001um the way that we received the applications uh so Dr. Schultz you will be first Mr. Hubler you'll be second and Bergen you will be third for the first question and then we will go to 31 and then 312 I'll keep I'll keep reminding you guys don't worry >> yes >> um Mr. Sy first >> Dr. Schultz step to the podium please. Thank you and thank you for your interest on behalf of all of us uh in so um my question is um and our question is why are you interested in in joining the keyboard board of education? >> Absolutely. So I am interested in joining the keyboard board of education for um a variety of reasons. Not only am I obviously a local homeowner and taxpayer, I live literally right at the corner of
002the high school. Um, but I am also a parent of a young child who will be entering the Keyport school system through the pre-K program. Um, so that's obviously a vested interest of mine in working to support the district with the board of ed um and ensuring all Keyboard students continue to have opportunities for success. And I am also um an educator in another local district. So I do feel that that allows me to bring um a balanced perspective if given the opportunity on the board of education of understanding the complexities that districts are currently facing um in their you know management operations and governance and um just having kind of that backhanded knowledge of knowing how the challenges that again districts are facing um with operating districts and ensuring that students have you know
003access and opportunities um through prek through 12th grade. Additionally, um I do really really believe both personally and professionally in public education and I have always felt that a board of education needs stakeholders present on it that also believe in public education to support the superintendent and her administration in allowing the district to have success. >> Thank you. If everybody could write their notes and score if you haven't already. Mr. Hubler. >> Good evening. >> Same question. I'll just repeat it. Um, why are you interested in joining the board of educa the keyboard board of education? >> It's a great question. Um, if you don't know, I've been involved with the community for quite some time. I volunteer at the food pantry. I volunteer um coaching basketball at KY. I volunteer football. I'm on the
004Keyboard Education Foundation. I have two kids in the system. Um I'm a legacy here. So I I did grow up I graduated from here. My brothers went to school here, met my wife here. My parents m uh met here. So it's um it's one of those things that's always been here. Um one of the things that that you find about this town is despite what you see sometimes over the last year, they really rally behind everyone. You know, when when people need it, when kids need help, when you we need to send a team somewhere, count really builds up for that. I really believe in servant leadership and and those pieces to understand what people need and and grow that. And I think this would give me the opportunity to really understand the district even
005further and help in in just the way that I do those things. >> Thank you. >> Everyone could make their notations. Mr. Bergen, >> first of all, thank you everyone for having having me here tonight. Um, so it was very interesting that you asked this question because as I was sitting down to submit my letter to join the school board or at least to seek to join the school board. >> You just move closer. >> Okay. It reminded me that the first time I did, I was 18 years old. I had just become a senior at Keyport High School. We did not have a student representative on the school board. And my purpose at that time was pretty much the same purpose that I have today, but just slightly different. My purpose back then was
006to see that the education that I and all of my classmates received was as enriching and as successful as it could be. And so my goal 50 years later is just try to see hate to say that 50 years later had not submitted a resume in the longest time. So to finally write 68 years I had to look at myself and say geez when did I become 68 years old right? but to take the knowledge, training, experience that I've gained in 50 years and be able to work with all of you to do something just slightly different, but pretty much the same, which is to make the education not just of myself and my classmates, but to make the education of all our children, all our grandchildren in this community as enriching as successful as
007it can be. That's really all that's really the only purpose that anybody really wants to serve on the school board is to do that, to work with all of you and to see if we can't make that happen together. >> Thank you. Mr. Hubler, were you are going to start our second question? >> Hello. >> First, I'd also like to thank you all for your interest in uh joining our group here. Um my question is what is the role and responsibilities of the board of education? All right. So, I'm learning on the job while we do this. But, uh, so one being the branch that extends the the school's policies and understands what the community needs from them. Uh, aside also with financial and, uh, managing the aspects of the district like superintendent, admin, staff,
008all of those pieces that go involved with that. So in my eyesight they are the liaison to the community what the community needs what the kids need and representative of the entire grouping of people at schools. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Bergen >> welcome. Same question for you. I >> think as a as a this board functions as a body in unity, not as individual members. And I think one of the most important things that the board of education does is which sets the policy for what governs in all aspects of this education system we have and to work with our ed our administrators, our educators to make sure that those the school becomes what it the best it can be. One of the most important things for me is is that school system my
009father was an educator here for a long time. the shop teacher. My mother worked in the school. So the school system can be a center point for the community. Um and I think the school board represents that. So that's a very important role of the school board to try and make the school system that we all operate in a center of this community that everybody can rally around and feel comfortable with. Thank you, >> Dr. Schultz. Jump to the mic. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Same question. Um, so the role of the board of education, um, simply put, is governance. Um, and it does not get involved in the management or day-to-day operations of the district, nor does it micromanage the school district. that of course is um left in the hands of the superintendent and
010her administration. Um a vital component of the board of education is implementing, monitoring and overseeing policy and ensuring that the board is operating in full compliance with state, local, and federal policy as is the district. also fiscal and financial responsibility and compliance when it comes to budgeting and ensuring that finances are being allocated and appropriated um to their designated um sections whether it's local fair share funding whether it's grant funding whether it's federal funding or some other type of revenue the district has drawn in that that's allocated accordingly and also serving as a transparent um stakeholder um and kind of middle person between the community who you represent and the relationship you have with the school district and the superintendent of schools. Um to of course always bringing it back to student outcomes and student
011success. Everything's driven for what is best for the children. >> Thank you. >> Mr. No geomet No geometry questions tonight or no? >> Not my question. >> Thank you for being here. >> What areas do are our district's greatest challenges and what areas do are our most strengths? I >> think the most I'm going to start with our strengths. I think our most significant strengths are that keyboard is really a community in which people feel feel close to each other. It's small enough that we can bond together, we can spend time together, we do many community activities together. So the fact that we're very closely knit as a community, I think that's probably one of our best strengths. The what our weaknesses are, that's something that I hope to look and learn to all of
012you. I think there's it's test scores and all those things. So, one of the things that I would certainly like to do on the school board, I'm sure there's a plan um and I'd like to work with the school board to get a better understanding of what that plan is, see how we can deal with it because because we're all reading this peak test scores and performances all the children around the country are helping. I think if you look at the numbers and if you look at what the experts say top 10% of students are all they their numbers are still good. They've all been good. bottom criteria of people that are that the drop off is so so large. That's one of the things I think we need to take a look at try
013to see how we can deal with that. I know I was just reading an article from dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. There's three hypothesis that is one of them is that uh of course we we have the one of them is one of them is attendance there attendance I think there's also the question of whether cell phones in school are causing part of the problem and what the hope is now that policies to try and deal with those things over the next couple years we should be able to generate some more information be able to see whether those hypotheses work pretty good and the other one is at least they 90s the focus on testbased accountability has dropped off quite significantly. That's what they say. So question whether or not that's a
014problem there. But I think over the next couple years I think that our country is focusing. We look at those call to weakness. It's just a structural system but we need to make sure that we're trying to do the best we can here to provide the best we can for students that are probably the ones that I think if it's where everywhere else in the country that's the students we need to try and reach ready. Okay. Um I will also um I have it I will also start with the strengths. Um like the gentleman that said I think the biggest strength in Keport and particularly Keport schools is the close-knit sense of community. Um, I actually found it very heartwarming when reviewing the district's five-year strategic plan. When you went down to the minutes from
015the strategic planning meetings back in 2022, every group that met listed Keyport schools as being a sense having a sense of community and being close-knit as a strength. Um, and as someone who works in the field, um, that is not something I've seen very common, um, in my experience. So I was just very blown away by that that several different groups of different stakeholders could list this and then you can as a strength and you can certainly feel it in the community um of keyboard itself. So I think the teamwork and sense of community is a strength. Um speaking on the academic side um it is also very evident that the district has implemented a lot of initiative and focus on student um academics and rigorous programs in the district. If you look at your
016three-year um growth in NJSLA, you have sustained growth in each testing grade level. Um actually last year I did notice the data nerd in me um that you had multiple third grade students who had a perfect score in ELA, which is astonishing. Like that is what needs to be out there and highlighted. Um, so that is a huge strength and you've put a lot of focus and attention into two areas that need it being early childhood education with the expansion of your preschool program and then career pathways at the high school level. Um, so you're really hitting targets in every grade band and grade level from pre-K to 12 within the district. Um, some areas that the district can focus on I think are very common with any district in New Jersey right now. Um,
017of course there's funding issues with fair funding formulas at the state level. Um, issues with, you know, local fair share at the local level and then how the community reacts to that and the understanding that gets out there that you may or may not be able to control. Um, and the the commonplace understanding of where funding is being allocated to to achieve the strengths that I just um, stated. Also, retention and recruitment of staff. Um there is a teacher shortage. It's well known. Um and it can be very challenging when you need a very specialized teacher in a high school um to teach chemistry when every other district around you needs the same teacher to teach chemistry. So um retaining and recruitment recruiting staff as well. And then lastly, children right now have a lot
018of different needs than they did even five years ago in a pre-COVID world. So Keyport has the task like again any other district does of doing a lot more with a lot less. speaking in funding. Um, children need different programs, different resources, different exposures, different opportunities to meet the needs of children in 2025. That costs money, that requires time, that requires staff and resources. And when you're hit with huts in your budget, it's kind of working of burning both ends of the candle. Um, so those are the overarching issues, but I do really feel that the strengths greatly out outweigh them. Thank you for doing your research. The hard work everybody's put. >> Hey, >> I don't want to start talking before everybody's made all their notes. >> Oh, >> wait. But they can pay
019attention to you. >> So, the first thing that we all know is the budgetary concerns. That's been something that's been brought up for years. Um, and although there have been different faces in these seats over that time, you all made a conscious effort to work with that. So we didn't end up in situations like you've seen in other districts over the last six months. Um the biggest issue I think facing the district is the rate of change. Um I graduated from here in 2002 and courses were very consistent but now you have a kid you can give a Chromebook in freshman year. That Chromebook's outdated by the time they get to let's be honest probably sophomore year but junior year definitely. That accelerated rate of change creates issues in adapting programming and pieces like that.
