0012026 by sending notification to the Athol Daily News. Two times, posted at each district school, town clerk. Please rise for the national anthem. You are very talented. Please remain standing for singing of God Bless America sung by our national choir. >> God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above. Through the mountains and the prairies, through the oceans, white with foam. God bless America, our home sweet home. God bless America, our home sweet home. >> Please remain standing. We have a special treat. We have two young people that are going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then you can hear more about this young man in a few minutes, with Dr. McCarty. Elijah and Oliver, would you please come up
002here and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Here is Elijah. Here is Oliver. Ready? Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> With liberty and justice for all. Okay, at this time, Stephen Rubel. >> Mr. Carr. >> Here. >> Mr. Segarra. >> Here. >> Mr. Segarra and Tina. >> Here. >> Mrs. Kennedy. Mrs. Reese. >> Here. >> Mrs. Winegar. >> Here. >> Mr. Winowsky. E.P. Ramos. >> Here. >> Mrs. Zica. >> Here. >> We have a quorum. We have a quorum. At this time, administrative report, Dr. McCarty. >> Good evening. I have a few exciting things to share this this meeting tonight. The first one is
003related to one of our students who is sitting up there in the front row, Elijah Smart. Uh Mr. Norris gave me a kind of a little bio to to read because uh what Elijah accomplished was pretty impressive. So, I want everybody to to hear the details. Uh as a history major myself, I am uh I'm very impressed with uh the topics here and and and the success that Elijah had in his paper. That's great. So, Elijah Smart is a sixth-grade middle school student and member of our National History Day Club. Each year, the club organizes a year-long competition where students from middle school to high school from across the state take a history passion project to research and complete. It must relate to a yearly theme, of which this year was revolution, reaction, and reform.
004Elijah chose to write a paper called A Specter Over Nations, Marxism's Revolutionary Challenge, and the Global Reactionary Reform. That's one of I mean, I'd share your comments on that. That's amazing. >> The title was longer than the paper. William Patterson University paper. >> Where he conducted research on the impact of revolutions and reforms uh and reforms the ideal the ideology had has had on history. This research took months and involved reading dozens of primary and secondary sources. On Saturday, May 2nd, Elijah participated in the National History Day Club state competition at William Paterson University. There were 524 students participating with 250 different projects. Elijah was named one of New Jersey's 35 national qualifiers. He was named the first state qualifier in the junior paper division for his work. This is a remarkable feat. Elijah will
005go on to represent Millstone and New Jersey at the National History Day National Competition at the University of Maryland later in June. This competition will involve over 3,000 students from all 50 states and some US territories. Elijah has a chance to become a national champion and should be commended. All right, ELIJAH. SO, YOU CAN SEE ELIJAH'S GOT HIS MEDAL AND HIS RIBBON. From his award from winning the competition. And we wish you all the best in DC. We'll be We'll be rooting for you from from here in New Jersey. I know you're going to do your your your state and Millstone very proud. You've already done an amazing job so far. So, thank you, Elijah. >> Keep up the good work. >> All right. Uh can I get a picture with you? Would you like
006a picture with the board? Come on, Elijah. Come on, board members. Let's go around Elijah and sit. Let's get in the picture. >> Perfect. >> You want to get in the picture? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Come on, parents. Come on, Oliver. Come on, get next to your brother. Got everybody? >> Got everybody. >> Got it. >> Okay. >> Can we post it tomorrow? >> Okay. >> Can we get somebody to take a picture? That's good. >> Perfect. >> Rob, if you could just skip to the next slide before Dr. Baker goes, we just make sure. I also wanted to share that the community problem solvers have raised money for this mural to be painted out. I don't know if you can see a little bit of it out the window there in the courtyard. But,
007they had a professional artist come and and paint the mural. This was part of their fundraising efforts where they had that 5K earlier this year, and they're continuing to look for different places to add additional murals and positive messaging in the bathrooms as well. So, great job for the community problem solvers. One more? Perfect. Just a quick news and updates before we move over to Dr. Baker to make it an easier transition between presentations. Our QSA visit is tomorrow. So, the county superintendent and county representatives are coming to evaluate the district tomorrow. So, that'll be fun. We have our round two of BA interviews on Thursday. And based on that information, we will hopefully have somebody to move forward to check references. And if all goes well, I'm going to request a second meeting in
008May for us to approve that appointment so we can get that 60-day clock started on their notification to their current district. They are probably watching now as well cuz they did share that they watched our last meeting. So, I'm not going to tell you anything about what's going to happen in the near future. The testing is completed. We have makeups still ongoing, of course. We have an operations committee scheduled for next week. DCO Energy will be there to present some of the work they've been doing around the district as well as potential proposal for solar panels in our in our buildings. And last thing, I don't want to steal Chris's thunder here, so she might be sharing this. Our Rita thought is going very, very well. We're on week two. We've had over 4,500 minutes
009logged and you can see our donations is over 11,000 and 75% of that comes right back to the Ed Foundation. So, we're looking at almost $9,000 already. >> We actually broke 9,000. It's 12,000, I think. Yeah. >> I think it was this afternoon. So, that's awesome and it's and it's for kids reading. So, I mean that's great a great initiative. So, thank you again for the MTF and EEE for organizing. Okay. Now we can switch the ball. That's for later. I'd like to now invite up Dr. Baker. He's going to give us a rundown on our math focus group, the work they did this year as we look at our 5-2-8 math resources and scope and sequence in general. This is an important initiative this year launching into next year with a new math program.
