001[Music] I'd like to call this meeting to order. Mrs. Walker, would you lead us in the flag salute? 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. Sunshine law statement. All requirements of the open public meetings act have been met for this meeting of the board of education of the bureau of notice of this meeting was filed with the record and town news and all persons requesting such notice. Mrs. Norian, would you read the mission statement? >> Certainly. The Oriel public school district is dedicated to the ongoing pursuit of educational excellence through comprehensive innovative curriculum and instruction. The district is committed to providing opportunities for social, emotional, and academic discovery to foster curiosity, courage, and character.
002Our goal is to prepare our students to become lifelong learners who are self-directed, resilient, productive, responsible citizens. >> Thank you. Roll call. >> On the role, Mr. Delg Greco will not be joining us this evening. Mr. Dariion, >> here. >> Mrs. Downey >> here. >> Mrs. Moran >> here. Mr. Nutland >> here. >> Mrs. Walker >> here. >> Mr. Walsh will not be here this evening. Mrs. Norian >> here. >> Mrs. Nichols >> here. At this time, we will open to the public for agenda items only. >> Not seeing any, we'll move right to the superintendent's report. The majority of my report today will be the 2025 NJSLA results presentation which I will do in conjunction with uh Miss Cummings as director of curriculum. >> Take mine. Good evening. Okay. I would like to present
003with Miss Bosios the NJSLA results for the spring administration. So I would like to introduce the following assessments that were administered during the spring 2025. We have for grades three through six, we administered the NJSLA English language arts as well as mathematics. Our grade five also had the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in science as well. During the August meeting, Miss Bosios presented the results for the access testing for our multilingual learners. In addition for the dynamic learning map assessment, it is an assessment that is administered to students with significant special education needs. But on site here at OPS, no students actually were administered that assessment. So we do not have any students that we can actually present data on. Below we have a chart that presents the format for the NJSLA for English language
004arts as well as for mathematics as well as for science as far as the format that the students were administered. There are two different scoring or grading scales for that the NJSLA has actually been presented. We have a five-point grading scale for English language arts and mathematics. And then we have a four-point grading scale for science. The district is mandated to present the participation rates across the grade levels as well as for ELA, math, and science. As you can see that we do not have 100% participation rate participation rates across the grade levels. We do have students that have decided to opt out for various reasons. Sometimes we have students that have to opt out due to injuries to hands or they may opt out because they are are ill. So that's why you don't
005see 100% across the grade levels. So what have we done already? School and district administration has already redu reviewed all of the available data points as far as for individual grade level data, the subgroup grade level, standard by grade level, and then the different domains. And what have we done with them? We've triangulated the data as far as comparing it by the link end of the year grade mark to see if our students were actually ready for the assessment and then we've compared them to the dibbles as well as other reading level assessments that we've done here in district. We are going to as far as within this week we'll comp we will share all of the data with parents via communication that will be sent out by Miss Bosius via email and then paper
006copies will be followed up through the US postal service. In addition, we have uploaded all of the New Jersey student learning assessment data into our linket so that our stu our staff as well will be able to look at this data throughout the school year so that we can continue to do data driven assessments for our intervention as well as for our federal and state funded programs that we have available. Excuse me. So, as far as for science, we always like to present our science data first here at OPS. So, with that, we're going to start with our grade level percentages starting from level one going up to level three and four. So comparing our performances from the district to the state, um 10% of our OPS students in grade five performed at 10% in
007comparison to 30.6% in the state of New Jersey. And then if we move all the way to our right, 62.8% 8% of our students at grade at excuse me in Oidell have performed at proficiency in in grades excuse me in levels three through four in comparison to 30.1 across the state. We are mandated in order to actually present data by subgroups. In comparison, we have all of our students performing at 60%. And then if you look, we have it triangulated by students with IEPs, students without IEPs, and then current and former multilingual learners. That is presented here. We have it also presented by race. As you see, we have our Asian and our white students that are noted here. We have other subgroups that have actually completed the assessment. But out of our 124 students
008that actually completed the assessment, we have some other subgroups that are not noted here because we have less than 10 students that were in those subgroups. And because it is less than 10 students, unfortunately, we're not able to report on them during this report. As a standard practice here at Oidell, we always like to go ahead on and present by gender. And it's very similar as far as the profici proficiency levels across the board. As far as across a three-year trend for 2023, 2024, and 2025, this is a trend analysis with a percentage of proficiency as it relates to the comparison across the straight across, excuse me, the district in relation to the state. So as you can see that we continue to have a consistent measure of growth and we are above the state
009average. So as you see here we continue to have successful growth over 60% of proficiency. Um, as far as with the red line, which is in comparison with all of the schools within the Bergen cohort, we don't have it denoted for 2025 as of right yet. We do not have that data available for you at this time, but as you continue to see, we are continuing to move in a upward motion as the years go on. So celebrations we continue to have consistent performance across the years. We have equal performance across the genders as well as we have strong performance in life science for 36%. What are we going to do in order to continue this positive proficiency? We're going to continue our implementation of the steam units as well as outside of the day
010programming so that we're going to continue to f focus on investigation, sense making and critique critiquing practices um throughout the grade levels as well as we're going to focus on physical science with handson learning experiences for our students. We're also going to ensure that we are providing our students with challenging non-fiction text as we know that science is definitely heavy on text as well as graphics within this assessment. I'm going to turn it over to Miss Bose for math. One additional comment on sciences. Just as a reminder, our science performance is so high that we were one of the three districts in Bergen County that was asked to present to all districts in Bergen County. They were specifically asking, "What is it that Oriel is doing?" And we're actually not we're not test prepping it.