020strength of keyboard you know when you look at it I always say for business I used to work for Verizon or things like that it's a slowmoving ship it's very large make a turn is difficult it's reactionary proactive in that in that aspect they can make changes faster more efficiently than some of those other things address student issues practically immediately um and then the core is really what I what I thought about most and one of our strengths we have teachers that have been here for 20 years that is a great learning system for these kids for the new teachers coming in for all of those pieces. They create a structure that we can use. Last thing I just go back to is this resilience of the township and the kids. You know, they're always
021learning. They're always pushing the boundaries of what they can and can't do. Um, and the grant writing that has come recently with AI grant pieces like that are going to continue to push those other pieces. Like like I said, the accelerated change is the issue. We're always getting ahead of it now. We're not ending up behind it any Thank you all for it's your willing. So I'll read this and then if anybody needs me to repeat it just let me know. Please give specific examples of your abilities in maintaining positive interpersonal relationships and working as a team with a group of peers. Sure. Um so I am tasked with professionally um having strong interpersonal skills daily in my role as a building principal. I'm in my fifth year um as a building principal in a
022local school district. Prior to that, I was a district supervisor of curriculum and instruction for three and a half years. Um, so I've worked with different groups of people throughout that trajectory and the biggest component and most important piece that I can cite for myself is always having respect for the other person. Um, situations can arise that may have different temperaments to them. Of course, when working with the team of people, um, but when it comes down to it, it's just so essential that you respect one another. Um, and the value in having differing opinions. Um, I've had expo experiences where I've had to again to work with or work for um, folks that I didn't necessarily always see eye to eye with or didn't necessarily agree with the decisions that were being made um,
023particularly citing professional experiences at my building level when changes were made um, to scheduling that I knew would not have the desired impact on on my students that I needed to to give them their rightful, you know, right to having a fantastic educational experience in my building. Um, and I had to really look deep and work hard and understand that there's a bigger picture sometimes um, at play with decisions that are made and it may not be just about me and what I see, but the powers that be above me, the board of education, whoever it may be, may have a grand a larger grand scheme um, overview of things of why decisions need to be made. So ultimately um, I always try to be solutionbased instead of dwelling on the problem. um and understanding
024I think how this can connect back to being on the board of education. You are a collective unit. So you may necessarily not have um the outcome come to that you personally would have wanted for something that is on an agenda or a situation that has arose. But when it's approved and passed and moving forward, it's essential again to have that respect and understanding and solidarity in the decision that's made to positively reflect and support the superintendent and there by that by proxy the school district. >> No, I think we're we'll we'll work through it. So um one of the things that I always take u as like a life goal is Greens used the term winning hearts and minds and that's something I do and approach to my work life. Uh so I do
025channel partnerships. So if a customer comes to us, they're looking to build a whatchamacallit. We have channel partners that we work with. We build them. We put them into the right hands so that they can be successful. So if they're looking to build a new water meter, we have partners that can help them do that through different technologies. to change it to my personal life, which I think is actually a little bit better. Uh, as I said, I coach football and basketball. And when I started, um, I said, "How am I going to put 40 years of knowledge into a 8-year-old's brain?" And I've moved all throughout that. Now it's 8 to 13, whatever it may be. I said, "I'm speaking one language, and then you add in seven more languages, and you need to
026find different ways to say things." Sometimes you need to make people feel comfortable. That that's really what it comes down to, to have that interactive ability for it. So, you're dealing with parents, you're dealing with kids, you're dealing with other presidents of other groups, whatever it may be. Scheduling, you never knew what it may be. But even just to teach something as basic as dribbling for basketball, you might need to explain it 20 different ways, different expression. Use those different pieces in your toolbox to figure that out. That's the way I always think about that. Thank you. only happens 25 years of my life. Whatever it is to the attorney having a problem with my coworker council members parking my environment probably accomplish it. I also it's uh it's not easy to step up and
027take this take these questions let alone up on a day. Um, how's that? Is it working? It's on. >> There you go. Okay. So, I'll repeat what I just knew. I'm just kidding. >> The board meets frequently in close session to discuss confidential legal student employment matters. What are your thoughts on maintaining confidential? >> Um, I would say confidence is integrity. So, your integrity is on the line whenever anything like that is out there. So, you need to maintain those pieces that whether that be student information, admin information, district policies that you can share. I that's something we do in our everyday with work, with personal life, with coaching again, you know, when those student policies come up. So that would be my integrity and my beliefs in what we can do. I don't have
028an issue with confidentiality whatsoever. Any of those I'm advising other not to repeat the two responses before me but um confidentiality is of the utmost importance. Um, when serving on a board of education, you're handling student information. Um, you're man handling personnel information. Um, there's a lot of very sensitive topics that can come up, particularly in close sessions um that can affect the livelihood of staff members, the outcome of certain decisions for districts, um, information that may or may not be appropriate um, to be out to the public. Um so as a sworn in member of a board of education it's again of the utmost importance you're ethically bound um to keep confidentiality and maintain that um while you're here and also more importantly while you're not here after the meeting ends after the close
029session wraps and you know you go home you talk to friends to family members to colleagues it's equally as important to maintain that um There. Okay. Done that. I'm going to echo what everyone else has said. Thank you so much for coming out and showing your interest. Um the question that I have for you is how would you handle request if approached by an individual or special um interest group if someone out in the public was asking you about specific requests? I guess in general if they're coming specifically to you and not to board um with a request um whether it be for information or educate policy. Then I would >> It's her turn. [Laughter] Um I I believe that there is a a fine line between um speaking for yourself and then speaking on
030behalf of the board of education and when you are um a sworn in member of the board of education that's something that you know again you are expected to maintain. Um so if an individual should approach you in an outside venue um with requests for information, policy and procedure needs to be upheld. Um board of education members should not freely give out information about the school district. Um a lot of times there are votes that need to happen to be able to give that out when a quorum is present. Um so again just maintaining the understanding that you have of the policies, expectations, procedures and operations that of from the responsibility you've taken on as being on the board of education. And also um in that same vein always treading carefully on it's great to
031be a cheerleader for the district. That is I feel one of the unspoken responsibilities of being on the board of education. And as I said in my um opening question, I'm a firm believer and supporter of public education and it's the board's role to pump up the district to get the good things out there, but also keeping in mind back to the question, there are certain things that you individually cannot or should not um share to the public without the support and agreement of your board members andor the superintendent and board attorney. So the the biggest part on that would be uh you have to understand where the question is coming from and what they're asking. As a parent, it's one thing, you know, you're managing that. I just strongly encourage them to come to
032one of these meetings or as Mr. Bergen said, bring that back to the board if it's pertinent to the board. Most likely, it can be handled at the school level or even up to the superintendent's office, whatever that may be. That would be the the direct line of attack for that one. Thank you. >> Hi. Sure. Um I think this is very similar um my response will be very similar to the question I responded to for the keyport challenges because they're global, right? Um funding is at the forefront of challenges again in I believe in at every board and district level whether in the county at the state potentially nationally. Um, back to my response, you have the monumental task as a school district and then a board to support the school district in providing
033students innovative and modern access and opportunities to what they need to succeed outside of a pre-K through 12 setting, preparing them for success. But funding is continuously getting cut, whether it's at a local, state, and or federal level. And that can greatly impact how a district can run, the programs it brings in, the services that can be provided to students. And the board kind of has to bear the brunt of that with the superintendent on how to accommodate and be flexible and adapt to when something gets pulled out from under under you. But you know, your students need to have dual enrollment programs while they're in high school. You know, you need to have free preschool for three and four year olds. you know, you need to have NJSLA um tutoring in the elementary levels
034to prepare students for success. Um, so I think that is ultimately the biggest challenge and the most talked about challenge right now in education. Um, and then as was said previously in some other responses, um, modernizing and always being aware of the changes in society around us and students, what's antiquated, what's not, and how is what we know as a board of education with this advice and input from the school district is antiquated versus what the state is mandating we do to keep in compliance and finding that happy medium. um standardized test scores. Students are everywhere scoring lower across the board, but you know, tests are still coming, tests are changing. NJSLA uh adaptive just came out. School districts had to revert um with little to no time um to plan for that. So, just
035always having to be on your toes in today's modern educational world, I think, is also equally as significant of a situation that districts and boards face because there's not really any time to Okay, we did it. Now we can enjoy the fruits of our labor. There's always something else coming. And then again, um, meeting the social and emotional needs of students. Um, in a post-pandemic world, social, emotional, mental health, and behavioral needs of children are drastically different in all grades and all areas, and all demographics. But to address that requires resources. It requires staffing, bringing licensed professionals in. And re from that again goes back to the first thing I talked about which is acquiring funding having updated facilities to do so having the flexibility and availability in your schedules etc. Um so also trying
036to manage that um to support the superintendent in the operations. Thank you. So we touched on budgetary, we touched on accelerated rate of change. I I think the biggest issue now would just be start to see with two kids in the district. I have one in eighth and one in fifth. So we saw the pre-COVID world and we saw the postco world. I think the biggest issue now is meeting kids where they're at because in that preset the widening wasn't there. Now the widening of the gap for education is a little bit larger. So that comes with what everyone said, social, emotional, all those pieces, but also it's teaching with empathy as well and bringing those across because we have many different demographics here in this town, whether that be, you know, whether backgrounds, demographics
037for for finances, pieces like that. It's going across that spectrum. So while we look for equity and everything, it's also the empathy for that. You have to address the kids where they need it. It's tough to see, you know, kids struggling and they're getting the help that we deem fit, but there's other things that we can do. My daughter, two years ago, there was a after school program for tutoring, for math. He was struggling in it. My wife, it was was uh got her degree in early childhood education. I sat there and I pulled out my hair for math for for six months or whatever it may have been. The tutoring program, Miss Santoro, Miss um Anchelowitz, knocked it out. Top performer. So those type of programs when we when we can get them in
