001testing. Test. Yeah, they can just come up here so that way they're ready. >> I'd like to call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. It will be led by Melanie Strader, Leila Fam, and Jackson Hubler. Hello, I'm eighth grade student Jackson Huber with second grade student Leila Fam. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Public notice of this meeting was advertised in the Asbury Park Press on January 13, 2026. A 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
002effective 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 may 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 a review and investigation and may or may not be responded to by the board or superintendent during the meeting. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The
003board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful to 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 any member of the public. This meeting is being tape recorded for 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. Roa, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Miss Abrahamson >> here. >> Miss Cunningham >> here. >> Mr. Vopoulos >> here. >> Mrs. Grabowski >> here. >> Mr. Yubler >> here. >> Miss Kahane
004>> here. >> Mr. Stall here. Mr. Staley here. Mrs. Teas >> here. >> M Van Hound. We have a quorum. >> Thank you. Uh we do not have a student representative this evening. So we will move to our two presentations. Our first presentation is students of the month. Mr. Flynn, Miss Bellonico, are you coming too? Come on. >> You're always wanted. >> Oh, sorry. >> Somebody's not a great picture taker. I'm not gonna say who. >> All right. Uh, good evening everybody. Thank you very much for coming out to recognize these hardworking students, our students of the month of Central School. I want to uh congratulate the parents for the work that you do at home because this is an all-around award that requires a lot from home. So, thank you to the work that
005you do at home. Um, and with that, I want to call everybody up. When I call your name, please come up here. We'll get the certificate, but don't leave me. We're going to take a picture. Okay. In first grade, Melody Strader, Abdel Gonzalez. In second grade, Leila Fam, great job with the pledge of allegiance, too. Felix Gimnz, third grade. Abil Jimenez Kohiso Yasmin Anna Rivera Martinez. Fourth grade, Oded Gonzalez Ortiz and Claire Luard in fifth grade. Ree Elhal and Jackson Borg. Very nice handshake. Good job. >> Sixth grade, Diana Morales and Yamir Maroquin. Seventh grade. Emma Vea. You don't have to run. We're good. Ureli Rojas, eighth grade, Emma Yurrosa and Jackson Yubler. Good job. So, yep. Come on down. Slide to me, guys. Fifth grade's going to get behind. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth.
006They're behind. Okay, there you go. Ready? Don't put this at your chest. Okay? All right. Here we go. Ready? >> Congratulations to all of our students of the month. Great job, everyone. Um, our second presentation this evening is going to be the state of the district, Dr. Seavoya and the administration team. >> Yes. So, what we'll do, and I do I have my back. Let me see if will you still be able to see me, Mr. Huins, if I turn it a little bit. Okay. Because I just feel very weird looking from everybody from the back. So, welcome everyone. Every year, every year, three times a year, we do a state of the district. Um, and it's an update as to how we're progressing on our strategic planning goals. uh we are up to create
007a new strategic plan next year. So we'll definitely be looking for people to volunteer and be a part of that planning. But with further ado, we will go forward. And what will happen during this presentation is if there is something that one of the admins has to add, we're very um I don't want to say informal about it, but we're very open. So this way you get all the information. Okay. So that being said, obviously the admin team is up there listed. Everybody's in the audience with us. So thank you to all of them. Um we also have our mission and vision statement. That's something that you'll see uh projected throughout the buildings and how we make our goals and our action steps for attaining those goals. And these are the three uh well actually
008they're five-year strategic planning goals. That's an error on my part because we did extend them through COVID. Um we decided that we would extend them out. Hold on one second. Do we have a student of the month friend that just came in? Come on in and we'll give you your certificate. Mr. Flynn will give it to you, baby. Sorry. That's okay. Yeah, no worries. No worries. Welcome. Come on in. I think we have a couple of people. >> Can we take a picture of them? Also, >> can we take a picture of just those couple of people who just so they they get in there? >> Oh, we have more. Okay. Well, we might need to do a doover. Okay. Is everybody okay with that? Yeah, let's take let's go back and we'll do another
009student of the month presentation for them. >> Yeah. >> Dr. Seavoya, whoever is left over also, we can invite them back up for a second picture so that it's >> Yeah. >> Okay, everyone. Um, this is uh state of the district. So, as I said before, we're we're um not uh we're very transparent. So, we want to make sure every student's recognized. Okay. Okay. So, looking up at um this particular slide tonight, I'm going to begin with goal one. And as I said previously, student success uh which is focusing on improving academic outcomes for all of our students from preschool to age 12. Our work centers on strengthening professional learning for our staff, embedding social emotional supports and using consistent personalized learning practices, and continue to expand our high quality preschool opportunities. Together, all of
010these efforts help to ensure that your students receive a solid social, emotional, and academic foundation. Oh, I'm doing my slides, too. Okay. Um, professional development continues to be a priority in the district and it's a huge focus in that it supports our teachers in implementing implementing our curriculum. Um, districtwide professional learning is aligned with our evaluation processes and practices targeted training in areas such as AI instructional models which is social emotional learning and these through these partnerships we're ensuring that staff have all the tools needed to meet all of the diver diverse learners that we have in the district. something really um I don't want to minimize. There are definitely examples up there for you. I'm not going to read each one to you, but the amount of work that goes into that is immense
