Board of Education Meeting - Public Session - 1/29/2026

001Good evening. It is 6:30 p.m. and I would like to call to order the January 29th, 2026 meeting of the South Orange Maplewood Board of Education. Mr. Moody, would you please take the roll call? >> Sure, we'll do. I'll start with board member Jeff Bennett, board member DJ Brown, board member Elizabeth Callahan >> here, >> board member Meredith Higgins >> here, >> board member Kavadia >> here. >> Board President Will Meyer >> here. >> Board member Malan Nyer >> here. >> Board member Shaina Saka Gable >> here. >> Board member Paul Stefen >> here. All right. Please stand if you are able for the pledge of allegiance. Please take notice that adequate notice of this meeting was sent from the office of the secretary of the board on January 6th, 2026 to the Maplewood and

002South Orange Township clerks and the editors of the news record, Star Ledger, Tap into Soma, and the Village Green. I will now entertain a motion to enter executive session as permitted under the open public meetings act to discuss attorney clan privilege HIV reporting and personnel nor for no formal action will be taken second cable and do I have a second board member Higgins. All those in favor please raise your hand. Okay, motion passes. We will enter executive session at 6:33 p.m. and we'll return to public session afterwards. Any action resulting from our discussions will be taken in public session. We'll see you back shortly. I'd like to call this meeting back to order at 8:01 p.m. The board is now back in public session and I thank everyone for joining us this evening. Uh first

003up, I'd like to approve the board meeting minutes. May I have a motion to approve the board minutes and executive session minutes from uh our regular meeting on December 18, 2025 or Bennett. Do I have a second? Or member Higgins. All in favor. All right. Unanimous passes. Uh now we'd like to turn to our student representatives uh for uh their uh acknowledgements and update. Good evening. Thank you. So, yeah, we're going to start with our board recognitions. First of all, we're going to congratulate our fibers and design students um for the recent exhibition in the CHS gallery that concluded this month. Guided by Miss Murphy, students demonstrated strong craftsmanship and creativity through collaborative fiber art, tapestries, handmade garments, and detailed decorative pieces along with interactive elements that invited visitor participation. The exhibit titled Connections explored

004the idea that people need one another by bringing many individual works together into a shared experience. The second recognition is going to Walter Bolan, a sixth grader at Maplewood Middle School, on their impressive magic performance at the Maplewood Memorial Library. On January 13th, Walter presented their show Almost Impossible to a packed community room with staff bringing out extra chairs and floor seating to accommodate the enthusiastic crowd. Walter showcased a variety of classic magic tricks, including cups and balls, rope magic, linking rings, card tricks, sponge monkeys, and a Rubik's cube illusion while inviting volunteers of all ages to participate. Thank you to the Maplewood Memorial Library uh and the many community members who attended the performance. Third, I would like to or we would like to congratulate Francancy Christensen. Congratulations on being selected to the 2026

005Emerging Artist Exhibition presented by the Art Administrators of New Jersey. Her artwork Sarah will be featured this February at Kain University as part of a jured statewide exhibition showcasing just 44 just showcasing 44 high school artists. Following judging, select students may advance in consideration for the A&J Emerging Artist Achievement Award and the New Jersey Governor's Award in Arts Education later this spring. Great job. And finally, we'd like to congratulate all of the winter sports at Columbia High School on great sportsmanship throughout all the programs. Under the new head coach TJ Whitaker, boys basketball has posed a 71.4% increase in wins this season. While girls basketball has already matched last year's win total and held a first place conference and held a first place conference spot with games still to play. Boys fencing surpassed last year's

006season win total and girls fencing improved their winning percentage by 10%. Already into the season. In ice hockey, Christian Sherman reached a major milestone which with his 200th career win on January 28th. Swimming continues to deliver with strong records and the boys team having a seven- one record and the girls team being six and one. The boys indoor track team captured the 2026 Essex County Championship and the girls indoor track team earned multiple county medals. Boys wrestling is one win away from a non- losing season and girls wrestling made history with the program's first ever uh Essex County Tournament champion. Well done to all the student athletes this season. And that concludes our board recognitions. So now we would like to tangent into our BOE update. We have a couple of items we'd like to

007discuss are the current developments to the student internship program. Um we've launched the pilot program. We also want to discuss at the last meeting we briefly talked about uh communications policy what our thoughts are on that how that's developing and finally just a couple of thoughts and concerns and work we're doing to help alleviate concerns by students and parents regarding the new bell schedule for the upcoming year. So if you'd like to start. >> Yeah. So, I'll talk a little bit more about the pilot program um for our internship program. Um right now we are hand selecting kids that we notice are doing excellent work in clubs or just in classes at our school. Um and we're picking them and and linking them up with department heads to do important projects or or things that

008maybe department heads don't have so much time for. And that is up and running. We have we finished our first project last week. Um, and I think we're just refining that, but it it went very well. And so I'm excited for this program to continue. Um, and it it looks pretty promising right now. Um, as well as this, Pen and I are going to meet with MMS students next week, um, which we're really excited about to, um, hear any of their concerns and re relay them to the board. Um, and I'm also going to PS later this month to speak with some students um about any concerns they want for the board. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, like Scarlet mentioned, student internship program is doing very well. A lot of demonstrated interest from our administrators.

009Just a couple of departments that are interested are like athletics, communications, human resources and that list really goes on to um you know as many departments as we have. So I would like to tangent into some of the concerns regarding the new bell schedule, what we've heard as board reps and what we're and like pro not projects but issues we're working to address with members of the board. Part of this has been major concern regarding the single launch period proposition. >> So I don't think the board has the schedule hasn't come to us as of yet. It's still in draft. So they're not in we none of us on this board have seen the schedule. It's still in draft form and hasn't been shared. So you're going to have to give a little context. Well,

010there was um a schedule shared with students at an open meeting to express concerns that we both Okay, so an ex Thank you. an example schedule. One of the proposed ideas that is being circulated and discussed was proposed in a >> what >> like a focus group. a focus group last week where students came and expressed their concerns. So that's where a lot of this is largely come that's where our um thoughts are largely coming from. So on that schedule, there was a proposed single lunch period of 55 minutes for the entire school. and Scarlet and I are working to address concerns relating to students who have free and reduced lunch programs at Colombia and making sure that right now Colombia is doing a lot of expanding how students are able to leave campus for

011lunch and giving a lot of freedom to students. But we're working to make sure that at in that single lunch period when there are so many students eating lunch that kids who can't leave campus and rely on the school for food are getting meals in time because we do expect to see an increase in lines at least in that one addition of the schedule that was shared with us. as well as this. Um, I think that even for students who don't rely on the school for meals, I think that every single student should feel welcome and and have a place to eat lunch in the school. Um, so Penn and I are proposing a solution to this, which is a point of service system. I did some research on what other districts are doing. Um,

012and they have a pre-order and graband-go system where they order their lunch in the morning and the meal prep um, services prep the meals and they pack it into bags that are labeled with the students name and the student can just go to the lunchroom, pick it up and go eat anywhere in the building that is available for lunch. So I think that'll um make lines less congested in the lunchroom and and other things. >> Yes. And then lastly, another point of concern that was shared in the focus group came from the neurode diverency club. There's a club at Columbia High School called the neuro diverency club. has many members and the leaders expressed a growing concern regarding how the drop block schedule that was shared in the meeting where students have four periods, four

013classes every day, longer periods, and it rotates which classes they have throughout the week. So, it's not the same four every single day. There was growing concern among members of the neurodyiver diverency club that this will create a lot of stress for students and might be hard to manage. And so Scarlet and I are working, we've discussed this briefly with Dr. Wayable about utilizing the guidance department before the new year, before the new schedule gets implemented to help students ease into that transition and to make that process as smooth as possible. >> So I do you have anything else? >> That's it for me. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, that's it from me as well. So, if anyone has any questions, >> great. I appreciate you sharing that and I know that uh I

014was really glad to have the opportunity pan for you to come uh to our inaugural student family affairs meeting on Tuesday and share a lot of those same concerns. Uh and I was uh I appreciate the superintendent had a plan to connect and meet with you and work through some of those launch ideas to make sure that that was going to be built into the um to the uh new bill schedule. Just quickly before uh you two scuadle um I use the word scadaddle. Okay. Uh I do want to share a piece of unexpected and very exciting news about one of our representatives. Uh our district is proud to recognize Scarlet for an exceptional academic accomplishment that reflects the very highest level of scholarship. A 20page history research paper authored by Scarlet has been accepted

015for publication in the Concord Review, one of the most selective student history journals in the nation. Of the students selected for this issue, Scarlet is the only public school student nationwide to receive this distinction. Congratulations on this very extraordinary >> Thank you. And not to leave our other student rep out, but if you if you follow the CHS wrestling Instagram account, and if you don't, obviously you should, you will see uh Mr. Shapiro, it's sort of a this thing, but I can't quite >> No, that was close. >> Is that Yeah. Yeah. Great. >> Congratulations. You're with >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, thank you so much for the update. I just I really wanted to give you a shout out for implementing this intern pilot project. I I think it's a wonderful idea. I

016I know that Achieve does this in the summer students can apply for various internships throughout the community and I think it gives them great experience and working and connecting with others and networking and just the fact that you are doing that within the school now um is is tremendous. So, thank you for your leadership with that idea. >> And to to piggyback off of that, during our meeting was mentioned as we were talking about the mental health resources available in our district and in the high school especially that one of the first pilot interns uh took on the task of uh developing a uh education materials regarding bullying and cyber bullying uh which uh turned around in I think record time. So, it's a great first product coming from that initiative. All right. Uh we're

017going to move on now. We would be going to the superintendent update. However, we do have guests. Uh our auditors are here and I'd like to uh let them have the stage. I'd like to pivot to our uh business uh administrator update. >> Thank you. Um and uh as per NJS18A23 uh-1, New Jersey departments of education, boards of education are required to audit their accounts and financial transactions every year annually um via partnership with an external auditing firm and that is PKF Okconor Davies for us. So I welcome uh John and Rob to uh to give us a presentation. We we value their partnership and we thank you for coming forward today to speak. Just push a button there. >> There we go. Okay. Good evening. Thank you for having us. Uh my name is

018John Fina. I was the director on the audit this year for the school district. And uh I'm here with Rob Provost who is uh who I worked under. He's the partner on the job. Uh I'm going to start off by just giving a brief introduction of uh of the audit. uh what we do, why we do it, and um Rob's going to dive into some of the results of the audit. So, the report uh the audit was uh finalized on December 19th uh ahead of the January 15th extended deadline. Um as part of that reporting package, you received two reports. the annual comprehensive financial report which is the thicker 200page report and then the auditor's manager management report which is a the skinnier about 20page report. Uh before I get started I always like to

019um acknowledge and recognize uh the district staff and administration for their cooperation during the audit. Um audit is a big undertaking as a firm. Collectively we spend hundreds of hours on this audit. Um the work doesn't appear out of nowhere for us. Um it's it's it's a big undertaking for the district staff. Uh we request and get hundreds if not a thousand reports to look at and files to look at and um it's it's timeconuming on top of their their normal everyday work. So I think they should be recognized for their uh assistance in helping us get this done. Uh and especially this year a lot of turnover in the business office. So there was a lot of learning their current job as well as as providing us uh documentation for the audit. Okay. So

020what what do we do in our audit? What's our objective? uh when we're engaged to do an audit the our main objective is to uh express an opinion as to whether the financial statements of the district are fairly presented and in conformity with US generally accepted accounting principles. That's our independent auditor's report. Uh the opinion on that report is really the most important part of any audit that we do. Um happy to say the district earned an unmodified opinion which it represents a clean audit and that's the highest level of opinion we can give on an independent auditor's report. Uh second objective is to report on the internal controls related to the financial statements. Um and that's in accordance with government auditing standards. So there's a separate set of standards that we have to follow

021as government auditors. Uh so we issue a report on that. That report also came back clean. And we also report on internal controls related to major federal and state programs. Um what that is major federal and state programs is due to the level of uh spending on state and federal programs within the district. We have to perform program specific audits of of certain grants. This year we tested the IDEA grant on the federal side and on the state side we tested the general state aid cluster and the preschool education aid and those audit uh came back with unmodified opinions also which means no no findings related to those grants. I'm just going to go through a brief overview of of what we do and how we gather enough evidence to to provide our opinions to

022offer our opinions. Uh big thing we do in our audits is to uh test internal controls. Your internal controls is what safeguards and protects the district's assets. Um we we test processes like payroll accounts payable, the cash receipts process, financial statement close process. Uh we sample transactions and we make sure there's proper proper approvals in place. Employees are getting paid the correct amount. Vendors are getting paid um in a timely manner. Vendors are uh purchases are made only after a purchase order is issued. Um so that's a big big component and and those tests come back clean that allows us to rely on the information in the financial software. We also do uh tests of compliance. Uh we do uh test of purchasing laws. Uh we make sure that if if um purchases are over

023certain thresholds that the district went out to bid in accordance with state law. if quotes were required to be obtained uh that the the district received quotes. Uh we also test uh compliance related to grants and and certain aid types. Uh again this year we tested the state aid cluster, the preschool education aid and IDEIDA. We also perform uh analytical procedures. Um, at the beginning of every audit, we kind of go through each each category and we set expectations of what we what we expect to see during the audit, what what we anticipate the results to be. And that's based on district trends, review of meeting minutes, uh, past experience at the client, and, uh, inquiry of of management and in administration. And if anything deviates from those expectations, we go back in, we ask

024more questions, we gather more evidence, and we uh we we get comfortable with the numbers that are in there. We also compare budgeted versus actual amounts. Uh compare current year versus prior year. Um another big process that we do is search for unrecorded transactions. So the year ended June 30th, 2025, we actually go into the next school year and and sample transactions from the next school year, make sure they're being charged to the correct year. Right? If a revenue was recorded in 2526, we make sure that it it does apply there. And the same thing for the expenses. We'll also pick uh some expense categories that we know should be 12 months. There should be 12 charges. We'll verify that there are the 12 charges. um in the in those uh expense categories. As far

025as the auditor's management report, the skinnier report uh goes, that's a report that's uh required uh by the department of education and it's a prescribed format that uh we have to follow. Uh what it does is it kind of lists out the audit scope um what we're required to do uh for each each category. Um it also includes the schedule of audited enrollments which shows the number of students uh that were reported on the district's application for state school aid and the results of our testing of that application. It shows the excess it includes the excess surplus calculation uh which is a formula for calculating the district surplus in excess of a uh statutory 2% limit. Uh it the AMR also includes um findings and recommendations if there are any. This year we had uh

026three recommendations that we came up with. Uh, two of them were related to student activity funds, which is very common across all of our SCO school district audits. Um, one was related to deposits not being made as quickly as we think they should. Um, and the second one was for uh some old checks that have not cleared yet, just just that they should be uh looked at and determine if they need to be reissued or avoided from the system. And the third finding and recommendation was related to the district's uh semi revenue uh did not meet the the target participation rate um that the state uh suggested. So I know that uh corrective action is being planned for for those three findings. And now I'm going to turn it over to Rob for uh some