038the district, phenomenal. The rate of change that that that close that gap for her now. So it's one of those pieces that if we're looking for those opportunities for those grants, for those other things out there to improve, that's where I think that the best opportunity types of challenges. problems the goal never going to be enough state confidence. Come to them and ask them for tax dollars. Buying in a policy in place, dealt with it, try to go and go to them to get the money you need. All those things. Someone is never going to >> Okay, we have one last question. So, Mr. Hubler, you will be first. Um, so is there anything else that you would like to share with the board that we might not have asked in a question that you
039feel is important as why you're a good candidate? I think the the question that wasn't asked and it's always my favorite one in interviews is why would you have difficulty in this or why would we not pick you? Um so the biggest one would be if you we went over the the pieces that I'm in is is could it be a conflict? Is there enough time in the day? Is there enough resources and pieces like that? The thing that I would say to that is it's a hierarchy for me. There's certain things that are going to rank above this and it it's on impact in this one. So can we impact the most students in this way? Yes. got to take priority. That would be the one piece that I would say. >> Thank you
040so much. >> Okay. So, is there anything else that you would like to share with us that we might not have asked you or is important for us to know why you are a good candidate? I in this probably the fifth generation. Fortunate enough to always commitment. All of you something that I would I've learned. >> Thank you. >> Um first I want to say thank you for the opportunity to even um speak with you tonight and to let you know who I am. Um as again I stated in the first question um I am a local resident. I love living here. I'm invested in the community. I'm also again a parent of a young child who I'm very excited for him to start his educational career here in Keyport when he turns three next
041year. Um, and I am an educator who's been in the field um, for well over a decade. And I just not to repeat myself continuously, but it's worth saying um really have faith in the public education system, especially at a time now where the PR around public education might not always be in the best light and particularly keyboard schools. I think a lot of great things have been done in the nine years since I've lived here. I've always been interested on serving on a board of education. It was kind of just like when. So when I saw this um opportunity on social media shared, I thought why not? um put myself out there and just at least expose myself to the setting and situation um and be able to express um my gratitude for everything
042you do and Dr. Seavoya what you've done for the children of the community. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh so again, we truly appreciate all of you guys coming out. Uh we will go into close session this evening. You are more than welcome to stay for our close session. Um if and we will invite you back in afterwards. If not, Mr. Rapola will send out an email this evening to all of you with the decision that is made. So, thank you again. We really appreciate all of your time this evening. Yes. Uh so, our next presentation will be Dr. Tehan from NJSBA um for more of our professional development. Sorry we were late. Um last time and uh I met with you guys we were talking about communications and that's where I was in
043another district talking about communications. Um so little bit different for them but um it actually went a lot over because had some questions. So, uh, I apologize for that, but your future board candidates got the opportunity to go first, which awesome. Then they can leave if they want to because if they are on the board, they're going to investing a lot of time with you. So, um, so we're going to be talking about four different topics tonight. The first one is QAC, school rankings, school performance reports, and adaptive date testing. um they're actually all linked together really intimate ways. So, we're going to start with DUAC, which you know in education we love acronyms. So, there's hundreds and thousands of acronyms. I had a board member ask me once um if I could give her
044the list of the acronyms and I said, "No, I don't have a book that big." Um so, no, she did not get the list. Um, but uh, CQAC, New Jersey CUSAC stands for New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continue. So, you'll never remember that again. You'll just remember it as QAC. It's something that every school district has to go through every three years. And it is about compliance. It's not necessarily about quality. Um so whether you you may have the best QAS QAC scores known to man and you still may have a poor quality um education that you're providing. Likewise, you may not get a great compliance score, but you may be knocking it out of the park with what providing your students. The best thing you want to try to do is get both. Want
045high quality as well as being compliant. Um, but I said if you ever have to choose between the two, choose the high quality, but I'm not talking from the state uh or the DOE. So that's from me. Um, so I always say compliance does not equal quality. And that's always important to remember. So when you look at QAC, there's a lot of parts of this that are really out of your control in terms of the district putting information together. And your student standardized test scores are a big part of that. um they are provided to the district based upon what the NJ DOE puts together. Um there was some years where they were actually using the same data for multiple years and as a school district you were sitting there saying wait a minute okay
046so we didn't get a great score three years ago and now you're using those same scores again how is that fair because we've made changes. They couldn't change it because of all the testing and stuff that went on. Um, so each one of these comes with a point value. And so when you look at these DPRs, okay, the district performance, uh, oh, I forgot the what the R stood for, but whatever. Um, so DPR, uh, when you look at these, they will break it down based upon the configuration of the school district and based upon each one, you'll get a different point value, and then that will be added together to give you your total score. Um so when you look at the um different subject areas where you're getting the scores, these are provided
047by the DOE, not by you. So you'll get that. They will also be looking at your graduation rate. And I I've always had an not ne I would say caveat to that. I would have sort of an issue with this. And the reason why is because you get a four-year graduation rate and a five-year graduation. Okay, great. However, you do have students by their IEP that are allowed to be in district until they're 21. They count against you. So, you're following what you're supposed to follow unless they've changed it recently. There's talk. I know there's been talk. They haven't changed it yet, though. But, and this is something we've argued like we're following the IEPs, but yet those students are being held against us. And as you know, students can come into your district, especially
048if you're offering a really good uh special education program because some districts really do well with it and others don't. Um, so people will seek out the districts that are doing well. And then you have these students in your building and in your programs and their IEP says they can go to 21 and then that gets marked against you when it comes to CUSAC. So when you look at that graduation one, um, really keep that in the back of your mind. It's not always about that number. There might be some underlying information behind that that your superintendent can share with you. Yep. No, this is this is basically the blank one. Um when you guys get your QAC, you'll get your actual scores. They actually um will provide that to the superintendent and then the
049superintendent will generally share it with the community and and all of that. And if you your score is below a certain level, then you may get cusacked again the next year just in that one area or you may have to go on some kind of an action plan. Okay. So no, this is just that's why there's no numbers to the right of that. That's because the first column is your self assessment like what you score yourself at and the second one is when the DOE comes in, it's what they score you at. So you you would get that as a district. I don't get that as school boards. We're not that popular. Um so the another indicator is when you look at this they're going to look at school quality and student success and that
050is really looking at the average of all subgroup rates. So they're not just looking at your students as a whole they're then looking at all the subgroups meaning socioeconomic gender um special education so on and so forth. So they they factor in all of this and they compile all that. So all those things are outside of your control. But just understand that um if you have questions when you go through CQC and I don't know when you guys are scheduled to go again one more year. So um in one more year when you go through it um when you go through the DPR ask the question about which one of these are we getting from the DOE and which ones are actually in our control. What are the things that we can actually provide the
051DOE so they can kind of see the wonderful things that we're doing. It is also a 12-month look back on a lot of the information. So, it's not just what you're doing right now. They're going to look back 12 months. And so, when you look at um CSA evaluation, yes, that is one of them. Make sure that you do that on time. District goals, these are all going to be part of it. So, they will look back, not just what you're doing now, but they'll look back from 12 months. Um, and every executive county superintendent's a little bit different. So, some of them will uh listen to your your reasoning behind why you didn't achieve a certain thing and they'll still give you the points for it if you have certain things that are in
052place. I don't know about mom counties. We don't need to call bring that one up though. So, that that's basically QC in a nutshell. It's pretty boring to be honest with you. Um it's a lot of information gathering. Um several years ago uh before they actually started to do some of this remote, it used to be They used to come in the district for days and do it. Now they do a lot of it in their office. We were actually one of the districts that were the pilot and so um I was responsible for like getting all this information in like linked PDFs and then sending that to them so that they only spend part of a day in the district which is great because then you're not spending all that time away. Um, but
053there's certain parts that they will definitely do in your district and that's like personnel because they will randomly pick out personnel files to make sure that they are in compliance and you don't know which ones they're going to pick and you know part of you might like for example health screening. You might have a a staff member that's been in the district 30 years. They may not have gotten a health screening when they first got hired. And so if they pull that one, you'll end up getting penalized for that because they didn't have a health screen. So you kind of cringe. You know which ones you might not have all the information on and you're like, "Oh, don't pull that one. Don't pull that one." And you don't have a say. They just it's based
054upon your enrollment, how many staff members you have. They start to pull that based upon and they'll share that with your superintendent how they're going to do all that. So the reason why we talk about QAC is because we're also going to be talking about school performance because each of these are going to be um factoring into school rankings. And there are some districts that are so focused on school rankings, meaning that it is the end all and beall. They wait for those school rankings to come out to see where, you know, their district fell and if we went up or down. Are we number one? You know, all of that. Others pay attention to it, but it's not it's not as important. Um, so who publishes the school rankings? There's actually a lot of
055different organizations that do. Um, and this is a list of them. and I put one at the bottom which is the NJ DOE and the school performance reports and I put that in red. The reason why I put that in red is because you're going to find out that that's your best source of information as opposed to some of these others. They do give you information and I'm going to break them down, but they are not the most complete source of information. You'll see why in a second. >> Yep. So just a question that merges that slide with the communication thing. I was having a conversation with somebody about school rankings. >> Yes. >> And I was talking about keyport and how proud we were that got a better summitive score and some surrounding districts
056on the >> performance reports. And of course they were like well US News and World Report says something different. So, how do you explain to somebody what is the best source and why the performance report would be a better source than US News World? >> And that's an awesome question and I am going to answer it. Okay? And so that you'll actually have that as as ammunition against them and say, "Well, guess what? That's nice that the US News report says that and that's wonderful and we're glad we're ranked with them. However, they're only looking at a portion of the information and they're not looking at the complete package." And that's really the answer is that the NJ DOE's school performance report is the full package. They're looking at all the indicators, not just a
