001appreciate it. We just want to be timely. There's a a very uh busy agenda. This is not working. I need a booster seat for this chair. Past the theater booster seat. All right, we're starting. All right. This meeting of the board of education is open to members of the public to be physically present. Members of the public that attend will be asked to follow the same procedures as all other visitors to our schools. Those procedures can be found in the agenda page of our website. Additionally, the board meeting will be live streamed for purposes only. Anyone wishing to view the meeting may do so via Zoom. The webinar ID for this meeting is 8402049675 and the required password is 721-935. I call this meeting to order. Mr. Lamb, would you do roll call, please? Mr.
002Copper here. Mavier here. Mr. Dilva, Mr. Denise here, Mr. Gallow here, Mr. here, Mr. Marsy, Miss Jansen here, Dr. Morphy here, and student representative Miss. All right. Adequate notes that the agenda for this meeting has been provided to the Ridgewood news and the record specifying the MA board of education will meet on May 21st, 2025 in Lape Meadow School, 160 Ridge Road, Mama, New Jersey. A copy was filed with the town closed. Uh Mr. Coplin, would you lead us in this? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Um, we do need executive session, but we're going to push things a little bit. We're going to skip down at this
003point to number seven, agenda questions. Please limit your questions at this time to resolutions under new business on this agenda. As a matter of fairness, you're asked to limit your questions to no more than one, and your remarks to no longer than 3 minutes. If you are here representing a group, please identify yourself, the group, and your position in the group. If you are here as an individual, please give us your name and address. This portion of public participation will be limited to 15 minutes. Please specify the resolution you are referring to in your question. All right. Any motion to open the meeting to the public? Mr. Dilva and second by Mr. Galla. All right. We're officially open to the public. All right. Seeing come forth at this time. I made a motion to close
004the meeting to the public. Um Mr. Gallow and Mr. Copler. All right. We are going to have our MA student representative because I think she had somewhere to get to. Thank you. So to start off last Friday hosted probably the media department. Tonight is senior movie night. Be watching TV movie and screen for everybody. with sports, girls and girls across tennis and baseball are all are all moving on to speeds. And also next Friday, May 30th from 6:00 to 9:00 and Saturday, May 31st from 12 to 2, the mall High School Art Club is hosting the annual art and design exhibit where it will be displayed in lower body through to the T3 building shop and all members are invited to attend that. More with the theater, the Metropolitan High School awards, we have three
005nominees. the first student at Okonnell for outstanding performance. George Powski for graphic design and Eric manager. We're all very proud of them. Uh last night we had a spring concert with [Music] ensemb What did you say? Okay. I do not understand. It's a new 2013. It's a Disney. Oh, did you? All right. Enjoy. Um maybe just All right. Dr. Duro, you have a very full report this evening. So, let's get started. We do. Um we have a number of things that we would like to present to the board as well as the community. The first um part of my report is very special. Today we have the honor of going to the Glen Point Marriott to honor our teachers of the year. Um as you will hear over the next couple of minutes, the teachers
006going from our K3s up to our high school are absolutely uh special teachers that impact so many of our students and really looking forward to celebrating them today. So, as Dr. Joe shared earlier today, we were able to celebrate our district's honores, most who are sitting in uh the seats in front of us and as you can see in both of these images taken from the event. Um what awesome people we were able to highlight this afternoon and are able to highlight this evening. Uh emphatically, when announcing each district at today's lunchon, model was the loudest of applause for our people and with good reason. So tonight we are proud to introduce the Bergen County Educators of the Year from Mama Schools. Exceptional individuals who represent the heart of our district. These honores have demonstrated
007an unwavering commitment to student success, innovative teaching, and meaningful community connection. Each honor's unique dedication, compassion, and leadership continue to elevate our schools and inspire those around them. We thank everyone in attendance this evening to collectively celebrate our remarkable honories for this welldeserved recognition. So our our first is Miss Heather Torino. If if you can stand and do the wave Heather. So to begin, we honor uh model case Heather Torino. According to her colleagues, Mrs. Torino is value added and a true unicorn. She's both the AP economics teacher that can explain concepts like aggregate spending while also being the mindfulness teacher who modeled the lazy breath and then returned to the scientific journal presenting the data of the study. That duality is what makes Mrs. Torino so special. In her recent work, she organized talks
008with renowned economics and trips to the Federal Reserve. And apparently, according to her colleagues, Heather also gets excited about sparkly things which we added to your bag litter. Um, students are drawn to Mrs. Torino's brain and her intensity as well as her emotional safety and support. To speak on her behalf are two students, Claire Leo and James Rier. Claire serves as the president of DECA and currently as Mrs. Torino for honors marketing. James had Mrs. Torino in 10th grade for our ninth from this class and currently serves as vice president of DECA, the student organization to which Mrs. Torino is the adviser. So, we'll invite Claire and James up up to the podium. [Applause] My name is Ko. I'm a senior at Hall High School. And I'd like to begin by congratulating Mino on this
009incredible accomplishment. And tonight, I want to highlight just a few moments of her except exceptional teaching and car personality truly stood out. So, I had the pleasure of having Miss Tano both my freshman senior years in her marketing and advertising class and now in her online marketing class. So as a wideeyed freshman just out of middle school, I was still finding my footing and Mrs. Torino not only saw potential in me, but she also encouraged me to join debt by the club she advises. What might have seemed like a small magic town became a defining part of my high school journey. Her belief in me sparked the motivation and ambition that have shaped who I am today. Over the past four years, I've learned so much from Mrs. Terrina, not just about marketing, but about
010effort, communication, and the importance of building meaningful relationships. This year alone, she's gone above and beyond to give our class real real world experiences, organizing trips and guest speakers to help us better understand the business world and explore future careers. What stands out most about Mrs. Tino is her care for her students as people. She's the first to notice when something's wrong without hesitation. Knowing that your teacher cares more about you than your performance in class is something every student should be lucky enough to experience. On a personal level, Mrs. Serena has made school feel like a safe and encouraging space. Whether it was giving advice before a big death competition or simply asking how I was doing, her constant support has meant the world to me. She's one of the few teachers who makes
011me feel seen, heard, and genuinely valued, and that makes all the difference. It's no surprise that Mrs. Trina is high school's teacher of the year. She has been a guiding light in my high school experience and a role model to so many others. Mrs. C, your dedication never goes unnoticed. constantly amazed by all you do and all high school incredibly lucky to have you. Thank you. [Applause] Hello, my name is James Rosiro and I'm a senior at Mama High School. I first met Miss Torino when she I first met Miss Torino when she was my teacher for a class called mindfulness and resilience. um in this class as a younger and shy version like herself, Mr. Trino's positivity and outgoing energy was a little intimidating. Um however, as the market period went on, Mrs. Tino's
012class became the highlight of my day. That class taught me so many important skills that everyone should know. And it wasn't just the class that was impactful. It was Mrs. She's never judgmental, always encouraging, and on top of that, she's extremely intelligent. She taught me the importance of gratitude tactics to deal with anxiety. And later that year when I went through a really tough period of my life, I looked back on those times in class and what I learned. Mrs. Torino, you may not know how much of an impact you had on me and how much you helped me. But you really did. I will never forget how much stepping on the grass from my bare feet, grounding myself to ease my anxiety. That trick came from you. Later that later, she became an even
013bigger part of my life as I became involved in DECA. People always joke that Mrs. Torino runs Deco like the military and she knows she's extremely punctual, hardworking and encouraging in a way that we all need. Deco is no joke and is probably the most serious club of all high school and I don't know any other team that I can run it. This year I was a marketing officer which means I created Instagram posts, reals and managed general marketing for the club. Mrs. Tino pushed me and I'm so glad she did. The experience of this responsibility is extremely important to me and it cemented my dream to do something with marketing in my future. While being a role model to push me and everyone else at DECA, Mrs. Reno also created such a welcoming and
014fun environment for DECA. I wouldn't call myself to go like a city for 3 days a year if it wasn't enjoyable. And through Mrs. Dino's direction and community building, it was always the highlight of the year. I'm not surprised at all with history teacher of the year just like Claire. With such a passionate, hardworking, committed energy as she has, she has made a big impact on the school dec. [Applause] Oh, yay. Thank you. This is so nice. [Music] Be careful. There really is. [Applause] Of course. Of course. Should I go here? Wherever you feel comfortable. I know you're comfortable anywhere. I'm going to go over here. My turn. To my cherished family, Bart, Chloe, Julia, my mother, of course, brother, board of education, Dr. Turo, Dr. Dr. uh Romeo the high school um administration John