011Lincoln does have a science assessment that you can use to help students prepare. It's not something we're using. When I went to our fifth grade science teachers and I said, "What are you doing?" Um, Miss Powers, who is an incredibly experienced fifth grade teacher, looked at me and she said, "We're just teaching and this assessment isn't about just fifth grade. This assessment is about all the science through fifth grade." Um, the piece that I was really happy to see that the life science went up because we've been doing a lot of work with life science in fifth grade with the hydroponics and the gardening. Um, I'm not thrilled that the physical science went down. So that's going to be a real area of focus for us. Physical science has to be seen. You can't just
012talk about it. You need to drop the pen. And so that's really the challenge that we've given Miss Catalo this year is how can we embed those experiences not in the steam lab but as a coach in the general education classroom during science time. So as I switch over to mathematics again, you will see the same pattern of presentation of the data. We're going to start out by looking at each performance level comparing the district to the state from a level one to a level four and five. So in level one you'll see really exciting that no one zero percentage of our population scored in level one. So did not meet expectations in fourth, fifth or sixth grade. The piece here that is most concerning to me um as superintendent is if you look across
013fourth grade and I apologize that I don't have my pointer today. I have three and they're all missing somehow. If you look at in fourth grade and across that row to level three, you'll see that 22.1. Level three is approaching the standard. So there are approximately 100 students in that grade level. So 22 of them are very close to passing. That was the one grade level that really surprised me with their results because it wasn't aligned with Lincoln. Lincoln predicted them almost at 80% passing and link is usually spoton. So whether it was that day, whether it was um that group of students is more inconsistent, I don't know. But that is a really big focus for us to continue to look at because you'll notice the other grade levels did not have that performance
014level at level three. The real highlight of our data in mathematics is fifth grade. You'll remember that amplify Desmos was implemented as a primary resource in fourth and fifth grade for the first time this past year. And I'm fairly sure that that is one of the first times we've broken an 80% passing rate in mathematics. So one of the celebrations that I'll share later is normally when we implement a program we're worried about implementation dip and we had stability in fourth really and nice increase in fifth grade. Again, we look at that mathemat mathematics proficiency by program, looking at all our students. Uh, in the past, we've only ever presented students with IEP, but you as a board have also often asked about what happens if we pull students without an IEP out because whether
015that number is big or small will statistically change the overall. And we don't present multilingual learners in third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade because in none of those grades is it 10. However, I can combine it to show you the overall performance of the school. And again, for me, and as much as I like to celebrate, I'm also very realistic that my job is also to identify areas for growth. Um, the third grade special education percentage is an area. It's at 18.8% that I want to look at that cohort of students. Um, and I also want to look at our programming and I want to also know that our team has identified where are the gaps because if there are gaps and we go into fourth grade and we don't fill those gaps, we're going
016to be building on nothing. We again also look at proficiency by ethnicity and race. And just as a reminder, those bars represent students who scored a four or a five. So meeting proficiency and exceeding and we look at gender. At first when I looked at this I said well that fourth grade seems like a really big disparity and sixth grade too. When I compared it to last year it's actually better. So we are doing something. I do think we need to continue to look at how we're teaching what we're teaching. Why is it equivalent in third grade? And then why do we have those discrepancies in other grades? And then we look at our three-year trend analysis. Uh when I present this data in December, I often really talk to you about how when you
017compare third grade to third grade, it's one comparison. However, you also can take third grade in um 2023. So that's 70.2 and then go to fourth grade in 2024 and that's 69.7. And then fifth grade, so if you go on the diagonal, that's the same group of students. So that's always a nice way to look at the data as well. How is that same group of students doing when compared to their peers? So that group of students, those third graders in 2023 where they had a 70.2% proficiency, they were 24.3 percentage points above the state. Well, if we go to 2025, and we go to fifth grade, same group of students with their 80.2% proficiency, and the state has gone down 44 to 44.2. Now we're showing a difference between the state with the same
018group of students. So they're being compared to the same group of students across the state of a 36% uh percentage point increase. This is the same percent uh presentation of the same data. I just like to look at it in visual form because I believe that the slope of the data should be similar. So if the state is going a little bit downward, then you would think that Oriel public school or Bergen County would be above it but going a little bit downward because maybe the fifth and sixth grade test was a little bit harder and then maybe Odell public school would be a little bit above it but the slope of the data would be the same and you don't see that. you really do see where are we're outperforming the state and I
019anticipate typically I will have the Bergen County eye results which is what that red group represents the 21 districts in Bergen County that have similar demographics to us. I typically have that data by our December board meeting. It usually gets released in the beginning of December. So, our celebrations, um, last year we had 73% of our population meet expectations in math, and this year we're up to 76%. Um, it feels like not a lot, but it's an upward trend. And so, we're going to celebrate that right now. We're also really going to celebrate that 1/4th of the students that took a math NJSLA at Ordall Public School exceeded expectations with seven students scoring at 850. I will invite those students to be at our December board meeting to recognize them as we did last year.
020And again, we're showing upward trends through the grades while the rest of the state is showing downward trends as the math gets harder. Our next steps will be implementing amplified desmos in K to three this year. um continuing professional development both on implementation of the program and also the structures of how we teach mathematics and continuing to use data regularly to inform the win period and the new period that Mr. Warner spoke about last week, the math explorations period. When we move to language arts, again, you'll see us beginning by comparing each level at each grade level to um the state. So, if we go down on the right hand side, you will see that 69.8 Eight of our third graders scored proficiency. 37 um 58.7% of them at a four and 11.1% at a
021five. As we go to fourth grade, we see that 81.8 81.1, excuse me. And then we continue to go up from there. We're going to talk a little bit more about that sixth grade performance. Um, as thrilled as I am to see that 89, I I love to achieve for that over 90%, but we had something really unusual happen with our sixth graders, which is a trend that we're going to continue to watch. And then again, we look at our subgroup analysis. And again, I'm really focused on that third grade special education population right now. We look at the data by ethnicity and race. And the reason we have more subgroups here than we did when we were talking about science is we're now talking about grades three through six. So we have more than