057subset of them. Um so what are what are the things that are being factored into all of these school performance report um groups, state test scores, graduation rates, and college readiness, equity measures, advanced course offered, uh teacher staff factors, survey and reputation. There's one that really does stuff with that. And then other data points maybe extracurricular arts facilities and funding levels. As you know, some of these are definitely out of your control like funding levels. Um but others are within your control. So this is the answer to your question. So here are four of them. And when you look at this, this is uh I never know how to say that. Nish nishe. Um I don't I guess it depends on where you're from. It's niche. Um US News and World Report, New Jersey Monthly,
058and great schools. There's others, but these are probably the four most popular. When you look at these, each one only looks at some information. So, I put in a red box around the information that they're looking at. And if you look at the very bottom, I wrote contained in New Jersey school performance reports. So, when you look at these, guess what? New Jersey school performance reports actually looks at all the information from those four different sources. That's why it makes it much more comprehensive and a better perspective on how well your school's doing. And I put in there with in red it says uh Nish Nich does parent student uh surveys. They use that as a big factor. Um but your district does surveys too all the time and one of the surveys they do
059probably annually is a culture and climate survey and that gives that information. Also within the New Jersey New Jersey school performance reports, there are there is information in there about the culture of your district as well. So really your NJ DOE school performance reports are a one-stop shop. It's where you really can look at yourself and see how you're doing in comparison to others in within the state. >> So Dr. Befor >> So I understand I probably understand these are in the New Jersey school report. the the uh New Jersey school performance report. >> So, >> and the these are four different uh companies so to speak, newspapers or magazines. Y >> they they publish they do their own like g data gathering and they publish their own rankings. Where are they getting the information?
060They're actually getting all the information from the New Jersey school performance report. >> So, so, so actually what's happening is they're not contained in the school New Jersey school. They're they're pulling info from the new >> correct. So they're they're they're going to the source >> to get their information which is where we're saying >> your source is actually the best place to go because you guys don't want to admit it but that is the place they're going to to get it. >> In simple terms it's these are secondary sources. >> Correct. >> School performance reports are the primary. >> Correct. And if you think even just like niche that's a perfect example. Some years they'll get a lot of responses and other years they won't. Um I can tell you I have six kids
061that have went through school. I have never had to answer a survey through them. However, for the school district, I did answer culture and climate surveys. So did they get everyone's responses? No. So who are they who are they an who are they putting those surveys out to? Who are they getting responses back from? I don't know. Um that's that's them to decide that. Um but once again, this gives you a different perspective. So they're helpful in the sense that if you want to look at it and you want to say well specifically how are we ranking in community perception that one little avenue might want to look at niche. If you're looking at equity and college readiness that would be US News and World Reports if you're looking at New Jersey specific how are
062we doing that would be New Jersey Monthly. And if you're looking at real estate because you know real estate's always looking at trying to sell their properties and and get the thing that would be great schools. And so that gives you their own individual perspectives, but if you want to look at the whole picture, it's New Jersey school performance report and they're parsing the >> correct. >> Yeah. >> Correct. 100%. >> Yeah. I I I >> Right. >> Just make sure you're using your microphones. Sometimes it's very different results from >> site to site. >> Yeah. And that's one of the things I was going to bring up is that when you look at this um I think it's on this it's on one of these. If you look at this, you might be ranked
063number 25 in niche, but then you might be 55 in US News and World Reports. Okay. Wait, if we're ranked 25 in one and 55 in the other, where are we really? Well, this is why you're you're seeing different rankings based upon these different groups because their focus is on a very specific area. Okay? So, I always say take it for what it is and you can definitely look at that and say from year to year where are we ranking in terms of those sub like focused areas, but really you want to look at the New Jersey performance reports not just for this year but even a year-to-year comparison. So, um, New Jersey performance reports, if you've never looked through them, they're broken up into these different areas, which is demographics, academic achievement, college and
064career readiness, graduation, post-secary, climate, and environment, staff, per pupil, expenditure, accountability, and narrative. So, the narrative is nice because it's the district creates that. They basically are telling their own story within that school performance report. Um, so they can highlight the things they want to highlight, um, bring that to, you know, to their communities. Um you so correlations when you look at this you will definitely find when you look at the NJ DOE reports you're going to find that schools that are more affluent they will typically rank higher. Now you say well why is that? Is it because you know the rich are smarter than those that are not? No. The reality is that their their situation is different. They may be in two income families. They may have two parents as opposed to one.
065They may have parents that are home in the evening to be with their child and to support them. Whereas other uh students that are coming home in lower income might be coming home to a home that there are no parents in it. They may be coming home to parents that do not speak English or are not literate. And so therefore, they're going to be limited in how they can help. They also might not have the financial means like you're more affluent to hire tutors or have all the extra stuff that really enhances their their experiences. So there's a lot that goes into that. Um so when you know where you are as a district socioeconomically, try to compare yourself to other districts that are like you socioeconomically. That'll give you a better indicator really where
066you are. Okay? Because money does have an impact. Um, and so socioeconomic status does equal test scores. Um, and like I said, it does not indicate teaching quality or program experiences. You can be a low-income district and offer the best teachers known to man, and you can have the the most um, I would say engaging and challenging curriculum and and uh, courses for students. your students still still may not perform as well as you would like them to, but you know you're doing the best that you can by your students. And so you should be proud of that because those other districts may not be offering the same things that you're doing, but yet their students may perform higher and and that's why because there's so many other supports behind them as opposed to what
067you might have. Dr. as we um >> as we move closer as we move forward you know towards uh cooperation consolidation and regionalization and we face the challenges of maybe a more affluent district doesn't want to cooperate consolidate or regionalize with us. Um is there uh do you see any data where perhaps a community that has uh uh a a combination of affluent and economically challenged. Uh is there is there any data that shows that that actually not because the the uh affluent kids are getting more resources, but because the school has a good mix and they're actually helping each other to excel. Do you is there is there any kind of data or anything? >> I'm sure there is. But when you're talking about regionalization, remember there the first district to regionalize in the
068last 13 years was Henry Hudson. Yeah. And they've only been regionalized for about a year, right? >> So we're not going to see the impact of that >> probably for another couple of years. Um so you really have to go back in time to see, you know, where where that is. I came from a district where we were in a send receive relationship and our um district that sent their eighth grade students to our high school were very affluent whereas the district I was in was not. >> So right and that would be the that that's a good uh >> that's a good uh segment of what I would be looking for. I'm not looking for it now, but I'm thinking out loud and I think it would be really interesting to find out >>
069and that's where the >> correlations between the district itself when they're when they're diving deep into their performance data, that's where they can actually pull out kids based upon where they're coming from. And I did that. I I used to pull the data out and look at all those subgroups. One of those subgroups could be the affluent district, so to speak, and the not so affluent. And then you can look at how they're performing together, not just by um you can look at that by subject area, gender, and you can do subgroups within that subgroup. So um you may find some interesting things that come out of that that students are actually in some ways performing better than those more affluent, >> but in other ways they're not, right? So, and then that that helps
070to inform the district about okay, what kind of um supports and resources do we need to use and put forth to target those needs of those specific students. So, you really can do that targeted intervention as an adult. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um, so when you look at this the one of a lot of these reports do not capture social emotional learning, uh, special education supports because that's going to be based upon IEPs. the arts, athletics, even though everyone talks about athletics. Even if you look at the DOE reports, they don't even really talk that much about athletics, uh, school culture, and then safety. We all know that all the districts have safety plans in place, but there's no sideby-side comparison about, you know, how that safety measures are. Um, there is
071a correlation. They do do comparisons for HIP cases, but once again, you're looking at, you know, districts that may be very different. And some districts report. I'll say it some districts actually investigate and report hip cases where others kind of gloss it over. And so even though you may have a lot of hip cases and another district might not, doesn't mean that your kids are are worse behaved than the other ones, it means that you're doing your due diligence looking at it. And one of the changes with the HIV law was that um some districts have and board attorney can chime in on this, but districts had within their policy the option of allowing the building principle to basically override actually doing an investigation. Many districts said no no no no because what the sequence
072of then what happens as a result of that is that the uh administration the superintendent gets bypassed and it goes right to the board as a result if somebody has a concern with it. So a lot of districts stuck with the the way it was but in other districts they did do that and so you're in those cases you might be seeing some districts that are simply not investigating. So therefore, their numbers might be two HIPP cases investigated where another district would have 20 because they're investigating everything. Um, and once again, you have a variation even within that where in some districts as soon as somebody says the word bullying, they're investigating whereas in others they'll say they'll have that conversation with the child or with the parent and that may cause them not to
073do an investigation as a result even though the word was used. Okay? So, the sideby-side comparison isn't always as black and white as we like it to be. You just got to know your district. Um, so I said rankings do vary by source, so keep that in mind. Rankings change from year to year and organization to organization. As we said before, that sometimes you're ranked 25th in one and you might be 55th in another. Um, and this year you're 25th and all of a sudden next year you're 75th and you're like, wait, what what changed? and maybe nothing changed just you know what they're looking at. Um and then rankings influence real estate more than education. So once again there's um in some communities they're very concerned about this and I've I've I've heard and
074I know superintendents that will um look at those rankings and then they'll create programs. And so a perfect example of that would be part of one of the rankings is they look at how many um offerings you have that are like AP and all that. Not how well the kids are doing in it, just that they're offered. So districts will all of a sudden create offerings and they don't care whether kids are entering into those courses, whether they're doing well in those courses. They're just offering it. Why? The whole purpose of getting that ranking score up so the community says, "Look, we're ranked fifth. we're so proud, you know. So, um, just realize it's not impacting school districts as much as it's impacting real estate because it is a selling point. Um, when I always