010So, Dr. Baker >> Yep. >> Feel free. >> It's been a stressful 24 hours between SLA presenting to you and then Q sec visit tomorrow. So, they'll be very much looking forward to 7:00 tomorrow or at the 7:00 day. But, but I appreciate thank you for the opportunity to present. Um Uh I don't want to be too formal, but the findings of our math focus group. So, this fall as part of our report during in October report on student achievement, I made the recommendation to form a focus group to audit our middle school math program. We wanted to form a team to look at our instruction, our assessments, our curriculum, professional development, and resources. So, this result is a result This report is a result of the work and the path to continuous and sustainable
011student achievement in middle school math. And you'll notice I have We did include fifth grade and um Uh so, we had a decision to make. Would fifth grade be the big brother to the elementary school or the little brother to the middle school? And we thought it was most appropriate for fifth grade to be the bridge to the middle school and have that math math program tied to the middle school math program rather than our K-4 program. So I've been involved in district committee work for over 10 years. And this was the most productive and rewarding group that I've helped lead. Every meeting was focused. We worked well together even through a lot of disagreements. Everyone respected each other's opinion and considered different viewpoints. Uh our meetings were productive and very rarely do you, I'm
012sure in all of our professions, look forward to meetings and leave the meeting saying, "Wow, that was a great meeting." But that's how every meeting ended when we worked with this math focus group. So I want to acknowledge the people that participated and it was very laborious. Uh Miss Dominic, who's our middle school principal, Mr. Becichio, our algebra and geometry teacher, uh Miss Rain, advanced sixth and seventh grade, Mr. Tucci, our sixth grade math teacher, Mr. Timicelli teaches eighth grade math, Trish Norton is our middle school math intervention and I couldn't fit it on the slide, but she was also our special education representative on the group. Miss Muren is advanced fifth grade and Miss Sincock as the fifth grade math teacher. Dr. Chico and Mr. Carroll participated in our vendor fair as well. So
013we were able to have multiple stakeholders involved in this process. So our focus group met formally four times, but many times throughout the throughout the course of the past five months. Um we performed site visits to other campuses. We did classroom observations with each other and we participated and organized the high school articulation session with our eighth grade teachers and their ninth grade and algebra teachers. Our first meeting took place on October 29th and set the course and our plan in action which covered a thorough review of our curriculum and resources. I just want to pause here quickly. This These recommendations and what we talked about does not include algebra and geometry. Our algebra and geometry programs are aligned with the high school algebra and geometry courses. So we follow their curriculum, we use their
014resources. So it's kind of a mirror of what the high school students are getting in terms of algebra and geometry at Al Town High School. We try to mimic that here with our curriculum and our resources. So this is just our general ed track grades five through eight with advanced course work um in between with the exception of algebra and geometry. So our first meeting on October 29th was um Yeah, it was one of those meetings where everybody puts their chips in the middle of the table. It was engaging, we had honest conversations, it was productive, and it certainly was uncomfortable at times. We looked at our NJSL data that I presented the past two years and many years prior. We looked at our linked data. Um we worked we put the we put the
015data around the room and we worked in groups to diagnose our areas where we exceeded and where where there were some opportunities for growth. We really what it came down to and what we wanted to do was what is the experience of the students in the math class? We can look at all the data on the wall that we want and make predictions and what happened here and there and why do we why do we fall short of certain sub score? But it really comes down to what is the students' experience in the classrooms. And that was that honest and sometimes difficult conversations to have. What are What is their experience? Are they engaged? Are the activities of of appropriate? Um Is Is the assessment appropriate for the students? So, we had a great back-and-forth
016there, and really our goal at the end of this meeting was to identify the major areas that we wanted to develop through for our middle school program. And we came up with three major priorities. One is the review of our current resources. There have been updates to the student learning standards in 2023. So, this is our second full year, and although we are aligned to state standards, we wanted to make sure that our resources reflect that. Um We want to see are we using the most appropriate and new technologies for digital digital practice and assessments? Um So, we we do use Reveal Math, um but our group wanted to explore are there other options out there? Two, our advanced math tracks. Is our advanced math The questions we asked is our advanced math track rigorous
017enough? Are we ensuring all New Jersey student learning standards in math are met during the students' track from fifth grade through eighth grade? We could We'll talk about that in a little bit. So, we offer one of the one of the um ideas and and notices was that we offer an algebra course over 2 years. When algebra is should be most advanced math program that or the most advanced students taking that most advanced class. And we were thinking are we watering it down for our students? Are they ready for algebra if they have to take it over 2 years in seventh and eighth grade? Are we hitting all of the standards? And then our third, are we identifying the right students? How are we identifying them? What updates need to be made to our rubrics?