027of the financial statement results. >> Thank you, John. First, I want to personally thank uh Monty, Tiffany, Nar Finance team, and myself for uh you know, helping us get the audit done as quickly as we did. Like I said, we're out what, two, two and a half, three months, John, something like that. It really is a long process and that and that's just a testament um to the finance team that we issued almost a month ahead of uh the deadline. The deadline was extended to January 16th just for some reasons where some estate reports were were extended but um like John said we're happy that we got it done and we couldn't do it without Ammani and entire finance team's help. So really appreciate Ammani. >> Thank you. Thank you guys. And just to touch

028base to one other thing we do in the audit, you know, every year we try to go up just something different. You know, like one year we'll look at your health benefit bills to your employee roster to make sure only qualified people are getting paid. We'll look at tuition contracts versus enrollment to make sure you know that the child was there for the full year and properly charged just just in case there's any cost-saving measures. So you know, every year we try to do something a little different in that aspect. So, I'm just going to jump right into some of the financial numbers. And that's a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be. So, my my apologies. I'm sure you guys probably can't see that. Um, what I was trying to show,

029and I haven't done this before, but uh that that's a pretty good picture not only of the South Orange map school district, but literally all school districts across the state where, you know, the blue line represents the revenue. So it did it went back five years to around where COVID hit and you kind of see that the green is the expansion line and you know 2021 that's the first year I'll try to walk you through because the numbers are very small and you can see that was always a trend you know revenue always exceeded expenditures it was never really an issue and then COVID hit the costs just start skyrocketing out of control and uh you know you can kind of see that green line just kind of climbing climbing climbing and actually overtook the

030blue line which is revenue and even in 23 I think that's where most schools started kind of seeing that trend. Uh however that year you guys had a sale of bus sale buses and you had some FEMA funds that came in around $3 million. So it was almost like a break even that year but you can see 24 25 is even worse where the disparity in expenditures just really has outgrown revenue. But I like to show that graph because it's not we're not saying that revenue has decreased. We're just saying that the expenders just kind of took over at an egregious rate compared to the revenue line as you kind of see. And then if I took the the last column, the 25 column, that was this year's audit compared to the first column, you

031know, the green line went up $39 million. $39 million in 2021. Um, and that was roughly 31%. And even though the revenue increased 24 million, which is a significant number, that's an 18%. So you're talking about a 30 31% climb in expense versus a 24% increase in revenue. And like I said, the numbers would be way different other schools, but you know, I did this presentation Ocean County, not the graphs or anything, but in Morris last week, Ocean County two weeks ago, it was it was the same same trend as far as you know, it was always like these expenses. The health benefits, transportation, tuition, energy, you know, so for this district, health benefits are up about 500,000 from last year. Uh energy cost is up around a million dollars from last year. Transportation is

032up around a million dollars last year. And those are all fixed costs. You know, those are those are costs are really hard to do cutbacks or anything like that. Um it kind of is what it is. And a lot of it is just over the over the years, you know, the state health benefits specifically, they always had this we're not going to raise benefits, we're not going to raise benefits. And now they got to a point where now now they're just going at a, you know, crazy rate. Some schools are getting hit with a 36% increase in health benefit rates. I mean, it's it's millions of dollars in one year. Um, it's it's absolutely crazy. So, I I kind of just want to show that trends. Like I said, I could literally call that not

033South Orange Maplewood School District. Most school districts in New Jersey could be the title of that because that that's kind of the trends all over the state. So, it's not just Essex County for sure. Click it, John. battery done. >> I think the clicker may be malfunction if you guys. >> Yep. And there's no way to make that bigger, right? Yeah. >> Okay. So, I'll walk you I'll walk through the numbers anyway. So, so really I was just trying to do a comparative of last year versus this year and what those numbers are. That's the recapitulation of fund balance numbers. So that's just at the end of the year if I looked at your budgetary revenues and your budgetary expenditures which is you know really the the key schedule for an audit that's what that

034is and then there it's broken out into certain restrictions and unrestricted amounts and that's what I was going to walk through because that's really what's important here. So, you know, the overall ending fund balance this year at June 30th, 2025 was 29.3 million down from almost exactly 35 million last year. So, it was a $6 million decrease and primarily for the reasons I was just saying with those four lines I just mentioned, I mean, that was probably, you know, $4 million. So, and that's without the normal contractual um raises and every and you know other cost supplies etc that as everyone in this room could attest to you know cost just keep rising rising rising but at the end of the year you guys did end with 29 million. Um I'll just go over some

035of the the components of that. So you guys have a capital reserve this year of 4.6 million. So those are funds kind of held aside. So if the now school district needs uh obviously capital project roofs etc there's some funding available that that kind of builds up over time and there was a withdrawal this year for school improvements of 4.2 million so that was that was part of the decrease too where last year's 8.8 million that went to 4.6 million this year. Uh similarly with the maintenance reserve, same kind of type thing where uh 1.5 million was needed in the budget to fund maintenance type projects and that was a difference from this year where it ended at 3.2 versus 4.7 last year. Um and just to keep in mind too, you know, these are

036restricted funds with very specific rules. So it's not like the funds could be just taken out and spent on, you know, salaries or supplies or anything like that. it has to be spent on those uh specific purposes. So those were the changes in those funds. And then the next two lines were the 6.8 million and 5.5 million. That's really just your excess surplus over the last two years being 25 and 24. And those amounts must be utilized in the next two years budget. So again, those are restricted funds. Those are not funds that are available to to make any any purchases. is they must be used in the budget of the succeeding years. The bottom number is a 3.7 3.7 million. That's really the true 2% undesated piece. That's that's technically what's available. So out

037of that 29.3 million technically 3.7 is the unrestricted piece which is you know a pretty pretty small piece in the grand scheme of things but um you know going to be necessary nonetheless. So, I know that was a a pretty quick recap, but that's kind of what I had on the on the financial side, and we're obviously open for for questions. >> Thank you very much. Questions, the board? >> Thank you very much for coming and for this very informative presentation. Uh, this is the first audit presentation I've seen since the revelations came out about Montlair. um you know where they're facing an absolute budget disaster and it seems like the disaster is caused by things that just I can't believe even happened like you know Montlair receiving bills and just not paying them like

038stuffing bills in desks and forgetting about them until like the next person found them buried in a drawer and like could you assure us that like you know you've you're going through like districts with like you know a very strict scrutiny and like you know you know turning over everything like double time to like you know make sure there are no unexpected you um bills that are going to appear here in a year or two or three. >> Sure. So, and we do look at a lot that's for sure. And I said we try to go beyond the minimum samples. Um and like John was saying, one thing that we feel it's imperative to do all these big expense lines. We make sure we go through that 12 months of energy spent. Everything that's a

039monthly bill is is paid, you know. So, we go through and not just look at an encumbrance. We look at the actual check payment, purchase order, etc. But we'll go through the the health benefit bills for sure. I mean, that's $18.5 million. So, any big line, we're going to drill into it. We look at denergy lines, um, you know, things like that. And Jonathan said, we we try to do a lot of digging after year end as well. So, we'll look at payments after year end. And then we'll pull the invoice, etc., etc., and see, well, what what year did that relate to, you know? So, so we do a lot of that type of work. um you know and I don't want to misspeak on the auditors of Montlair that the year before but

040you know we feel when especially me when I personally sign a report I like to feel comfortable that we did a lot of work and I I really think we do a lot of work here to give you guys a level of comfort um and like I said there's a materiality component so we can't look at everything certainly but we feel like we look at enough to to give a good clean opinion >> thank you very much Sure. >> If you would just Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Sure. Just uh to contextualize for the public and we look at that slide of the five-year revenue and expenditure comparison. When we talk about budget development, of course, we have a mandate to have a balanced budget where the revenue and the expenditures are always matched up to

041the penny. Can you give the context of what we're looking at here as far as how those two come out of sync year-over-year? Again, I think it's just the imbalance of the significant rise in costs over time. And I think over time, you know, if you looked at, you know, 2022, you know, you had 40 plus million budgetary fund balance. And I think year-over-year some of that little piece is needed sometimes in in excess of the surplus to kind of help balance the budget. So sometimes if the revenue isn't there, yeah, it absolutely comes from the fund balance components that we just had up on the screen. And obviously that kind of dwindles down o over over time. But you know I would say obviously 21 22 23 you know there's a lot of grants

042with covid funds you know uh specifically with and some of these other grants and this is maybe the first full year where that's completely depleted. I mean even last year we saw some in you know um I don't know maybe some food service funds. there was still a little bit but this year it's the first full year for the most part where you know that that funding is now gone and even FEMA you know over the years was giving schools funding where they could and we see that on municipality side too we do a lot of those engagements and same thing you know they they that's all going away too where you know seems like the federal and state are kind of they just don't have the the funding to give the schools anymore and

043that was I don't want to say camouflaged the rising cost but to a certain extent yes you know cuz you had the revenue. So, you didn't really see until maybe where again that graph kind of showed, you know, uh oh, so the expenses are are crazy. >> Thank you, Bo Brown. >> Thank you. And I really appreciate your presentation. Um, and especially the last two slides. I kind of like that kind of give us something to take away here. Um, do you have recommendations for what percentage of a district's budget should be maintained in a capital reserve and maintenance reserve ideally? >> Balancing with our reserves. >> I get that question a lot. You know, I always hate to have this answer, but it depends because you know, certain schools have um you know, like

044I was down in Ocean County and their school systems lot, you know, they spent so much money years ago and they had the platinum status, etc. So now they don't really need the work because they did it years ago, you know. So kind of depends on the condition again of all the buildings, roofs, etc. I would I would think. Um, that being said, as as much as you could, you know, there's there's a rule out there that you could put as much as your local share of your 5-year facilities plan. So, obviously, you know, to get that where it needs to be, but then that's that's obviously money that comes from other other components. But, you know, it's fortunate that you have that too because, you know, we see a lot of school districts that

045have less than that 4.6 quite frankly. And then it's it's a struggle you know to get some of the the improvements. >> Yeah. Please >> uh just want to ask a clarifying question on the uh fund balance slide that you had. Um the designated for subsequent year expenditures of 4.4 sorry 4.459 I cannot read without my reading glasses. Is that what how what is that? So, so that is to answer an earlier question, um, an extra amount that's necessary to help balance the budget. So, in other words, there's not enough revenue per se to cover all the anticipated expenditures in the following year. >> So, is that a result of like the reconciliation by the state that's done every February or >> I mean that that's a that's just an excess amount that comes. So

046that's not part of the 2%. The 2% is just a 37. >> That amount that amount is currently being used in the budget you're in right now. >> Right. That's >> so essentially uh correct. >> Uh last year we had to engage in some um projects to save costs and then to contribute those savings towards the subsequent budget year process. Any other questions? >> All right, gentlemen. Thank you so much for your time tonight. >> Thank you very much. >> And we'll now move on to our superintendent update. >> Thanks so much. >> Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it. Uh as we move through the month of January, I want to begin by recognizing school board recognition month. I extend my sincere appreciation to our board of education for your leadership service and steadfast commitment to

047our students, staff, and families of South Orange Mapwood. Uh your dedication and partnership are deeply valued and not go unnoticed. the time and effort you put into maintaining not only a balanced budget but programming, staffing, uh, and day-to-day challenges, uh, I know can be overwhelming at time and can also take a lot of your personal time and family time. So, I want to thank you sincerely for dedicating that to the district and to our 7,000 students and and uh all of our staff that support our students. Uh is a sincere thank you to everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um as many of you may have read, um another domino has fallen in regards to school budgets. Hackinac uh has now reported a $17 million gap um in last week's headlines. That gap was

048driven by overspending, excessive hiring, reliance on pandemic funds, and rising health care costs. All factors you just heard from our auditors. Um, if you look at the recent article on the Montlair public school, the district's current problem, quoting from articles here, district's current problems are due to a population boom and demands for more classes, clubs, personnel, and amenities. Uh, I will quote, this isn't from a newspaper. This is from a recent uh audit presentation at SOSD board of education January's meeting uh expenditures took over at an egregious rate. Quote SOSD auditors um all of these quotes sound very familiar as we sit at this deis. Um we have to draw the line and that line is going to mean we are pushing back against amenities, courses, personnel that would usually be added uh with a

049simple yes. We cannot do that anymore. Um, our main directive from my day one, I'm going to rephrase that from my pre-day one and my second interview was to avoid riffs and reductions in staff. Uh, we were able to do that last year through a lot of hard work to close an $8.5 million gap. We are currently staring at another eight eight million gap. So over the last two years, we're looking at a $16 million gap. Uh, again, that may sound familiar. As I just noted, Hackinac is currently at a $17 million gap and laying off close to 90 staff members this year. Um, we are working as hard as possible to make sure we can balance this budget. We plan on being as transparent as possible uh as we do this work as well.

050So, making sure we're keeping people in the loop. Um I truly believe in self advocacy I do. Um but as more and more of these headlines come out uh and the board myself may receive emails around I don't want to be transferred um I want to have this course in the catalog. We have to hold the line. That's where we are at. Uh we've been discussing this now for a year and a half. We've been using the terminology fiscal cliff. Um we've been lucky enough to recently make a change in our insurance with assistance from ASA and collaboration for SMA to avoid a 33% increase in costs that no district could withstand without layoffs. Uh to minimizing that to an 11% increase. Um we are working on other items and strategies uh to minimize expenditures

051and revenue costs. We'll continue that work and as noted we will continue to be transparent around that as well as we move forward. Uh I do want to thank our facilities department and our uh new facilities director Henry Bnajeri for all of their tireless work throughout the recent snowstorms. Um, these are gentlemen that work 12 24-hour shifts and slept in the facility's office. Um, your efforts ensured the safety of our buildings and maintain access for staff and students across the district during the first severe snowstorm of the year, which brought appro approximately 17 inches of snow uh to South Orange Maport School District. Please know that your hard work, dedication, and commitment do not go unnoticed and are highly appreciated. Uh we also want to give a big shout out to both towns. Um they

052worked seamlessly with our folks um in regards to making sure our schools were clean, uh our sidewalks, our streets, uh and also a shout out to our trans transportation department to make sure that our buses were up and running that Tuesday. So big thanks uh to everybody involved. I also want to thank our senior leadership team uh Columbia High School administration and counselors for the continued work on the 2627 program of studies. I've been receiving a lot of positive emails on the presentation they gave a couple weeks ago at at the high school. Uh I know there's still some edits underway. Uh but the work has reflected a thoughtful and collaborative effort to preserve the depth, rigor, and breadth of robust academic opportunities while keeping a extremely tight budget in mind. Uh we are also

053proud to celebrate our Maplewood Middle School steam tank team who were invited to attend the STEM Newark ecosystem convening at NJIT where they were presented their innovative project to educators, industry partners, and community leaders. Uh I had the privilege of attending. Uh the invitation highlights the students innovation, problem solving skills and strong steam learning experiences taking place across the district and at Maplewood Middle School. Uh we held our initial also want to note on a transportation note since our project was about transportation and making sure the uh streets around MMS are safe for students. Uh we did h hold our first initial transportation action committee meeting last week. So big thanks to the participants. We'll be examining transportation's uh mission and goals, policies and procedures, roots and timing, hazardous roots reports, and also demand management.