075say when you look at data, it's one perspective. So, make sure and that's one of the reasons why I really do like the the performance reports because it is looking at many different factors and many different perspectives at all. Um so I think as board members it's better for you to ask the questions are all students being supported and growing and that's what I said before about looking at that data where even if you break it out by the two different groups from the sending two different like affluent versus non-afluent um you know are we then supporting those students when we see the discrepancy and then do students feel safe included and prepared for life after graduation because students will not learn in an environment where they do not feel safe. That's got to be
076the primary. Um, and you want to be looking at, you know, how well are they prepared for whatever trajectory they're doing after they get out of school. That should be the most important. So looking at the school performance report since we just kind of talked about that >> a question about thinking I found I always was a lover of it. Um I found that present diagnostic that we do multiple and we see how kids over time during a year and I find that much well better than the one shot got on a day in April. I think that's kind of has been an awakening >> really because really see both of >> I 100% agree with you and that's why I've always said like you know standardized test scores they're great they give you one
077perspective and it is exactly what you said it's it's a one snapshot in time it's not more overtime where what your benchmarks are which is what you're using within the Those to me are much more powerful. Not only because it's giving you multiple snapshots, but it also informs your your instructors so that they know, oh, here's a here's a deficit that I've identified early on and I can now implement something to address it. And instead of waiting for these standardized test reports, which generally don't come until the summertime, the kids are already out of that grade. and therefore as a result what are you going to do you're not going to go turn the hand of time back so it's kind of asked we can apply and make some changes and that's where I think
078it is beneficial to look curricularly where if you see that the majority of students are are uh struggling in certain standards then maybe we need to look at our curriculum and say okay what are we doing with for these standards and when we're addressing them can we change our curriculum can we change our supports can we change our resources that we're using to beef that up so that students um do better in it. Also looking at timing. When is when is that being instructed? Is it being instructed in May after the test or is that something that we can shift and move it earlier? Does it even make sense? So you have to factor in all of those. But I 100% agree with you that your internal benchmarks are the better source of information because
079not only are they more frequent, but they're yours and you can use those to inform your instruction as you forward. So, standards test score is great, but once again, not the end all and be all. Um, and that's why I wrote down it helps districts identify their strengths, areas for growth, year-to-year challenges. Um, you can look at your enrollment demographics. We're seeing a lot of districts where their enrollment demographics is changing. And so, things that you had in place at one point might not be needed now. And vice versa, you didn't have something in place and then all of a sudden now you do need it. I had that where I was looking at our demographic data and we were seeing I was seeing more and more uh Hispanic speaking students that were definitely identified
080as as ELLL at the time, not MLL, but they were ELLL. And I saw it coming. We were not seeing it in the high school because we go back to that affluent which was basically 98% white. So they weren't impacting those those that demographic data in the high school. But I saw it coming and I could project when it would hit the high school and I kept telling them you guys need to start putting things in place and we started to we started hiring people. We started putting um SCOP training in for those staff members and they were like why are we getting this and then all of a sudden it hit and so they were like oh now I see. So you can use this to be very proactive as well. So it it
081to me it's just really beneficial for those kinds of things. Not necessarily on the individual student level. I mean it can be but I think your benchmarks are better for that. Um once again performance reports areas for growth. Identify subjects or strands where curriculum instruction can be improved. Identify subgroups that may benefit from targeted instruction. So you're actually breaking it down not as a whole but in small subgroups. Um when you see a prek increase, so you're seeing more and more districts not only add preschool but also expanding existing preschool. You can you can monitor that to see, okay, this group we had as preschoolers. We had them a year or two years earlier than we ever would have had them before. When they hit the testing grades, how is that impacting their testing results
082as opposed to the kids that didn't have our preschool? Even though we're not testing preschoolers, are testing the cumulative from preschool to that grade? And that that's the big thing. Like, you know, for years people would say, well, I don't want to be a fourth grade teacher because they're testing us in fourth grade. It's New Jersey ask and I don't want to be tested because they're going to say, "What am I doing?" I hate to tell you, it's not about what you did that year. It's what kindergarten, first, second, and third did. And what you contributed to up to that point in fourth grade. So, it is cumulative. It's not just that one year snapshot. So, always keep that in mind that this data is not just something you're looking at this year. You're also
083following it from year to year. And as these kids progress from grade to grade, that's where you can see better changes. And I actually have a a screenshot of something like um and then economically disadvantaged is another one. So this would be an example. And this is how I always look at these. So when you look at the different columns, each one of these is a year. So I think I can't see from here, but I think the first one is 21 22 22 23 and 23 24. I did the oval sideways like that because I'm I'm tracking how are those kids doing? And this is just enrollment. So now I'm just looking at enrollment, but you can do this with any data. I'm looking at how is our enrollment changing for that group of
084kids. Are we losing kids? Are we gaining kids? Because all of a sudden, I see a change in that. And you did, and these are your reports. So I did for uh preK. You guys went from I think 50some to 50some all of a sudden to 90ome. Okay. If my classes are working well. Um now I don't know why your enrollment jumped. I guess is you either went from half day to full day or you added more prek or you got a pre-k grant. There's a lot of reasons why that happens. But that enrollment then you can look at and say, okay, how is that going to impact us for our next year's first grade or kindergarten or next year's the year after first grade and so on and so forth. And you can look
085at your staffing then to say, okay, how do we need to shift staffing as a result of this? you need to hire more staff because 95 is a is a double of what you had before. So is that going to impact your kindergarten this year? Um so but I would do this even for even performance. I would do this for graduation. I would do this for everything. I I always look at multiple years because you want to see that that cumulative effect and whether you know performance is holding or if it's lacking or are we improving and because any change you make will take three to five years to see the result of it. So don't make a change this year and then look at it and say oh we didn't see it. Look in
086three years and and track that for three years. Yep. >> Right. Yeah. You guys aren't Yeah, that's too much for you guys. not supposed to do that. >> Where we can sorry where we can tell sometimes in past years what grade level difficult by tracking prior years tracking for friends >> very helpful. >> Yeah. And like you know from an administrative perspective just to give you an idea if you know let's say a group of kids okay they had a transition of teachers in that year and they had let's say got a teacher they got they got pregnant so therefore they went out of maternity you hired another one. So now there's a double transition there. You can follow those kids to the next year. Not you but team can follow those kids to the
087next year. they're in the same situation the next year, you can see what was the impact then on them academically because when you have multiple transitions like that year after year, it does negatively impact kids. So, you have to be very strategic in where you're placing them and you have to think about that teacher going to be here this year because these kids were negatively impacted the year before. Even if you get a great teacher in, the transition itself is still difficult on kids. So once again, these are internal things that you can be using this data for, you being the district. Um, but you as a board understanding that these things are going on is very important and that it's really informing the decisions that your administrative team and teachers are doing on a
088daily basis. Um, so this was an example of the enrollment trend by student group. So, it's now looking at the subgroups and I I I focused on your um economically disadvantaged, you went from 39 to 51 to 59. Okay. So, you're getting kids that are coming in that are more in need economically. Tag that with our uncertainty about school funding, our uncertainty about uh breakfast and lunches and and in schools. We don't know whether that's going to be provided. So all this will impact those students and if you're seeing that that is increasing and like I already said you if you have an affluent district they're going to perform better. If all of a sudden now you have more kids coming in that are economically struggling you may see a dip in your in your
089standardized test scores. Not because of anything your teachers are doing not because of anything you're doing as a district. Just because those kids are coming in in a lower socioeconomic group having an influx of it and so therefore that could negatively impact you. >> Yep. Sorry, that's another question. >> That's fine. >> So, when we were going through um taxes, that was a thing. It's not >> had a huge jump. We're >> 100% >> economically and um we were told a lot that that's not true or people in the town don't burrow. How do you >> about the the economic Yes. >> Increase >> right there in black and white. >> They didn't believe. >> Well, >> it's just like, oh, it's black and white. >> You can provide them the data. And once again,
090it's it's not you providing it. It's the DOE is collecting all this. Your district, every district is required to submit information about every single one of their students to the DOA. That's where all this is coming from. So, your district isn't all of a sudden making up uh economically disadvantaged. you actually may see a dip in it and and here's why. Because people are more hesitant now to put their names onto anything. So kids that really need it need the support like a free breakfast and free and reduced lunch. Um they may not even put in for it for fear that that information is going to get to somebody. So you may see a dip there which then will impact you financially as a result even though the same needs are there. So it's very
091um convoluted but it is the reality and so you know forming your community and inform them as we said last time them believing and them listening is another thing as a board as a district you can only communicate the reality and this is the reality comes from the state >> comes from the state >> I mean your superintendent team would have to be so creative and masterminds and if she's that creative and she's a mastermind like that with data, you're not paying her enough. She's not she's not going to be able to. But um I just said for here special education like you know when you look at that one students with disabilities you actually went from 18.4 to 17.8 to 16.1. So, you obviously are doing something that is positively impacting the need to
092classify kids. Either that or you're doing something so horrible that the kids are moving out of the district and because you don't support them well enough. I doubt that's the case. Okay? Because IEPs definitely drive all this. So, you're having a huge success rate with that. And that's something where as a district you start to look at what are we doing because what we're doing is is really positively impacting our kids. And so you may look at those things and say, "Huh, because we were so so successful with this strategy, we're actually going to use it with this other group that might be performing in a struggling way." And you may find similar successes as a result. So this to me is like more of the uh deep dive into this data and and trying
093to figure out like what's making it tick so that you can figure out, you know, what's working, what's not working, and where do you need more supports. um here and I don't know the answer to this. Eighth grade, why are there no results for eighth grade? I have no idea. There you go. Okay. So, you know, but as a board member, these would be kind of questions I would ask. Like, every grade level saw an increase in math for this past year. Why? What did we do that was so good that our math scores increased? Maybe you have a new program. Maybe you have a new curriculum. Maybe you have new teachers. I don't know. Okay? But those are valid questions. When you as a board are looking at your school performance reports, pose them.