018So, our next meeting was uh a vendor fair. And that really anybody who or who's been around for a couple of years knows this is really the Millstone's process for identifying best programs that we can put in our students' hands. Um I really think this is the best way to go about finding the right program and getting multiple stakeholders and multiple people's buy-in into a program. Um what we do is we reach out to Well, first I canvass Monmouth County and I see what are the programs that our districts that we like to compare ourselves to or that our neighbors using in the classroom. So, what we do is we reach out to those vendors and we invite them in for a 1-hour sales pitch. So, they bring in their resources and we have our
019math group and we have we have parent representatives there and we listen to their pitch. And they they talk to the teachers about what their programs can offer or they bring samples. So, our teachers are thumbing through the materials and asking questions of the vendors in real time so that we have the best and most accurate information when it's when it's time to decide programs to pilot and program programs to implement. So, on December 10th, we had our vendor fair and we met with i-Ready, enVision, Open Up Resources, Big Ideas, which the textbook series is Math in Focus, and Amplify Desmos. Um we had offered invites to others, but these were the five that were able to attend, some in person and some virtually. But we did have resources for all of them. Um During
020the During the process, every participant completed a survey after the presentations so that we have all of that data. And then over the weekend, I was able to put that together, send it to the group, and we met virtually to think about which programs we wanted to pilot for 6 weeks. Um the reason we did not do a full pi- full pilot is one, it could be costly, and two, if you're going to do it over the winter, now you're you're inching towards NJ SLA prep, and I didn't want to overburden This is a burden enough on these teachers, and we'll talk about that, but I didn't want them to have to be worried about piloting a program while also preparing their students for NJ SLA. So, a 1 to 2 week uh I'm sorry,
021a 1 to 2 unit 6-week pilot is pretty much the norm when you're looking at the second half of the year. Sometimes if you do a pilot, you could do a pilot over the full year, but that would get started in the fall, and we just did not have the time for that. So, first, we did wind up piloting Amplify and Desmos, but first, I want to thank the pilot teachers, cuz this is not easy to pick up a new pro- program and parachute into a new program midstream. Um when you think about a program, there's new structure, there's new technology, there's new pacing and vocabulary that the teachers have to learn, and then have to deliver that to the students. The teachers were provided PD for any program that they were using. And as
022I said, they planned to teach one to two units from the new program for the lessons we would have taught in Reveal. So, the teachers looked at what were the lessons we were going to be teaching over this 6-week pilot, and then we asked the uh Amplify and Big Ideas to make sure we have those units and those lessons so that we were able to keep pace with the with the lessons that we typically would have taught had we been still using Reveal during that time. Um and the teachers, I want to make sure I give them a shout-out. Mr. Simcox, Ms. Mecca, Mr. Tucci, Mr. Dimicelli, and Ms. Costas were our Desmos team. Ms. Muren, Ms. Rain, Ms. Kalish, and Ms. Rain again, so double kudos to Miss Rain for piloting both sixth grade
023and seventh grade with big ideas. So, that was certainly a heavy lift for her. Um So, reasons we selected these two programs to pilot. Desmos we thought was digital forward. Staff and students use Desmos features already. So, Desmos has a lot of free products that our students are used to doing using. Amplify, the publisher purchased Desmos and created a curriculum around it. So, it was a program that many of our teachers were used to using the features, but now it was getting used to understanding what their curriculum looks like. And like I said, it's digital forward meaning it's very digital heavy meaning every lesson involves some sort of technology component. Some of it could be all lesson or some it could just be a piece of it. Um ex- it is extra- exploration-based approach and
024collaborative learning. It's very similar to our K4 program with problem-based learning and exploration learning. So, we thought that could be a nice bridge if our students are learning in an exploration model in the K4 world and then they could build on it in 5-3. So, that was something to explore. Um It was a great presentation. So, that always work that always sell, right? That sells. And it was a sleek and modern view. Part of the reason we also enjoy Amplify CKLA, which is our K5 language arts program, is the professionalism of the program and the resource that you get. It just looks like a really well-done program. CKLA is living up to that billing and we had the same we had the same hopes for Desmos as well. The package looks similar. And on March
02530th, we uh performed a site visit at Tinton Falls who's using Desmos. This is their second year of implementation, so we were able to speak with those teachers about what their implementation roll out looked like and how the students are engaged with Desmos in Cape Coral. We selected Big Ideas as the other pilot. Uh kind of the opposite uh style, let's say, of Big Ideas. It's It's guided investigation design, meaning it's more teacher-led. So, the teacher will ask the question, but this teacher is still really guiding the discussion. There are definitely opportunities for exploration and collaboration, but that's uh that's not the main focus of every lesson. Um credible authors and publisher of of Math in Focus. There's a good balance of print and digital. And instruction is and assessments are familiar to the students
026and teachers. I don't want to necessarily say it's a plug-and-play program, but it's a program that our teachers it is deliverable in a style that they're used to. Whereas Desmos would have required a lot of professional development to relearn a new style and approach to teaching, and then learn about the program itself. Big Ideas was more we know this style of teaching, but now we need to learn about the program. And we performed a site visit at Upper Freehold that was using uh Big Ideas Math. They're using the older version. We'd be using the newer one on March 30th as well, just to see how they reacted to the program as well. The next piece of this was looking at our advanced courses and criteria. And we had a great activity here, a group think