02210 students um in the Hispanic and Latino category. we have more than 10 students in two or more races, which when we're only talking about fifth grade, we don't have that data. And then we look at our female and male. And again, saw that discrepancy in third grade between um females and males. And this is actually always been a little bit of a passion project for me. um are we exposing and having the right diversity of text in the classroom to engage all readers? However, again, I think by nature, as administrators, we're always focused on what needs to get better. So, I immediately was like, well, that's a really big difference. And then I went to last year and it's actually much better than last year's. So, we are making some growth. Um, it is
023something that I do think continues to be look needs to continue to be looked at. And then we look at that three-year trend. You will notice that our comparison to the state decreases across years. So if you look at, you know, fourth grade and um in 2023, we're still coming off CO and a credit to our COVID um programming, we did not necessarily see the academic slide that some other places saw. So, we saw a lot of behavioral um differences when our students came back, but I think academically we were in a much better spot than some other places. And again, just another presentation of the data so that you can see it visually. And you can really see um when you look at that language arts that we really made some significant growth between
024third and fourth grade here. And then we go up again with almost equal performance in fifth and sixth. So our celebrations, we did have an 82% passing rate in language arts with approximately 90% of general education students meeting or exceeding expectations. 37% of our students exceeded expectations across third through sixth grade. and we made very nice growth between third grade and fourth grade this past year. When looking at our next steps in language arts, we really we have access to some reports that I wanted to include in here. However, there's a big sign on the top of them that says do not distribute. So, I thought putting them in the public presentation might not be the right next step. However, what it does is it shows us every standard and it shows us how many
025students had that standard because not every student has the same questions on every test and then it shows us what our score in that our percentage rate of getting that specific standard correct. So, we really were looking for patterns. So, in third grade it was narrative writing which is actually unusual. Um, we believe it's because of how it's being introduced. It's not go write a story about this. It's read this story and now write but it has to be connected to that story. So that may be that we are not exposing students to that type of question enough. In fourth grade it wasn't really a topic, it was a type of question. So it was technology enhanced constructive responses. So it might have been a drag and drop type question. So that's practicing with those
026types of questions. In fifth grade, we just want to make sure that we continue to expose all types of tests that text. And in sixth grade, too, I was really digging for something to say because the performance was quite good there. So, I was digging to find something. And the one thing I saw was technical reading. And that's ties into a little bit of the science as well. And I I spoke about this when I spoke at the county meeting. We want kids to be engaged in text, but we also have to teach them what to do when they just don't want to read it. How many of you remember that experience of reading a textbook and you read two pages and you had got to the bottom of two pages and you were like,
027I have absolutely no recollection of what I've read. We've got to push kids not just to keep reading, but to be metacognitively aware when they stopped understanding and going back. or we need to give them the strategies of maybe you read it once then you read the question then you go back and skim for that answer because that technical reading seemed to be the one area in fifth and sixth if I was really going to you know be a little nitpicky that was a slight weakness so additional thoughts and last year when I presented this data I wo this into language arts and math but I wanted to talk about growth overall Because growth is just as important, if not more important, than achievement. So part of why I always say that we use linkit
028has nothing to do with it as a benchmark assessment. It's okay as a benchmark assessment. Where I think linkit shines is as a data warehouse that it really allows us to look at data. They give us reports to look at data. Um they make our jobs a little bit easier. So here um on the left hand side on the top you're going to see math and you're going to see the number of students that stayed the same move down or went up a level. So it's not shocking that fifth grade was was really high, right? They had the over 80% passing rate. Well, if we look at them, they're the second column there. You'll notice that 5% of them went down a level from fourth grade. 61% of them stayed at the same level, 34%
029of them moved up a level and in some cases two levels. So we know that that's really indicative of great teaching. And we looked at that across all um grade levels. And you see that also when you look from third to fourth grade language arts, which was also where I said I saw that really nice growth. I think it was 14.4% 4% exceeding the standard to 44% from third grade to fourth grade. Well, look right there. That kind of tells the story. So on the left hand column, we see 3% of students when they move from third to fourth grade went down a level. 44% stayed at the same level. Now some of those students could have been at exceeding the standard, exceeding expectations. They might not have been able to go up. 53% of
030students increased the level from their third grade. again talk about that all the time is that um is there something we're doing programmatically different that is when we different that is when we departmentalize so we really do have some language arts specialists is that reflection of that um we did as we spoke about at the last meeting make some curricular changes to our third grade language arts um to try to give them a little more experience with certain types of reading and test taking as a genre And this is one of my all-time favorite reports. You received the entire report of this from me in a one of your weekly board updates. So, I'm only going to give you a little a little snapshot here. So, one of the pieces that link it will do
031for us is it takes students at a certain level. So that orange column all the way on the left on the top table that is the number of students at each grade level third grade fourth grade there was no fifth grade in language arts and then third fourth fifth grade in math who scored partially meeting. So that's a two. Okay so you're going to see that there were 11 students at Wordell Public School in grades 3, four or five in 23 24 who scored a two. Three of them stayed at that level. You'll see if you go over they're still at partially meeting. Five of them moved up one level. Three of them moved up two levels. So when we talk about using data to inform our instruction, what we're we're really doing is is
032saying these are students who are struggling. How do we know that we are putting interventions in place that are helping them move forward? And this is part of the data that shows that. Now you'll see some movement in mathematics, but you're not seeing as much. So there were 19 students in grades 3, four, and five and 23 24 who scored that to that partially meeting. 11 of them stayed at partially meeting. Six moved up one level. Two moved up two levels. And I specifically chose students who were at those two lowest levels. So again, you'll see the same thing in mathematics uh in ELA, excuse me. Nine of them, nine students scored a one. So did not meet expectations in 23 24. One of them stayed there, four of them went up one level, three
033of them went up two levels, and one of them went up three levels in one year. That's how we know that our interventions are working. And you can see the same thing in mathematics as well. Now we have this data not just for students performing at um a level one or a level two. We have this data for students performing at a level three, a level four, a level five as well because we want to also look at those level fives. Are students who were scoring exceeding staying there or are they going down? I just chose to specifically focus on the ones and the twos today. But again, you as a board did receive that full report. I going to say two board updates ago. One of the things we also did this year is
