001I'd like to call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the standy for all. Public notice of this meeting was advertised in the Asbury Park Press on January 13, 2026. And notice was provided to central jersey.com on January 15, 2026. Notice has been posted in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act of 1975, chapter 231, effective January 16, 1976 in the board office, 370 Broad Street. A copy of this notice is also on file in the office of the burough clerk. Members of the public wishing to address the board of education on both agenda and non-aggenda items must state their name, address, and are requested to limit their comments to five minutes when it appears the public comment portion of the meeting
002may exceed 30 minutes in duration. The public participation portion of the meeting is open to citizens for the purpose of addressing agenda and non-aggenda items. Issues raised by members of the public might require review and investigation and may or may not be responded to by the board and superintendent during the meeting. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board. Students and staff have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey. The board bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable for any comments made by a member of
003the public. The meeting is being tapered for the purpose of board review and future reference and to assist in the preparation of minutes. QR codes are available at each board meeting to access the agenda. Mr. Ro, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Abrahamson, >> here. >> Miss Cunningham, >> here. >> Mr. Patopoulos >> here. Mrs. Grabowski. Mr. Yubler >> here. >> Miss Cahane >> here. >> Mr. Stall here. Mr. Staley >> here. >> Mrs. Teas. >> Hi. Here. >> Sorry. >> Mrs. Van >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. Sorry. I got in trouble because it was 6:31. Um, okay. So, we don't have a student representative this evening because it is a workshop meeting. So, we will move to our presentation. So, we will have a literacy presentation today by
004Miss White and team. I do have a team behind me, too. I'm grateful for them. and um at the end of the program obviously if you'd like to ask some questions of the team we're happy to answer them. So good evening. Tonight I'm excited to present the work of our 6 to12 literacy adoption and review committee and share our recommendation for an HQIM otherwise known as the highquality instructional material for our district schools. Out of all of the responsibilities connected to my role, this work is among the most meaningful to me professionally, having had the opportunity to strengthen literacy outcomes across our district makes me incredibly proud and it is a very powerful mission. In August of 24, Governor Phil Murphy signed public law 2024 C-52, reinforcing New Jersey's commitment to robust research-based literacy programs.
005This law is strongly supported by multiple competitive grants, all of which you are familiar with. The Coach Grant establishes a dedicated literacy coach to support instruction across our classrooms. Miss Maganelli is here tonight. We're grateful for all that she has done in the last few months. The RISE grant focuses on building teacher expertise through targeted professional learning and the impact grant here in red is supports the adoption and implementation of highquality instructional materials. The impact will fund half of the 6 to2 adopted HQIM. Together, these grants ensure that this is not just a curriculum adoption, but rather a fully supported instructional shift here 6 through 12. As we examine our most performance uh our most recent performance data, we identified a clear need for stronger literacy outcomes, particularly in our middle middle to upper grades.
006This is the most recent data as the current data is still embargoed. I would anticipate that we would get that data in the upcoming month or so. The state is a little bit behind in the releasing of those school performance reports. This slide highlights student proficiency in 2023 2024. This data was also used by the New Jersey Department of Education to select school districts um for the grant application. This data reinforces the importance of strengthening tier one instruction at the secondary level. As you may remember, our remaining ESSER funds funding in 2024 allowed for us to adopt a really strong KTO to five literacy program that we are incredibly proud of. A vertically aligned approach between all programs across the district is going to ensure that students continue to build critical reading, writing, speaking, and
007analytic skills that are necessary for success across all content areas. the process. To address this need, we engaged in a rigorous and thoughtful selection process. We reviewed four HQIM, highquality instructional materials, uh programs that were aligned to uh state standards using tools such as ED reports, a rubric grounded in the New Jersey uh literacy framework, and the science of reading. um when you came in this afternoon or this evening, uh there's a red folder. Inside of that red folder, you will see a copy of the state's um literacy framework. Um it's pretty thick, but I wanted you to have it. Um and I also included a rubric that I created using that framework that was more uh specific to grades 6 through 12. Um and that rubric we used as we vetted the four series.