015Mike um my trusted colleagues especially shout out to Sarah Kazinski Amy Lendonio Harry Robinson um my incredible department Carolyn Justin Tim and who I proudly call my work dear friends students and their families I'm deeply humbled and feel gratitude to be recognized for this honor I found out about this recognition on a Friday afternoon right before spring recess absel standing in a utility storage closet. Yes, it is true in JP fashion. He wanted to keep the announcement quiet until it was official. He congratulated me and then asked, "What do you want for lunch on the day of the event? It was a lot to process, but I made a great call with the salmon and also had the great mentor of John Pascal." This recognition is not just about me. It reflects a legacy far
016greater than one individual. Since I began my time at Mama High School, I taught approximately 2,224 students, not counting those I've had in more than one course. Um, that's 2,224 unique opportunities to influence the journey even more. And I want to give a big shout out to Nancy Marian for that report to me. And that doesn't include the students that I've advised the class of 2015, 19, 2023, and now 2027. Naturally, I started thinking about the economic impact of those 2,224 students. Doesn't everyone? So, just for funsies, I asked AI to help me calculate the total contribution that many high school graduate what the high school graduates to the US economy, removing the collegiate variable, assuming they all enter the workforce. Using the average US salary of 43,000, those students contributed 95.6 million per year
017or about 3.8 over 3.8 billion over a 40-year career with an average investment of 132,500 per student and a return of $31 for every dollar spent. The ROI speaks for itself. Now, income college graduates with an average salary of $70,000, their contribution jumps to 156 million per year and 6.2 billion over 40 years. Of course, you have to check that the math is math, but the point is clear. Those who teach build productive citizens across every sector. Their knowledge becomes the foundation for the next generation. And while I may never see the full ripple effects, I will see seeds. I plant seeds of initiative, resilience, curiosity, confidence, critical thinking, empathy are planted. And I hear firsthand when a student finds me or one of my trusted business colleagues telling the story of how to ace
018their job interview, revised their resume, sent a thank you letter, and completed their first 74. I've always worked to bring real world learning into the classroom in memorable ways as a trained elementary school teacher. Fun fact, bringing intensive to high school has only deepened what I do. From building crime scene brand personas and playing marketing channel bing video to somehow getting John St. Twitter on Zoom to talk to my class. From trips to the Federal Reserve, writing business letters to my favorite brand, Hello IKEA, my students went there today, to performing the award-winning business supplies wedding, every experience is designed to make that same creativity and energy extended to Deco Ma. So, thank you so much for supporting us and my amazing Deco Advisor Carol Ferguson. We've grown our chapter to 90 students, giving more
019young people the chance to thrive. DECA is not a club. It is a lifestyle. But my greatest strength as an educator isn't measured in statistics. It lives in the quiet moments of orchestrating lessons and making community contact when learning new processes because want to expand my knowledge base. It's on fun Fridays. We're playing soup salad sandwich or just dancing with just dance. It is in the breakthrough student. said I can't think to try and can is when I call for the good and not just the bad. Typically parents are shocked and it's being asked to accompany a child that is not your classroom having a mental crisis to the hospital without hesitation. Lastly, it's bringing humanity and showing grace by being perfect. It is all about the mental helping others and makes better decisions for
020their lives. I challenge my students with high expectations. I believe in them even when [Applause] [Music] [Applause] they thank you. You know You both did an excellent job. Thank you for being here. On the way out, can you say what's the movie? [Music] All right. Okay. Um, our next next teacher is M Conrad. Please stand up. [Music] Mrs. Donna Conrad is love personified and as a result she shows up to work doing everything through the lens of love. tough love, supportive love, big sister love, mom love, love of teaching of history, love of service to our students and school community. Mrs. Conrad is hopefully sheen the curriculum to provide stronger lessons and is constantly mentoring students to be a better version of themselves. It is the warmth in the room from this love that makes
021students want to be there, want to be better, and want to ask questions and challenge themselves and others. Former student Remar Pittz and his mother still think fondly of Mrs. Conrad's impact and are here tonight to share a few [Applause] words. Well, hi. I'm Mar. Well, see me in the movies. Well, today I'm here to talk about how I went in school in uh years and just talking about uh the critical teacher M had but today we are here to celebrate one um teacher Miss Conrad in her first service heritage service to my experience as community. So give her a round of applause for that. [Music] I've known Miss Conrad for years having my brother, me and my sister. She was my sister teacher being one of the teachers I laid my eyes on me
022coming me upon me coming to uh the middle school. She welcomed us to a homeike homeike welcoming smile creating an environment of fun and interesting for me and my peers to love us traveling from Greek city. This being the first time I enjoyed history and learned about it. Me being engaged and ready for history class. Me being proud of myself and success I've put in this class. Finding my love for history and so did that. The extra help and question you were here. This comrad helped us experience the wonders of the world and the wonders of our minds and this blessing. I love the challenge and I love what I got from you guys. Even when I wasn't on point, the bad days brought me to my being helpful and being hurt. The world had
023a twist happened. It became harder to learn. But between Mr. Mr. Dolan singing and Miss time she emailed me for reviews or always checking on me. I really appreciate that and the work you put make private comments or emailing me made me feel like someone was paying attention to my work for an accomplished and making me feel good. You had a relationship for his life in the evil times. You are caring, loving, kind, thoughtful, encouraging even through rough days. And one moment I like to speak in particular and I hold you dear dearly is the Greek project me picking her because of your strength. I felt like because of greatness, your strength, cleverness and courage. I always wanted to help. Well, your goddess Hy the goddess of heart from your kindness and helpfulness and peace.
024As some of your colleagues have said, you're someone that think of yourself. I mean that think everybody else before yourself. Lead by example as a great mentor and teacher for years. Being someone who who is privileged to look up to someone who volunteered her time to coach the girls basketball team. Showing her teacher style her genuine to care for students and teachers. Someone that passion dedicated play success of the girls basketball team while I'm a teacher too. This lady is someone that makes children for over 20 years go home being an important part of our diverse team in our community. This is why you deserve this. Love and kisses [Music] from I and I haven't spoken from a lot of people like this, but I do like the impact that she's made on my kids.
025Um she will always send me emails making sure that we're always on task and she won't let me just put them. um as far as her teacher skills, but she also grew my mother skills too, making sure that they were always on task and I appreciate her for that. And I'm really everything and a speaker and I'm not. So, thank you very much to what you have done for the community. [Applause] Yeah. I know. Okay, so this is my biggest fear. I knew you were going to have to make me do this. So, I have nothing really prepared, but just want to kind of talk off my heart. There's two things when I think of and I brought me tissue. First of all, thank you so much. I am really honored and really humbled with
026this award. Um, when Sue and Brian pulled me in their office and told me that I got it, I went home that weekend and I thought of two things. First, I thought of the corny phrase, it takes a village. It really takes a village. Okay, my people at the ridge, my little village, deserve this award. I texted people when they found out and I said, "This is your award also." Okay, I'm the kind of teacher I am because I have people around me who really elevated me. I mean, the people that showed up tonight, I cannot thank you enough. It's really touches my heart that you took time out of your busy night and came for me. It's it's really means a lot to me. The second thing I thought of was my collab partners.
027I've been fortunate. I have worked in the district for 20 years. I started with Courtney who's an amazing teacher, okay? I had a foundation with her. I became a better teacher. Then I get switched over to Morgan, okay? Who's one of the best teachers in the district. I know I'm a little biased, but one of the best teachers in the district where I'm going to end my career in a few years. So between the two of them, I have been very lucky. I am the teacher I am because of the two of them and because of the people that are here supporting me. I wouldn't be up here without him except without all of them. So I just want to say thank you. I left um even you know two of two of the teachers.
028We were just at an event at Pagios for our team. There's 400 people there and Six sixth graders are presenting in front of 400 people and they are one of two middle schools. The rest are high schools. And I'm pretty sure they're getting an award tonight. So, I'm very excited. I have to run back out to go over there to get the award. But I just really from the bottom of my heart want to thank everyone because this means really so much to me. So, thank you [Applause] done right because your village is back there beaming with pride organ is fighting back the tears. It's it's really a beautiful thing. So, thank you. Thank you so much. So, next we have Mr. Brian Donovan. Where is he? [Applause] So, Mr. Donovan's positive energy is effective.