034we wanted to see, okay, that's one way to look at are our interventions working, but we also looked specifically at students who were brought to our intervention and referral service team. And I, if I remember correctly, there were 13 or 14 of them. And we looked at the interventions we put in place for those students. Do we see progress? And so you'll see that 8% of them, which I think it was one student, um, went down. So in language arts, we have 31% stayed the same, 54% in math, and then you'll see that scores that students increased after the programming put in place by the INRS team was implemented. We're really continuing to look at those additional supports for mathematics. When a student's struggling in language arts, we have a wealth of materials and programming
035at our fingertips to implement and we have not found anything we absolutely love in mathematics when students are struggling. So we we did buy a new program with bridges last year and the year before I think two years ago. We've had some success with it but it it's not great yet. And as a district, what you want is you want multiple programs because program A might be great for these kids, but it might not be for this student. So that will be a continued focus for us. Something I will look at. Mrs. Norian can join me at school boards. We can uh walk the floor and look for what's being sold right now. So, and this is the other piece that link uh gives us a report. It calls it it's cohort non-cohort report. And
036I thought this was really important to look at because we're seeing such an influx of students moving in. So we had about 20 students move in in grades four, five, and six. 10 in sixth grade. Okay. Of the students moving in, so they've only had one year, in some cases less than one year at OPS. Some of them moved in in November. Some of them moved in in March. 42% of them passed math compared to 78% of students who had already been here for at least one year. And in again when you have 10 and because it's 10 I can speak about that number in sixth grade that's going to impact your overall score. So one of the things we are looking at is we've never when the student comes into district and they're in
037first through sixth grade we give them link it in the beginning of the year like everyone else but that link it is on that year's standards. So we are looking to make a practice moving forward that we will give the students that move in the link from the year before so we can also compare them to the progress and identify holes that will also allow them to be looked at for one of our September boost programs. And that concludes I think everything I can say right now about NJSLA. Do you have any question thoughts or wonderings about the data? >> Mr. Tony. >> Okay. So, I just want to make sure I'm understanding this. >> So, on these pages with the subgroups. >> Sure. >> So, you're saying that only 18% of kids with IEPs
038met? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> In third grade that >> Yes. So, this year's fourth grade. >> Yes. That's my number one concern in the subgroup data is that specific cohort. >> But really, >> well, the 40 >> all below 50%. Isn't that pretty low? >> Actually, 40% is usually what the state tells us to aim for. There's a reason that some of these students are in special education. So, if if they're exceeding expectations, they're going to tell us they're not supposed to be in special education. >> No, no, no. I understand that. But shouldn't always the goal be for them to eventually meet their peers? Shouldn't that number? >> Yes, absolutely. Um I do in December I will also do the comparison of where we are and that is on our website for last
039year as well. >> Okay. I have another question. >> Sure. >> So this testing genre that you're So you're basically just going to teach them how to take the test. >> we're going to teach them that tests are set up in a certain way and I don't know we've never done any of that in third grade and some districts do. I've always said, let's kind of throw them at it a little bit and see how it goes. But maybe that's unfair. So teaching students that when you reach a small piece of text that you look at a question and go back of it, that's not just a testing genre. That's a school skill. So I don't think we're doing enough of that right now. So we did add and you as part of the curriculum
040committee saw that we added that small unit in third grade, not in any other grade. >> Okay. Thank you for thank you for this report. I have two questions. Um in the science subgroup analysis um there is a pretty big gap between the all students which is at 60 it's earlier in the >> I got it. >> Okay. Um 68.2 and then the former ELLL is um is 87.5. So almost a 25 point swing there. Um, that's not it. >> Um, >> okay. >> It's the one that looks like it's got three bars. >> I don't know what. >> Um, is it possible you have LA? Is that your old one or is that the one in your packet today? >> It's the one in the packet >> in in your envelope packet or your
041folder? >> No, in the envelope packet >> there. Okay. There's an updated one in there. >> All right. Um, >> I I think in the one that I originally sent you, I only had former multilingual >> and I put the current in here as well. So, the 87 I can't I couldn't report current MLS because I didn't have 10. >> Okay. >> So, I combined them in. That's why that number is a little bit higher. >> Right. Okay. And the other question I had and it's almost a question for myself is can link it be transferred from school district to school district? um I >> the data almost like as if we're doing uh >> as far as the link form a form >> right so if I'm coming from Clifton and I'm moving into
042Pamis am I link it information >> uh I don't think so because it's proprietary to there we would have to give it like we do some communication with Riverdale >> right >> because Riverdale because we work in partnership with them we might be able to ask yeah absolutely and Clifton's a perfect district because they do right >> um we might be able to ask them for it like to communicate when you send a student's file Could you also include >> that could be something that would help us get a better understanding of the numbers? >> Absolutely. >> And and I'm thinking it for myself too. >> No, absolutely. Um when we were looking at those students moving in, I kept saying like what do we need to do sooner because it's really hard. I mean,
043especially with that cohort of students. We had students move in in March. Like they just kept coming all year long. Yes. >> And just a a note about that. Um, if you've been in public education for a really long time, those students at one point actually did not count towards your school or district score. You actually had to be in district for a full year prior, but that is no longer the case. >> Mrs. Walker, >> um, thank you for this very comprehensive um, report. I have a question on the uh science subgroup analysis. >> Sure. >> Um why do we put current and former multilingual learners in there? Uh I'm not sure who they are since we seem to have covered all of the three areas. >> So former multilingual learners are students who
044were a part of our ESL program. So we do have to report them. The reason as I was sharing with Mr. Outland that I chose to put the current um is because there's only there's only three that took the test so I couldn't report them. So I I do have to by state law report on multilingual learners. I just chose to lump them together. >> So because they did better than students. >> I actually was just speaking to our um ESL teacher today. I was given her a pat on the back that I don't know if she's instilled a love of learning in them. I don't know what the exposure of non-fiction I would have to really look at those students because remember we are also when talking current and former multilingual learners. A lot
045of those students tested out of the program in first and second grade. But the state says we do need to report. >> Oh, they keep they keep that >> designation throughout. Um, I think it's up to a certain number of years, but I would have to check and get back to you. I feel like it's four, but I might be wrong about that. Uh, and it's because they want to know that when a student tests out of um an ESL program, we're not just forgetting about them because there still may be academic vocabulary issues that need to be addressed. I think I spoke last year about how we were noticing it with math. that specific group, former multilingual learners, was not doing as well in math performance both in the classroom and on the NJSLA.