011and the teachers even today I I'll go off uh script for a second. Today we were looking at a new literacy resource and we had staff here until 5:00 just trying to absorb the the the information. So, I am extremely proud of all of the things that happened up there. I'm just not minimizing them. But if you do have any questions in reference to any of it, please please don't hesitate and I will also put this out on the um we'll blast it with our weekly blast as well as put it up on the website for your review. Okay. Uh we also we also strengthened our social emotional learning and student relationships. This included a refresher class for crisis response and expanded mental health partnerships. Um in fact today we were on um a zoom
012with uh integrated care which provides therapeutic services in the district but we hosted um on the 9th we hosted a phenomenal day. Uh kudos to the admin team for working to plan that out. Um Mr. Flynn and Mr. uh Waters were our pilots of the day. Um and it really the feedback was very very positive. So we need to support our teachers in any way we can. Um let me change the thing. Okay. So to better understand student and staff experiences, we administered the New Jersey school climate improvement survey. Okay, participation for that was across grades. Up there you can see how many people answered the survey. We always like more because the more input we get, the better off we can make uh decisions for the district. But what was going on right now
013with this as we went on for the month of December, each committee is meeting respectively to plan out their goals of of school climate. In addition, we continue strengthening our personal knowledge learning through consistent data analysis and intervention planning, instructional discussions and PLC's. Um, our NRS teams just disagregated a plethora of data last week. Um, collaboration is existent from all content areas and expanded intervention programs are created to ensure students receive the right support at the right time. Data is not a one-time opportunity. It's continuous. So these systems that we put into place for disagregating data and grouping students into tiers are essential to closing the learning gaps and uh increasing student achievement. Okay. So this is and I want to read this because I I did hand out and I'm going to put it
014on the uh the website as well a word wall. All of our students have word walls in their classroom but there's a lot of acronyms that we throw out as educators and it could be a little overwhelming. So with such I do want to um read verbatim what the I Ready uh diagnostic does for our students. So that this diagnostic is a nationally normed assessment that we administer three times a year the fall, winter and spring and to measure student progress in reading and math. The slide shows our I Ready winter diagnosis math results across three years. So it's important the board is very invested in looking at the longitudinal data and how we utilize that to improve instruction. So I I focused on a few of the items up there, a few of the
015grades. If you see the purples, that's grade six, grade seven, grade eight. And then if there are any peaks and valleys, I will speak to some of the uh action steps we take to address that as well. Um it's an adaptive test, which means the questions adjust based on each student's responses. So we get an accurate picture of their individual skill levels. The diagnostic does not tell us whether students are meeting grade levels um expectation. It also measures growth over time, which is imperative. These are two different things, proficiency and growth. Um, we use this data to inform classroom instruction, identify students who need additional support, and monitor the effectiveness of our interventions. This diagnostics helps us understand where students are, how much they are growing, and where we need to focus next. The colored
016boxes, as I point to up above, help us to follow the same cohort of students longitudinally, and it helps us with long-term progress. It's also important to recognize the cohorts change, instructional priorities shift, and student needs vary from year to year. It's not a one-sizefitit all fits all. So growth is not always linear, but the overall trajectory remains positive in all for the district or for those grade bands. Overall, the winter diagnostic gives us a dependable measure of progress and confirms that continued growth is occurring alongside areas that still require focus support. The next uh slide is building on the patterns uh that I just spoke to in mathematics. We're going to do the same in language arts. This tells us that our literacy foundation is strengthening over time and that sustained instruction and intervention
017are translating into improved reading outcomes for many of our students. Importantly, we do not use data solely to determine where students are performing. We use it to guide professional learning, refined instruction in the classroom, as well as the targeted supports. Overall, when we look at both math and ELA together, we we see a system that a system that is steadily moving in a positive direction. Even as important work has to continue. It's not a one-size fit all fits all. We're going to work continuously. Okay, let me get to this next one. Let's see. Okay. Keyboard High School. >> Yes. >> Oh, okay. It could be my intermission. >> You could tell me no. >> No, I I can, but I can't. Go ahead. >> Just We'll take a break. Okay, we'll switch to that. >>
018All right. >> I know you're in your zone. Stay in your zones. All right. >> I also want to recognize first grader Melanie Strader. >> Fifth grader Ree Elhell. Congratulations, >> first grade student, Abdel Gonzalez. >> And if there's anybody left here from our picture, do you mind coming up here with your certificate? >> All right. Same picture. All right, here we go. Congratulations, guys. Good job. Congratulations again to all of our students of the month. >> This is the fun part. This is why we we're here for all of these students. So, I will go back to the high school and we'll speak about where they are. Okay, no worries. And I promise I do speak quickly, but not to rush through. Okay, this slide shows our keeper high school results from Linket B,
019which is that benchmark assessment. Um, and we do give both in math and ELA and language arts. Um, link it forb is a benchmark assessment administered at the high school level to measure student progress towards endofear grade level standards. So everybody has to adhere to the standards. It is a predictive measure for NJSLA unlike form A in the beginning of the year. Form B is designed to reflect on grade expectations and predict readiness for spring assessments. Form B is intentionally more rigorous by design. Its purpose is to determine whether they students are on uh pace to meet the standards by the end of the year. And unlike the elementary and middle school data reviewed earlier, true cohort tracking is more difficult at the high school level. Students enter high school at varied academic histories. They