027activity um at our meeting, where we talked about why do we Why do we offer it? What's the purpose of offering middle schoolers advanced coursework? Um what are our goals? How do we ensure all Millstone students have been exposed to all standards throughout 5-3? How do we identify students? Do we over-identify? Do we under-identify? Do we have the appropriate resources to meet our goals? And how do we provide opportunities for movement between the program? So, these were conversations that we had that we opened up this meeting with to make sure that we were all on the same page for our advanced coursework and why we're offering it. This is what we offer and to me it looks like this. Bunch of train tracks. See you later, guys. You got it. Kind of train tracks all
028over the place. There was a a lot of courses being offered and a lot of movement in between the courses and when you have that level of movement, gaps can form. So, you all have you either have had or will have students that have gone through our middle school math program, so this may look familiar to you. Our grade our current grade six we have math six general ed and advanced math six typical. As they move to grade seven, they can go to general ed's math seven, advanced algebra, which is algebra taught over the course of one year, that's your high should be and is our highest achieving math students. And then we have a program that for students that may not meet that mark, we offer algebra 1A, which is kind of algebra a
029full year of algebra taught over two years. And when you're looking at a two-year algebra model, this should be some of our highest learners learning in that environment. But algebra taught over two years at Allentown High School is the foundations course. It's pretty much it's foundations of algebra because they have block scheduling. So, if you took foundations of algebra fall and spring, that's essentially equivalent to two years of math. That all those students are taking algebra at the high school, we're doing that at the middle school. We talked to ourself we asked ourself, is that the most appropriate style and pace for these students? Um and we've talked that Algebra 1 is the foundation for all math and I can speak just last night studying with my son in geometry and we're looking at inscribed
030angles on a circle and I told him it's half of the inscribed angle is half of the arc. The geometry now is done. The rest of the problem is half You got to go back to your algebra days. So, algebra is that foundation for all courses moving forward. So, we want to make sure that any student that graduates from middle school here has a strong foundation in algebra and we did not water it down for them just to say that they took and we offered and they took algebra as an eighth grader. And yes, our NJSL scores are impressive in algebra and geometry. So, you can look at that and say, yes, we are identifying the right students. They are all passing the end-of-course exam by NJSL. And yes, that's one metric, but we don't
031know in that score, how well have they mastered that concept, that that content, how comfortable are they moving on to the next level. And we just finished that day with an activity where we where we said, write your ideal math course. Everybody So, 10 people that were in the room, write out your ideal coursework and submit it. So, they all gave it to me and then we kind of went from there. So, our recommendations. First is that we adopt the math Big Ideas Math in Focus series for our grades 5 through 8 math programs and we look at a revised course sequence for grades 6, 7, and 8. Big Ideas is, you know, Cengage is the publisher, Big Ideas is the program. Math in Focus is the title of the textbook. Okay, so Big Ideas
032Math in Focus. For grades 5 to 8 will be our hopefully will be our core resource resource for math instruction grades 5 to 8 that does not include Algebra 1 and Geometry. The reason for our group picking going this way, it was accessible to all learners. So we had our from our special ed and our intervention looking at the program and they determined that their students were able to access this program. We had Miss Rain who was teaching our advanced sixth and our advanced seventh course and she was piloting this in that course and it was challenging very challenging enough for those students as well. So it hit the full range of learners. And I don't want to speak about any other program. I will for one second. One of the feedback that we got
033about Desmos which was the other pilot in our site visit was some of their lower level learners their resource or intervention students had a difficult time jumping into those programs because it's so collaborative and problem-based learning that they had a difficult time getting started. So their their teachers told us that they were supplementing a lot with Big Ideas. Um Big Ideas has a strong digital component and it's brand new but it it's not reliant on a heavy tech usage. The scope and sequence of the lessons align with the pacing for NJSLS so there would be little work on our end to have to readjust lessons to make sure we are hitting a majority or all of the content before NJSLS testing begins. Math in Focus focuses on real-world application of the content. So the reason
034they call it Math in Focus rather than a question saying "Rich has two apples and Ron has five. How many apples do they have together?" Again, that's very trivial. It's a middle school program. But the questions always say, "You have five apples. You are finding the perimeter. You are finding the area." So, it puts the student now as the math problem solver. Just that one little twist puts the student in the mindset of this is applicable This will be applicable to me. Um the program offers compact series for advanced track. So, when we talked about gaps, potential gaps. So, when we're teaching an advanced seventh, that advanced seventh course is going to work in a book that has both seventh and eighth grade standards. So, that we know when those students go to algebra, they
035have had sixth, seventh, and eighth grade standards taught to them. And we're not relying on their ability to just be good students and and pick it up along the way. We can say for certain that they have been exposed to all of these learning standards. Um the students and teachers were very comfortable with the program. Like I said, I don't want to I I I said plug and play, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's That's That means that the the program is ready to be taught. We have to learn the program, but we don't have to learn a new style of instruction. And it's last on the list, but it was a high priority for our for our team, was alignment with upper grade level. Knowing that our students now have the same