054Finally, I do want to recognize, gentlemen, if you could pull up uh the slides. Um I want to recognize one of our high school students, Jawasi Mtu. Europe. >> Um, Columbia High School sophomore has been ranked as the number 110 junior male boxer in the United States for 2026. Uh, this is an impressive accomplishment considering the different weight classes. Um, reflects his dedication, discipline, and perseverance. Also reflects his family's willingness to work with the school district. Uh, one of the first things his family did uh, at the start of the school district, start of the school year was contact my office, contact Mr. Sanchez uh, and to let us know that uh, their son would be traveling across the country competing in order really striving for the Junior Olympics and it might take him out

055of school. Uh, and our teaching staff, our administration really worked well with the family to make sure he wasn't missing assignments in school and could still meet uh, his goal of being a championship uh, boxer. So, uh, we are very proud of his work and also to support our student athletes of this caliber. Uh, and who knows, as noted, we may be cheering a future Olympian over the next couple of years. So, big thanks uh, to him and his family. That's it. And do we have Dr. Gilbert's uh, presentation now? We should do. Can you all hear me? >> Good evening, Dr. Gilbert. We do hear you. >> All right. Very good. I am ready to go. Y'all ready for me? >> I think we are. Can we turn him up just a little bit?

056>> Dr. Gilbert, I think we have your slide deck. It's about 150 slides. So, in 10 minutes, that's going to be four seconds per slide, and I I can't wait for it. >> We're not doing all that tonight, Mr. President. I'm sorry. I'm not going to send you through that side, but that does bring me to a good opening to let everyone know that the uh all the entire presentation will be available online. I will not be going through all of the slides tonight. uh I'll be focusing my discussion on the enrollment numbers with triple as well as the course the students uh enrollment in in some of our courses throughout the uh for the year and so and then looking at some trend data and that's going to be the focus of this particular

057presentation. Uh following the presentation though this entire presentation as well as the raw data report will be made available uh online for um for everyone. All right, I'm going to share my screen. Can everyone see the presentation? >> We sure can. >> Okay, very good. So this again is the SOMD uh intentional integration and student enrollment and advanced courses presentation. Um let's see if I go to next slide. Um just to give you some people timeline around our intentional integration timeline. This is 2526. And so our fourth graders were added to our uh implementation year. Uh as well as we have six, seventh, and eighth grade. And so next year uh there will be a slight change. Um next year we will add our fifth grade to the implementation year, but we will not we

058will no longer be middle school will no longer be placed through the algorithm. And so that means that this the rising sixth graders for this year will not be placing the algorithm. We will be placing those students based on proximity working with uh our transportation department using our transfinder data and then having to work internally to make sure we place our special education students as well as siblings uh internally based on what we know. And so that'll be one shift and change going next year. And so this year, this presentation will be the last presentation where we will have to include the middle school as part of our triple I uh enrollment presentation. For those at home, it's a reminder of the algorithm that we use uses four areas. Proximity, sibling, priority of preference, parental

059income, and educational level. Please note race is not listed here. Uh we do not use race in the algorithm although we do monitor that makeup within our schools as a statistical reference point throughout this presentation. Totals will not equal 100% due to a couple of factors some dealing with the suppression of data to make sure that we don't uh un unintentionally um uh identify students because of their low numbers as well as we do rounding of some of our numbers. And so the percentages may not equal 100. That's for our statistical folks who may be trying to add all these things up. All right. So I'm just going to for our purposes tonight in the uh the complete presentation, we have all of the enrollment years back to the initial enrollment through triple I for

060our grades when they entered the uh equation. I'm just going to show for comparison stated what our enrollment last year versus this year was. As you can see, last year we enrolled 515 students going on here. This year our enrollment was 498 students. Our the demographic data shifted somewhat but not much. the percentages are pretty much in line with what they've been the last couple of years. Uh we are again uh seeing uh again you know some numbers and some of our students of color going down decreasing here in terms of enrollment. My slides don't want to cooperate with me. Sorry y'all. There we go. Uh, this is the first grade enrollment for this year. Um, this is our second grade enrollment for 2425. And the next slide should be our enrollment for second grade

061enrollment for this year. Remember, our intermediate grade enrollments only consist of new students to our district. We don't put our students through the algorithm every year. Um, for after kindergarten is our largest group since they are rising. They're coming from prek programs and they're rising to kindergarten. They all go in the algorithm, but each grade after that with the exception of when you get to our rising sixth graders, uh, we only do new students to our district. This is third grade enrollment for last year. Uh the reason why this number was so high is that we used uh our algorithm to place during the Dillia Balden and Marshall unpairing. So this was relatively uh a large number. We did all of the families went through the algorithm for this year for that for this particular

062year and but for 25 26 uh we had a smaller number because we did do a survey. We allowed parents to opt into Dillia Balden after we did our sibling uh preference, our sibling priority. uh we only had 29 students that we were placing uh mainly through our third grade enrollment which was the line share of these numbers that you see here. The smaller numbers for the other schools are also reflected in this slide. fourth grade. This is the first year that our fourth grade enrollment is counted. And as you can see the numbers of new fourth graders that we enrolled uh so far with uh in 2025 26. And then our middle school enrollments. This was last year's sixth grade enrollment. This is this year's sixth grade enrollment. So we kind of went up

063600. We enrolled about 607 students. This is the seventh grade enrollment from last year. New seventh graders versus this year went from 31 to 20. This is eighth grade enrollment last year and this year the number was significantly smaller. Uh and this was the breakdown. The numbers are not reflective again because of the small number of eighth grade enrollments for this year. So just to do uh what we always do with this particular uh piece is that we uh kind of want to compare analysis of our overall enrollment and what that's looked like over the years. If you go through this presentation, I kept in the slides that show from 20134 what our popular population was because you will see certain groups have decreased over the years since 2013 2014. This was 201617. Uh I'll

064go to last year's data. So, this was our enrollment for last year and what those percentages look like uh in our district and this is our current distributive uh demographics. Uh once again uh if you look across uh you'll see that the numbers pretty much mirror what they were last year with small decreases in of course some of our subgroups. Now to get to the course enrollment piece that I talked about just as background. Uh the reason we do this presentation is uh by virtue of an agreement made through some litigation which says by the 31st we will prepare written report of the course enrollments by race and gender of all of our courses 6 through 8 9 through 12 uh and for each specific school. uh as well as you know that we have

065to make sure we do our parameters within federal state privacy records and then they will be publicized on our website. So this counts as our written report. We're doing it orally and let's say we will have it presented for you uh virtually. So, Maplewood Middle School, this is the enrollment at Maplewood Middle School uh currently and the percentages. B um and this is the slide that highlights our gender in line with what we've been asked to do. But we also want to make sure we acknowledge throughout our presentation that we acknowledge that some of our students do have uh non-binary gender identifications and they will not be represented uh below in any uh in any of our charts because of the relatively no low numbers and uh as I said earlier we have to suppress

066that data. This is the four-year trend of uh enrollment at Maplewood Middle School by race. As you can see, it's been pretty consistent uh the last four years and by gender. This is the 4-year trend of the percentage of our students who take art. Uh as you can see, it's been pretty consistent. This year we saw 53% of uh students who were were white and then 46% of our students of color. And though that's been pretty much consistent throughout the the four years, this is the gender chart, language arts, and I won't spend too much time analyzing these particular slides. Uh you can see the color configuration and what they represent. And you can see the 4-year trend. You're not going to see much of uh variance in those numbers. Media technology, music, science, social

067studies and world language. So as you saw through those particular slides in the color configurations, there was not much uh variance or difference in the enrollments that we saw in those particular courses. This is South Orange Middle School. Uh this is the enrollment by race and by grade, the gender. And here are the four-year trends. Again, you can see just as with Maplewood Middle School, we're seeing consistent numbers uh across the board in terms of what those enrollments breakdown and the demographic breakdown at the particular school. And here is the enrollment group by gender. So, no, again, as we go through these, no concerning dips uh in the trends that we're seeing. We had a slight drop in the number of black students who were taking art uh at Psalms, but it's still still relatively

068uh shifted, not significant, language arts, media technology, music, science, social studies, world languages. Again, no alarming trends, no larger variations. The enrollment in those areas seems to be pretty consistent. Now for Columbia High School, this is the current breakdown, demographic breakdown of percentages. This is by gender. And here is the 4-year trend in terms of enrollment. Uh again, not large variances in those those attendants. We do see slight drops in some of our demographics. Uh uh but for the most part and we do see like in in the last category that is a significant just not a significant jump but you see the higher rate from 19.2 to 20.8 8 that's attributed to the number of students uh identified as multi-racial and this is by gender and for this particular piece I'll sp I'll go

069a little slower because in our high school of course you know we have uh honors and AP in many of those classes and so part of this presentation is designed to highlight where we're seeing uh the numbers in terms of students of color who are going into our other higher level courses uh and what those trends look like. So in art uh there was a 3% drop in the AP uh portion of that. However, uh we do see that the trends are are pretty consistent and it's by gender. It's his business. Um, our industrial arts, our language arts I'm just going through these again. Uh you can see just as you look at those trends, as we look at the four-year trends, again, we're not seeing a whole huge shift in a in a lot

070a large number of many of these numbers. So, one of the areas though of concern has always been what does our advanced placement numbers look like? For the last several years, we have been engaged with equal opportunity schools when it comes to helping us identify students. We've seen some uh success uh over the years of that. And uh we are starting to we are continuing to see success in moving students of color into some of our advanced courses. Uh this particular slide outlines all of our advanced placement courses and the number of students who attend those courses. The tan colors represent uh the most popular courses between uh what they're calling underrepresented students that they are enrolled in. You can see AP Calculus, uh AP English Language Arts, uh on this particular page are some

071of the most popular ones, but the highest percentage of students uh are in things like our African-American uh AP African-American studies, which uh consistently since it has been uh a course has seen a large number of our students of color participate in uh AP Chemistry has a high as a decent percentage or 36% uh one of the larger percentages of students of color as well as AP French uh French does. And then we see psychology and uh AP seminar as some of our popular classes. But uh once again, the most popular class of of our students, our students of color is continuing to be advanced placement United States history. that has been the trend over the last several years and that trend continues. Uh however, the larger percentage number uh and and the reason why

072they don't have a larger percentage like some of these others is there's a large number of students who are taking our AP United States history class. This year we enrolled 150 uh underrepresented students in that particular area as well. So as you noticed when we went through the slides, we do a special deleiation around math for MMS, PS, and CHS. And one of the reasons we do that is because uh in middle school uh mathematics is one of our predictors that we use for moving uh students into advanced level coursework because in middle school math that's the only area right now where we have different levels of math or different course levels when it comes to math within our middle school. And so that that kind of helps us guide us in some of the

073work. And we spent a significant amount of time, you notice this past year, uh we did the recommendation charts and then we did the, you know, we looked at uh the re after the recommendations, we looked at students who could possibly succeed and put them in an uplift group and things of that nature. And so these next few slides are just going to go through some of the the the results of what we look like in terms of math selection. And so we want us to spend a little give him his own designation here in this particular presentation. So this is MMS's four-year trend in math. Um again uh the advanced section of it had didn't shift much as well as the honors piece of that piece. And so those numbers remain relatively consistent based

074across the the with just a slight deviation uh in terms of dip. However, the numbers seem to be consistent. This is PS you know and this is Colombia High School. Well, as I promised you, I didn't spend a whole lot of time. There's a lot of slides and so uh again, I went through that rather quickly. I'm happy to go back to some slides if folks choose, but I'll stand for any questions you have. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Gilbert. Any questions? All right, Meredith. works. >> Is that working? Awesome. Well, first of all, thank you, Dr. Gilbert, and also thank you for recognizing the spectrum of gender and protecting our all of our students. Um, I don't want to assume anything, but even though they're not included in this data, are we also

075acknowledging that data so that we are unintentionally leaving them out in inclusion and achievement plans? Are are you are we are you are you as we are you asking as we do this or we making sure that we keep them included through all of our plan. I guess I'm trying to understand a little bit more what you're asking. >> Sure. So basically what I'm getting at is that that's it's binary. It's male and female. And so I just want to make sure that those students who do not identify as male or female that they are still being considered in these plans and this data. Yeah. which I don't think is intentional and more just wanted to acknowledge that. >> So they are included in this data. They're not presented on this particular uh graphic because

076of their low numbers in terms of uh we're trying to make sure that we don't unintentionally uh out someone. But yes, they are included in this information. We are monitor them. I actually in the raw in when you get the raw data report you will actually be able to see uh the number of um students uh that they are reflected in that number. So they are included in the data they just weren't shown on the charts. I thought that's what you were saying but I didn't want to jump out and start answering the question and then you say that's not what I'm asking. So thank you. >> No that's fine. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Okay. >> Board member Brown. >> Yes. Thank you. Thanks for the presentation. Um I just had a

077couple observations and then a question. I think you know overall it seems to me just looking at the AP statistics it seems that generally for most subjects the percentage of black students is between 10 and 15% in AP courses. And given that uh 28% of our high school are black students, we certainly have room to grow there. Um, I did want to highlight that there were some areas where there did there was a proportional representation of black students in honors courses. Um, that seemed to be primarily in business, the industrial arts, and uh, social studies. So, I thought, you know, in terms of guidance and what we can do as a district, that's a natural place to kind of encourage those students to try AP. They've tried honors. once you've tried honors, it's a night,

078you know, why not try an AP? So, that was one area I thought um was a potential for us to focus on as we tried to increase our numbers in AP courses. And then um certainly there was a you know very high over representation of black students in our academic courses um based in you know science, language arts and social studies with certainly a higher percentage of white students proportionally taking honors in AP. Um, so again, I think that's an area of focus, although with the social studies, it's interesting because there are also uh proportional representation of black students in honors courses. So, and your and your point of um the AP US history being a course with a a higher number of black students in in AP there, we could maybe branch out to

079other history courses as well as a way to try and engage students in those AP courses. Um, so those were kind of some of my takeaways from this presentation. I don't know if you have any reactions to that, but also I have a question in terms of the middle school math. To your point, we really didn't see any movement in terms of the proportions of students that were taking higher level math in middle school. And given that it was such an emphasis the past couple years, especially last year with the implementation of district recommendations as well as the um the uplift groups. Uh I guess what's your takeaway from what we're seeing there and what more we can do given that that has been a point of focus over the past year. >> Yeah, thank

080you for that. First of all, to your earlier observations, I don't think you I don't think I dispute anything that you observed. I think those observations were spot on. I think that we had some some goals and some grows with this numbers. Uh to your question around middle school math. Absolutely. Uh there are some areas that we want to dig a little deeper into. Uh I chose not to really go into the middle school math specifically this time around. Next month when I go through the Ruckers implementation uh thing uh implementation progress, I'm going to spend more time there. We were already 150 slides. I was putting it in there and I was like, "Okay, we're about to be a 200 slides." So, I took it all out. So, uh, but we will definitely go

