Board of Education Meeting - Public Session - 11/20/25

001Board of Education to order. Mr. Moody, can you please take roll call? >> Sure, we'll do, Madam President. Uh, board member Jeff Bennett. Board member Dearra Brown. >> Board member Elizabeth Callahan, board president >> here. >> Oh, here. >> Board President Ubia Devol Wilson >> here. >> Board member Regina Eert. >> Board member Bill Gford. Board member Biml Kapatia >> here. Board member Will Meyer here. Board member Shane Saki Gable >> here. >> Great. Thanks. Just one quick thing. Uh it can you check to see if Jeff is on the WebEx? >> No, he's not. Okay. Just want to make sure. Okay. Let's uh stand for the pledge of allegiance. Uh, please take notice that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in the following manner. The written notice was sent from the office

002of the secretary of the board at two Oh, okay. That's fine. Um, [laughter] it's gonna be one of those nights. at 2:30 p.m. on January 3rd, 2025. That said notice was sent via email to Maplewood and South Orange Township clerks and the editors of the news record, Star Ledger, Tapinoma, and the Village Green. So before I motion to Oh, actually not going to do that yet. We have um a performance Hello everyone. Uh I'm Nick Diaz, choir director at Columbia High School. These are the Excelsier singers. Uh this is our um juniors and seniors uh sa um mixed uh mostly ac cappella uh chamber choir doing sort of advanced level coral repertoire. Our first song is called the road home. [clears throat] >> [music] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] >> I can call my own that

003[singing] I lost so long [singing] ago. All these years I [music and singing] have wondered, oh I know there's [singing] there's a road [music] that [singing] will lead me home. [music] After [music] [singing] rain [singing] as I [singing] dream in the [singing] day through the [singing] air [music] from [singing] far away. There's a voice [music and singing] that will lead [music] me home. >> [music] [music] >> Rise [singing] up. Follow me. Come [singing] with the love [singing] in your heart. as the only song. There is [singing] no such beauty as [singing and music] where you belong. [singing] I will [singing and music] lead you home. >> [singing and music] [music] [clears throat] [applause] >> Um, finally we will um kick off our holiday season with uh jingle bells. Jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle [singing

004and music] jingle jingle dashing [singing] through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh [singing] tonight. Jingle bells, [singing] jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride a one open sle. [singing] Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride one open sleing jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle bells. Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, [music] jingle bell, jingle, jingle, [singing] jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle bell, jingle [singing] jingle bell, jingle, jingle, jingle, [singing] jingle, and then we got jingle bells, jingle bells, [singing] jingle all the Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse one, one horse, one open sleigh. [singing] Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh. Dashing through the snow [singing]

005in a one-horse open sleigh [singing] tonight. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a single. >> Jingle jingle jingle [singing] bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun is jingle jingle. [singing and music] Jingle bells, jingle bells, what? [singing] WOO! [cheering] [applause] >> [applause] >> THREE, [applause and cheering] TWO, ONE. Big smiles. >> Thank you. >> Jing for a second. Squeeze a little bit. Make sure we get >> a jig. If you can see me, I can see you. Three, two, one. Okay, where are we? Um, [laughter] it's so funny like Okay, so just a note before we go to exec session. Um, depending on how things go tonight with our public speaks signups, I will be making a motion to conduct the first

006of two speak public speaks tonight after our BOE student rep update when we return from our exec session. Um but that's if we have signups and um and I have to motion it and the board has to vote so I could get voted down. Um [laughter] but um with that said, we've have another night tonight where we'll have two presentations and I'm just sensitive to um our presentations are important, but I am also sensitive to that also delaying when we have our first public speaks and we had lost some public speaks last month um due to the late hour. So we'll see how that goes. Um, so next I'm going to make a motion to enter into executive session at 6:42 p.m. to discuss attorney client matters, personnel, and hip reporting. The length of the

007executive session is estimated to be 75 minutes, after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene. May I have a second? Thank you. Uh, board member Callahan. All in favor? Great. Let's go. back in regular session. Hi everyone. Um, okay. I'd like to make a motion to approve the board minutes from the October 30th, 2025 exec session and regular board meeting. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Board member Meyer. All in favor? Great. Meeting minutes have been approved. Next, we will go to our BU student rep update. I um I'm going to start off with announcements and congratulations for the school. Um, Dileia Balden Elementary first grader William McNami has been selected for the NJPAC fall exhibit for the second year in a row. An impressive honor earned through the

008Art Educators of New Jersey competition. His first grade landscape will be displayed alongside artwork from students across the state following last year's selection of his kindergarten circle piece. The community is invited to celebrate the young artists at the NJPAC fall exhibit reception on Sunday, December 7th in the Victoria Theater lobby. Students at Montrose Early Childhood Center took on an exciting task this month that resembled real life elections, choosing names for the school's two giraffe mascots inspired by the building's beloved giraffe emblem. Each stu each class shared creative ideas before voting their favorites, giving students a chance to practice real decision-making together. After all the votes were counted, the winning names peanut butter and jelly were announced to lots of cheers. Many Maplewood and South Orange students, staff members, and community members came together on November

00916th to perform Our Town at Columbia High School. The show also raised support for the Achieve Foundation student programs, tutoring, and classroom grants. The cast included CHS students and alumni, district educators, and local residents, creating a true community production. Great work to everyone who was involved. Columbia High School congratulates its boys cross country program for sweeping the varsity, junior varsity, and freshman divisions at the Essex County SEC championships along with the girls teams for earning earning top finishers of their own. The district commends all CHS runners and coaches for their consistent effort, strong results, and positive repres representation of the Maplewood and South Orange community. Dileia Balden Elementary teacher, Miss Kevin Narrow, has been selected as one of only 50 educators nationwide for the 2026 NEA Foundation Global Lead Learning Fellowship. This year-long program helps

010teachers build global skills through workshops, mentoring, and an international field study. Mrs. Cavagner is excited to represent SOMD and hopes her experience inspires other teachers to explore similar opportunities. Uh good evening. So we just want to discuss a few matters tonight. That includes facility maintenance and uh hearing student voices and administrative and district transparency with students. In between the topics, if anyone has any questions, feel free to butt in. So at the last meeting, I mentioned our goal to improve CHS facilities. And since then, we've been working very closely with principal Sanchez, Superintendent Bing, and the CHS grounds maintenance staff to do so. And our focus, like I mentioned at the last meeting, has been to improve everyday aspects of Columbia High School, like the bathrooms and the water fountains that students interact with every

011day. You know, um paying attention to what's in the now instead of losing ourselves in the future projects. And on this matter, we would like to also thank Mr. Bing and CHS's efforts to secure the NJ waterworks grant. That's going to be huge in making these projects possible. That money goes a long way. So, thank you. And, you know, as we continue to make improvements to CHS facilities, we will continue to provide updates at these meetings. And so, before I move on, does anyone have any comments or questions? I do currently we are repainting some bathrooms but other than that great. So to continue we also want to briefly discuss our plans for bettering student district communication including greater accessibility to general feedback forms and plans to include board of ed updates in student newsletters

012and just an easier way for students to understand like what happens at these meetings. So, we plan and we're going to work with student council to do so on issuing student feedback forms via email on Canvas and that's what we've been doing. I want to thank Principal Sanchez for making that possible, sending out emails periodically to do so. But we also want to spread this to social media, reaching more students with these forms. You know, student council has an Instagram account, getting those links out there so it's really super easy for students to give us their feedback. And at the same time, simultaneously, we want to work with the Colombian newspaper, the Colombian, and begin publishing newsletters containing just um a summarized version of these board meetings so students, you know, know what's going on,

013and that way their feedback is educated and the most efficient that it can be in making improvements. And the majority of these actions can be completed on the student end of things. So, like I said, we're going to be working with student council and ourselves and making this possible. We just want to share uh our efforts to do so with the board. >> Yeah. Um um while I've been in DC um I have stayed closely connected to CHS through teachers, students as well as the surveys Penn was talking about um which I encourage students to fill out um if you're watching. But um one update I'd like to share is that Penn and I have been working on an incentive system to encourage students to constantly wear their IDs. Um I've found that when students

014are barked at by teachers um to wear their IDs, that doesn't always work. And I think that we're going to try a raffle system or a way to reward students for wearing their IDs when walking through the hallways. Um and we are also communicating with MMS and SAM's respective student councils to implement um their concerns and try to communicate their concerns to the board as well. Um because at the end of the day we are um the districts um student representatives and we want to make sure all those voices are heard. Um yeah, those are my updates for today. Thank you. Yeah. So, that's our bit. Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of this can be done on the student end of things, us student council, all of that. Uh, I hope by the next

015time we speak with y'all, the next board meeting, much of these goals will be accomplished and, you know, we can proudly announce our board of ed update newsletter and amongst other things. So, you know, hoping that happens. And before we hand it over back to the board, any last minute questions or comments on anything? Uh yeah, I wanted to comment. Thank you. I love the idea of trying to come up with some type of incentive. Um EC met with uh Penn a couple weeks ago to to talk about um some of their um in some of their ideas for what they want to do this year and some of the challenges with the IDs. So, uh, and I know Paul, uh, Paul polic FFT discussed, um, student IDs a little bit as well, which might

016be in the readout, but, um, but so I just think that's great that you're trying to think, uh, innovatively differently about the situation, and I look forward to to hearing more. Um, and anyone else? Yeah, go on. Uh I just want to mention as well so we had our uh quarterly board retreat last night and one thing that we addressed is uh we're strengthening our our governance manual and how we operate uh is discussing ways in which we can uh make the best use of the two of you uh for sort of mutual benefit. uh in talking about, you know, thinking about bringing you into some of our committee meetings uh either when we have an issue come up that we think could really use a student voice or when there's a thing on our

017agenda that you think could use a student voice or just generally to kind of sit in at the beginning of one of our meetings uh to go through our agenda items and and give your input. Um, so I'd be curious to hear now or later on what your thoughts on that would be and and ways that you can kind of, you know, really get deep into not just the monthly meetings, but also what we're doing throughout the month. >> So I think that's a fantastic idea. We were actually just talking earlier about, you know, we want to help. Our job is to help and voice the students. We only can do so much with not all the information. So being part of those meetings is huge. you know that tells us everything we need to

018know. It's like I said about making sure students have are suggesting and giving feedback that's informed so that way it's efficient and effective because we don't want to be building projects in the future that end up clashing with something that we didn't know was there. So that would be a huge help. I know we were also discussing about providing more opportunities less of an elected official position on student council but more of assisting administrators with their jobs. So like an example of this would be like uh assisting the athletic director and learning about her job and how she works and people who are interested in athletics in the future can have a position with her where they're like an assistant and a helper and just bringing students into the frame that way. Also, I think

019it makes it streamlines work and it [clears throat] makes sure that our administrators can stay focused on the big large most important topics and it also provides a learning experience and gives a unique way for them to share their thoughts. So, if you wanted to >> No. Yeah, I I absolutely love that idea. I think it's also a great way to get kids in the community involved um and more engaged um especially with administration and and bridge that gap and offer solutions that can efficiently work within the school rather than telling administration to do something and then having it trickle down that way. there. Oh. Um, I just I love the idea of the board update uh newsletter in the Colombian. I think that's that'll I don't know that students know a lot of what

020goes on here. So, I think that's a great way to advertise and also get feedback about what goes on here from students. >> For sure. So, yeah, that's it from us. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you [clears throat] so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, um we have some public speaks. Not too many. We would be able to get through this and then start um our presentations are on eight. So, I'm going to motion to move up the first session of public speaks. May I do I have a second? Thank you, board member Eardert. All in favor? Thank you so much. I think we have one, two, three, four. Yeah, we have enough. Thanks. Okay. So, I'm going to read this and then we'll get started. Um,

021thank you for coming in person and currently no one is online um for uh coming to public speaks tonight. The South Orange Maplewood Board of Education values public involvement and respects you've taken the time to address the board at tonight's meeting. As this is the board's business meeting, a friendly reminder to please be respectful as we take into consideration your valuable input, which will inform future deliberations and work by the board of education and its committees. The board does have time limits by policy and it will be enforcing those to enable as many people to speak as possible. Each individual will be given three minutes to speak. The first public comment period is usually limited to an hour with priority often given to the items related to the meeting agenda and the second public comment

022period may be limited to 30 minutes. Please remember to say your full name and town where you reside. First we have Rosio Lopez. Thank you. Sorry, I gotta get my computer because I'm not feeling that well. Uh, Rosio Lopez, president of Sumea. Um, so tonight I'm here to speak about the changes in the grading. Uh, right now we have a floor grade uh new I can't even call it policy because there is no board policy as you know about it. So we have been directed uh to give students a 50 as the lowest grade as possible. So if a student had a five, a 10, a 25, the grade will be changed for a 50. So all uh Columbia High School teachers have been directed to do that. Um and that is called for floor

023grades. So you know, so my concern are different ones and I want to share them with you. The first one is um that teachers, you know, uh should not be changing grades without a a clear board policy. So if you want to have a floor grade, pass a board policy because as you know grades are legal documents and for us changing grades, you know, without a board policy, you're putting us in a bad situation. We have certificates and we can lose certificates. And I can give you the case in Englewood several years ago, some teacher changed grades under the directive of the principal and they were investigated and they almost lost their certificate. So I just want this to be clear. if we're going to make changes, let's do them appropriately, right? Let's just do