036K-8 math experience as our neighboring district that all funnel to the same school, we know that when they're in ninth graders, they've all had the same math experience. They've all worked out of the same books. They had the same vocabulary, same language, same assessments. So, that should benefit their ninth grade teachers knowing that every student in their class has had the same math experience in middle school. Next was our advanced revised advanced math track. And pretty much highlighted by the elimination of the 1A and 1B. Uh we hope that it's streamlined. It's competitive. It provides a logical sequence. Um and you can see we kept grade six as math six uh advanced math six in gen ed. Grade seven has a math seven track and a math honors track. Your math six honors, should they
037meet the criteria, you are placed now in algebra one. That is your hot right now in our geometry class. I believe they have 12 students. So, we're talking and that's our biggest class. Our eighth grade right now is 160 students. We have 12 kids taking the geometry course. So, that track, that bottom track is for your highest students. So, they would go from math six honors to algebra one to geometry. Your math six students have uh the option, well, option being if they qualify for math seven or math seven honors. If you're on the math seven honors, now you're on the track to have algebra in eighth grade. And if you're on the math six math seven track, you'll have pre-algebra in eighth grade and be ready for algebra one as a freshman in high
038school. And what's important to know here is that one of the benefits of Allentown, and I say Allentown because that's where almost most of our students go, so that's that's my point of reference, has block scheduling. So, we haven't closed any door to any student wanting to take advanced math. Your pre-algebra in eighth grade, if those students all of a sudden something clicks and now they're whether it's a motivation or something just clicks with them in algebra, they can double up. They can take algebra as a freshman, geometry as I'm sorry, as a freshman fall, geometry as a freshman spring uh freshman spring if they want. Now, they are on one of the most competitive tracks in town. It's up to the student. We haven't closed any doors here, but we have ensured that there
039is a logical sequence that we are there are no gaps in their learning by bouncing back and forth, up and down, and spreading courses over two years. And then the last pieces, which is still under development, I'm actually meeting with Ms. Yoder on Thursday to look at the elementary advanced rubrics. And it's Dominic Kennedy and the the middle school, but we just want to make sure we go through that one more time before posting it on our website. Um is our criteria and our rubrics for placement. Um you know, the warning is it will be more competitive. We want to make sure that the students that we are that identified for that bottom track, the algebra geometry track, are your most competitive and ready students. Um It may involve difficult conversations with parents, and for
040me that's okay. Um like I said we I can always refer back to these parents to um that want to appeal and get into the higher track, is that we haven't closed the door. If they're going, you know, out of town, there is still the opportunity if the goal is I thought this I don't know what their juniors and seniors looks like, but if it's a uh AP calculus, that is still open to any student that graduates from middle school. Um And the one thing that is not included in these rubrics, and I got to be careful what I say cuz we have two subs coming tomorrow, but NJSLS is not going to be included in all the all the districts that I spoke to are not including NJSLS because they haven't released the score.
041So, we don't know what the scores for NJSLS because it's an adaptive model this year. We just don't know what those scores look like, so it would be very irresponsible to build those into a rubric when we don't even know what those scores mean. So, we are taking them out of our criteria for this year, and potentially putting them back in down the road once we have a better handle of what those scores mean. Um but as for next year, those will not be included in our in our rubrics. And one thing I want to make sure everybody understands, anybody listening, next year we will offer 1B because we have students who are taking 1A this year. So, we don't want to make sure we we don't want to shut anybody out. So, we will
042be offering 1B for the last time 2026-2027. But that model and that track will be closed to beyond that. So, thank you very much, and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer. >> I want to say uh thank you. You did a great job, and thank you for allowing me to be an observer. And I don't know if you heard, I I shouted out a word when you were talking. That's the educator in me, but I want to make a point. You said an inscribed angle is 1/2 the arc. We all knew what you meant. The reason I'm mentioning it, I was an observer. I didn't make any comments, as you know, about these series books. I know the books that you guys have chosen, the series. I know the author. And
043he constantly emphasizes the correct language. For example, most people would say c squared equals a squared plus b squared is the Pythagorean theorem. That's not true. c squared equals a squared plus b squared is the Pythagorean theorem if and only if c is the length of the hypotenuse. Another thing I noticed in his books and other books, and again, I compliment your team, if you guys ask yourself, what is the definition of an isosceles triangle? 99% of the people get it wrong because they think an isosceles triangle is a triangle that has two equal sides. Wrong. An isosceles triangle is a triangle that It at least two equal sides. Why am I mentioning this? Because the series that you guys have chosen, the math committee has has chosen this author constantly emphasizes the correct language,
044which is very very important. The old saying is do it right the first time. Also, I'm glad that you have aligned with Upper Freehold because Stone Bridge Middle School test scores are a lot higher than our middle school test scores. Kids are the same, so it has to be something with the curriculum. So, again, from the bottom of my heart, I congratulate you for doing a good job and thank you for letting me be an observer. >> I have a question. So, Paul, can you just explain to me for those children who are at that honor six and then they move over to algebra and then they move over to geometry. When they get into ninth grade, what math do they then start with? >> I believe those students would be placed in algebra two.