020have different instruction instructional pathways enrolled in different courses. And you know, I I keep it simple and I say it's apples to oranges. It's two different you know two different sets of students. However, we do or we are able to identify curricular gaps and um intervention plan for intervention. Overall, these results reinforce the importance of continued focus on foundational readiness, vertical alignment, and targeted support. Okay, attendance. Let me go to that one. Okay, attendance is very critical. Um if you're here, you're learning. Um but if you look at the slide above, you'll see at the central school, it shows exceptional growth. We're raising from 92.8 to 97.3 in just two years. Nearly every grade level has improved with several approaching 99% attendance. It is definitively showing um in all the efforts from the team, both
021staff and uh administration. Overall, it reflects strong engagement, effective communication with our families and successful attendance support across the school. Okay. Uh in terms of the components of the program and what we do, just some of the steps are up here that we do for each student. All of the procedures are very clearly aligned. Students are aware of what those expectations are as well as parents. Um and you can read them above. If you have any particular questions about the process, please do not hesitate to ask. And this is the high school. Okay. At the high school, attendance does help us monitor trends and identify students needing additional support. Ongoing analysis ensures timely intervention, improved engagement. High school attendance remains relatively stable overall, averaging about 93% for all three years. Um is it's the golden
022ticket is the next slide. I can't I'd like to show this one. Oh, actually I'll show the process first. Hold on. Sorry. Okay. So again, similarly to central school, it's a defined process. Parents are made aware of it. It's in the handbook. It's in board policy. Everyone knows what they should adhere to. Um, but it does in terms of outreach. Parents have been extremely receptive. Unfortunately, you know, in some accounts, you know, chronic absenteeism is something that we really do the state reflects on uh and they need to make sure that your students are here. So, I know that sometimes it seems a little bit offputting when we're calling, but we're just making sure everybody's safe and everybody's here to get a proper education. Okay. The golden ticket. This this is a huge hit at
023the high school. Now, there's many incentives that kids get um at central school. They'll get uh recess. They'll get um the class who wins gets um uh pizza. You know, the ver variety of incentives that go through this because it's a team effort and we need to build that from the bottom up. Even in prek where you know students are coming new into the school system, we we enforce it there. But in regards to the golden ticket, this is one of the most powerful tools at the high school. I think Mr. orders could correct me if I'm wrong, but that golden ticket allows them to get lunch. Am I not incorrect? A delivered like a Door Dash or something such as that >> one one. Okay. So, you know what? Kids, they really that's a
024thing. They love it and it works. So, we're going to continue with that. It highlights the powerful connection between attendance, engagement, and academic success. Okay, let's go to the next one. Okay, building upon our high quality preschool program for three-year-olds, um it's strong instruction, data informed planning, meaningful family engagement. We're very happy we have a a reformed uh or rever an updated, for lack of better word, PTO this year, and we're starting very, very early. U Miss Buddoli is the early childhood supervisor. Miss Romanetses, who's a long teacher in the district, um is our pick. Uh let's see, I'm going to say master teacher. I'm going to say it incorrectly again. um something coach, preschool instructional coach. There you have it. Okay. And there was a word ball coming. So that being said, um just
025last week when we had the young author's night, we had an open house and we had 12 people come in and register, which is great. That program is phenomenal and we continue to build upon it. Community partnerships. Uh our second district goal focuses on strong partnership with families and the broader community, ensuring communication, engagement, and shared responsibility for student success. We are proud of the many partnerships we have with our stu with our community. Um in fact we just had a burough articulation meeting this evening um with the board president vice president and members of the burrow. Um all of these people all these things up here I could speak to each and every one. Um red braider night's coming in the spring. We did decide to post to uh rearrange that date. It's just
026nicer out. It's dark. It's lighter later. Um and we're going to do another thing with preschool open house there as well. But we have a lot of resources here. Um, students may need glasses through the Lions Club. Somebody may need uh we have the nurse practitioner in the district. So that can help students who may need to be seen that can't get to a doctor. So a lot of these relationships we spent a lot of time cultivating. Um, and like I said previously, the PTO this year has really shifted things and I'm really happy to see that um, more parents are joining. Uh, these are forms of communication that we possess within the district. I find that this the uh crux of this is following. Um some people, you know, the older friends like myself
027like Facebook. Um the younger kids like Instagram. Uh the the key to everything is really to download your app uh for the district website because you'll get all your updates there as well. If you need one thing to follow, that's the place where I would go. Um but the parent portal is also extremely useful. And just to remind everybody, students um at great get portals from I want to say fourth grade on. I definitely know they get email addresses that they can only email within the district. Well, it's important for them to have ownership as well. Okay, let's see. Um at the high at the high school, we contribute to community through service projects such as athletics, civ civic engagement. Um when you look at a few of those things up there, you'll see our
