001assume she's coming. I saw her mother at the mall today >> and I was she was like, "Oh, I'll see you at the next meeting." I'm like, "That would be tonight." And she's like, "Oh, I don't I haven't seen the score. I haven't seen the scores, you know. >> Is everybody ready? >> Okay, here we go. Okay, we're good to go. Okay, good evening everyone. Thanks for coming. Um, in accordance with the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act, chapter 231 PL1975 announcement, I wish to announce that the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this
002act, the school district of the Cadams Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the board administrative offices sent to the clerks of Chattam Burough and Chattam Township, the library of the Cadams, the Chattam Courier, the Daily Record, the Star Ledger, and TAP online news. Mr. Dquilla here. If you said my name >> here. >> Perfect. Thank you. Okay. If you are able to stand, please join us for the pledge of allegiance. Flag is to my left. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
003>> Yeah. Okay. It was like an echo. Okay. [Music] >> There you have it. >> Okay. Um I do not have any additional comments at this time. We could move on to the administrative reports, superintendent report. Dr. Sortino. Hello everyone, welcome. Uh, I just wanted to give a quick update about the reconfiguration. We've continued to have a very successful transition for students and staff to both Lafayette and the middle school. Um, exciting news. The playground at CMS has fully begun construction. We anticipate it'll be finished shortly. Thank you again to the CMS PTO. Lafayette had their grade level field trips to Jeff Lake. The pictures were wonderful. The kids had a great time. And thank you to Mrs. Russo and the Lafayette PTO for sponsoring. Cougar weekend was this past weekend. It was a huge
004success. Congratulations to all of our athletes. Um, back to school nights continue to go incredibly well. So far, we've had Lafayette, Washington, Milton, and Southern. Both CMS and CHS will be held this week. And finally, we will have Dr. Rosenthal and Mrs. Dantis review the wellness survey results. That's a survey that was given to students in February of 2025. We've been giving this a version of this survey for many years throughout the district and the information gleaned from the survey results from students helped to guide our programming throughout the school year for students in grades 6 through 12. So, Mrs. Dantis and Dr. Rosenthal, please come on up. And if the board could please take a seat in the crowd >> out there. Yes. I thought she said stay seated. Hello everyone. Hi everyone. My
005name is Kate Dantis. I'm the supervisor of student health and well-being. >> Good evening. Dr. Blair Rosenthal, assistant superintendent for student support services. Tonight, we're going to review the student well-being check-in for September 2025. This is based on, as Dr. Sortino mentioned, the wellness survey that was administered to students earlier this year in February of 2025. A big thank you to Mrs. Mandela, who's our district sack. She really played a huge part in this. To begin, we're going to go through some nationwide data on youth mental health and well-being, followed by our very own student wellness survey data with comparisons to 2023 survey data. We have key takeaways and then we'll finish up with our own programs and support for students and staff in the district. Nationwide data on youth mental health and well-being. So,
006these numbers are startling for seeing them, but they're very important to review. Nationwide, nearly one in five children ages three through 17 are diagnosed with a mental, emotional, or behavioral health condition. Among adolescence ages 12 through 17 in the United States, 20 reported symptoms of anxiety in the past 2 weeks and 18% reported symptoms of depression in the past two weeks. Among US high school students, 40% reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year. 20% which is a very large percent reported seriously considering attempting suicide. 16% reported making a suicide plan in the past year and 9% reported attempting suicide in the past year. And these are among students 12 through or sorry 14 through 18. So the why why do we do this wellness survey every few years? The work schools
007do to promote student mental health and well-being helps them achieve their educational mission. Poor mental health can interfere with students ability to learn and can affect classroom behavior, school engagement, and peer relationships. So the short of it, if our students aren't feeling well mentally, physically, emotionally, they're unable to achieve. Protective factors. So protective factors are the things that really help our students and these are things that we like to ensure that our students have or that we're helping them um attain. 58% of students report that they receive social and emotional support whether from school, home, peers. 66% receive that they receive parent support a lot of the time and 79% report that they have at least one adult in their life who makes a positive difference. And this last part here, the having at least
008one adult in their life is something that we added to our wellness survey this year. There are risk factors for um students, for youth, for adults as well. um risk factors for suicide and depression, individual factors such as previous suicide attempts, mental health conditions such as depression, social isolation, substance use, adverse childhood experiences which are also called ACES, bullying, family or peer conflict, and of course there are community or societal factors such as barriers to health care, stigma associated with mental health or helpseeking, access to lethal means, systemic trauma or marginalizing experiences based on socioeconomic factors, race and ethnicity, or gender and sexual identity. District data. So, as Dr. Sortino said, this survey has been administered to students in grades 6 through 12 since December of 2016. It began in 2016, followed by December of
0092019, then May 2021, March 2023, and most recently February of this year. This year we had 52 questions. Mrs. Mandela worked really hard with us as a team to develop these questions and identify what's most crucial for us to focus on. Obviously, this is happening during the school day, so we wanted to make sure that we were maximizing our time and choosing questions that are really going to help us drive programs here in the district. We had 1,590 responses this February compared to 1,677 responses in 2023. We only had 272 students opt out, 135 being at CHS and 137 at CMS. This year we focused on a continued study of stress and how it impacts our students, sleep of course, cell phone use, social media and text messaging, and feelings of depression, including wanting to
010harm themselves or others. We also have new questions this year, including feeling connected to adults in school, which I mentioned earlier as a major protective factor for students, types of stress, and the coping strategies that our students are most often accessing. the use of caffeine and other substances to stay awake, betting and gambling habits, and lastly, harassment, intimidation, and bullying via social media. Thank you, Mr. Santis. So, now we're going to get into some of the actual data based on the survey results and then at the end of all the data sharing, we'll talk about some important takeaways from the data overall. So, first was a new question this year. Um, do you feel connected to teachers or adults in your school as Mr. Santis uh referenced for a protective factor? And so, the takeaway
011of those respondents was that 87.7% of students feel connected to at least one adult at school. And if you look at the graph, there are several students uh who responded who felt that there was more than one adult. And that is notable because our percentage was greater than the national average currently of 79%. When we compare stress then and now, how much stress do you experience in a typical week? You'll notice that the patterns are fairly similar but slightly improved amounts of stress in 2025 in comparison to the data from 2023. A new question that was also added this year was how much stress do you currently have about each of the following? And we pointed out um for your reference the three areas that were of note with the highest amount of stress reported