045>> Okay. Thanks. >> Yep. And Al- Al- I believe I believe, last I heard, does not offer an algebra one honors track. And that's something that our uh our articulate what we articulate with the high school was something that we talked about and I'm not sure you know, course work availability of teachers, if that's something that uh could happen down the road, but that could also alleviate a lot of uh the different pathways for our students to offer an algebra one honors course instead of some students who who all go into the foundations course. Uh that could help, but that's a that's that would be a high school decision. >> Thank you. >> Hey, I have a quick question. Yeah, by the way, great presentation. >> Um how do you feel how do you feel
046these programs align with our elementary school curriculum and so, meaning different curriculums have different styles just in terms of vocabulary and something like that. Using visual versus non-visual. And do you think that I think in our elementary schools using Go Math and Go Math and Go Math. Do you see a big culture shock coming out of those programs to these? And do we need to think about how we bridge the students from the other curriculums into this school? >> Yeah, so I've thought a lot about that. So just a survey, our K4 is in Go Math. Fifth grade this whole time has been kind of on an island working on one year contracts with Go Math. And then our students in the middle school were using Reveal Math. So even just there you could see
047the disjointedness. So now we have a K4 program. And that that's why I said where does fifth grade belong? We said fifth grade would belong with high school with the middle school. And the programs that we're using in K4 have such a strong emphasis to focus on uh the foundation, you know, of that number sense and understanding uh the foundational under the foundational pieces of math. That that only helps the fifth through eighth program. And I think there'd be more of a culture shock if we went from a traditional approach to a problem-based learning approach where the students that have been learning in this teacher-led style and all of a sudden it's going to be this discovery as opposed to discovery-based and now we're kind of going to pull you back a little bit have
048the teacher take a little bit more of the lead. Before we we jumped in with the Nova Math. I made it pretty clear that this was not going to be a full district-wide program even though they weren't even ready for middle school. But I said how will that look because eventually there is an end point to the Nova Math and they will be learning at some point whether it was the middle school or high school, they'd be getting to a point where it was going to be a little more traditional in approach. And they mentioned if there's going to be one way or the other, it would definitely want to be uh problem-based collaborative learning leading into uh the teacher-led. It's more of a seamless transition for the students. As opposed to just releasing them
049to learn in a more of a discovery learning approach. >> Well, I'd like to definitely extend a compliment to Dr. Baker to the committee. You think about this almost 8 months in the makings of this process. They started back in October. Uh so, there's a lot of time, energy, effort going into those sessions. You can tell the teachers are very passionate about math, very and very committed to making sure that we have the best uh plan in place uh moving forward. This is something that I've been uh beating at this drum for for many years, not just in Millstone, but prior to, where we're accelerating students who A, maybe aren't ready to be accelerated or over identified, or B, we're skipping standards. One of the key words there was compacted, meaning we're not skipping anything.