028students down at the waterfront engage in a lot of different burrow activities. Um, you'll see the library and recreation. The senior citizen prom is coming. Mr. Mr. uh, Waters is getting his dance moves ready for that, but we host that with another group of students and the seniors from the senior citizens center come in. And that's a really wonderful experience. So again, I think that it's important for the public to know just about the relationships that we build for your children on a day-to-day basis. Okay. Uh, now I can't read all of that because it's small, but it's not it's good. Um, at the elementary school, a lot of the same things are going on there with community engagement. Um, the food drives right now. I think if you see a box of cereal up
029there, we're doing our fourth annual cereal challenge. I think on the 28th, we'll be outside of Stop and Shop collecting as well. Um, and that's something that goes right to the Keyport Food Ministerium. Um, I'm very very proud of the elective Mr. Flynn has at his building the community partnership elective because it shows all of our children, you know, the assets that the community around them have even in a 1.4 mile square town. But fundraising, food drives, libraries, civic engagement, volunteerism, volunteerism is huge in in our community and it's something we should all be very proud of. Okay. Okay. Uh a and with that I want to shift to goal three which focuses on ensuring our district continues to strengthen the systems and supports keeping our schools running safely, efficiently and effective effectively and positioning
030us for long-term success. Okay. The highlights of our work to increase funding beyond state and federal sources funding it. It's budget time. I do urge everybody here that when you we have the board meetings to come out. That is how you do find out the information and this board is extremely transparent as the the staff and administration are and letting us know as community members um myself included as a taxpayer of what we're going to be looking at. Um but the strategic purchasing of long-term service planning, athletic events, prof uh professional learning, um you know, legislative advocacy. I will members of the board will be meeting with um Vin Lopal and Declan Ocalan. So we really get out there and advocate for the challenges of the district because that 2% cap is really something that
031is a struggle. Um just basic mathematics just like we're all experiencing in our homes. Our utilities are going up. Revenue has to match what you have coming in has to match what you you have going out. But a lot of our partnerships are based on grants as well. Kanis just donated $500 for serial funding. It's small, but it's mighty. Um, which is us. It describes us. Brookdale and Mammoth, we have relationships with both of them. If you know, uh, we have our dual enrollment courses that that was a grant that was written. We have our early college academy. Uh, a variety of grants and that I will elaborate on this slide. I think I'm on the right one. Yep. Uh, reflects a commitment to identifying allocating the financial resources through district grants. As I spoke
032to a few before, we also have the AP grant, our ESSA supports such as family engagement, professional learning, bilingual advisory, technology enhancements. We also continue to pursue new funding opportunities. I I want to say in the past two years and Miss White can correct me over $1.1 million um the district has generated in revenue for sustainability of programming for the the students whether it be computer science AP courses our summer program from last year which was extremely experiential and based on steam uh is going to run again this summer. So again we are out there hustling and negotiating with vendors whatever we can do to be efficient financially. Okay. Um here we highlight our continued focus on maintaining and upgrading district facilities to support teaching and learning. This includes improvements to our grounds and outdoor
033learning spaces as well as interior lighting upgrades and ex expanded interactive classroom tools. Together these efforts ensure our learning environments remain safe, modern and aligned to curricular needs. Okay. So with everything we want to talk about some of the challenges. We know where our strengths and weaknesses are. You have an amazing administrative team and a teaching staff that will support all of this. But I do want to speak to it for just a moment. Okay. While assessment data provides important insight into student learning, it represents only one part of the full picture. Now, we do want our students to come in and take all of that seriously. Come in, eat, sleep, do all the right things to prepare for that. But it's one measure. Students attitudes toward testing, the overall volume of assessments. Unfortunately, KEORT
034is not unlike any other public school system. If New Jersey requires a student to be tested in an area, we have to adhere to such. So, we always use it as a way to intrinsically motivate our students to put their best foot forward. Uh, our evolving state expectations and the growing importance of student mental health all influence performance and engagement. And so, like when I speak to performance and engagement in regards to mental health, we do have a lot of uh counseling resources and a phenomenal amount of resources. So, if there's something that you need as a parent or a family, please contact us. We will support you through that. But recognizing these factors reminds us that academic growth must be supported alongside well-being, motivation, and meaningful learning experience. Our focus remains on educating the
035whole child. Um not only for the test scores, but by resilience, confidence, and readiness to for life beyond the classroom. There's there's more outside of these doors, and it's our job to prepare each and every student for that. In that same spirit, our successes extend beyond assessment outcomes and reflect the broader growth of our school community. We continue to expand opportunities that prepare students for life after graduation, including um access to advanced coursework recognition through the seal of bi literacy. I think we're at 18 this year testing. Um and they that means that they will get their high school diploma in both English and a language other than that. And uh there's a lot there's more than we had in the past. I think we generally primarily had Spanish, but there's some Turkish. I think
036there's some other out there too. So that's 18 students who tested for such. This progress is supported by a culture that values innovation, embraces new ideas, and is grounded in strong collaboration between staff and administration. Together, these successes demonstrate a shared commitment to creating meaningful pathways for every student to thrive. Together, the progress shared tonight reflects a district deeply committed to student success, strong partnerships, and responsible stewardship of resources. We are proud of how far we've come. we know where we have to head and with your support and our our work ethic, we're going to get exactly there. So, that does conclude what I have to share. I do generally let the board ask questions at this point because we usually do this at a workshop meeting, but if so, if a member of the