024things clear for everyone. Um, and that will protect my members. Secondly, um, the way this work is Columbia High School got a directive about floor grades and several days later, it looks like Meppo Middle like last week got directives as well, which they didn't have until then. And then all the sudden, we as South Orange Middle and they didn't get any directives about floor grades. So it looks like some schools have them, some others don't. Then it looks like also in Maple Middle had them inconsistent. So some years they have them, some years they don't. Then it looks like in South Orange Middle last year they only have floor grades for math assessments where if the kids got le less than a 50, they will put a 50, but the rest of the grades are

025the same and in the comments they will put the grade that they actually got. So again, this is not making my members feel comfortable at all. like we need clear policies for everything that we're doing in the future because again I don't want the department of education here and I don't want for us our certificates are our lives if we lose our certificates we cannot teach so I want to make that clear so but then you know this is all confusing but then this is what I want to share we have talked with some people in central office and the rationale to have floor grades is to have a students you know they had a difficult situation in their life and they need to overcome um you know that situation. So if the kids don't

026have to low of the grade you know they will not be able to catch up in the future. So why are we having floor grades for the fourth marking period then? What are they catching up after? So we want the kids not to learn. Then another thing is I know they change around 250 grades already and around 90 teachers have to change grades. So that's talking that in my understanding a lot of kids had had single digits of 250 grades that were changed. So I am all aware about giving an M to a students and I want to talk about this an M is a medical. So when you give a medical to the kids when you give a medical to the kids you don't count that marking period and it's fair because the kid

027was sick but now the kids that have medical they got a 50. So they lost 10 points. My understanding is they're going to fix it. So my two cents in the past we had a contract that the administrators did with the students that needed help and they told them if you keep maintaining a decent grade and you go to class so we don't have absentism we will let you you know wave we will wave and withdraw that bad grade of that parking period. So that's my advice and my two cents but please help my members because we have the right to have you know legal stuff for sure. Thank you. >> Thank you Rosio. Next we have um Lori Lori Martin. >> [clears throat] >> Lori Martin, Sume, a representative English teacher at Columbia High

028School since 2006. I'm here to discuss the recent directive Columbia High School teachers received from administration to personally change our grades to a 50 for any student who were in less than a 50, regardless of circumstance, including whether or not the student actually attended class or completed any assignments. And if we did not do so, we were told that we would face discipline repeatedly. While I understand and believe in providing students with incentives to apply themselves to improving over the course of the year, such as providing incompletes or medical grades for students with extenduating circumstances, or perhaps trusting teachers to be equitable at the year end and recognizing steady improvement by a student. I do not believe that instituting a schoolwide floor grade for each quarter will achieve this aim. Rather, this policy along with

029the recent changes to the attendance policy by administration over the last couple years has encouraged such students to offer less effort. Under this new policy, a student who earns a 70 for Q1 and Q2, which is highly achievable across Columbia High School with minimum effort, [snorts] can then not attend school and/or not complete any assignments for quarters three and four and earn academic credit for the year. More specifically, providing a floor grade for Q3 and Q4 does not incentivize students because it disregards the fact that typically the more important and difficult learning occurs in the second half of the year. And there's nothing to incentivize in quarter 4. The year has ended. Further, such a policy is not one of equity. It's equal and that does not equal equity as it is harmful to the

030students who are struggling and barely earn above a 50. The frustrating message now becomes, why bother trying when I can sit back, do nothing, and earn a 50. There's also the question of how such a policy promotes grit and perseverance, the staff selected goal for Columbia High School this year. Um, evidencing the staff's overall concern that rigor has been severely lacking at the high school. But perhaps most disturbing is the fact that this year's program of studies created by our principal with oversight by central office continues to provide that a D minus a passing grade is the equivalent of.5. Look at page 12 of the program of studies. So if I'm a parent or a student, I would use that publication to now argue that my 50 equates to a D minus and therefore I

031receive credit for having done nothing entire year. Combined with the lack of academic consequence for tardies and T20s, it is disingenuous for this district to certify to the state and institutions that these students have mastered the curriculum sufficient to receive credit. Instead, administration needs to implement real interventions rather than fudging its data. A rose by any other name, including a floor grade, still reeks of fraud. The board needs to conduct an audit of Columbia High School's attendance and grading policies before it's forced to do so by the Department of Education to the harm of the district's reputation, which will impact high, medium, and low performing students. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We will now have Michael. >> Thank you. [laughter] [gasps] Right. So again, Michael Tadeshi. I'm a a parent. Um I originally came

032here to discuss uh a busing issue busing issue that we were having. Um in the process of of preparing for this meeting, um our our busing issue um thanks to the intervention of Superintendent Bing is in the process of being resolved. So, I wanted to to thank him for intervening and um we're very appreciative of your efforts uh in this. Pardon me. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um I felt like I needed to come to the um board of education meeting regardless because I felt like you needed to be aware of sort of the issues that we were facing and um the pervasive issue or the other issues that I think are behind this and looking at a long-term solution rather than the short-term solution that that uh that Jason has has done for us. Um, this happens

033every year. Usually sort itself out in the first month. It didn't this year. Uh, this year was much worse. The communications were were pretty bad. The explanations were horrible. Our bus times continued to change three I think four times. Continuing to get earlier and earlier, no explanation. We're told to check power school. Um, and then uh one day and then the next day they were implemented. Uh, the route begins at 6:55. Um, last year was 7:15. Uh this is uh for a 853 or 753 start and 8 803 start. Uh short route 11 stops. Kids get to school 20 to 30 minutes early and they sit in the hallway or classroom supervised by a staff person that really should be preparing for the day of educating our children rather than supervising our children before school

034starts. Many parents opted to drive their kids to school, putting more cars on the road. Those that didn't miss sleep, breakfast doesn't foster a good learning environment. The reason for these changes we came to know was because some of our uh the the later um uh bus was um after dropping our kids off going to pick up kids in Newstead busing Maplewood Middle School. Um so there created an equity issue for our kids. Um it's not equitable reliable. I realize this is complicated. I realize there are budget constraints. I realize we've got um outsourced busing. Um, I I I I'm very aware of how complicated it is to manage the budget, manage the II, um, all the other projects of our uh, our priorities of our district. I'm by no means an expert, but I

035think there does need to be long-term solutions here um, to correct these issues. I'm suggesting several solutions. Take it into consideration. Take it for what it's worth. I'm a strong supporter of the integration initiative. Um, I believe that it's important. I believe it's important for our kids. I believe diversity diversity in anything, school, um, work, everything is important. um and it brings um uh it fosters diverse ideas in a better and learning environment and productive environment. I don't think it's being executed correctly. I think that um we don't have the infrastructure to set up the way that it currently exists with the busing. We should look at potential changes. is I think increase proximity, consider parental choice in the II, um evaluate potentially the two zone model, um allow for weight list at neighborhood schools

036where you can switch um kids with the same demographic um profile uh as they're exiting the school. Um I think certainly bringing the um busing uh issue inhouse um is certainly I think I think that's something that you're planning on doing. I think hiring a great a good administrator who knows what they're doing is important. Um I I understand that um reverting each of the middle schools back to their neighborhood schools. I realize I'm running over. I'll give you one second. >> No worries. >> Um rather than uh rather than having them be a part of the II, I think that's a a solution that really should be looked at. I would love for my kid to walk to school. I think others in Maplewood would as well. If that doesn't affect the the diversity

037numbers, I think that's something that should really be considered. And I think realloc reallocating prek buses um back to the K through five busing um is a solution. I think ultimately we need to take a a smart look at >> 30 seconds >> the II and figure out how we can integrate but still respect that our neighborhoods our two towns can't support the infrastructure of this busing and I think that the busing is being exacer II has led to this and we need to make some smart decisions about how to tweak it not not eliminate it I'm firmly supportive but tweak so much thank you Um, final public speaks for the session. Natalie Nan, thank you. Natalyia, sorry, I was doing it from memory. >> No, no, it's [laughter] okay. Natalyia Nanjo, South Mountain parent

038to a second and fourth grader. Um, so, hi, my name is Natalyia Naranjo. I originally came here, similar to Michael, uh, to speak about an issue we had with our bus, the South Mountain Green Bus 137. I'm happy to report right that as of yesterday, a solution has been found. And while I'm really grateful that the issue has been resolved, I would be remiss if I didn't address some remaining concerns. I'm still troubled that it took nearly three months to fix something that families flagged as unworkable and that quite frankly the administration should have been able to identify as unworkable from the start. Our route was paired and tiered in a way that was logistically impossible. SMS starts at 753 and it was paired with Maplewood Middle, which starts at 820. Families raise concerns repeatedly.

039Yet, it took close to three months to correct an operational problem that directly affects students ability to get to school on time or in our experience at a reasonable time relative to the start of school. During the process of working with Superintendent Bing to find a solution to our bus problem, I learned more about the district's plans to save costs. Bringing routing in home, changing vendors, moving away from the GPS systems. These are smart, reasonable measures, and I want to acknowledge and express my support for them. As part of these savings, another practical step this district could take into account is reallocating pre-k buses to K through five routes. PreK placements are not tied to the integration plan. And while K through five students are, which is why the busing distance was reduced to 1.25

040miles. Aligning resources in this way could cost could reduce costs uh relief pressure on tiered routes. For example, I also just recently learned of a Montro Susth Bden tiered route that has a similar issue as ours where one group either arrives too early or the other group arrives late and therefore maximizing the impact of each route. Even with cost-saving measures in place, reli reliable transportation remains critical, not just for students to arrive on time, but for the success of the integration plan. Adjusting the integration plan alone will not solve transportation issues. Many students placed through the triple I attend their closest school and still qualify for busing. Unless busing is completely eliminated for students within the 1.25 mile radius, which I do not recommend, these issues will persist. The district will also still need to

041continue busing students who have been placed through the integration plan over the last four years. At the same time, cost savings alone will not fix the transportation system. Routes must be operationally reliable. During this period, when our bus was scheduled so aggressively early, writership dropped dramatically. One morning after dropping off my kids, a staff member told me that our bus only had four students on that morning. That means that the district and our community are paying for services that aren't being used. This highlights a misuse of resources and underscores how logistical mismanaging can compromise efficient use of funds. Right now, unreliable transportation is what is undermining trust in the integration plan, not the concept of integration itself. Families are frustrated because buses are late or way too early in our case, tiered in ways that

042can't possibly work and communication is inconsistent. That frustration understandably gets misdirected towards the triple eye. Personally, my family lives so close to Marshall that we can hear the bell from our home and even pick up the Wi-Fi. We are placed at South Mountain, which is our third closest school, and we're not mad about it. In fact, we are very, very, very happy South Mountain family. However, we recognize that we have the privilege of being able to drive our children to school when the transportation system falters. But make no mistake, doing so creates stress and is not sustainable year round. I'm almost done. Many families placed across the town do not have that flexibility, and I worry about their experience. If the triple eye is to succeed, and I believe this community wants it to, transportation

043cannot remain its weake, it's linked. Costs-aving measures are necessary and appreciated, but they must be paired with reliable, operationally sound routes. Families deserve buses that work so that integration is supported rather than undermined. And thank you. I know how hard everybody really works, and I appreciate it. So, it's not a dig at anyone. It's more so this is the information we have. How do we just make this better for everybody? Thank you. Thank you so much. And that and that concludes um public speaks. Okay. So now we'll move on to superintendent update. Are you going to do presentation? Yeah. >> Carol, we'll do we'll do presentations first. You want to step up first. Kathy go over. >> Good evening everyone. >> Okay, so if you recall um we had done a special education experience survey

044back in the spring and I thought it was important to not only present those results but the coordinating action plan. So that's what I'd like to do tonight. Next slide. I am very glad that I brought my laptop because I would not be able to read that. Was a last minute uh decision. But in any case, so the survey questions that we um asked of our parents, we wanted to see how they would rate the CST process in general from start to finish. um if they were satisfied that all of their questions and concerns had been addressed at the most recent IEP meeting. Um did they you know how would they rate rather a sense of inclusion with respect to climate and culture in the district? How would they rate the related services so speech,

045occupational therapy, physical therapy, counseling and behavioral intervention support? How would they rate the academic and social emotional progress of their child? And if they uh considering this is one of our big initiatives um if they have if their student has a paraprofessional are they aware and have a clear understanding of the reason and the goals for that support as well as our efforts to foster independence and fade that support over time. We asked um if outside of report cards and IEP progress reports if they felt that they received enough information related to their child's progress from their teacher. And finally, um, we asked if they felt that there was a need for an executive functioning class or program at the middle schools and CHS. Next slide. The survey was shared through a powers school correspondents

046to all special education parents and also shared by CPAC to all of their members. Unfortunately, the the results or the um respondents weren't as many as we would have liked. only 91 respondents out of our almost 1500 special education students. Well, 1500 just special education students, less families, but still only 91 respondents. But in any case, um we'll take all the feedback we can get. So, there were five preschool respondents, 46 elementary, 15 middle school, 20 high school, one um in the 18 to 21 realm, and four that were in out of district placements. Next slide. And I have to say that all of the results are over 50% in the positive. So I I think that is a definite win. Of course, we also want to talk about the feedback and the action items

047that come out of it as well, but I was happy to see over 50% in pretty much every category I believe. So 58% were satisfied or highly satisfied with the CST process in general. Uh they felt that case managers were a definite strength. They were describing, you know, amazing, excellent, fantastic, you know, responsive, knowledgeable, all good adjectives. Their kindness and caring, uh, knowledge of special education teachers and classroom teachers were definitely highlighted. Um, many noted the program's positive impact, uh, with their child making significant um, progress. One was quoted as saying that they're miles ahead of where they were um, after receiving the necessary supports. So that's fantastic. Some areas of concern that were noted. A lot of people talked about communication being a strength, but just as many um talked about it being um