046So, our ESL teacher actually created a whole Google classroom to help the staff. And that's also what the sheltered instruction PD is about, like what can you be doing consistently in your classroom to make sure academic vocabulary is being uh taught deliberately. How many students are in that subgroup? >> Current and former. Um, I can't I know that there were only three current MLS, but I can't remember the number of former because former could have been you tested out in first grade. >> I'm go it was over 10. I know that. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? I have a question. Sure. Um, back to the multilingual the ones that are in the math subgroup for the total school that would just be current ones then since it would be more than 10 or
047no. >> No, it's really interesting. So, science scores come to us differently than language arts and math scores come to us. It's a very different report. And I don't know why because they're all through Pearson. So when I get it, um, science specifically says current and former. The other ones just say multilingual. So in those cases, those were only current ML students. That's why I didn't have enough in every subgroup because current um, in sixth grade there were three. So I had to add them all together to get to 10. when we when we break down by ethnicity, race, and we have to have more than 10 per grade, I guess. Is it per grade, right? >> Um per whatever subgroup I'm reporting. >> Okay. So, um is that the same for every district or
048is it a percentage? So, if you could have you could have 2,000 first graders somewhere and it's 10 and we could have 50 and it's 10. >> Yes. >> And I think it's because of identifi identifiable factor. They just feel that 10 isn't identifiable. I have a comment. >> I just have a comment about the the special ed kids or the kids with IEPs meeting expectations on NJSLA or really anything that if they meet them then they don't need IEPs, but that's kind of what you just said and it's like they should also be meeting regardless. >> I don't disagree and I'm sorry if that's how it came across. I'm not as concerned at 40%. I am very concerned at 12.5 and 18%. >> But I also think you should be concerned at 40%. That's
049less than half of them. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? >> Just a comment. um having experienced this state testing way back when and when they first introduced science. It was in fourth grade and um it was so interesting how well all the fourth graders did and the language arts was a real struggle. And I can remember one superintendent saying we have a state full of illiterate scientists and it was really true. It was like 98 percentile every school district in the state seemed to be coming up with in science but in language arts they were really down. So we've come a long way. Um I think also early on when we had the science test and I don't know if you were in the classroom at this time remember there were like demonstrations and
050stuff it was super visual it's a very written heavy test now >> you will see an uh kind of like an alignment to language arts and science because >> if you don't have the perseverance to read through that test and if there are samples online I got distracted >> it it was just horrendous just try and have these demonstrations from each student >> and from each class. It was so timeconuming and useless. A >> question. How come um fifth grade is the only grade that tests for science in JSLA? >> Um it's always been one grade. Well, it's eighth grade also, so I don't know. know it used to be fourth grade and eighth grade and when they changed the standards they made it fifth grade and eighth grade. I think it might have to
051do with that those standards are in a band. So you can go to another district and a unit we teach in fourth grade they might teach in fifth grade because you have a little bit of flexibility of where you put that. But that's also what makes it a somewhat district-wide test because teachers in grades three and four better do their job also because the fifth grade teacher can't teach three years of science. >> So if other are other schools doing it in different grades like when you have this Bergen cohort this is schools that are doing it >> we all test in fifth grade we have to but it's not on fifth grade science it's on third grade fourth grade and fifth grade. So, for example, if magnetism is a unit, we might teach it
052in fourth grade, but someone else might teach it in third grade because the state just says you have to have it done by the end of fifth. >> I may have misheard you, but did you say that you were submitting to the state this? I think I misheard you. You don't submit any of this to the state, right? Okay. All right. I thought it was something else. All right. Any other questions? >> Thank you. Anything else in your report? >> Yes. So, just an update on the adaptive test which Miss uh Mrs. Miss Cummings and I will attend the training on next week. We did get an additional piece of information. I was being really open and really positive about it because they were kind of like it's just a sample of questions. It's no
053big deal. You know, I in my head had this out to be like, oh, it's gonna be like 20 minutes of math, 20 minutes language arts. It's four hours. So in October um our fourth, fifth, and sixth graders will need to do a 60 minute field test in mathematics, a 60-minute field test in language arts, and a 120 minute field test in writing where they can the proctor can choose to give them a 10-minute break. >> Is this going to be on the same day or is it spread out? >> We can give up to two sections a day. So in our case, again, it is a field test and I don't want it to take away from actual teaching because we're not getting any of this data. So we will likely do reading and
054math one day. So we'll do 120 minutes one day and then the next day we'll do 120 minutes of writing. What we've we've put I have to put these dates on our assessment calendar that does need to be posted. Um, what we're looking at right now is we don't want to start more than one grade testing at a time because we don't know how the platform's going to work and if we have to be running around dealing with issues. Um, so we have uh I think one we've planned it out so that we're not starting people on the same and I I'm in the days of the NJ ask reading and writing were separate assessments when we moved to park and to uh the NJSLA they got merged together. So I am really interested to
055see what a 120 minute writing assessment um looks like. Yeah. with a this was just released from the state. The broadcast just came out yesterday and so it is it's hitting every aspect and platform right now. But the 10-minute my favorite is the 10minute um proctor can choose to give a 10-minute break in 120 minutes to >> bite my tongue. >> Are you sure? >> Okay. When's the training on or the seminar? >> Uh the 25th conference. >> We're going the morning of the 25th which is Thursday. Um they have started them. We did not want chose not to go to the first inerson day thinking if there's glitches let them somebody else be the guinea pig. However, and I will include this in our board update this week, they have opened up their um
056more information. So some trial questions and things like that. He stopped. >> Yeah. So I'm just trying to an objectable objectionable question. Um, remind me again what subject areas they're testing. >> Reading, writing, and mathematics. Science will be exactly science is not switching over. So, the Pearson will continue to give the science >> and and reading is comprehension. >> I don't know. I would assume. >> And do you know what they'll be reading? I mean, as it pertains to >> they just released some sample questions, so I will look at them, but >> and what are they going to be writing on? >> I I will look at some sample questions, but that's all I know right now. As I said, the broadcast, they've really been mum about everything. And uh this broadcast just came