037public has something to say, could we do that as well? Okay. So, we'll open it up for any questions and you can hit me up with whatever you have. >> Does anyone have questions for Dr. Seavoya? >> Okay. I did do a little preview and I do thank a couple of board members do a preview with us so this way we can see what you might not understand as well which I'm thankful for. Um anybody from the public please don't hesitate please can you just come up and just say your name please >> give her the microphone please. >> Yeah the microphone here I'll give you just have to say your name. >> Hello my name is Michelle Knox. I live at 23 um Pine Street here in Kport. Um, so in what you just
038reviewed, the proficiency in math is less than 47% in ELA is le is around 62. So that means half of the district is underperforming. How do you explain that? >> That you're talking for an assessment of the formative data that we presented. Yes, that that is the that is the I don't know that it says let me clarify. Yes, it's not the scores we want, but that doesn't necessarily mean the district is underperforming. This is these are our formative assessments getting us ready for that standardized testing that NJSLA uh testing in the spring. Anything else team? Do I have anything else? I think that's good. >> Miss Tus. >> Yes. >> Um to go off that we're not happy with the scores. >> No, >> but it is well above the state average. The state
039average is only in the high 20s early 30s percent. >> Yeah. >> So it none of us are higher number but the state average is much lower than ours. >> Do we have another microphone? So we refer to the high school with the >> I think she's referring to geometry algebra and those content areas >> and then there's the eighth grade and 2425 with a single digit proficiency also. >> Yeah. So there were definitely peaks and valleys in there but consistently the proficiency is is ex either exceeding. There are very few times if you look at the November presentation very few occasions where on the NJSLA we were under both the state and uh what the expected growth was. >> Mr. Vopoulos. >> Thank you Madam President. Um, I think that uh maybe what got
040got a little uh lost in the sauce here is that this is this is an assessment that's done early earlier in the school year. And what it's doing is it's showing that 6%, Madame President, I not allowed to talk to the people, but that 6% is actually showing our administration um where to focus their efforts for the remainder of the year to try and bring the scores up when it finally I mean, not that these scores do not matter. They absolutely 100% do, but when the assessments are done at the end of the year, we we want that score to go up and and am I correct about that, administration? >> Yes. >> So, so this these are these are really indicators or benchmarks, if you will, to show us where we do need to
041focus our efforts. That doesn't mean that when we're when we're at in the 40s and the 50% we're not focusing our efforts there. It just means that it gives us really clear and actually wonderful insight into where we need to be, where we need to focus in order to improve. in years past, one of the things that was lacking and and this is why I I I love speaking the praises of our our administrator, our administration, the curriculum work that they've done over the past few years, is in years past, not to blame anybody, we probably didn't have as much insight into these kinds of things. Am I am I right in saying that? >> I think we've demonstrated a lot of growth um and support for teachers and provided them a lot of the
042resources. We've we've adopted a new ELA primary resource. We're looking at one for the high school now with the grant that we've received. So, we've reacted both proactive reactively, but definitely more proactively at this point. >> And proactive, I think, is the is the word of the night because uh that's really we our administration and our teachers won't know how to act proactive. Seeing the 6% and then reacting is really not reactive. This is a tool to act proactively moving forward. In my humble opinion and based on what I've learned from the education that our own staff has given us. I hope what I've said is accurate. But >> am I on point again? No, you're I think you're on point, Mr. Fabolis. We know our challenges. We know um excuses are like opinions. Everybody's
043got one. But we do know the variations of somebody who may have come into the district um you know from another country in October but has to test. um we may know that we have students who we we've retained within the district some of our uh self-contained LLD classrooms. You know what we'd rather them be here be exposed to their typical peers, make them more inclusive. But we also do know some of those things in a small district will reflect. Again, it's not an excuse. It's just a variable that we need to consider. >> We don't have any other questions. Miss Abrahamson, >> I was just gonna Yeah, it's not an overnight which it >> I think what's important and interacting with the board as well public you know they their parents too their community
044members as and they'll point out things to me, you know, like, hey, let's show them this longitudinally because we want to see apples to apples, meaning child to child and maybe grade to uh grade third grade to third grade because we need to make sure that we're looking at things curricularly as well. Personnel, there's a wide variety of things that go into decision-m. So, when I would say um CKLA, we're in year two, okay? Um we're seeing those strides. We're definitely seeing those strides with mathematics. We're definitely addressing at those kids that come in to ninth grade who have not taken al taken algebra as an eighth grader. Again, it's not an excuse, but it's a characteristic that every high school is battling with because you do have the students who did not take algebra
045one as in an eighth grader. And you don't want to prohibit an eighth grader from being exposed to that, that sets them up. But knowing that those other learners who didn't make that proficiency need to be addressed as well and something like our math concept class is going to demonstrate that. And I think we're in year two of that if I'm not incorrect on that. So Miss uh Gross, I'm going to say it correctly. Um is works with those teachers each each week we have a meeting with them to go through each child's status and every child on the tiers. So but to answer your question, it's not a prescribed amount of time. It's committed to continuing you know with any new initiative andor resource. It's only as good as how you support it. So