012with either moderate or very high stress which included future plans such as college and employment, academic performance such as grades um and also of note was health or other problems experienced by loved ones. So all of those had notably higher moderate to very high stress levels in comparison to the other areas questioned. Another new question this year was to identify how you cope with stress. So students were able to pick more than one area and the top three areas that were noted was finding some type of healthy distra distraction, exercise and seeking out others for support which then also goes back to the protective factor. When we compare sleep now and then in 2023, how many hours of sleep a night did you get? On the top it talks about during the school week and
013then on the bottom it talks about on the weekend students are reporting similar amounts of sleep during the school week and weekend with a slight increase in students sleeping nine or more hours per night. Another new question this year that Mrs. Santis referenced earlier. How often do you use any of the following to stay a week? So areas of note was that 136 students um used coffee um often or almost always um eight uh I'm sorry 99 students often or almost always use some type of energy drink. 171 students often or almost always use some other type of caffeinated drink. And 15 students reported caffeine pills once in a while. And we'll get to thoughts about that um when M. Santis returns after we finish summarizing the data. Another new question was how many times
014have you bet or gambled on something in any of the following ways? And so a large majority of students had not done this in any area, but it is notable that 603 students noted purchasing a loot box or skins in a game and 508 students reported playing dice or cards for money or of some value. cell phone and social media use now and then. When we look at the patterns compared from 2023, how many hours a day are you spending texting, emailing, video chatting, or socializing others? Um, students are reporting using their cell phones for few hours a day in comparison to 2023 data. Another new question this year, in the past 30 days, have you received threatening or harassing text messages from other students? Um so when you'll look at the students reporting on
015the left side, um small percentage um either once or twice, a few times, or many times. Pattern is similar um in terms of in the past 30 days, have you been mocked or harassed on social media? um percentages are low, but they're still of note um that there is still work to do to support our students in these areas. Another new question, when your cell phone is locked in your locker at CMS or in a classroom cell phone holder, are you able to focus better in class? Um and the percentages show that more than 50% of students are reporting they are better able to focus. When we look at self-esteem from 2023 to now, um how positively or negatively are you feeling about yourself? Um patterns are similar. Um percentages are similar, but less students
016are reporting very negative in 2025 in comparison to even though the percentages were similar, there were more students reporting. Another new question this year, how often have you avoided food, throwing up or use a laxative to control your weight? Um, and so this is a percentage that requires attention in that 20% almost 20% of students have engaged in some type of weight control of one of those options um, you know, in some capacity. And we'll talk more about that as it relates to curricula when MSantis continues after the data. feelings of sadness and hopelessness. When we compare, the patterns again are similar. During the school year, have you spent more than two weeks in a row feeling sad or hopeless? Um, and so the percentages are comparable um from 2023 to now. Uh non-suicidal self-injury
017now and then. Again, um the patterns are similar. Fewer students are reporting nonsuicidal self-injury in 2025. Um in comparison to 2023's data, thoughts of suicide now and then. Um if we look at the patterns, fairly similar in terms of percentages and reporting in the past 12 months. Have you ever really ever seriously considered attempting suicide? Um and so we'll talk about this in the takeaways in terms of work that we're doing um to try and address this need. during the past 12 months, did you make a plan of how you would attempt suicide? Again, percentages are low. Um, but we did have a a significant number of students that we sent out for uh risk assessments in light of concerns with suicide. So, we are hoping that we are grabbing those students within that population
018of 56 that reported. We'll talk about that again in a upcoming slide. Another new question this year. If you have seriously considered harming yourself, what was the most likely reason? And this ties back to the question about stress earlier where in the graph that identified some major reasons. Um most of our students indicated academic pressure as their top reason followed by family reasons, problems with peers, problems with a relationship, and social media. So, beyond the survey, it's important to remember that this survey is completely anonymous and we had more than 1500 students complete this. Um, however, we do have data that points to the exact contact with students that we've had throughout the year. In the past school year, we had 121 combined risk assessments and hospitalizations of our students. 40 students required mental health
019clearance to return to school. We also had 21 behavior threat assessments which are called BTMs and six students required mental health clearance to return to school. So key takeaways because we recognize that is a lot of data. The students are reporting similar amounts of sleep during the school week and weekend with a slight increase in students sleeping nine or more hours per night. I know some parents might not necessarily agree. However, it is student report and that is a positive to recognize. Students do use mostly caffeinated soda, tea, coffee, or energy drinks to assist with staying awake when necessary, although 15 have reported the use of occasional caffeine pills. In our school cafeterias at CMS and CHS, Snapple is sold and at the high school there is coffee and ice coffee that is sold. Um,
020however, I checked with the food services and we do not sell energy drinks. However, of course, students might bring their own. In regards to caffeine pills, our HPE teachers do teach healthy eating and they do focus on sleep, of course, and this is something that they are aware of too, that we have students reporting the use of this to stay awake. As Dr. Rosenthal indicated, eating disorders appear to be increasing in grades 6 through 12 among both males and females. We had 299 students indicate that they use some sort of restriction for their eating in order to lose weight. And this is alarming. This is a very large number of students. This year we are partnering with a local um facility called Monteneito to provide professional development for our staff members um including HPE teachers,
021nurses, and counselors to make sure that we are supporting our students as best as possible um who are struggling with eating disorders or disordered eating. Students report that they use their cell phones for fewer hours each day, and more than half of students surveyed indicate that putting their phones away during the school day is helpful, which is great to see. Students report slightly improved amounts of stress, and the greatest amounts of stress come from academics, future plans, and well-beings of loved ones. Approximately threearters of students surveyed use healthy distractions, including exercise as coping skills when feeling significant stress, which was really, really nice to see. A lot of our students are using positive distractions that are lifelong coping skills that will help them beyond their time at CMS or CHS. Fewer students report non-suicidal self-injury,
022although those numbers are still there, and we want to make sure we're supporting students as much as possible. The number of students seriously considering suicide is down. Um, however, the number of students who have identified a plan is up. However, as we said in the previous slide, we've identified, risk assessed, and sent out for clearance a greater number of students. So, I'd like to think that we are catching um as many as possible and helping them. Lastly, continued articulation between counselors and mental health providers is critical in identifying and supporting the needs of our students across the district. We have a lot of support for students in SDOC. We do have 18 school counselors across K to2. We have one district sack, Mrs. Mandela, who's absolutely amazing. And we partner with Project Community Pride. We