057out. Are we going to have any um idea before the test what what the questions will be and what the writing and the reading will be about? >> I think all we'll probably get is um a type like a format, you know, but that'll be >> talking about content subjects. >> It could be anything because because the content of the the content of the reading and the content of the writing have nothing to do with grade level standards. The grade level standard has to do with the types of questions they're asking. Are they are students being asked to infer? Are students being asked to um identify vocabulary based on a piece of text? >> I mean, what if the questions are objectionable? I mean, what if we're not happy with the questions that are being
058asked? >> Well, I mean, you could have said the same for Pearson. >> Yeah. >> We didn't know what they were, right? and and to the point that it's illegal for a teacher to even look over someone's shoulder like babe. >> Yeah, but this is not a state provided. Look, the the questions weren't designed by the state, right? >> But neither were Pearsons. It's no different. I mean, it's a company that the state has chosen to go out to RFP to make a test for them. Their job is to create an assessment that's aligned with the state standards. The state standards are process and skill-based, not content based. >> Yeah, I I've worked for corporate America for 26 years. I I I recognize something. Yeah, >> I understand what you're saying. But >> yeah, >>
059no one here will see the test, though. Any other questions, comments? >> Anything else from your report? >> Um, no. Just as a reminder, we do have our second back to school night tomorrow night. Thank you, >> Mr. Ayelli. >> Sure. I'll give you an update on excuse me on the Aird Dales. They're up and running. Uh they're all working. We'll have balance and testing coming up shortly. Uh there only one bit of a glitch that the certain rooms are not showing up on the management system, the building, the medicine. Uh so they have to come back and put those back online. Uh but other than that, we're coming to a conclusion and we have to work on with them working out the damage that was done to the stair treads. So we have to
060resolve that. Um but that concludes my report. How much damage was done to the stair treads? >> They did some damage regarding when they were pulling the units up. So, they scraped and kind of scratched and they I think those treads will have to be removed and replaced. Yeah, >> I guess we should add to B&G. Mrs. Walker, >> um did they take care of removing the old air conditioners that are in each window? >> All the those units are out. They've removed them. Can we have them? >> We're saving them in >> Yes. Yep. >> Okay. >> Any word on the rooftop uh financing for the state? Anything with the >> I just sent him another email. He says we should be here. He says, "I'll have something for you within two weeks as
061to where we're going with this." So, we'll see and take it from there. >> Okay. Moving on to minutes. We have review of September 3rd. Any questions or comments, please uh email Mr. Ayapelli. We have approval of August 20th. Do I have a motion? >> I have a motion. >> I'll second. >> Second by Mrs. Walker. Any questions? >> Call the question. >> On the role, Mr. Darian, >> abstain. >> Mrs. Downey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Moran, >> yes. >> Mr. Nutland, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walker, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norian, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nichols. >> Yes. Administrative items. Mrs. Norian, would you take that? >> Yes. I'd like to present uh Whoops. Yeah, I'm on. Okay. I'd like to present A1 through A4. >> Have a second. >> Second by Mr. Nutland. Any
062questions? >> Call the question >> on the roll. Mr. Dariion. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Downey. Yes, >> Mrs. Moran. >> Yes, >> Mr. Nutland. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Walker. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Norian. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Nichols. >> Yes, buildings and grounds. Mr. Delg Greo is not here. Mr. Nutland, would you like to take that? >> Um, I'd like to present um uh B1 use of facilities. >> I have a Do I have a second? >> Second. Second by Mrs. Norian. Any questions? >> I have comments. I took some notes regarding uh our last meeting. So just for the public uh we had a subcommittee meeting on September 3rd. Um we discussed uh the parking lot apparently the faculty parking lot. Um we've been having a lot of uh people walking through the parking
063lot during the drop off in the morning and then also the pickup in the afternoon which causes a safety issue. So we we we kicked around ideas about securing the parking lot, but you know, the outcomes of those conversations were not favorable. You know, we don't want to, you know, wall off the parking lot and put in gates and and stuff like that just to ensure safety. So, we're we're looking at other ways to discourage people from walking through the parking lot while people are coming and going um with their cars. We also talked about shrubs and flowers uh both on church and on Center Street um and budgeting money and how much we're willing to spend. We talked about the OPS sign out front that it's getting old and it may need replacement and
064what type of sign would we be interested in. We talked about the Koopa on the roof and how it needs maintenance and we have to schedule funds and and uh look into uh how much what extent is required to fix it. Uh we discussed the um lawns the ongoing maintenance of the lawns. I mean, recently we've had Ordell Little League improve the softball field and over the years we've we've um put in uh sprinklers in order to, you know, keep the grass alive, but we're still struggling with keeping the grass healthy. I think one of the key takeaways of the subcommittee was that we're going to not address the grass problem as a whole problem. We're just going to break it down into areas. This way, we could section off an area bring that area
065back to life and then move on to another section. Uh this way it's a little more manageable. And then finally, we we discussed uh safety improvements. Um you know, it seems like we have a neverending appetite to improve safety, which I think is a good thing. Um just when you think you get to the bottom of the list, we add new things to the list or we upgrade existing items. So, I'm not going to get into specifics, but uh these are um nice things to have. They're not at all needed. Um but it puts us up on a level uh that was higher than before regarding safety items. And and that's all I have regarding our subcommittee meeting. >> Any other questions or comments? Call a question >> on the role. Mr. Darien. Yes, >>
066Mrs. Downey. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Moran. >> Yes, >> Mr. Nutland. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Walker. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Norian. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Nichols. >> Yes. Curriculum, Mrs. Norian. >> Uh, we have not had a meeting um since the last. Um, I think we're doing okay. Just keep us informed and when we need to have a meeting, we will. Finance, Mr. Dariion. >> Uh, yes. Um, I'd like to introduce items D1 through D7. >> Second. Second by Mrs. Norian. Any questions? >> I have a question. Mr. >> Darian, >> Mr. I Pell, there's been a recent addition on the agenda for um a dispersement of two checks from the general fund for 280,000. Can you elaborate on that? That's state health benefits and FICO related to the pay wall. Okay. >> Any other
067questions? >> Call the question. >> On the roll. Mr. Darian. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Downey. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Moran. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nutland. >> Yes. Mrs. Walker. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Norian. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nichols. >> Yes. Uh, delegate report. Mrs. Norian, anything? >> I have not. I know that there will be a delegate meeting in November. >> That's the first one, >> I think. So, yeah. >> Okay. >> Um, before we go to personnel, um, we need to go into a quick close session. So, it's Would you like to make a motion to go into close session? >> Yes. I'd like to make a motion that we go into close session. >> Second by Mrs. Walker. Uh, roll call >> on the roll. Mr. Darian, >> yes. >> Mrs. Downey, >>