029When he enters a room, it changes. His dedication as a special education teacher is unmatched. Mr. Donovan builds meaningful, individualized relationships with each of his students, helping them feel seen, valued, and empowered. Mr. Donovan's positive outlook and unwavering beliefs in fresh starts makes every day a new opportunity for growth and success in his classroom. He fosters a strong collaborative rapport with his co-teers bring energy, passion, and drive to every interaction. It is with great pride that we celebrate him as this year's teacher of the year for Joyce Kilmer School. When approaching a few words on Mr. Donovan tonight, Reagan, a student, immediately commented, quote, "He is the best teacher I ever had. We have Reagan here in the [Applause] crowd. You got this. Hi, I'm Rean and this is what I think of Mr. I
030think he is kind, caring, determined and always patient with the students at JK. He is a responsible human being. and he was always willing to help me and others with school work even if he's busy or doing something important. I'm so happy that he got teacher of the year cuz he deserves it. Thank you, Mr. Don. And by the way, thank you for all your so [Applause] [Music] that was great. I know you're an officer. Thank you so much, Reagan. Great job. Let's give her another round of [Music] applause. necessarily planning on saying anything today either. But as I'm standing up here and I see everybody, it makes me think of a couple things. The team that we have here in Mawa, starts with my family. Wouldn't be here without them. And then I have
031to mention Linda, Mike, Dennis, who when I was thinking about moving my life over here to Ma, they were the ones who interviewed me, hired me. Kelly Zaki who's in the back who I constantly have to remind that without her, without you all, it totally changed the trajectory of my whole life. So, this has been great. Ma is a great place and it's a it's a team. It's a partnership and we can see it from all of you up here all the way down to the principles, assistant principles, the teachers that work so well together and all of our students like Reagan who do such a nice job. So, thank you very much. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Our next teacher is Miss Christ. [Applause] [Music] We are beyond excited to have Christelli representing Lenipe Meadows as
032our teacher of the year. Miss Patelli has an incredible ability to connect everyone of our students. Her genuine care and dedication are felt by all and are clearly reflected in her classroom community. Two wonderful examples of her impact include the development of the Dynast and Spirit Squad. initiative she created to inspire students to spread joy and compassion throughout the school building and beyond her classroom. Mrs. Chelli is a core member of the Lenine Meadows family and is respected by all colleagues and families. One family in particular eagerly jumped at the opportunity to speak out with this evening. Miss Miller's oldest son, who is here tonight, who is on break from college, had Miss Fchelli as a third grade teacher himself, and her daughter currently is in her class today. [Music] [Applause] All right, good evening
033everyone. Um, my name is Anthony Miller and I graduated from Mawa High School in 2023. I want to start by congratulating uh all the teachers being recognized tonight on your teacher of the year awards and I see Miss Tito over there. I had you my freshman year at advertising. So um I just want to thank you for all your years of service. Um the work you do and all these teachers does not doesn't always get the spotlight it deserves. Uh but the impact that you have on us students is lasting. Um, a few days ago my mom mentioned here that there was a chance to speak about Miss Belli in light of her receiving this award and I knew right away that I wanted to speak. I had Miss Pelli in third grade which was
034uh over 10 years ago. I'd say over a decade now. Um, and it's something that still sticks with me to this day. Um, her classroom was a place that felt welcoming and calm, a space where every student felt seen and supported. Um, she taught with a genuine kindness and patience that even at that age, even at my age of 9 years old, it really made a difference. Um, and I'm very sure that teaching third graders isn't always the easiest thing to do. I have an a 9-year-old sister um that's in her class right now. Um, so looking back, I can honestly say that her class helped shape the kind of person uh I've grown into. Uh, it gave me confidence and made school feel like a place where I could really grow. And I think
035that's really important for um a third grader and and kids that young. Um some of my best memories from that year are the simple ones. Uh working on class projects, going on field trips, and just being excited to come to school. I'm sure Miss Pella can um tell you about all the uh the times I've spoken in class and all my great friends in there. Um and that says a lot about who she is as a teacher and as a person. Um, and now, as I said before, my little sister has her this year, and it's really special to see her getting that same experience. Uh, she tells me all the time about the stuff she does in class. Um, and it really reminds me of what I did in class to do. So, uh,
036uh, the care and the way that you show up for your students, uh, it hasn't changed. Um, so I just want to thank you, Mr. Machelli, for the nearly 30 years of of service to talent, for the difference you made in my life and for the lives of so many others. uh you deserve this recognition and and much more. Uh and once again, congratulations to all the incredible teachers being honored tonight. Uh thank you to the board, Dr. Tor giving me the chance to speak. Uh it means a lot to be back here as an alumni, especially for a moment like this and to uh uh uh celebrate an amazing teacher that I have. So, thank you very much. Good evening everyone. Um, my name is Vicky Miller. Obviously, as Anthony just said, um, he
037had her in third grade and my daughter Sienna is currently in her class now. I'm honored to be here to speak on her behalf. When I heard Mrs. Bachelli was awarded teacher of the year, I couldn't think of anyone more deserving. When I the two words that immediately come to my mind when I think of her is amazing and frogs. If you ever saw her classroom, you would know why. Miss Pachelli, you've been more than a teacher. You've been an inspiration. Your passion for teaching is infectious. Your creativity brings learning to life. Your patience and understanding creates a safe and wonderful learning environment. Your dedication is truly amazing. There's a quote that says, "Great teachers empathize with kids, respect them, and believe that each one has something special that can be built upon." Well, you're
038all of this and more. Thank you for believing in my children and giving them the wings to move on from elementary school. You made them feel special, important, and unique. You're very special to our family and will always hold a special place in our hearts. Congratulations. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] It's kind of part you. Hi, thank you so much for this award. Um, I don't have anything planned. I didn't really know I had to speak tonight, so I'm just going to speak from my heart. Um, thank you for letting me work here. I have to say I love it here. I've been here for 29 years. Third grade for 29 years. And um I'm just blessed to be able to work with all the families and all the children in this district and all the
039amazing staff. Shout out to my team. Um couldn't do it without them, without the support from all the admin and just the love from the district here. It's an amazing place and I'm honored and really blessed to be here. So, thank you so much. [Applause] All right. Our next honore is from George Washington School, Mrs. Mertz, who serves as the school nurse. Mrs. Mertz prioritizes building meaningful relationships with GW families from the moment that they register. She supports students overall health and well-being with compassion, expertise, and provides comfort to the families of those students. Her keen attention to student health has made difference in the lives of GW students and their families. In addition to her care for students and families, Mrs. Merc serves as a trusted resource for staff, mentoring aspiring nurses, and strengthening
040GW school culture through her professionalism, her teamwork, and her unwavering support of her colleagues. Although Mrs. Mertz had to attend her daughter's graduation today, we thought it was still fitting to invite a guest to speak on Mrs. Wilson's behalf. Tonight's guest speakers, current GW kindergarten student Luciana and her mother, Mrs. Sierro, are here to share how Mrs. Bart's care ease their transition to GW and to speak to the lasting impact of her kindness and dedication. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hi everyone. It is such an honor that our little lady who's more excited than anyone in this room probably to be here tonight um who is also Mrs. Mer's biggest fan. She has the opportunity as well as our family to say a few words on behalf of the amazing nurse Mertz who could not attend this
041evening. She she really is amazing. Our daughter Luchian is currently a 5-year-old kindergarten student in Mrs. Trian's class at George Washington. We are new to MAWA and new to GW. While we haven't known Nurse MS for all that long, it did not take a long time before we absolutely adore her. Immediately into the school year, Rich would name drop Mrs. Mertz on a daily basis. And I thought to myself during orientation, Mrs. Merz, Mrs. She's the nurse trying to think who's the assistant, who who he knows who's who. And then I'm saying to myself, this is not good. She keeps mentioning the nurse. She realized that the ticket to the white home was to go see the nurse, you know, go see the nurse and that's it. Call mom and dad. But I realized that
042it was just more than that. Um, so within a few months of school, it was Mrs. Mer's birthday. We did not know it was her birthday, but we were driving to school and all of a sudden eventually I started to freak out. Turn around. You got to turn around. Hurry up. I forgot something. And I'm saying to myself, why did she forget? Very diligent with the folder that Mrs. I know I didn't forget. She had these tiny little pictures that she made, little icons, little stethoscope, whatever they were, little medical icons. And I said to her, "This is the nurse. She'll be here tomorrow. She'll be here the next day. You can bring it to her tomorrow." She said, "It's her birthday." I said, "It's okay, Lucy. I have other gifts you could bring to
043her tomorrow." She said, "Mommy, she is not just the nurse. She's my friend." And I said, "You know what? Let me have you." I said, "Let me turn around cuz we know something." At that point, it was about this little bomb that she had for the nurse. And I didn't want to read that bomb. So, around we turned and uh we picked up what she had for the nurse. So yes, it is her knowledge and her skill set that makes her a great nurse. But truly, it's her compassion, her caring, and her being a friend to these students. And not only to the students, but to the parents. I number one, I'm a co parent. I'm a helicopter mom. This is my first time. They did not come with an instruction booklet. So, it's nice
044that I can call her up and say, "Listen, would you stop feeling so good today? Can you keep an eye on her?" She has never made me feel any sort of uncomfortable to even make that phone call. She has such great energy about her and she is so easy to love. So we really love her. So speaking of little friends, Luchiana has learned thanks to your amazing curriculum. She reads, she writes, she loves to write. We are blown away at this and uh she wrote some words about Mrs. M. Say them. Mrs. Ms. From the first set, I meant her. She was so nice to me. Mrs. Merch always helps us with our things. Scrapes and We're very sick. She is the best nurse ever. She is sweet as a cupcake. And at the top
045she put red velvet, my favorite. She is my super. She is my friend. Great job, Miss Scissors. [Applause] And just to piggy back on that Supergirl comment, it was cute that during principal week, all the kids were tasked with writing something about the principal that they thought what he does all day. And Lucha felt that he was Superman, that he his job was to just go around the school and make sure that everybody was safe. Whatever that meant, someone's in an argument, somebody got hurt, just to make sure that the everyone was safe. So, this is your camera is Mrs. Mer, but she is Supergirl. And I had um the opportunity to be a class mom, which is something I always wanted to do. And I went on a field trip this year to the
046B County Zoo. And the one kid that got hurt was my daughter. Nothing major, but she came off the train and she tripped and she fell. I did not even know Mrs. Nurser was on this trip with us because there's two kindergarten classes. We're we divide and conquer. We're in different areas. She fell. Within seconds, I turned around and there's Mrs. spir treating her boom. So I said to myself, you know something, she really is Supergirl. So it's very cool. So just to bring this to a close, um we are in the words of our school model, grateful for for her taking care of our daughter and for all of the kids at school. We appreciate you, Mrs. MS more than you know. And do not let her retire until my son finishes third grade.