081and talk that uh talk about that because to your point, if you saw on a couple of those slides in in our middle school, we did we dipped we dipped at PS uh a couple of percentage points and we also dipped like three or four points at Maplewood Middle School. And so come with factors I want to look at it that how the impact of the new recommendation process that we went to and the the recommendations that we made as a district versus the recommendations that families made. And then two, we want to probably look at, you know, our the the scoring pieces to those particular puzzles and what that looked like and had that had an impact on it. But there's definitely some uh analysis I we want to do and we'll talk more

082about that next month around you know what we have to do to fine-tune to make that work work. I can say this uh we uplifted about well we recommended about 10 students 10 11 students wasn't very many students as part of the the uplift process this time of those 10 10 or so students I think six of them chose to go on their upper level maths and they're doing well I've been I did my my my check in on those particular students and they're doing well in those particular classes. However, that's not that does not appear to be enough of a push to move us where we thought we would move when it came to narrowing that gap. And so before I uh come up with some actual solutions, I want to bring the team

083together so we can analyze that and and really look and see what impact that shift that we did and it and what we may need to do further to increase uh the uh the likelihood that some of our students of color will go into some of those higher level maths. I also just think uh the data will get a lot I hate to use a technical term juicier because we just launched that the new math series uh that has some continuity with the elementary school. So over the next few years I'd be very interested in seeing how that new system and that's the first system they've had in place for over a decade what the impact of that new system is. >> Second cable please. Actually, Mr. Bing read my mind. I was going to

084just say the same thing that with all of the pieces you mentioned, Dr. Gilbert, um to further analyze um going forward, thinking about the the continuity of the um the math curriculum and especially the younger students who have had more exposure to the new curriculum for several years. and then bridging into middle school and seeing how those pieces just all come together along with the um uh not like this the academic snapshot and the recommendation. So it will take time but I will be curious to see how that all plays out over the years. So >> please >> yeah I'm sorry I just make one I just want to make one point. Thank you all for that. I think uh we also want to keep in mind too that you know this was the first

085year uh it wasn't we weren't hoping to design to find that silver bullet. We were hoping it was going to inject some life into moving the needle and so this with all those factors that you all mentioned. Uh that'll be part of our analysis and help us kind of figure out what's next some next steps to get that get get that number moving where we think it should be. Board member Bennett. Um, >> hi. I have two questions about uh the discontinuation of the triple eye for the middle schools. Um, something that Michael Alves has raised in his reports on the triple eye is that there are every year about 30 to 40 kids who live closer to MMS than to PS. And I was wondering when we discontinue the triple I will we just

086like kind of let it float and like let MMS have like 30 to 40 kids more per grade or we continue to keep the two middle schools like within like one or two% of each other in enrollment. >> So >> we've been Oh, go ahead. >> No, no, go right ahead. >> We've been discussing that point uh whether to provide those certain families with options either our option or to go with the natural split. We're we're still in the exploration stage around that. I don't it will not have that that large of an impact on numbers balance-wise. Uh but our biggest issue is I don't want to take let's say eight students and separate them from friends they've been going through school with. So I want to give them the choice of if they want

087to stay with their friend group or may go to school closest to their home. Unluckily for us, PS is a larger school even though it has like a smaller population in its proximity zone. Um uh my other question was about sibling preference for next year's sixth grade. You know, sibling preference isn't as big a deal for the middle schools as it is for the elementary schools, but there are some sibling, you know, priority placements. Um, will uh the younger siblings of kids who were placed at the more distant middle school have like the option to go to the closer middle school next year if they want or will we just continue the sibling priority placements? >> Did you want me to take that ball or are you good? You want to take it? >> Yeah,

088I think we're going to stick with the latter. Um, >> uh, I know Kevin, you could speak quite a while on sibling preference. Uh, it it has a has quite an impact on what we're doing. Um, I'll give you 30 seconds, Kev, just to uh, >> No, I think I think you I think you answered it. You answered it really. I think that's so one of the I will say this and and I'll use my 30 seconds to say this. Now that we're moving those students out of the algorithm and in-house for placement, there are some internal things that we have to look at and that is that is that that is at the top of the list on how we're going to handle u our sibling preference and our sibling priority. >> So, I'd

089like to just uh piggyback off of uh Jeff's question if you don't mind. I know there's a lot of folks uh in middle school and rising middle school students um including I think a couple on the board uh who are curious to know more about what this is going to look like. Um my question is do we have data or a timeline for data on what we expect the um the demographics to look like uh without the AAA algorithm in our two schools uh next year and uh as the uh proximity process is is underway to find that kind of split line is there consideration being given to how whatever demarcation is used is going to impact those demographics. >> So, um I I'll start and if Mr. Bean wants to add on. So, um

090what we're the placement is going to be handled through our transfinder um software. We're going to review those placement numbers. We're going to look at those placement numbers based on the demographic piece. We've got to go into We've got to go into there and also make the different switches based on uh IEPs and special education programming and the sibling piece of that puzzle. And then we'll look and see what the demographic breakdown is going to look like. Um and see if we need to make any kind of adjustments once we we look at that. However, I will say this. Uh, as the ALS group has reported the last several years, we've been placing 90% of our students already at their closest schools. And you see what the demographics based on these graphs have showed you.

091I will just tell you internally. Our discussions have been we don't think it's going to see a significant change, but we will definitely have those numbers broken out so we can look at them and analyze and see what that impact is going to look like. Thank you. Who hasn't asked a question? I'm sorry. Did you want to follow up? >> No. >> You want to just give a quick timeline because I know Al's group has been meeting uh with transportation uh in regards to analysis on uh to zone model on on sixth grade on middle school coming out of the algorithm. Um I think you told me two weeks from now we should have the final data on that to present, but I just wanted to confirm it. So yes sir. So uh where we

092are with that uh Al's group spent three days well two days I cut one of the days out with transportation and myself going through uh the data looking at the two zone model based on some transportation. They're supposed to be providing uh their recommendations based upon that b a memo to us outlining their findings based on those visits. I was I was thought we were going to get it this week. Maybe we'll get it next week. I'll see that. But they plan to they were also waiting for the ACS data to come out. I believe that came out because I saw an article in the New York Times talking about what the census data uh was suggesting. And so now that they have the ACS data, they're moving to do a second beta test on

093the twozone model. So I I'm going I should check in with them tomorrow to see what the timeline for going to be. But for our purposes on the February board meeting as part of following the Ruckers implementation piece, we're going to roll right into a discussion around the entire trip and all of the findings and stuff. So, I'm anticipating that we'll have all of this information within the next two or three weeks in preparation for the February board meeting. >> Thank you. or member Stefan, >> while we're on this topic, could you explain the rationale for eliminating the uh triple I out of the placements in the middle schools? >> Mr. Bean, me, who who are you directing that? Which way? >> Yeah. No, I think you you just answered that. we're at about 91%

094already uh in regards to students being placed at their closest middle school. Um so putting the students in the algorithm it doesn't make much sense at this point that since we hit the 91 92% number um may have an impact on trans uh transportation maybe positive or negative a slight impact um it will have a impact on workload on our end as well uh but after speaking with Alves and we've been discussing this with them for a good year um they had a pretty strong recommendation that we're since we're at 91 92 that we wouldn't see much of a difference if we left the algorithm for 678. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. And then I would I would sort of echo then what uh board president Meyer said where I'd be really interested to see

095what what the demographics are actually going to look like and what the differences are. >> Yeah, they've been running those numbers. So, we'll have all that data for you. >> Yep. >> All right. Some round two questions. Board member Brown. >> Yes. And I'm circling back to the presentation. Um I forgot to mention in my observations um I just wanted to to I noticed that especially female students they're um in the business courses they are proportionately represented in academic and honors courses but not in AP business classes. They are also very much underrepresented res under reppresented in the industrial arts in both honors and AP. I realize that students pick their courses based on interest. Um but I think especially with STEM and girls, you know, business is one area that we might want to

096encourage just like we would encourage um perhaps our students of color to pursue more APs in some of the other subjects I mentioned. So just wanted to raise that as well. >> Thank you for that observation. >> I think for us, we also have to do a better job at the middle school level, right? So really career exposure and career readiness is something that's often forgotten at the middle school level. I think if we do an earlier intervention in regards to exposing kids to careers, I think you would see better choices as they move through. We we do have to continue to support that throughout their 9 10 11. But I think we would see more increased numbers uh especially in those two areas. >> Anyone else? >> Okay, Dr. Gilbert, thank you so much

097for your time. All right, thank you. >> And we'll now move along to the board president update. Uh, and it really is a privilege to get to spend a few minutes to share uh, thoughts uh, on behalf of the board. I want to start by acknowledging the anxiety uh that many in our community have felt the past few weeks watching the immigration enforcement news in Minneapolis and elsewhere uh and seeing the concern from our own neighbors, feeling sympathy for them and worry that we could experience those same issues here. Indeed, we know these same issues are impacting families in Essex County right now uh and over the past year have touched students right in our district. The resolution of solidarity that we'll be acting on tonight is a reflection of that concern shared by the

098board and the efforts the district has been taking to safeguard those students and families most at risk. Unfortunately, this month we're also grieving for losses in our community. We lost a Columbia High School senior to a tragic accident last week and we remember tonight the joyful life of Jonah Patton Shimanov. I want to extend thanks to CHS pre principal Frank Sanchez for the remarkable memories of Jonah shared at yesterday's memorial service. Our personnel resolution this month notes four memorials of former district employees as well. And I want to call out especially and remember the passing of former CHS assistant principal Terry Ward who impacted so many of our students. The board has been busy on numerous fronts at the same time this month uh as our reconstituted committees all picked up where they left off

099last year and our new student and family affairs special committee embarked on its mandate in collaboration with our student representatives. We are all focused in our various committee work on preparation of our fiscal year 27 budget and have been discussing how we're going to thread the needle to make our expenditures shrink to match our revenue. And we expect to be discussing a lot more of these solutions and tough decisions in the next couple months. Progress continues on our Ritzerfield proposal which will be reviewed at the February 10th meeting of the Maplewood Planning Board and will come back to us once that process is completed. The board of school estimate intends to meet on February 19th for anformational meeting where no action will be taken to discuss the mandate of that board with its new members

100and to discuss the district's finances and possible resolutions that this board could send it uh this year. The board will also be holding the first of its quarterly retreats this year on February 12th, focusing on issues of the school ethics act, budget development and the board's oversight role in district programming. And last but not all least, I want to highlight the fourth annual SAMS event, My Black is Beautiful, a celebration of black history through the arts, which is happening on Saturday, February 21st, 400 pm at SOPAC. You can go to the SOMSD website front page for more information and to get tickets. Our retreat will also be a lot of fun, but if you have to prioritize between the two, get tickets for that. Uh, and now we will turn to our hearing of individuals

101and delegations. Uh, we want to thank you for coming in person and joining us online this evening. We value your public comment at our board meetings. Uh, we cannot engage tonight in a dialogue with you. However, we do take your comments very seriously and your input will inform our work. Our comment period is limited to one hour of time and each speaker will have three minutes. Please begin by stating your name and your town. Uh, and we have two signups tonight. I'd like to first invite to the podium Karen Murphy. >> Thank you. if you just push the button to unmute. >> Y >> Okay. Yes. Um my name is Karen Murphy and I'm the instructor and sponsor of everything that falls under the fibers and textile and fashion uh umbrella at the high school.

102Um I'm here to uh shed light on our program and advocate for our fibers 2 program to be reinstated in the program of studies. Um so our program is I you know I just wanted to shed light on the fact that it is very much aligned with the district goals. I definitely support in um writing the curriculum um a lot of the um the same goals um as well as a lot of the budget concerns that I'm hearing tonight. I feel like our program I mean I can point out how our program is you know in support of those things. Um we can point to um as well as far as curricular goals um we can point to recent and upcoming graduates um pursuing majors in fibers related fields um textiles um you know fashion

103design and surprisingly um fields of engineering uh medicine aerospace technology and I'll get to that in just a minute. Um so currently there are over 60 students who attend the um fibers and fashion clubs on Thursdays and Fridays. Um these are students that are dedicated to advancing their study of fibers. Um the reason that fibers 2 was established in the first place was to accommodate the the massive number of students who are primarily interested in um you know fiber arts, textiles, fashion design, fashion construction. Um and as it happens you know through that course of study we also you know get into surprising elements of you know properties of fibers how they're used in the world and um you know and as that relates to fields of engineering understanding the prop you know the tensile

104strength and flame retardant properties and um you know bioimilar um properties of of various materials. Um so the um the going back to another point that was made in the meeting um about the um the cross-section of students that are accommodated by uh a program um just some numbers there. We have about 40 to 50% people of color um involved in advanced um studies of fibers in through clubs or the uh classes um with the steam adjacent um you know angle that we're that we take through the curriculum and so forth. Um we're seeing about 70% um students identifying as female in that. Um so if we look at the past three years, if we look at the past three years, our budget has um been spent on um developing the facilities. If I can

105just finish this thought, um we've launched this program. Now it's established. Our equipment is there. The facilities are there. We've invested in sewing machines and looms and you know this great facility. Now we have those things. So now the budget needed to maintain yarn, fabric, that kind of thing, a lot of that is donated. So what would we be doing by, you know, now we've reached that, why don't we re reap the benefits instead of just letting all that, you know, collect dust. >> Thank you very much. >> I could get into more, but thank you for your time. >> And I think you've emailed the board and so I think we we have your thoughts as well that way. So thank you very much. Uh our next public speaker is Jonathan Castro said. Uh

106okay. Yeah. All right. Sing props. Good evening. My name is Jonathan Castro. I am Latino. I am a taxpayer. I am a voter. I am my father. And my family is not going to go anywhere. I'm here tonight wearing showing this flag to the board so they know who I am. We come from a lineage of resistance. My people murdered for waving this flag. And our response was to make it into the country's biggest cultural celebration. We don't fear shell games, attrition. We don't fear an administration that's trying to prey on vulnerable children. No culture would say, "The truth has no price and justice cannot be bought." Or, as Bad Bunny would say, I'm here to publicly praise the board on a formal notice of a monel liability. OSE non-compliant findings, two active ethics dockets,

107and several other active state investigations. The timing of tonight's agenda is kind of ironic. While you guys are discussing the Joint Insurance Fund, Act 4906-0, the state of New Jersey was busy, too. As of 5:00 PM today, the school ethics commission formerly served Bing Jesia and Putieri a second docket and in addition to the previous docket. This is two active dockets and I'm already working on the third one that names individuals at the board of education and it specifically ties policy 93 I mean 9130 and an and action 4906 to the ongoing pattern that I highlighted in the SEC complaint you guys received today. I'm telling you about this SEC complaint that I have not filed against board members as a courtesy. The state is now investigating the evidence of spoilation of evidence, unauthorized surveillance