068yes. >> Mrs. Moran, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nutland, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walker, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norian, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nichols, >> yes. [Music] Motion come back to session. I move that we come back into session. >> Second by Mr. Darian. Roll call. on the role. Mr. Darion, >> yes. >> Mrs. Downey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Moran, >> yes. >> Mr. Nutland, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walker, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norian, >> yes. >> Mr. N Mrs. Nichols, >> yes. Uh, personnel, Mrs. Walker. >> Thank you. Um, I'd like to present F1. >> I'll second it. >> Second by Mrs. Norian. Any questions? Um, Mrs. Walker, >> no, I don't have any questions. I just wanted to say we haven't had a meeting prior to this meeting today. Um, so everything seems to
069be in place and moving along. >> Well, personnel, we're going to actually meet for 15 minutes after tonight. >> Okay. Right. >> Talked about before. Yeah. >> Any other questions? Call the question >> on the roll. Mr. Darian. >> Yes. Mrs. Downey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Moran, >> yes. >> Mr. Nutland, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walker, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norian, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nichols, >> yes. Policy. Mr. Nutland. >> I don't think there's anything pressing right now, but I'm looking maybe November. That's where I'm where my head is at. >> Okay. Public relations. Mrs. Downey, we need to meet to talk about the uh communication spreadsheet or whatever. Send us an email and we'll meet. Um, at this time we will open to the public. Amarie Spiegel 837 Ellis, please. I continue to
070be truly impressed by the progress you've made at Ordell Public School over the past two years. From implementing dibbles and heard to launching an Ororton Gillingham teacher training program, updating your website, and transitioning to standardsbased report cards is clear you're committed to aligning instruction with the latest research-based practices. I'm especially excited to hear about your upper grade word study initiatives, including the use of multi-elabric word program and the expanded math explorations were both excellent steps forward. I wanted to talk about the NJ DOE structured literacy grant that was announced this past July. I understand that Oridol did not apply and this may be a missed opportunity particularly since every district that submitted an application received funding. Nearby districts such as River Edge got $6,630, Wyoff got $9,230 and Tennifly got $8,210 were among those that
071benefited. I have the whole attached list if anybody would like to see. Given the work you've already done around the WIN program, this grant could provide valuable support. I fully understand and respect the district's current emphasis on enhancing math instruction and professional development. That said, this grant prevent presents an opportunity to strengthen literacy instruction without distracting from your existing priorities. The state recently released a new notice of grant opportunity in NGO that's due October 2nd, 2025 specifically for districts that did not apply during the spring round. According to the appendix, Origel is eligible to receive $4,180. I acknowledge that the administrative team is discussing this grant opportun application internally and I am grateful for that. I do encourage the Oriel administration to apply for the grant. In speaking with administrators from other districts and reing
072the public available grant applications, I've seen how others are using the funds to align with the new state literacy legislation. Some are using the funds to provide substitute coverage so teachers can participate in data meetings and dibbles training. Others are investing in PD to help teachers effectively share literacy data with families or compensating grade level leads for reviewing new state provided evidence-based materials and turkeying them to their teams. Given the innovative changes you've already implemented, I'm confident the administrative team could make excellent use of these funds even without pulling teachers from classrooms. Possibilities might include bringing in a structured literacy aligned PD facilitator during a faculty meeting, compensating K3 teacher reps to review and curate high impact resources from the state's online research center for classroom use, or structured literacy training from your administrative team
073so that targeted suggestions could be given during observations. This grant also goes until September 30th next year, so you could even use it for beginning of the year PD or new teacher training. I completely understand that your math is your current focus, but I believe that shouldn't mean leaving potential literacy funding on the table. Thank you again for your time, dedication, and thoughtful leadership. I appreciate your consideration of this opportunity. >> Thank you. Hi, Suzanne Crow, 77 Beachwood, Ordell. Um, there are two points I just wanted to make comments on this evening. The first being um the annual fifth grade Sharp trip. As anyone who's a parent in Ordell knows, that is a big thing that the kids look forward to. It's two nights, three days at the Sharp Reservation. Parent chaperons are asked to
074go along. staff accompanies the students throughout the day. Um, so I wanted to thank Miss Bosios for implementing a new policy this year with the VERCA system to do um identification check for any chaperone that stays overnight with our children to check against the sex offender registry in all 50 states in Puerto Rico. This was not a practice in the past. Um, the only criterion to chaperon was to be a parent. Um, and so I I just wanted to put this at the forefront that I want to continue to make sure that our kids are safe inside the building and outside of the building. So I really appreciate that change being made this year and I hope it continues going forward. Um, I have seven more years in Ordell public school district. This is my
075eighth year and um, going to be here for a little bit. The second thing about the short trip that concerned me when my oldest son attended was the awareness of who exactly your parent chaperon is when your child is there. That was never communicated to us. The only reason I knew who my son was with was because the mothers of the fathers that were with my son contacted me to let me know. My children have needs. I had tried to communicate those um needs to the um the teacher staff prior to the trip to be communicated to those parents and nothing was done. I want to make sure that that is not what happens this year and going forward. If there are children on the trip that have IEPs, special needs, any sort of things
076that need to be a made aware to the chaperones that are staying in the cabins with them. I think the parents need to be able to communicate either before the trip or during the trip and after the trip what those specific needs are for their children who are staying with away from home sometimes for the first time. Um so that is my sharp trip commentary. The other thing I wanted to do was introduce myself. I am part of the special education parent advisory council that has sort of reconstituted itself this year. We have a board this year of nine members and one of the things that we um are looking to focus on is working collaboratively with the child study team and the board of education going forward to talk about the things that we
077see as systemic issues throughout our community. The first thing that we need to do is build community. So we have um presence at the back to school nights. We're going to be having a coffee chat next week and then we have some things on the schedule with the child site teamine to collaborate. Um some of the quick points that I wanted to just highlight that are going to be part of the conversation. When you showed your presentation about the NJSLA, Miss Bosios, you did indicate students with IEPs and I noticed that those numbers are quite high as far as what percentage of our student population has an IEP. I'm not sure if you know the specific numbers. If you were just looking at how many students in each grade, I don't know the specific numbers.