008So, Ed reports vets it for us. They make them green. they go through their whole process. We then chose obviously four quality programs to then invest our energy into. But I did want you to have a copy of the rubric that I created um to vet the program. Our team behind me as well. This ensured that our decision was researchbased and obviously aligned to those state expectations uh that were outlined in the law. As we evaluated the programs, we focused on several key criteria including alignment to standards which were recently released in 2023. So those are new as well. Uh researchbased practices uh support for our multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Uh we also ensured consistency across grade levels and we wanted the ability to monitor student progress through embedded assessments. These are all
009processes that are taking place with our K to5 literacy series as well. Stakeholder involvement. So in order to achieve this recommendation, we involved ourselves into a very collaborative process. We gathered input from teachers, administrators, some even outside of the district. You'll see them noted here. Jackson, West Long Branch, Manchester, and community members of course as well to ensure that the select programs reflect the needs of our classrooms and also align with our district goals. And this is the team that I have behind me in this process which again we we had begun this pro process early to late November um and are obviously concluding this evening with our recommendation to you. Um I would like to recognize the members of this committee whose time, expertise and thoughtful input were instrumental in this work. I am
010truly grateful for all of them and for their shared expertise. As you look behind me, we all bring something different to the table. And what I may see through my lens, Mr. Flynn sees differently for his building. Miss Maganelli as a coach will see it differently. Miss Wesley as a high school teacher. I also special education specialist. We all bring different things to the table. So I am grateful for the work that you put into this process. And so now for the recommendations. Um for Keyport Central School, we are recommending to the board of education an adoption of amplify 6 to8. As you may remember, we also use amplify CKLA for our K to5 programming. So this would be an extension of that particular program. It is a tier one uh ELA program for grades
011six through eight. Uh we recommend this uh Amplify provides a high quality knowledgebuilding curriculum with strong alignment to NJDOE requirements. It offers engaging learning experiences, built-in differentiation and embedded assessments to guide instruction and support all learners. We have seen tremendous success in our K to5 levels and I know that Dr. Seavoya has shared this with you. We really are excited to share that performance report when it comes out so that you can see the growth especially in our um subpopuls um that have grown exponentially and we look forward to certainly seeing this um in the expansion of 6 to 12 for Keeport High School. We are recommending my perspectives. Um we are uh this is also a tier one core program uh which emphasizes uh writing analysis uh critical thinking while also providing diverse text
012strong support which was integral for us across the district of our multilingual learners. Um, it also gives us real- time data to inform instruction. And what we really thought was neat, and this was through our second um, goaround with them, we did meet with them twice to get some questions answered. They also have um, a profile for SATs so that our teachers can um, train our students that are looking to take the SATs or taking the SATs. They have a whole suite of practice um, assessments, if you will, and and uh, opportunities for them in that area as well. So a sidebyside comparison of Amplify 6 to 8 and um 9 through 12 and again we were talking about that articulation across the whole district. Um our committee did recognize that the literacy needs of
013students evolve across grade levels which is why we ultimately went with two um high quality instructional materials for grades six through eight. Amplify provided strong knowledge building instruction. Um structured literacy routine uh foundational skill development and support um which would also strengthen our students comprehension and engagement for our high school students in 9 to 12. Savis emphasized more deeper analysis, um more writing, student voice, and of course that uh college and career readiness that I was just speaking to um through very complex and grade level uh texts. Together, we feel that these programs create a cohesive and developmentally appropriate program and pathway for literacy instruction across grades 6 through 12. And so our next steps uh upon appro upon approval of the board of education we will communicate uh these recommendations to our stakeholders which
014would include teachers, other administrators, community members. Um this does this recommend these recommendations do reflect a thoughtful researchbased process uh designed to strengthen instruction and improve outcomes for all students. Um upon your approval, we will also move forward with planning which would include professional development, alignment of resources and ongoing monitoring of student progress. We will also continue to support teachers through coaching and training to ensure successful implementation. So the process that we have went through for 6 to 12 is very comparable to the process that we did for grades uh K through five when we adopted that literacy series. Um we are in year two as I mentioned. We're looking forward to the data and sharing that data with you through the performance reports when the state releases them. Um Mrs. Butle and I still
015meet with the team uh Mr. MO and the building principles of K to5 teachers in what we call CKLA curriculum conversations. So even in year two we are still developing and growing our teachers in that program. Um we have had coaches come to the district for that for amplify for CKLA um so they can get from others uh what it is that we cannot give um inhouse. Uh we're very very proud of that work and it is going to be very comparable to the work that we will do uh upon your approval for this resource. That's my presentation. I thank you for your time and certainly for your good gracious um approvals. Any questions, Mr. Sally? >> I'll try one. Hopefully I can articulate what's I'm trying to I'm thinking about as I'm listening. So,
016um you know, you would describe Miss White like the success in the K through K through five program amplify, right? >> And it kind of and then we see oh our six to 12 need a boost. So I guess my question is um those 6 to 12 uh students were being in their early formation had a different process right >> and it it kind of asked the question well as a result of whatever that process was maybe it wasn't idea maybe it didn't mirror what's happening currently in 125 so my question am I Am I on a >> I think I know where you're going. I do think I know where you're going, but keep going. >> So, how do we how do these new programs, I would put, bridge the gap for what they
017may have missed structurally, fundamentally to help them close gaps, right? Um, and I think it's important for us to first state that it's great when we see the growth um that we're seeing and we'll see in the report um in our students, but this is a process that will take some some time. Um, and what I think that you're speaking to uh Mr. Sullie is is closing those foundational gaps that students didn't get from that previous programming. I have to say I think in addition to the tier one program, we rely on our literacy coaches and our intervention programs um that Mr. Flynn has put in place in our uh middle school. Um what we're working on certainly in our high school as well. Um it's not going to be just a tier one program
018that's going to fix it. I think what's nice about these programs is that they are comprehensive and include not just the tier one program itself, but options for us to meet the needs of students where they're at um through intervention programming that is incorporated into the program itself. Um I think there is a lot of relying that we do on the teachers to close those gaps um as administrators. Our job is to support them in that endeavor. Um by bringing in the professional development um getting our coach where she needs to be to help those teachers to close those gaps. I think that's the question you were. >> Yeah. Question two. >> Question two. >> No. Could you could you um Maybe one of your colleagues like talk about broad brush about researchbased thoughts about
019literacy like what is what fundamentally is what are some of the principles fundamentally that are kind of now embedded in the current one through five program and this program. Can you is there you're in that world right and you know literacy and how kids learn how to read is been you know so where where do you see fundamentally it's going >> I'm going to start but I I am going to maybe tap into our literacy coach I think that um programming now has become more comprehensive and in the early pro K to let's say three there is a focus on the developmental foundational skills and our students acquiring the not just those foundational skills but also building a knowledge base um for their vocabulary development. Um, we certainly have hopes that we're filling children's buckets,
020literacy buckets, K to2, so that they enter into third grade with a knowledge bucket, vocabulary bucket filled, um, and also, uh, able to read. Um, and then from third grade and up, the text and the reading becomes more involved, um, more rigorous, if you will. Um, and I think that behind the science of reading and maybe the research right now, um, we're realizing that children third grade and above don't have all those buckets full, if that makes sense. And um you know when we think of teachers college or some of the programming that might have been in place uh prior to these science of readingbacked programs um children were entering into those upper brackets of education not having the ability to read. Um they could perhaps uh look up and see a certain word and
021identify words and essentially they were memorizing um but never reading. And I think that that's the current push in literacy is really to get our K to2 children reading. Um get those foundational skills, build their knowledge buckets, and then we crank them into third grade hopefully reading. Um we have and I say this all the time to our teachers, we know that we will always have children arrive at the doorsteps of Kapport um with different stories and we don't know when they might arrive. Um it could be a sixth grade, they come to central school, we're welcoming in, you know, they've been in the country for three weeks and they've never had any formal education. And and so it is difficult for us to have a perfect program, if you will. Um and I think
022that's where our literacy coaches and I hope I've done justice to I mean certainly your role um come in in in into play as well. how much involvement uh came from the community you referred to. >> So um I you get the blasts too. Um what I did was I let an air letter out to our community uh which included a survey and I will share with you that it was very limited response from the um community. I did have a few um and I corresponded with them and invited them to an opportunity with Miss Manganelli um for which we did not have any response. Um, so I think it's fair to say that it was very limited, but I will share that I, as I said in the in the um presentation, I will
023be sending a letter to our community to allow them, you know, to know this is the program that we have selected. The board is approved. Um, that does go on the curriculum website just to let them know that we've made a decision. And we also, you know, we're fortunate to have the title one funding and the title one events and the literacy evenings where we try to draw our families in. >> Yeah, keep at it. >> I will say it'll happen. >> And and several of you were here. Um we're really proud of our um young authors night. We again had approximately 100 um family members, children, community members, board of education members. Um and we want to continue to look to grow programs like that. We do find when it's the kids, they come
024more than if it's us putting it on to them. >> We're thinking creative creatively. >> Maybe the students need to hand the survey to their >> parents and guardians. >> No homework if your parent comes. >> Does anybody have any other questions? >> Well, thank you very much. >> I thank you. I thank you all for your support. >> We do appreciate all of the hard work that you all put into making our students the best that they can be. >> The progress doesn't go unnoticed. >> Okay. Um, next up is president's remarks. Um, so we are gearing up for the busy part of our year. Uh, Red Raider night was a success. It was nice to see our staff, families, and community all coming together. Uh, the ba the boys baseball team had teacher
025appreciation at their game yesterday. It was really nice to see all of the um students pick a teacher that they wanted to share their appreciation for. Um, they our teachers are so hardworking and dedicated. Um, even the other team was commenting because I was by their bench and they were like, "Oh, this is so cool. like who would you pick? So, I thought that was really um a nice little touch that they were like, "Oh, if we did that, who would you pick?" So, that was nice. Um we had the privilege of hosting hosting the commissioner of education and show her firsthand the amazing things happening in our classrooms and programs. Um everyone did an amazing job preparing for this. Um and then lastly, last night the board of ed was recognized and received the
026uh Carol E. Lararsson award for master board certification. Um as well as Mrs. received her masterboard certification and three of our >> um and three of our board of ed members received the highest individual certification which is uh certified board leaders. So congratulations Mr. Stall, Mr. Staley, and Miss Abrahamson. Um also a shout out to Union Beach. They are certified board as well. Um so lots of things happening in 07735 as Miss Tus said. >> Uh Dr. Seoya communication. >> Okay. Uh I received an unexpected although happy for her uh resignation resignation retirement letter from Miss Lavilla. >> Uh public participation on agenda items. >> Uh Dr. Seavoya superintendent report. >> Okay. Only four pages. No, I'm just kidding. Um, some of which, uh, Miss Voy presented this evening. And again, congratulations to the team
027for doing such a great job. Uh, the passion that you get to see every day. Uh, not not all of that's visible and I just, you know, that that gets to the board level, but I know you sense it, you feel it based on what we communicate, but it is one heck of a team that you, uh, that you have here in this district. Um in addition uh we did have the commissioner what I hyperl to this was the presentation we presented uh to her the press release and a real of a wide variety of pictures. I have to just kind of piggyback on what Miss Cunningham said and it was just an honor to have her and she seemed extremely receptive, genuine, um and we offered so much so she was impressed with the
028literacy uh work that we're doing in the district that I am sharing with her our K toy process because she was asking what year we were in. I'm looking at Stephanie because I think I'm saying it all correctly. um but just uh her commitment to literacy in totality and then what the process was that we're going through for this year. So I will be reaching out to her tomorrow um letting her know that um she can also come back and visit at her leisure without pomp and circumstance and or us taking a road trip down there um because we did volunteer to be a part of anything. One thing I can many positive things I can say about keeper is one of them is we put our money where our mouth is and we did
029I volunteer or volunteered us for any committee that she'd want to form. So, that was an honor to have her. Uh, in regards to personnel, uh, we will approve all of our, uh, rehires at the next meeting in addition to our summer positions and our athletic positions. Uh, congratulations to Madison Yen and Jenny Ratana for um, winning the coverage of the month of W for attendance. So, I will be uh, maybe going to a different grade this time, but it just definitely um, I I circulate with the primary grades the most. uh testing, NJSLA testing. I know that's a hot uh topic this week and next week. Uh we're testing everywhere. Miss Pearson uh is a rockstar putting it all together and this team supports her 100% and yes, to a certain degree I stay
030away because I don't want to complicate things, but I'm behind the scenes. That being said, we've we've gotten through students getting used to the new platform. It really is a robust platform. seeing um from what everyone's telling me, you know, obviously you cannot do anything inappropriate, but you just want to see what that testing platform looks like. It's new and adaptive for them. So, seeing what what students are dealing with and just easing the anxiety of staff members as well, I'd say, because it is definitely a new app and things to to get acclimated to. Uh the kids are doing a heck of a job from what I'm hearing. You know what everybody understands. Mr. Flynn had a pep rally for testing the last week. So, lots of good things going on there and again
031it is one measurement but I think it's an important measurement for them to take seriously and then we can diagnose and take action from there. Uh we had our final ECAC meeting this morning which the acronym is there early childhood advisory council. Uh that's something I think that Miss Pakov has done a great job with with the community. Uh those partnerships are being strengthened and some of our conversation today was about how we could get the families to take care take uh advantage of the resources. There are so many resources out there and parental engagement is tough. So, I think we decided next year we'll start out with like, you know, resource of the month for lack of a better phrase because this way they they know what's out there. One of them is a
032child uh a family advocate. You know, you don't know what you don't know. So, again, her building relationships with community members and I found out today that one of them is our parent has two a student in the district. So, you know what that means, how genuine we are. I don't really care who's sitting at the table, but I found that out today. Uh, we also had um the drama club play going on the 14th and 15th. Mark your calendars. I hear it's going to be something to to to see. So, I would really hope to see if any of you could come. I will be away uh at the at a spring conference on Thursday, but I will be there Friday night. No new incidences of HIV u but at Central, but one at
033KHS. So, we're uh investigating only of those. our board of education, our April edition of board highlights was sent out on May 1st teacher appreciation. What what an experience this week just watching everybody come together whether it's the KF whether it's the PTO whe everybody trying to just give people a small token of how much we appreciate all of them. Uh Red Brightaider night Miss Cunningham spoke to uh we have several board goal uh meetings tonight. that we had one and I know that uh Miss uh Tivas is going to speak to something that we did in new business for municipal alliance but I those commun those uh chair people can speak accordingly to whatever those meetings are. Um the baseball team how cool that that was you had to be there for it and
034sometimes things happen quickly around here. Um the idea was phenomenal. Each person wore the shirt uh each adult recognized teacher recognized wore the shirt of the student. I especially like Mr. Waters in his t-shirt. Um, the sizes all don't correlate to the size of the student. He had it around his neck. I'm like, what is that? Is that a scarf? Um, I it was great. No, there's no shaming here in Heport, but it was really an honor to watch those those kids walk out with their uh said recognized person because you see a lot of that at the honor society and stuff like that, but it was really cool to see at that event as well. So something we definitely would like to continue on and congratulations with that to coach Keelin in his hundth
035career with baseball victory. They did an amazing job and thanks to what they all do. Um and I said talked about teacher appreciation more than once. So I guess I really like that and I I it's a good thing in my position. Plenty of uh dates up on the calendar here. You're welcome to come to any of them. Um, I did invite some you guys into this the calendar of some of them, but I will make sure that M cameras tomorrow morning goes through them again and make sure that the invitations are um are right. Uh, include all of you. Sorry, that that does conclude the report. >> Uh, thank you. Uh, Mr. Rapola, board secretary, building and grounds finance. >> Uh, thank you. I'd just like to go over a few of the motions