094Why are we do we have no results for eighth grade? Very simple answer. Okay. But at least then you're informed. No. Um this is just another decrease in level one and increase in level four. What do we do or was this a trend experienced by all districts? So it's not always about what we did, but our other districts across the state, did they see the same kind of increases or decreases? Because we do tend to see that sometimes that you know we drop and everyone says oh you dropped but everybody across the state dropped. Why did everyone across the state drop? Well they might have new cut scores. I don't know the reason. Okay but same thing here like here you and you want to see a decrease in level one. Level one means you're
095most at need or or the students that are struggling the most. You want to see a decrease in that one and you want to see an increase in level four which means you're moving your kids from the lowest level to the highest level to higher performing level. So, that's a positive thing. Once again, looking at and saying, "What do we do?" Because we did something really good here. Um, absentee rate, that is going to be a big one that districts are continually looking at because in order to have a positively positive impact on your students, you do actually need them in the district. And so, your statewide absentee rate decreased 1.5% and 1.7% while the district, now I'm comparing state to district, the district decreased 2.4 and 3.7. So you actually decreased better than the
096state. That's a positive thing. So what things are you doing? Because guess what? Um at school boards workshop, I actually do a presentation on absenteeism. So I want to know what what are districts doing that are very effective so I can share that. And so when you're seeing scores like that, improvements like that, that's not only something that you guys should be celebrating, but it's something that once again you can continue to leverage or maybe put more resources. what are your plans to move forward to keep decreasing it? Um here these were areas for growth I just you know pointed out higher in pre-k seventh and eth um once again do we know why those students are chronically absent? So you're having the prek and you're having seventh and eighth graders that are more chronically
097absent than the other kids. I already know the answer to prek. I don't care what district you go to. When it rains, when it snows, when there's anything going on, the parents keep those kids home. And if you're in a walking district for preschool, they're definitely keeping them home. Okay? And there's nothing that you're going to do unless you're offering busing for all your prek, which you're probably not. Um, that's going to change that. But, you know, once again, these are questions that you can ask. Um, so now we're going to talk about NJSLA and NJ GPA, adaptive state testing, which is the thing that actually was brought up during your interviews with the board candidates. Um, once again, these this is what it stands for. New Jersey student learning assessment and New Jersey graduation
098proficient proficiency assessment and they are adaptive meaning that the uh questions that the student sees will change based upon how they answer whether they get that answer correct or incorrect. It'll either make it more difficult or it will dap down and make it a little more easier for the next question. Um they are currently being used for SATs, PSATs, ACUPPLACER. ACUPPLACER is what um students will take when they're going to college, especially community college like Brookdale. They will use ACUPPLACER for students so they can figure out where they're going to place them within their courses. And then the DLMs are dynamic learning learning maps which are for your uh high need special need. Um so they're already being used in those areas. Um, I already said the difficulty of the question your community and you
099as a board may be saying, well, you know, why are we all of a sudden doing this and why are we just finding out about it? Well, it was just announced on August 13th. That's why you're just finding out about it as a school district. You are not alone. Everybody found out about it on August 13th when the DOE sent out a broadcast announcing it. Um, the reason why it was late was because Pearson, who had been for years been doing our standardized testing, they had filed a lawsuit because they were not the one that was selected and Cambrium was the Cambium was the one that was. Um, the lawsuit went through its course and it was determined that the state did everything they were supposed to do. And so now Cambian is your new
100uh provider of this assessment and their assessments they are the ones that create AI um reported and always moving. We just talked about AI too. You guys are leading the edge in AI. So you know this is just and I idea behind this is that this is going to make the testing experience better for kids because they're not going to feel overwhelmed when the questions come at them and they feel they can't answer anything. they're going to be able to answer the question. And supposedly, you know, with this, it'll also give the um testing uh company the ability to really hone in on really where those kids are at. You ask me whether it's accurate or not, I don't know. I mean, it's new to me, so I I honestly don't know. You're going to
101find out just like everybody else. And they're doing a fall test in October and November, and they're actually doing the test in the spring. >> Normally, when Just a thought. >> Is this adaptive a form of different? >> Yeah, they're saying it's it's differentiation in the sense of the questions that the student sees. It's not differentiation in the sense of how the test is given. Every student's going to get the same um format of the test. They're going to all do it on the computer. Um the the platform they're using is going to be the same. It's just the questions that they're going to see are all going to start at a certain level and then either go up or down based upon their response. in our classroom we have differentiation in instruction >> instruction
102but we don't differentiate uh assessments >> right so I mean I just because my reaction is first negative but then I'm saying well >> it if for for a student rather than having an static test that is the same for everybody right >> right it's like a way of instruction that is one for everybody >> well this just my first thought is that well this would reflect effect where students it reflects what students are capable of. If they're capable of more then the challenge becomes more. >> Correct. Yep. So I mean and we don't know enough about it because we haven't we haven't had kids go through it yet. So we don't know what their reaction is going to be. We haven't seen the outcomes or the output or the reports from these assessments. So
103we don't even know what that's going to look like. So it may be a gold mine. It may be wonderful. And we may say this is I'm so glad they did this and I wish they had done this years before. Or we may say this was a disaster. Why why did they ever change it? We don't know. Um they did throw in the class of 2026, which is your graduating class this year. They actually won't have to go through this. They can actually do the N the old NJ GPA. So they'll actually be able to use the old one. Um they came out with two new broadcasts. um one on September 12th, just a couple days ago, and then one yesterday on September 16th, because the big questions that have been coming out, there's a
104lot of unknowns and these are the list of unknowns. Are we going to have to upgrade our technology? Uh how long are the testing sessions going to be? How many days are they going to be for the field tests? Because, you know, October, November is right around the corner, believe it or not. And so, you know, districts have to figure out what is their testing schedule going to be. um concerns about potential changes due to unknown federal changes because now as a state we're we're adopting a new testing platform but yet we don't even know what if the federal is going to change the requirements. What if they say no more state testing or the state can decide if they want to even do testing? We don't know. So there's unknowns in there. Cut scores
105once again they always set cut scores based upon the outcomes from the students. We don't know what those cut scores are. or we not even sure really how they're determining it. Um we don't know what the reports look like I said and then we're going to have um politically we're going to have changes in the legislature and we're going to have changes within our own governor. Okay, because they're all up for election. So when you have changes politically that could positively or ne negatively impact or no impact on any of this. So once again it's it's an unknown. These are the things that people are concerned about and they've been raising, school districts have been raising these concerns u because normally when they roll this stuff out, they do the pilot this year or the
106field test this year and then they do the actual test next year. This year they decided to do the pilot or the um the one in the beginning of this year and they're doing the actual test in the spring. So it's very different in that it's very fast in terms of roll out. >> Um I have a >> Yep. So we know just from classroom testing when level start making choices like CC D >> Y >> just to get with this new testing will the software be able to identify people just going >> randomly just having just to get it done. >> I don't know the answer. I haven't been through the training. >> I think some of the some of the testing when we go through it all, we could see we're just meeting
107today going over some NJSLA stuff and we could see that >> Janette um she took the whole 52 minutes, but then we can see that she didn't answer each qu how much time she spent on each question. So kids know like we were sitting in the rooms with them saying, "Okay, everybody, we want to see you do a good job. Um, we want you to take your time, but kids were trying to exit in 15 minutes." And there's just no conceivable way. So there is some time information in there, but I mean like our ongoing challenges are with students, especially at the high school level, they're they don't want their kids, they don't, you know, it's you have to engage them. You have to intrinsically motivate them to want to show you that performance because
108they another test. Now we have another field test on top of it. So we're not sure but yes there there should be something with time because I know that we went through >> I mean in the past we have had something with that whether they breeze through the questions or not. I know when we were looking at the platform as kids taking it we going fast and going slow not necessarily what they were answering but we could see whether they answered questions or skip questions and how fast they were going through it. I don't I don't know with this platform if that will be the case. Only reason I ask is there is software testing. One of the I used to um their software track camera has to be tracks their eyes >> so that
109you can see are they actuallying or are they just getting to the answer doesn't change data >> right >> but what it does give you is 5% didn't attend to classroom pass down% of population >> that data >> it will be >> I think it's important for everyone to understand when these reports whatever they do look like and they come you will not be able to compare them with past year treatment data. You won't be able to because it's as I put up there, it's apples and oranges, two different types of reports. Even though they're asking the same questions based upon the same standards, we you can't compare when you have two different ones because they're also going to be using different cut scores than were in originally in place uh for the other assessment.