046that would be my answer. >> Mr. Stay. >> Yeah. Uh, first of all, I I appreciate uh the public coming and asking a question. So, absolutely. Thank you. Because we um I think part of uh as a member of the board, we represent the public. We represent uh we're your elected representatives. And one of the things that the board I think we have had influence like even if you you look at those the slides that were presented it's easy to see like where we stand on a couple and Dr. Savoya, could you just flip back to uh let's one of those slides >> 10 or 11 like those ones were highlight >> like uh Yeah. Yeah. The go the central school math or um >> Yeah. 10 and 11. >> Yeah. Yeah. Just so the
047um Yeah, this is good. Yeah. So I think it's um to me as a board member um and and as a representative The best thing that we can do is is that we can um we can have our administration report to us back on like where do we actually stand? And this a slide like this really shows us because going across the line, right? If you look at let's just say at a first grade that would be different groups of kids, right? That's different groups, different classes, right? And then the little of ski slope from top to bottom shows you how basically a group of students pretty much they hold together how they're doing over time. Now we've highlighted we've highlighted some of the strong cases but also what's in instructive to us if you
048went back to uh the English language arts. Right. So the other thing Yeah. That one there. Yeah. So, but if you but if you look at a cohort that started that has the 16%. You could see where they were. This group basically is traveling together, right? So, they started out on the low side and they stayed low. But that's so 16%. No one wants to see that. But what it does is that it informs our uh our teachers administrative staff on well okay it's not just this year but that group as a group has has under you know is and so we know that and so they know that so they can do those kinds of interventions. So I think what I would say is that uh what we have here is clarity and transparency
049and I think that that is a really good foundation for how uh how we can do our best uh for our our students. >> Any other questions? >> Okay. I just want to say too, thank you, Mr. Staley. You >> described it astutely better than I could. Yeah. Um and and also I just want to say too, we're not running away from these numbers at all. We are we're proud of what we as a board have done uh and also um what the what the staff and administration have done. But we all understand and we accept and we embrace the fact that we have a lot of work to do all of us. So and that's why that's if I didn't think we were headed in the right direction I would be telling a much
050different story here right now. So >> thank you Dr. Seavoya and administration team. Um, students of the month, you may go home if you would like and do your homework. Administration team, you can also go home if you would like and do your homework. Prepare for tomorrow. Thank you for coming this evening. Oh, that lady can stay. Okay. Uh, president's remarks. Uh, so young author's night was last Thursday night. It was a great turnout. Um, it was nice to see so many of our students and all of their talents and creativity. There really were some funny stories that were written and told. So, it was really great to see them all. Um, March 10th is the eighth grade symposium. So, if you were going to attend, please make sure you RSVP to that. Um, we
051do have a student who is participating. Um and lastly, we also had burrow articulation meeting this evening. Um Dr. Seavoya, we have to check because I have in my calendar we have um in two weeks a meeting, but it's not in our other calendar. There's a different meeting. So, we have to check that. >> Okay. I do have to Okay, perfect. >> Um so, Dr. Seoya, communication. >> Okay. We did receive a letter of resignation from Mr. Mey Custodian. He is joined us as a retiree and wants to enjoy more of that retirement time. uh public participation on agenda items. Uh Dr. Seavoya, superintendent report. >> Okay, I will highlight a few items. Uh I know we had uh an extensive uh goal update. Uh so uh we submitted the high impact tutoring grant. Um
052if we get that awarded, it will be $80,000. The educator spotlight was I hope um I can release that probably this week was uh us to be focused in the Mammoth magazine. So that's a great uh opportunity for us. Uh Mammoth University partnering with the climate education resilience continuation. That's what I'm speaking to when I say the spotlight. Uh we've used funds from our AP course expansion grant um to implement AP mentorship program and this is designed to support students who are rolled in AP courses as well as those preparing to pursue advanced course work. The AP expansion grant will host an AP boot camp from March 5th from 2:45 to uh 5:45 and our district teachers will design such and provide that to our students through the district's AI grant. Kiker Learning provided professional
053development from K to 8 on Gemini and Notebook LM at our grade level meetings. I'm very thankful that our teachers allowed me to join in on one of them because I want to obviously it's for their learning, but it's great to hear what goes on with them. So, they've let me join a few of those grade level meetings if I promise not to talk. No, I'm just kidding. Um, no, actually I'm not. The rise through the RISE grant, the district partnered with Magnolia Consulting Group uh to work with targeted literacy coaching. Today, we had uh two sessions and I was able to join one of the sessions uh in the morning which was wonderful to watch. As part of the coach grant, we established a literacy team LLT team to guide and strengthen our district
054literacy. um on the 24th to support coherent instruction practices, data informed decision-making, and sustainable literacy improvement. As part of the impact grant, the district continues progress towards selecting a highquality vetted literacy program for grade 6 to 12. Miss White and the team, in fact, we had one of the uh companies today present a primary resource. So, that was wonderful. Um so, we'll have a recommendation soon enough. And remember again, that's through the grant funding. Um we're in part year two as I spoke to during the update of CKLA curriculum conversation. So uh they're facilitating a teacher dialogue on March 5th and that's voluntary and the room is generally full. Uh the Red Raider teacher academy continues to excel. Uh last week Miss Bakavoli and Miss Gross opened the doors um to back up with a