047She's not allowed to come. But congratulations to Mrs. Mertz, and to all of you tonight winning these awards. I don't [Music] [Applause] really use a similar which I actually talked to about teacher. So wow. Thank you. I call that All last but not least, Mory. Let me finish. I love I love you as a first grade teacher. Pestridge embodies everything parents, students, and colleagues hope to find in an educator. From day one, she fosters a classroom environment that is warm, inclusive, and brimming with curiosity where children feel safe and empowered to learn. Miss Pestridge has an incredible ability to connect with her students, understanding their unique needs and meeting them with patience and encouragement. Her lessons are creative and engaging, blending hands-on activities, storytelling, and interactive discussions that capture her students imaginations and made her
048learning a joyful adventure. She is the consmate professional. Miss Pestridge is a wellrespected member of the teaching staff at Betsy Ros School and is appreciated for her collaborative spirit, her knowledge, and her approachability. Mrs. Donnie was a current parent at Su Law School and her daughter now JK had missed as a first grade teacher several years ago. They are both here to speak about the difference that she made and profound impact she has had on navigating her educational journey here in [Music] Mal. Good evening everyone. I brought one more with me. Um, thank you Dr. Vuro, Dr. Fair, Mr. Henzel for allowing us to speak here tonight. My name is Kate Ojanu, and I'm here with my daughters Natalie and McKenzie. My husband and I are both Mama High School graduates, and it was an
049easy decision that we wanted to raise our family here. The schools are phenomenal, but more importantly, our educators are unmatched. They not only enrich our children's lives academically, but also socially and emotionally. When you picture a nurturing and caring teacher, you're picturing Miss Pestridge. So many students have been lucky enough to have her and they always speak so highly of the difference that she's made in their lives. When Natalie told some of our friends that they had she had Miss Pestridge, they were like, "We have Miss Pestridge." So we were so excited. It's truly special to see former students, even those now in middle and high school, come back to visit her at family night each June. My daughter Natalie had a unique kindergarten experience during co spending three quarters of the year on Zoom
050before returning to school masked in a completely new environment. She was incredibly fortunate to have Miss Pestridge as her first grade teacher. That year, despite masks and social distancing, Miss Pestridge made an abnormal year feel normal. Natalie loved school. She loved seeing her friends, and it was clear Miss Pestridge was dedicated to helping her students thrive in what was everyone's new normal. Her dedication truly helped Natalie grow and succeed. Beyond the classroom, Miss Pestridge was a wonderful advocate, helping us navigate the process for extra support, working with Natalie's team and keeping me and my husband updated every step of the way. She truly cares about her students and genuinely wants them to succeed. To this day, whenever we Natalie visit Betsy Ross for her sister McKenzie, she always seeks out Miss Pestridge and is greeted
051with the biggest hug and a smile. Our district is blessed with so many wonderful educators and there are many deserving candidates for teacher of the year. We are truly lucky in MA. But Miss Pestridge will always hold a special place in our hearts for making a crazy year feel normal for Natalie. In fact, on the day that she was selected for teacher of the year, I happened to bump into her in the hall and the first thing she said to me was, "How's our Natalie?" Congratulations, Miss Pestridge, on this incredibly deserving and special award. And to all the recipients here tonight, thank you for your hard work and for making our school district a better place for all of our [Applause] students. Miss Patrick, thank you for being a great teacher. You help me learn
052how to play at new school. You help me make friends and learning fun. Congratulations. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I want the back. Thank you so much for this award and congratulations to everybody who received this honor today as well. I am so grateful that my mom and dad and brother and my Betsy family are here tonight to celebrate with me. Um I feel so lucky and blessed. I can't believe it's been 24 years already in the same classroom, even though first grade, second grade, same room all these years. And I am so grateful to my Betsy family. I teach with the most talented, creative, intelligent, loving, caring, hardworking women and few men, you know, that there are they are just the absolute best. And you know, we're just such a family. And I
053don't know what I would do without you all. You're amazing. And thank you for always being here for me. And um I just feel lucky and blessed and I thank you know the board. I thank you know the wonderful administrators we have um the amazing kids the amazing students and the supportive parents. Um you know in this crazy world that we live in through all of life's ups and downs. You walk into your classroom and you have 20, you know, little six-year-olds smiling at you and for those 6 hours nothing else matters but them. So, I feel so lucky and blessed that this is my life. I love going to school. I don't call it work, I call it school. I'm so blessed to go to school every day. And um congratulations to everyone and
054thank you for [Music] this board of education. I just actually want to um share a few comments. First, a really hearty congratulations to our teachers of the year. I mean, amazing to hear uh students and parents talk about you and obviously these are students who have learned a great deal because I say it all the time, but their public speaking skills from kindergarten very impressive to those uh alumni who came um are very uh impressive. So, Mrs. Torino, Mrs. Conrad, Mr. Mr. Donovan, Mrs. Pirelli, Mrs. Petridge, and Mrs. Mertz. Now, I and maybe other board members might have a little bit to share, too. I have to tell you, amazing nurse Mertz. I totally agree. Both my kids were at GW and um just she's a very comforting, smiling face. They didn't have all the
055teachers obviously. And Miss Torino, I wanted to remind you that one of your 2,224 students was Venet. And he's surpassing your average salary, I can tell you. Probably thanks to you. And you put up with Vin senioritis, which kind of took you down, but you know what? He's doing very well today. And he really did enjoy your class and is doing well investment banker things to you. and you also were the class um um um advisor for my daughter's class. So, you were involved in both of my kids life. Thank you very much. You were really inspirational to both of them. They may not have always known in the moment, but they remember it afterwards. So, anyway, thank you. Do any other board members want to say anything? Okay. Again, congratulations. Thank you so much
056for [Music] [Applause] Okay, this is the moment. We have a lot left. You are more than free to go. You can stay, but you'll have to. Congratulations. All right, everyone. We're going to continue with our game. If you um are still socializing, but then you're stopped. You're not stopped. You can continue. Uh Dr. Toro has uh our next big strategic plan uh update and uh this is our uh compilation our slow down of the 2020 to 2021 year. So um let's get started. You want us to move down culmination culmination Dr. [Music] All right, I guess we're going down. [Music] Come here. [Music] Yes. Everyone got Dr. So, so let me get started. Um, this is a culmination culmination of 5 years of hard work. Um, these actually these are my my favorite uh meetings
057because we get a chance to really celebrate the work of of an entire district. I'm I'm very grateful that the administrative students here. Um there's been a ton of work and and commitment from the administrative team to make all the things you're about to see possible. I also want to thank the board of education uh for your commitment to this work and absolutely I want to take some time to thank the teachers cuz without them this work wouldn't happen. So just to give you a little backstory and I know I do it every single time but it's the last one I want to say. Five years ago, we decided uh to come together and really figure out how do we work the best of its life. When we came into the district 14 years ago,
058um I was very fortunate to work with administrators that every single building was working extremely hard. Um the issue though was everyone was working in silos and we felt it was important for us to not only come together as as administrative team but talked to our community about the needs that they feel the district um really has in order to improve year over year. With that we took part in the numbers plan meetings and this is the product of all that work. Every single year we report out to the to the board of education twice a year to talk about the work that's taking place each year. This uh presentation is going to be a little bit different. This presentation represents the culmination of 5 years of work. So this is a close out of
059the 2020 to 2025 strategic plan as we begin the next strategic plan which is 2025 to 2030. Throughout this presentation, you're going to see a couple different things. There's going to be the four frames that are going to be introduced by one of the administrators. And then we asked this time for our building administration to talk about the work that's happening at the K5 level, 68 level, and 912 level. What better way to show the work than the people who are actually doing it with the administrators and the teachers. So without further ado, I want to introduce Dr. to introduce the [Applause] coordinator. All right. So, um you've heard me talk about curriculum for the last I don't know how many years, a long time, but I am really proud of the work in all
060seriousness um and the work that the strategic plan allowed us to do in model. some of the goals up there or I guess they're statements really. Um I'm just going to review because it's really hard to see what those little words are. So the first statement we had to do or had to do with updating our curriculum, making sure we align to all mandates and also creating differentiated instruction and JTSS. We should all be clapping right now. Um number two, um how do students start to think globally beyond the four walls that they were learning in? So we've started that work and we're going to talk a little bit about that in those in different slides that number three was to ensure that we had ongoing PE that was supportive of our teachers and the
061initiatives that we were running. So we've done a lot of different years. you hear a little bit about it, but things like Aludo or Dragon where we have teachers and administrators, teaching other teachers and administrators, these are all things that lead to good instruction and informal instruction. Number four, creating authentic learning experiences for our kids. And then number five has to do with developing a connection between the school our school and other schools our school and organizations and our schoolation and you're going to hear that a lot too. So I'm really really excited to introduce our admin team. We're going to start with our elementary team and they're going to take you through some highlights. Some that might be a little bit closer to this moment as you've heard so many things of the last
062four years but we're we're about to celebrate. So I hope you enjoy. [Applause] Good evening. Good evening everyone. Um, I am super excited to start off in speaking about curriculum and instruction. Uh, for those of you who know, my first two years in the district, I got to be the supervisor of elementary curriculum and instruction. So, it's definitely a point of pride for myself as well as the district. Um, and if you heard in a lot of the speeches tonight, everyone kind of highlighted the curriculum and the instruction and just our staff in general and all. Um, as research continues to evolve, we are committed to evolving as well. The district intentionally reviews curricular programs to ensure we are teaching current, engaging, and meaningful material. With that being said, professional development for our staff remains
063as an important focus in our district. Some of the um professional development that we have gone through in the last five years are related to reading and writing units of study. We have adopted new um units of study for both reading and writing in K to 5. Um even in sixth grade they are adopting those units which is really exciting. Um and then something that we piloted this year for the first time is writing math. I am super excited for that to continue next year with all of our K5 classrooms. uh the ability that our students are developing in the way that they're able to articulate themselves mathematically, watch our 5-year-olds grow is just really impressive. So, I'm excited to watch um that grow go up the the scale for our students. Something else that
064is really exciting that we've done here, um this is the fourth year that we have instructional coaches. Um that ensures that we have ongoing and consistent professional development for our teachers. we are truly invested in our staff. Um just making sure that again we are always current. Making sure that our students are being thought of in um every step of the way. Making sure that they're not just being developed academically but socially and culturally as well. Some of the ways that our instructional coaches are supporting are through residencies cycles. Uh making sure that our new teachers are coming into the profession and feeling confident. Um, and then also making sure that our veterans are always evolving as well. So, Mr. Web is now going to continue with how we invest in our students. Thank you.
065So, what's exciting is Natasha is talking about all the time and effort that we put into investing our teachers. We're doing that for a reason. Correct. It's for the investment that that goes into our students. So, I'm just excited to report um that we're now in position or the teachers are now in a position through the IE diagnostic and all the uh components that I has to offer. their resources coupled with the fact that all the hard work that went into uh uh implementing our tiered instruction. Uh the teachers are a place that can truly meet all the needs of our students. Um they have the resources at their fingertips. They have the approach, the mindset and the understanding of how to make this happen which is great because coming on four years ago as
066Dr. I was highlighting there was a little bit of people being in silos and now going into this next school year we're in a position where that's not the case or there's collaboration that's happening amongst um the teachers um whether grade level special ed teachers um our instructional coaches and staff at large. So we're in a really good position to meet the needs of all of our students. Um and I'm really excited uh for the prek autism program that came on uh this here this year. um those students. Um it's really nice to see the schoolwide activities that they're participating in and the ability to have integrated with their gender peers which wouldn't be the case if they were not here. So it's just a really nice launching point for us. I'm excited to have
067the K3 autism program here as well just represent our strategic plan action. Okay. Um, for the middle school, we thought it would be best if we really break it down uh by department. So, have to give a shout out to our supervisors. They've been doing incredible work with our teachers uh and they've been doing a lot of heavy lifting with everything that you are going to hear and some of the highlights uh and also just the support uh ongoing support from the central office team uh in this area especially Dr. Aino. Thank you for all your work uh in guiding us. In terms of ELA, that was the first department I kicked off with. In ELA, we updated our reading selections by adding some contemporary novels and book clubs to enhance student choice and deep
068connections. And the new novels that were selected uh also reflect our ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. All of our ELA curricula have been updated to reflect the new state standards. Um, but beyond the state standards, because that's just a mandate, um, we were very intentional in updating the curriculum to focus on uh, skill development driving all of the units. And that work was supported um with a tool that arrived just on time. uh the IR tool that we are using uh right now is supporting uh that very specific skill work through our diagnostics and the students uh my path plan in Mrs. essence department in social studies. Uh the emphasis has been on civil discourse, human rights and civics, all timely issues. Uh if you drop into any social studies classroom, you're going
069to see students engage in Socratic discussions. And yes, they are engaging uh content in in those discussions. uh but they're also building those essential communication skills and social skills that we know no matter what path field they pursue they will need. Uh at the sixth grade level uh all the board members are aware we have our teens group uh highlighted and featured at a recent board uh meeting and the work that they're doing with real world problems but also being solution finders coming up with uh solutions to those problems is just uh fantastic. social studies also added some literary texts uh in the seventh grade level during the strategic plan. But I want to highlight this year we had a volunteer book club that got off the ground. Uh teachers and students brought forward a
070proposal uh to start a book club and the book was called Black Star and the the group that participated in this volunteer book club is our current eighth graders. they gave up their lunch at recess to actually dive into a book with their teachers and the book was a sequel uh based on uh something that they read as seventh graders. Um so I just think that speaks to the future that we are building at the bridge and that Mrs. Vaness has created in her department in the area of special education. Very proud of the work that Mr. Kosine and the department's been doing expanding use and training for the Wilson program. uh helping us grow leaders in foundational skills and our life skills program. Uh I know this was a dream of Miss Rizzo's um
071and and just watching the dream play out right now is amazing each and every day. Um it's a point of pride in our building. The students in the program right now uh operate a coffee cart. I think it's the best cup in town if you ever want to drop in. Um they've also partnered with Viva. Uh so you may be aware they have hydroponic towers in our uh life skills program and they learn how to create perfumes and lotions and lip balms from the different plants that they are growing in the program. It's just amazing. So with that I'm going to turn it over to uh someone I'm very lucky to work with Suzanne Chai some of the other departments. [Applause] All right. So, I want to highlight um the mathematics department first. And um
072in mathematics, we updated the placement test that we administered to the fifth graders for middle school placement. And this was done um with Mrs. spous with vertical articulation between our school and JK um as well as our math supervisor Castle and our previous math supervisor as well. Um through this updated placement test as well as our ready diagnostics uh and other multiple data points we're increasing participation in our um grade six prejudge 78 classes uh which is the accelerating math program. So that's a point of pride for sure. Um we also give Mr. sheets uh assistance and supervision. We embedded geometry in all units of math at all grade levels in order to address a priority area for growth through our work. And this was identified through looking at data analysis of NJSA performance. Um
073we're positioning our students to achieve at higher levels on state assessments through this work um by integrating NJSLA like questions into our lessons not only in math but in other uh content areas as well. in science. Uh we're building our content mastery through the link benchmark assessments. Um allowing retakes and also building in reading strategies such as vocabulary morphology examination, anchor charts and works. And that's not something that's typically done in science, but we are increasing those essential reading skills there as well. um in world language in our ESL program. We launched a new u multilingual learner math class um which is a co-eing model at the middle school level and this is a multi-grade level instruction model that um Courtney was very uh instrumental in uh to our school and we're seeing a lot
074of success with the students in that program. Uh we added Mandarin Chinese as a third language offering. Um so that's available to students in grades seven and eight. And overall in world language in general we've developed common assessments and proficiency based instruction. And these efforts have improved in um uh have resulted in improved stamp scores and extended eligible students for option two credit. And then finally, as Brian referenced early uh earlier, across all departments, we're growing into tier 2 small group instruction in the classroom and revising our tier to three supports through math lab and the lab. Here's Mr. Pesca. Oh, he's still in our Good evening. Um, first I'd like to thank uh all of my colleagues at K5 and the middle school level because without a foundation at the high school level, even
075though we're the flagship, we wouldn't be the flagship without the foundation. So, curriculum. We have um we have updated all of our courses with the 2022 standards and mandates um and we have created numerous courses with innovative approaches to work. Um in addition, we have implemented small group instruction using datadriven approaches. Our science department is currently using linkit to help students master content in preparation for the types of infree activities that students are required to do um in this day and age. In terms of authentic learning, our Thunderbird internship and externship program, our pilot year, our 2122, we have three students. Washer we have 48 students. Right now, we're in the midst of planning for this summer. We're well over um probably 65 students and numbers are still working. Uh we've created a number of
076work-based learning placements for our students and have expanded our life skills program. Those students are actually using Cricut machines and producing um products that the community can buy. Our goal next year is to move to some sort of online store. In terms of um our career pathways, and I'll get to that in a minute, we had 16 students in last year's class um earn endorsement, and this year we're projected to have 25 students. We've expanded our AP courses. The high schools been awarded an AP honoral and AP access award which means that uh our courses offered to many more students by demographic. We've also increased the number of female students in computer science. In terms of new enrollment at the start of our strategic action plan, we had three articulation agreements. We now have seven.
077We're with Cat Hall University, Perry Dickinson, Urban Community College, St. Thomas Aquinus, St. Elizabeth, NGIT. We have a relationship with our seventh university college, which is Rambo for which we've added seven courses this year um for our students to be able to take a delicately. We've increased our cost offerings from 20 to 31 in dual enrollment and we have um 132 students who earn um college credits in 194 classes in the 23 24 school year. We have 40 graduates from the class of 2024 who earn six or more credits over four years. And our students this year who are graduating will be attending colleges in 24 states in Canada. In terms of our career pathway endorsement program, in order to get a career pathway endorsement, students need to do three things. Earn 15 credits in
078their pathway, participate in an authentic co-curricular experience, and then either do an internship, an externship, take a college course, do community service, or actual research. Their choice is five things. Um we have 25 projected students the numbers are there who will earn um a career pathway and course camp this year and I'm really proud of the work that our team has been doing especially our values and there's some pictures for [Applause] I'm supposed to talk about these dollars, but I really just want to say, oh my gosh, the amount of work that the people in this room and the teachers and the parents to support the kids and the kids in order for all of these things to be accomplished. And really, this is just highly because over the last four years, 5 years, we've
079been talking about everything every year, twice a year. So, if you put that all together, the compilation of work is extraordinary. So, I really just from the bottom of my heart from CNI, thank you so much for constantly coming to work and wanting to push yourselves even further and making programs better for kids. If you can look at those bars, we have four of them at 100%. One of them we left at 90% which is number two and that's the that's the bar that really talks about thinking globally making connections outside having empathy to the world around us. We feel that that's something that we want to continue to build with our kids and we have actually included it into our country. So thank you from CNI. I really appreciate the work, the hard work.
080Thank you to the board for supporting all of these crazy initiatives that were like hey let's get this let's do this. It is working. It will continue to work. And the most important thing is honestly we're doing all of this for our kids. So, thank you so [Applause] much with community. Thank you. And what an awesome night to actually highlight community connections because uh there are two pieces. um you know tonight's teachers of the year celebration and honoring as well as the cohesion you feel amongst this management team which is the most cohesive it's ever felt for me in the last 11 years is very emblematic of our collective work. So it really um I just want to give a round of applause. I know it's just us. We owe ourselves a round of applause.
081As you see here, these were uh we have the goal statement and uh some of those sub goals to support that goal statement for community connections. And what emerged through our conversations uh back in uh 2020 when we were building in the strategic plan was to focus on our continuation of building a sense of community uh and connecting amongst and across our community. This frame focused on ways in which we can build more opportunities to work with community members in a range of forums, welcome newcomers to our community, and expose our students to opportunities beyond our classroom walls, bringing course content to life. So, what you'll see here is a little bit of overlap with our curriculum frame as well as the frame which will follow. The strength of the school district as we know
082is rooted in the strength between home community and our schools. So as highlighted through our Thunderbird partnership program, we couldn't have talked about it more, right? That branding was super important. our internship extership experiences for our students, our further development of our communication strategy through our district newsletter, streamlining email communications across the district, our T-Ird talk opportunities, and celebrating our work across our school more overtly at our board meetings and social media platforms. We believe we have made significant strides this year. So, I'll pass it off to Miss Adams from JK to speak more thoroughly about what this looks like at the Um, so a lot of what Dennis Farah was saying I was also just going to echo. There is a sense of community and pride when you talk about Mawa. There are a
083lot of lifers in Mawa who grew up in Mawa and then come back to Ma and work in Ma. Um, and I think that what better night to see all of that in action. A lot of alumni came back to speak about that they had. And so thinking about community connections and our strategic plan, I think we were all excited to welcome families and students back into the building in 2021. And uh so some of the things that we did, we had posted parent student orientations and tours welcoming people back into the building. And um we updated our communication. So all of K5 has communication. We also send uh weekly newsletters and um our social media presence has increased and moved to Instagram and um we have a lot of exciting posts. We like to
084do battle in the schools and um have fun mascots. Great. Um and it's become really fun to compete in between the schools and try to see who has the best social media presence. Uh the flagship typically wins, but we're working on it for you. Uh we also have new translation tools that are really they make speaking to all families easy and allows of access and entries for all families. And our community outreach, many people have talked about it, but the Denver partnership has been really huge with K5. It allows students to see all the opportunities that they have when they grow up. Um so we have lots of all our alumni come back. Um many community members and then people who are have fun and exciting jobs that we don't even know about that we
085don't typically talk about. How do we get our students excited? Um in JK Project Challenge we started mock trials. Um we're looking to develop those. Uh we joined the national script spell this year K5 partnership and sounds like it might be the school as well. Um science day and we also have a slew of cultural events within our community that we participate in that we're also really proud of. These are all of our students in action showing off a strategic plan for community connections. [Applause] uh community connections. I I came to the district in 2018 and I think it's fair to say we all of us will agree we're connected in ways now that it's just very different and it's so cool. Um Dennis uh Dennis kind of coined the hashm connects or I guess
086I gave him credit for doing that. I'm sure as a team approach like everything else but it's a real thing. Dennis mentioned branding. Uh ma connects is the real thing and we're going to highlight some of the things in different areas for you in the academic domain. Uh under Thunderbird partnerships uh at the secondary level we have hosted 165 Thunderbird uh experts uh that's across the middle school and high school. We've hosted architects, authors, scientists, financial professionals, journalists and and many more. Uh our project challenge students participated in the New Jersey wall fair competition. Uh and our sixth grade team won first first place. Uh these students had an opportunity just last week uh to visit the New Jersey Law Center for a mock trial experience. Uh the the Ridge and LA High School collaborated
087to create a career pathway assembly for grades seven and eight. Uh and that assembly, the best part of the assembly was a panel of students who were in the pathway program or went through the pathways program. Uh and it was just a studentto student Q&A uh about what uh the the opportunities at the high school level in the area of the arts uh visual arts, performing arts. Another point of pride here in Malawa. Our groups uh continue to get very prestigious awards and achievements. Uh for example, our orchestra recently earned the gold rating at the North Jersey Regional Festival. Our coral director, Miss Maria, uh conducted this year's Bergen County Chorus Festival. So that was a huge honor for her as well as for us here in Malawa. Our theater department continues to uh raise
088the bar for itself. It's always been an impressive uh production each and every year, but this this year's Junior just found a way to uh kick things up a notch. And besides the impressive performance uh under the umbrella connects, they always do a uh performance for JK. So we not too long ago we started as part of the transition process hosting JK uh doing a special performance for them and we also performed for local senior citizens. Uh and earlier this month uh once again our G&T program hosted their annual art show in town hall. So that's been a location in recent years. Great tradition. I think the entire community looks forward to it. He stole my opening line. Mr. Cory talk about health connects because it's really become a thing and I heard Mr. Corey
089give Dr. Fair credit for it but apparently credit is over here. That's what he's saying. So um to continue along the um regard thanks partner. Um regarding our different um service clubs uh we We have several clubs at North Ridge that are engaged in service and those include the community service club, friends of North [Music] America service initiatives um from clothing, food and toy drives and efforts to support organizations such as American Red Cross, Tomorrow's Children Foundation, and even supporting new families in Mawa or any um families in Mawa that are in need. uh we take very proud of that. Um our students, staff and families also have engaged in various cultural events such as international night and uh the lunar new year celebration. I know a lot of that was uh through Mrs. Carlo's
090department as well. Um but that new year uh lunar new year celebration was made possible through an MSF grant. Um I believe Mr. Tory referenced it earlier, but we have had hosted members of the model police department uh for coffee with a cop and those are life skills uh students who are um invited in members of the model police department to have coffee with them and talk about uh community service and protecting the model community um in uh connecting in an important way. Um we've fostered opportunities as Mr. set up for our schools to connect and blend uh together. And that includes day and night um which is an opportunity for um I believe our school and the high school and I believe JK as well to kind of the students and band to kind
091of connect with one another um and play together. Uh the chorus and orchestra uh groups have visited our elementary schools. Um we had friends giving which is our life skills class um engaging with other levels um for Thanksgiving feast back in the fall. We do that each year. They also engage in a cookie exchange amongst their classes. Um and then also last year we had a collaboration with all schools to raise the $61,000 for the habitat for humanity project that Mr. HR. Uh we continue to remain focused on communication including our weekly updates through our one call system, the launch of a new website and also related features with uh which has related features with improved accessibility for our programs and activities through our social media Instagram. [Applause] Community Connections has been very exciting at
092the school level. We've had educational partnerships in particular with Reno College um through a variety of departments, their art department, their social studies department, and their Holocaust studies department. In addition, teachers had professional development in the visual arts at both Reno College and the Mont Clair Art Museum. In terms of career development initiatives, uh we ran several parentmies uh for student for parents from grade six all the way through 12 about our career pathways program, our internship program, our dual enrollment courses as well as our option two um programs. As Mr. Corey mentioned, we have had assemblies with our middle school students, with panels of students, which has been um very successful and we've had alumni come back to speak at a variety of classes about their experiences in the workplace. In terms of experiential
093learning, um a lot of our students um are taking field trips. For example, our art students go to the Met. Um, our business students will go to the financial district and our science club and our science needs students will go to our elementary schools for C days and for science days. In terms of community service, the Habitat for Humanity, as you know, has been doing a lot of fundraising for the House in Ordale. They will go on June 2nd to start um to start building that house, which is really exciting for us. The Leo Club as well as the Habitat for Humanity does a lot of work each month with Access for All in Malawa. Uh and those kids and those advisors give up a lot of their time on the weekend to work with
094access for all um in our community. Our hope club uh takes charge of taking child to work day which is really an exciting day. Uh we have a lot of kids uh a lot of kids including Dr. Dr. hosted people who all want to come to Mal High School now. Um, which we're happy about. Um, but they did a great job organizing that for our for our community. In terms of multicultural and community events, this year we had the Lunar New Year celebration funded by the Mala Schools Foundation. We've had international night, our band choir. We've been the host site um for Bergen County band and choir auditions and uh we are working collaboratively with Ramsey High School in our theater program and we've formed a lot of community partnerships with the MA police department
095our life skills class um has really integrated activities um into their program where they have police officers come in um sit and speak with our students and also we have a variet iety of community based trips like the Rock and Boulders where kids go out for social activities and other kinds of activities. Thank [Applause] you. All right. As you'll see here, we have a bar progression of what we believe after reviewing all of the work over the course of the last 5 years, what we've achieved. You'll see that goals one, three, and four based on our work, uh, we feel as if we are at 100% completion. Gold one mentorships have been forged through our Thunderbird partnership program and our internship extership program that we've we've talked about pretty extensively. Uh goal two, we believe
096we are at 90%. Um we've instituted town halls along with our focus work on welcoming uh new families into our district. Uh we've tapped into a communications consultant to improve our communication efforts as well. Um we've also made very conscious and purpose purposeful um efforts to work on the transitions from building to building uh to make us connected as a entire school district. What you'll hear about when we discuss our framing, there's some overlap here. We're still working on building the parentto parent piece. Uh that is uh also really important to to us and our team. Goal three, we have successfully built and branded our career pathways and Thunderbird partnership program with an added focus on career affairs and expanding our partnership opportunities for our students. So, we've definitely achieved that. And lastly, we've successfully
097connected with families through our work with our ML families along with the brand new programs for dual enrollment, which is ever growing. Um big shout out to our supervisory team uh for their tireless work in finding new and innovative ways to uh create opportunities for our kids. Uh we also made strides in building and sustain those partnerships with more and more trade schools and diversified programs for our students beyond the subsequent four-year college option for our students. So uh we're really proud of what you can see see here. Um obviously the the piece that we don't believe we we've achieved uh we're going to bake into the the following strategic plan. So Mizo is now going to speak to the achievements of our plan. [Applause] You know, as I'm sitting there listening to each of
098the areas, I'm beginning to envision that notion of the hand becoming a mighty fist. And what a wonderful opportunity we're creating for all of our students through all of this cohesiveness. Um, and relative to social emotional learning, I remain so enamored by our district's steadfast commitment to social emotional learning. We all know that there was a time during which SEAL or social emotional learning caused apprehension or perhaps some confusion. And by now we've demonstrated that our diligence with SEAL is rooted in care for each student and commitment to each one reaching their potential. The potential that every parent hopes for their child. L is designed to build learner capacity, including grit and resilience both in and out of the classroom. MA's NCL program has the intention of creating moments for the learner during which he
099or she experiences the fact that they have within them all that they need to meet the challenges and come out successful. We have developed an enriched environment rooted in SEAL competencies of selfawareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making and relationship skills. We have developed our programs with the expectation that all students have opportunities to evolve into their personal best. I know that tonight you're going to find that all that is shared by our principles are an outstanding representation of our collective dedication to each and every student. And might I invite my elementary colleague to come up and share. [Applause] Socc with regard to us making sure that we were really great things in the beginning about curriculum instruction that we have to make sure that we are teaching the whole child we've made amazing strides
100with what I've seen over these five years through the plan um which we've done quite quite accomplishment so building continuum um each school now has twocl coaches and thosecl coaches help lead morning meetings um rooted in the um the standards as Mrs. shared. They're also helping to coordinate days during the mindful march. School counselors were also added across the schools and they are in the classrooms teaching lessons which are not only helping the students but helping the teachers understand how to support those lessons and make sure that we continue for those goals. They also support students our counselors with developing skills to help students navigate social situations. There are things that they need to be taught and understand how to respond or how to react in those cases. Something that I think the district is
101really proud of is the code of conduct. Um teachers and administrators um work collaboratively to to develop a code of conduct across the A5 school where we believe that every every student has the right to be part of a supportive and safe learning environment and where we want to recognize those positive behaviors. make sure they are recognized and then with regard to misconduct it's an opportunity for us to teach, learn and grow. The code of conduct was implemented this school year and promotes consistency across all of our buildings which makes sure that we are regard to our expectations and our responses at this time with supporting families. Uh the district has launched a website mindful.org RG with resources for home and also hosted numerous parentmies to build homeschool partnerships. Some of those are empowering your
102child understanding and castle and the other was the nurture part approach uh in responsive classroom which has been this year cultivating a positive learning environment. You'll see that this daily infusion of the practices during our schoolwide morning meetings which such great work was taking place during that time. Um, and in each classroom, they're helping build our classroom communities. And the classroom lessons are fostering uh empathy and respective communication. And events such as the uh mindful march uh promote educational well-being schoolwide. It really does give us an opportunity to provide extra attention uh to mindful based activities. And we had activities such as mindfulness yoga and I believe one of the students was talk one of the students in high school today was speaking about having the opportunity in high school to take his shoes off
103and put his feet to the grass and just ground himself. So it's just showing the great work that that's happening. And here are some uh slides from our Instagrams across [Applause] all. Okay. Okay. Um, in terms of at the middle school, we're very proud of all of the hard work that we have been doing um as administr administrative team um as well as with our coaches and our school counseling uh school counselors. Uh we've focused on targeting programming through our school counselors pushing in to the PE and health classes periodically um to help the students to develop and promote their competencies which Mr. Brazo referenced earlier and the way that we do this is um we meet as a team. Um we also take feedback from our teachers uh their observations of students and uh
104really focusing on what each grade level needs um uh some instruction and some guidance and some support with and that's what our counselors uh focus their talks with the students on. Um and we've been doing this for the last several years and it has been very successful. Um we have student centered initiatives including wellness week. Uh that is a week typically in April or May when our PE health teachers and our counselors um create specific activities in PE health classes as well as um around the building um to foster wellness. Of course, we still do for March and SAL days. I know that day was referenced earlier by the elementary school. Um, at least experience where all of our teachers are participating by creating teacher level workshops for the students and these are highinterest workshops.