110So understand that that this first year results will not be something that you can compare to. You'll be able to compare it to next year and the year after, but not this year. >> Those are the scores that we'll use when we get QAC. >> Yes. How are we going to be able to track progress >> for this next year in compar using just standardized test scores? You're not. That's where you're going to really want to rely on your internal benchmarks. >> Yeah. And just because the the questions that were coming out were about the um testing. And like I said, the September 12th, they came out with one uh one where they're saying that that uh besides that the staff that are going to be in charge of the testing, there's mandatory training for
111them, they're actually offering asynchronous training for anybody. Anyone can go on and and go through the training and see what it's like. >> And the full admin team has signed up for that because we all want to see. >> That's a nice part that, you know, that they added in. I'm sure it's because of some of the feedback they got. Uh the other part is they came up with the field test. they came up with that there's going to be ELA reading, ELA writing and mathematics, 60 minutes, 120 minutes, 60 minutes. At least now, you know, districts can start to try to plan out, you know, how they're going to do this. They did put some caveats to this that you can't do more than two units in a day. Um, and the interesting part
112is the field test. If you're a fourth grader, you're actually getting the third grade questions. So, they're they're because it's in the beginning of the year, they're actually testing what you learned last year. So if you're a fifth grader, you're getting fourth grade. If you're a nth grade, you're getting eighth grade. So it just gives you an idea that, you know, the information is now that they're being tested on for the field test is a little old in terms of, you know, kids whether they retained it or not. So, but it is a field test. So, you know, we don't know even how I I haven't read how they're going to report any of that information out or if they even are going. Generally with field tests, they don't. they just you know kind of
113keep that to inform themselves and then you'll get the information from the real test. So you know it will be a learning for all of us and so I would say stay tuned. I'm sure um Dr. Foyer will will share with you and anytime there's new broadcasts that come out like you saw that's the 12th and the 16th. So in a matter of four days we got two broadcasts that were specific to this with changes and I'm sure as this gets closer and closer there's going to be a lot more that are coming out. Um any questions? I know you guys always ask questions along which is great but any questions. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh next up is president's remarks. So our 2526 school year is off to a
114great start. It was nice to see so many families at back to school night last night. Uh we also have a county meeting on 107. It's either virtual or in person. So, please make sure you sign up if you attend. They just sent out reminder emails again today. Um, we just had another professional development session this evening. After this, we have three more sessions of PD to keep our master board certification. Uh, we will have one more um training session at our next meeting on 108 on special education and then our last two training sessions will happen in the new year. >> Yes. You can go. >> Okay. >> You're welcome. Um, Dr. Seavoya, we did receive a letter of resignation from Mary Joanne Julia, a part-time aid. >> Thank you. Uh, public participation on
115agenda items. Dr. Seavoya, superintendent report. >> Okay. Um, I will start with a few highlighted items here. Um the Magnolia, you see several resolutions on the agenda for Magnolia Consulting Group. We've mapped out our full year of professional development and support. So it is very detailed in there and um we have a project plan for such. Uh in addition, um Magnolia is going to be doing the three sites of on-site three full days, I'm sorry, of on-site coaching and effective instructional strategies working with our ELLL teams. Um, another one of the Magnolia resolutions was for coaching job embedded um on the next generation science standards. Um, and then we have a professional development occurring for a full day for high scope which is one of the approved models for the NJ DOE for our preschool
116classrooms. Um, in addition, we have the self assessment of the anti-bullying grades there. We can get 74 out of we had if I'm not incorrect 74 out of 78. um individual student NJSLA reports will be distributed to families this week. We're going to do it a little differently. We're going to put it in addition onto our parent portal, but uh the principles are going to be meeting with certain grade bands to kind of encourage them because the field test is coming too and just letting them know that it is a snapshot. It's not the only uh way that they're measured, but really engaging the students intrinsically of of their portfolio, their assessment portfolio. So, I was really pleased to hear what Mr. uh Flynn and Mr. Waters along with Miss Pearson were going to do
117with each one of those grade bands because again, this is another testing uh situation for them. Um and there definitely is concern of course to overest them. Um I had several pieces of personnel um items for you that you're aware of. Um, one of the things I do want to speak to and focus on that in there though is that um, we're looking to to create and there's a job description on there a lunchtime um, non-instructional position aid so that we can relieve some of the uh, scheduling during the academic day and have be able to cover duties, preps, those things to that degree. Um, so it's going to be a job description is attached. I would like you all to review such um, and I'll put it on the agenda for the next agenda
118to have it be approved and Mr. Paul and I will determine what that hourly rate is going to be because I know that um minimum wage things to that capacity have changed. So I want to make sure I'm doing that effectively. Um we're going to continue our um employment of our three student interns for the custodial group. Um which I think is great. Um in addition, we actually met with um Mashios this week and we met with the public library because as you're all aware, we have the LLD classroom at the high school which is taking off swimmingly. But we want to make a rotation. We're not the career center. We're not trying to be them, but we're trying to do keyboard style, if you will. And we're going to cycle these kids through shifts
119at the library, get them exposed there, see what their knowledge base is, and also working with Machios to get them on a rotation into the cafeteria and see what kind their their strengths are. Mrs. White is extraordinary at transition. So, I'm really excited about that and what that could lead to. In fact, Machios did say if we uh if it goes as well as we'd like, they would offer the Serve Safe certification program. That's for um cooking. I don't do it well, so I'm saying it incorrectly, but that is for our students be able to get that certification and have employment whether it's during school or after they graduate. So, there's a lot of opportunities there. Um the eighth grade uh participation, the eighth grade community partnership class um will begin um September 16th through
120the 6th every Tuesday. Okay, teachers will complete a request form for special assistance throughout the school year. So, I'm really happy about that one. Teachers will um I'm sorry, we will be completing the sustainability grant application. Now, if you recall or as a reminder this October um we're at school boards, we're going to get acknowledged for being a bronze status again because we went through all the certification process, but we're also going to apply for two grants, one for 2,000 and one for 10,000. No, as you know, our grant um our grant approvals and submissions have been amazing and and that is the team that you employ here. Um but one of the things that we s from this summer was the with the climate funding we utilized to run a summer program. Spectacular with
121the um access the students had to the hands-on experiential learning. So, we're going to write that because that grant doesn't go on for the summer and again, you know, you want to offer what um the student growth is going to be the most beneficial from. So, we're going to submit for that. Um, you'll see hopefully, fingers crossed, we get such. Um, we also were very thankful for getting a donation of 30 copies of our AP site test from another district. Um, you know what? It used books in college. I think we all remember that. Um, we have spirit weeks going on this week. Tomorrow night, I go to the public library meeting because that was changed uh due to the uh event that was held down at the waterfront last night. No new incidences of
122HIV to speak to. Um, I urge you to take a look at the slideshow for the 2526 teachers because the faces change and and it's nice to have a a face to the name. Um, follow us on Twitter and Facebook also because the welcome back video that we did. Um, that got a lot of mileage. A lot of people love that and that increased and I can't say it's with statistical significance, but I do know we got more followers on Twitter and Facebook when we posted that. So, that seems to be something that attracted everyone. Um, let's see. Um, Mr. Um Tim just did his presentation so I don't need to speak to about that. Mr. Rapola did mock up some board of ed dates for the next academic you know for now not academic
123next school year sorry for the new school year. Uh oh my gosh for January of 26 I'm sorry. Um so if you can look at all of those what that does for us if we could take action on that is that allows us to plan too because I want to invite students to different meetings to present um and like the high school is not going to do the student of the month. all of those things. It'll just be easier to plan out. So, if the board could look at that, that would be spectacular. I'd be appreciative of that. Um, central school PTO, I did miss the first meeting um that happened last week and I if you see the attached hyperlink, it has all of the months mapped out with the fundraisers that they're doing
124um of which Mr. Flynn will approve those because they're not required to be approved by me. Um, but they're all mapped out there. I I'm hearing extremely positive results. Again, not quant uh quantitatively statistically signific significant, but there were a lot of people, Miss Fish has really taken taken the realm with Miss Lloyd and I couldn't be happier. Parental engagement is what's going to really really support us. Um a meeting with I was supposed to meet with the KBBC this morning, but um I will speak to why I didn't in a moment. Actually, I'll do it right now. We, as you all are aware, we had a network outage um on Sunday. Okay. We updated our d our infrastructure on Sunday and unfortunately Mr. Gavvara had to call me about 1:00 a.m. on Monday to