036that you will be approving next week. Uh this agenda is relatively light. Uh however, um the June meeting uh will be a monster uh agenda in the finance section as well as the extra section in the June meeting which is the annual resolution. So, uh you'll see all the contracts and various uh financial things in the finance section in June and you'll see all our annual uh resolutions as far as uh you know what kind of signatures we need on the bank checks uh who our -ate company will be like it it uh so just giving him a warning it's going to be a fat packet uh in June. However, going over uh some motions here in this agenda, start with 103 is a donation. Uh 104, excuse me, 104 is approving a contract with
037the auditors for next year. Uh 10 five and 106 is an agreement uh with Legacy Studios, which is a a photographer. Uh you will note that it's uh the central school is a 2025 through 2027 agreement and the uh high school is a 2026 through 2028 agreement. Uh Speasel architecture continuing on as our auditors. uh normally I would put uh you know architect at the you know the effective rate of but with the but with the architects uh we're charged by what sort of employee we're we're we're using. So I decided you know just to share what the various rates are uh per employee that we're getting from. So, uh, we never have the head honcho chief executive officer, but if we did, that would be $200 an hour. Uh, you know, very often we
038in our projects may have a project manager at $165 an hour. Uh, sometimes we bring in uh we'll need to bring in various engineers or etc. But those are the rates uh that we'd be approving. And then we have some uh basic transfers. So, pretty light agenda. Um, I would imagine that probably a few more motions before the May uh 21st meeting added to that. That's all I have. >> Thank you. Uh Dr. Seavoya, curriculum, personnel policy. >> Okay. As I said previously, you're going to see a a much longer agenda with the approval of staff for clubs uh 26 27 school year, athletics, etc. Underneath curriculum you have our HIB. Of course we have um 114 to present uh the achieve AP access for all workshop to AP teachers. Um motion to approve amplify
039to provide on-site and virtual launch coaching. Um so and the next agenda I believe that we'll also see the approve oh no motion to approve the literary series 68. It's already on there. Look at that. Okay. So that will be on there. It's it will remain on there. Good job again on that presentation. personnel, the acceptance of Miss Lavilla's retirement, and nothing for policy. >> Thank you. Uh, old business, new business. >> Um, I just want to mention next week our students, our seniors are graduating from the Rising Stars at Brookdale. So, I just wanted to call that out because it's not just it's incredible that these students are doing this, but also to the staff and the administration who helped them to get there. It's just amazing to me to see these students now
040from when they started freshman year to now graduating with a associates degree next week. So, >> and we saw two students that are graduating from college because they took those 60 credits this week. I saw out there that there were two alumni that were graduating from college. So, yeah. Thank you. >> Yeah, it's just it's incredible. So, when I think of, you know, all the things we have going on with Keepart, just really calling out these things that are extraordinary. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> See this? I have business. Miss Abrahamson and I went to the municipal alliance meeting and Dr. uh a couple week two weeks ago and the big things are um May is mental health awareness month and they said um the students are going to be setting up tables
041in the high school to do that. On May 28th, they're having the senior prom for our senior citizens in the gym from 4 to 6. Um 5:16 is I love Keyport Day. And I forgot the bill in my car, but um Mr. Mera has a bill with Senate about accurately reporting overdoses to the Department of Health and um Narcan availability in government and municipal buildings. Um the Keyport Municipal Alliance did sign the bill as well as many other senators. Um he did speak at Raran High School and at Behore Hospital to their board and he did mention at the municipal alliance he's interested in doing a professional development for our staff on that as well. Um and May 16th is I love keyboard day. That's all I have. >> Thank you. Any other new business?
042Uh, public participation on agenda and non-aggenda items. Um, be it resolved by the keyboard board of education as per chapter 231 PL197517.1.1 that hereby determine that is necessary to meet in executive session on May 6th, 2026 to discuss personnel, litigation, and legal advice. The matters discussed will be made public if and when a uh action confidentiality is no longer required. An action pursuant to said discussion shall take place only at a public meeting. Length of meeting thought to be approximately one hour. Action may be taken. No action, right? No action will be taken when return to open session. Need a motion to go to executive session. Motion. >> Second. All in favor?