108and fiduciary waste and child endangerment, etc., etc. to the board. If you vote Jeff yes on this GIF resolution tonight while withholding state investigation, you are not just committing fiduciary waste, you are becoming co-conspirators. Furthermore, if you attempt to revise policy 9130 to limit public complaints, that's a transparent piece of retaliatory policy designed to ret retroactively hide the very failures that the SEC just served a few hours ago. So, uh, the board is discussing the structural deficit that the auditors just uh, highlighted. We just went from up to an 8 million deficit in over nine month. In about nine months, the district or the BOE Oh, it ended. Okay. Well, you have wasted over $170,000 litigating against a once in a generation intellect, a 9year-old Latino. >> Thank you, Mr. >> That is a 34

109to1 waste ratio, 2% of the district budget. I want >> I'm asking for the resignation of Jesia and and Christina Bontieri. I'm not calling for any other resignations. >> We've received your comments by email. We do have them. Thank you very much for your time. >> I just wanted it to be publicly available and we have looks like uh two of our online comments appeared in person. We have one further comment. Uh is Steve Brown online. >> Hi, good evening. Uh can you hear me well? >> Yes, we can. Hi, Steve. >> All right. Uh thanks for the time and uh I uh I appreciate the previous uh citizens who have uh taken advantage of public speak and I'll uh attempt to segue from the the prior uh commentary not knowing obviously the circumstances of

110it. Uh I initially signed up uh with respect to the middle school placement. I think both board members Bennett and Meyer have uh generally uh aired the same questions that I had had. I would suggest to the superintendent and the assistant superintendent that some timeline in terms of when actions will be taken, decisions will be made would be helpful. So the timeline that was given earlier in the meeting was the receipt of information. The discussion of that information, not when decisions based on that information will be made um available to the community. And I think that would be helpful. So you know we'll get the information in January, we'll discuss it in February. We expect a preliminary decision in March and a final decision in whatever that is as an example. Um I also wanted

111to uh maybe in somewhat contrast commend uh the superintendent for his transparency, his outreach to the community. Uh I found it quite helpful. The town halls, the communications uh in that regard, the fiscal cliff, as you turned it earlier in the meeting, superintendent, I'm not quite sure is more widely known in the community. You've made it clear in meetings such as this where there are attendees in person. I think uh there's maybe three of us on the WebEx, 20 or 30 on the YouTube obviously available for replay. But I think the other comm's channels you have making it more widely known that this is what we're facing uh would be helpful for the community to both appreciate that's what's coming and then to engage and then also feel taken along in this the decisions that

112will ultimately be necessary. Thank you very much and I recognize it's late in the evening. That uh concludes my public uh remarks. >> Thank you very much. Uh and that concludes our first uh hearing of individuals delegations. We're now going to move to our discussion section uh and have committee report outs. Uh, and we're going to surprise go uh in reverse alphabetical order because board member Stephen seemed so eager to present his first policy update. >> Wow. I'm I'm very honored. Uh, the policy and governance committee met on Wednesday, January 14th. Uh, in attendance were Mr. Bang, Miss Jesia, and board members Brown, Higgins, Meyer, and myself. Uh, Strauss Esme, our policy vendor, gave a presentation about the services they provide. Uh in addition to alerting us about uh needed updates in policies and regulations,

113they also offer things like uh free consultation on policy matters. Um we were also joined by our student representative Scarlett Strogoff uh and she discussed with us some possible updates to our policy concerning the election of student representatives to the board of ed. And uh thank you to to board member Brown for uh connecting us uh to Scarlet uh on that. Uh up for a first read tonight, we have several policies and regulations that are being added or amended uh to keep us in line with the New Jersey Freedom to Read Act, uh which was signed into law last year and is designed to ensure free access to library materials. That's policy 2530, policy and regulation 2535 and policy and regulation 9130. Um, also up for first read is policy 5120, uh, which moves us

114from a twice yearly to a once- yearly uh, triple eye experience survey. Um, we have two policies up for second read. 5512, which is on harassment, intimidation, and bullying, and 9320 on cooperation with law enforcement agencies, which is something we're uh, required to adopt uh, under state law. Um and finally, uh as has been mentioned, we are voting on a resolution tonight standing in solidarity with immigrant students and families. Um this reaffirms the board's commitment to the education of all students regardless of ethnicity, national origin, race, or immigration status. Uh and it recognizes the work that the district is already doing and continues to do uh to protect student privacy and safety. And so I want to thank everybody on the board for their contributions to that. And in particular, I want to thank uh

115board member Callahan for her long-standing uh leadership on this issue. >> Board member Brown. >> Um I'm just thinking we might want to point out why we're not going to second read for the class size policy >> that I was right mention that right after. >> Go for it, President. So I I will mention uh we did last month uh vote and approve on first read policy 2312 on class size. Uh in uh subsequent committee discussions uh there was I believe an overall consensus that uh in light of some additional data we're seeking to have uh in the budget development process, it would make the most sense to uh hold off on making that change and align that with our budget discussion in the next few months. So that uh did not appear for second

116read tonight. And I also mentioned the um uh the policy 5512. I had read out in December that we were passing that on first read and somehow it just wasn't wasn't on the agenda. Uh and so we are finally getting that done tonight. Thank you. Any other discussion? All right. We'll turn to board member Sacka Cable for uh curriculum and instruction. >> Okay. Thank you. Um we met on January 12th with all members present. As always we discussed the district goals related to CNI and the progress towards there is progress being made towards the second quarter benchmarks. Um as board president Meyer just mentioned we do have policy 5512 HIB which had been discussed previously in committee. We're also voting on two new course proposals. Guide to high school success aimed at supporting firstear students

117to navigate CHS with confidence. The other is advanced music technology which will prepare students for careers in music production, sound engineering, and media composition. In addition, we're voting on the program of studies at CHS, which reflects the district's educational goals, curricular priorities, staffing considerations, and needs and interests of students. We had a robust discussion about the program of studies. We heard about new courses as well as those that are being paused for next year based on multiple data points, including student course requests, schedule change patterns, and low enrollment uh classes. Board members offered suggestions to improve clarity around grading practices, course waitings, and consistent course labeling so families and students can better understand course levels as well as the expectations of those courses. Thank you to Dr. Anton and the district's CNI team for thoughtfully

118responding to the board's questions around this topic and for further clarifying key information in the program of studies, standard operating procedures, and the student handbook. Our next meeting will be on February 9th at 6:30 p.m. And um those are just highlights, but the full um minutes are on the website. >> Any questions? Brown. >> Um, thank you for that. I just uh wanted to talk a little bit about the program of studies given that that up that that is up for vote this this evening. Um, and I want to say that I I really appreciate the district's thoughtful work on the program of studies, including aligning the course offerings with the students interests. and they did a survey of students budget constraints and the datadriven report provided to the board that basically gave very I

119think a a a wellsupported um outline for some of the changes in the program of studies. Um certainly appreciate the work of Dr. Anton and the transparency around the grading floor policy that's now in the program of studies. That said, I do have concerns about applying a 50% grading floor for all four quarters. Um, especially particularly the fourth quarter. Um, by that point, a student can calculate whether minimal effort will still allow them to pass a class, which may negatively affect their motivation, attendance, and engagement, especially given that we have um no consequences for a student being late to class and limited consequences for absenteeism. I'm also concerned about the impact on classroom learning and teachers in that fourth quarter. In our discussions over the grading floor over the past few months, I've asked for

120studies or data to support a four quarter grading floor and have received limited information. Um, I've been told that the district is modeling after West Orange, but we do know that other nearby districts use grading floors such as Summit, Milbour, and Irvington, and they have other grading floor designs. So, for example, Summit in Irvington do not apply a grading floor to the fourth quarter or finals to midterms and Milbour uses an entirely different structure for their grading floor. I was hoping that um a more rigorous analysis is similar to what the board was presented for the course structure changes would be provided. One that compares the various grading floor models and their academic outcomes to understand the reasoning behind the district's proposal and why we thought West Orange's model was most appropriate for our students

121learning. I want to be clear, I'm not I am not against grading floors. I see their benefits and I do believe that grading floor should be part of a comprehensive clearly articulated student support plan that includes test retake policies, automatic interventions, clear credit recovery procedures and alternative graduation pathways. Um, and you know having this all in one comprehensive document I think would be the ideal path for our district to go. And I do understand that the district is working towards very much working towards that. Um, and I fully understand that that takes time to design and to implement thoughtfully, but right now given that I don't have adequate information, I cannot support a grading floor applied in all four quarters. >> Any other discussion? board. See, does that work? Okay, here we go. Um, similar

122to what, uh, board member Brown has said, I'd like to commend the level of effort and detail in the program of studies, particularly in the course catalog. The data referenced and cited along with the rationale is a good example of how we put forth policies going forward. That said, I feel the grade four policy within the program study lacks the level of detail required to make an infor informed decision at this time. I just don't have a clear understanding of the criteria and the reference data used to reach the policy decision of the 50 to 100% gradient scale for the four marking periods. There needs to be an implementation plan, especially since this is the first time it's being included in the program studies. I want to be clear again similar to to board member

123Brown that I'm not against a grading for policy. Uh, and in fact, I'm for one that enables and fosters learning and a policy that fosters a greater chance to succeed. So, I look forward to seeing more detailed grade I look forward to seeing a more detailed gradient floor policy like the other districts that includes a road map. But at this point, I don't have enough data to inform both it comes up, I'll be letting you know. >> You have a comment. Okay. No, you'll all right. Thank you. Um well, if we could just uh if you could just speak on is there in fact um a a plan in place for implementing this uh did that come up with regard to these uh discussions in committee? >> Uh yeah, let me jump on my soap

124box. So I appreciate the comments, but I've been on the soap box for the last 30 years of my career. Uh we are extremely late to this party as a district. We are one of the only districts not to have a 50 to 100 scale no matter how it's implemented. Uh last year they spent a year's worth of work around it and came to a compromise with around 13 or 15 individuals that we would roll it out in marking periods of final grades instead of uh in the classroom for assignments and tests such as Milbour and how many other districts do it. Um, so what I often hear is that folks move to Selma for its diversity and progressiveness. Um, my assumption is that also applies to the school district. Yet often when we try

125to make innovative changes, and I'm not just talking from a board perspective, we receive a lot of push back. For a progressive town, we are about 25 years behind. And I'm being conservative right now. Um, I have yet to meet an employer who has signage in their shop, office, hospital that states in here, everybody gets it right the first time. I have yet to see that sign in any business I've been to. And I do a lot of career and technical work around the country. Um, and when you talk to employers, they seek employees and students who can make mistakes and accept feedback without calling their mother, therapist, or lawyer. I quote, almost every employer I talked to say tells me that. Uh, and no, high school is not the real world. It's not even

126close. I want to make that as clear as possible. Our current high school structure in this country in this these two towns are not even close to reflecting what the real world wants. Um and that's a systemic change that needs to be done nationwide and there's a ton of data to support that. You can see where this country is in regards to academic uh results and assessments and how that number has decreased over the last 15 years as an industrialized nation. Um, personally, I have never given a teacher, custodian, uh, a principal a zero because they arrived late to work, failed to turn in a lesson plan, failed to clean up a spilled bottle, or missed an evaluation, or didn't respond to an email in a timely fashion, or forgot to call a parent back.

127Nine out of 10 times, there's something I use called leeway. Um because personally I'm about growth, empowerment, and learning, which a progressive school district is also about, right? We're not about the product. We're about the process, and the process is about learning. Um so zeros do nothing. They never have, they never will. They've been in progress for over a century now, and nothing has changed. Uh no learning comes without mistakes. And as professional educators, part of our work is giving feedback to students and then giving them a chance uh to master the standard. Uh because what a zero does is say, "Okay, we're done. I'm finished grading. Let's move on to the next thing though you haven't mastered the standards or show me anything." Um and I'm not only talking about South Orange Bay School

128District here. Uh, effective grading practice should prioritize student growth, mastery of essential skills, fairness, ensuring that grades serve as tools for learning, and not as barriers to success. We are a perfect example of that. If you look at our achievement gaps in this district, and we've been an example of that for over 25 years, um, a grade book should be an accurate reflection of student knowledge and learning. The zeros are too often about behavior and non-compliance. we are punishing a student's decision not to do work or to or they chose to plagiarize or they chose to cut class. None of these purposes for a zero are about student learning at all. They're about non-compliance. So when I give a student a zero, it's strictly about non-compliance. It's not about learning. Um you know, when we

129give a zero to a student, it signals that we have finished grading and it's time to move on. to a student. This means I have no more pressure to continue learning previous standards or to demonstrate learning and especially in this state uh where our math standards work on a spiral. Um and if students miss a standard or given a zero for a standard and in my book a pass, they do not have the necessary background to continue on that spiral. And our math scores reflect that K through 12. um you know to to an educator we are saying the student has provided evidence that they have absolutely no level of mastery of a standard when we give them a zero the zero represents non-compliance it represents nothing more than that I have been in this

130conversation a million times with educators across this country that's all a zero represents is non-compliance most importantly especially at the secondary level here comes my elementaryist out. I'm looking at my two for support here. Um, zeros are about power. We know this, especially at the high school level. It is about power. Grades should never be about power or control. That is not their purpose. It is about learning. We want to create lifelong awareness of 21st century characteristics such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity, persistence, you name them. In order to pursue this goal, we need to utilize techniques and strategies that actually work rather than stick to an antiquated and nonsensical mathematical system that undermines the traits we seek to build, which is a 0 to 100 scale of grading. Many districts have already made

131the shift to 1 to four. I can talk to any teacher and they will tell me the difference between an A and a B. I have never met a teacher that can tell me a difference between a 33% and a 36%. Ever in my life, but we continue to use a 100-year-old system of grading. Um I've and I've given this spiel um I would say a hundred times across this nation and had the opportunity to also speak in Japan and other nations. Um, this system that we're currently in, and I'm not just speaking of South Orange Mapwood, I'm speaking nationwide. Uh, is literally has been built over a hundred years. And it is built on 19th and 20th century ideas about the roles of what schools were back then, who they served, how they motivated,

132and what effective teaching and learning looks like or looked like in the 19th and 20th centuries. We have to be better than that. I I I will push back against anyone who tells me they go to a dentist that uses the same tools they used in the 19th century. Yet the expectation for school districts across this nation is that we stay the same. Right? Let's continue to run a nine months calendar because we have a ton of farmers that need to go out there and cultivate their land while other states that are now surpassing us such as Kentucky, North Carolina provide their folks with options. You can do the 9month, you can do a 10-month, you can do a one-year calendar. Yet New Jersey, who is now the number one supposedly state in education in

133the nation, is still stuck in turn of the century methods and ways that make no sense and continue to punish our students. And to me, the 100 to zero to 100 scale is one of those just most simplistic changes districts can made can make and have made over the last 10 years um just to say, hey, this makes no sense at all. >> That was a good one. >> Any further discussion on the uh report out board member Zach Cable? Um, just to follow up with what you just said, um, Mr. Bing, am I understanding correctly, I believe I read in the responses that the details of, um, of the grading practices at CHS will be more fleshed out in the student handbook, in the standard operating procedures, like all of those details won't necessarily

134live in the program of studies document. Is that >> Yeah, we've been pretty good job. uh as uh board member Brown noted um which I'm proud of our team. We've been working with other districts, Milurn and West Orange. Uh you know, we meet monthly in superintendent circles. Um Jen meets monthly in counseling circles. Um Ann meets monthly in CNI circles. So, uh, when we went to the that was New Jersey school board's county meeting at Milbour, uh, their Milbour Soup made a presentation and a lot of that it was on the work that we've been participating in with them and a couple other districts um around their their 50 to 100 scale. They were also talking about test retake, test correcting, and looking at different other options moving into uh next school year. But, you

135know, they they mentioned it was still a work in progress as they noted and they're updating their POS on a regular basis as that work gets done. And knock on wood, they've been kind enough to let us be part of that. And we have a couple other great uh school districts that are also, you know, looking at the same things. Uh most of them are already at a 50 100 scale. They're looking at test correcting and test retake and what that policy may look like at the secondary level 6 7 8 and um 9 through 12. But the conversations have been wonderful. You know, it's really what we should be doing in almost every policy is working with districts that are very similar to ours. >> I'll make my way around board member Higgins. Um,

136so I wanted to point out two things that actually resonated me and made it very um, approachable as a parent in the district of a five and a halfyear-old. When I think about her in high school, I dread the day that she comes home with a 25 and yet she's tried really hard. That's just one example. That isn't to say that's every child. But I think the the philosophical change here of this um grading floor and I was very hesitant because I don't want to lose rigor but at the same time we have to protect our kid. We have to provide our kids an opportunity to fail. They are not going to fail well out in the world if we don't give them the opportunity to fail with us. It's a safe space to do

137it in the classroom with their teachers with our families before they have to pay rent before they have to have a job. So if we give them that opportunity within education for them to truly fail, they will figure out how to get out of that failure. And so I think that difference of failing is right now between 0 and 49, I mean 50 to 59 is still failing. And that grade, correct me if I'm wrong, that grade, original grade is not going away. It still exists. it exists in the data, but at the end of the marking period, you're just not failing as bad. And I think that for me, I would want to say, okay, I can come out of this. I can help myself and I can maybe ask my teacher for help

138versus thinking I'm an absolute failure. I've got a zero or a 15 and I'm just well screwed. Sorry. But it doesn't feel great. So, I think we have to really encourage them to and not think of villainizing students that they're just going to like use the system. If they use the system, they use the system. But I really think that's not what we're facing these days. >> Thank you. I just want to remind everyone we are on discussion of the CNI minutes which includes the grading floor. When we call resolution 4916, there will be a discussion piece. So, any more discussion? >> Just give that again. >> Yeah. run it back. >> We're going to play it. >> Yeah. Uh any other discussions on this piece or >> should we not just save it for

139discussion? >> Well, if there's anything that is that is not specifically on the resolution so >> sure if it's if it's about our vote on this, let's save it. If it's about this discussion generally, go ahead quickly. >> Yeah. I think I just want to clarify. I 100% agree with what you're saying. I definitely believe in test retakes. I believe in grading floors. I definitely think we need to improve our credit recovery program so that students are actually learning from it. Um, we definitely need pathways for students who might, you know, like GEDs or alternative pathways just because graduation is important period. What I'm struggling with and I think I've not had clear information on just to be clear is it's just you and I'm fine with the 50 to 100 for 1, two, and

140three. It's quarter 4 that I'm struggling with. And I think one of the main points of my struggle is Summit doesn't do it that way. Irvington doesn't do it that way. I mean, Milbour is a totally different structure and I under and I I appreciate it, but I understand why we can't do it right now. Now it takes a lot more resources. We are choosing West Orange to to mimic and I and I I haven't heard from the district why we think that is better than what Summit what we've maybe spoken to Summit in Irvington about like what are their experiences where we're thinking oh West Orange is better for us and our learners than what Summit and Irvington are doing for their learners and like related outcomes. That's the piece that I'm missing is

141that fourth quarter. >> Yeah. No, I get it. And um I think we did note that we'd like to run it for a year and see if we're seeing that. We we believe we don't I've never seen that. What I have seen is kids once they get that zero then just give up for the rest of the market periods. I haven't seen that reverse, but I can tell you we'll be looking for any of those things that do pop up and we'd be more than willing to just go to one, two, three. I'm very intimate to Summit. My daughter is in the Summit public school system. and the last two superintendents used to work for me. So I'm very familiar with the summit and the policies they put in and their director of CNI and

142grading used to work for me. Um so I'm very familiar of what they're doing. Um and I I've said this and you can attest to it. Uh you know for me it's Livingston and Milbour. That's our comparisons. West Orange is not a comparison for me. It's if you look at our socioeconomic numbers right now um there is about 8% difference 7% 8% a little more in free and reduced lunch numbers between us Livingston and uh and that's it that number used to be in the 20 it is only eight right now economically we are almost exactly the same right now so to me those are the two districts that I want us comparing ourselves to. Uh, and if you're looking at our performance reports, you can pull them up. They're on the DOE. We're not

143there yet. Um, we're not there achievement wise. Uh, we're definitely not there uh chronic absentee absenteeism wise, graduation wise, we're not even close. Um, and to me, some of these changes will help with those numbers. We're currently, if you're looking at our state assessment scores, um, we're at met, right? We're at met the state. There's a whole 80 to that is labeled met goal, met federal goal. We're not close to, which we should be in our socioeconomic status. Um, so to me, this is a lowhanging fruit. Um, and then we really with our instructional rounds that we just started and with all this new data we're getting in, we really start getting to the nitty-gritty of instruction and really changing some practices. So, we're seeing better achievement. And one of the great side effects of

144highly effective instruction is diminishing an achievement gap. um and then also doing a lot of things that you just noted in regards to really being intentional about our students who are succeeding since we are black and brown and pushing them to the next level in courses where where they're showing success at the honors level. So we have a lot of work ahead of us. I can tell you that. Uh but you know just and I'm again I'm not even speaking from South Orange Baywood school district viewpoint. This is just lowhanging fruit for any district. Um and again we're going to look very closely at it for a year and if we are seeing things as noted we'll just do one two and three. Um but when I have spoke in the summit they've never seen

145it happen. You you I brought two concerns to them and one of them was well do does it demotivate kids? They've never seen that. >> They don't have a four quarter. >> No they just have one to three. But when when the current superintendent was in New Providence, uh so they ran a different system and he's never seen it. And in my experience in Jersey City, we had it all four, never saw it impact. But it's something we got to keep our eye on. Any new initiative, we have to keep our uh checks on and our eyes on. And if we do see it, I think we're flexible enough to and nimble enough to make that change. >> What does Livingston do? Livingston is the is the same as nobody. Okay. All right. I would

146move to call the question, but we're not even on the resolution yet. Um, so I'm going to propose we move on to discussion of our next committee report, and we will get to loop around to this. Uh, so board member Higgins, I'd like to move on to surprise personnel. >> Thank you so much. First of all, I'm honored to be here. Thank you for a warm welcome, for your patience as I've asked a lot of questions already and even though unknown unknown challenges always arrive before we are ever really ready for them. I will continue to meet those challenges with patience, compassion, creativity, and empathy. I want to make something clear with the new personnel kind of approach. Our student educational requirements and needs will always come first, but our staff's needs to meet those

147requirements will remain a close second. We can accomplish this within a tight budget, but we all have to be on the same page. And I am hopeful after the committee meetings I have attended that by staying focused on meeting those requirements and needs, not panicking, doing the work to account for every penny and planning ahead, we can move forward with more clarity together and focus collaboration on and communication. As the chair personnel, I'll echo that thank you to our facilities team for planning ahead, staying with it, and moving the snow out of the way. Um, also thank you for the personnel recognitions board president Meyer that he mentioned in his speech. I led our first meeting on Monday. We reorganized the agenda a little bit to focus on transparency and oversight first and then whittle

148down to the necessary confidentiality with long-term goals down to next month's deliverables. We talked about the five-year workforce plan. We are technically in year two, but we are refocusing on year one for goals three and four, focusing on retention on climate and culture. Goal four, focusing on recruitment through the teach and thrive initiative. As it pertains to district goals, we're in quarter two of goal two to create a comprehensive data system and exit interview rollout. The district is using a platform called Upbeat. So far going well. It's evidence-based questions for data collection. We're learning as we go. Uh items for February. The district is looking at class sizes sections based on student needs. Departments are meeting with Mr. Moody over the next two weeks and we are still in a hiring freeze except for our

149highnee vacancies. We'll take a look at March and April as recruitment season, summer to prepare for the fall. You can find other discussed items in the committee minute minutes such as the mentorship program, ongoing SOP tracking, policy and regulation tracking and not forgetting our wins as we overcome our challenges. The last piece uh that's slightly new with personnel as someone who just recently sat on the other side of the dis there is a lot of information that is public but there is a lot of information that cannot be legally publicized. For this reason, we're going to try something a little new. We will not discuss confidential matters during the personnel committee. You will see those confidential items in the minutes but the discussions will happen in executive session. This way the committee of the whole

150will listen, learn and lead together. Thank you. And any questions? >> Great. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh the student and family affairs special committee met for the first time on Tuesday the 27th. Uh we had a very long agenda of sort of wish list items that we had not really had a chance to tackle in other committees and we hit some of them. Uh there was a lot of pentup interest in doing a deep dive into our prek program. Uh and while unfortunately uh Mr. Johnson, Leroy Johnson the director of early childhood education was not able to join Dr. Gilbert uh did a great job pinch hitting. uh we discussed the uh structure of the department and the leadership and how that has uh changed and expanded recently. Uh the interactions with our

151early childhood advisory council and the insight that they are giving uh as well as the outreach they're doing to various communities uh and subsets of our community to make sure that uh we have folks who are actually applying for those prek seats. We also discussed the equity and prioritization of our pre-K program and trying to increase the number of uh students uh with free and reduced free and reduced lunch background as well as other equity categories uh to ensure that we are focused on uh serving uh the uh neediest uh portions of our population. Uh we discussed the uh enlargement of our prek program year-over-year uh including the additional seats coming online next year at the Dillia Balden School uh and the attempts being made to provide uh information on acceptance uh and the lottery

152uh and placement as early as we can while being uh uh pragmatic with the actual uh information on finances and when we know for certain that those seats are actually available. We also discussed student wellness and student experience. Uh our uh student reps actually Mr. Shapiro joined us and shared concerns regarding the bell schedule as uh he addressed earlier this evening as well. We also address mental health supports that are available especially in the high school uh and supports that are available surrounding student loss uh and the many different layers that our district has in place. uh and finally uh address briefly the issue of uh school security and uh where we are there. We have many additional items to tackle and our next meeting will be on March 24th. Any questions Callahan? >> Yes.

153Um thank you. I don't know if you mentioned it here but I did see in the notes that the children's cabinet is being used to help disseminate some of that information more broadly to some of the hardertoreach pieces of our community. Mr. Bing, what is that looking like? What what are the primary ways that the children's cabinet is then helping us to engage? Is it emails? Is it in in stores and store? Like I'm just trying to get a sense of how we're disseminating that. >> Yeah, we've been expanding the membership. I think we're up to about 38 organizations. Uh so we're actually having a virtual meeting next week and on the agenda, ICE, on the agenda, prek. Uh, food scarcity is also still on that agenda as well. So, we're we're trying to just

154focus on on a few items. Um, but we wanted to get some input from folks uh in both towns in regards to more effective ways of getting word out about prek. What we did try we we tried some strategies during back to school nights and in all honesty they weren't very successful. Uh, which is understandable what's happening with ICE right now. the families don't want to really come out. Um, so we're working uh with Candace and the health department. She's got some connections with uh some local uh churches um and mosques uh that we can connect with where we think we we would get a better audience for the messaging. Um we're using Google Translate so it's easily translated. We simplified the applications tremendously uh because that was a big barrier for our folks. Um,

155so right now we're at the point of going out to locations like Newark. A lot we have a couple churches in Newark that that many of our families um utilize and they consider a safe zone. So we're looking for talking space there and a couple other places. But I think we've removed some of the barriers that we that we've been hearing about, especially the application itself and everything you have to submit and the fact that it didn't translate in Creole. only translated in Spanish and it was multiple pages and you had to submit different artifacts. So, we we think we did a better job with that. Well, we'll only know with the when it comes to results, but um you know, big shout out to Kevin and and Carrie who who've been doing a lot

156of this work and Lyanna, so I'm hoping we'll see a bit of an increase. Um we'll keep you updated in regards to >> what we get. All right, Callahan, special services >> up. Okay, special services committee met last night. Uh, our new committee composition, we just got it in, right? Our new committee composition includes board member Bennett, Higgins, and Stefan, who were all in attendance along with Miss Jesse Maria and Superintendent Bing. Uh, so first, the committee received an overview of the special services department. Miss Jesse Maria intended to orient our newer members to the structure and organization of the department of our schools of our programs and what is up for as an area of opportunity um and our future plans for growth and development. Um we were also joined by our CPAC president

157Nicole Josie who um this is in service of our ongoing goal of trying to include community input into the committee structure directly. Um she shared that members were excited about the completion and dissemination of the 504 standard operating procedures um being given to building coordinators. The topics that we discussed included consideration of special education implications as they relate to the class size policy which as noted we are not voting on but is up for consideration related to budget transportation concerns and par power parrofessional designations. Next we moved on to our review of district and board goals related to special services. The first one is around strengthening academic culture and climate through collaborative learning, equitable access and partnership with the CNI department. The first subgoal um is that under this work is about the instructional rubric

158for our inclusion classrooms. This rubric is designed to highlight specific look fors as we've talked about um in our inclusion classrooms. It has been completed um and is now beginning to inform and guide the next phase of the work. Um, another subgoal is focused on bi-weekly shared planning sessions between our CNI team and special education team along with conducting walkthroughs of our inclusion classrooms. This sub goal is ongoing, but the scheduling components are achieved and supervisors are meeting every week. The structure provides dedicated time to discuss those classroom observations aligned to the instructional rubric. Another set of instructional rounds, as Mr. discussed earlier began last week and they have been described as productive supporting shared understanding and stronger cross departmental alignment around those practices. Lastly, under that goal, we continue talking about EBR scope and

159sequence that's evidence-based reading. Um, this remains in progress. EBR teachers and Miss Jesse Maria continue to meet monthly to develop a shared look for document, revise the SOP or the standard operating procedure. Um, we also looked through a recent teacher survey on implementation and instructional practices um, which will also help to guide next steps. Miss Jess Marie also highlighted that uh, Reading Naturally APD is forthcoming in February and that she's currently reviewing uh, self-regulated strategy development, which is an evidence-based writing instruction program that would complement evidence-based reading. We also talked about our board goal related to budget. And as part of this goal, the committee continues to closely monitor our contracted services, including related services as well as par profofessional spending and our overall legal spend. Additionally, the district is monitoring our transportation costs as