125tell me that we had no internet and we had no access to phones. So what we did was put a plan together with Mr. Waters and Mr. Flynn as well as Mr. Huittans back there who's probably looking to go to bed because they have been here many many hours. Um, and what we did again was put security measures into place as well as going old school with our POTS lines which or back in my day as a teenager I had my you know my uh Hello Kitty phone whatever it would be. Um we were old school plugged them into walls and um I alerted KPD so that they knew that you know we'd have less access to the internet so that they could do more um rounds around and we also had our school resource
126officers. We had floaters in the hallways with um microphones, walkie-talkies. So, I have to say um as a result of this, we're glad everything's up and running and we have a lot of work to do to diagnose backtracking if that makes sense because of the fact that it goes down. Your goal is to get it back up. Then you're going to uh assess how that happened and make steps to make that not happen again. So, um, it has been a couple of days of of a lot of stress for all, but I have to say that some of the kids, I could hear it cheering in the third grade wing when the when it came back up. They were very excited. But but and in the next regard, some of the conversation was maybe we
127could have Wi-Fi free Fridays sometimes or something like that because we really did have to go in my generation old school and you know, you were back to some a lot of paper and pencils. So, I would say that our staff should be commended. The technology staff I know Mr. Gibbar is getting some welldeserved rest, but they they you know they they did a great job. They really did. I I we couldn't do it without them, you know, and and they they made it happen. So, we're strong and that's what I think these candidates actually spoke to tonight as well. That's the sense of community that we have during that time. There were not many complaints. People did what they needed to do and that's what it's about for for children. So, with that being
128said, I'll go on to the next thing and I'll make it quick. Let's see. Uh back to school nights you spoke to. So, I don't need to do that. The bilingual advisory, title one, pre-K advisory meetings, all of those things are hyperl there for you. Um, we did talk a lot about communication um and how we could increase it in different variations. So, that's all there. Um, I do have some things for close session this evening, but there's fundraisers, there's upcoming events. Um, the KF is hosting its first murder mystery night, so it would be great if we could see some board members participate in such. Um, but again, um, that does conclude the report, but I do have some items to talk about in close session. Thank you, Mr. Rapola. Board Secretary report, building
129and grounds and finance. >> I'm sure you'll be happy to hear I have a very uh short report again uh this evening. Um want you to know that our auditors are are in the district. Uh they've been in for about two weeks. I think they're going to be in for uh probably another two weeks or so. Um uh because of our transition in staff, our department had longtime employee uh sortizes retire uh this year which you know as the board is aware we u organized the department a little bit differently we have a part-time worker uh we're utilizing any event uh the auditors are trying to get used to uh they're a new crew to begin with and they're trying to get used to some of our new uh systems that are in place so
130everything's going fine, but it's just taking a little bit longer than normal. Not they would normally be here three weeks anyway, but uh um it's just taking a little bit longer than with the computers being down. So, I just wanted to share that. But we're way ahead of the game. Uh we haven't been getting our audits till, you know, maybe December the last couple of um so I think that was a result of of co excuse me, COVID. Um but the auditors have have kind of caught up with their work level now and so I'm happy to see they're back in in early in the school year. Um, also just wanted to say as a reminder, New Jersey School Boards Convention in Atlantic City is uh in October, the week of October, say 21st. Um,
131we're going to uh you'll be staying at uh Harris, those of you that are that are going down, I'll have more information for you at the October uh board meetings. We just started to receive some invitations to some of the events. Um I forwarded those to you and I'll continue to forward those events to you. >> Mr. Being that you won't be there. I I also invited you to some of the ones that he's saying like Bosio's um attorney certain ones that we know that we want to go to. There'll be a master list that he gets of everybody, but I know that there'll be some that we >> So, uh it's kind that's all I have this evening. >> Thank you. So, we need a motion for 81 to 1010. >> I'll make it
132>> Second >> discussion. >> There's um 106 106. What the $200 donation? Where is that going to? U Mr. uh Sheets applied for that and that's going to be for guitar strings. >> Thank you. Any other Mr. Roll call? >> Mrs. Abrahamson. >> Yes. >> Miss Cunningham? >> Yes. >> Mr. Patopoulos? >> Yes. >> Kowski? >> Yes. >> Miss Kahane? >> Yes. >> Mr. Stall? >> Yes. >> Mr. Staley? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Teas. >> Spven. >> Yes. >> Motions pass. >> Dr. Seavoya. curriculum, personnel, and policy. >> Okay. As I spoke to in the superintendent report, our HIB um grading, we have several meetings that people are approved to go to for the academic school year. Um a field trip for our LLD class that I spoke to. That's the first one. You'll probably
133at the next board meeting approve a blanket one because they'll be going to vary variety of places in the community um at at a moment's notice if you will. Not a moment's nose, but it could be a scheduling issue in which we don't have a meeting for you to reapprove things. uh the eighth grade partnership class. They're going to go on their trips to primarily to the ministerium which the kids are excited to get back to. Our statement of assurance for power professionals, title one program, title three programming, the several um resolutions I spoke to with Magnolia Consulting Group. Um and I just want to reflect on one of them with the data analysis. I mean many of them I spoke to but the 11.11 you know even today working with the administrative team to
134plan out the INRS which is interventional and referral services uh just the amount of data that INRS is utilizing to support students as a whole and individually is a phenomenal shift. So it's going to be money very very well spent. um our pre-K advisory meetings, high school training as I spoke to, and underneath personnel, you see some changes. Um one of the things that was that um we had approved somebody for one of the clubs, but they're going to split it with somebody else. So, that's in there. We have one of our alumni coming back to to substitute with us. Um and then Miss Butully, I'm very proud to say that both she and Miss uh Appusi or Gross are enrolled in furthering their education now. So, she's uh going to be doing her internship
135to get her principal certification at this year. So, she'll be doing some of that work with us. >> Uh we need a motion for 11.1 to 12.13. >> Motion. >> Second. Uh questions. Roll call. >> Mrs. Abrahamson. >> Yes. >> Miss Cunningham? >> Yes. >> Mr. Papopoulos? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Grabowski? Yes, >> Miss Caheen. >> Yes, >> Mr. Stall. >> Yes, >> Mr. Staley. >> Yes, >> Mr. Teas. >> Yes, >> Miss Vanhound. >> Elementary for >> a motion's pass. >> Thank you. Uh, old business. So, we have on old business to talk about our board goals from our last meeting. Um topics that we did discuss were continuing in policy having a community engagement goal and short and long-term planning. So does anybody have anything um additionally that they would like to share
136or discuss towards our goals that we are creating? Could also leave it till the next meeting as well. Okay. So, we we're pulsing the room. Um, new business. Oh, you >> No, I'm staring at him not to talk. >> I was like, did you want to? >> Um, okay. So, new business. No. Uh, public partic public participation on agenda and non-aggenda items. Okay. Yeah. Come on. It's your turn. How's the bowling signups going? Good. The bowling signups for your event spoke to last time. >> What's that? >> Didn't you have Aren't you having the bowling thing going on? >> Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. >> Going great. >> Okay, good. So, I was going to talk about some um I pitched this before. >> Just state your name and address first. >> Elmer J. Graham Jr.
13722 St. Peters Place. I like to I talked about this the last time. It's about a place called We Care Adult Daycare when I'm before the Burough Council on Keyboard mayor and them. They hear me every time talk about this. Um I go there twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays. I help them out. They helped me out. As you all know, they're located on Highway 35 in Middletown, New Jersey, Union Square Shopping Center. And the staff there, I'll say again and again, is second to none. They're outstanding. They're terrific. And um any if you you have any young students that want to go there on a volunteer basis, they do take volunteers on occasion. You can get a hold of Weare Adult Daycare. Um, I gotta look it up on the mic. It's on Facebook.
138It's on Facebook. They're on Facebook, Dr. Spoya. And, uh, again, they would be happy to talk to you about it. Um, we care is going to have a bowling tournament coming up on uh, September 26th. The funds go to Alzheimer's New Jersey and uh, it's a Roger Bowen bowling tournament and it's Like I said, they go toward Alzheimer toward Alzheimer's New Jersey toward finding a cure for Alzheimer's. And it's next Friday night, 7 o'clock, 7 to 10 at Shore Lanes in Neptune, New Jersey. Registration to go bowling is at 6:30. And they're looking for contributions. I told you about this last time. Contributions, uh, looking for lane sponsorship and everything like that. Again, that's on their Facebook page. and uh it's a very great cause. Again, that's Friday, September 26 at Jaw Lanes in Neptune,
139New Jersey. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public participation? Uh so we are uh be it resolved by the keeper board of education as per chapter 231 PL197517.1.1 that we hereby determine that is necessary to meet in executive session on September 17th 2025 to discuss finance pupil privacy and facility project issues. Um need a motion for close session. Motion >> second. All in favor? Motion to come back to >> second. >> All in favor? I >> now back in session. Uh I would like to uh put forth the name of Sean Hubler for the uh selection of uh join the board of education. >> Anyone second that? >> I'll second. >> Um any questions? Mr. Paula roll. Mrs. Abrahamson. >> Yes. >> Miss Cunningham. >> Yes. >> Mr. Vopoulos. >> Yes. >> Miss Grabowski?
140>> Yes. >> Miss Kahane? >> Yes. >> Mr. Stall? >> Yes. >> Mr. Staley? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Teas? >> Yes. >> Span? >> Yes. >> Motion passes. So, Hubler will be that was chosen. Um, really did have a tough time making that decision. Had three strong, great candidates that made us have to really think about what we wanted to. So, thankfully we were able to have a tough decision. Um second. All in favor? I