048you know a deficit and cited a lack of followup and follow-through responsiveness from the staff and they felt that they needed more feedback on their child's progress. Um they do talked they did talk rather about the uh CST process being slow, lengthy, a lot of information needed. um and initiating the referral process being difficult to navigate. Uh and they also talked about high turnover and staff vacancies. Next slide. 66% felt satisfied that their questions and concerns were addressed at the most recent IEP meeting. And while a lot of these areas of concern aren't specific to questions, I still wanted to summarize them for everyone to see. Um, specific concerns involved accommodations not always being followed by teachers and improper modification assessments and um, you know, some some issues in inclusion classes. Um, issues include a

049lack of teacher attendance at IEP meetings, the meetings feeling rushed and unfortunately that's just indicative of a tight schedule and teachers needing to get back to their classes. Unfortunately, these IEP meetings do happen during the school day. So, um, that does that does play a part that we can't always avoid. Um, and a lack of clarity on on available supports. In general, parents did worry that overloaded case managers are case managers have case loads between 50, 60, sometimes 65. Um overloaded case managers cannot truly know the students. Um albeit they try um of course, but the parents felt that like that could lead to children falling through the cracks. Several responses highlighted a perceived failure to recognize a child's unique profile um including challenging students to their potential and offering programs options that are too

050late. And I think we can all identify with the feeling you know you've always wanted XYZ program and then your child gets beyond the need for that program and all of a sudden that program now exists. So that that can happen of course. Next slide. 62% were highly satisfied or satisfied with the sense of inclusion with respect to culture and climate. Um, inclusion classrooms will highlight a co-eing model, you know, providing a seamless support and environment for a supportive environment for all students. Um, I love the fact that it was noted many times that students largely feel accepted, integrated, and unstigmatized by their classification, feeling a strong sense of community and acceptance from their peers. that that made my heart very happy. And teachers and support staff are highly commended for their deep care, inclusive

051mindsets and expertise. Areas of concern um really included um expanding that sense of inclusion services and classrooms. suggestions included increased classroom support staff, uh better PD on our professional development on neurode divergent behaviors, a reduction in inclusion class sizes, and ensuring that staff are just wellversed in in dealing with special education students and working with them. Special education um was noted, of course, needing to be integrated into the curriculum and more so providing our students with opportunities to read about um folks that are um you know, successful with disabilities and um you know, literature surrounding that. And there was a call for better messaging to the wider school community um with regard to supporting neuro neurode divergent children's needs and particularly during those transitions from building to building. Next slide. 62% were satisfied or highly

052satisfied with our related services. The positives that were noted the therapists, social workers, teachers, specialists, um excellent, skillful, caring, professional. They have positive relationships with the students uh willing to attend sessions and or the students are willing to attend sessions and benefit from the learn strategies. The services are available, consistent um and included support for absences and highle classes. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech services were noted as being very highly successful. A major concern included a lack of communication outside of yearly IEP meetings specific to related services. Um inconsistent service delivery um especially for social skills and speech and a high therapist turnover. Uh some felt counseling and behavior intervention were in uh great need of improvement as well. Next slide. 66% were satisfied or highly satisfied with their child's academic progress. Some of

053the highlights were uh significant academic growth uh with some reaching grade level and improving stamina. Educators were praised for their dedication, communication and nurturing students love for subjects and especially math. Um general support staff, you know, caring uh teachers were noted as strengths. students uh growing in self- advocacy, which makes me again really really happy. Uh recognizing their abilities, um becoming more independent in their work and showing greater confidence. Some areas of concern that were noted were a perceived uh decreased support for students as they enter CHS. um the consistent application of IEP accommodations and modifications, especially in math again um and specific support for executive uh function and transitions from building to building. Several responses notice noted mixed messaging about their child's progress and feeling like they were getting different messages from different um

054teachers that weren't didn't seem too consistent. Next slide. 61% were satisfied or highly satisfied with their child's uh social emotional progress. The positives were they felt that their students had more friends, enjoyed peer interaction to a greater degree, felt included, um exhibiting stronger confidence and reduced anxiety, increased maturity, um demonstrating self- advocacy and um polite conduct, which is always good. children having uh greater resilience, improved frustration tolerance, and better recognition of their own limits and regulating their emotions. Some areas of concern and and struggles were reported in the transition to high school uh resulting in school refusal. In some cases, parents express concern that some classroom environments may be too rigid and are detrimental to their child's emotional well-being uh leading to potential school avoidance. There was a perceived lack of awareness among the staff

055with the needs of for needs of students with disabilities and how these disabilities manifest emotionally and the appropriate ways to respond and support them including um a greater sense of cultural competence. Next slide. I was really happy to see that 70% expressed a clear understanding of the reason and goals for paraprofessional support as well as the plan for fading that support and fostering independence. Of course, there were 30% that felt the opposite and some of those concerns were a lack of clarity on the goals. Um, the specific support strategies and daily duties. Um and some were unaware of para changes that had happened um with regard to the actual person, not that they didn't know whether their child had a parah. Issues included a consistent and inconsistent presence and inability um or perceives inability to

056help their student in inadequate training and um a possibility that a one-to-one professional was somehow compensating for a lacking in the classroom. Parents desired meetings with paras for feedback, tips, and understanding coverage when a parah is absent. That's a tricky one because par professionals aren't certificated employees. They are of course subcontracted in this case. And you know, we don't always feel that it's appropriate. We would like the certificated teachers to relay information and be you really the shepherds of information to our our parents. Uh requests for clear support and plans, goals and progress reports. Um and just again being aware of that that par change were noted as areas of concern. Next slide. 58% felt that they received information related to their child's progress from their teachers outside of progress report. So that's good news.

057And an overwhelming and I can't say that I'm surprised by this result. an overwhelming 82% felt that there was a need for executive functioning classes or programs especially at the middle and high school. Not surprised by that in the least. Okay. So, some of the action items that we have communication that you know is is always something that we're striving to do better with. I feel that we will always be doing that. Um we are using powers school messenger more and more for communication and announcements and I feel that that is working. Um, bless you. A better enforcement of the 48 business hour response time. That is a board policy. Um, and and making sure that that's enforced at all levels on time progress reports and more thorough Q&A before the release of progress reports

058to parents. And that's something that I feel that we've come a long way with. Um, this survey was given, I believe, in March and that was before we made some changes that I feel I've gotten a lot of feedback that they're working out really well. And then as far as communication, as we know, there's some recent legislation in DOE guidelines for additional annual annual IEP meeting notice requirements. uh that doesn't go into effect until July 2026, but we are starting to implement that and giving professional development to the uh child study team members to start and the DOE's guidance was to start that this year. Work out the kinks, feel good about it by July 2026. So, I feel like that is all working toward better communication. professional development responses indicated a greater need for

059understanding and meeting the needs of students with disabilities more so outside of their special education classes and programs. Um to that end, we have enhanced collaboration with CNI to ensure professional development opportunities are geared toward providing an inclusive environment for all of our students. I'm really excited that we began this year with an ed camp model uh which gives our staff the opportunity to shine delivering professional development to their colleagues in their area of expertise. I feel like we always learn better from our colleagues rather than having an unknown outside presenter come in and talk at us. Um, so we basically took the professional development surveys that we had done last year and with the help of CNI were trying to get our own staff to present to their colleagues and they're really excited about

060it. We're really excited about it. We've gotten wonderful feedback from it. Um, the sessions have largely focused on how to best implement the co-eing model, how to navigate frontline. Um, I need some of that training myself to be perfectly honest. Um, always need that. best practices in writing goals and objectives. Uh how to manage difficult behaviors and how best to work with classified students in special area classes. Next slide. Behavior intervention and support. And we we're hearing this across the board from parents, from administrators, from teachers. um definite voice concern regarding classroom management, response to behavior or misbehavior, consequences that are more punitive and or rather consequences that right now seem more punitive and less restorative when we need to see the opposite. Last spring, our MTSS teams were trained in the collaborative proactive solutions

061or CPS model of behavior management to be used as a part of the um INDRS process. and it's basically a broader district initiative with the organization lives in the balance and the methodologies of Dr. Ross Green. Um it looks at student misbehavior as unsolved problems and engages the learners in the solutions which I feel and research shows is the best way to affect true change. um involving, you know, rather than us as adults imposing solutions on students, getting them to collaboratively work with us to figure out what is going to meet their needs better. Our district administrative team, I'm super excited about this. Our district administrative team meetings through December are dedicated to a book study of Dr. Ross Green's book, Lost in School. So, we are reading a few chapters, coming together, working together.

062Um, I think that that is a fantastic thing for this district administrative team to do and we're really getting a lot out of it. And actually, um, at our December meeting, Kim Hopkins, who is our CPS trainer, is going to join our DAT meeting and go over everything, answer more questions, you know, give feedback. She's actually been meeting with our uh NTSS teams and um you know going over real time coaching sessions you know that that they're doing with their kids. They're recording them with parent permission of course and they're going over them with Kim and getting real real feedback. So that's all moving in the right direction. And the next step in that training, you know, we trained our MTSS teams and our administrators. The next step in the training is to more formally

063train teachers in the CPS model and to provide on-site coaching in their classrooms. And I specifically dedicated money within my budget in professional development to that end. And I'm really excited about it. But that all of that being said, it's a monumental shift in thinking to involve children in the collaborative problem solving approach. Um it's a multi-year initiative. We're not going to do it right, you know, right away. Um it's going to take a lot of effort from all angles and a lot of training and I'm so happy that we're embarking upon that and already seeing some positive changes. Next slide. Teacher and related service um provider vacancies that you know is a concern across the state across the nation but one that um you know we are aware of and we continue to post

064immediately of course for all vacancies as soon as we're aware. Um, we're expanding our relationship with local universities, offering internship opportunities. I feel like that's probably the best pipeline to get new staff to want to join us and um, you know, get them excited to be a part of our district. Expanding our contracts with outside agencies when tenure track candidates can't be found. And really, I think not delaying the process. We always want to offer tenure track positions and have our district employees hired of course but I think that we need to be quicker when that you know those opportunities are not found and those candidates aren't found. We can't sit and wait too long because then our kids are suffering. So reaching out to agencies quicker to ensure candidates are are found if need

065be. and executive functioning. Overwhelming response that that need exists for a class or program dedicated to executive functioning at the middle and high school. And research really shows that executive functioning skills can't be taught and shouldn't be taught in a vacuum uh for students for the best student success. It really needs to be infused. Um I'm looking to last uh last year at the CPAC resource fair I met um Stephanie Cannon through CPAC and she has Canon educational consulting. She provides a lot of professional development to mostly New York City schools but I have been working with her to um we've actually been playing phone tag. We talked right before this meeting and she was going into the train and and I was coming here and and we we have a call scheduled for tomorrow,

066but we're definitely going to be tapping into her for um professional development and coaching to infuse these strategies into every class with consistency rather than having it be, you know, a separate class that's isolated. Next slide. and our paraprofessionals. You know, while the overwhelming majority understood the reasons for the assignment of a paraprofessional, there were still some parents who weren't clear. So, that means we need to do a better job. The CST have been directed to continue to review the paraprofessional criteria and fading forms with teachers and parents at least twice a year, if not more. Um, teachers are charged with developing goals and objectives surrounding the assignment of paraprofessionals. Um, helping to collect that data with the help of of the behaviorists and and BCBAS. um and reporting thorough progress, you know, through the

067progress reports. We're proud of the work we've done to ensure the appropriate level of support while fostering independence in our students and we're going to continue that. Um our EBR program, while that was not specifically addressed in this survey, we are taking a close look at EBR this year. Our goal this year is to better define the criteria by which students gain entrance and you quote unquote graduated from the program. We're collaborating with the EBR teachers monthly. which started this month uh to decide upon the instruments and resources used so that we can be more consistent across the district. Uh we actually we met and decided that there are lots of resources, some used, some not used, scattered throughout the district. We're actually having all of those resources delivered to central office. In our next

068meeting, we are going to roll up our sleeves and go through everything. So, we're excited. um a multi-ensory approach to teaching literacy needs to be expanded through uh you know beyond the EDR program itself in order to you know reach our pullout resource teachers our in-class resource support settings and again make it there's likely always going to be the need for pull out EBR services but the more that it can be infused into our you know teachers toolkits in pull out resource and inclass resource support the less we need to pull our students out. So, professional development is continuing in that respect as well. And that's another multi-year initiative. Um, but we're starting with a survey of all the pull out resource and in-class resource teachers in order to gain an understanding of their current

069level of expertise and training, their, you know, temperature on getting more training. Overwhelming response that that everyone wants more training. So, we're excited about that as well. And I think that's the end of my action items. Yes. Thank you for your support. And do we have any questions? I was really excited about the results. I think they were overwhelmingly positive. Thank you so much for that very thorough um review and presentation with all of the data. Um do we have questions, questions, comments? >> Yeah. Go on dear and then we'll >> All right. Hi, thank you so much. I really I I really appreciated this and I I agree the results are promising. Um I just had to well I just wanted to say I'm glad that you're looking at the evidence-based reading and seeing

070how we can be more consistent across the schools. So I'm glad that's a focus. Now, um were did you notice any I know you mentioned executive functioning, but in terms of um other feedback, were there distinct was there distinct feedback that you saw at the CHS or middle school level versus the elementary school level? I >> and I know it's hard because it's such a small sample size, but >> Right. Right. It was definitely more so at middle and high school, but I think across the board. I think that um you know when you come from I think the reason for seeing it more in middle school and in high school you're coming from an elementary school it's mostly a self-contained environment somewhat departmentalized but you have one teacher that you're responsible to in in

071most cases and then you go to middle school and you have three four five teachers you're responsible for I think it's it's a matter of everyone's expectations aligning so that it's easier for students to succeed. I think students just naturally feel that frustration as they metriculate into middle school and then again into high school. The expectations and rigor become more and you also have more people to please. >> I'm sorry I think I didn't word my question well but um I meant in terms of other feedback besides executive functioning feedback was there anything particular that kind of >> you you noticed with regard to high the high school population or the middle school population? I would say um a focus on classroom management coming from a more restorative place than a punitive place. Um you

072know involving our students in in those solutions which is perfect for the collaborative and proactive solutions model that we're that we're implementing. That was that was definitely a theme. um and accommodations and modifications being administered and followed with consistency and fidelity across the board. That was another big one in middle school and high school particularly. >> So, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to discuss this in the special services committee meeting. Um, it is great to see the amount of feedback and the amount of positive feedback in here. Um, the one thing that stood out to me in looking at it again tonight is, and we talked about this in a lot of the surveys we do, is just it is hard to get a lot of people to fill out surveys.

073And, you know, I've I talked to many special education parents in my job and here, and they're folks who really are excited to share their feedback. So, I'm wondering um and this is sort of a question comment things that we can do to try to increase that engagement whether it's sort of, you know, sending something to someone after, you know, two weeks after they've had an IEP meeting when they probably have a lot of opinions or at some point just to to increase that number so we can feel confident that we're getting feedback that is from, you know, the body as a whole. >> Yeah. You know, I'm thinking that maybe and I don't know if this is best in paper form or you know, perhaps a part of the documentation that goes maybe it

074can even be created through front line and sent along with the IEP that goes home after an IEP meeting, a satisfaction survey. maybe folks would be more apt to fill it out in the moment right after they've left an IEP meeting as you said and that you know that feedback will be fresh in their minds and be a link to a survey to reach out to the frontline people and see if they can wrankle that up for me. >> I I don't know if that you know makes it more or less statistically correct but it's something to think about. >> It's worth a try. >> Yeah. I would echo I had a similar kind of comment question around just how to improve responses. But I do want to just back up to say that I

075you know I do think it's worth noting that this is something that we had kind of long desired to do and I think um the special education community was hungry like Will said to provide feedback and so I do just want to you know commend the department for getting it off the ground and being able to present the results. Um and yeah, I do look forward to figuring out and identifying ways to make sure that we can increase the response rate over time. Um I do think thinking about that from the frontline perspective. Similarly, I'm not an expert in frontline. Um so wondering if there is a way to to use that when feedback is fresh. Um and then also considering other avenues of you know maybe conferences and and things like that when when

076parents are more readily available and kind of in that feedback zone. Um just one thing that I thought of too was just being cautious about um over it. So like is it at the annual meeting versus so like we're not getting multiple feedbacks from from a single family in a year. So just identifying like what would be the most um applicable or the easiest one to kind of garner feedback from on a cadence that would make sense. >> Um but yeah I think it was really helpful to present this to the community and link it with the next step. So thank you. >> Exciting. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Okay, next is our SSD. Oh, yes. >> That's right. >> See, [clears throat] our next presentation will be from Dr. Wayel and

077Mr. Paul Morgan >> won't be a presentation without these glasses. [laughter] It's >> true. >> Greetings all. Uh we're here to present the school safety data system report. Um New Jersey state dictates that all school districts report all incidents of violence and vandalism as well as HIV twice a year. That would be period 1 and period 2. We're presenting period 2 from 2004 2005 as well as the final results for the end of the school year. >> Oh, you have to say next slide when you want to change it. >> Oh, next slide. Next slide. >> One more, please. >> Yes. Okay. So, here we have the explanation of SSDS terms. Um, I'm going to go down to where it says violence includes assault, fight, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, sexual assault, contact threats, uh, criminal threat

078as well. And then on the vandalism side is arson, damage to property, false alarm, f false public alarm. Um, something to note with the vandalism, uh, vandalism is only reported if there's a responsible party. So, if there's something you see on the wall and there's no person or no one can be identified, that isn't reported. Uh, next slide. >> And one more. >> Okay. So the first uh set of data we're going to look at is um data for the entire school year. So this is the data um comparatively across the schools. Um next slide and this is also across the schools but this adds each category um that we reported under. I do want to note that there was an under reporting of uh substance abuse that we called the state. we have to

079report it when we under report was an accident oversight um and an over report um for weapons at the elementary school. So both of these reflected um in the graphs will were are changed just so you know. Okay. Uh and we just let the state know that. Uh also they don't all add up because sometimes one incident has multiple things so the math will not be accurate all the time. Next slide. And one more. So we are noticing a general trend at the high school of reduced violence which is great. Um we saw middle school is not an overall trend but it did trend down last year. We did see a trend up at the elementary school. Um actually most of the incidents went down but um the assaults went up. We're we're noticing uh

080some behavior challenges that we're struggling with with uh our younger students immediately halfway through the year when we recognize this trend because our thing is we're not going to wait until we report it to do something about it. Uh as messes Mrs. Jess Maria pointed out we brought in collaborative proactive solutions. Uh halfway through the year um both her and Miss Bodner felt that that that was a great program. We also added to our multi-tered supports this year um as well as um started working with individual schools to support them. So just so you know. Uh next slide. This is a new slide. So we are reporting on all of the trainings that we've done. So uh pretty proud of this. There were 104 staff programs around school climate and culture last year. Um those

081are individual trainings, sustained trainings, all kinds examples. Um for the students, they are more long-term uh programs. So they are smaller because they're curriculum over time. Um and we don't do period 1, period 2 because they are again over time. So we report them in period one. So our HIV curriculum is reported once, but they might see those lessons throughout the year. But some great uh some great information there. Uh and we frontload everything which is why period one is uh is heavier on both sides. Uh next slide. Okay. Now we're going into period 2 which starts in January 25 and goes to June. This again is is a look at all of the data across the schools in all the separate categories. Next slide. And the same for the school's uh total categories um

082total violence in in each school. Next slide. This is broken down into um the grade bands. Again, we talked about um what we're seeing at the elementary school, which is why we implemented all of those changes last year. And there's more that Paul will go into. Next slide. These are the tree maps. They're so pretty. Um you're going to see this is every uh everyone uh period two. Um so all of the schools and just shows you kind of where our concerns are, where the violence and vandalism are. Um and so this gives you a picture and then we're going to go into each uh grade band. Next slide. Oh, this is a comparison of all three grade bands. Next slide. This is CHS. Next slide. This is the middle school. Next slide. And the

083elementary school. Next slide. Okay. This is the HIB alleged and confirmed. One of the things we do after we look at this data, we meet with um the climate the anti-bullying specialists three times a year. So, we look at this data when we're meeting. We also ask the climate teams to review their own data and come up with solutions. Hipster is our program for HIVs. It's really great because you can identify hotspots. Is the lunchroom a hot spot? Is the classroom a hot spot? Um and then we come up with plans to address the certain needs in those schools. So those are going on right now. Um and they're working with their climate teams to address the areas that they're seeing in their in their school. Um I also want to note that a big

084focus for us starting in January is going to be just uh communication with families over phones which we talked about uh last time I was here. um because that is we do see an increase in bullying because of the phones you know um starting in grade four really. Next slide. This is the alleged versus confirmed uh in the uh entire district. Uh alleged being red and confirmed uh being uh gray. It is about 30ish percentage of HIVs are are founded. Next slide. Okay. So this year we saw some trends. We saw the high school have a gradual decrease in overall incidences in five years. Um middle school we saw a decrease last year. The elementary schools as we talked about we saw an increase in one particular area. um but decrease in other areas. We

085saw confirmed and alleged HIVs over the last year have decreased. Um I do think that's partly because some of the work we're putting into curriculum. Um and period 2 period 2, which I found really interesting, saw an increase in HIVs. So spring always has a little bit more, but it spring had a little more last year than the year before. So that's something we're looking at. And next slide. I just wanted to remind everyone that we are working with the castle framework. So, one of the things we're working with for our students um in all grades is really working on these five skills. Um self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-m, relationship skills, and social awareness. As you can imagine, all of these are interrelated when you're talking about violence uh and vandalism. And so really bringing our

086children into how am I feeling? Um you know, what are my goals? And then how do I manage how I'm feeling when I'm really frustrated or how do I manage when I'm really afraid or excited? Um and then taking that responsible decision-making and also those relationship skills and social awareness, right? How is my friend feeling when I say a mean thing to them? What does that look like in high school and what does that look like now? And so the curriculum we're working with um is is really to support that. Um and we're looking at possibly even looking um at expanding curriculum K5 uh for September >> and I think you're it. >> Okay, next slide please. So we've identified some areas uh to support um and I'll read through those. Uh the additional supports

087for tracking and accounting for incidents is needed as you saw uh specific attention will be paid to threat assessment and recordkeeping. Uh primarily to avoid and the over and under reporting or sometimes as as uh Dr. Wayel mentioned we did miss some and have to call the state. Uh additional supports for students who engage in behavior which require uh removal and u we noticed that cell phones are still contributing to bullying. Again as Dr. We will report that's a you know students have access to each other 24 hours a day and uh we just need to address that. Um some of the plan supports and the SSD tracking um the director of school and community safety will support and review all submissions uh to ensure accuracy. Again, that would be my job. I will go

088through them as they're being submitted just to review and speak with the secretaries, the administrators, whoever's submitting and just review, make sure that they're correct and then upload those. Uh training all schools and power school and additional training for SSDs to administrators as well as secretaries. >> Oh no, just next slide twice. >> Okay, next slide. Oh, and next slide. Going too fast. Okay. So, our plan supports uh for students, all students uh prek to 12 will receive lessons specifically on uh one district, one response to bullying. Um we're also exploring resources um new resources such as uh what do we speak about the um character strong different resources to support parents as well. Um multi-tered systems of support will increase and be more available. Um, we're going to set expectations for all in the

089freshman academy and we're going to stress a phonefree educational experience. Um, next slide please. Additional plan supports for students. Uh, update updated kindergarten schedule to include additional outdoor play and purposeful play. Uh this will support social emotional learning, help practice self-regulation, problem solving and build confidence in our preK through five. Uh build independence and executive functioning. Next slide, please. Support for teachers and administrators. This is good stuff. uh new tiered program resources will be sent to all preK5 teachers uh to support social emotional development. Also, uh coaching is planned for schools to identify areas in need of support around discipline practices. Um something of note yesterday was that the district administrative meeting we started uh just reviewing some of the support plans for the administrators. Um, we use some of the scenarios provided by the

090NJ DOE um to train teachers and administrators. I'm sorry, administrators. Yesterday, we just went through some of the scenarios they provide. Um, and they will help us learn what to upload, what not to upload, what to report, what not to report, um, and and how to do that properly. Um, as you saw, we did make a couple of missteps last year. We're going to correct that now. Uh, next slide, please. uh plan support for families. Uh parent seminars around cell phone use as well as digital citizenship are planned this year. Updated code of contact conduct which shares uh the tier responses. Um we're also looking at programs to to support parents um and continued skill building at home with their students. Um you're up. Next slide. >> Okay. Any questions? >> Oh, that's it. We're

091done. >> That's it. Oh, I went fast. >> Thank you so much. Um, questions, Regina. And then >> Yep. >> Thank you, Mr. Morgan. It's nice to see you sitting on on in that side. Um, >> it's nice to be here. >> So, I just wanted to confirm the over reporting you said was the weapons at elementary school. Okay. So, that was that was going to be one of my questions. Um, and then looking at the trends over time, elementary school is all lumped together. Um, do you know off the top of your head, are you seeing the same trends? Because if you looked at if you look at the breakdown you there were three schools honestly that caught my eye over time are you seeing those simil those similar trends. >> So I would

092say in some but not others. >> Okay. So, so we saw part of what we're seeing at the elementary school is um threat assessment is a new process, right? Since 20122 and some of the schools are reporting it differently. >> Um so Mr. Morgan and I are putting out just a clarification on that, right? What are we reporting and what are we not? Because not everything, you know, if a student says I'm going to kill you in the middle of a soccer game and they keep playing, that's different than an actual threat. Yeah. um and the state goes into that, right? So, we're we're providing that. So, I think that's some of the difference. Um and I think, you know, depending on the program at the school, sometimes we're seeing um some more students with

093some additional challenges. Um and so, you know, our our coaching model is really focusing in some of our coaching is going to be for for all of those spaces and some of that coaching is going to really focus in on areas of need. Okay, that was going to be my follow-up question of, you know, obviously understanding there is kind of a blanket plan of action, but for those >> identified there, is there anything targeted, which it sounds like there is. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um, thank you for the very thorough presentation. Um, with regard to the numbers that were I guess I want to understand the the numbers for the violence in the elementary school looks like there were there was some uptick if not the same amount. Is that right? That

094there was some or there was none at all. >> There was definitely some uptick. >> Okay. >> And then there was also some just difference in the threat assessment reporting. >> Okay. When we're talking about violence, what is that looking like? What qualifies as that for an elementary school incident? Sure. Um it is intentionally harming um someone else. Um we tend to report things that are fairly significant. So if someone gets hurt and has to go to the nurse because they're injured or something like that. Um you know something like that is and not you know there's a lot of the little ones there's unintentional. I ran my friend over because I was just so excited to see them you know. So that kind of thing is not reported. Also um simple threat is also

095so if you make a simple threat that can also go into >> and you can right yeah so if you make a simple threat what they call as a simple threat that also um goes into the violence category >> okay so just not in any way to downplay it but it's not all switchblades in the back of the school building right it's just to understand what is actually coming into this category um and my other part B actually second question was going to just squeeze right in uh in looking at the uh the HIVs and the um the reported versus confirmed. There were I think at least it was one school that had a significant number of um alleged that were not confirmed. Are there any conclusions that that could be drawn from that as

096far as were these ones that were referred by teachers versus parents versus others or a reason for that? So I think there's there's a few things I have to look at the data more carefully but for me what what happens when you're investing in HIV is it doesn't mean something didn't happen and this is for all of them right um it may have been that it was a conflict with students and sometimes conflicts go into an HIV system and then we uh talked to the students addressed the issue but it didn't rise to that threshold um you know also those areas where you saw of the high was also schools for ages were their cell phones and so we're trying to manage that. Um we're also bringing in uh specifically at the middle school more

097community building that can decrease that over time and so we're working with students and teachers to help that. Um but as for who reported it, I don't have that but I I'm happy to get that. Um, but I think what we're looking at is just um that general age group really is working on learning how to have social interactions that are positive and um, you know, we're just really trying to support that for those students. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank you for this presentation. It was great and I love the five-year trends. So that's, you know, thank you for that. Um I was just curious so the you were talking about the threat assessment. So from from your thoughts are you thinking that's the some the the few schools that kind of

098had a a significantly higher number of incidents. Do you think they're being more stringent in how they're applying it or do you think the other schools are not being at are being less stringent? Like do you think there's actually been a significantly more actual incidents >> or do you not know? >> I think probably both. >> Okay. >> I I would say from what I know, you know, cuz I between Paul and I were we see every threat assessment. Yeah. >> Um and it's seems to be both. >> Okay. Yeah. And then um I noticed that one of the um kind of supports going forward focused on kindergarten. So were a number of those incidents in kindergarten? >> Some we we recognized also that our kindergarten um did not have so because kindergarten is that

099base year that every student in our school goes to, right? Pre prek is a base year, but there's not as many students there. Um so we recognize that preschool is very play-based, right? and students really learn a lot from play, especially um social emotional learning. And then kindergarten became more academic, but didn't incorporate as much of that play base. Um and so looking at that, kindergarten is a real age that you should be learning those social emotional skills. And by not including so much play, we were taking that away. And so, um Dr. Dr. Kareah and Miss Bodner really worked with a great team of kindergarten teachers um and administrators last year and really looked at like what do we need to add back in um so that our kindergarten and not necessarily that kindergarten

100was the the area of concern but that's where it starts right and so we wanted to do that. So they did a beautiful job of of doing that and really bridging prek and K. So they're visiting each other's schools and they're really talking um and articulating um to really identify how we can really support the kids um which I think you know we also to remember these elementary students these were co babies right and and that has some implication on you know that they were home and and there was a little bit less socialization so um we want to really ramp that up and support them. Okay, great. That's it then. Thank you so much. >> Thank you both. Well done. Just want to give a quick update. Um, unfortunately we lost a member of

101the SOSD family. Um do want to call out action item 4878A. Um Peter Roma. Um he's a former buildings and ground supervisor. Passed away on November 15th. Um our family offers their family condolences. Uh and also to Peter's friends because I know he had many in this district. He was well respected. Um, so we just wanted to call out that action item. He will be missed. Uh, second, we do want to talk about uh, district goals update. We'll be updating our goals [snorts] on the website progressively. Uh, you'll see the next update within the next two weeks. Uh, strategic planning uh, keeps moving along. I don't want to steal board president thunder if she's going to mention strategic planning. You are, so I'm going to just let it let it go. Um uh you'll get

102an update from our board president on that, but we're making some really uh good progress. Uh student achievement uh administration of a universal math screener by October 2025 has been completed utilizing I Ready and EXL math in grades 1 through 11. Uh that was done October 6th uh to the 10th. Uh grades uh 2 to 11th ELA and K to1 I Ready was done in midepptember. So the universal screeners have been completed. Uh identifying tier 2 and three students for the New Jersey uh multiple tiered system of support by November. Uh identification of tier 2 and three uh have been given to school NJTSS teams uh to prepare uh for their teachers uh to work on small group intervention in onetoone. We also supplied uh tier one, tier 2 and tier three professional development. uh

103last week. Uh we are currently using linkit uh to now manage our multi-tered system of support. Uh we're launching that training will be ongoing. Uh so we look forward to having a a systematic approach to our uh tiered system of support. Uh we believe that the multi-tered system of support will have a major impact uh on our special services. uh will have our major impact also on achievement as students go uh progressively go into middle school and high school. Um we also uh have talked about and completed uh the formation of our New Jersey multi-tered system of support teams at every school. Our next step is developing a district-wide a district-wide multi-tered system of support team. They're in the process of forming that. As noted previously, we will be using our link platform to manage

104our multi-tiered system of support. We're using their intervention manager and uh training will continue. Uh CHS freshman academy preliminary data showing a decrease in failure rates as compared to last year for marking period 1. Uh first student wellness community day was on October 31st. uh and also teachers did a professional development around goals and team building and they've also started uh the eyes on the fries program which as noted is an executive functioning uh professional development for kids. Uh and uh we've already had three meetings with Ruckers University and the University of North Carolina around data collection around our uh cell phone band K to 10. Uh we've discussed this at the committee level. discussed this in SLT in regards to whether or not uh doing the study at the high school or middle school

105level. As you all know, we implemented a a freshman academy this year for the first time. So, uh we're a little worried about that bias. So, I think we're leaning towards the middle school level at this point. We have another another meeting with uh Ruckers uh start of next week. Special services, I am not going to repeat everything that Kathleen just said uh but every action item were part of her goals. So big thanks for that presentation. Um district also uh as Kathleen noted and I do want to emphasize we are in the year two with our partnership with Ross Green. Uh and our district administrative uh team is also reading his book the lost child. So we're excited about that. uh monthly meetings have been scheduled as Kathleen noted uh to really systemize our

106EBR approach uh in regards to resources and also what instruction looks so we what we did find was depending on the building you're in instruction may be different so we want to systemize that program also want to note that we have just completed in regards to HR uh dated informed staff retention and staff satisfaction index was completed we'll be sharing that uh with the public within in the next week. Um, we did share it at the personnel uh level, committee level. Uh, I think we got a lot of good data that that we're looking forward to sharing and also uh some opportunities for some action items around those as well. Also, I want to give a huge shout out for everyone who participated on November 6th and 7th for our SNAP emergency food drive. uh

107whether it was community members, board members, uh teachers, uh administrators, parents, organizations, uh you name it. Uh they turned out um and we were able to support a lot of families on Friday. So, big thank you. We will continue that work throughout the year, especially now with the holidays coming up. Uh we intend on starting food pantries at at every school. We currently have a food pantry at our high school. We want to make sure we have those uh at every school as well. So, we'll be uh conducting that work over the next uh couple months. I do also want to shout out and I I know our board reps mentioned it, but uh I want to shout out again Jessie, our Spanish teacher for over 20 years. Um her selection to this group was

108not only amongst uh our country. Where are you Jess? Oh was was not only amongst our country it's it's a global you know it's global. It includes Europe and Japan and it's only 50 folks. So you know I can't say enough in regards to this accomplishment. So big thanks. We look forward to you participating this program. Um, we look forward to you bringing stuff back uh as you go through it. We're excited for you and that is all. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Superintendent Bing and uh Mr. Moody, your update. >> Yes, thank you. You know, there's a couple of things that I I want to cover here today really. Um, starting with our Ritzer project development timeline. Um, and then moving on into some commentary about our healthc care transition, which we're

109moving full steam ahead with, and then uh a brief note about uh what Superintendent Bing mentioned, which is our board goals as they pertain to the business office. So, I'll start with the Ritzer timeline. Um, as I've been giving the updates uh on our project plan here, we have uh this project timeline to refer to which um clearly has site investigation that goes from September through mid November. That's around where we are right now. To add a little bit more clarity, um you know, we had the project kickoff meetings. We did uh the architects and teams completed the existing conditions and outboard outbound surveys. Um the tree analysis by the arborist was completed. Uh the report is forthcoming. So once we get out of that site investigation uh you know area of our our timeline,

110we then move into this design development. Right? So we've also started action in the design and development phase which is a preliminary assessment report that's prepared and uh it this is scheduled for completion in early December. Uh this involves soil sampling. It involves laboratory analysis and then once the sampling is complete and the analysis uh is complete within the next week we'll have more information that will guide the design. So storm water subsurface investigation also underway. The sampling is complete and the analysis is to com be to be completed within the next week. Um then there's the storm water management. It's underway. And essentially what this hap what happens here for this process is we're doing um boring holes into the field and actually coming up with samples that then are sent off to the

111laboratories to do analysis and then they they provide insights as to what will inform the drainage system. So this is the place that we are in the design development phase and we're looking to get that analysis presented back to us within the week. uh we are on track and in fact uh the field design and documentation of existing conditions is still in progress but is scheduled to be completed over the next week. We did in fact our architectural firm that isel did in fact submit to the department of education the project application on November 17th. Uh and so just as a reminder, that application goes in to the DOE and then we also continue to conduct business to bring forth the results of the design and site analysis to the Maplewood Planning Board. Uh that

112is scheduled to actually take place at the January meeting of the Maplewood Planning Board. And then once we hear back from them, the uh Department of Education's project application can be rendered and then sent back our way. that that DOE project application is where they tell us uh just how much in the way of debt service aid would be possible on the project. So we are on schedule and we are within this sort of exiting the site investigation and uh also straddling the design development phases. We then in the spring move on to uh permitting, construction documents, bidding and awarding of contracts all with a goal towards breaking ground and engaging in construction in the summer of 26 beginning around June. So that's just a a high level overview of where we are in our

113richer project timeline. Thank you for that. on to the next topic. I want to just give uh a bit of commentary on where we are in our healthc care transition. We uh really workshopped this transition for many months engaging with many aspects of the community uh with our uh constituencies here in the district with district leadership with uh district with the SEMA leadership with ASCA leadership with teachers. uh and we decided to move forward as folks know in our last meeting. So with that, we're shooting towards a Jan 1 2026 transition of our medical coverage. Um that move will be to the administration by Meritane Health, which is an Etna company and it provides access to extensive Etna Choice POS2 network. The the move secures a robust nationwide network foundation and prescription benefits will be

114managed by the CVS Caremark system. We will be utilizing uh a passive enrollment structure because uh we did have the benefit of engaging in open enrollment with our existing state health plan and as such we were able to dig into that data and then transfer that data to our new system. That said, that passive enrollment um underway, the fact is that any changes that are required by staff, you know, can be taken on during our open enrollment. Our open enrollment deadline will extend, actually begins from, I think, November 21st and extends out through uh the early days of December. So, we will be rolling this out. We will having meetings at each school with our uh Etna health and meritane support folks. We will be providing our broker support lines and uh email systems which

115were which will will be responded to within a 24hour window. Uh we also have a designated contact in the administration building that who will be administrator administering the roll out and the uh the the open enrollment process. So, we're well on our way with uh move to the health transitioning our healthcare. The fact is our dates for having meetings with staff and teachers across the district begin Friday, November 21st, tomorrow, and we'll be extending out through uh the middle of the first week of December. So, there is some flexibility there, but we're looking to have resources available for all staff and uh supervisors and really all covered folks in our district. So that's a a brief update on our health care plan. And finally, as I mentioned before, uh our superintendent spoke on the fact

116that we are across the district really monitoring closely our goals, our district and board goals and the extent to which we are implementing uh our solutions and all of the work consistent with our goals. So I'm just going to read out our major goal for the business office which a go which is a goal of budget you know budget optimization that is so by the end of 2526 school year our district will strengthen its long-term financial stability by developing and implementing a multi-year financial plan plan will systematically seek to avert any structural deficit and increase mainten maintenance and capital reserves where necessary and possible. Uh that's a multi-year process by the way ensuring that our district's financial health and capacity for future investments in education is is well achieved and I'll say here that you

117know our efforts to reach that board goal have been ongoing and they extend from our budget process from the prior year. As folks may remember, uh the effort really was to enhance collaboration, to enhance communication, and to uh really make it much more of a process that involved all of our stakeholder groups and constituencies around the district. So that means uh communication, education of our principles and supervisors and invitation of those folks back into the budget process, giving them access to our systems and really working with them to monitor their budgets, to set their budgets properly and then monitor them over the course of the time. Um as well as working with the other constituencies within the district, our senior leadership, our board. We're looking to enhance our our reporting to our board members as

118well, not just the statutory reports that we we are required to present, but even refining and enhancing call center reporting and things of that nature. We're we're moving on those things consistent with our goals. Um, and then we're looking to innovate. I mean, I think what's clear is that, you know, we took on the challenge of our health care plan optimization head on and we're moving forward with those plans and those are are are huge uh huge efforts and we really have to take them on individually and look to innovate uh and then implement. So, that's that's what we're doing as it pertains to uh to meeting that budget goal. we're we've put forth a budget calendar and we're moving forward with each uh milestone on that calendar. So, um these are the things that

119we're doing to to really bring our board goals to life and our district goals and and kind of manage uh the transition to a more enhanced administration of our budget. So, that's where we are on that and um done. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um just one uh request as you mentioned there were a number of within a week deadlines that um with respect to Ritzer and where we're at. It'd be great if you could send um or have Speizzel send to you and then you could send to the board once we hit those those marks like when things are coming through. Um that would be nice. We don't have FIT until you know that I think the second week of December. So just having those on. >> Yeah. In fact, um yeah, those those

120reports are due to come back around that first and second week. So what I'll do is as they come in, we'll be monitoring them and then we'll make the board aware. Um we want to be mindful of how we're tracking towards towards this timeline. We we don't see any major uh obstacles. We we see Yeah, we see these things coming, but you know, listen, we know how things happen. So uh we will be certain to update the board. Absolutely. Yeah. >> Nubia. >> Oh, >> Nubia. >> Hi, Jeff. Yes. Would you like to say something and then Regina will go? Yeah. >> Hi. Um, I have been here even though I've had my camera off. I'm not feeling so well. Um, um, I was wondering if you could talk a bit about some of uh,

121the planning you've done around and the analysis you've done around transportation costs because that has been a discussion in FFT recently. >> Sure. Absolutely. What we've done in that way and as you know during our FFT meeting we've kind of formed a committee across the senior leadership team and with our transportation group to really analyze our transportation data in in detail. We were looking at bus routes, we're looking at costs. Um it's a dual challenge because we're uh faced with the dayto-day challenge of really you know addressing issues that come up by the minute. uh some of which were discussed in in uh public speaks but we have interdependent tiered bus routes uh an early bus route will have ramifications on a secondary bus route. So essentially we have the dual challenge of both managing

122in real time and then digging into prospective data and so we've been engaged in that process going out to our partner Sussex Regional and looking at how we can optimize new uh route cost structure for to begin in January. So we have data around that. We're refining our projections around fiscal year 26 transportation projected cost spend. We're also uh carving up the data into how we can come up with costs associated with uh busing that's beneath the two mile limit at 1.25 the impact of triple student place students. uh in terms of that transportation cost, I believe that there are misconceptions uh you know that folks have around the drivers of our transportation costs. And so we're looking down into the details there to really compile that data so we can you know workshop it

123in finance facilities and technology meeting as well as through our constituencies here on the senior leadership team and have that inform our decision-m. So, absolutely, we've uh we're moving forward with with all of those efforts and bringing that data to bear in our finance committee meetings. >> Did you have a question? >> Sorry, I'm going to go back to Ritzer just really quickly. Um, so [snorts] the stuff that's currently in the works, you talked about like there's pieces in the site investigation, parallel pathing, design development phase, storm water management analysis. Those are all aspects that need to be completed before you even apply for the or send in an application for the Maplewood Planning Board. >> No, thank you for asking that. I'm going to give you a little bit more clarity there. No, essentially

124those things happen concurrently, right? So the soil sampling and laboratory analysis, the storm water subservice investigation and the storm its implications on storm water management are all under analysis right now. That's involved in the boring of the holes into the ground and then the sending of those site samples out to the labs and then they come back with insights uh based on their findings as to what the implications are on the potential drainage structure. Right? And so in this design development phase as they get that information in they finalize the projected uh setup for the for the drainage right the capacities involved in the drainage as well. So that's happening now. Uh in fact November 17th is when the the DOE project application was submitted to the DOE. That's already been submitted. But essentially how

125they're linked is that as that information comes back to us around soil sampling and storm water subsurface management and the and just the general storm water management and its implications on the draining system as that stuff comes back in once it's finalized then the uh you know we're able to submit all of that data to the Maplewood Planning Board review. So when that's done in January, uh the results of that come in and then once that's completed, even though you know the DOE may be wherever they are in their project application, once the Mapleboard Planning Board's decision comes back, then the DOE can render its finalized uh uh answer to our our project application. So um while those ongoing analyses around soil and storm water are still happening, they're not holding up any process. the

126DOE already has our application. They may come to a a thought around it or a general consensus around it and then as the data comes back in and then Maplewood Planning Board can actually, you know, receive the the results of that analysis, then they render their opinion and then the DOE renders their opinion. >> Okay. Sorry, I think I used the wrong word when talking about the Maplewood Planning Board when I said application >> and that's probably why you kind of circled back to that. Um, so I I just want to ensure I know it sounds like Todd at Visel is kind of handling all of that and just want to make sure that the district FFT like we we there's oversight to it that they're hitting the deadlines. I think at this point I

127know you've always been very upfront that >> December was unlikely >> and right now you don't see any potential obstacles to January but >> you know anything we can do to ensure that we hit that date that Todd whatever he needs to do to make sure all of that is submitted in a timely fashion so that we can get on the agenda for January. >> Oh absolutely. Yeah that's uh well understood and in fact uh we are in constant communication around progress. I mean, as you know, our architect is present uh not only for our richer project timeline conversations. He's there and present in our construction meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays, Wednesdays, throughout the week. We're talking all the time. And in fact, he's aware of the board's, you know, focused oversight of the project timeline

128here. >> And so, as such, that's why he's assured me that one, the DOE application's been sent in. And it's important that we uh accurately convey the kind of interdependencies there. But uh the analysis is underway and once all of that is done in the projected next week or so >> that'll go to uh you know Maplewood Planning Board for review in January. Once their decision uh comes back or their opinion on it comes back the DOE then finalizes their application. So we will be giving interim updates as this analysis comes in and you know as we move towards the target. >> Got it. And then can you just remind both the public and actually myself maybe what planning board has 90 days to review? >> I believe it's 60 but I can >> 60

129or 90. Okay. >> I believe it's 60 but we I can check. Pretty sure it's 60. >> Appreciate it. So based upon the timing that uh Regina just mentioned of the 60 days, is there any chance for a December planning board >> if the samples are coming in? >> No, there's not at this point because essentially that meeting is on December 9th. Here we are on the the 20th of November. So they need to get all of the analysis finalized in a full package uh within some time frame prior to the meeting. So not possible to make the December meeting because we're still awaiting uh information back from our our partners that are doing the analysis. Right? So essentially we always knew that this would be the case. It's not a slipping of uh any

130timeline. We we had uh a thought that we would try for the December meeting if in if uh you know the analysis could come back in a timely enough fashion. But uh the January meeting was definitely always uh what we've been pinpointing. And in fact, it turns out that early analysis, we were correct. Uh all these things need to be completed prior and then they'll go to wood planning board in January. That said, did not hold up our DOE application, which was in fact submitted. So cool. Thanks. >> Mhm. Yeah, I think it sounds like even if we got all of that stuff in and it was passed December 9th, but it was December 15th, they still have to um I' I've heard that the planning board can accommodate um additional meetings if requested, but

131they still need 60 days to review it. So, the chance that maybe they would get that done >> is low. Yes. Comment. >> Um Okay. So, I just want to make sure I understand. >> Sure. So the expectation is that by the second week of December we will have all the documentation ready to submit to the planning board so that we can get on the agenda. >> Exactly. >> That is what we are expecting and we should receive that by the second week. >> Okay. Will you let the board know if that doesn't happen? >> I'll be letting you know about every individual element of the process. >> Thank you. >> And rest assured that that will be the case. Absolutely. And then just following up Jeff's um transportation comment um since I'm not in

132FFT especially >> when do you think we will be able to see some cost information regarding transportation because I know this is something that you've been working on for a while. Um so when when do you think you would have some analysis board to look at? >> We've been providing data as it's been made available via FFT at each juncture. At each FFT meeting we are providing our perspective data as to you know where our current circumstance is. Now as I mentioned in our process of evaluating uh both how to optimize in the moment and then how to refine our projections for costs and then how to implement strategies for the coming year. That's a lot of different data sets. So we actually bring those data sets to bear at the meeting. But you know

133uh there are always continuing questions so that remain after the meeting or different ways of looking at projecting. So it's not that no data has been presented. We've been presenting them in the forums that we have for for their presentation finance uh facilities and technology meeting. Uh it's just that there's always continuing ways of slicing and dicing and looking at the data. There's also changing circumstances. I mean, uh, if we're doing a, uh, projection for likely transportation spend through June 30 26, that depends on new and different route costs that we then go out and collect and bring back and then provide updates to. So, the the data is fluid and the data has been presented and will continue to be uh, as as we refine our our analysis. >> Okay. So I'm I guess

134maybe I'm asking if when there's data presented in FFT if the rest of the board can get a copy of that data. >> Yeah, I think I think that's uh what you've identified there is a circumstance that we do have to refine amongst how our board talks to each other because we have our committee structure and that's the forum within which we we bring information to bear based on our current situation or what we're looking for. So, but there always continuing questions and there's always uh sometimes there's a telephone game that happens after FFT where folks are sort of representing what took place there and there is not a a shared understanding of what took place. So, um you know I'm happy to workshop with the board ways in which the chair of the finance

135committee and the board members that are on the finance committee can share information amongst other board members. Absolutely. I I guess I'm just thinking like if you're showing sharing a slide or a presentation, could it just not be emailed then to the board after the meeting so we could all see it? >> That would be one way. Sure. >> Okay. >> I think that should be workshopped with the chair of the finance committee. >> Okay. >> I think we're also shooting dra for a larger presentation once we have all the data collected uh probably the next couple months. Right now we're waiting on ALS. We're waiting on uh Stonefield uh which also ties into the hub system we were talking about. Um so uh I know we have a meeting with Stonefield next week. Uh

136our last conversation uh with that firm was that he should be completed with by mid December. Uh because we're really having him meet with both towns as well. We're trying to make sure everybody's involved this time around. Uh and then the Alves, we just had a small short meeting with them today. uh they expect to send a large amount of data over the next two weeks to us. Uh again, today's conversation was discrepancy between data we found versus data they had. And that really seems to be the trend. That's why we want to make sure we're doing the research correctly and presenting all this data at one sitting instead of peacemailing it around um and making sure it's right. we're we're constantly finding and you know that because we've had this discussion that our data

137platform systems aren't the most uh true shall we say >> and just sorry one point of clarification and uh what is Stonewall >> oh Stonefield >> Stonefield hazardous route study >> yeah they're the company we've that did our last one three years ago and >> and just uh piggybacking on on your point about getting information around to the board I think it actually would be really helpful for artifacts like that and we have them in committee. Um we've had a tradition of Friday packets from time to time in the past. I think bringing those into one thing where we're making sure that the entire board is getting whatever is in committee that week. It was coming out of reports from SLT uh makes a lot of sense. >> Thanks for bringing that up. Yes, we

138know it's some work but it is nice to get the Friday packets. >> Okay. Can I say my president update so then we can move on? Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, I'll say the president update and then we will get to committee reports. Okay. Moving right along here. All right. So, this month the board held its last retreat in 2025, which was yesterday. Feels like we never left. Um, we had a one-hour preview of what teachers experienced during C training, which stands for seeking educational equity and diversity. Thank you again, Marcia Hicks and Kate Facto for leading us in such a wonderful experience. Following that, we reviewed our board manual as a goal is to annually review and update it as needed. Thank you to the oncoming board of education members, Malanie, Paul, and Meredith, for

139observing our session and sending some board manual ideas in advance. Um, please hold your calendars for three feedback sessions in 2026 for our 5-year strategic plan, which will be held at Columbia High School uh Columbia High School's media center at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, January 15th, Thursday, February 12th, and Monday, March 16th, led by our NJSBA rep. Afterwards, NJSBA produces a recap for the superintendent with three to four overarching goals that will be interpreted into action plans for each with his senior leadership team. The board is not involved with creating the plan, but of course, a superintendent may ask the board for feedback. Once finalized, the board votes to formally approve the the strategic plan with the understanding that budgets may preclude certain goals from happening or goals might change. The district will be administering an

140RSVP link for community members to respond to in the coming weeks. Thank you to our superintendent and board of ed members who attended the recent community coalition on race integration event on Wednesday, November 12th. The program reviewed the history of integration in our school district as well as featured a panel of experts who discussed the importance of integration sustainability, attention to curriculum, and academic achievement. I'm happy to hear that experts echoed what our superintendent and fellow board of ed members have been saying for some time. Ongoing evaluation and adjustments of your integration initiative are necessary to ensure sustainability. I also appreciate that Montlair's control choice in integration program was louded by guest speaker JC Goodman. I referenced Monontlair in my October president's update as an example of a district that reviews and adjusts its placement

141algorithm annually. As a reminder, next Tuesday, November 25th, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a virtual town hall on school topics led by our superintendent. and we invite you to join and learn more about the district's ongoing integration work and other key topics. There will also be a budget advisory committee meeting on Monday, November 24th. I'm assuming the same time, 6:30. Um, [snorts] so details are on the website that you can find. Lastly, I want to discuss our district budget and transportation. Many surrounding districts are facing a budget crisis, and we are no exception. We as a board have continued to support the district's efforts to ensure student services and classroom experiences are protected as much as possible. Since the spring, the board and district have been carefully evaluating preK busing. It isn't part of

142our integration plan and rising costs have made it important for us to reassess. Looking ahead, pre-K courtesy busing below the state mandated two mile mark may I say may uh be removed beginning in the 2627 school year as part of a broader revised transportation plan. We are still awaiting more data. But we know most prek students are assigned to their closest school and currently prek buses have fewer riders than K to2 buses making it a more expensive service. Whereas we are excited for our satellite prek locations to expand, transporting these additional students year-over-year will be financially crippling. A heads up to parents of incoming prek students, there is a strong chance the district will be changing prek courtesy busing for 2627 school year. More broadly, our budget deficit means that changes to K through 12

143transportation may also be required for the 2627 school year. With that in mind, I want to reiterate the importance of maintaining courtesy transportation with an integration program, especially at the 1.25 mile mark with the current triple eye algorithm since it still produces isolated placements and disproportionately sends our black students on the longest, farthest bus routes. And now I'll read our board president's statement. The school board meeting is a business meeting in public and not a meeting with the public. Often times it may appear to members of our audience that the board of education takes action with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote. Before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting, it has thoroughly been reviewed by the administration, the superintendent of schools, and the board of education

144after which it is placed on the agenda for board discussion and action at a public meeting. We will now hear from the chairs of our committees with a few brief highlights from this month's meeting. Please try to keep it brief. Um, and we'll start on this side. CNI, please. >> Okay. The um CNI committee met on November 3rd with all members present. We discussed district goals related to CNI as Mr. Bing also referenced. Progress is being made towards both goals with MTSS teams having been formed at schools, universal screeners having been administered, and we heard about the efforts being made to lower chronic the chronic absenteeism rate at CHS. There are no CNI, we didn't discuss any CNI related policies, but tonight we are voting on financial resolution 4881H. This is a revised agreement with

145proximity learning an online platform that provides students with live instruction when a certified teacher in a certain area is not available. Examples of this include situations where a student with a gifted action plan needs instruction. Uh we do not currently have certified staff to deliver or when um a teacher is on leave and no qualified leave or placement is available. So, while the district's preference is always to have an in-person teacher, proximity serves as an alternative when no other staffing options exists. Um, in addition, we discussed several other topics and one highlight is the elementary dual language program. The planning committee held its first meeting and identified Spanish as the language for the potential pilot. The team will conduct site visits to districts with established programs and early discussions point to a possible small pilot

146beginning at Seth Bdon. Though this is still in the very early exploration stage, the initiative aligns with the state seal of biiteracy and the district's growing multilingual student population. SLT will share a timeline and one pager with the board around this next month. Um, our next meeting will be on December 1st and of course the website has a full recap. >> Oh, achieve. Sure. Um, were there any questions about CNI? >> Not a question. Um, but just for your next meeting, can we talk about the grading floor that was brought during public speaks? Thank you. >> So, um I attended the Achieve Board of Trustees meeting this week and Achieve continues to provide strong support across our schools. Teacher grant applications for the Prince Educator Grant um open next week and planning is already underway

147for Maker Madness 2026. Achieve is also reviewing nominations for the Pollic Arts Initiative. [snorts] Tutoring programs remain a major area of impact. Both parents and students report positive experiences and the tutor bank continues to grow with an ongoing need for additional tutors. So if anyone listening happens to want to tutor, reach out to Achieve. In terms of other recent engagement with the district, Achieve hosted the Our Towns reading which raised over $26,000 um towards programming for our schools and partnered with President's Council to provide $100 gift cards to families for the Thanksgiving drive. And they'll continue to support families as needed um throughout the year. All right. Special services committee uh met on October 14 or November 14th um from 6:30 till 8:30. Um all members were in attendance and we were joined by the

148CPAC president Nicole Josie where we discussed um some topics of interest to them including communication, ensuring that the 48 hour response time is met and utilizing the chain of command when it's not. Um we addressed some buses that were still arriving late consistently at that point and also um some updates needed to the website. Next we reviewed district goal number three which is on special services. Uh the first discussion that we had was around um ICRS and creating an instructional rubric. We reviewed the current rubric that is in development and discussed how to embed clear look fors that might capture whether accommodations and modifications are being implemented which is an area concern for some families as Miss Jess Maria highlighted this evening in her presentation. Um she also spoke about how it you know there's

149an attempt to align it with uh frameworks that already exist but the purpose is separate and apart from those really the purpose of this is to strengthen our ICRS classrooms um and noted that they will share an early draft with SMA. The second piece that we spoke through was the establishment of bi-weekly CNI and so uh special services planning which is already happening. Um they talked about their plan to create walkthroughs a cadence of walkthroughs. Um, Superintendent Bing also described the parallel instructional rounds that they will be doing this winter. Um, where schools will be focusing on two to three priority practices that support closing the achievement gap and those findings will be shared with school leadership and ultimately the board to look at trend level review. Lastly, we talked about um the EBR scope

150and sequence which is already discussed tonight. Um, the broad overview is that the goal is to create more consistency across our schools by looking at entrance and ex exit criteria. Um and our discussion also focused on ensuring clear communication as adjustments are made because this is a strong IND district program. We also reviewed our board goal one on budget. As part of this goal, uh the special services committee is going to monitor both parrofessional spending and begin drilling down on our legal spend as well. Um, in addition to the budget, I do want to clarify that in so far as paraprofessionals are concerned that we also remain focused on the processes that govern parrofessional assignment, fading, and ongoing oversight and review of those relevant aspects of this really critical support service. Um, we reviewed personnel

151uh starting with vacancies specific to special services, but I will defer to board member Eert's overview from the personnel committee. And our next meeting is scheduled for December 11th. A full recap is on the website, and I am available for any questions. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, this will be quick since Mr. Bing brought it up in his uh superintendent speech, but the uh the municipal partners uh meeting was replaced by the community sports initiative. Uh we met on a weekly basis as we shifted our attention to providing um immediate assistance to those uh experiencing the food insecurity after the SNAP SNAP funding lapsed. So, uh, for for sake of redundancy, the the community did get involved pretty, uh, pretty heavily, uh, with a lot of energy, and I wanted to give

152a shout out to Dr. Carrie Wel, who is not here anymore, but hopefully she hears this in terms of her energy, her support, and her, uh, and her, uh, all her efforts throughout those last couple days in November 6th and November 7th. Uh, a lot of food was uh raised by the by the families on multiple instances from calls to action and over $7,000 in gift cards were handed out to families last week. Uh, social workers were continuing the uh the distribution. And I'm also happy to hear that Mr. Bing is going to be continuing the initiative uh through the children's cabinet meetings uh on an ongoing basis since just because the SNAP funding might come back. It's not going to come back to what it was nor you know uh in years past and

153insecurity is not just everything that happens every now and then. It is an allyear uh effort that needs our attention. If we have the ability to help, we should. Okay, I'm going to do uh double duty here. I'll first uh cover my committee. The uh policy and governance committee met on November 5th. Uh we have on our agenda a number of items that are up for second read as well as items up for first read. up for second read. Uh we are abolishing policy 1648.15 which is uh healthcare recordkeeping related to CO 19 which is no longer recommended as we are past that point. Um, we're also uh we're approving policy uh 143, board member election and appointment. Policy 173, duties of public school accountant. Policy 177, professional services. Policy 1570, internal controls. [snorts] Policy

1541620, administrative employment contracts, regulation 1510, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Regulation 1570, Internal Controls. Um these are all policies that had incremental updates uh pursuant to the recommendations from our vendor Strauss Esme and uh have been put through after review from the various committees and SLT and have been approved last month on first read. Also approved last month on first read but coming back for another first read is policy 0174 on legal services. Unfortunately we seem to have voted on a draft that did not have everything we needed. So we have it right this time. Also what for region night is 163601 uh notification of promotion new job and transfer opportunities policy 5339.01 student sun protection and regulation 9320 cooperation with law enforcement agencies. All of these again went through the committee process and they're

155all implementing recommendations from our vendor Strauss Esme. Uh we also discussed a number of other policies in committee. I'll highlight just a few of them. We did discuss uh policy 8600 on transportation. There's been an ongoing discussion about whether we're going to put forward a new version of 8600 that uh commemorated the specific uh mileage markers that had been in place for the past few years uh of 1.25 for prek through fifth grade. also a discussion of whether or not we want to maintain that for some or all students. Uh whether it was prek students and and above. Uh we recommended that go to FFT for a discussion. Uh and I'll address that in a moment in the FFT agenda. Uh minutes uh we also address policy 2312 on class size. Um this is one

156that's going to go to CNI for review. The discussion is whether in order to accommodate uh having a number of sections that most efficiently uses our staff time, we would be willing to increase their class sizes by up to two students in elementary school. Um which is a tough decision. Uh and so that is going to be at the next CNI meeting and I'm sure there's going to be a lot more discussion about it. And then uh finally, policy 5120, assignment of students. Uh we're looking at this for a small change. Previously, we've had uh a requirement for two experienced surveys regarding the uh triple eye plan. Uh and we've had very low respondent results uh because we think there's some survey overload. So survey fatigue. So we're proposing reducing that to just one survey

157uh during the year with the understanding that we are also conducting the New Jersey school climate improvement survey which hits a lot of the same pieces. So we'll get usable data two times of the year and our next meeting is on December 3rd. Any questions? Okay, moving along to FFT. My uh colleague uh chair Bill Gford is not here, but he gave me some notes for a readout. The FFT committee met on November 12th. Uh and uh among the items that were discussed uh we've discussed the facilities and construction updates. Uh first the submission of the long range facilities plan and ritzer field which we very abley covered earlier in the meeting with Mr. Moody. We also discussed an issue Seth Bdon there's been a drainage issue that we commissioned a study for. Uh the

158study came back and suggested there's a pretty substantial amount of work that will be required. Uh and so a discussion uh is underway as far as how we will actually address fixing that and where we're going to uh find the money to fund it. So that review is underway. We had extensive conversation regarding transportation both in the macro and the micro. Uh looking at our future plans, uh a question again about uh courtesy busing. So we brought up policy 8600 thrown over to us from uh the policy committee. Uh and uh we've looked at how much courtesy busing is costing us uh on an annual basis. And the question of is this a thing that we ought to be providing at all? any busing beyond the statutory two mile or two and a half mile

159for high school limit. Uh and if we are providing it, should we be providing it for uh all elementary and prek as we do right now? Uh eliminate prek and just have elementary or some other piece. Um we're looking at numbers. Some numbers were presented at FFT. There are more that we expect to receive and that conversation is ongoing. Uh along with that is our hazardous transportation uh which is required under our policy and to a degree under state law uh if we're providing courtesy busing uh we do have the new study underway to identify hazardous routes and understanding to what degree transportation is required for those versus expecting the town to fix the hazard uh etc. Um, with regard to pre-K busing, there's a discussion uh from a survey of some districts in our

160region that do not provide prek transportation or doing so only in certain categories. All of this discussion of course excludes students who have special education transportation that's required. But um in looking at how we compare with neighboring districts, um a comprehensive transportation plan is being planned for the next school year. We expect that after we have additional data in the next couple months regarding our financial health and our transportation usage and uh projections, we'll have uh a better idea of where to go forward. Uh with regard to our current challenges with buses, um we identified that some of our past data and reporting on transportation may not have been fully accurate. And so finding the most accurate data to compare current versus priors to uh and looking right now at difficulties of why some routes

161are starting later than expected, how to accommodate the tiers from one route to another. We did not have someone from transportation to that meeting, but I will just interject that in our executive committee uh earlier this week. We had the tremendous chance to sit down with transportation coordinator Sandra Clemer uh who uh anyone who's had a busing issue has surely been emailing with uh and who gave us some hyperdetailed info on what the district is doing right now, including the tremendous uh coordination that she now has with individual bus drivers and bus companies. the discussion with parents and how that's uh being brought back up the chain and routes are being revised and refined based on what the driver is seeing, what parents are seeing. Um with regard to budget and financial strategy, looking at

162our 2526 outlook, uh we're seeing some areas where we are seeing savings over the budgeted uh amounts whereas we see other areas where we have a shortfall where we are spending over what has been uh expected. And so looking at how much of a surplus we might be able to have from this year to contribute to next year's outlook, which which we do currently have a um a gap that we need to fill uh before, you know, in our budget. Uh and discussing some of the hard choices that we may have to make uh and cost controls that we have in place right now to facilitate some of that surplus to go into next year. Uh and so um that was that was most of it. Check the minutes for the rest. Uh any questions?

163Yeah, >> sorry. Um, just to reconfirm because I don't know if if Mr. Moody had mentioned it, we the the district is currently on a budget freeze, correct? >> Yeah, >> happy to speak to that. Um, [laughter] you know, essentially the what's involved in the the budget freeze is that we elected a time frame uh to mobilize the full community to make their requisitions and purchase orders consistent with their budgets, right? Uh, and it was work that uh is a follow-on work from bringing them further into the budget process, right? And, you know, having them feel it more. So, uh, what we're hoping there is that with a freeze to the budget or a target date for completion of all requisitions and purchase orders that, you know, to the extent that there may be unexpended

164or unencumbered funds, we can evaluate how to redistribute that around the district. So we're a part of the process right now where uh district has uh slowed almost to a stop. Uh but they they're attempting meaning departments across the district and school building level purchases uh have slowed almost to a stop. There's some trickling in as well. But essentially with that part of the process, we can then evaluate where we can redistribute and where we can increase perhaps savings from budgeted lines like uh board member Meyer was was talking about in the FFT recap such that we can actually apply those um surpluses to uh the next year the budget gap that we need to fill for the 2627 budget year. So yes, in fact, uh but there's some still some essential spending that is

165happening or being requisitioned uh that just could not be completed prior to the the deadline. But um yes, that's helping us to refine our projection for year-end 26 spend a well, uh our efforts to evaluate opportunities to close that 2627 projected budget gap that we have. >> Thank you for explaining that. I think it's important for the community to hear as well. Absolutely. >> Okay. Um, move on to personnel. Moving right along. All right. Personnel committee met on Monday, October 25th at sorry, November. [laughter] >> It's what happens when you copy over your uh what is today? The se November 17th. It is not October. Um the full committee was in attendance and as usual a large chunk of the meeting was discussion around confidential personnel matters. Uh just a couple things I want to

166highlight. Um Mr. Adidoan walked the committee through updates on the personnel related district goal KPI 1.1 that establishes baseline data for key employee metrics including staff satisfaction, overall hiring and departure rates, reasons for voluntary turnover. Um, as Mr. Bing mentioned in his update, the committee reviewed an executive summary that will be shared publicly on the website in the next week or two. So, I'm not going to dive into that necessarily, but um, we did end up spending a little bit of time talking about the um, attrition data that we saw. It was it was pretty high. I think it was about 60ish%. Um, and so I know that some of the some of the data that we're looking at just needs to be disagregated a bit more, you know, by teacher type, by school, so

167that they can identify a bit more of those trends. Um, and that's that's it regarding the goals. They're going to be next focusing on on 2.1 um which uh focuses on the exit interview process and kind of increasing the participation rate which of course then will then feed into the um the baseline data that they just provided. Um just a quick shout out to uh Mr. Adidoan, Mr. Draper uh for getting information regarding the new employee health insurance plan up on the site. It's got a bunch of videos, FAQ section, important dates including the office hours, staff sessions that you mentioned. Um, and this can all be found under the um HR section of the website. Uh, the next committee meeting will be Tuesday, December 9th, 6:30 p.m. Any questions, comments? Okay. >> Thank you.

168All right. Um the records implementation committee met on November 10th. All committee members were in attendance. Uh among the issues discussed in committee were the following. The triple I transfer requests. Uh so there has been minimal movement of transfers so far. The district does expect to complete any request they can by the end of the week which at that time was November 15th. And then they will provide updated data to the full board. Capacity is a Did I do the date wrong? >> Oh, I don't know. >> Oh, sorry. [laughter] You were saying Okay. Okay. Um, capa capacity is a major factor, especially for students who are requesting to transfer with IEPs as state regulation uh allows only up to 10 special education students per classroom. The district clarified um from I think prior recorder's

169notes, the district did want to clarify that they never pri they never paused looking at priority one transfer requests. The only delay that can occur is if a building is completely at capacity. Um but to date, all priority 1 transfers have been completed. [snorts] It was also discussed that parents might need a little more guidance on the type of information to provide to request a hardship transfer. Um the district could consider designing a request transfer form to include options for parents to select such as house fire, loss of job, transportation, illness, death, etc. that aligns with our policy and then also include space for providing detailed written explanation and supporting documentation and the district said they would take that into account. Another topic discussed was the um continued evaluation of the triple eye. the district

170has had held meetings with ALVs on um October 15th and October 30th and I guess uh just recently as well and um one of the things that they provided to the full board was a memo outlining a potential plan. Alves is currently conducting further beta testing on the twozone three school model which again that twozone model is zone A would be Seth Bdon Tuskin and Dileia Balden feeding into MMS and then zone B would be Clinton Marshall and South Mountain feeding into PS as it does its work the district will need to consider special education and multilingual programming across zones simultaneously the district stated that the special services department is currently reviewing ing and creating a plan for services that the district should bring in-house. The district needs to expand its in-house services and continue

171its emphasis on multi-tered system of support to better support students needs. Currently, there are 21% 21% of uh students receive special education services and that's projected to grow to 25%. Other considerations if we move to two zone model include interzone moves. So if one family moves from one part of town to another, what you know what would be allowed in that situation and also how would sibly sibling priority for the current triple model um how would that feed into any new model. It was stated that implementation of two zone model may be targeted for the 2728 school year, but that is yet to be finalized. And there was questions in the committee about the district waiting and what it would do next year given the transportation problems that still exist for families mentioned in public

172speaks, the 6:55 uh a.m. pickups, late arrivals to school, long bus rides, and um the fact that if we remain in the status quo, there'll be 100 plus more students to bus next year. The district stated that the current cost of triple eye transportation and wrership data is being compiled as Mr. Moody mentioned earlier and the district is also exploring the hub model and subscription busing options. The district also stated that the goal this year was a maximum bus ride of 45 minutes. Last year it was 30 minutes and so um obviously there is there is no room to increase wrership time next year. That's just not going to be an option. Um we also discussed other potential programming related to integration which um board member Sake Gable mentioned as well. Uh one of those

173is the lotterybased dual language program at Seth Bdon. Members of central office uh were going to a district to look at their dual language program which is a model in the state and then there were two others that are going to visit. Um the district is also working to provide projected data on um multilingual learners to understand what our programming space needs are going to be in the future for those those students as well. The committee also discussed EDS edits to policy 5120 assignment of students which is up for first read tonight. Uh the edits as um board member Meyer uh stated are around the frequency of the triple I survey and stem from requests made by the district to adjust its frequency. And lastly, the committee discussed suspension data which is on the district

174website. It shows that suspension disproportionately impacts students of color and special education students. Certain stu schools made up a large made up large proportions of suspensions in the past three years. So the district is going to hire Dr. Fergus to work with principles in those schools. It was also suggested that the district tracked more information over time, especially students over time to see if maybe there's repeat offenders where we need to to support them more. Um, and then there was also conversation around the differences between the middle middle schools given they're both integrated and uh the district will be continuing to assess that area. Our next committee meeting is on December 8th and of course more details on our conversation are on the committee website. Any questions? >> Uh, yes. I have a comment. >>

175Yep. Go ahead, Jeeoff. >> Oh, since our triple I launched, it's been sometimes called a quote modified Berkeley plan. But, you know, if you've actually looked at how Berkeley operates, like calling our plan quote modified Berkeley doesn't make a lot of sense. But if we did adopt a two sets of three program, it actually would be like Berkeley in a significant way since Berkeley does divide itself into three zones that have three or four schools. I guess it's part of their way of making sure the transportation works. I've heard that actually like, you know, almost no one in Berkeley has a ride of over half an hour, which is one reason why Berkeley's integration plan is like so well accepted and so stable and, you know, whereas we're kind of struggling. Thank you, Jeff. >>

176Yeah, and look, I just when uh when Dearra mentioned that the they're looking at different models for implementation in 20 in the 27 school year, I just want to urge the district that whatever we can look at from a budgetary perspective that we look for anything that we can do in the next year's school like as soon as possible, right? Obviously not this year but for next year only because when we know that there are costs and efficiencies that we can make and savings as it relates to busing, transportation, logistics, staffing, uh you know time lost and learning from the students being laid on the buses. Any recognition of savings that we can do on those sides will prevent any excessive cuts that we have to do in the short term that we can't get

177back like on staffing or teacher cuts. So while we look at 27, I appreciate it. I really wish we can I want to look at 26 and 27 as well. >> Yeah, I'll just that it was part of our discussion during the committee and I will reiterate that I think um what we're doing right now does not it it doesn't seem sustainable from a transportation point of view. I mean, I know the district just had to add another bus route, which is going to be more money to um help address some of the what was brought up in public speaks today. And also just the amount of resources that are being used by the administration um to manage this program and that any costs we spend on it are costs that are being taken out

178of the classroom. So I I really would hope that we can um you know move towards a twozone three school model. It seems like you know we're going to get more data but it seems like the preliminary data shows that it very much does balance the schools the way that we want to as part of an integration plan but it also clearly makes transportation much more manageable because just simply the distance is less. So I hope that we can um kind of prioritize that as we are looking at everything. Will you you know in your great recap looking at all things that we need to look at to balance our deficit. Um and I hope that this is one of them for next year. >> Okay. >> So I should have mentioned this. Oh, >>

179sorry Jeff. Just one. I should have mentioned this earlier but I just had a brain freeze. I just wanted to comment. Um, thank you Will for mentioning that we spoke with Sandre and that recap is coming. I just didn't get a chance to finalize it and show it to everyone beforehand. So, not all members have seen that information yet. So, I just want you to know it is coming. Apologies for the delay. It's hard when it's when our EC meeting is the week of a board meeting because, you know, there's a lot of reading and review to do. >> Um, >> Jeff, did you want to say something? Go on ahead. >> Yes. Uh, two things. Um, regarding saving money and transportation, um, you know, we can see already that the costs of pre-k busing

180are very expensive and per student terms. Like it's over $4,000 per student, which is more than twice as what K5 busing costs. So, you know, you know, it's over a million dollars it's come out to. So, you know, there are there is potential for very large savings there. But, um, FFT didn't just talk about like ways to save money. Like, you know, we have talked off and on about asking the BOS for additional OPEX money. It's a little bit like legally obscure like how a district can ask for additional OPEX money but you know I have seen examples of like teachers of districts doing this actually for things that are very strictly related to a thorough and efficient education. So there's some ambiguity about like where the law precisely is but anyway it is something

181that's come up too like you know asking for more revenue. So, like I hope that we I don't know if we're going to be able to completely resolve our budget deficit in a way that's painless, but I hope that I can it can re involve like finding like the least bad cuts to make, but also asking for a small amount of additional opex money above the 2% that were automatically granted. >> Thank you, Jeff. Anything else before we move on to action portion? And then we do have someone um on virtual or online public speaks just giving you guys a preview of what's to come. Oh yes, Regina. Um just real quick just um I'm a I'm on the Ruckers committee but I just wanted to and I know I kind of stated it there

182but um just kind of want to reiterate like as we keep talking about our budget and transportation and just a reminder like our budget reflects our priorities and so you know there's just a lot of discussion around the upcoming budget work centering teaching and learning not legacy structures. Um, you know, it's really it is really unfortunate what is happening uh in our neighboring districts. You know, I follow very closely what's happening in Montlair and it's really devastating what happened with West Orange last year. And so as the committees continue to have those conversations, I just want to ensure that as we all have stated, we want to really save as much as we can in the classroom and you know hopefully that we can while we all may have different opinions on how the integration

183plan um moves forward and potentially modifies I hope that we can just come to that conclusion that that is what is the most important what is happening in our classrooms. So that's all. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, we will move to the action portion of the meeting. Are there any subers? Um will did you have anything you want to share of additional items? >> You know, it's it's not uh there's not a ton on right now, but everyone call >> it's a light light agenda. >> Uh I wanted to call out though uh resolution 48.81J. We are accepting a donation from the South Mountain uh PTA for a total of 34.82 and 20 cents. Uh these funds were raised by the 2425 student council and organized by uh fizzed teacher Jeff K. Schaer and

184will be used uh for tetherball. So get ready South Mountain. Uh and thank you to uh the student council and the PTA. The kids are going to love that. Great. Okay. So, Mr. Moody, can you please read the resolution record? >> Thank you for those highlights. Uh, board member Meyer, we [clears throat] um will be looking to take action via vote here on resolutions 4878 through 4857. 4887, sorry. That is all. >> Uh, open to discussion. Does anyone have anything they anything else? All right, let's get to it. All right. So, I'll start with the roll call vote. Uh, I'll start with board member Bennett. >> Yes. >> Uh, board member Brown. >> Yes. >> Board member Callahan. >> Yes. >> Board President Duval Wilson. >> Yes. >> Board member Eert. >> Yes. >> Board

185member Gford. >> Board member Kapadia. >> Yes. >> Board member Meyer. >> Yes. >> Board member Sack Gable. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay, great. And uh so that concludes the action portion of the meeting. We will go to public speaks. I don't think there's anything up there because you already brought the Yeah. So, we're just going to go I read this already. I'm not going to read it again, but um please remember to say your name and town when you get on the mic. We have one public speaks online, Rhonda Hobson. Hello. Hi everyone. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. Thanks. >> Okay, perfect. Um, hello. So, my name is Rhonda Hopson and I am a proud Maplewood resident. I've lived uh in Maplewood for many years, uh, raising two

186daughters, 11 years apart. Um, my oldest attended Tuscan Maplewood Middle and Columbia High School. My youngest has been a part of the triple eye program. Um she went to Marshall, then Balden, and uh now attends SAMS with hopes of continuing on to Colombia. Uh I am here tonight because I feel my family's experience is under reppresented in conversations about triple I. We live on Bdon Avenue near Irvington Avenue, which is a hazardous route. Um yet according to the district's evaluation, it is not considered hazardous uh because of the municipal boundary. Um with the reasoning that no children, no school children live there. Um but my daughter is one of those children and she must travel that unsafe route um every day when going to school. During elementary school um we lost our bus service and

187had to adjust to traveling nearly 2 miles one way. Um, so I was relieved when middle school was approaching, um, because there had always been a bus that stopped right in front of my home to go to MMS. Um, as time passed, that bus no longer stops there. Um, and my daughter was instead assigned to attend SAMS. So, this eliminated the possibility of car pooling with nearby families, leaving us isolated from our community's transportation options. In sixth and seventh grade, we managed despite my emails going unanswered even after I joined uh transportation town halls um and things like that. So now in 8th grade, I can no longer drive my daughter to and from school. Walking is extremely dangerous with no cross street. Our only option has been New Jersey Transit. I contacted New Jersey

188Transit directly and was told multiple times that student bus discounts exist for elementary, middle, and high school students. Yet, when I raised this with the board of education um back in August, I was met with push back, incorrect information, and dismissive responses. Um to this day, I have not received a clear answer on how my daughter can obtain a student transit ID to um access, you know, the discount to ride the bus. This situation is frustrating and disappointing. My daughter's assignment to SAMS has separated us from our community car pooling options and forced us to incur additional costs all while navigating a route deemed dangerous. So, families like mine deserve uh to be represented in these discussions. Um, Triple I is not a one-sizefits-all program. Every family, every neighborhood has unique needs. I have reached

189out to both past and current superintendent, to transportation staff, and completed surveys. Yet, my concerns remain unheard. I share my story today to remind us that inclusion and equity require listening to all families, not um no one's feedback or challenges should be minimized when shaping solutions for our district. Thank you. >> Thank you, Rhonda. Appreciate your story. Um that concludes public speaks and now I go on to our favorite part of the meeting which is new business. Anyone? Anyone? No. Okay. [laughter] [gasps] So, I will announce our future meetings and adjourn. Um the board of education will meet again on December 18th, right? Yes. 2025 at 6:30 p.m. in public session for our regular meeting. Action will be taken. Mr. Moody, I would now like to make a motion to adjourn this meeting on Thursday,

190November 20th at oo 10:10. That's luck. 10:10 p.m. May I have a second? Thank you. Board member, what's your last name? Brown. [laughter] All in favor? Meeting is adjourned. Thank you.