055dig into school AI. Excellent opportunity that was had by the 10 people that went to that as well. Um, we also had an exceptional SAC SEAL professional day on that Monday. I have to say that the feedback, as I said during the presentation, was spectacular, but it's really good to see that the staff um embraced and and really gave us what they wanted. Um, I did not learn the what did I have line dancing. I I was not very good. Um, but I hope that everybody saw our Tik Tok out there too, which was just showed you how fast people jump in. We decided to do it and people volunteered like that. Um, that means a lot. Um the open house, as I said previously again, was a success. Uh we're going to do another
056one during Red Raider night, but we did have 12 families and I believe it's really important to uh generate students and increase enrollment. And I some people didn't know what our program was. So it was great to come out and have them see it um in action. Uh the NJ is offering public informations in March about the new NJSLA, NJ GPA assessments. Remember, as I've said previously, it is an adaptive test. We don't know what it's going to look like. So, when we get all the results, we'll be learning with you, but they are actually the DOE is offering uh information for parents to take a look at. So, I really hoping that some take advantage of such um central school high schools. Let's see. Uh they the person was unable to attend tonight. The
057representative, they're getting very excited for their trip. Um that's coming next week. Um Mr. for waters is very um nervous. Um so um they're getting ready that person needed to be there this evening. Um registration for preschool and kindergarten is open still. Um even though we had the open house uh the our multilinguage uh multilingual students are taking the access access test this week. That's coming you know right upon us. Rent the the play is Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There's a promo video attached there. So, if you are able to come out and you need to reserve a seat, please let me know. Um, I have been a board member thus far. Do such. Um, personal device restriction letter. I I linked that on purpose. Uh, because what's going on is some people and now
058we're doing great with our cell phones. Everybody's putting them in the pouches, but people are insisting on trying to bring their own devices and in order to keep everybody secure. We're we've sent that out that says that they will follow the discipline policy if they do violate the code of conduct. So, just in case you hear anything, that's exactly what that was about. >> Um >> Dr. Seoia, I just have a quick question. Now, how >> does that apply to our seniors who are doing dual enrollment at Brookdale? because I know some of the concerns is that our Chromebooks that they're using from our school um maybe aren't as fast or as able >> capable for the school programs at Brookdale. >> I believe Mr. Waters addressed each one of those children individually with what
059their needs were because um that was an issue and I'm glad that you brought that up. It is my understanding that he's addressed that with them. Um but just keeping everybody safe, that's what it's all about. And if I find out something contrary, Miss Kane, I'll let you know. But I do believe that that's how he handled it. Um, our perfect attendance winners. Uh, off I go again to um prek. I just seems to be, you know, I'm proud because our staff is here so much. Um, congratulations to Miss Fleming. She was recognized by the League of Women Voters. Um, the high highly attended Title One Young author night. That's just a a showstopper. Thank you, Mr. Fatopoulos. I think I saw Miss Abrahamson and some other members there. It was wonderful. Um, ReadAcross America,
060please, if you want to be a guest reader, fill out that survey. Mr. Lee, you're welcome to fill it out, too, if you'd like to do a be a reader. Okay. And on the 20th of this month, the peer leaders will meet with the nth grade students for their monthly meeting. It's really great to see them foster those relationships and I do believe that came out of a variety of dialogue, but I think I remember having it most with you, Miss Abrahams, and with the mentors in the past. So there are no in new instances of HIV reported since we met. Um as far as the bur and the community is concerned serial serial serial we're trying to at least match what we had last year. I think we had 2300. We're working on it.
061I'm going to add thank you to Kuanis Apollo Plumbing Ker Learning Biata Pine Belt Nissan uh Adams Lut and Herman. Um and every box counts. So please keep it going and we're going to do that on the 6th. Um, I'm a member again of the women's uh county women and leadership conference that's going to happen on May 7th. So I we had about $6,500 of donations I got for that. Please tell me everybody saw the prek mailer. It was nice to get that piece of mail. I thought it was really great to see that and I think that that's what brought some people in. Um I've learned a lot about routes, mailing routes and um there may be one or two because we just have that fine line with Cliffwood and where that goes over.
062There's nothing precisely clean, but if anybody got left out, they can come over to my office. I'll get them a card. Um, KF is selling 5050s, Miss Tivas, if anybody would like to buy one from me. Oh, man. Okay. Um, the board has earned the Carol E. Lararsson master board certification. You will be recognized on May 5th at the Mama County meeting and it's going to be held at Squires and Branches in West Long Branch. Congratulations to all of you. The new calendar for next year is on there. Um, just to let you also know, the uh hourly rate for security at our games has increased from $75 to $90 per hour per the PBA contract. That's something we can't control. Um, I did also put an acronym list together. It's in the superport and
063I have a couple hard copies if you want them. Congratulations to Ryan um Walpool for qualifying for short conference for the bowling tournament. the Keyport competition cheer team finishing second in their competition two weeks ago and finishing first at their competition last Sunday. Good job for those girls. That was, let me tell you, that looked beautiful. Everything that they did, I was not able to attend, but I did watch. Um, and the Central School Basketballs for winning their last home game at versus Oakill. Um, the senior wrestling match was today. And, um, our la latest edition of our athletic news later letter letter is linked there. We will be starting March 1st is our goal to start a uh newsletter per building. Move away from Miss Gallow doing one whole big um communication, but Miss