160they relate to special services with the goal of ensuring that transportation for our students with special education designations is aligned with their individual supports as well as NJ DOE guidance. Our next meeting is scheduled for February 17th and a full recap is on the website but open to questions. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, board member Dyer. Uh FFT. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh the FFT committee met on January 21st and um board members Meer, board members Callahan, and board members Bennett were in attendance, including myself. Um we had Mr. Moody um uh leading the discussion along with Mr. Bing and others um from the SLT. We also had a presentation from our auditors and we also had um our architects present um present to talk about some updates and options with respect to

161Ritzerfield. So starting with the audit and I'll be really quick on that since we've already heard from the auditors. Um, as they mentioned, we received an unmodified audit opinion uh for the year ending June 30, 2025 with no findings of non-compliance um including under the single audit for federal and state grants. This is the strongest audit outcome possible and reflect strong financial controls. Reserves were used intentionally this past year to support district priorities. As you as the auditors noted uh the general fund did uh come down uh by about 5.7 million and capital and maintenance reserves were drawn down as planned. The district generated about 5.5 million in excess surplus which will be applied to tax relief in the 202627 budget. Um and we are using 6.8 million from the prior year to support the

162current year's budget. The auditors made three minor operational recommendations which you heard and the management is addressing all of them. The second topic we discussed was um the 2026 and 27 budget development. Um Mr. U Moody presented that the administration has launched um the process of zerobased budgeting uh at an earlier stage than the prior fiscal year with broader engagement uh with committee support. The initial projections show a preliminary gap of about 8.7 million. Um this is a very early snapshot, not at all a final number and it really gives us some time to carefully look at our options. Um the committee has asked for a deeper dive on a number of different cost drivers including staffing needs, um contracts, transportation and potential savings related to school start times and other options. Um uh the

163committee me minutes have um some action items listed there with respect to these analyses and we will be uh further requesting additional pieces of analysis from uh the administration to ensure that we all understand the different pieces of um how the budget is going to get formulated so that we all have a shared understanding of that. Um the next thing that we talked about was an update on facilities and capital projects. Um we as I mentioned the architects were there to discuss um some some potential changes to the field layout for Ritzerfield. Um specifically with respect to the current field layout um that they noted that in order to keep the current field layout they would have to relocate um the project adventures lower course and reduce the footprint by 25%. Um the other option

164would have been to completely change the layout of the field and that would in that would involve moving the the field down all the way to valley uh removing trees and a level of uh work that would be of a much higher cost. Um so uh the project does remain on track if it goes through the next set of processes in terms of approvals. um it will be on track for completion in 2027 28 school year. Um and we did hear from Mr. Moody that the department of education has pro provided an preliminary indication that most of the project is likely to be eligible for some of the state's debt service aid. Um the next piece of um uh on the agenda was transportation. Uh the administration did present a set of strategies to adjust

165school start time to enable a tiered busing system with the goal of consolidating routes reducing costs and improving reliability. Um we have requested detailed cost and impact analysis before any decisions are made and that will be shared with the full board um and and have we have a discussion before we make any decisions on that. And then finally a few operational updates. We received a few updates on the new self-insured health plan and how that is going, the transition is going. Um, and then we also had an update on the check fraud investigation. Um, there was an incident that happened u about a month ago. And um, the good news is that actually we just heard from Bank of America and Chase that we will be reimbursed pretty much the full amount of the check

166from from Chase. So the district will not actually be incurring any loss. So that is the that is the update. So thank you. Um so I'd say going forward our next committee meeting I don't exactly remember when it is. It is on our website but primarily we'll be focused on the budget. Um I will be sharing with Mr. Moody some of these pieces of analysis that we need. Um and we will be working very closely together to make sure we can spend most of our time looking at the budget next um next FFT. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. and I have us down for the 18th. >> Thank you, >> Bober Brown. >> I don't recall if this was in the notes. I just want to ask um for the various analyses requested,

167was there one about legal spend? I know I know um board member Callahan, we just it's legal spend for special services, but I think it would be good for us to see legal spend by um by firm because I mean I think essentially firms specialize in different areas. So that will be a proxy for what we're spending in legal for you know the various >> um legal help we need. So if we could get that. >> Yeah. >> Oh yeah, absolutely. It's a part of the the requests that have been extended and we're going to workshop those requests and then uh get down to the business of evaluating and assembling that data for board consumption and to to guide our decision-m you know. Um, a lot to do, a lot to consider. Any further discussion?

168Okay, we're going to call our discussion section closed and move on to the action portion of the meeting. Uh, we're first going to take the majority of our resolutions together by consent agenda. Uh up. >> Oh, I think >> I think we I believe the BA update this month was the auditor's report. Mr. Moody, was there anything additional that you >> That is correct. The um the auditor section or the auditor presentation uh was the uh constituted the the BA update or the business office update for this time around. We got a lot to do around budget. We'll uh uh discuss that in the next session. >> Thank you. So, moving on to the action portion of the meeting. We're first going to uh run a consent agenda for resolutions 4903 uh through 49 uh

16915. Uh so I would entertain a motion to consider that consent agenda now going once. >> Thanks from board member Higgins. Uh second board Callahan uh open for any discussion. hearing. None. Mr. Moody, would you please take the role? >> Absolutely. So, for uh in action items 4903 to 4915, uh board member Bennett, >> yes. >> Board member Brown, >> yes. >> Board member Callahan, >> yes. >> Board member Higgins, >> yes. >> Board member Kapadia, >> yes. >> Board President Meyer, >> yes. >> Board member Nyer, >> yes. Board member Saka Gable. >> Yes. >> And board member Stefan. >> Yes. >> All right. >> Uh next that. And so the motion passes. Uh >> the motion does in fact pass unanimously. >> Thank you. Uh next I'll entertain a motion on resolution 4916

170to approve the Columbia High School program of studies for the 2627 school year. board member Stefan with the motion and a second board member Sacket Cable. Uh we are open for discussion. However, if you have made your point already, you must move forward from there. All right. >> Board member >> in in oh board member sorry um thank you very much. Before I say uh something about the grading floor in the program of studies, I do want to commend Mrs. Murphy who spoke about fiber arts. Um I have two elementary school age daughters and I know that they would have really liked fibers too. I'm sorry to not be able to be more supportive there. Um but your um your comments were heard. Um regarding the grading floor, um I am going to vote against

171program studies because that of that I don't think it's been I don't think it's gotten enough discussion within the board of ed um and I don't think it's had enough guard rails. I note that the proponents of a grading floor are very well-intentioned in backing something that they will think will help more students avoid failure. I also acknowledge that having a grading floor in our district will not make us some outlier and there are other districts who are doing the same thing. Reasonable people can disagree and there are experienced educators who would agree on the appropriateness of a grading floor or even its necessity. I don't take voting against this lightly. Board members are frequently advised by the NJSBA to defer to the administration's recommendations on many district pol policies. um from curriculum to pedigogy

172to personnel to budget. But this admonition is not an absolute and the law and democratic principle give board members the right to oppose policy they think are not in the students long-term best interest. Moreover, the NJSBA and the governance 2 training that I'm going through right now also commands us to ensure rigor and uphold high standards and it even uses the phrase like no excuses. I recognize that I'm not an education expert, but I know that there is no consensus among education professionals and bonafide experts that grading floors are good. A recent Forom Institute poll found that most schools actually still don't have grading floors. Um, and 73% of teachers opposed no zeros policies. And 81% of respondents agreed giving partial credit for assignments never turned in, which is what a grading floor essentially is,

173is harmful to academic engagement. And there's actually no racial difference in responses. I know that some people might reject a poll from Forom because of Forom's reputation. Um, it's considered a conservative organization, but and a no zeros policy somewhat different from the 50% grading floor that we're considering. But in 2023, the New York Times ran a pair of op-eds based on emails from teachers um saying that these grading floors made the teachers miserable because it didn't let teachers hold students to account. And it also linked grading floor to increased absenteeism. I know some people consider that as control, but sometimes students need control and what one person considers control might be another person's accountability. As for what our own teachers think, um just in November, we had public speaks from the leadership of Sumea against

174the grading floor. Um and that's developed into a full-fledged grievance, which I think we're going to be voting on in the next month. Actually, um Sumea's grievance on the grading floor is unusual because most of grievances are about salary. >> You can't discuss grievances in public. We cannot >> I apologize. I apologize. Um I do I apologize any public speaks against the grading floor. Anyway, um to situate this in the larger education universe, I see a grading floor as part of an overall movement in American education where we're kind of letting go of rigor. Um teachers report assigning less homework and kids report doing less homework than they are assigned. Uh this something showing up in colleges where more schools have to offer remedial math classes and professors at even topflight colleges report that their

175students cannot read entire books. If you go by output, things don't look much better. American pizza scores peaked in 2009 and TIM scores peaked around 2015 with a decline actually being much larger in the middle and bottom of the distribution at the top. Some people would attribute that to cell phone addiction and I'm sure that's correct. It's part of it. But uh self addiction is a problem throughout the first world and the decline in both our Pisa and TIM scores is a decline in ranking not just absolute performance. Um although I get the mathematical argument in fa favor of a grading floor as a backs stop but that policy without a grad guardrail has unintended consequences because if a student knows that we get at least a 50% and then recover with a bit of

176work later in the year they're more willing to not try in the beginning. Further, if a student starts a marking period on a really bad foot, the student has no mathematical incentive to work harder to salvage it to something like a 40%. Since a student will get a 50% without any special rally to catch up. Finally, if a student averages just a 70% in the first semester, they could blow off the rest of the year and still pass because 50% is guaranteed. Um, despite these misgivings, I would support a grading floor if the subjects where a cumulative build of knowledge are the most important or exempted, particularly math. Um, in the cumitive learning subjects, letting students advance to the next year subject without mastering the foundational material does not do them a favor in the

177long run. A student needs to know some basics about matter and energy um, you know, physical science to succeed in chemistry. And a student needs to know the basics of chemistry to understand the biological comp the biochemical components taught in biology. Students who do not master pre-alggebra aren't going to succeed in algebra 1, nor geometry, nor algebra 2. A student whose algebra is shaky will not succeed in chemistry or physics either. Although summer school is unpleasant for a student to take, a student who goes through summer school is going to learn more than a student who doesn't take it but who got kind of an artificial passing. Um the grading floor will give out more passing grades during the school year, but would not prepare students for the rest of their educations as well. Um

178since those grades may not reflect actual mastery. Again, I know that everyone here means well and that a grading floor is something that other districts have embraced, but I think the specific grading floor we are adopting is too blunt and therefore cannot support it. Jeff, I just want to push back against a couple Google research things. So, the forom you noted, that's about two professors that are bait bumping heads. It's Buck versus Reeves. Reeves put out an article, the case for a no zero. Buck from forom went at him. It's been like that now for over a decade. That's what that research is about. Uh Tims I was part of 21 years ago. Nothing has changed in the TIMS report. Those numbers were huge 21 years ago when we were giving zeros regularly when no

179schools had a no zero policy to this day. So, I go back to what I did mention in my speech that we're still using century old strategies that just aren't working. We don't change as an industry. Now, I'm not even talking about the district. We don't change as an education field. We're like turtles, >> but I appreciate it. Thanks, John. >> The form institute did have some like partnership with Rand in that. I think it was a survey, but >> it was and Buck is tied closely to Rand. He actually collects >> your book. >> Yeah, I know. >> Professor. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Board member Sack Cable. >> Thank you. Um, as a CNI chair in the CHS, um, CHS parent, I'm really proud of the work that the district put out in

180the program of studies and I'm equally as proud to support it. Um, and I there's been a lot of talk about the grading floor, but I'd like to spotlight the tremendous number of courses that we offer. Um, I find it incredibly impressive that the district is introducing 14 distinct career pathways creatively developed by um using existing resources to meet student interests without requiring any additional staff. And these pathways alongside our vast course options provide rigor, the rigor necessary to ensure our students remain competitive for any post high school path, whether they're following a passion or discovering a new interest. And aligned with that, the commitment to success is, I believe, reflected in the grading philosophy that the district has proposed. Um, and I'm glad to know that you all are collaborating with nearby districts as

181well to align on best practices. So, um, I want to commend the administrators and the counseling department for their hard work in pulling together this comprehensive and really student centered program of studies. So >> yeah, and I would commend uh this board and the board before for fighting to bring back the director of guidance position. I think it really has added quite a lot. So yeah, I commend everybody on who was part of that and I'll even get some credit to the new board members as well. >> Board member Stephan, >> I will keep this brief because it's late and we've talked about this a lot. I I did want to briefly talk about the the uh grading floor because I know this is a contentious issue. I I do believe in rigor. Uh I

182believe in challenging students. I believe in uh allowing students to fail um and to pick themselves back up. Um I think we also need to acknowledge that uh grades are made up. Uh they don't really mean anything. uh their purpose is to now that our student reps have left uh you know their purpose is really to set up the best educational environment for students to learn and I appreciate the work that the district has done uh in thinking through this policy and looking at some of our peer districts on this. Um I think it's a it's important to note that the grade floor is a on an marking period by marking period basis and not an assignment by assignment basis. Um, and I I I share the concern from board member Brown about the grade

183floor in the fourth quarter and what purpose that might actually serve and whether that uh is really worthwhile. Um, I hear Mr. Bing saying that um they're going to monitor that and see if that causes issues and and perhaps that can be adjusted in future years. Um, I don't think that for me, even though I have some concerns about it, that that is sufficient to to vote against this policy. Um and and fundamentally if putting this policy in place or this grade floor in place means that there's some number of students however small who uh are motivated to keep working at a subject even after they had a bad quarter. Uh I think that's really worthwhile and so I I plan on voting yes. >> Paul just opened the door for even more progressiveness. Let

184me get on my soap box about my belief of no grading. This might take a while. We have a couple hours. I've given this speech. >> I didn't say no grading. I didn't say it. Well, >> we're gonna get >> that. >> I do. >> Board Callahan. >> All right, I'm going to join the party here. Um, so I want to I'll start by thanking the CNI team. Um, and Dr. Anton, I agree with what Superintendent Bing said. I think bringing back the director of guidance position um this is a great example of why it's so important having someone available to mine the data conduct the audits um demonstrates the intentionality and care um and review necessary to create a program of studies um like this which to board member Saki Gable's point the amount

185of courses the development of these pathways um I do think is a step in the right direction to in fact creating a really rigorous culture at CHS um and I will say too, you know, this is my third year on CNI as a committee and I can confidently say that this is representative of a pretty significant step in my opinion in terms of improving the student family experience at CHS and allowing for registration and program um to go forth uh better and quicker and um in a way that I think really um is aligned with with a rigorous experience for kids. Um and then I think with grade floors um our discussions have definitely been thoughtful um lively passionate um and I would say that you know evidence does suggest that grade floors um you

186know there's a lot of conflicting evidence right but um I think I always go back to academic mastery over compliance which I think Mr. Bing I don't need to dive in too much there but suffice to say that I I would agree with that. Um, I think there's um there's often in practice a disproportionality in terms of penalizing missing work, often making it impossible for students to catch up. Um, and I think the disengagement that comes from that is really where I go back to in in my own work day-to-day. Um, motivation research will show you that students persist when they believe their efforts will have a meaningful impact. So this is indeed about learning but also I think a lot about motivation and what will keep students engaged and for a lot of the

187kids um who will likely benefit from this. This is very much not about lowering expectations or reducing rigor but really how do we focus on growth mindset mastery learning effective feedback because all of those things consistently demonstrate that students learn more in environments that emphasize progress revision and demonstrative learning over time. And I think that grading floors prevent that single low score from disproportionately distorting a final grade um so that kids can stay connected to the classroom, fostering skills um beyond just the academics, right? Often when you have policies like I know we're working to flesh out a little bit more. They help to foster skills like self- advocacy, seeking help and resilience when things do get hard because they want to come back to the table because they know it's not a lost cause.

188Um, I know there are concerns about gaming the system and that's understandable, but there is not truly, I mean, I haven't seen it in practice. Certainly, I don't know of any empirical evidence to suggest that grading fors lead to widespread widespread strategic disengagement um that allows for that. Um, in fact, most of that is typically theoretical or perceptions based on surveys. Um, so I think when implemented with clear guard rails, I know we're working, um, there's been a big push on attendance. Um, reassessment structures, I look forward to seeing those more fleshed out. I'm excited that we're working with partner districts. Um, because really learning is about mastery. And I think if we're centering that, it's also a mind mindset shift for us as adults because to Mr. Bing's point, this is all unfamiliar to

189us and the systems that that we grew up in. So, as educators, as teachers, as parents, um I think it's it's also for us about making a little bit of an alignment shift in terms of what we're expecting and what the systems look like. Um but I feel confident in the work that the CNI department is doing. Um understanding that pieces of it are certainly a work in progress. Um but I look forward to seeing those accompanying policies that will be attached to the program of studies and and look forward to voting voting yes on this. So, thank you. board member Brown. Go ahead. >> Um I think and I I mean I really appreciate this discussion. I think it's I think it's awesome actually. I think it's a great great to have this discussion

190out in the open. Um, I'm a little bit I'm a little bit torn because there were some points that Jeff Jeff raised about I mean obviously we want our kids to learn and to feel motivated and that's why you know test retakes etc I think are extremely important. What I'm concerned about like you mentioned guardrails um board member Cal Callahan I just don't know at the high school what those are right now because and I worry for the teachers because and I keep coming back to this fourth quarter like if there's a student that's really not engaged in school right they haven't been engaged and there is no consequence for being late to class at the high school you can be 20 minutes late your teacher can't do anything and there's pretty much very little

191consequence for being absent And so then what is really helping that student or what is the basic expectation that we have for that student to just show up and at least be in class if especially if they know they don't have to do anything and they will pass and that that's what I'm trying to like work my head around. So, if you could provide some insight and how that really can support teachers who are trying to help all the learners in the class, including those that are really engaged and as long as as well as those that maybe are less engaged in potentially showing up late, you know, routinely. >> You're going on 10 years of not meeting the chronic absenteeism rate for the state. doing the thing doing things the way we have done

192and if you look at our past policies uh they were not restorative they were quite the opposite and that's why we are where we are right now I agree 100% there and we just had this discussion with Frank that there's got to be consequence for students being late agree 100% um but there's a balance here and this district hasn't this district's has been to the left, been very punitive, using grades as punishment. And it's gotten to this point of a highly socioeconomic fluent district not even meeting graduate basic graduation rates. I'm not talking about black and brown students. Our high school does not meet the state graduation rate, period, for all students. We do not meet it and have not met it for years. We are chronic absentee rate for the last close to eight

193years. So practices we've had in place haven't been moving the dial at all and they have leaned on the punitive side. So I agree there's got to be a balance. I agree, you know, kids late, there's got to be consequences 100%. Um, but there's got to be that balance because what we were doing isn't working. It's not. We have data to show it. We have the test scores to show it. Uh, and I don't want to go to the to the complete opposite side. It's because I know for a fact that's not going to work. But there's got to be a balance somewhere. And and to me, uh, a 50 to 100 scale is just is low. It's one of the first things we do when we go into districts across this, you know, one

194of the first things we do at Charlotte, one of the first things we did in New Orleans, one of the first things we did in Orlando, uh, was, okay, what? Let me take a look at your your grading scale, right? So, you know, you have to jump 60 feet, uh, from an F to a D. Yet, if I want to jump from a C to a B, it's 10 feet. It just mathematically it doesn't make any sense. Um, so for me just and I consider myself quite progressive. One of the reasons I came here because this is a progressive district. We need to look at education out of the box and you know you've been a proponent of using business to to drive with some of our practices which we should be doing and we're

195not but we can't continue to do some of these practices that are not getting anywhere. The data is there. It shows we're dropping more and more and more. the Tims data I was part of that first TI Tims uh and it was alarming and is it has not changed a gap still remains and especially as more nations become more industrialized they're passing us and we're now stealing their teaching strategies I mean I spent six months in Japan stealing their strategies to bring back to an Abbott district because that's how low you know we had kids scoring 4% in math Uh so it's we've got a lot of changes that we need to make and that's going to be test trial and test. That's just, you know, that's how it has to be if we want

196to be ahead of the curve and we're going to make mistakes. I can tell you this. I'm not going to everything we put out there is probably not going to work. But I'm hoping 98% of it will. And if we something doesn't work, then we're we have enough humility to tweak it and listen to the criticism and make the changes we need to make. Well, it's it's really the the the supporting of the teachers and I'm I'm glad to hear that we will have some, you know, expectations of kids being in class on time and we do have to make better progress with showing up to class because that's where it's like if we if we have no, you know, there's you don't have to do anything, you get a 50, you don't have to

197show up to class, you can show up to class repeatedly late. I don't know how our teachers I don't know how that's a good environment for our teachers either. >> I say this every district I've consulted in. Uh it's our job from an administrative perspective to support uh high effective instruction in the classroom because high effective instruction in the classroom solves every issue. I watch these principles run around like chickens with their heads cut off, dealing with kids being late, dealing with bullying, dealing highly effective instruction in the classroom solves those issues, dramatically reduces those issues because kids are engaged. Kids kids have relationships with the adults. It and the research and data is out there. It significant reduces all those ancillary issues that draw principles away from supporting teachers in the classroom. And that's

198the messaging we've been giving to our principles that 99% of your time needs to be supporting teachers in that classroom. uh and making sure we're working with them collaboratively around highly engaged and effective instruction. >> Board member Kapatia. >> Yeah, I mean this is a great discussion, right? And and it's one that we haven't had probably since I've been on the board of of the dialogue that we're having in between uh between each other and I think you know Mr. Bing even what I had said in the in the statement out of order I get it uh Mr. admire but the the uh but hey it's it sparked this um the what you laid out is the roadmap right and that's what the the concern the concern was of what we have is a few

199lines in the program the studies what what would be great is to see what everything you just laid out in the soap box in a road map of an implementation plan I think you can get a lot of people around it to say right here are the guardrails here are the protections here how it works in the classroom this is not this is not meant to be a you know uh an easy pass right I don't think that's the intent here I I believe you on that uh and actually that's not even where my concern was on this it's just that it was the lack of clarity of how do we get there to to do this implementation because we've had a history in the district of having a great idea but fumbling at the

200implementation >> and so without seeing that laid out as in the same detail as you saw with the with the program of studies if you had that equivalency in the in the in the grading for policy like okay yeah I can I can get there a lot quicker so the ask here is you know in terms of voting is take the leap but let's get that road map >> I I can commit to that roadblock road map >> I see >> I commit to that road map >> for a Pepsi >> in fact I had the currency right here uh why don't we say at the next committee CNI committee We'll present that road map. We'll we have we have a lot of the data already. So, we'll let's put that on the agenda for

201the next meeting. We have a lot of data already. I promise you. And we'll make it visual. >> We have it. >> But that's a good point. Yes. >> All right. Board member Bennett. >> Quickly. >> I just want ask like, you know, does the administration have any special um concern about having this grading floor for math? Like how would a student who hasn't done very well in algebra 1 like succeed in algebra 2? Like we're not social passing anyone that the two have no you know you're still failing. So 50 50 to 100 scale you're still getting an F. >> So we're not socially passing anyone like you know I was uh was been highly engaged in well the new math 20 years ago. Uh but this state has especially aggressively adopted the spiraling

202math idea that you know you you're you have to get this in order to get this. So there's no way our kids are going to be successful in math especially the way this state runs it if they're not mastering certain things that they're so I you know I agree we agree 100%. We're not passing anyone. An F's an F. It's just you know I rather have give a 50 than a 20 to a kid. You know, I I think a 50 at least gives a kid a chance to say, "Hey, looking forward, I can increase my total grade." But with a 20, I'm dead. >> Well, I'll just jump in because I've keeping my powder dry. There's not much really left to say because uh a lot of really excellent points have been made. Uh

203I'm just going to say that uh in looking at the program of study, I have tremendous appreciation for the amount of effort that uh the curriculum instruction department uh our new director of guidance uh and everyone in the district has put into making a very strong uh program offering for the upcoming school year uh and with regard to the grade floor. Uh I don't see tension between providing rigor to our students, which our high school absolutely does, and having a pragmatic uh compassionate policy of a grade floor because we're not supposed to be kicking the kids who are down already. uh there are not students who are planning to game their year to get three semesters of A's and then decide they'll just take the C and not come to class. I mean I I

204had an education friend who said, you know what, if a kid is actually planning that out, maybe they deserve the grade in the first place. I'm not sure we go that far, but I think we have tremendously talented experts in our district who we have hired to put together a program that is going to meet the needs of our students. And that starts with a superintendent and goes down from there. Uh, and I think as a board, uh, this is a plan that clearly has been vetted in committee. It's a plan that has been imported from uh a school district that that functions very highly and it's after looking at many school districts that do this and I think the administration deserves a certain amount of deference in which of the vetted plans it thinks

205is appropriate for our district with the understanding that our obligation to oversee and continue to look at the program is an ongoing one and if there's issues we continue to jump in and ask to have that steered and expect that It's going to be uh I um >> I'll just stress also that it's a living document and I know we've had the perception in this district for a while that that's a static you know once it's in concrete it doesn't move any district worth half it's it's it's keeps that as a living document uh that's always growing. So, and that's got to be our mindset around when we're developing things like this that it's a living document. If we're seeing things and we can be nimble and we can make those tweaks as long as

206we're communicating those tweaks. >> Yeah. >> So, my yes vote tonight will be contingent on the ongoing review and oversight of this plan. And that is the same as my yes vote on every other thing that we do here is the ongoing oversight and review and committee uh to make sure that we are staying on a successful course or changing our attack to be successful. >> Are there any other comments before we call the vote? >> I was going to say about the fiber arts program. Um just a clarifying question. Is that completely going away or are we keeping some level of it? No, it's just uh two >> fiber two. Okay. So, we're not The equipment will still get used. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead. >> I just wanted to say

207because I feel like I've been so focused on this grading floor. I echo the huge just huge thank you to um to the guid you know head of guidance CNI leadership the program of studies really has improved tremendously this year um and so I do and I and I also the amount of data that was provided to the board to um to demonstrate some of the changes related to the budget like I said you know the budget staffing um what the students were interested in that that was uh very well prepared. So I just want to thank you for that. >> Yeah. Just for everybody here, those are normal practices that are done in most districts every year. So, you know, just get used to those because that's just normal practice. Thank you. >> All

208right. Hearing no other discussion, Mr. Moody, would you please take the role? >> Gladly. All right. Um, board member Stefan, >> yes. >> Board member Saki Gable, >> yes. >> Board member Nyer, >> yes. >> Board President Meyer, >> yes. >> Board member Kapadium, >> yes. >> Board member Higgins, >> yes. >> Board member Callahan, >> yes. >> Board member Brown, >> yes. >> Board member Bennett, >> you've made it very hard, but no. Okay, the eyes have it. Thank you. On to the next. >> Very good. And our next resolution uh policy resolution 4917 to approve the resolution standing in solidarity with immigrants students and families. Uh I would entertain a motion. Board member Callahan. Can I have a second? >> Board member Naair. Uh any discussion on this? >> Board member Callahan. >>

209Thank you. So yeah, I just want to briefly acknowledge this resolution. Um as board member Meyer acknowledged earlier, we are living through a moment that is marked by I think real fear and uncertainty for probably all of us. So I want to thank our district leadership and our educators for the study and thoughtful and often quiet courage it takes to support students each day in these challenging times. I also appreciate my board colleagues for the care and collaboration that went into this resolution. This resolution affirms our legal and moral obligation to ensure that every child has access to a free and public education that's free from fear and harassment and intimidation regardless of their immigration status. And it affirms existing policies that protect their privacy, safety, and access. Being vocal in moments like this, in

210my opinion, is essential. It's being clear about who we are and what we stand for. Silence does not always reassure a vulnerable student or family. clarity does. So when we're not explicit about our values, others are able to shape a narrative for us. Leadership in this moment requires courage, care, compassion, and conviction. And our students are watching. They deserve to know that they belong here, that their dignity matters, and that our schools remain places of learning and safety. So thank you. >> And I will just note I appreciate the uh the persuasion and the advocacy that you undertook numerous times in making sure this crossed the finish line. Thank you. >> Uh, Mr. Moody, would you please call the role? >> Surely. Uh, so, board member Bennett, >> yes. >> Board member Brown, >> yes.

211>> Board member Callahan, >> yes. >> Board member Higgins, >> yes. >> Board member Kapatia, >> yes. >> Board President Meyer, >> yes. >> Board member Nyer, >> yes. >> Board member Saki Gable, >> yes. >> Board member Stefen, >> yes. >> The eyes have it. Thank you. >> And that concludes the action portion of the meeting. Uh we'll now move to our second hearing of individuals and delegates this evening. Would someone let me know has there been anyone who signed up back there? >> Save you a trip. All right. Uh there is not and there have not been any uh online signups either. So that will close our second comment period. Uh is there any new business this evening? Seeing none, uh we will uh move to adjourn. First, I'll announce our future meetings.

212The board of education will hold our uh board retreat on February 12th, uh 2026 at 6:30 p.m. We will also have a meeting of the board of school estimate on February 19th. No action will be taken. Uh the board will then meet again in public session on oh gosh, I had this date right in front of me. on February 26th uh at 6:30 p.m. where action will be taken. Please remember as well we do have our strategic planning sessions coming up. Those dates are March 16, April 15, and May 11. Uh they are open to all members of the public. However, you must uh get an RSVP. Please go to our front page uh of the website and you can sign up uh to attend one of those sessions. And with that, I will entertain

213a motion to adjurnn. Board member Sacket Gable. And can I have a second? Or member Callahan. All in favor? The eyes have it. Have a good evening. were adjourned at 11:08 p.m.