023also have tier three, three Aspire clinicians, a child study team including 11 school psychologists and social workers. Districtwide, we use something called securely, which is a filter that allows Dr. Rosenthal and I to see flagged searches throughout the day and night. Whenever students search something um on their schoolisssued Chromebooks, we are able to see whether it's a search or an email or a document of sorts that is concerning. Whether we see a word such as gun or kill or um something about harming self, all of these are flagged and we follow up with every single one of them. In the elementary school, our counselors use Second Step for counseling lessons and mindfulness in preK through 2 grade. And there are Calm Cougars programs in third and fourth grade. We push into all of the classes
024at CMS. There are programs including Cougar Mindset, Mindfulness Mondays, and monthly themed lessons including the themes of respect, gratitude, stress management, growth, mindset, kindness, friendship, self-esteem, mental health awareness, and reflection. And at CHS, we recently observed 988 day on September 8th with Project Community Pride. We have a wellness fair coming up next month. We have well monthly wellness events during lunch in the RNR room. We have therapy dogs that come to those as well, which are great. We have minding your mind presentations during the senior health classes, which will begin next month. We have lifelines lessons for suicide prevention. We use the start with hello program for our freshmen which is co-taught between counselors and HPE teachers. And we have the mending minds club. We also have support for our staff in SDOC. We've offered
025professional development on traumainformed care which goes back to the ACES which are a risk factor for our students. Monthly consultation professional development between our own mental health clinicians including Aspire and our SAC and outside agencies because we don't like to speak in an echo chamber. We like to hear other feedback to make sure we're helping our students as much as possible. We have a scheduled Monteneito presentation on eating disorders for school professionals in December. We've established and maintained relationships with outside providers for continued counseling support and importantly school-based clearance assessments for the 40 students that we sent out last year for further school-based clearance and the six uh for behavioral threat as well. Most of them we did send to providers that we have relationships with and contracts with. We have annual vector training for
026new and returning staff, suicide prevention training for staff at our annual educator, new educator retreat, and we have CPI training, crisis prevention institute training for staff on school CPI teams, including importantly the use of deescalation techniques to help students regulate. And that is all we have. Thank you. [Music] Thank you very much, Dr. Rosenthal and Mrs. Dantis. I know you've worked incredibly hard both on analyzing the data but also on providing highquality supports and services to our students throughout the district. Does anyone have any questions for Dr. Rosenthal or Mrs. Dantis? >> Quick ones. Quick ones. Quick. Um first of all, thank you for all the data and thank you for all the support services that your teams offer. I mean, our students are very fortunate to have so many eyes on our students. Um,
027I'm just curious in the protective factors, 87% feel at least connected to one adult. I'm just curious, how do you even identify the 13% and then, you know, how do you draw them in? Um, I was curious about the the weight loss 20%. You classified it as a eating disorder, but one of the characters was avoid food. Like I avoid a milkshake because I'm going to gain weight. Like is it that you know could it be skewed a little bit? Wrestlers avoid food during wrestling season. I don't know that I'd classify as an eating disorder. >> Yeah. >> Um >> I don't know. I might disagree with that. >> I would call wrestlers having an eating disorder. You have them. I have them. >> They somewhat have an eating disorder. >> No, that was one
028of my questions too because just because you choose not to eat something unhealthy doesn't mean you have a problem. And so in one screen I think it said to lose weight. The other one said to manage your weight and and athletes sometimes are managing their weight by not eating sugar or not eating >> a full bag of chips. >> Exactly. And instead increasing their protein or something. So I I >> Yeah, I can tell you that we have seen an increase in students hospitalized both in inpatient programs and partial hospitalization programs for the management of eating disorders. Um, we've also had situations where students have lost an incredible amount of weight during the year and the school nurses have flagged it, communicated with families where it's been uncovered that it is a student with an
029disorder. Again, we can look at the wording of the question in the next survey that we do administer, but we thought it was an important area to explore further as it has been a trending data piece for the district. >> Sure. Okay. Yeah. I just wanted to clarify that a little bit. Um, so at the end this the original question is how do you identify but Kate or before you answer that I'm just curious summer did you find anything surprising in that data? Did you look at it and say huh I didn't know that or or is there anything that surprised you? I'm curious from your perspective. >> I feel like um I mean the stress aspect I feel like um honestly not not very surprising. I feel like even especially during like the winter
030months when you're kind of just like stuck in the school and you're like, "Oh my gosh, how do I get through March? How do I get through like February?" Um, yeah, I don't really honestly I don't really find that stress aspect that surprising to me. I feel like it's really easy to get overwhelmed and but I feel like again there are a lot of good like wellness fairs and stuff that the school does. So I don't know. It's kind of it's not very surprising to know. >> Okay. Thank you. I was just curious how you know how is it connecting with you folks? >> Yeah. >> Um, sorry Kate. >> No, it's fine. So the trouble with an anonymous survey is we wish we could identify every single person there. And Dr. Certino knows when
031those results came out, Mrs. Mandela, me, Dr. Sortino, we were all like hemming and hauling like, oh my gosh, I hope we know who each and every single one of these kids are. And I do think we know who a lot of them are. Um, in terms of the establishing the connections with one trusted adult, that adult could be anybody. And so at the new educator retreat, what we did this past month or a month ago is we really talked a lot about with the new educators building connections with your students, making your class a community so that you have the on-ramp open so that the kids can feel comfortable with who you are as a teacher. And hopefully with everyone receiving that message as in new staff and then spreading the word to others,
032I think we do have really great awesome teachers who do have that on-ramp open and it's just a matter of time for students who might even be new to the district to trust enough that we're here to support. Um we do have new entrance coming in all throughout the year. So, I'd like to think that that small percentage might be students who just haven't taken the leap yet to trust, but we are really working on that because we want everyone to have at least one trusted adult in the building. >> Okay, good point. Good point. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. >> I have a quick question. >> Um, a quick question on if you can give a little insight as to how or who writes the new questions. I think my maybe a
033surprise was the gambling one. Um, maybe I'm in the dark a little bit, but if you >> if you could let us know uh is there a group or a collaborative effort to come up with the new questions? >> The state had surveyed students across the state in a wellness survey and that was an area of major takeaway from the state data that students are gambling much more frequently than they have in the past. Some of that is because of the cell phone access that they have and Apple Pay and credit cards. they can circumvent age requirements. Um, and so we thought it was prudent to also inquire with our students if they were utilizing gambling habits as well. Um, there's been anecdotal information shared with us from some families that there have been some
034children with significant gambling habits that the parents were unaware of. Um, you know, they didn't notice it on their credit card right away or their student went to college and and developed a significant gambling issue. And so we wanted to see, you know, check the temperature of where our students were. That was why that question was included. >> Thanks. >> I have a question. So I appreciated that academic performance was a key driver of I believe anxiety and stress and part of it I think summer it was interesting. You mentioned time of year which definitely for a high schooler es and flows in terms of whenever the survey is done. Um, I feel like we have done so much to help alleviate this the anxiety around it. And I'm wondering if the counselors think that