064uh Perllo through our uh shared services agreement is worked with us on S'more and each building principal is going to have their own newsletter. Uh we'll still send it to everybody, but at least you'll know what the ones that they want to pay attention to. So more to follow on that, but that concludes the report. Thank you, Miss Tas. >> Just quick question for the play. Can we buy tickets at the door or do we have to get them in advance? >> I will let you know. But I'll let you know >> by end of the meeting. >> I had a question about that too >> because in your has that link. >> Yes. >> Under upcoming events, but it said you needed was denied access. Yeah. >> Okay. Let me check that out. I'll
065get on there soon as we're done. >> Any other questions? Uh Mr. Roola, board secretary, buildings and grounds and finance, please. >> Uh just briefly, if uh you have not completed your financial disclosure, uh if you can please uh remember to do that uh as soon as possible. Uh you did, it was returned. I sent you an email on that. Uh we will talk about it after. So if uh if you need uh help uh the the uh state they are kicking a number a number of them back for like real minor reasons but uh and sometimes when you get it back you still can't figure out what it is they want but I think I have a feel for uh what it is they're looking for. So if uh you have any questions with
066it please just give me a call and I could can walk you through that. >> If they send it back they send it to you or us. they send they notify me and and you at the same time. >> Um and also uh I spoke to you at the last meeting regarding an elevator uh that's needed at the high school. Uh the state did uh approve it as an emergent project. Uh so we will be moving forward with uh getting the elevator replaced here at the high school. >> That's all that I that I have. Uh, Miss Cunningham, I I need 81 to 108. >> I need a motion for 8.1 to 10.8. >> Motion. >> Second. Second. Questions. >> Roll call, please. >> It's such a minor thing. They want >> Miss Abrahamson. >>
067Yes. >> Miss Cunningham? >> Yes. >> Mr. Patopoulos? >> Yes. >> Miss Kowski? Yes, >> Mr. Ubler. >> Yes, >> Miss Cahane. >> Yes, >> Mr. Stall. >> Yes, >> Mr. Staley. >> Yes. Uh, on February 4th, uh, abstain from the minutes. Everything else? Yes. >> Miss Teas? >> Yes. >> Motions pass. >> Dr. Seavoya, curriculum, personnel, and policy. >> I will focus on the highlighted items. Uh, the Turtleback Zoo. who hasn't gone there in their life. Um we also have some additional professional development um and that is NJTOL is for our our uh ELLL teachers. Let's see. Then 119 is to present at um the title 3 family programming event. Uh 1110 is to provide a full virtual class of uh MClass Dibbles. Okay, which is our diagnostic tool. Underneath personnel, we have Katherine
068Robinson for five days in February, a daily rate of $150 per day. Um, Mr. Maguire for the assistant track and field coach for the spring season. Mr. Reco to volunteer for Central Central School softball. Shannon O'Brien and James O'Brien as chaperones for the 2026 Bahamas cruise trip. And then let's see um we have a modification to a an FMLA leave. Um we have the acceptance of the resignation of Mr. Mey who again was retired before and wants to really retire. Um and but he will substitute for us. So that says a lot for our work environment and there's nothing new in policy. >> Uh we need a motion for 11.1 to 13.1. >> Motion. >> Second. questions. Roll call. >> Miss Abrahamson. >> Yes. >> Miss Cunningham? >> Yes. >> Mr. Papopoulos? >> Yes. >>
069Miss Grabowski? >> Yes. >> Mr. Yubler? >> Yes. >> Miss Cahane? >> Yes. >> Mr. Stall? >> Yes. >> Mr. Staley? >> Yes. >> M. Teas? >> Yes. >> Motions pass >> and you can buy tickets at the door for the the play. >> Thank you. Uh, old business, >> Miss K. And I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask it, but recently there was an Oldbridge uh female wrestler that was injured with a spinal cord injury. I think people have seen it in the news um that she's still getting repeated surgeries. And my only question is if we revisit because I know um we don't have a a second coach. Is that correct? We don't have an assistant coach. They only have assistant coaches with um if they field a JB
070team consistently across the district. >> Can you say that again, please? >> We only have a JV coach if there's a JB team. Like we only we only have an assistant coach if there's a JV team. So, you're fielding both varsity and JV. >> So, I'm just was wondering if as a board we revisit that for safety purposes because I think we've brought this up before. It's a contact sport. I was at just a one in Hlett recently. someone was hurt there and again the one coach had to go with the child and the other coach stayed with the team. I just think we have many sports um that aren't contact sports and we have multiple coaches. I just I just think it's you know for safety purposes for the kids and for liability as
071a district because it's such a contact sport. if that's something that we want to revisit. Doesn't have to be now, but I just wanted to bring it up because um like this this student's very seriously injured and this is this will be something that that district is >> Well, the good thing for us in our regard is that we do have our um athletic trainer right on site. She was not there today. >> No, she's not everywhere >> and she's not at the Yeah. And that we're at the away matches. That's the >> athletic trainer. Okay. So generally when we're somewhere that I mean I'm not making excuse for it. You're right. It it will could be consideration for liability and financial as we build the budget. So absolutely we should talk about it. >>
072And just when we think about other coaches and again >> my daughter plays track. So I love track but we we put $6,500 for an assistant track coach >> and that's not a contact sport. That's that's >> we will review that, Miss Kahane, with the contact component of things. I I I appreciate that input on that contact component. >> Just just as an aside, I mean the let me just say that I I support that. I support uh an assistant coach for that purpose, but also uh because it takes some of the burden. Um, but yes, I support and we can we if if we don't do it I mean we're we're headed into budget season so we can address it >> right you know within the next month or so. So any other old
073business new business uh public participation on agenda and non-aggenda items. uh we uh be it resolved by the keeper board of education as per chapter 231 PL197517.1.1 that hereby determine is necessary to meet in executive session on February 18th 2026 uh to discuss a litigation update and advice on a legal issue. Um the matters discussed will be made public if and when action confidentiality is no longer required. An action pursuant to said discussion shall take place only at a public meeting. Length of the meeting thought to be approximately 1 hour. Action may be taken upon return to open session. Need a motion to go to executive session. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor?