Keansburg Board of Education Meeting

001The regular meeting of the Kingsburg Board of Ed Thank you, sir. The Kingsburg Board of Education will be held in the Bulier Middle School media center. Adequate notice for this meeting has been mailed to the Asbury Park Press, filed with the Municipal Clerk of Kingsburg, posted on the D district web site, and posted inside the office of the Kingsburg Board of Education 100 Palmer Place, Kingsburg, New Jersey on January 11, 2025. Roll call. Mrs. Clayton here. Mrs. Friselle, Mrs. Callahan, Maran here, Mr. McCask here, Mr. Mr. Cook here. Mr. Hoff here. Miss Ferraro here. Miss Ryan here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we will

002now have someations. Make yourself comfortable. I'm going to move. Who has popcorn? I do. I did. Do you want the light blue? Um, do you guys want the light stem? No. All right. Good evening, everyone. We're just gonna uh do a um capture of the school. So, we do this every year. We usually do it in October. Um, but uh this year we're doing in September. So, the state of the school basically it's just an update um providing you information on what we're doing as a district and obviously we want to communicate and be transparent um so you guys can see what we do on a daily basis within the school district. All right. So, we'll go over King Fork High School, the middle school, the elementary school, the prek, um PBS, and then finally,

003I'll end with um our favorite part of the evening, which is uh the district test, and we're going to start with the high school. I'll turn it over to Sean. Uh to the Yeah. Right. All right. Dr. Bird does send his apologies. He couldn't make it tonight, but it's just me. Um so tight progress like to kick off by you know highlighting some of the places where our graduates landed last year. Um Brookdale is a very common uh starting ground for for a lot of our students and then listed is also some of the other places where um students went on to the two or four year schools. A couple highlights. Mamemoth, Rowan, Princeton, Rucker, Stockton, Monte University, Willie P as they call it, uh Kane, Washington, Jefferson University, uh Washington University in St. Louis,

004and of course our military and armed forces are always a great option for our students. So the state u does mandate that we do a graduation report. So I can also answer questions about this if you have any. So within uh the graduation report, these are some of the the seven questions that we do have to identify and report out to the board. So number of students who graduated last year was 82 students. We had a it's a small graduating class was about 90 maybe 92. So the total number of students who graduated passing the high school end of course um learning exam which is NJ GPA 47 for language arts, 23 for math. So students who don't re meet that criteria right away um do have an opportunity to take it again in their

005senior year. They do take this test earlier uh in their junior year. So we're going to be testing current seniors um the week of October 6th through the 9th if they didn't meet that pathway yet just to give them an another opportunity. But those were the students last year who did who did reach that goal um in either one of those assessments. So if you didn't uh make it through the NGPA, there are other pathways such as the PSAT, the SATs, the ACUPPLACER. 17 of our students then went on to meet their graduation requirement through that uh in language arts and math. Was 26 student through an alternate proficiency. Um if you unfortunately don't make it through, you know, one of those two assessments, but some students are not good test takers and that's okay.

006We do offer the portfolio or all high schools in New Jersey offer the portfolio process um as just an additional way to get you, you know, across that stage. 15 students did make it through language arts and 30 students did make it through the portfolio process in that. You know, we we start the beginning of the year with grade level meetings and we um put a big emphasis on listen try your best in the test. That's the easiest way to do it, but we're going to get you to graduate as long as you pass all your classes. We're going to work with you as best as possible to get you to that graduation uh point. Some of the other um things we have to report out number of students receiving state and George high school

007diplomas as a result of meeting alternate requirements. Um so we did have two students who were exempt for any number of reasons, you know, usually through an IEP. Um students who were denied graduation from the 12th grade, there were 10 students denied graduation. Uh two of those students died, you know, dropped out. denied might not be the right word, but that's what the state called it. I'm not deny them from the the process. They did unfortunately, you know, life circumstances. They dropped out of high school and took an alternate path. Uh, eight of those students, seven actually, seven of those students went on to um usually through an IEP process. They just continued their education because they're entitled to education through 21. One student, you'll see um did land in a fifth year high school.

008They did actually take the portfolio. So if you do the math, they are that's the reason why those numbers have won off. They did take the portfolio. They're graduation ready. They just weren't credit ready, unfortunately. So they are moving on to a fifth year high school to make sure that they have their credits. That student actually is is now assigned to a different high school. They did move move uh out of GE. And the last one is number of students denied graduation from the 12th grade solely because of failure to pass um high school in course zero. So it's all those reasons that we just talked about. If not have any student who we did not get to the end point beyond those 10 students was in question number six. That's that's a lot of

009information. So like I said happy to answer any questions down the road. Here's our main goals for this year. Um math and language arts. I mean you saw the results of a graduation proficiency. So it's going to be a continued goal. We work with our coaches to identify two main goals in math, two main goals in language arts. and that becomes a focus for our year to hopefully boost those proficiency levels. Absenteeism is is a consistent program uh excuse me, something we work on at the high school. I think it's districtwide. So, that's that's a continuing goal as well as our graduation rate. Um we want to see students come into the high school freshman year and graduate in four years. Some new course offerings. So we did last year we had three new course

010offerings as well as u Mammoth County Sheriff's Office offered a dispatcher training which gave a some of our students a great CTE opportunity and then this year we're also offering AP government AP psych AP lang and comp and AP statistics. Um some of the supports at Kingsburg High School I mean there's a lot these are some of the main ones that I think the majority of people can speak to and talk about. School of B2 services is a huge program and opportunity for our students. A lot of our students access those three wonderful individuals on a pretty consistent basis. We do run a credit rec recovery program. So if you go back to our previous goals and which aligns to our um graduation rate goal is credit recovery is important. You know a lot of

011freshmen come into high school not fully understanding the importance of credits and attendance and how they all kind of relate to each other and link and how everything counts as we say in the high school. So credit recovery is something that we really do push and this year we're pushing it from freshman through the seniors with obviously seniors being the priority to make sure that they can get back on track their their law guidance to child study. We we do have an integrated care concept therapist who started a week into school. She's here 5 days a week. She works with some of our um higher need population students. Right. So some great opportunity to address social, mental and uh just emotional health needs and then some after study hall. So if you're listening, there's an

012opportunity for your students, send us so please, right? It's a good opportunity to get some work done before they leave the building. Uh telling community, so we are in the middle of spirit week. You'll see on the right, we switched things up a little bit this this year. Uh bleacher decorations is not happening, but we are doing a lot of different things to kind of theme it out. So we're doing a Mario Party theme. That's our main entrance to the high school. Uh, tomorrow is I think it's a superhero theme. Thursday is, you know, orange and blue. Um, and then we we end the week with our pep rally and then homecoming game this Saturday. Top top left is is our key is our key club that have pictures actually from last year. It's one

013of our biggest growing clubs. They're they're very much involved in the community. I'm sure you've seen them around. And on the bottom left, as we talk about community, we we put out a club fair. a big push, continual push would be to just encourage your students to get involved. Um, so we started a club fair this year and we did promote just consistent clubs with our freshman orientation and our class meetings. Some of the things we got going on as far as happenings and highlights. Again, we like to highlight our CLEA program because it does have a really good turnout and and it continues to grow with Middletown. Um, class officers and advisor are in place. Our club fair, we spoke about class meeting underway. So, so all students are aware of the expectation of

014what's going on in the high school is off to a pretty smooth start. Spirit week, we just spoke about it's I'm excited actually for Friday. Hopefully the weather is good. We're going to move it from the gym to outside. Um I'm not much of a Mario party guy. I like Mario Kart cuz everybody loves Mario Kart, but I think they're going to be the balloon popping kind of thing and should be fun. Uh week respect is in October, so so take a look out for the agenda for that. I think we've aligned that to pretty much each of our schools. Uh military visits will be during lunch. Some of the key dates PSA PSAT MSQT is happening on the 15th, right? There'll be there'll be notices to go out for our sophomores and juniors and

015then there'll be a delayed opening for our non-esting seniors to speak to what we spoke about earlier for those students who might need that pathway and our freshman. And of course, the homecoming dance tickets are still on sale, $5 during lunch. Stop by school base after school. Um you do have to be a student though. Nobody just pretty consistent question. Uh, all right. So, these are some of the clubs we're offering. Take a look. Get your kids involved. Esports gaming uh club continues. That's actually here at Bulier Key Club Film Club. We need to adjust that one. That is no longer offered. School drama musical. I just talked to Miss November and Mr. Dre today. So, they're they're working on a uh December and March showing. Art club decorating the building. Culture clubs, you know,

016involved and underway. So all these things are happening. So if you need something to do, whether it's a sport or a club, please get involved. All right. Other happenings, fundraisers ongoing. We do our best to get the information out there. So keep an eye out on our, you know, on your students club students grade level pages or talking points for the website. Um, honor roll awards. We just set up the dates for those. So So be on the lookout for that and promote your students. Shout outs are happening every morning. So students can shout out students. Students can shout out teachers. Teachers can shout out students. So it's something that the students students seem to be pretty much engaged in. It's fun. They can stop in the hallways and listen for their names. Um senior

017day for the homecoming games coming up. I know the crowds and football games have been great this year. So please continue that. Uh it's nice to see everybody out there. Um block five parties coming. Block five is that's our lunch period. So we're just try we're offering new things for students to do outside of lunch. Uh in the gym, different activities. I know the board of that just got tasted the the new kitchen uh food. So, we did have a full new kitchen remodel over the summer. Students are enjoying it. There's a there's a pizza bar station. The snack shack got renovated. I know there's going to be some new things coming as they still get situated. Tacos are flying flying through the doors cuz who doesn't like some, you know, cheese sauce and tacos?

018Uh fall sports, like I said, we're underway. I I didn't put um spring sports up there. I just put winter sports cuz that's what's up next. So there there's actually meetings happening very shortly. Listen to the announcements if you if you're at home so that your students can get involved with wrestling, basketball, and bowling cuz those are going to be, you know, signups are happening soon. All right. Um that's we got the high school. There's a lot going on. That might have been a little fast. I apologize. I get excited when I talk about the high school. Um I'm going to hand it over to Mr. Lorac and Mr. Willis for both. Can we ask a question on the high school? Yes, sir. last year when you gave the report for the statistics on this

019graduating class for of 24. Yes. Um do how do they compare to the graduating class of 25 that you just gave us? So the I I'd have to dig into the statistics for what I just reported out of the graduation requirements as far as who graduated and how they got to the end. Our graduation rate is actually a year behind. So I don't have the specific graduation rate for last year because it's just it hasn't been calculated specifically yet because there's still appeals going on. So I can't give you that number. I know that the grad I believe if I look back on it the graduating class of 23 was about 80 something% I want to say and I think that is in the in in the previous state of the schools but I I

020can't report specifically or accurately or actually have to you guys to report it. This year you have a goal for 26 graduation. Was there a goal set for 25 graduation? I have 24. I'm just trying to compare it. Yes. But they won't have it because they don't give us the information. So the graduation rate is posted a year a year behind it. It comes out a year before years. No, but they they set a goal of 24. You don't get the data for two years after. 82 kids. They can't figure it out. states to appeal so I have those same questions for the state of New Jersey when I meet with our with our represent representatives but the way the appeals aren't due until October and right now the state is having a little issue

021with the new system they created so we did really well on our our first or second year with our graduation rate you know three or four years ago when me and Dr. over there and I had the same exact conversation with our state rep when I'm like, "Wait, we we did a really nice job." He's like, "Well, that's the only indicator that happens to be two years before." So, it's just a unique step because they don't get certified right away. It's weird. Mr. Bro, I have a question. So, um you talk about absenteeism going forward. Um I know school's only in couple weeks, but how are we doing on tardiness? Are you seeing a change of kids to school or is it too early to It is It's probably a little early. Um, I I'll

022tell you this much. So, we we've put a big emphasis on it. So, I will say that when I looked at it last year and did this year, our juniors and seniors are much much better than they've ever been because of the emphasis we put on it. It does take the freshman class a little while to understand that it matters. Like something we always push is that that first period class is extremely important. You have to get there because the credits count and your seat time counts. And that's that's a consistent messaging uh through our class meetings and we have individual meetings and we monitor attendance consistently um almost weekly. We have our monthly meetings, but I know at the high school we monitor class um class attendance and it's something that we we put

023a pulse on and we have a goal this year of really tracking the freshman to make sure that they're they're on target. And that's where the credit recovery program comes in because unfortunately the freshman didn't get summer school this year. It just wasn't able to be offered. So that's where the now sophomores were offering credit recovery so that they can get on board and hopefully that information shrink is down as it as it has for juniors and seniors who are really doing much better about being on track. You know the students we monitor more heavily in the junior senior have been the habitual you know you know two hands you know nine 10 students um it used to be a lot more than that. Thank you. Thanks. Question. How many students do we have? Strike

024that. 389. How many seniors do you have this year? Uh 92. Thank you. Which is another challenge with us because every single one of our students is a percentage point or or more than you know. So when you compare us to a larger school and and and when we get looked at in that in that you know realm of percentage points every single student who who drops out or a student who doesn't make it is a percentage point for our graduation rate and we also and I just had a discussion the other day is the for the state reporting it's your fourth year but for us if you don't have an ID credit you're not a senior because you're not on track to graduate. So, you would be placed into a home room with juniors.

025You would be withheld some of the activities if you do not get the credits because we want them to understand the importance of getting the credits to be able to graduate on time. And that was new what, like two years ago? Two years ago, we did. Yeah. High school's credit based everything just like college. It's a credit based system. You're in year one, you're in year two, you're in three, year four. You, you know, as far as the cohorts go, you're trying to graduate within that four-year cohort or five year gets reported out also. We're trying to get to you in four years. So we still do track the students who unfortunately are retained based on credits. But the goal through credit recover is to still get them to June and graduate with their class.

026Welcome uh Bald excited to be back on behalf of Mr. Lois and myself. Um starting back in school, we try to energize the students some unique learning opportunities. A lot of the um information you're going to see here is similar to the high school as we want to set goals that we can see through rather than not set a goal that ends after 3 years at Bulger to start new goals, things that we can run through uh the high school and see um change or see improvement. Our cross country team is in full swing as you can see as you can see there. Um just like um our our goals at at the high school has, we do also focus on math and language arts uh looking at uh 10% reading growth um and writing

027of writing standards. Um a 15% growth on specific math standards that eventually will be built upon with the help from our coaches that we share uh with the high school. Um targeted support, social emotional support for self-regulation and coping skills. We run that through our guides department using a focused group of students who are frequent flyers with the guidance counselors working on self-regulation and skills that they could apply for coping skills. Um and then uh obviously the focus of reduction of chronic absenteeism. One group we identified as our biggest defenders is our special population uh for chronic absenteeism. So that's something we're also going to be focusing on. So math highlights um as we look at uh our benchmark assessments as we look at growth from the beginning to the end and looking at proficiency

028in uh New Jersey learning standards uh we can see an increase in all three grade levels as where they started and where they're going to they get to. So looking at proficiency from sixth grade from 29% to 53% um 35% to 48 in 7th grade and 33% to 44% in the eighth grade. ELA highlights uh 31% of our sixth graders met or exceeded standards um in that specific learning standard offormational text um which is the highest performance in the last 5 years. 17% of our seventh grade students improved in their writing standards. Uh 30% of eighth grade students met exceeded expectations which is the highest percentage uh when compared in the last 5 years. Something that we found interesting as we kind of take our data and look into our teaching and learning is students

029because we are transient and students who have been in front of our teachers and have been learning here um we've seen them perform higher um students who have been enrolled at Bulgaria for two years perform on an average 14% higher on NJ uh SLA and the uh EL team exceeded their NJ smart goal from last year. They met their uh their goal mid year January and continue to receive by 16%. Mr. Los will talk about our extracurriculars. As far as our extracurricular activities, uh summer similar um with the high school, um we obviously have our drama club, um our junior national honor society, the student council, uh our yearbook committee, the fitness and weight room that's going to get started soon. The kids love that. They also love the e-gaming that we do along with

030the high school. And then um we have our Bulgar band holiday concert December 9th. Mr. Huff, if you can get our friend, I know you're big with that. We'll see what we can do. Um as far as our students uh services, we have a lot for the students. Um there's a Y tribe leadership program uh run by an outside organization. Um the kids love it. Our vulture guidance and CST department, I'll talk a little bit more about that later. They they run meetings with um our students usually on our half days where they do certain lessons on on different topics. Our YMCA counseling services are in here. We also have Big Brothers Big Sisters that comes down um and works with the students. We have ICC all five days of the week um where there's

031additional support for our students. Um that that was what I was just mentioning, the monthly social emotional classroom lessons. Um there's a social there's the um social emotional learning class that they're all in um for one one quarter and then they also have different um times that they meet on those half days where they go over stuff. Um climate and culture. Um like I just mentioned, we're increasing our student counseling and support. Uh we want them to feel included. We want them to feel wanted. We want them to feel supported. um addition of increased schoolwide programs and educational opportunities for the students. Um focus on our student attendance. That's something that we look at each and every day. Um you know, we have the formal meetings with the students, but it's also, you know, pulling

032a kid aside who who walks in late and I'm standing there at the front door to, you know, what can we do to get you here on time? Monthly grade level activities through the guidance department I mentioned um and start and they're going to have those um targeted student behaviors that they're going to talk about in those meetings. Yes. Uh do you have the graduation metrics for like how they had for high school? We don't have official graduation. Um as far as retention um there was one student that was retained um due to a number of different reasons, but there was no specific uh you know graduation rate numbers for the middle school. So do we know how many students graduated? All of them except one. All except one. But there's no definitive number of

033like we have 60 kids so 59 graduated. So I think of 102 101 graduate. Oh okay. Thank you. All right. Good evening everybody. Um, so we're off to a really, really, really beautiful smooth start. I'll knock on wood when I say that. So, it really keeps up. Uh, it's been a really, really nice start. Did not include this, but I just wanted to address your question. We are doing really well with target this year. I don't know why, but we usually average 40 to 50 a day. We're about 20 a day right now. Um, so we need to keep that going, too. And that's great. May I just tell you because I could tell by the kids walking by into the highway and less and less and less. Yeah. So that's why I did ask

034it because if I noticed the patterns how they walk to go to every which way I see the students who are typically late when they're at Boulder in the high school are the same ones there. So it usually translates that it is something that didn't report but we do notice. Um, we currently have 560 students. We had one today. I did not update it. So, 560 students. Um, we are in year two of our status in LA program, which was very well received by all of our staff last year. Um, we're continuing with training and support. This year, uh, we've expanded our gifted and talented program. We've had one class running, grades three to five, for the past three years. Um, so this year we have two separate classes with a total of 33 students.

035Uh we have a 23 class and we have a four five class. Um we've expanded um our part-time academic loss specialist to two support members. Um one hopefully being approved tonight and she'll start next week just to give some more uh intervention for our students. Uh as well as continuing the Wilson reading intervention with Miss Manowski. Um, every single classroom in Caruso is receiving an intervention by somebody aside from their classroom teacher, home teacher, uh, which is which is great. Some two times a week, some three times a week for about 30 to 45 minutes. Um, we just had our first little um, reward and that's for students who completed their summer reading assignments. Uh, it was not a mandatory assignment, it was encouraged, an encouraged assignment. Uh we got to reward 85 students and

036we had a pretty intense uh uh dance party, ice cream party at the virtual level. Nobody got hurt and the lights were off and that's all they cared about. So we had a good time. That's just a little picture of our summer incentive there. Uh something that we're really happy to have back. So last year we had ICC integrated care concepts which both schools talked about already. We had a wonderful art therapist last year, Miss Erica, who was with us a couple days a week. She was able to service 8 to 10 students. Uh we have not Miss Erica back, she did move on, but we do love our new art therapist, too, Miss Sam. Um and now we're able to service about 30 students every week um with either individual or group counseling sessions.

037It's a little picture of our batter that we put outside because since they ripped out all the weeds, it was a little naked there. So, we just had to get something to put in the meantime. He ordered that. He's very proud of that. Y um just a couple of highlights. Uh so like we said, we're in the second year of our ELA program. So students who tested here for two years in a row, and that goes back to what Mr. Loraca said, we we are pretty transient, so we do try to focus on the kids that that we've had, you know, um there's a 16% improvement in their ELA test scores. And then uh for Lincoln forms A to C, we've shown a 9% increase as well. And that's banner number two. You order that

038one, too. Ready? Got it. Yeah. Uh I'll give the boss a pat on the back here with the the tardy. She literally sprints that cars to parents telling them. So that's been a big improvement. We have some family meetings every morning. Totally. Every morning. So, uh, some of our math highlights, our grade three showed a 24% increase from form A to form C in our benchmark, which was a huge growth. Um, we looked at our grade five, which showed a 13% increase from form A to C. So, we felt really good about that. All the other grades showed improvement, but those were the two that really popped out at us. Um, our EL ELELLL highlight, almost 100% of our staff has training in the sheltered English instruction. en sure again our population is increasing almost

039daily it seems like so basically every classroom teacher has the ability with the training to support those learners um going above and beyond again we saw a lot of our data showed a lot of improvement there so we feel pretty good about that um some of the positive things going on at Caruso again we see the Titans of the week banner something we started was it last year four basically teachers have the ability if if a student does something positive something good goes above and beyond helping the other student, they'll give them a golden ticket. They come down to bring it to Miss McMahon's. It goes in a pile. At the end of the week, we pick two. Students get called down. They get to get a book, get their picture taken, their certificate. Um,

040just like we said earlier, the kids really hone in on that those announcements and wait to hear their name. So, um, definitely something neat that we're going to continue to do. Another big day at Cruo is our Halloween parade, which does start at 9:30. I know the website said 9:00 up until like a day or two ago. We fixed that. Um, again, we get a great turnout. arrive early, just kind of follow the directions so the kids can get around to the school twice. Um, again, we just honored our first group of students of the month, which is another thing the kids wait to hear their names called. Uh, like the other schools, we're kicking off week of respect with Mrs. Florio book, a dance ensemble assembly on October 3rd. So, feel free to stop

041and see that. Um, and again, our trimester awards nights have been one of the things I know we enjoyed probably more than any other nights of the year. Um, this year we're going to start serving a little bit some some hot chocolate or cookies, but we always get a great turnout. Um, our cafeteria is always filled. We try to honor as many students as possible. Again, it's just a great night. So, if you haven't attended one of those, I highly recommend coming um just to see our students get honored. And then again, our staff climate culture we think is is really awesome. At the end of last year, we did an inflatable race which basically we had the entire school outside in in the court in our playground. Uh various members of our staff showed

042off their athleticism wearing inflatables. No one got hurt again, which was another highlight. Um and again, the kids got such a kick out of it. I I can't wait to do it again. The top picture was dressed like the principal and vice principal on the right. You can see who the more popular go is. Mr. McMahon is up top. We didn't know about these, by the way. We both came in to work. Yeah, with a surprise. And then mine was one of our second grade teachers, Mrs. Scobby. I was a grasshopper last Halloween, which most of the kids thought was a cockroach. She actually went on Amazon and ordered it. And Mr. McMahon and I were sitting in her office at like 6:45 in the morning, walked in with almost fell out of the chair.

043So, she probably won the award for going above me on on that one. We had a flannel there on the bottom, which again was pretty much our entire staff. So, again, it's an underground thing. The kids come in, they have no idea what's going on. They start to look at staff and be like, "Why are you all wearing flannels? why you're doing XYZ. Um, so now like every seems like every Friday the kids are like, "You have blue on that person. Is it a spirit day?" We're like, "No, they have they have to try and guess and then the first person who guesses gets to go to the book machine and get a little shout out just for just for fun." Yeah, it's a good day. And that's it for us. Anything else? Questions? Good.

044All right. Thank you. Hi everybody. I'm Mrs. Hazeline. I'm the principal at the prek or early learning center. Uh our current enrollment is actually 151. We just had two uh students finish their enrollment today. So to miss an advanced point, we have two more students coming. We have 12 inclusion classes. So every one of our uh general education classes has students with special needs included. We're proud of that. Um we have two self-contained special education classes. And our multi- language learners have gone up by 2% to 22%. Um the current initiatives that we're working on, we are in um our curriculum roll out which is year three which is the endorsement year. So tools of the mind will work with us and the power professionals uh to refine our classroom practice and endorse our classes

045as exemplers of the tools of the mind curriculum. We're excited about that. Uh three classes we'll be piloting. Uh tools has actually now two new assessments. They're called seed and pedals. I'm sure you're sensing a theme. Um, so they will be uh trying out the seed and pedals assessment. Um, which actually gets those teachers an extra laptop for their room so they can complete the assessments which is kind of nice for them little treat. Uh, our TS Gold assessment will be used in its entirety uh, which is uh, 36 indicators um, for everyone except for our multilingual lang uh, learners have 38. So we did the all student um assessment, all child assessment. Um so that will we report on that twice a year and those go out to the families twice a year and

046then our midyear assessment is a portfolio assessment based on some of those indicators obviously not all of those indicators. Uh the child outcome summary is a have to from the state. It's part of the data collection process for uh from the special education office. So we will continue that. uh they are looking specifically for positive social emotional skills, acquisition of the use of language, knowledge and appropriate behaviors that meet their needs. So those are what I like to call the making skills. They're you know do we get along do we share um things like that. Um this summer I actually completed the training for trainers with near um on the self-evaluation for emergent bilingual acquisition which is our new state assessment. So I will be working with teachers to train them on that um probably

047over the next foreseeable future but we will be deeping uh diving deeply into that over the next two years. So there are six indicators in that instrument um for exemplary use practices and leaders happy highlights. Uh the football team helped lock our youngest learners in again. So thank you Mr. Brophie and Mr. for helping us out with that. Um it's tricky that first week to get everybody in and the kids love to see our football players out there in their uniforms. It was a treat for us. Um and for football players as well. Um preschool orientation and back to school night were well attended as usual. Um we started a partnership with WIC this year. So they attended our back to school night and are scheduled for uh parent teacher conferences. Um our Titan gear

048fundraiser occurred this month in time uh to have swag for the first steps which is the first week of October. We will have splash the book fair next week. Um we will also celebrate a week of respect um by doing multiple activities including putting the eye in common um which is this there's a banner and the students take a picture of themselves. So they are the eye literally the kids are the eye in common. Um, the fire department is coming to teach us about fire prevention next month. That our Halloween parade will be at 10:30. Tender Smiles will be doing dental screenings November 5th. Um, we are planning a community resource fair in November with Beij Resource Network. We did have about 10 organizations come out last year by horde, so it wasn't really well

049attended. So, we're hoping for good weather so that way people come. Um, we'll be offering a six-w weekek positive parenting program in collaboration with Behore Resource Network and the No Hit Zone. Um, which is nice because we will be able to offer our programming in English and in Spanish, which was something that the parents asked for last year. So, all good things. Any questions? All right. Thanks, Moms. Good evening. So the people personnel services department um houses our child study team, our psychologists, our LDTC's, our social workers, our related service providers, our occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech therapists, our nurses and our district power professionals. So currently we have a 27 percentage rate of special education students in the district. We have 23 students that are in addition placements, which is down from last

050year. Our prek has the two self-contained classes, our autism and our preschool students with disabilities, and the 12 um inclusion classrooms. Caruso has nine self-contained classrooms. We have three autism, our behavioral disabilities, and we did add this year multiple disabilities classrooms and we've also our learning language disabled classrooms. We also have our in-class support for ELA and math in grades K to five. And we have our resource classes in fourth and fifth grade for ELA and math. And then we do have some students with IEPs and general education placements. At our middle school, um we did add an additional um multiple disabled classroom and we continue with our LLD and our BD classroom. We also have resource and inclass support for and math. And at our high school, we also have our MD, LD, and

051BD class, our in-class support for all subjects and resource as well. And then we do have some students in general education positions. We continue to partner with the YMCA to provide mental health services to Caruso, Holdier, and the high school. Unfortunately, we don't work with um preschool age students at this time. If you are in need of services and want to inquire more, those are the contacts that each of the buildings um those are our guidance counselors that you can reach out to and depending on what grade your child is in, who to reach out to. Each year, our students in special ed take um something called the dynam dynamic learning maps. This is for our um an alternative assessment for students with the most significant intellectual disabilities and they take it in English language

052arts, mathematics and science. Um the students really have to have a significant cognitive disability and they are primarily being taught using the DM uh essential elements and they they have to really have an individualized instruction and substantial reports to achieve measurable gains in grade and age appropriate curriculum. So students take it for English and math in grades 3, four, five, six, seven, 8th and 11th grade and then science fifth, 8th and 11th grade. So this past school year we had 13 students take it. Um those students were either in district or our out of district students. Um we had 13 students in language arts that were emerging for our math. We also had 14 students take it and they also were in the emerging phase. And then for science, we only had five students because

053there are less grades that take that. We had four students um that were emerging and one that was in the approaching level. Some exciting news is we continue to work with our special education parent advisory group, our Titan friends of diverse learners. Um this is on the district website as well. Um, and there is also a Facebook page. So, that's all of the information as to how to get in touch with someone from it. And then we are going to be hosting four meetings this school year. Um, they are for all um families with students with special needs. We're just hosting them at different buildings. So, it doesn't matter um where your student goes to school. We're just housing them in different buildings and at different times. We found last year maybe doing some mornings,

054some nights were helpful. So, um talking points message to go out today to the district and more information will also be coming out in our district monthly newsletter. Any questions? The fun part I'm sure you guys were all waiting to learn about our engine course. Good evening everyone. I'm Christine Ferika. I'm the director of curriculum and instruction and I'm going to report our NJF NJSLA scores for math, language arts, and science. All right. So we'll start with our language arts. So what you'll see here is a comparison um between the different levels. So level one is our lowest level and then obviously levels four and five um is where we want students to be. Um level four would be meeting um expectations and level five would be exceeding expectations. So, um to the far right,

055you'll see the different changes of levels between 24 and 25. Um we definitely want to see negatives in uh that first column where you see uh the change in level one 2 and three. You would like to see those numbers be negative there. And then we would want to see the change in levels four and five to have those plus signs. So, some things to note when you're looking at the data here is that you'll see that um grade four um there was definitely a a large increase so that they rose by 18 almost 19%. Um you'll also see that there even though there was an increase um in students levels in in uh grade three um there was that decline in the four five. So you'll see that as well. Um but overall you'll

056see that there was some positive increase again uh grade seven um we seem to be going up each year uh specifically in that grade level. And when I show you the state scores um we had a county meeting last week and we were all discussing in grade three um across the board when I was speaking to other districts in M County. Um that was one grade level that we really saw um a a decrease in um meeting and exceeding expectations. Any questions on the data for Okay, this is just a basically American organizer for you guys to really see. This is um the data from this past school year. So 2425 and then you do get a good look at um how it looks um in the different areas. And this will all be on

057the district website so you can go back to it at any time. All right. When we're looking at math again, you're going to see kind of similar levels. Um there was again an increase in grade level four. We're looking at a 13% increase. Um but our most most growth you'll see is geometry. We went up uh 14.3% which was really positive for the high school. So um I know that uh Mr. Bury and Mr. Bird really you know take the time to sit down with our um math teachers and we have um discussions in regards to how to increase that. So whether it was after school tutoring or uh credit recovery, whatever the case may have been, uh there was definitely a significant um growth there. And I know it's not really noticeable, but if

058you look at algebra 2, we're 100% next year at level one, we've now increased at least 50%. So that again where it may be a small, but it's okay. Any questions with the map data? Again, just kind of a little graphic organizer so you guys can see what it kind of looks like. Um, okay. Um, I was very impressed with our science scores. Um, you can see all overall we had growth both. So, they only passed in fifth, eighth, and 11th grade. That's why you only see the three grade level double there. But we had an increase across the board. Um, again, 11th grade. So, the high school's doing a a great job. There was 11% increase there. So, I thought was pretty incredible. And then you'll see the graphic. So, this is where we

059want to look at where we are in comparison to the state. So what this um chart shows it goes back to label yards and the blue column shows um levels 1 2 and three for Kingsburg and level four five for Kingsburg and then the white columns are showing um where the state increases. So you can see that if you go down again to grade four that we actually surpassed the increase then what the state had. So they were only at 2.8 our scores increased by 18 almost 19%. Um the same with seventh grade we increased uh our levels four and five by 5.4%. 4% the state only increased by 3.1%. So those are just some highlighted positives um with our data for language arts in comparison to the state. Any questions starting points for all

060the same I mean percentage for the starting points. So, so like if you have a four and you go up 25%. You've gone up uh I can't do math very well but um but if you're starting at a 10 and you go up 25% it's a smaller number. So yeah. So the starting number is about the same. Yeah. So you're going to see um you will see that um the the number of students that took the test. So again, like last year we could have had and you'll see we had I think it was likeund and something students in fourth grade uh two years ago in 24 last year we only had like 81 students. So that so you know that also contributes to the increase or the decrease of numbers like Mr. Brophie was

061saying you know with the graduation rate that you know each kid is a percentage. So we have less students. Exactly. Does it really help us? Yeah. Thanks. Um so again comparison to the state the blue column are issum uh the state department. So you can see that fourth grade again uh we exceeded the state part the state department's growth. Fifth grade we were kind of you know close there. We were kind of on par with the state department. we were like a percentage off. Um and then if you look at our geometry, we had um much higher growth. And then our E3 um in math too kind of matched up with the state department. So um again, we have some gains uh there they some are large, some are small, but I think we're on

062track um with some of the things that we are doing at the different schools. with science, you'll see the same thing. Um, although we increased in all areas, um, fifth grade didn't really match up to the state, but we still had an increase there. 8th grade actually passed the state department and then 11th grade the increase pass the state department as well. Any questions on that data? No. All right. So, this is what I was talking about. So yes, we had those wonderful increases in fourth grade. We were down, you know, 36 students. Um, our enrollment fluctuates in different grade levels. So you'll kind of see that we were up 30 students in uh third grade. So that may have been why maybe those numbers were lower there. Um, but these are just the number

063of students that tested. Um, usually we can get every student to test unless they're chronically absent and they, you know, we run out of time because the test is a series of days. Any questions on that? I'm sorry. I know you've explained this in the past. Why is there the note that says grade nine includes only grade nine students and not are there other people included in the other grades? So, so for grade nine, not everyone is taking the the assessment. And then when you go into um algebra, like when you go into ninth grade, you normally take algebra 1. Um but some of our students are taking geometry. So those numbers are are different there. Does that make sense? Yep. Um same thing for math. You'll see that uh the numbers kind of fluctuated

064in regards to um and and that just with the enrollment that year. It just depends. Um, you know, sometimes we have larger numbers in different grade levels and then smaller numbers in other grade levels. Okay. Any questions? All right. Same with science. You'll see that the different um levels the different numbers from uh 2024 to 2025. And then just some notable achievements which I think I kindly touched upon. Nearly um one in three students is now scoring proficient or above. Um which is like the biggest single year for grade four. Um the same you know for math um significant jump in proficiency aligning basically with their ELA needs. Um geometry more than 75% of the students were at level three and four. So that's a clear success overall. Um size grade 11 uh largest districtwide

065proficiency growth showing at the high school. So that was an improvement. And then just improved um participation and consistency. Um the guidance department really takes the time to make sure that they have um a list of who needs to take the test and they get the makeups done right away. So some interventions um which I know a lot of the schools already talked about the wonderful things that happen um at the instructional level. So one thing that we will work on this year is just for instance our tier one instruction. So um our language arts um program at the elementary school allows us to do small groupoup instruction. Uh we also are doing structured phonics. Most of our staff at the elementary school are trained in um a multiensory approach to um phmic awareness and

066phonics. So um we're hoping that will also support our young learners. Um we are we recently received a grant um the bridge grant which is allowing us to work as a team. We actually met today um because we have to do a universal screener for the state. um that universal screening is going to give us data. Um the team is going to take that data that we receive. We're going to meet as a group and then we're going to identify our areas of weaknesses. That team is going to design tier one intervention to give the teachers for them to utilize in the classroom. So when Alisa and I did the schedules um this summer, every um teacher has an opportunity to do tier one um tier one interventions during their snack time while the kids

067are eating. So and it won't be like basic stuff. It's not like they're sitting there doing like a whole lesson. Maybe it's some uh flashcards with a partner or you know site word bingo. it's not like they're having stack and getting a whole other, you know, lesson. Um, so just having the ability to do that and then we talked about um at our last team meeting that um just that information, right? If that's already created, we can send that home and say, "Okay, site say bingo at home and getting them involved." because that's like a simple task that they can do at the dinner table or maybe before they go to bed at night. So, if we can get them on board, um I think that's just going to help our our young learners um

068in the middle school just address comprehension and writing. So, we can do that in different subjects other than just language arts. We can do that in science and in history. Um and then if we do receive um one of the grants we submitted last month, we hope to review highly quality instructional materials so that we can further support the instruction that goes on at the middle school. Um for mathematics, grade six and eight just to really focus on interventions and problem solving and algebra readiness. And then obviously at the younger grade really just focus on that really and strengthening those um foundations one provide targeted support for struggling students. So whether it's the after school um help or during uh the school day in that skinny period to support with those areas. Um and then

069in science just having more hands-on inquiry based labs for students and and kind of applying the other uh crosscurricular subject areas. We'll continue to have professional development for uh tier one. Uh we're going to use a link data. we did um with one of the grants uh purchased something called intervention manager that will help help us group our students based on the data that's in the system. Uh we'll continue to use the framework for MTFSS uh for tier 2 and tier three. So, at least is talking about those interventionists. Um, and then our our Wilson uh specialized teacher that goes in and works with our tier 2 and tier three students within the classroom. Just for anybody who doesn't know, tier one is the least support required. Tier two and tier three get more intensive

070support. Just so you understand what we're saying, tier one, tier two, tier three. Um, obviously family engagement, sending home that information to parents, sending them involved. Um, and then we have talking points that will allow us to send home. So, I know at back to school night, they recently sent home um, as part of our status curriculum. They sent home, it was like a newsletter that stated what like the unit for for the first unit was going to be about so the parents had the understanding of what the kids were going to be learning in the classroom. and then obviously having the opportunity for tutoring and extended turing time. So we already have some Wilson tutoring happening after school with the collaboration of path. Um the next slides are all based on um just our

071demographics. Again I'm going to post this online. Um they're just charts just showing you um how students are meeting at you know certain in our certain subgroups. So, um, I'll let you guys look at that online, but if you have any questions, you can contact me at any time. If you have any questions now, I'm happy to answer. I just had one question. I meant I saw that you had the talking points on there for the family engagement. I'm assuming that's a fairly newer service if I remember correctly. How is that integrating? Is that seeing a positive outlook from the families that I think it's immediate, you know, information on your child. you know, something happens, you can send a text. I mean, not everyone goes and use the computer and, you know, uh, read

072an email coming right to their cell phone. We we know everybody really get a text message. And, um, we're now adding students in. Yes. So, talking points was not used for students in the past. It was just for um, parents or guardians. And now we're integrating students into it also. No, it's nice. I like to see that because it just another avenue for everybody to get to all the resources that they need. Yeah. And it translates to all the different languages uh that we have here. So I was telling teachers like even if you know you're setting homework, you're not going to have somebody translate it, throw in talking points and then the parent has a translated homework for them and that you know the child has the teacher homework so they be able to

073support them at home. On the I'm sorry on the back end. Are you guys able to see the data like which parents, which students? We see everybody. So, we can see every text sentence. We can see it. We could see how many times a teacher utilizes it, how many parents are communicating back. Yeah, we have like that. And who has a mobile number, who doesn't? So, we're able to go in and fix that status. And yeah, we can see if we send something out and x amount get kicked back, we get that data so that we can then see what happened with it. Beautiful. Thank you. It's been very useful. Thank you. Any other questions? Question. Sure. So you I the data that you shared it shows how we compared from the prior year and

074then it also shows um most of them the state department. Yeah. So our scores in general how we compare to the state for students that are meeting expectations in those. So those are the levels. So I'll just go back to one of the slides to show you. So like this shows like the difference but like we're below state we're below the state average but we're closing that gap. Yeah. So if you look at three and four that's meeting. So when you were saying meeting the failure but if I wanted to know like okay 40% of our students are meeting. Yes. What's the state average? Yes. Okay. I see what you're saying. So this is saying that this would be increase. So if you I think they don't require I see what you're saying. So I

075don't have that comparison but I can definitely you know get it for you if you shoot me an email. So the state builds the template. They tell us what what so I'm happy to get that information um for you but basically yes I see what you're saying. So like you know right now 11.6 6 students in in grade three are meeting expectations at a level four, right? And then in fourth grade, we would add the 27.2 to the 3.7, right? So, it gives us about like 31%. Right? But what is the state? What's their level? So, I could definitely get that for you. Um, but they didn't ask us to put it in the slideshow. So, I could definitely ask a couple slides for that. But if you shoot me an email, I'm happy to

076to get that for you. Any other questions? Surprised they don't make us do that. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. [Music] leg. [Music] Okay. I forgot to mention that there are four emergency exits. Look around, please. Good thing there wasn't fire. I was really, really looking forward to those reports. Yeah. October. Um, student representative. So, everything was covered tonight. So, we'll have them back in October. Do we have any committee reports? Just uh one committee report just on the legislative side that uh the delegate assembly is going to be having their annual conference or quarterly conference. They're going to have a conference on November 22nd. Outstanding. Okay. Thank you. Questions or comments related to the board agenda items only? So, um anybody have any questions about what we just went over? Please raise your

077hand and come up or strike that step to the mic over there. Seeing that there's none, we'll close that part. Uh, executive session resolve that in accordance with provisions of the opening public meetings act, the Kingsburg Board of Education shall conduct a closed executive session pursuant to the personnel and legal exceptions prescribed by NJSA 104 discussing legal and personnel. It is anticipated that the length of time of the executive session will be 30 minutes and that action will not be taken in public after the executive session. Be it further resolved that the minutes of the executive session will be released when the meet for confidentiality in accordance with NJSA 104 10 4-12 no longer applies. Please get a motion. I'll make a motion. We have a second. All in favor. All right. Mr. Folks, you

078ready? May I please have a motion to come out of executive session, please? Motion. All in favor? I might. Please have a motion for approval of minutes. I'll make that motion. We need a second. [Music] The superintendent report, please. Roll call. I'm sorry. Mrs. Clayton, yes. Miss Kellah, yes. Mr. Manass, yes. Mr. Cook, yes. Mr. Hoff, yes. Mr. Yes. Miss Ryan, yes. Superintendent of schools recommends positive action on the following items. Under personnel one, resignation. Two, refusal of position. Three, transfer of professional and non-professional staff. Four, part-time academic law specialist for Mass and ELA. Five, leave of absence medical. Six, leave of absence medical revision. Seven, substitute teacher power professional district. Eight, permanent pool substitutes account revision. Nine afterchool apex class monitor teachers at the high school. 10 student mentoring coordinator for the high school

079in Bulier. 11 coaching advisor positions for the fall for Bulier. 12. Kingsburg Early Learning Center home visits. 13. Change in degree status movement on the guide revisions. 14. Title one grant personnel salary revisions. 15. Central detention teachers for Bulier. 16. ELLL extended day teacher 17 school program substitutes 18 familyfriendly center uh substitutes for the district 19 before school breakfast cafeteria teachers for both okay I please get a motion I'll make a motion I got a second any uh questions questions sir call vote Uh, Mrs. Clayton, yes. Miss Kelly, yes. Mr. Mcowski, yes. However, I recuse myself on number 14. Thank you. Yes. M. Ryan. Yes. Under policy and regulation number 20, policy first reading alert 335 and general policy updates alert 335. And number 21, regulation first reading also goes with alert 235 and general

080regulation updates for alert 235. May I get a motion, please? I'll make a motion. Can I please have a second? Second. Any questions? See no questions. Mrs. Clayton, yes. Miss Callahan Mar, yes. Mr. Macowski, yes. Mr. Cook, yes. Mr. Hoff, yes. Miss Ferraro, yes. Mr. Ryan, yes. Under general number 22, disposal of unusable, outdated, broken furniture and equipment for the district. 23, acceptance of donation for Kingsburg Early Learning Center. 24 instate class trips for the district. I please have a motion. Make a motion. Was that Brook first? Any questions? I do have one, please. On number 23, could we please make sure to get a thank you letter in a little KT, please? Thank you, sir. Call Mrs. Clayton. Yes, Miss Kellyan. Yes, Mr. Macowski. Yes, Mr. Cook. Yes, Mr. Hoff. Yes, Miss Flora. Yes,

081M. Ryan. Yes. Um, and then I have addendum items. Addendum A1, superintendent. Um, there is a change there. We did get the approval. So the second sentence pending approval by interim county superintendent could be removed. Um A2 literacy team members for Joseph Cuso A3 leave of absence medical A4 leave of absence fraternity child care and A5 professional development club $150 or above. Please get a a motion. I have a second please. I'll second. Any questions? See none, sir. Mrs. Excuse me. Mrs. Clayton. Yes. Miss Keller Mar. Yes. Mr. Mcowsky. Yes. So, I excuse myself unable. Mr. Cook. Yes. Mr. Hoff. Yes. Miss Ferrara? Yes. But I myself on A1. Thank you. Miss Ry. Yes. What is that compass? Which one? A E N. All right. School business administrator board secretary report. Board secretary's monthly certification

082August 2025 certifies that no item has been overextended and sufficient funds are available to be to meet the district's financial obligations for the remainder of the year. Payroll certification for August 15th and August 29th payroll. Superintendent of Schools recommends positive acts on the following items. Receipt and acceptance of August 2025 board secretaries report. Approve appropriation transfers. Three, approve bills list. Four, approve 2526 uh at district tuition. Five, approve county vocational regular education and special education for 2526. Number six, approve memorandum of understanding between Big Brothers with Big Sisters of Central and Northern New Jersey and the New School District. Seven, approve evaluation contracts for 21st century. Eight is going to be removed because it's a duplicate. Six. Nine, approve request for proposals and award of contract for counseling and professional development RFP06-25 for the 2526

083school year. Uh, please get a motion. I'll make that a motion. Please have a second. Second. Any question? I just had a quick question on number five. It says shared time. Does that mean just because they're going to be mutually here and mutually there? I just want to share that cost like a calculation based on the time. It's a part time. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Sir. Roll call. Mrs. P. Yes. Miss. Callahammer. Yes. Mr. Mowsky. Yes. Mr. Cook. Yes. Mr. Hoff. Yes. Miss. Ferraro. Yes. Miss Ry. Yes. So, okay. We'll now open the floor to any public comments, any questions related to additional concerns. Please uh step up to the mic and just state your name and address. Please see who wants to speak. We'll close that. Do we have any new? Okay,

084ma'am. So, we're going to reopen for the record. We're going to reopen the public comments questions and additional concerns. M you want to stand up and go to the mic or use your name and address please. Thank you. My name is T. I actually don't want to go. My um my nephew and my sister did. So like I had a big very big thing and I was just like I'm not really going to say it. So like um spent the last few weeks going over um my nephew's name is Emanuel Mo. He's uh in 12th grade. He was a resident here. and my sister is um was Gloria and she passed away in June. And um we've been having a lot of uh problems regarding Emanuel's um attendance and like the way that he goes

085like to school and his IEP. And now that he's 18, we're struggling to find a way to keep him in school. So Manning goes to uh Honoridge Academy. He has like behavior problems. He has the I and everything through Kingsburg and while he was in Honoridge, he was getting, you know, all of the services that were supposed to be provided for him. However, as per his IP, it does say that Manny's one of his difficulties is like uh consistent attendance for instance, right? Um, and so like if I backtrack a little bit, last October, Manny was um removed from my sister and his little brother Michael. Um, and Manny came with me in Asbury Park. So the transportation and everything was provided for Emanuel to continue to go to Honor through the District of Kingsburg.

086Then um when Manny turned 18 in February, things kind of got like a little like crazy like skewed, but it was like, you know, he still kept going to school. And then at June, no, May, uh my sister Gloria found residence again in Kingsburg and he was going to uh we join her like in there. And then unfortunately my sister um overdosed in our house and Manny's when he found her passed away on June 14th. Um the problem the issue that we were having with Manny and Honor is the fact that his bus and transportation stopped coming and we had a really hard time like getting in touch with anybody. And then we were also told like because Manny was 21, it was hard for me as his aunt that he was living with and

087with my sister no longer having custody to speak on Manny's behalf without Manny. So, it was like a lot of complications and we tried working like really hard with um Tara Smith and um Miss Feinstein and it was just like getting like really chaotic and I had a lot of like correspondence and emails and everything. Um, so if we fast forward at the end of the year, Manny's getting ready to graduate because he's in 12th grade. And then we find out that he doesn't have enough credits to graduate. And the honorage was in touch with Kingsburg. I'm not really sure what was happening, but they set it up and I had emails like saying that if he went to ESY that he would be able to get the 42 and a half credits he needed

088to complete. I personally thought Manny was going to drop out. Okay. Cuz he thought he was graduating. We all thought he was graduating. This kid, you know, he's taken from his home. Manny's not exactly the easiest child to get along with. He had a lot of, you know, difficulties here in school, but he tried and he's very dedicated and determined to graduate school to walk and everything is set up and then, you know, he finds out the news that he's not graduating even though, you know, we thought he was and he participated in all this stuff. So, we said, "Okay." and he gets his everything together for his IEP to go to ESA ESY, but then the bus never shows up again, right? And they're saying the school was saying that uh school districts, but

089they didn't know where Manny lived. They knew where he lived the entire time. He was with me. So Manny's tennis was really bad at the end of the year. Somewhere in a lot of these messages and notes and I'm going to like wrap it up in a second. There's uh I'm sorry you have like hot. Seriously, man. Would you like par menopause? Like man, there's water right there. I'm dead. Thank you. And like so we're trying to figure out, you know, you know, how to get to to graduate cuz again he's very determined to go to school. Now, on June 14th, my sister lived a couple houses out from the school at the high school. And Manny woke up in the morning and overdosed in Nevada and by himself. And then we reached out to

090Honor and they said that they would do everything especially because it's in his IEP for counseling and help and emotional support, you know, just get him back to school. So, he only went back to like one or two more days of school after that, which I personally took him all the way up there to Clark and we still had a problem with the bus service. So now we're like getting ready and we can't find out like behind the summer school bus isn't coming. And um Manny was told that the transportation got messed up cuz he didn't know where he lived. But then we were told that Manny was withdrawn from school and um after several very unsuccessful phone meetings and even coming in person like unannounced to try to to speak with Miss Smith. Um

091we were basically told that Manny was withdrawn from school without any uh notification and there was various different reasons that are all there's no like substantial like evidence like no nothing in writing as to say why. So my whole thing is like this kid has had more struggles than any child. I'm not saying that he's like, you know, gold star in any way and his mouth is absolutely but he wants to graduate school like he wants his diploma. he wants to walk. And I don't understand why he was withdrawn from school. Why if he was approved for his uh ESA was it canled on the basis that Manny was no longer a resident of the school because his mother passed. And I said, "Well, that's kind of harsh, you know, like. and you're saying that

092you already withdrew him because he was 10 days of school and now you're saying it's cuz his mom's not here and we go into all this other legal stuff and then like section 8's like no man's still out of the house for 30 days so he still would be a resident and it's just like a lot of back and forth and I'm just like but where was the support for him? Like where was the people who came and said like Manny like we're gonna help you instead of like no Manny has to get out. So now Manny is in between and Kingsburg is saying that they're no longer obligated to help because he's not a resident of Kingsburg. He stays in with my mom. And I don't want to say that like because they don't

093have complete paperwork from Kingsburg. He can't register for school there. Honorage can't take him because nobody's paying for honor. So man is just not doing enough. And I I'm just having a really difficult time like when I sit through this whole board meeting and I'm seeing like how you guys are putting up your stats and how you're helping kids and how like you know you're involved with like the programs for the kids with IEPs and special needs. Like if you fail one special need kid, you fail them all like in every way. So, what does what do I do to help man? Because I can't get help from the people that I was supposed to ask. And I'm tired of not having my phone calls filtered. I'm tired of not having emails answered. I'm tired

094of being aware that 18 I can't speak on his behalf. Like, technically, according to section 8, he still has rights to the apartment here and could still be a resident of Kingsburg. And yet I says that he goes to school until he's 21. So who helps me help me graduate? Cuz that's all he wants. So that's literally what I'm asking regardless of everything else that I have. Thank you. I I would just feel remiss if I don't just quickly say that I was in my office and I heard Mr. Ma trying so hard to help. I did. and she was working with Madawan and we will continue to do that. So if if if Madawan is saying they need something from us, we will gladly give it. And whether we agree with the law or

095not, we have to follow it. And we're not trying to be harsh and saying he's not ours. But legally, unless section 8 can provide us something saying like, yes, he has rights to this apartment, legally we can't accept him as a resident here. every policy we have, every code that exists says that his residency is where he is physically residing, which would be Madawan. We will absolutely assist with getting Madawan to understand that and get everything that they need from us. So, and I hate to say this part too because I know how frustrating it must be for you. We do need Manny to be part of that conversation. Oh, I understand. So, if if you can do another conference call with Miss Pika, I would gladly be in on that too. and we do

096it with Madawan and all three of us work together to get him back because I said the first thing I said is I'm so proud that he wants to do it and I'm so glad that he is pursuing it. So we don't want to lose that right now either. So if we can set up a conference call where Manny would be involved our district represented by Missa and then we'll get someone in Madawan we can get that settled. Okay. So then like my other question is like so who do I address on like the improper hand on a men's um school at the end of the fashion from from Kingsburg if you could send me anything you have I you could do that right to me and you are Kathleen here the superintendent the superintendent

097yes I am because like we've spoken to education lawyers and we've talked to the state court and we want to file formal complaints and I didn't do it because I wanted to speak to the school district itself. um and let you know that like this is handled incredibly wrong and incredibly insensitive and you really failed it. So let's get him what he needs to do right now because right now he's just sitting in my mom's house waiting to hear when he gets to go to school. Okay. So we can reach out to if if Manny gives us permission, we can reach out to Madam on his behalf also. So if we could just get back to her cuz Manny has my email. So he just wanted to cheat. Yeah. He's not really sure what he

098has like that's where he's like in limbo because he again it's also in his IP that somebody's supposed to help like help him advocate and like transition to the next part of our education and he has no advocate right now or and no assistance but he has no school. He's like he's like nowhere you know way person. Send me an email tomorrow or this evening stating that could you reach out to me? Um, I was struggling with the registration process cuz I did give him all that information cuz he told me that he needed X, Y, and Z. I was covering the preschool that day. I went right over to the high school and got it from um you were there. So, that was all he told me he needed. Um, but I'm more than

099happy to speak to whoever is at Madawan, but if he could just I'll call them myself as long as I have the name and who, you know, he needs me to speak to. And if he doesn't know, I can just call their um specialized department. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else wishing to uh speak, please uh come up to the mic, state your name and address. Anybody else looking to speak, please come up to the microphone, state your name and address. Seeing no one else looking to speak. We'll close that portion. Is there anything new in old communication from the board members on your side this week? Um team didn't do so well over the weekend. Um cross country is doing quite well. The cross country the high school also had a very good which is

100nice to see because we were at a place where we didn't even know if we could field a high school for a country team and they're doing well. Oh, that's great. Yeah, it's nice to see. Yeah. So, and a ton of fans um coming out to support the teams, which is always a great thing. So, thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. President. Uh a couple of little points I just wanted to share on behalf of the NJSBA. I know we all get emails in our uh probably our inboxes, but there's going to be a county meeting on the 7th if anybody wanted to attend. It's first one for this uh session. So, so it's good to learn and you know get gather information from the other uh the other other districts and the other board

101members. Uh I appreciate everybody coming out for the state of the schools to showcase our strengths but also the transparency what's happening within each individual school test scores club sports college acceptances and therefore after most importantly the student well-being is on the rise. Um, obviously this week is also the homecoming game, so that's going to be uh quite uh quite a thrill for the students and for the community. And uh that's about it for me for welcome back to school and uh hope it be successful. Thank you. Outstanding. Thank you. Uh Moren, um well, I love September. I love the weather. We've been very fortunate and back to school, but what I did notice this year is the kids walking to school that they're happy. And um I made a little friend that is in

102ninth grade and I talked to him and I said, "How's school going?" And he he told me how beautiful the high school was and he told me how clean and it smells and nice and the air conditioner and the gym. And I said, "Well, how's the food?" He said, "It's really good." I said, "Well, what do you like?" He goes, "Well, about everything." So, I mean, that's that's a good thing when kids are happy about their food. It's something they get to sit and talk to their friends. Um, so it's just the nice cities coming about and I just wanted to say, you know, we're very fortunate. You know, our kids are honest and open 99.9% of the time, but to hear them say that they like school, they like coming to school is a

103good feeling that they feel that we have the right people doing the right thing. Mr. Welcome back. I hope you have a great school year. Mrs. Right. Um, yeah, pretty much. That's all I What I do want to say though is I do want to give my condolences um to the family and the the tribulations that they're going through. Thank you. In regards to Emanuel. Sure. Just quickly welcome back everybody. We do want to thank the administrators, the building administrators, and everyone for giving the state of the schools. Uh thanks who came today to showcase an office the food. Um they were also at back to school night talking about some of the things that they're doing for the teachers being able to order um things where teachers and staff being able to order food

104and just the quality of the food is up. Uh buildings and grounds has done an amazing job. Um what Kim was saying about the schools just looking better, feeling better, and I think people are proud to go to school. You know, there's that pride that comes along with it. Um I noticed the trailers on the way into the high school are on their way out. Um I I think we squeezed every possible moment of use out of those. They were they were designed for like what something between five and 10 years of use and we use them for 20 or 22 years. So there was absolutely no waste when we had those here. Um you know we we made the most of them and it's great to see them go now. Um and we have

105a brand new early learning center that is taking us place which is much much better. Um just looking forward to went back to school night. Thank you for everybody who um was there. It's great to see all the teachers, still the kids in the district. So get to see my my uh children's teachers and homecoming coming up this weekend. I look forward to seeing hopefully a home win and seeing people come back only that I came to back to school night. Um and it was wonderful to see the large number of family and parents that were here. I came thinking it was our board meeting. I thought it was the board meeting. So, but anyway, it was nice to see the parents get the memo. I'm sorry. May just I usually don't, but I just

106want to say uh a big thing that I saw in the high school presentation which was nice to see is the inclusion of all those new AP classes, which um not to brag, but mine are in the mall, but they it's it's so nice to see that our kids can stay here and take those classes that they want to have access to instead of having having to look for them elsewhere. So, it it's things like that and the club fair. Like when he pitched that idea to me, I was like, "How's that going to look? What's it going to look like?" And we have to get ourselves out of the mindset of our kids can't do that. We're not in this town and things like that. And we have to realize that we need to

107give them the ability and the opportunity to do the things that other kids elsewhere are doing. And any other high school I've ever seen or gone to does have a club there. So, why shouldn't we have that? And why shouldn't we have kids see these things that are available to them and decide whether it is right for them and what works for them? And I know that sometimes we say I have a lot more at stake because my my kids are in district here also. But I think any parent should be proud of that and should be thankful for that and that you as a board should be proud that this is what we're putting forth and I do see positive things and I know that there's always things that we need to work on

108but we really are going in the right direction. Thank you. All right. actually have a couple notes here. Again, everybody welcome back. I missed everybody. Um, everyone saw my notes, so they took they took my notes. So, the full sports are going on. I I can't be everywhere, but I try to be at the football games. So, at the football games, I get to see the cheerleaders. I have yet to see cross country, but I have saw the tennis. It's pretty amazing. Um, on October 4th, we're having Ginsburg Day. That's going to be at the foot of Main Street. Uh, just type in 2D. There's going to be uh there's a DJ, then there's a concert. I believe there's fireworks. If you go to the Kingsburg rep page are going to have a little bit

109more details. Um again, the football field and the grounds of the schools look amazing. I did actually see the school gym floor. And again, I can't actually wait for wrestling season so we can start our new light that's up there. We didn't see the light. Nice. Um it is that time of year, so we have open enrollment for the PTA. So, if you don't have your application and you did not join, how do you join? Sarah, did you add all of the back to school nights? There were members there and they're at all the events. I believe there'll be members of the PTA at homecoming as well. Um, for a link during from our website, too. Teachers, you can see Miss Manowski, who is the leazison from the PTA to teachers. Okay. And then I

110have to give a big shout out to the booster club. We've had two home games where the visiting team showed up in force where the booster club was overrun and I became an honorary member and I go back to my days of uh stocking soda and water from Charlie's Deli. So they're doing a great job. It was that Yes. So very very proud of the little of those and hamburgers they were pumping out. Yes. So again uh our next meeting is when? Next meeting we pushed October 21st in Atlantic City as the convention and the meeting is on the 28th of October. So I I expect everyone to be here on the 28th and please bring five friends. So with that being said, I entertain a motion to end the meeting. All that motion. Okay.

111I'll second. All right. All in favor? I have a good night.