're doing a lot of dual enrollment opportunities with different colleges. Um are there any other plans out there to increase the number of different colleges out there or >> Yes, there are definitely plans to always be open. Um nothing

088specific right now that I see happening in the very near future. Um, but that's definitely something that is is a goal of ours to continue to increase not only the number of colleges and universities that we're partnering with, but also the number of courses um that were also able to offer. >> And uh I guess circling back to universal literacy screening, uh I think the purpose of it, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, is to better identify the students that may need a little bit more support, right, with the >> like English and reading side of things. Yes. Like I know there's obviously a lot that'll go on from a classroom perspective in terms of supporting those students, but have we thought about how we can like also engage parents as part of these

089conversations of how they can better support their students um and sort of I guess improving some of their literacy skills? >> Yep. Absolutely. So, uh we just finished giving the assessment and this is also the first year because that is also a state mandate now for the first time um that that's happening across the state for K through three. Um so the score reports will be sent home probably in early November. Um, so there'll be information with that. Um, and also, um, teachers are actually currently being trained, all teachers, K3 are currently being trained on how to analyze those results and use those results to help support not just students who need, um, maybe more support or intervention, but really how to analyze it and how to support all students in their class um, based

090on the results of those assessments. And I noticed as well for some of the data on like by sort of race uh and gender like have we also like did does the state also release their own data as well on a raceto race basis or >> typically not at least not at this time. Sometimes they will much later like school performance report time. >> Um but that's usually a year behind >> when we get this information. Um so we don't really have that information at least at this point. um or probably in the near future to make those comparisons across the state for anything really other than overall state average. >> And uh I guess this is kind of like I know you don't you probably don't have these numbers off the top of your

091head, but I know for a long long time we've consistently outperformed New Jersey state averages, but would you say proportionally we've been consistently outperforming the state averages by around the same amount over New Jersey levels on sort of a year-over-year basis? Yeah, I'd say the last couple of years like even just looking at right we're outperforming by about 17 16 and 15%. >> Um I know at least the previous year I don't think anything changed more than 2% from there. So it's been pretty consistent at least in the the previous couple of years. >> Those are all my questions. Thank you. >> Just want to piggyback on something that Mr. Lee said. So you said that the um the dibbles reports will come out in November uh and the teachers will have them too presumably

092and will they then have those prepared for the uh the teacher conferences that come in later in November? >> So the teachers uh well teachers and parents will all have the information prior to then. Um so yes so that definitely could be >> yeah that can absolutely be part of the conversation um based on the whole profile of each individual student probably more likely for some students compared to others in some conferences but yes that could be part of any conference. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Could you go to the slide of spring 2025 math NJSLA meeting exceeding for BRSDNJ it's uh one before that yes this one so I see that the from grade three through grade eight there's like a continuous trend of the proficiency level going down uh I was curious

093is Is that cohort related or is that curriculum related? Do we need to look at the reason behind that and see what can we do to help those grades as they go up? >> Yep. I think that's test creation related because you'll see the same trend in Bridgewater Radon as you see across the state. If you see separate trends like if you see like Bridgewater decreasing while the state increasing, right, then that's more of a cause for concern with maybe our individual curriculum or our instruction. But when you see the same trend happening across the state and what we're having here, right, basically right, it becomes more difficult to receive a passing score as the grade level increases. Um, and if that's happening across the state for whatever reason, um, I think part of it

094is the creation or the scoring of the assessment at the grade level. um kind of like what we see like you know when you get to grade eight 21% of students across the state in grade eight mathematics are meeting grade level expectations right um right we talk about it in science right all the time 27% of students across the state in science that's I think an issue with the assessment itself and the test items andor the scoring of it so I think there's a little bit of that as the grade level increases right it becomes a little bit more difficult to rece receive that meeting or exceeding on those assessments. Um, so that would be kind of my interpretation of it because you see the same trend both here and across the state. >> If

095we compare the same grades across the years like a longitudinal analysis of different cohort but for the same grade level, how do they trend? >> So if you look at the same cohort from one year to the next, it's very similar. right? In most cases, right, you do see a little bit like we talked about grade five, you do see that little bit of a dip in grade five and this is like two years in a row that we have seen that which is why we've addressed um some strategies specific to there. Um same thing for that algebra one middle school to geometry, right? But those are really the only dips that we see, right? One maybe 1% from grades five to six, but that's really consistent. Um really what we see in mathematics is

096really a lot of consistency from one year to the next and students performing at similar uh similar percentages of students meeting or exceeding but they've learned a whole year's worth of new content within that time. So you know we're not in English we're seeing a little bit more growth and movement than we are in math but that's also consistent with what the state is seeing. Um, so that's where, you know, we're basically following very similar trends as what we see across the state, which I think most of the time that's really just the design of the test. Um, but in certain areas like we do see that grade five a little bit more of a dip. That's where we we tend to look into things um a little bit more closely. >> Thank you. Um

097well f first I just want to commend uh administration and all those involved because you know when you told us about your vision for how some of these programs are going to roll out like for ESL in every school and for the pullout programs you know you had an overall vision and and obviously we're seeing it come to fruition particularly um something to be proud of is the graduation rate um because like you said 30 students is a big deal. Um my question uh was you had you had said that algebra is separated from grades nine uh eight seven. Thank you. Um is the same applied to kids that are in um gifted and talented or pull out for grades four like for the younger grades or they all take the same test? >> So

098in the younger grades they would all all take the same test. Only students in algebra 1 in a course that's an algebra 1 course, geometry or algebra 2 course, regardless of grade level, they would take the algebra 1 geometry or algebra 2 NJSLA assessment. And that starts in grade seven. So that means all students in grades six and below, regardless of what um gifted and talented program they may be, they would take the grade level assessment. So grades three through six, that is our entire grade level, all students, grades three through six. once you get to grade seven that it starts to, you know, get a little more complicated. >> That's that's that's when the mathematic acceleration starts or double acceleration starts in grade seven. >> So I I think it would be interesting to

099it for grades three to six, we're looking at those grades. Yes. For grade seven, it's really grade seven math versus grade seven. >> And sevene is in grade seven math because that's not technically an algebra one. So grade seven math would be our grade level students and our one-year accelerated students who were in 7E. Our two-year accelerated students in algebra 1 would not be in there. And then when you get to grade eight, our grade level students are taking grade eight math, our one-year accelerated students are taking algebra 1, and our two-year accelerated students are taking geometry. So for grade eight, you're only seeing the results of our >> grade level math students, right? Which is why when you look at the overall results, right, you typically see a drop from grade se, right? six

100to seven to eight because each year you're pulling more students out of the mix as you go. And so that's why you're seeing a drop, you know, really here and across the state once you get to grade eight. And and that's a fascinating thing we discussed in committee as well that a lot of people don't see is the seventh and eighth grade pullouts and if you were to combine those grades in here would be through the roof. >> And those are the little nuances that you don't see. >> Yeah. because pretty much all the students who are being pulled out >> are performing meeting or exceeding. So it would really increase that number quite significantly. >> Mr. Last question for me is it true with the math assessment, aren't they also being assessed on the

101entire grade and they haven't actually in some cases learned everything for that grade? >> Correct. >> It's early. >> Yes. >> So especially I mean English it might not be as effective but in these younger grades you haven't learned times yet >> right it's a little bit better now because the assessment is usually in May where if you remember back when it was park it was like March April so there was a larger chunk of time after the assessment where we're still teaching the standards and the content that was tested on the assessment um so but that is still the case it's it's at least less than it used to be because of the timing of the assessment but yes that still is the case but that also is the case for the entire state

102is in the same situation >> to explain why. >> Yes. >> We always cram in types of triangles in about 20 minutes at the last second. >> Y like this might be on the test. Here you go. >> Yep. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you very much, Moral. >> Thank you, Morel. appreciate it >> and for your input. We appreciate it. >> Okay. And finally within everyone's folder is the uh student safety data report uh 2024 2025. Again in comparison with with prior years it does show a downward trend in uh some key areas. So you know please take a look at that and u go from there. And with that I will turn it over to you already gave the president's report so we're up to committee reports. Mr. Beer, we were in

103fact up to the academic committee with uh Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. So, we met on October 6 at 5:00 uh virtually. In attendance were myself, Miss Osuna, Mr. Pepe, Mr. Singer, Dr. Jones, Mr. Beers, Miss Madia, and Mr. Moriel. First item on the agenda was the full day kindergarten pilot report. Um at the request of the committee, Miss uh Madia provided a brief over of our uh full day kindergarten pilot at Adamsville and JFK schools. She discussed how the program is enhanced by having full school days which provide more time for instruction in the core content areas such as ELA, English language arts, math, science, and social studies as well as additional time for developmentally appropriate practices such as playbased learning. She shared some photos which u allowed the committee to take a peek at

104inside the classrooms and it looks pretty good actually very vibrant and colorful. Uh any questions? >> Say thanks again for that report from Miss Mattie and Dr. Jones. It was uh great to see some of the stuff that's going on there and the difference it's making for our families and students. So thank you. >> Next year is going to be great. Um item two was the testing report. As we just saw, Mr. Moriel presented the district's uh testing report which required which is required by the uh department of education. This includes NJSLA, DLM, dynamic learning map results, the ELA, English language arts results, math and science. The report includes aggregated and disagregated subgroup data, comparative analysis, and appropriate intervention strategies. Additionally, Mr. Morello highlighted as it is just now growth in AP participation and results,

105dual enrollment and graduation rates. This testing report is being presented tonight and it was item three policy review policy 22 uh 2422 statutory curriculum requirements. Um the committee reviewed policy 2422 which changes the name only of policy from comprehensive health and physical education to statutory curriculum requirements. This is because the policy includes that are not specific to um health and physical education such as Asian-American Pacific Islander history and uh contributions of such. Uh this is no substantive there is no substantial change to the content of the policy. Uh item two uh was policy 5339.01 student sun protection. This is a new one. Uh the committee reviewed the new policy that allows students to use sunscreen and wear sunprotective clothing i.e. hats, sunglasses, etc. outdoors. The committee also recommended um the second option that would allow

106the school principles and designates to limit types of sunscreen when appropriate. Any questions on the policy review? I'm curious why is sunscreen particularly mentioned like there's so much other stuff right why >> new law I think >> new law yeah >> yeah you could you could probably and I've been at a few conferences where you imagine the genesis of this so most likely there was a district somewhere in the state of New Jersey that did not allow a kid to put on sunscreen when they went on a trip or out on the playground >> or wear a hat or sunglasses >> most likely that's came most likely that's the genesis of it. So then folks down to the state complain and they get a law and subsequent policy or spray tan or something. >> It

107doesn't change any practice. >> Yes, Lucy. We have no obligation to apply it on students or but we do have to allow them to have it. And we did have the discussion about like aerosol sunscreen. We decided like there might be times where we want that option of principles being able to say no, you can only bring this certain kind of sunscreen >> so that kids aren't spraying each other. [Music] >> I just find it's uh probably shouldn't arrive at a law or a policy level. I feel like our administration and our teachers are perfectly able to handle this. Um supposedly this doesn't change our practice having this policy or not. >> All right. Thanks. All right. Uh, item four was the interstic athletic schedule, the winter one. Um, it's on our agenda. The winter

108athletic schedule was reviewed and there were no questions. Um, and we adjourned at 6:52. Next meeting is November 17th. >> Thank you, Mr. And I I want to beat the dead horse real quick. Um, because Mr. mentioned this, but we have an eight times increase in dual enrollment over the past two years, and that's just incredible. Um, and then we have 150 more AP students taking classes with an increase in successful test rate. I I just want to again thank the administration, both school and district, for that. It's I mean, that's just amazing. >> And just so you know, we didn't even hit all the content areas yet. So, we still have to work on world language with dual enrollment. We'll be expanding. So, If I could just jump jump jump jump jump jump jump

109jump jump jump jump jump jump in on that with classes that are getting a little bit smaller overall. Is that >> correct too? Just another >> Yeah, you're you're correct. So the high school enrollment is down but we still have larger size grades as seniors and juniors and then then it starts to drop to 600. So yeah, so when you look at something like AP scores for seniors and the numbers. You're correct. It's it it is a pretty decent apples to apples comparison, but we're going to have to shift those numbers to percentages versus just the aggregate number. So, it's more >> up next will be FFT with Mr. Walker. >> I'll read the minutes, but I was not I did not attend the meeting. So um the FFT meeting met at October 7th at

1105:30 at the way building intends was Mr. Singer, Mr. Pepe, Miss Laughron, and Mr. Lomsky. Um the first item was the business agenda. The business administrator reviewed the draft business agenda items for the October 14th board meeting with special attention to the partial roof replacement bid award and the comprehensive maintenance plan. The recommendation was consensus to approve all the action items. Any questions? Ask them. All right. Somersa County Improvement Authority solar power purchase agreement. Business business administrator reviewed the district's solar panel purchase agreement which is due to expire the end of 2026. The options available were discussed as well as their financial impacts. Areas of concerns discussed were the current utility rates, condition of the roofs, and the cost of disposal. Recommendation was none at this time. More information provided at future meeting. Any questions?

111Oh darn policy updates. The business administrator shared two strauss policy updates and one regulation. Policy 0177 professional professional services and policy regulation 1570 internal controls. It was determined to support the minor changes recommended by the strabby in both policies and regulation. These would appear on the will appear on the first reading on the agenda this evening for bird for board approval. Any questions? Seeing none other matters discussion took place regarding how to construct how construction building permit fees with the township and burough were typically handled for all reference projects in which the business may shared that there are typ they are typically waved. Mr. Pepe inquired about what about whether donations or the about whether donations such as the bottle fillers include the cost of installation in which the business manager responded that there that

112there are a few instances in which it does not cover the entire cost. There were no recommendations at time. Any questions? Our next meeting date is November 11th at 5:30 p.m. and the insurance at 6:15 p.m. >> Walker personnel with Mrs. >> Um, our next meeting is October 20th. >> Are there any delegate reports? >> Mr. Pepe, >> just one thing from Ritan. The Raron Recreation Department is hosting its annual trunk or treat uh festivities from 1 to 3:00 on Saturday, September 25th. Uh so if any uh students, it's always a good crowd there if anyone wants to decorate a trunk and give away some candy. Uh you'll probably be very popular that day. Uh you can reach out to Raron Recreation and do that, but look forward to seeing a good crowd there again.

113Uh Monday, October 6th, um Bridgewater Town Council, they approved a contract for the engineering work for the safe routes to school uh around the Adamsville area. Uh I did write down all the streets, but I can't read my own handwriting, but mo most of the streets are just like right around that area around the school. Uh so I wanted to let you know about that. um time frame wise, if that is the next question. Um typically when the municipality approves engineering work at the end of a year, we hope to see work start on projects like this in the spring of the following year, but I'm I'm not going to make promises for anybody else. Uh and the second topic that came up was ebikes. It's obviously a statewide issue and we're seeing a lot

114of it in the media lately, um you know, due to some terrible stories. Uh but it was brought up at town council and one of the speakers from the public had suggested that um there could be work with school districts on how to communicate road safety. So I just wanted to share that with the board and that's all. >> I've received a correction. The date for the trick-or- treat is October 25th, not September 25th. Although I'm sure the the the children who participate wouldn't mind having a second one next year if there's interest, but October 25th. Thank you. Uh 1 to three. Thank you. >> Any other reports? >> Yeah, we had a CSA meeting today which was really really interesting. We saw some of the reports that were given. Um Mrs. Jones was there,

115Mrs. Madia, Mrs. Wolf, Miss Gapasano, Mulligan very well. Thank you. They talked about, you know, the the um the the growth mindset coming from the castle model, which is using everyday speech and things going on areas. They were talking about in the counseling area was vaping, grief, gaming, and ADHD. Some conversations. They had another conversation that Miss Latulo was thinking about doing some parent nights. So, it was kind of interesting talking about these subjects with parents and combining with them, getting the word out. So, that was kind of good. Bruce was talking about that. Um the FDA piloted programs. You saw the pictures curriculum. Kindergarters eating lunch now, which they hadn't done before. So, it's a whole new all hands on deck for that going on. They're really excited about the time and and what

116they're getting in there with the phonics and literature, collaborative conversations, small small group instruction, foundational skills. So, um the extra hour, the mau of math, the envision learning stations doing great. And there's both small group for more formative time with the teachers and a good time. Science and social studies, the same thing. instead of being back and forth, they're doing them simultaneously now. So, you you used to have one on one quarter, off quarter, I think now they're able to do that simultaneously. So, I'm I'm very excited to see the um the achievement levels of our kids. I'm like, and the first grade teachers next year are like, wow. You know, I'm excited to see that. So, stepping forward through with these kids is going to be fantastic. So, that was a good thing. Um

117Mr. Beers uh presented talked about some other items. They're selling blankets. We should have brought one. We put it up here for them up here. New blankets. So, lots of very nice blankets. There's a raffle. We did not win. So, you know, but for for blanket when they came. Um, it was a good meeting. So, also workshop next week for everybody coming up. I want to uh kind of give a shout out to our administrators. This is the first time in 11 years we've had our staff administrators presenting workshop which I think is fantastic. Mr. Mr. Beers and Moran are talking about the referendum success and the the pathway they use to to pass it. And Dr. Fonder is on a panel of per personnel hiring best practices and what else topic is that? Best

118practices, I think. Okay. Innovative past practices and was a great group of people on there, too. So, it's kind of exciting. The bad part is one is at 2:30 on Tuesday, the other one's at 2:45, but they're on the same floor. So, I know that you're at 409 or you're at 412 and you're 409 or vice versa. So, you're gonna do that. Um, Can someone record one? I don't know if you're allowed to do that there. >> Oh, that well that's I'll leave you guys up to that. So, I mean um so a lot of exciting things. Um the the exhibit hall there there will be there'll be food trucks there and then I think you get different vendors. There's a free lunch ticket you can get for at exhibit halls for that. Um I

119think Kevin, we got um reception invitations by chance. You received any? Okay. Sometimes, but there's usually receptions you allow afterwards. that there should be some great sessions and some information and enjoy um having a great speakers. >> Yes, AJ, I'm trying to get you to go. You can come on down. It's a really good time. Tuesday is a good one. I like Tuesday. >> Just want to uh follow up what Mr. Walker said about the parent wellness night. Uh I believe it's scheduled for October 28th. It's a live webinar on vaping. Um, and and there were a couple comments about how I mean it mostly affects middle school and high school age kids, but parents who have younger children might want to know this for either their, you know, their their nephews and nieces or

120for their future knowledge. So, I hope that that can be well attended and I'm really happy that we're bringing back these parent wellness notes. I think it's really important and I think they were talking about doing four this year, right? I think that's great and I appreciate Mrs. Ludo putting that back out there. So, thank you. Any other lean or delegate? Seeing none, we're going on to the uh open public comment section. Individuals in our groups are invited to present their concerns, comments, and requests to the board of education at this time for any matters. In accordance with board policy, members of the public are allowed one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of five minutes during this period of the meeting. Please be advised that video recording of this meeting will be

121posted on the district's website and we ask that you state your name and municipality of residents for the record as well. Thank you. >> Hello. Good evening. Um, my name is Leslie Chung and I reside at 1139 Pen Road. I am here tonight because I actually came on the 30th, but I'm an administrator in West Orange High School and I host a virtual event that ended and I missed that meeting. Um, so I'm here tonight on behalf of what happened to my child who attends Hamilton Primary School in September the 4th. Uh, my child was spit on. This happened in afterare and while I was appalled at what happened, it was my child who shared the information with me. Um, at that time it was late in the evening and I hadn't received any communication

122from afterare from what occurred or anything. I picked my daughter up and we had a conversation. So, I did follow up with an email. Uh, Miss Smith did email me back that evening and she called me the very next day. Uh, she corroborated what my child said and not that I tried to water it down, but when I was talking to her what occurred, I asked were you speaking closely to the student and some spittle got on you? And she said, "No, mom, it was ha too." As I was walking away, spit got on me. So, just let that sit for a minute. Let someone spit on you. Like, let that sink in. It's pretty gross. Um, as I said, I'm an administrator in my own district. Been an administrator since 2011. Um, I did

123attend discipline. I'm still an administrator. Now transition to uh school counseling and master scheduling and field testing of all that good stuff. However, um that happened on September the 4th, which was a Thursday, I believe. No later than Monday, I get a phone call from afterare that my child was hit. She's walking to the car and I just said by chance, "Was it by the same student?" "Yes, mommy." Though at that time I was livid. I have to say that I looked at the code of conduct. Um I actually helped write my code of conduct and expect a rating on another student at the high school level is taken very seriously. Uh this is not only an assault. I did not go to Bridgewater Police Department. I'm not trying to say that a book should

124be thrown at the child. However, my child is in second grade. This child was in is in first grade. You do know by kindergarten and even first grade it is not acceptable to spit on a pair. Uh I said that I was more than available to come in meet with the parents. I will leave my building which I run to come down and assist and support whatever happens or needed to happen to speak with the parents make myself available. Um like I said I did attendance and discipline. I understand that you know things are confidential. I get that. However, when I went to the code of conduct to see the levels of infraction, my request here tonight, this evening is that while I was told that this rarely occurs, it occurs more so in self-incclusion

125classes. You know, I didn't care about that. I'm here tonight on my child. Um, as you could see, I'm a woman of color. I was told and my child did say that this wasn't racially charged. I was very happy about that. Um, but there aren't many students that look like my baby in school. I'm very happy to say that when I speak to my child and she still says the best part of her day is after care. I'm very happy about that. And I'm not to say I'm not trying to bash Kevin or Miss Smith. They were very appropriate with me on the phone. Kevin followed up. He did his due diligence um to ask me specific questions and it wasn't until when the second infraction happened that I was led to believe that something

126more happened. But on that initial conversation, what happened to my child, me being told that, oh, a loss of in, you know, I guess privileges and like a good talking to was not acceptable. As a parent, I'm an administrator. I believe that this really needs to be a part of your code of conduct. It is at the high school level in my district. I did not I probably should have done my due diligence to look at the Bridgewater Raritton High School student handbook, but I'm asking tonight for this to be incorporated into the handbook here so that a parent like me who again goes to student conduct the handbook. I was not able to ascertain what infraction this child received. And again, I was not asking for the book to be thrown at a child.

127However, I believe that some sort of removal from afterare for a week, for three days, something. But the very next day when my child interacted with this student, she was hit. That is not acceptable. I understand my time is up. >> Thank you. >> Um, if you could just allow me two more minutes. >> I'm sorry, I can't. It has to be five minutes. But I do invite you to email the board with your comments and we will review them as well. >> Thank you. Thank you. So my name is Margarita Yosfakis. I came to last month's uh BOE meeting and I spoke about requesting hosting an exchange student and asking the the district to change their policy about allowing exchange students. I didn't see anything on the agenda for this meeting. I didn't see

128anything in the minutes. I'm requesting the board to please put this on the agenda for the next meeting and to change the policy so that we can have exchange students in our districts. I don't see any disadvantage to having an exchange student. Um, unfortunately, my husband and I don't have children, but we've been paying taxes for numerous years. So, we've already paid tuition. We already pay for activities. So, it can't be a matter of cost because we are taxpayers. We have a right to have some child in the school. Never mind that if it comes from another country. There's great uh benefits to to the existing Bridgewater Ritton students. The current students learn culture of another country. There's mutual understanding between Americans and people of other countries and these days the world is more globalized

129and today it would prepare students to be more su successful in their careers. It aids in the roles for future colleges and even their career experiences where it opens the young minds to understanding the different languages and cultures. Please let me know the ne next steps how to change the policy to allow exchange students. Please put this on the agenda for the next meeting and add it in the minutes of the meeting. I mean, what if I had an exchange student from and I lived in another district and I moved. Would I have to come to every meeting just to get a change? I don't want to come to every meeting. I'm not here for fun or or you know because for my health I would like to have this made a ch have this

130policy changed. Um so please if you can approve um to have exchange students if you can change the policy so we can start the process because before we know it we have to register kids for the next year and it's already October believe it or not so time flies. So thank you Chris here again report about the ways I find virtual schools I went I say as last time I stated I take my walks between 7 and 10 last time Mr. Burns say there's not clean room I acknowledge that there's employees I do park cars at night. I don't worry about lights being on. I do worry about the number of smartboards that are on. Unless those clean crews are allowed to use smartboards, they shouldn't be on at that time. Last time I was

131here, the first time I was here at the end of July, Mr. Lo um who was he um said he would talk to the department. I believe he did because I reported teachers had left their smartboards on the end of school to the um July 29th meeting. After that meeting, the smartboards were shut off. Since the teachers are back, the smartboards are on seven days a week again. I'm not sure if those teachers didn't read the memo or don't care. I personally don't think teachers should leave their Etsy account up on their smartboards at night. On a good note, I'm glad that Bradley Gardens is keeping the uh gym night and on the weekends which will save a lot of electricity. Unfortunately, Van Holden still has the lights gym lights on seven days a week.

132Miltown has started to show off the gym lights which is a good start but there's a few smartboards are still left on the classroom which has the smartboard on the most is on the second floor on the right side. You can see when you drive past Miltown Road. In my line of work, I've dealing with lawyers and I must document everything. If you don't document, it never happened. Let me know if you like to see any of the documentation I've taken. These are smartboards and other things left on. I'd be happy to share with Thank you. I'm Michelle Han. I live in Bridgewater. After the incident that happened at one of the primary schools last week, I felt the need to email the board. Thank you for those who applied as well as come tonight

133and ask all of you again to please find it in the budget to put full-time security in all the schools. I know budgets are tight, but safety isn't optional. You find it appropriate to have security here for your meeting. I think our kids are just a bit more important and if something were to happen at any of the schools, let's hope it doesn't and it's not something that ever has to worry about, but if something were to happen and last week's incident was more severe, it would be on all of you. So, please find it in the budget to put full-time security at every school in this district. I've been asking for five years since my kids have been in the school district, and I know Mr. will tell me that we had zero. Now

134we have 15. It's not enough. There's 11 schools. Every school should have fulltime security. My name is Christa Kuli. I'm also a mom um here in Bridgewater. I'm speaking tonight as a parent, a neighbor, and someone who genuinely cares about this community. I'm not here to criticize. I'm here to talk about priorities and about using a little common sense when it comes to keeping our kids safe. There's a line from a movie I once heard that always stuck with me. A man reviewing a national budget said, "You're spending $47 million on an ad campaign to make people feel better about cars they've already bought, and meanwhile, kids are sleeping in the street." That's not really about money. It's about priorities. It's about stepping back, looking at what truly matters, and putting people, especially children, first.

135Right now, our district has just two school resource officers covering nine schools. I'm mistaken because Michelle mentions 11. Two officers to protect the entire district. At the same time, we have officers stationed at roadblocks, construction sites, and utility work areas. And I can't help but think, if we can assign that much manpower to protect cones and cables, can we find a way to protect classrooms full of kids? It's not about blame. It's about balance. Because as someone once said, we have police in banks to protect money in shopping centers to protect merchandise at ball ballparks to protect players, but not always in our schools to protect our children. That makes no sense. I also want to be transparent about something that's been confusing for parents. We've been told there were only two SRO dis SRO's

136in our district. Yet, I've actually heard from others there may actually be more and possibly additional security officers or class personnel assigned to certain schools. If that's the case, then parents deserve to know how many, where they are, and what kind of coverage each school actually has because if more exists, that's great. But if it doesn't, we need to fix that. Other communities around New Jersey like Robbinsville, Danville, Middletown, Wayne, and Washington Township have already taken that step. They've added armed trained officers inside their schools, not because they live in fear, but because they understand that preparation is protection. Even in my own families, a relative Even in my own family, a relative's church parish recently hired armed security because some parishioners didn't feel safe during services. Think about that. Even a place of worship,

137a place built on peace and faith. Realize that safety now requires presence and planning. Here in Bridgewater, we pride ourselves on being a strong, caring community. We volunteer, we show up, we give back. We do it for each other. And we do it for our kids. This isn't about politics or optics. It's simply about protecting what matters most. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We just need to look at the numbers, look at our hearts, and ask the simple question, are we doing enough? Because at the end of the day, it shouldn't take a tragedy or a headline for us to realize that every school deserves a consistent, visible police presence. Not rotating coverage, not maybe today, every single day. Let's make that a priority. not as a reaction but as a reflection of

138who we are as a community. Thank you. >> Anyone else? Seeing none, we're going to close that portion of public comment. Again, I I want to give a point of clarification just as far as staffing and and our security apparatus, right? The the comment made is true where there are two school resource officers, right? And the way they are paid for is it's shared between the town Bridgewater Township and the school district. But in addition to that, we have 12 campus monitors, right? These are retired police officers who go throughout our district and provide security coverage for our schools. So I just want to clarify this is this is a number when I say we used to have zero. We used to just have these two school resource officers and at one time we had

139three class three officers. Right? So our footprint obviously we we can do better. We'd like to expand it, but it's come a long way in in the last few years and and it has been a priority of mine, Mr. Vorhees, and the whole district and the board of education as a whole. U now, can things always get better? Absolutely. But I think it's very important to know that we have far more than two people going through all of our schools. You know, when we look at the numbers, we're we're looking more at 1560. Thank you, Mr. B. We're up to item number 12, uh, 10, the approval of minutes, >> for which I will take entertain a motion. >> So moved. >> Are there any corrections to minutes? >> Seeing none, M. >> Mr. Lee?

140>> Yes. >> Miss Cassuna? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi? >> Yes. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >> Miss Kry, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. Motion passes. We're up to our action items. First is personnel 2614 through personnel 2616. >> Moved any questions? Seeing none, Mr. Please call the RO. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sunna, >> yes. >> Mr. Jooshi, >> yes. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker. >> Yes. >> Miss Kistri, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. Motion passes. >> Up next is curriculum 26. 24 through curriculum 2627. >> So moved. >> Second. Any >> questions? >> Mr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Mrs.

141Suna? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi? >> Yes. >> Miss Lan? >> Yes. >> Dr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe? Yes, >> Mr. Walker. >> Yes, >> Miss Kry. >> Yes, >> Mr. Singer. >> Yes. The motion passes. Up next is business 2641 through business 26 52. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Questions. >> I did have one. >> I'm sorry. Dr. >> Thank you. >> Um for point of information or for public information 2652 um change of orders. Could there be clarification of what those are >> for the for the HVAC upgrades project? The change order is to replace LED lights in some of the rooms that were uh HVAC duct work was being added to um ceiling tiles were taken down. So um the opportunity was taken to replace the lights with LED

142lights, also to reroute certain electrical conduit to accommodate for duct work in the ceilings and for the middle school addition project. This was to add new locking mechanisms to the faculty restrooms that were renovated. Mr. Walker Okay. Anyone else have any questions? I have a question. Um on business on the bills list >> you Yeah, you could do that. >> Okay. So then for business We're going to invoke the document of necessity, which is what a board does when they're voting on something that directly uh impacts them. In this case, uh as we're the majority of the board is going to workshop next week and are staying uh down there on the bills list is our the cost of our hotels. So, in order for us to approve it, we have to invoke the document

143of necessity. It has so been invoked. The only other thing I'd like to say is thank you to the Van Halton PTO for their donations and posters and supply packaging for posters and to Hillside PTO for their new microphone system and soundboard which I'm sure will help the students in the drama club. So, thank you to our PTOs for supporting our schools and we appreciate with that. Mr. Please call the role. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Muna, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. >> Miss Lockan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker. >> Yes. >> Miss Kistri. >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer. >> Yes. The motion passes. Up next is special services 2611 and through special services 2613. >> Some moved. >> Second. >>

144Any questions? >> See, please hold the >> Mr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sunna. >> Yes. Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> yes. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> abstain on SS 2611. Yes. On 12 and 13. >> Miss Kistri, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. Motion passes. Up next is other 26 other 265 and other 26. >> So moved. >> Questions? We'll have to go into Mr. >> Mr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sunna. >> Yes. >> Mr. Jooshi. >> Yes. >> Miss Lan. >> Uh, yes to '05. And I will recuse myself from Mosix. >> Dr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe. >> Yes. >> Mr. Walker. >> Yes. >> Miss Khalry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Singer. >> Yes. Motion passes. Finally,

145we're up to policy 2607 and 2608. >> So moved. >> Second, >> questions. >> Just a comment because we discussed it in committee. Dr. Jones, if you can just mention, you brought up why the Holocaust wasn't included in that policy. Just so everyone knows we didn't miss it. Oh, sorry. 2422. >> 2422 is what we're voting on. >> All right. I I have it. >> Um, so there was a question when we were reviewing this during academic committee about like if all the statutes are in there, why the Holocaust one wasn't in there, the Holocaust education and actually amad as well and climate change as it turns out. Um, and the reason that the Holocaust education and Amastad were not in there is because they're in policy 2260 by statute. And then they are going

146to be adding climate change to 2422. So, yep. um about 24 22 I feel like I wonder how did our curriculum development has been working how how did our curriculum development work in the past uh this policy I see that was first introduced in 2015 but we had curriculum before that and I bet I think I trust that they're all according to law uh where was this policy that dictates all things are required by or do we need a policy to actually do so? >> So, what we're required to do when we revise curriculum is we have to um implement the state standards and then anything that involves a state statute, those two things. And sometimes a statute is specific to a certain content area like there are some that are uh specific to health

147and PE like accident and fire prevention. It requires regular courses of instruction in this. So there are some that are in in certain courses that it's taught that would be through health and PE and then there are other ones such as climate change which is something that's just integrated across the curriculum at multiple levels. Um what this was originally this policy it was just it was it was named a different policy. was the comprehensive health and physical education policy because almost every statute that they had was in health and PE. And I guess at some point then when they came up with new statutes that were approved and in this case it really was I know we said it before the Asian-American Pacific Islander history and contributions. So they wanted to be able to say

148that you also are required to have this statute. So, I guess at that point they decided, okay, we're going to add it to this other policy with the whole list of statutes, but we can no longer now call this the comprehensive health and physical education policy because really what it is is a policy that says here are all the statutes that you are required by law to integrate into the curriculum in the same way you do the standards. You are correct that we would be doing this anyway, Lucy, because we're required to and they check with CQAC. But this is a it's another one of the policies that protects us that says, you know, we're doing all the things with curriculum that we're supposed to be doing. That's why the question came up about um

149Holocaust education in Amastad because it was like, okay, well, why would these two not be in it? But the reason why is because they are actually captured in another policy. So that's why >> so that's why I feel like I wonder if this policy is uh necessary first of all or if it if it it helps then would it need to be more comprehensive? Looks like it's not a full list of mandated you know uh requirement. Um depends on which direction we're going. Well, I personally would like to I do like them all on one list because then we don't have to look on the state website all the time to make sure that we're actually implementing the things that we're legally required to implement. And I think it's important also as a for our

150district for parents, whomever, administrators to be able to look it up and say, "Okay, here are all the statutes." Um, it does it is a comprehensive list. the like I said the two that are not on it are captured in another policy and then climate change is something that they're going to be adding to it and I suppose the catch all right now is and any other statutory or administrative codes. Um so I suppose they could add more specific things to it if they wanted to but I mean it we already have the policy it exists. The change here is just really the title of it and they took out anything that's just refers to the policy as being comprehensive health and physical education. So that's you know yeah so if the pre preference from

151our administration to to to go with this policy is actually used it as a comprehensive list of it then I guess its current form hasn't been there. So maybe we we refer to the committee or table at another time so that we make sure it is a comprehensive list. >> Well, I called I called Strauss Sesame and so it is and we compared it ourselves. Well, I did to the New Jersey statutes that are it's on the website. I mean, we know these are um you know what exists there. If you go on the website and you look up the standards, what you can easily find are things like climate change. You can find the Amastad one. You can find the Asian-American Pacific Islander. You know what's difficult to find are the accident and fire

152prevention, breast self-examination, bullying prevention programs, cancer awareness, datating violence education. These are a little bit more uh challenging to find because you would have to look actually in the health and physical education. this is a nice comprehensive list. So I think it's just clear and it's helpful to us because at some point when CUAC comes back in, you know, and they they check our curriculum. They'll go through and pull curriculum and they actually check we have to code in there the statutes so that they can ensure that we actually are following law and we have them. So I mean you know Lyme disease prevention, all these things, it's a nice comprehensive list. So, >> any other comments or questions? >> I Well, I have more to say, but I want to give our colleagues some

153more time to if they want to say anything. >> I had a comment on another one, but I'll finish that one up. >> Oh, no. >> If you had if I instead of switching back and forth, if you wanted to finish, otherwise I'm happy to make my point. >> Appreciate it. U I feel like um if we leave it the name it was uh it would it would not give the impression that this this policy is a comprehensive list but if we do change the name then we should add the additions that uh Dr. Jones have mentioned uh if we're going to add things I suggest that we add that and then we come back for a vote for a for first reading to approve for now I think it's proper action is to refer

154to the committee so that necessary changes are added >> it's already been referred to committee >> it's already been referred to academic already review >> seems like this changes are not added as necessary >> but what what changes are you talking about >> I mean didn't Dr. saying something needs to be added to it. >> Well, it's not there yet, right? >> The the the the climate change statute isn't there yet, is it? >> I believe we've done this in the past where we go through first reading and if you want me to add the climate change to this, I could add climate change to it. >> Well, but we've also like we revise it every single time something needs to come out. So, it's been revised six times now, or this is the sixth

155time. I mean, I I I don't have a problem with this revision and then revising it again because there's no harm in doing so. >> Right. And it says any other statutory or administrative codes requiring instruction to be part of the district's implementation. I know them all. So, >> doesn't that protect us from from everything? So I does >> I'm just I'm just trying to figure out what the purpose of sending this back to committee was. And again, I'm just a simple man from the country here, but this is pretty >> pretty straightforward. This is a boilerplate policy. >> And so this is this is first reading. >> I don't understand. >> We have an academic meeting on the 17th of November and second reading would be November 18th. So >> yeah, I mean This

156is one of their >> Well, other than adding what you talked about, Dr. Jones, with um climate change, what else would you want added to this policy? >> Is there a rush to do this? I feel like I mean, if we're trying to come up with a with a policy with all the necessary and it's in there might as well do it correctly and taking our time. Uh I is there a deadline to to do so? >> No, I mean look the the board has heard your comments and the board will vote on this policy. Board doesn't want to policy first. Your comments have been right. So, and just to be clear, Dr. Jones, you're the person in charge of curriculum. Are you comfortable with this policy the way it is? >> I I am

157comfortable with it. I thought the committee was comfortable with it, but they did I mean, it was a good question to check that these other two statutes exist, but they do. They're just in another policy. So, >> that's good enough for me. >> Just a quick comment on the sunscreen policy. I know that this doesn't this policy doesn't require students to wear apply sunscreen before going outside. Doesn't apply them to wear a hat or a visor. I know that the language at the end is nothing in this policy shall be construed as requiring a staff member to assist a student in applying sunscreen. Might it be the thing I worry about with a policy like this is that it gets misinterpreted by a teacher, by someone in the schools is, oh no, you can't go

158outside. You don't have you don't have sunscreen. You're not wearing a hat. Might we want to add like a line that says also nothing in this policy should be construed as requiring a student to apply sunscreen? That's my only thought, >> right? That's I mean that line is about a staff member applying the sunscreen, not like students applying. I think that gets to a slightly different issue. Um, I just want to make sure we don't stop anyone from going outside on field day because they didn't their parents don't want them to wear sunscreen. Um, my sense is that that probably wouldn't happen at the school level. So, I'll certainly vote for this. Just tossing it out there is food for thought. >> The other thing we could do, Mike, is make sure we're really clear

159with principles and with the school nurses that everybody's aware. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Any other questions or comments? Dr. I have a little more comment about the 22 2422. Um, so in that in that new policy language there's uh paragraph 25 Asian-American Pacific Islander history contribution in the curriculum. Um, what's our current status of that portion of instruction? >> Do you mean is it integrated already? >> Yes, because it it probably came out and I get this wrong. 2020, I think. I have to look it up. But no, as soon as we get the statutes, we implement them when we're writing curriculum. So, it's integrated across the curriculum. So, it's at multiple grade levels and um most mostly through social studies classes, but it's it's integrated in there. >> Yep. So, paragraph 25 is

160already in our curriculum. We don't adopting this policy doesn't put strain on how we do our teaching or curriculum at this point. >> Right. It's not it's not doing anything to how we teach our curriculum or write our c curriculum. What it does is I don't know actually whether in cusack they also pull policies and look at them to make sure that we're um meeting the requirements. >> That's what this is what this is for that right policies mandated because of qac requirements. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Any other uh questions or comments? Seeing none, Mr. Please call the >> Mr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sunna, >> yes. >> Mr. Joy, >> yes. >> Miss Lan, >> yes. >> Dr. Lee, >> no. >> Mr. Pepe, >> yes. >> Mr. Walker, >> yes. >>

161Miss Kistri, >> yes. >> Mr. Singer, >> yes. The motion passes. >> We're up to old business. Is there any old business that needs to be discussed? Seeing none, we're at new business. Is there any new business? >> Just wanted to share with the board that I emailed Mr. Jones, Mr. Beers, Mr. Singer today regarding policy 511 about eligibility of residents and non-resident students. I would like to move that to committee to just get some more information. Um, so that is was discussed in January and we could certainly if the board wants to bring it to the the committee we can do that but it was discussed and I believe Dr. is looking into the requirements of visa and how that will impact the district and more particularly administrative burden. >> We we have to

162look at what the legal ramifications are and how we would app operationalize it. So that will involve probably a conversation with our district attorney and um perhaps at a county level too. So I don't know. I mean I understand but I think administration's looking into it is what we can say about that. Is there any other new business? Sorry on the new business part. Uh I just have a few questions about security. Um, you know, obviously like we've been spending a lot more on security. Um, I think the number I was given was about 1.2 million or so. But I guess maybe more specifically, and I don't know if you have the numbers off the top of your head, but maybe just like a like if you have an idea like as a percentage of

163the budget that we have, like how much has historically gone to security um as a percentage of our budget, you know, looking at the actuals if you happen to have an idea. >> So I'm just going to say like that kind of question of what percentage of our budget is going to security like we can't >> I know Kevin can answer that off the top of his head. >> Divided by 189 million, what do you get? >> No, no, no, no, no. It's it's it's historically like have we seen >> as a percentage of our budget >> increased? >> We used to have zero, Jeremy. Now I have 12. No, now I have 14 people. >> I can give a little history here. Um, we we have significantly increased our security spend in this district

164in many different ways. Um first off I always get uncomfortable discussing security publicly because you don't give away your game plan or things like that. So be sensitive when you talk about this. We have gone from what you board there was one SRO then two and we had three specialties. So there were five five officers. our security measures uh over incremental over years, sequential over years and also our security measures in our facilities and our plans have significantly increased and we did that through many studies and understanding operationally what need to be done and that was in the tune of millions of dollars. I'm not really certain, but I would say between camera swipes and everything else, there's probably three to5 million dollars have been spent. And now operational security, I mean with the with

165the officers in place that has been done and and the campus monitors has been done incrementally over time. And I don't feel at any time was this district unsafe and I feel that we've, you know, have put in, you know, just curious. I don't even know what what did the vest schools cost. Ke Kevin 8 million bucks 11 schools. I don't know off the top of my head, but I don't think it was that much. >> It's two It's $200 to $300,000 a building, right? Yes. The cheapest was Middletown because it was an easy one with the high school and other areas. Those were we have spent significant amount of money in in this and it was passed in the referendum. So, the community have approved it too. So, I think our investment in security

166has been quite good. The exact parameters there are actually policies that are confidential in security. We have numerous policies that are confidential, you know, for that reason because security is is is something you you don't talk about how and why and the timing of people being there because then it allows that information publicly. So I'm just gonna some information I have I get concerned. >> No but but but to to to your question Jeremy like when Mr. Beer started we had two SRO and three class 3s and now we have two SRO uh 12 class 3 uh not 12 campus monitors plus uh an assistant and a director of campus security. So that's 14 if you want to count them as well. Um and to Mr. Walker's point, uh in addition to just personnel, we've

167invested greatly in the swipes and the the um the cameras all within the past six years since I've been on the board actually. And I remember I think it was my first meeting. We I I went into close session and we talked about security vestibles at that point. Um and so that has been I think it was at all the districts at >> right. Um and so that has become reality thanks to this referendum and now all of our schools have those uh secure vest rules. Uh so like just giving you that that information >> and and can I just cut to the chase? I mean I I think it would be easier if we just cut to the chase and like what's the question we're really asking, right? Talking about how much we spend

168and what's the cost? What's the question? what what do we get? >> Well, obviously I think a concern that a lot of people have is that we should be trying to find ways to allocate more to security so that we can improve where we are. And I and I think we've gone a long way from a security perspective. Um, and I guess for me it's just about finding figuring out and better understanding how we're allocating our resources towards security and how we can make sure our schools are safe. I think there's no like one specific question. Uh, but I did have another question though. Can I just follow up on that one point because I I know this was a a bone of contention. Right. Budget season is coming up soon and I know with

169some board members it's a trick question like what are we going to support? What's the tax levy? What's this? What do we want in the budget? What does that cost? And and we have to engage in those conversations where we can't say we want all these things in the budget then we vote no on the budget. because then we don't want those things in the budget if we're going to vote no. So, I mean, I I'd really encourage you as as we go along this time, you know, when we go through this this process next year to actually stand for what we want in the budget. um versus right now you're you're you know what I'm hearing is hey I want all these things in the budget but I wasn't prepared to have a conversation

170with you last year about what would get me to a yes vote on that budget. So I mean th those are the things that we that's how we really do business and and it's by being transparent with each other. I hear that word a lot but it comes from everybody. So when it comes to this, I agree. I think we do need to spend more. But then if we need to spend more, let's be united, get it in the budget, and vote yes for it. >> Thank you. >> Can I say a couple words? >> Thank you. Um, I I'm always going to look out for the interest of our taxpayers. I think at the end of the day, um, I just want to make sure that people understand that. Uh, but, you know, I

171think we're we're piggying back to something that happened many, many months ago. um you know back when we approved the budget before and I I think we should move forward from that and we should think about the next year. Um I don't think it's worth trying to note that I voted a certain way and that's why I don't support these. I absolutely support a lot of the initiatives that are going on in our schools, but I also need to keep in mind the fact that I have taxpayers in our community that I need to be advocating for. And that's something that's very important for me is trying to fight to make sure that our taxes are continuing to stay low. Um, but beyond that, I just had another question. Um, from what I know, we

172can move around portions of the budget from areas of the budget that have amounts and kind of move them between each other. So, is it is there a possibility to I guess move different portions of the budget around to allocate a little more to security? Maybe it's one extra guard or it's some other measures in place. It's just a thought. >> Thank you. And I'm not prepared to comment on that. >> Uh I just wanted to add that um aside from you know uh some of us also approving the referendum which did impact security in a very big way. um that what when we're talking about security, we're talking about like real people who have trained with our law enforcement agencies and that's not something that's in the budget. That's something that they've that administration

173has taken on as an important uh priority for this district. So, I think when you're talking about in the budget, you need to actually recognize that the security professionals that we have are highly trained and that administration has worked with our local law enforcement and that we need to have a little bit more respect for the fact that that that relationship exists and that these professionals are doing their jobs. >> I just want to say one thing I just say I did not disrespect anybody. If it came off that way, I apologize, but I'm simply focused on figuring out if there's a solution to finding a way to spend a little more on security if there's room in the budget because obviously this is something that people care about. That's all I'm talking about. I'm

174not disparaging anyone. I'm not trying to say anything disrespectful towards anybody, including our police >> and our security guards. >> I I just have a couple quick comments. One, um, you know, our our administration has prepared a budget that is considerate and um make sure that they've done what they can for our security needs. Um, you know, we've had discussions before about adding uh additional campus monitors. I know that that's something that Mr. Beers is going to continue to consider. I don't think there is a right number or a right percentage of our budget that to to address security because it's it's whatever can be done like there you know there's no magic number uh in that way and I also want to say that I think all all of us look out for the

175interests of our stakeholders and our taxpayers I mean all of us pay taxes and we're very cognizant of the impact that our budgets and uh have on our on our community. Um we are here in order to make sure that the uh funds are used uh efficiently and correctly and switching uh budget in the middle of the the year might not be the most effective way of doing that. But that being said, I mean I think that Mr. has heard uh the concerns both from outside the board and inside the board in that regard and we'll take their own adisement. >> Thank you. And and uh Mike Vorhees and I as well as Ted Lewis have discussed this. I I think what would be beneficial is um we could have a a uh you know

176it wouldn't be in public session but definitely a briefing on the board on our security operations things like that because of things that we can't share with the public and then really chart out you know our course etc as as we prep for the budget and and then two we're looking at December or January no I'm sorry we're looking at January we can give a uh public presentation, you know, about our security operation, what we do, and you know, the task we take on and the people that we have here. And look, when we look back, I I know it's I'm getting sentimental here, but this was a courageous act by the board of ed, and I know there's a lot of people at this table who uh who stuck with the plan we created,

177and we were under political fire. I mean, like no other time that I was here, we were under under political fire. not because of anything we did wrong, just because we were being attacked for not agreeing with a politician. So, so with that, the courage it took to to put this in place and the people we were able to hire, the expertise we have, I mean, I can tell you we're we're in a much better place than we were four or five years ago. And um we're going to continue to work to get better. And I appreciate everyone's assistance with that. And uh I do think it would be beneficial to uh at the close session meeting and really I could get Mike and Ted here and we can have that discussion. We just I

178I think it it might be worthwhile to wait until January just because we you know we have an election in a few weeks. If there is anyone new seated there's not anyone new seated then we can go ahead and have that in December. But I wouldn't want to have to do it twice. There are new members. Can you refresh my memory? Didn't you bring all the security officers to a meeting? I remember you had them all. I forget when that was. Yeah, they all >> two years ago. >> I thought we had this conversation once before, too. >> Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. >> Yeah. >> All right, just check it. >> Oh, yeah. And and you should know >> and Bruce did a piece on them, I think, too, right? >> Yeah,

179I think Bruce did you did an article on So, there's on the website, too. So, >> we've seen >> at every single campus monitor because they they've been called a lot of things by people I won't mention. Um, they're all retired law enforcement. All of them were ranking officials and it's from local PD to state troopers etc. So we have we have quite a uh quite a diversity of uh experience etc and it really makes uh it's helped our schools in a profound way and and I think that meeting would be beneficial for the board of ed and then a public one. So I'll stop talking I think that uh security um is a high priority to keep our kids safe is a shared vision that we all have. I think from the uh public

180comment today one thing resonated with me uh that is a constant visible police coverage or security coverage if I would say use word security. We have uh uh com managers. Um but it looks like our committee, our parents don't see them. They don't know. Um let me finish. >> That's not true. >> Let me finish. >> Wait, wait, wait. But we're finishing. That's not true. I I didn't hear from any parents that they don't see our campus monitors. Did anyone hear that tonight? >> The people who came to talk clearly didn't know that they were there. >> But I did not hear parents say that they don't see our security monitors. >> They believe. I'm just at the point in my career, Lucy, where I can't tolerate people lying about other people who work for

181us. >> Who is lying? >> If you're saying that parents are saying they don't see them, that's factually incorrect. >> So, it makes you feel better to say it's factually incorrect, then I'll say it. Remember, these are highly respected members of our team who keep our kids safe. I hope that we provide them the same amount of respect that that they deserve. Can I finish my talk right now then? >> As long as without I don't lie. I was asking you who lied. You didn't say that. >> Let me finish what I'm saying. The parent just came and said that they didn't know where the where the security is. I think our security might be there. It's just not recognized. They're not they're not obvious to be recognized. There is something about security I believe

182being visible is important that gives reassurance for the public that gives deterrence for the criminals. So I think >> I'm sorry unless you're an expert on I'm sorry I got to jump in. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry. Just just let her finish please. I'm finished. >> Mr. Lman, >> uh Mr. Beers, there was a comment made where uh somebody had said we that parents should know where every security officer is and in the past you have told us the reason why that's not good security protocol. Could you please elaborate on it briefly? I'm sorry. >> Sure. The last thing we want to do as as an organization is telegraph where our people are on a provided day. And that's why we do move people around. They're at different locations at a given part because

183we can only imagine from a security standpoint. We've got ex people far more experienced than me. If you're standing at the same place every day, it's pretty easy for someone to circumvent your security operation. But if if you move around and you're on the facility, but you're at a different location, that kind of keeps people on their toes and they do it. And I I just have to say that as far as our security, they they do have uh they're clearly identified. Uh black shirts, jackets, everything. Um and and uh I I'm going to defend them because um our our schools are far safer because of them. Do I agree that that we need more of them? Yes. Um but uh I think we need to be very careful not to jump to a a

184conclusion because I can tell you I heard from a couple of people who may have had an issue, but I don't hear from a ground swell of folks that there's no security present because we know that's factually incorrect. No, thank you. I apologize for interrupting. >> Motion to >> second. >> I I will pull back the second. >> We're going to pull back the seconds of the motion. >> Can I please make a comment? >> That was retracted. >> Retracted because going into >> Mr. President, I I asked to make a plan. >> Go ahead, please. >> I think that to jump quickly into defend someone, insinuate that someone was was attacked. When I make a comment about visible presence, that's not to say that our police officers, our security officers aren't working. I'm just

185saying some people may not be able to see them readily. increased increased visibility is going to help. I hope our administration be able to consider that visibility enhancement for the reason of reassurance to the public and deterrence to potential criminals. That's the end of it. Thank you. >> We need to go into close session. >> Motion to close close session. >> Can I say what we're doing? >> Sure. >> Okay. Whereas discussion by the board is required on matters that are exceptions to the requirement that a public body hold public and whereas the topics for discussion are superintendent evaluation whereas it is expected that the details of discussion may be made public as soon as the issues may be acted upon publicly be resolved that the board enters into the close session at this time.

186Mr. Walker say move second all in favor. >> Anyone opposed? We're enclosed. We will not be taking any action when we return from closed other than to adjourn the meeting. Thank you all. I don't know.