050These kids have the capability to move quickly. So, we're just going to go through them quicker. Um and that way we can say there aren't going to be gaps down the road. And also that that point of algebra being spread over 2 years, it was if we're our expectation is this is a rigorous high school class, it needs to be taught as a rigorous high school class, uh not spread out over 2 years. So, these are all these positive steps. There will be a process, of course, to lead through, including that transition from fourth to fifth. I guess they definitely have that transition currently or in in the past third to fourth. But I I think that we're heading in the right direction and and having that collaboration and and that commerce those conversations, bringing
051everybody together really I think benefits the department as a whole. And then this is going to then dovetail into you know, professional development launch as we're bringing these new pro these new these new resources, so we can kind of really reset our entire math K-5 through 8 program, similar to how we reset K through 4 previously. So, it's a very exciting time for math. All right. >> Keep up the good work, sir. >> Thank you. Mr. Courtney, thank you. >> Okay, a few more things. Uh, motions to approve. I have the enrollment report. Uh, we have as of the report for April, 1,141 K-3-8 students. The K-3-8 Our HIV report for April, zero claims, so zero founded. Okay. And then, we had the uh, annual HIV grade report. Uh, that's where each school self-assesses themselves
052based on their HIV initiatives and to promote a positive environment. Uh, we scored 93% as a district. Um, we have scored 100% meeting and exceeding all requirements. So, we met and exceeded every requirement that's outlined in the state report. Uh, and we'll continue to to move forward with that. And the last thing is the board approves the attached school health nursing services plan. This is an annual uh, renewal that's reviewed by the district's physician and he signs off on it. And then, we renew that just for the next year. >> We have a motion to approve the superintendent's report. James, seconded by Cathy. Steve. Mr. Carr. Yes. Mr. Signorella. Yes. Mr. Chickering. Yes. Mr. Reese. Yes. Mr. Wyckoff. Yes. Vice President Ramos. Yes. President Sekora. Yes. Motion carried. Thank you, sir. Public comments on agenda
053items only as per board bylaw 0167. Any public comments from the audience? Okay, anybody We don't have anybody out here, right? Okay, we'll move forward. Human Resources, Mrs. Ramos. >> I would like to move Human Resources in its entirety. >> We have a second. Cathy. Any discussion? Steve. Mr. Carr. Yes. Mr. Signorella. Yes to all but one and five G. Mrs. Reese. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whitecar. >> Yes. >> Vice President Ramos. >> Yes. >> Superintendent Sica. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carr. Okay, back to Mrs. Ramos, education. >> I would like to move education in its entirety. >> Do we have a second? Ron. Discussion. Stephen. Okay. Mr. Carr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Inderal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Giugliano. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reese. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whitecar. >> Yes. >> Vice President Ramos.
054>> Yes. >> Superintendent Sica. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carr. Okay. Finance, I'd like to move finance in its entirety. Seconded by Christine. Any discussion? Stephen. Mr. Carr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Inderal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Giugliano. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reese. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Whitecar. >> Yes, except I recuse myself on anything that has to do with the Whitecar Family Scholarship. >> Vice President Ramos. >> Yes. >> Superintendent Sica. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carr. Okay, the Upper Freehold uh Freehold Regional School District report. Uh I know the audience could be disappointed we don't have a video, but Mark sent me something to read. The Allentown High School Robotics team competed at the Worlds in Houston, Texas. Although they didn't win, they had an amazing experience and look forward to next year's challenge. This is
055for all board members. Allentown High School graduation is on June 22nd at 7:00 p.m. All Millstone Board of Education members are invited to attend. Please email Mark Citarella if you plan to come. Our annual Where Are They Going? list of college acceptances will be out soon. I can assure you it's an impressive list of colleges. Our Allentown High School Musical, Bright Star, was nominated for countless Basie Awards, equivalent of Academy Awards for high school musicals. They will be performing at the Count Basie Theater on March 19th. Maybe that's May 19th. Five, all of our spring sports teams have qualified for the state playoffs and are moving deeper into the CVC tournament. Amazing work by our kids and coaches. Last one, May 18th at 6:30 p.m. virtually, we are hosting a community conversation about the cell
056phone ban in our schools. I'm sure the high school kids are excited about that. Please join us. The link will be sent out early on May Monday, May 18th. We always look forward to celebrating our kids during this time of the school year. My best, Martin D'Amico. So, Martin, we say thank you. >> John, the graduation is 7:00 p.m.? >> Graduation is June 22nd at 7:00 p.m. Anybody interested, email Martin. Good. Okay, we're at the community engagement and before we go to Carissa, uh Carina is going to read something from Coach Brittany, which I read last night at Upper Freehold, and Martin's going to share with you, I guess >> serve with all of the students in Upper Freehold. >> This is for A&M Redbird sideline cheer. The A&M Redbird sideline cheer program is excited
057to invite girls entering kindergarten through eighth grade to join our growing team for the upcoming season. This program focuses on teamwork, school spirit, and building confidence in a fun and supportive environment. We are pleased to share that two teams are already forming. Kindergarten through first grade, second through fourth grade. We are currently seeking additional participants in grades five through eight to complete our upper level team. No prior cheer experience is required, just a positive attitude and a willingness to willingness to learn. In addition, we are looking for two to three dedicated volunteer coaches to help guide and support our athletes. Coaching experience is not required. Participants will have the opportunity to make new friends, learn cheer and sideline routines, and be part of a positive community-based program that supports local youth sports. We welcome all