078So the conversation I had a couple years ago with Dr. Roth was that 25% of our population had an IEP. We don't have 25% staff to support the 25% of our students that have IEPs. Um, I think our biggest shortfall is the child studies team and all the people that support the things that are not necessarily special education instructors, but the occupational therapist, physical therapist, speech therapist, um, behaviorist. We don't have a full-time BCBA in this building. I'm not sure, maybe you are aware. You probably are. Um, 20 hours a week is all we get of a behaviorist who's in the building for a population of 830 people. um that is not sufficient. So I just wanted to um get back into your realm of thinking that um there needs to be more support within
079this building for children with special needs and special education IEPs and a point to Miss Downey and pointing out that NJSLA scores just because you have an IEP does not mean that you may not score superbly on a state test. I have children who are twice exceptional. You gave one of them a um perfect score certificate last year because my kids are incredibly intelligent, but that does not mean that they do not have high support needs. And so I'm sure they are not the only ones. That's probably part of the whole population. Um and so I just wanted to say hello and you'll be seeing more of me and I hope that we can work collaboratively this year and over the next seven years to make the special education system in this building work better
080for the kids who are here. Thanks. >> Thank you. Hello, I'm Kate Bosert, 469 Hasbrook Boulevard. I am a parent of a fifth grader and also a second grader. I want to thank the board members for presenting the detail of their subcommittee meeting today. That was extremely helpful and one of the first times I've heard it um in the last couple weeks at a meeting. So, I appreciate that greatly. Also would like to bring to the board's attention that over the summer, the state of New Jersey did offer grants for um institut educational institutions to seek state funding for tree planting as well. And it is my understanding that they might be offering that um again next year if that's something that the board is interested in in terms of their lawn maintenance and things
081like that. So, keep an eye on the state education website. I cannot tell you when it comes out because of my job, but I can tell you that I saw it after the fact. Um, that being said, I do want to talk a little bit about NJSLA scores. I appreciate the presentation that Miss Boozios did today and um the the district's concern about the math scores and the disparity between math and and reading scores. And that has been something that has been a concern of mine for multiple years as a parent and also as someone who looked at the scores prior to moving to this district. So I appreciate the district's efforts to um work on bringing in faculty and administrators who have an interest in improving the math scores. However, I do not think
082that they are sufficiently um advancing at a rate that I would expect for a district of our means and of our status. So, I would like to challenge everyone to try to work to continue to improve our scores um and to address that sec that fourth grade population that just isn't quite meeting expectations. I would like to hear more about what resources are going to that group to support them as we have a lot of students who have a lot of needs which means that funds do need to be balanced um across all students to make sure that all students are getting a fair and equitable education. That being said, I appreciate the comment being raised about the special um about the the students with IEPs in the third grade population as well and the
083concerns around that. I appreciate also Miss Bose's comment on looking at the curriculum in terms of teaching students technical reading skills. Technical reading skills are life skills. And while we are entering an age of artificial intelligence, it still is critical that our students be able to read, assess, and answer questions at an even quicker pace. So, I would like to see technical reading skills be implemented at younger ages. Additionally, I appreciate what is being done in terms of the science curriculum. However, and maybe I misunderstood this because I came in light, so this is more of a question. um science enrichment outside of school. I would like to see that be accessible to everyone and not just a first come first serve basis and also for parents to be contacted multiple times for those types
084of programs. I missed one email last year and my daughter did not have access to a three session um program and was extremely upset when she learned that her classmates had attended that program because I missed one email of as we know Miss Boozio sends a lot of emails and the thousand that I receive at my job as well on a daily basis. So, let's try to be inclusive of everyone and try to address everyone's needs. And I'd like the board to continue to consider that as well as the environmental impacts of what we're implementing. So, thank you for upgrading the HVAC systems and seeing that through and continue to work on that. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to older new business. Anyone have anything? I have
085some old business. Um, let's talk about Sharp real quick. I know that we had uh subcommittee. We discussed it at at great length and uh we presented multiple arguments from many different sides. But my question is uh the comment tonight about contacting the the chaperones. It brought back memories when I was a chaperone and uh I got contacted on my cell phone by parents. I had no idea who they were, but they were asso they were assigned to my cabin. And I know that when my kids went to school, we did communicate by cell phone, you know, beforehand. Um, so I don't know if we have a set procedure in terms of uh creating lists, phone numbers, like a group chat, text uh per chaperon, or if it was just ad hoc happened with me.
086Um, so if we can just look into that and see if we can just set up uh, you know, if you can the school can facilitate those types of conversations where the chaperones uh, knows each of the students phone numbers and their parents' phone number so they can do like a group chat and everyone can communicate because usually it's it's a non-issue, but every once in a while there may be something that you know that doesn't have to involve the the teachers or the the people running the program. It could be something like in the middle of the night somebody woke up screaming and they're upset and you know whatever. So, um just something to think about. >> Any other older new business? Mrs. Walker, this is just a quick aside. I have a student
087teacher in Emerson this year and I was there to visit her and her cooperating teacher the other day. When I entered the building, as we all know, buildings are locked down. Um, they directed me to where I was to go, it was a convoluted place. And this woman in the office who turned out to be the nurse escorted me. She said, "Oh, I'll take her up." I went with her in the re in the escorting. We got discussing where I'm from and what I do. And when I told her I was from Moridel and then we I happened to say I was on the board of ed, she went into this whole explanation of her niece who had attended OPS and how one the daughter the niece had some learning disabilities but attended her whole
088six years at OPS and went on to Riverdale and how well she was treated and how how everyone one went out of their way to be exceptionally nice to her and to this day her her niece still remembers ops for all the kindness. So it's wonderful to hear something like that as a board member. We all strive of course for curriculum and and doing well on tests which we all we're all in favor of. But to hear something positive like that and she just kept smiling this and every every time she'd say Oraidel great district. So that's not for me to take the accolades but for the administration, the teachers and our superintendent. So um we all want to work hard to do what's very best for the school, but every now and then it's
089nice to hear something good. Anybody else? Is anybody else need to sign sign up for school boards? Mrs. Norian was signed up. I saw tonight. Is anyone else? >> Not this year. >> All right. If anyone needs to just contact Mr. Ayelli. May not be any hotel rooms left, but if you're going, contact him. Okay. Anything else? Any need for a close session? All right, Catherine. >> I move we have a second. >> Second by Oh, just by Miss Moran. All in favor? >> I everyone have a good week. That puts a lot of responsibility.