035it's coming from peer pressure because I don't really think it's teacher pressure. Is it family pressure? Like where is that coming from? That's part one. And I know that's not on the test. And then my my other question which not the test on the which wasn't surveyed either is how do we compare to other districts regarding absenteeism because everything I read is that it is an epidemic and I know that there are many kids parents that have trouble getting their kids off to school and at every age level and I'm wondering how these factors and this these takeaways impact things like absenteeism. The first question on the anxiety as it relates to academics. I know that our counselors work incredibly hard to create schedules with their students and their families in mind that are hopefully
036well balanced. when students want to wave um a recommendation. So, say they didn't get a recommendation for a certain course and they'd like to wave, there's a waiver window and anytime there's a schedule change at the high school, the parent needs to sign off on it because we want to emphasize that we need to be well balanced and our mental health is important. Despite that though, our students are incredibly high achieving and there no matter where you go, there's going to be that comparison of I need to have this many AP classes or I need to have this grade to get into whatever college I would like to get into. And that's something that we definitely notice is a struggle across the board. I know speaking to counselors in other districts that remains true. So,
037our programming is something that we really pride ourselves on, emphasizing health and wellness, giving students a break and making sure that they know they can access their counselors when they need to. We're here to support. Um, that's we're really trying to do that to make sure that our students feel supported, but they are still going to feel some stress because they really want to do really well and we support them as best we can. Okay. and your chronic absenteeism question. Uh the very effective part of our tier three Aspire mental health program is that for students that are demonstrating significant school refusal. Um the Aspire providers will communicate with the family, provide c family sessions, they also at times will visit homes to help facilitate the school re-entry process. Um, so that's something that I
038would say a lot of other public school districts don't have as a service for students that are demonstrating that type of of refusal. >> Our Aspire clinicians also worked all every once a month every month last year with an outside provider who focused a lot on school phobia and school avoidance who helped us with ideas um for helping our students enter school as successfully as possible. Not only just partnering with the parent but also the families as well. Thank you. >> Good stuff. >> Okay. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate both of you and all of your efforts that went into it. >> Um >> don't feel obligated to stay Kate. >> We seriously get home to your little uh moving on to the business administrators report. Mr. Dquilla. >> Sure. As Dr. Dr. Sortino
039said earlier the uh playground company has started the uh construction work at the middle school and the contractor doing the additional drainage work will also start later this week um for the HVAC replacement projects. All the units have been installed and are operational. The one uh holdup is the company installing all the controls so the maintenance department can control them from uh can control them from the their office and not have to go to the building to specifically work on each unit. That's all I have for now. >> Okay, perfect. >> Student liaison report summer. >> Hi everyone. So, I just have a few updates from our first few weeks of school. So, obviously, you know, the transition from the middle school to the high school is a big one and not an easy one,
040but I've noticed that our 9th graders have really adjusted and acclimated well. And I truly do think it is from our Lynx program at the high school, a major factor at least. Um our links program at the high school is a group of about 20 to 30 upper classmen who volunteer their gym classes once a month to hold kind of lessons and just talking with the um ninth graders in that same gym class. So our links um program held the first sessions of these uh lessons last week during a few gym classes and um as a linkx leader myself I can say that these lessons went over went very well and were pretty informative. It kind of just went over the basics of the high school. And I think a really key reason as to
041why the links program is so successful is because it's not really so important exactly what we're saying like oh like where the cafeteria is and where all these like different classrooms are, but more so creating those connections with the underassman and giving them kind of a friendly face in the high school. So I feel like that was really helpful. In addition to that, um our activities fair was last week. Um this is where we have 60 plus clubs at our high school hold this activities fair in the back of the high school right by the field. Um and it is really um a good opportunity to get our underassmen excited about different clubs and excited about where they want to focus maybe their interest in so they can sign up for a ton of different
042clubs, dip their feet in a bunch of different you know waters and figure out where they are most interested in. And this can kind of also it gets like leaders of clubs excited to kind of promote their club and get more into the school year. So that's a really great opportunity for underassmen to kind of get more um into the high school. And of course this weekend um Dr. Cuchino went over this but um we had our Cougar weekend which if you don't know what Cougar weekend is, it is basically a weekend where it is our most like kind of school spirited weekend of sports at the high school. So the teams that play this weekend include girls volleyball, girls volleyball and tennis, field hockey, girls and boys soccer, and our football team. And thankfully
043they all won, which is so impressive. Um, considering I don't think this has happened for as long as I've been at the high school. Um, and it was awesome to get to see all these athletes showcase their talents. Um, the weather was awesome considering every single year I've been at the high school, it's at least rained a little bit. So, it was good to know that I could be in this dance not getting drenched. Um, and it was really, everyone seemed an awesome time seeing our giant student section. It was just awesome. and we had our CHS marching band and cheer team do a um halftime performance at the football game which was really impressive that they got to showcase their talents um during this time. And lastly, we have our senior counselor meetings coming
044up in these next few weeks. So, this is essentially meetings where the seniors of the high school meet with their each of their guidance counselors and talk about kind of post-secary um planning and it really helps to kind of clarify where they want to go in the future and what they want to do. So, it's really helpful. That's all I have for today. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you so much, Summer. >> Yeah. >> Good. So nice to see all those wins. I saw football had a huge win, too, which is great. Yeah. Good stuff. Um, okay. Moving on to our committee reports for personnel. Miss Weber. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Sure thing. >> Great. Thank you, An. Uh we met on September 23rd and most of the time was spent discussing um extending extending
045the security personnel at the middle school and high school possibly an hour. Um I know Dr. Sortino and her staff are going to talk to the security personnel but right now they're contracted to leave pretty much when the school day ends but you know when kids are getting on the bus and getting picked up an extra hour might um help everybody keep them safe. Um, so I know you're going to report back on that once you've had an opportunity to talk to the uh security personnel, but you know, everybody on the personnel committee was in agreement that yeah, I think an extra hour at least to start at the high school and middle school would be prudent. Um, we also talked about a healthy workplace policy, but Mr. Ryan, are you going to cover that?