058interested families to join us and be part of something special with A&M Redbirds sideline cheer. Registration is now open through our recreation program and will close on June 10th. >> Thank you. Uh Coach Norris asked me to read this last night, which I did, and I'm reading it tonight. A&M Redbirds football registration is now open. A&M Redbirds is a local youth football organization associated with the Jersey Shore Conference. The league is looking for interested Millstone kids and families to be a part of our program. Kids from the ages of 5 to 14 are welcome to sign up. A&M Redbirds is an organization that prioritizes kids, family, safety, competition, and improvement. Give your child a chance to become a part of one of our teams where they will learn teamwork, perseverance, strength, coordination, conditioning, endurance, and
059what it takes to overcome adversity, as well as the skills and techniques to excel at football. They'll also have a lot of fun doing it. If interested, please visit amredbirds.com to find registration information. You may also check Take Home Thursdays to see our flyer. We hope to see you on the gridiron this summer. And I have one more thing to read for Mr. Norris if we could put the picture up on the screen. This was in the You can make that bigger. This I still call it the Millstone Times, uh but it's different name now. Uh this Maybe I'll go there you go. Uh unbelievable. This is from Mr. Norris. Kusa Kusa. Hope I pronounced that right. Calling all Millstone citizens, the Millstone Historical Society, Baird Homestead, and the New Jersey Historic Trust are hosting
060a George Washington encampment at Baird Homestead on Saturday, May 30th, in order to celebrate America 250. This event is free and open to the public and citizens, and families are welcome and encouraged to come. The day will be from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and will feature events like a chance to meet George and Martha Washington re-enactors, converse with Washington's enslaved cook, observe the First New Jersey Regiment conduct drills, visit a field hospital, learn about Millstone's role in the revolution, engage in a musket drill, listen to the 18th century music, and visit animals. In addition, some Millstone Township Middle School students will be putting on a performance called Revolution Housewives of Millstone. Where they will be teaching people about the lives of some prominent women in Millstone's revolutionary history. There will be food trucks, free
061parking at Millstone Middle School, and also the middle school will be available if there is rain. Please come out and support the community and America 250. I know I'm going. I hope everybody attends. It's May 30th. At this point, we have the lovely Carissa, MTFEE. Carissa, notice I said it right this time. >> So, I have a few many new updates for today. >> I turned it off. >> Oh. Now on? So, I have a few many updates for today. I know Dr. McCartney said the read-a-thon is still going on and we're doing really well as of like 30 seconds ago when I refreshed the page. We're up to 12,000 and $10 in donations and 9,000 and $7 of that will go to the district. Yeah, so that's really awesome. We still have ongoing till
062May 18th. And also, I wanted to thank uh What Willies and New Jersey Tree Surgeons. Those were our business sponsors. You can see them on the page. Go visit their website. So, thank you so much to them and for everybody that's participated and you know, supported our our school and our students. Um we also have I know I mentioned the David Busters. I we renewed that. So, that's I believe uh July 31st. >> July >> goes in like 8-day increments. Um so, that's again on our website. You can go to our um Instagram page, Millstone MTFEE, and you will find the links for everything on there, including the David Busters fundraiser. And then, we're really excited for our 5K. So, that's going to be on June 6th at Millstone Park. Um it's $35 if you
063would like to register to run. Um runsignup.com. It's called the Millstone Loop 5K. So, you can Google it on there or again, go to our Instagram page. It's also on that additional flier with the QR code where you can sign up for that as well. Um we're also going to have vendors. It'll be free to any spectators, anybody that wants to come to the vendor fair. So, we're going to have vendors, food trucks, and the 5K. So, it's going to be a really fun day. >> Thank you, Chrissa. Okay, we're up to old business. Uh I'd like to set the record straight on something. At the last board meeting, people left with the impression that Mr. Signorelli and I were under Attorney General investigation. So, I go to Dr. McCartney, are you aware of any
064attorney general investigations?" Steve, are you aware of any attorney general investigations? Mike, do you have a comment to make? >> We're not aware ourselves of any investigations that have been taken up or filed by the attorney general's office. Now, common sometimes for the attorney general to pick up cases that it sent to these as it represents the Jersey public entities, but Thomas far as it goes with our offices, we haven't received any communication. >> So, basically all it is is an ethics complaint that will be discussed in administrative law court as which was the previous one which was dismissed and appealed and with anything can be appealed. Okay, with that being said, new business? Okay, moving on. Public comments on any topic. Okay, we don't need an executive session. So, at this point, it's up
065to me to read noteworthy dates. Tuesday, tomorrow, Dr. Baker. >> Yeah. >> That's what I had on here. I just had to say that. May 22nd, early dismissal. May 25th, district closed, Memorial Day. June 16th, the next Board of Education meeting unless Dr. McCarty suggests one at the second one in May. With that said, do I have a motion to discuss? >> meeting, if we have a second meeting, is it going to be in person or will it be Zoom? Like if we're all with this all we're doing is Zoom. Okay. >> And then for those who want to come in person Okay. >> Just to clarify, but I just >> Ours >> The 25th. >> Dr. McCarty, being that was said about graduation, do you have any idea how many tickets parents get or
066that's decided yet? >> No, I don't know. >> Okay. >> It depends on the size of the class of five. Dr. Baker said at least five tickets. >> Okay, for the audience, those who wanted to know graduation tickets, Dr. Baker said >> Dr. Dr. believes it to be five. >> Okay. I want to quote him properly. Dr. Baker believes this fight. Again, it's based on enrollment. There's number of seats, take away the seats given to the guests and the dignitaries who are presenting. Whatever seats are left over, divide that number by the number of students, and I think that's how it's done. Is that safe to say? Isn't it lovely when we end on a mathematical problem? >> With that being said, motion to adjourn. We have Kathy, seconded by Ron. All in favor? >>
067All opposed?