046>> We haven't met. >> Okay, very good. So, we touched on uh creating or adopting a new um healthy workplace policy. Um pulling, you know, best practices from other districts and just ensuring that everybody in the district is uh is is feels comfortable and you know, if there they have a a mechanism to report any any hostile or um working environment that's unsatisfactory and will the school district will not tolerate anything that is unsatisfactory, but we want to document it. And uh I know Sarah, you're working on that diligently. So, we look forward to hearing that and approving that through the policy committee. Thank you. >> Okay, great. Thank you. And we meet again on October 8th. Uh curriculum, Miss Ross. >> Yes. Uh the curriculum committee met uh last Wednesday, September 10th. We had
047quite a lengthy meeting, so I'm going to give you some highlights. Um, some of the topics we discussed included an overview of the professional development days that were held in August before school began. Each building had an in-depth faculty meeting and there was also training conducted for our early bird screener um, our dyslexia screener called early bird and heard which is a phmic awareness tool. Um, a motivational speaker was also uh invited back, coach stroker who was very wellreceived. Um the the committee also had a preview of the presentation that you just watched now on the wellness survey. Um we received an update on the implementation of early bird uh which I talked about in a prior meeting but assessments for dyslexia will be conducted three times a year fall, winter and spring. A letter
048will go out to parents and um Dr. Uh Audrey Burgerer, who's spearheading it, will be making the rounds at the K to2 PTO meetings to answer questions from parents. Um we had a recap of the 11 new courses that were developed and finalized for the program of studies. You may recall those were approved in January of 2025. So we just went through that framework a little bit more. Um we had Dr. Donahghue talked to us about a uh she shared information on a pullout gifted and talented program that is in process of being developed. The program is effectively going to be launched in January of 2026 for students in grades three and four. Assessments have not been done yet uh to determine the candidates, but they will be administered in um October. And a letter
049will go out to families with more information from Dr. Donahghue. and she will also be presenting at the Lafayette PTO meeting in November to share more specifics. Um, I'm going to touch on the 26 27 school calendar here. We're proposing that there are two professional development days instead of three in August. Uh, so that we have another in October and then proposing to move one to March so that it's just consistent throughout the year. Uh the plan for the this October's professional development day is to guide um the K to five teachers on more gifted and talented instruction and several sessions on AI training. Finally, the New Jersey uh the SLA results should be mailed out probably around now through the end of this month and we will review the results of those uh at
050the November meeting and our next uh curriculum meeting will also be held on October 8th. Take a breath there. Any questions? Thanks. >> Anybody have any questions? >> No. Okay, perfect. Uh, finance. Did finance meet? No. No. >> No. >> Okay. >> And policy has not met. >> Can I ask the policy question? >> Policyy's meeting next Wednesday, the 24th. >> Okay. My policy question is cougar weekend they they announced the new spectator policy over the loudspeaker which was super and I'm just and maybe this isn't the spectator policy but I think it is. Could we ask people to take their trash with them when they leave? I thought it was kind of horrific looking at the stands >> each night with the AD and the principal and the assistant principles cleaning up the stands
051>> when the fans couldn't. >> So, I thought that was a little disrespectful to our own fields. So, I don't know if it goes there or if it can just be announced. >> Sure, we can add that to the announcement. But I agree there was a lot of garbage everywhere. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, good catch on that. Yeah, for sure. Okay, perfect. Um, any leazison reports? >> I do not have one yet. >> I do not. >> No. Okay. Excellent. Um, okay. Um, I'd like to motion to move the minutes from the public meeting in August, which I know I have to abstain from, and I don't know who else. >> You. Yeah. Susan and I are just two of us. >> I I just need a second and >> I Okay. >> Minutes from
052August 25th. Ms. Ross, >> abstain. >> Miss Allen, >> yes. >> Miss Peek, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Miss Weber, >> yes. >> Dr. Zang, >> yes. >> Miss Chigarelli, >> abstain. >> Minutes pass 502. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. Um, okay. So this is going to be so I have to swap glasses. I can't see anything. Our first opportunity for public commentary. Hearing of the citizens during the public commentary section of the agenda is an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues which are or are not topics scheduled for the current meeting. To help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard, speakers will be asked to limit their comments to a reasonable length of time. And if you could just sign in
053and um let us know where you are from, that would be great. and your name, please. >> Good evening. My name is Stonen Lang and I'm a senior from Chattam High School. I recently completed an independent research project on how K through2 educators in our district perceive the role of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning. Before I begin, I'd like to thank Dr. Lassusa for approving this project in the spring semester, Dr. Sortino for her help this year, and my AP statistics teacher, Mrs. Rothsberger for her mentorship throughout this process. I shared the research project with all of you and I thought I'd give a brief overview of the findings especially in light of your current strategic uh planning priorities. To conduct this study, I surveyed 71 teachers and administrators across schools and grade levels
054and interviewed a high school uh teacher for additional perspective. I analyzed the results using both statistics and clustering method uh from machine learning. The findings highlight four main points. Number one, uh openness with caution. Teachers and administrators see potential for AI in tutoring, study materials, and differentiated instruction, but most feel unprepared and want to um want more support. Number two, ethics and equality. Um respondents stressed that AI should support but definitely not replace student thinking. concerned concerns included fairness, over reliance, and skill development. Number three, mindsets matter more than job titles. Analysis revealed that three distinct uh groups, advocates, cautious but curious, and skeptics, showing that training should be tailored to readiness levels, not just roles. And lastly, alignment with learning theory. Many saw AI's uh potential to provide adaptive support consistent with the zone
055of proximal development where students grow just best um grow best just beyond their current level. Based on this uh the district might consider a formal needs assessment tailored professional development and cleared guidelines for responsible use. I hope you have the chance to review the full paper which includes both data and teacher perspectives. Thank you for your time and uh for supporting student voice and future ready learning in the district. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Can you stick around? >> Yes. >> Like you don't Okay. I mean not necessarily now, but we were like I mean I for one so impressed with your with your project. Like I was very well I felt so educated from it. Like I learned so much. It was amazing. I think it's I think it's amazing. So amazing. >> Thank
056you. Um, yeah, I mean there's no question it's our future and I think people are nervous, but I think at the same token it's the reality and we need to, you know, really tackle it with the right care and the right um, you know, when you talked about different levels of, you know, tiering the PD or whatever. I think that's it's brilliant. I know Miss Weber has some things to say, too. >> Yeah. Right. I thought it was fantastic. Um, I also uploaded into Notebook LM and made myself a podcast and then I made myself a shorter podcast of just two minutes. So, it was great. They did a great job of summarizing your work. Um, Ann said it most of it, so I'm not going to repeat anything an said, but the the thing
057that stuck out at me most and I highlighted it was your concept of perceived preparedness. I thought that was interesting that you used the word perceived preparedness and you know, the administration is all about professional development. And what's interesting is I don't know if you know Dr. Walker did his dissertation on a self-guided or selfdriven model of professional development. So it's nice here in Chadam that teachers get to pick what interests them. So this might be a topic that is going to get some traction if one teacher can learn a particular software and hey this is great at creating quizzes or blah blah blah and I you know I don't know all the jargon but I you found your paper extremely interesting and again I the perceived preparedness um reminded me of Dr. Walker's dissertation
058and how much I think I think teachers appreciate the self-directed model um which ties into AI directly now but so thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, really impressive. Yes, your paper was so wellreceived and so beautifully written and the science behind it was strong and I have additional questions I think we all do that we could take offline but my questions are what your recommendations would be as a student and what your recommendation you know you're a student you've now done this so you're live seeen both you see both sides of it so uh maybe afterwards we can talk about from your perspective as a student, what you think needs to be tackled first, second, and third. >> Okay, sounds good. >> Amazing. Thank you so much. >> Uhhuh. >> Beautifully well done, paper.
059It was very impressive. And you'll be very happy to know that on October 13th, we have a full day professional development experience for teachers in the district. While school is closed for students, teachers will be learning about AI and instructional uses for it. So, thank you again. It was very wellreceived clearly by everyone. Well done. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Amazing. Hi, my name is Emily Smith and I'm a freshman here at Chattam High School. Um, Dr. Santino, uh, first off, welcome. I know you've heard a lot of this already, but I'm really excited you for you to be on the Chattam Board of Education. I've been up here a lot already to talk about the ISL program, and time and again, reservations have been brought up. I'm up here hoping for a fresh start
060because unfortunately I feel my advocacy falls on deaf ears. But I'm hoping you can change that. Once again, I am entitled by law NJAC section 6A or 6A section 8, sorry, regarding activities achieving 120 credits. Individualized student learning opportunities in all NJSLs areas include but are not limited to the following and the first one listed is independent study. People also me mentioned reservations about potential sexual assault. Unfortunately, it can happen anywhere, ISL or not. Not only could this be a program for academic achievement, it could be used to give students agency to speak up for themselves. The final thing that has been stressed previously is alignment with the curriculum. According to the ninth grade fizzad requirements, students should learn to compare the short and long-term benefits of physical activity and the impact on wellness associated
061with physical, mental, emotional fitness through one's lifetime and design and implement a personal fitness plan using evidence and evaluate how it reflects knowledge and application of fitness training principles and competent skill related fitness. And finally, develop a sense of openness and willingness when participating in physical fitness activities to share and learn. And what better way to develop a love for fitness than allowing students to enjoy their own personal interests through physical activity. My final cons the final concern was funding. I'm more than willing to pay the student activity fee many other Chattam High School athletes do. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'm one of 75 students who want to make this program happen. and we can make it functional like Madison Summits and Ridgewood's option too. If you have concerns, please feel
062free to reach out to me at my email emily smithcham-enj.org. I would love to meet one-on-one if you still have concerns as I would feel that would be more productive in the long run. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Emily. Good evening members of the board. My name is Corey Moss. My wife MueL and I moved to Chattam in large part for its outstanding schools. And our daughter McKenna has already shown us why. Every day she comes home from Washington A demonstrating leaps and all that she's learning. We're here tonight because our son Cade who turns five on October 20th deserves deserves that same opportunity to thrive. Despite turning five just shy of three weeks past the cutoff, Cad's preschool educators have documented that he has already exceeded expectations academically and socially, and
063waiting another year could be detrimental. I've brought their letter of recommendation with me tonight. I can share that after I finish. We are aware of policy 511 which currently provides no pathway to consider cases like kids even though New Jersey law leaves it up to the decision up to the local districts. Other districts like Rumson manage this well using clear readiness evaluations, preschool input, uh brief observation, and a child study team to review. The Chattam School District prides itself on guiding on its guiding principles, equity of opportunity, evidence-based decision-making, and ensuring every child feels supported and valued. We believe that K deserves that same consideration. In other situations, the district has structures and supports to ensure every child gets what they need. In Kad's case, being ready just a few weeks early, there's no pathway
064available. That leaves us in the position of having to enroll him in a private kindergarten simply to ensure that he receives the academic experience that he deserves. And it's important to note this is not something every family has the means and bandwidth to support, which further compounds the inequity of this situation. We're not asking for a broad policy change, only for a structured process that allows outliers like Cades to be considered on its merits. I respectfully ask that the board re refer policy 5111 to the policy committee and add such a process and that in the meantime K be evaluated against whatever interimm uh frameworks can be developed and this would ensure that the policy work has immediate practical application and that Cade can begin his journey in the Chattam district rejoining his friends rather
065rather than outside of it and outside of them. Thank you for your time, for your and your dedication to children and families of Chattam. [Applause] Thank you. Hi everyone. I'm Mandy Major from Chattam Middle School, but I'm also the CEA president. And I wanted to welcome all of you back to our school year, but also just to say that uh we're settling into the start of our year and to take a moment to express my appreciation for everyone's dedication and hard work. Um, of course, the amazing teachers of the district, but also the new administrators, um, and Dr. Sertino and our new principal at Chattam Middle School, Mr. Yamamoto. And um we have had a lot of changes this year in our building alone at Chhattam Middle School, but of course in the administrative team
066and from what I've seen and heard, the collaboration between the teachers and the new administrators is off to a promising start. And that partnership of course is very critical um to providing our students with the best learning environment possible. We or I believe that with doc Dr. Sortino's leadership um that will continue throughout the year and for the years to come. Our educators are energized and ready to meet this year's opportunities head on. And together I am definitely confident that we can continue to build a strong, supportive, and innovative district. So, thank you for all of your commitment here on the board of education and to our schools and most importantly um to our students. Thanks. [Applause] Okay. Thank you so much. And thank you, Mrs. Major, for all that you guys are doing over
067there. I know it's been a lot of collaboration over there at the middle school, but it sounds like, uh, things are going well. Um, okay. You have a question? >> Nope. I want to respond. >> Go, go right ahead. >> Um, I'm going to go in reverse order. Um, thank you, Mandy, for all that you do and thank your teachers. If we could afford it, we'd have rose petals drop at your feet every day that you walked in or milkshakes or whatever it would take. Blizzards from Dairy Queen. But, uh, I don't know how you do what you do, but thank God you do it. I wouldn't last 30 seconds in any one of your classrooms, but thank you. Um, I'm gonna jump to Miss Miss Smith. I have to disagree about deaf ears. You
068and I have had this conversation. I've talked about it at length. Um, just for the new people joining the program. One of the there's a couple of key points. First of all, the private organizations are simply not designed to meet New Jersey State curriculum. Period. They just don't meet our curriculum. Nor do they care. Nor do they want to. It's for profit. And nobody's saying you all don't spend a ton of time at these activities. I mean, a ton of time. And we encourage you to to chase your passion and be be passionate about it, but that doesn't mean the school district has the opportunity to to tweak our policies on programs that don't meet the meet our standards. And the other item, which you know, maybe it's my personal quirk, we have no control
069over who these companies hire. None whatsoever. Our teachers, our coaches, our substitutes are all vetted. Our afterchool programs are vetted. We have no idea who they hire. And if they if they send us all their employees at the beginning of the year, okay, three of them quit, four are new. Again, we have no control over who they hire. So, for that point alone, you know, I would be against it. But, um, I just wanted to say I disagree because we've had this conversation several times, but um, again, those are my two quirks, the hiring and the they're just not designed to meet our curriculum, state curriculum. It's not even ours. Um, and then Corey, while I'm not going to talk about your son specifically, um, having been around the block a few times, I've seen
070over and over again the negative impacts of pushing somebody before they're ready. Again, I'm not talking about your son. You know, he probably plays Shopan or whatever, but I know there's a reason for a cut off. And you know, what's the date? You're missed it by 3 weeks. Okay, we move it then. And then then, well, my kid's November 1st. But again, I'm not talking about your specific son, but there's a reason for it. Um, there's also tons of private options. If you think that that is absolutely the best thing for, you know, if parents think that that is the be all end all top priority, there's private options that you can avail yourselves to. And um, the last thing that I'm I'm I'm considering or in my head just thinking about it out loud
071as Corey spoke, this is the first time we're offering full three-day kindergarten. So, I just don't want it to be, you know, I just don't want people to push their kids forward and at the end of the year, ah, you know what? I'm going to hold them back and then and and keep them in kindergarten one more year. I just would hate to see um that snowball into kids being held back as a regular, you know, course just because you know what, it's free day full. Let me send them work out. I'm going to repeat it. I don't know that that's great for the student either. I'm not an educator, so I'm going to leave that up to the to the experts, but that's my my um at least response to to your to your
072comments. But thank you. >> Thank you, Ann. >> Thanks, Ann. >> Okay, perfect. >> Are we moving regular? >> Um, yeah, we'll move on to the regular agenda. And there will be a second opportunity for public commentary later after the regular agenda. So, um, we can get back to that when that time comes. Uh, moving on to our, uh, regular agenda, action items for personnel. Miss Weber. >> Great. Thank you. Um I'd like to move items I'd like to move um items A1 through A26 on the regular agenda. There's an addition on the addendum of number 27 and there are some amendments to number three 7 12 13 22 24 and 25. No additional audles right Sarah. Okay, I will second. Agenda items A1 through 26. Addendum items A3, A7, A12, A13, A22, A24, A25,
073and A27. Miss Ross, >> yes. >> Miss Allen, >> yes. Miss Peek, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Miss Weber, >> yes. >> Dr. Zang, >> yes. >> And Miss Cherelli, >> yes. >> Agenda items pass 70. >> Um, okay. Moving on to curriculum. Miss Ross, >> I think we missed finance. >> Finance. Sorry. >> Who wants to do finance? >> I can move it. >> Okay. uh like to move agenda items B1 through B8 second. [Applause] >> Agenda items B1 through B8. Miss Ross, >> yes. >> Miss Allen, >> yes. >> Miss Peek, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Miss Weber, >> yes. >> Dr. Zang, >> yes. and Miss Chigarelli. >> Yes. >> Agenda items pass 70. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. And curriculum, Miss Ross? >> Yes. I'd
074like to move um agenda item C1 to C7. >> Second. Thank you. Agenda item C1 through C1 through C7. Miss Ross, >> yes. >> Miss Allen, >> yes. >> Miss Peek, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryan, >> yes. >> Miss Weber, >> yes. >> Dr. Zang, >> yes. >> And Miss Trierelli, >> yes. >> Agenda items pass 70. >> Perfect. Uh, nothing for policy. Moving on to board business. Any other board business anybody wants to discuss? >> No. Okay. All good. >> Nothing for policy. >> Okay, perfect. Um, okay. Moving on to our This will be our second opportunity for public commentary. Same >> rules apply. >> Policy had a big year last year, Mike. >> Policy had last year. >> Uhhuh. >> You did three years worth of work. >> All once. >> Thank you
075for your comments and and thoughts. I I appreciate, you know, having an active dialogue. Um, I do recognize that by and large the studies can show that holding back can be advantageous. Um, and it is something that my wife and I have tried to be as objective as possible about in looking at how he interacts with his friends, what he's interested at home, and how other people outside of just us perceive Cade and his um keenness for education. Uh I also want to be very clear that this isn't just oh I think the cutoff should be moved. I think the cutoff can be wherever Chadam thinks it needs to be. Uh my ask here is for having an avenue to pursue for kids like Kade who are just ready. Um it it's again I'm not
076asking for this to be thrown out out the window. There just should be some sort of process or evaluation where someone who is ready has the opportunity to be observed, has the opportunity to have the recommendations taken into consideration instead of just a computer says no sort of situation. Um and then lastly, you know, the the full day K and all that is wonderful. Um but that is not at all a driving factor. Um, we want what's best for our son and keeping him challenged and humble is is a good thing. He's one of those kids that when he's not challenged, he gets distracted. He goes everywhere else. So, keeping him engaged is is very important for us. Um, we're also aware of many children in the district that even though full day is available,
077they're holding their kids back because they feel it's more advantageous for them to have that extra year. So, I think the there's an offset here. And I think also if if there's an appropriate process for evaluation, it's not just an advantage based or or people taking advantage sort of situation. Um, so yeah, I I do appreciate your comments and I just wanted to respond to them because they are things that we've, you know, in playing devil's advocate with ourselves, um, recognize. You know, Dr. Santino and my wife and I had a conversation back in the spring and we we understood the the policy of 511 and we said, "Okay, let's let's hold let's wait." And then as we got closer to the school year starting and we're dropping McKenna off, um it just hit that
078Cade needs to be joining McKenna in the Chattam School District. So that's what's reinvigorated our our ask here. Um thank you again for your consideration. I appreciate everything. There any questions? Any thoughts? No. >> Thank you. Good evening to all. Um, Bill Heap, Chattam Burough. Um, I will admit to you that I grew up in a different age. Um, when I was in school, uh, stress and nervous breakdowns were for rich people. And my father kept reminding me constantly that when I was worried about where my next meal was coming from, then we had something to discuss. So, I'm astounded at the range of things that cause anxiety and depression and eating disorders and all of this kind of stuff. I will admit to you that it's foreign to me. Um my one wish or
079maybe two wishes is first the cell phone was never invented and that people would get off the internet. Uh it's way too much information for even for anybody to process at any one time. Um, so at the risk of sounding like a really heartless son of a word that rhymes with witch, um, is there any line between what the district is responsible for and what families are responsible for when it comes to counseling and all of the related uh, issues that go along with it? when you send kids outside uh of the school for extra help, is there anything there that parents are responsible for or is this entirely on the shoulders of the district? Thanks. Do I have to sign in again if I'm like speaking? Um oops. Um hi again. Um, I do
080feel uh as though there is always at a solution. Um, but I feel unfortunately there's a bit of a disconnect. Miss Weber, I really do appreciate your feedback. Um, but I feel as though we cannot achieve much through um, meetings or email and just public commentary alone. I recognize that curriculum can be an issue. Unfortunately, I've been unable to come up with a solution because I can't grasp exactly what I would be missing through a private sport versus actually doing the whole CHS gym curriculum. um because I was never informed of the specifics. Safety is top and I don't think a company should participate if they're not certified and contracts can be drawn. And I do think there always is a solution and I really do want to make this program happen. Um so whatever
081you are willing to do, I'm willing to help. Thank you, >> Emily. I think you did a great job speaking at all of the meetings. We're all very impressed. That is not easy to do. Dr. Donahghue and I will email you for a meeting. We can have a conversation without the big forum about everything. Okay. Okay. Um so that's one. Two. Um so Mr. Moss, as you mentioned, you and I have spoken previously and I I'm understand your frustration. I have a son that was born in October as well, so I understand the extra year is challenging. Um, I think it's important to note that many local districts have the same October 1st cutoff date with no policy exemption. So, Milbour, Summit, New Providence, Madison, Livingston. My understanding is that almost up until this school
082year, Summit had an avenue for exemption for kindergarten for circumstances similar to what you're referencing and that they ended their exemption policy because it was so challenging. I think the hard part in measuring a kindergartenner's readiness to attend school is it's a very subjective situation. Um it also is timeintensive. There's resources involved and staffing involved and as you know we have a fiscal responsibility to taxpayers. Um so for all of those reasons the policy committee did discuss the you know the policy at length and did not opt to change that October 1st cutoff date and the lack of an avenue for exemptions. Um just to provide information. It's also important to note that Governor Murphy um as you know mandated free full day kindergarten by 2029. Um that was at a significant impact to the
083district. We had the reconfiguration to make sure that we had space for kindergarten. So I think it's also important that staffing wise and space-wise. We really are stringent on the October 1st cutoff date. Compulsory education laws in New Jersey are governed for students ages six to 16. I think that's really why it's left to local districts for the cutoff date and it becomes a little um more challenging. I know you referenced Rumson, but when we really reference the local areas, they are all in line with the October 1st cutoff date that we have. Um referencing Mandy Major, Mandy, thank you for taking the time to come tonight and for the partnership of the CA, you know, during the transition. We have a lot of new administrators. the reconfiguration brought a huge change to the district
084and having such a strong uh president of the union and so communicative and collaborative has been extremely helpful during the transition. So, thank you for your professionalism. And Mr. Heap, you asked a question about what's a family's role versus the district's role. We look at the whole child that comes through our doors. And Mrs. D Santis had referenced a quote from the CDC that talked about if a student's mental health and basic needs aren't being met, they really can't access their education. So for us as a district, we make sure that we are addressing the basic needs. Are kids hungry? Are they warm? Do they have school supplies? Um do they have backpacks? Do they have snack? Do they have breakfast? Um once those services are provided, a student can access their education and that
085fundamentally is our responsibility. Um we absolutely do make reference um to families for about outside counseling both through project community pride which is at no cost to families and that's through a partnership with the district and the Madison Chattam coalition. There are also services through the state through perform care mobile crisis etc and we refer families for those services as well. Um and then there are private counselors that we will also make recommendations for families to seek additional support for their children outside of school if necessary. But really, if a child's basic needs aren't being met, their academic needs are not being met either. And that's the basis of the educational process here. But it is a lot for everyone. Okay, perfect. Do we have an executive session? >> Uh, no executive s no executive
086session. >> Okay, perfect. Um, okay. So, I think that with that we will close the meeting. Thank you everyone for your time. Thank you everyone for your comments and uh yeah, we'll see you next time. Same station.