105Um, there's been very diverse offerings such as Spanish music dance party which is a very big fan favorite. Check out our Instagram. You can see Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Harrison dancing with students. Um, storytelling with Legos, Chill Out, Heal Up, Back Recovery. That was a big favorite back in December. Backyard astronomy and the night sky and many, many more. There's about 60 offerings each day. So, we did have our first day this year, the day before our uh winter break, and we are planning another one for the end of June. We continue to celebrate our students through students of the month and rank acts of kindness. These are programs that we've had in place for a very long time since I've been here um in which is 24 years. Um but we continue to hone
106and shape those programs and make them even better each year. And we do that with the support of our our um each morning we start the day with daily positive quotes on the morning announcements and then we try to use that to promote a positive school culture and then We also want to of course have our fun and purposeful spirit days and weeks throughout the school year. Um along with Mo High School, we've designated a series of home free uh breaks for weekends throughout the school year. And of course, as um Mr. referenced earlier, we have two coaches per school. Uh those coaches help to guide and model best practices for our faculty and staff for them to students. under the umbrella. Uh we're also going to be uh building programs for our students beyond
107the classroom. Uh after school activities, uh I have to leave uh lead lead with a middle school sports program. Um just a few years ago, it did not exist. And I think it it's worth noting uh Dr. in your own life. I'm sure you're proud of so many things you're hearing tonight. Uh but I hope middle school sports is at the top of your list given because um we have everything we have right now because Mike sat down uh with me and a few students in the conference room and just started the conversation. The next conversation was a cup of coffee with Mr. Pelier who's been instrumental in in making it all happen as well. Um, and right now by 3 years time, we have the most comprehensive athletic program at the middle school level
108in the county and I venture to say the state. We've grown very quickly. Um, we have uh in the fall boys and girls soccer. We have cross country. We have girls volleyball. In the winter we have boys and girls uh basketball. Uh, and then right now in our spring season, we have track and field and there's over a 100 kids on Mrs. Beum's uh track pro uh track and field team. Yesterday they were in the league championship and performed very well. I sent out a note to our parents and guardians today about some of the special performances. Um so we are new kids on the block, but I'm sure many of you know uh we've already won a soccer championship. uh all of our uh basketball and soccer teams have gone in into deep runs
109in the playoffs and um that's not why why we are doing it, but it's great to do it, right? We want great test scores, etc. Um but uh we're certainly competing and making ourselves known in the league. Um you don't have to just be an athlete though, to have a place at the ridge. We're also building uh our menu of club offerings. Uh this year, for example, through the support of the MSF, we were able to add the future engineering club. And this year, they got their feet wet. They went to the high school, worked with the high school students and the robotics program there to get some notes. And I just sat down with the advisor, Mrs. Chung, last week, and we started planning out the competitions that we are going to enter next
110year. We are so uh excited about that. Uh through the help of my buddy John here, um we have new opportunities uh for our students to participate in the uh marching band. Uh middle school students, if you go to a Friday night football game, you'll see them in stands playing with uh their high school peers. Also, our students have an opportunity to perform in winter guard and uh percussion group, the awardwinning winter guard and percussion group. So proud of all the students who uh participated in that. This has been a big focus of us uh of ours over the last couple of years in terms of helping uh grow the number of students involved in clubs, sports, performing arts, etc. I'm proud to share with all of you tonight that this year in random numbers
111over 67% of our students are involved in one activity at the beach. To give you an idea of that number, that's 412 students that are involved in that at least one activity. And the chart that we have that I recently shared with the central office team, uh many of those students are involved in multiple activities. And that's something at the middle school level as we're adding programs, we're very mindful to to help our young uh students balance all all of those opportunities. Uh so our coaches, our music directors, the club adviserss, they all work together so students can participate in multiple uh activities and not feel like they have to choose one over the other. Uh another uh big area undercl at the middle school level uh is trip experiences. So, we are known for
112our Frost Valley trip and and our eighth grade trip, of course. Uh but now we also added a seventh grade trip. Uh and I give credit to Mr. Coplin um when he was involved with our HSO. Uh that started we have a seventh grade trip because at an HSO meeting uh Mr. Copper and other parents who are involved and participate raised the idea um Suzanne and I immediately lost answers to them. The next day they waved that year again. Uh and I'm proud to say that we now have a seventh grade uh day trip that our students uh enjoyed this year and they went to medieval times. Um we've also revamped our transition from 5 to 6 and and 8 to 9 to make sure our students are ready to hit the ground running in
113their respective schools. I just met with the fifth grade parents at orientation this week and I assure them that the ridge will be a very familiar home for their child before they even show up in September. Uh we've already hosted them in March. Uh tomorrow Suzanne and we're hosting the entire fifth grade again and then of course over the summer they come in with their families. Uh so we're really proud of the work that we are doing uh with the transition work under uh we're also mindful of school safety and security. We've implemented several teams that are focused on uh looking at data identifying trends talking about situations but more importantly coming up with uh proactive measures to make sure everyone is healthy and safe. Uh some of that work is being done with our
114student support data team, our school safety climate team, and our school threat assessment team. And then of course this year uh we were fortunate with the board's uh support to add a school security officer uh who feels like he's been there one million years. He's already a valuable member of our team working with our students each and every day and it's just an extra resource for us. Thank you. All right. So at the high school level in terms of SEO um for communication resources last year in collaboration with our SGA we created the top story program that I know Dr. fair reports on monthly where we recognize uh well first we created pillars of positive behavior and good character and every month we recognize one faculty member and one student who it kind of is
115training our students to kind of see the good in all that we do good character and encourage one another to demonstrate that character daily uh we also have you know is pretty much an everyday experience at the high school whether it's mindful Monday whether it's work with words of wisd Wednesday and also our Thunderbird Thursdays. Um Dr. Ftoro really must love the month of March because we turn it into mindful Monday music march and so every Monday during the month of March we have the students select musical selections to play throughout the passing of the period in which Dr. will then text me and judge the the song selection of what just took place. So, um, in terms of implementation and support, uh, as you heard tonight with the high school teacher of the year,
116Mr. Arino, right before the strategic plan, when we had mindfulness, the class begin, there was only 22 students. The very first year that it ran, we're happy to say that next year there are 96 student requests for that course. So, we continue to expand up to four sections next year, which is amazing. Um and uh in terms of student support, we um we got a grant through Bergen County Human Services for $7,000 and we were able to create a confidence closet. There are students who may not have a piece of clothing or they may not have this that they can just go to the conference closet, be quiet, and we can uh help support them throughout that process and in their needs. So um a lot of exciting news and then just to touch on
117what Brian said as well, we have implemented the predessor teams not just um at the high school but across the district and are working together with the implementation of the form and the teams and working as one unit. [Applause] Here's some obviously images relative to our SEO in action. And here's our bars. Um, sorry for the SEO. I'm a little bit of a tough breer, I guess. Um, we didn't reach 100% on everything, but nonetheless, there's always an opportunity for error. Um based upon all that was shared by the building administrators for our learner community remains at our forefront. We continue to believe that when students feel connected to the schoolhouse through a supportive learning culture rooted in the growth of each individual's personal potential. We can note marked progress in academics and the not
118so subtle people and personal skills so essential to be a productive member of our society. for goal one in the area of curricular offerings and experiences around SEAL we've received 100% in the area goal two we have we've achieved 90% of our goal in cultivating a culture of appreciation for each of us in our entire community partnership I want to note on goal two that our Habitat for Humanity and teens initiatives contribute to those in need with housing and building wells and there There's still time for the community to donate to those causes. Goal three, we've achieved 80% of our goals by providing opportunities for parental enrichment. As Dr. Farah alluded to, we do have more to work there and we have plans in place. 04, we've reached 100% of our expectation there. And again,
119thank you to the board of education. We now have guidance counselors, grades K through 12. Goal five, we've reached 100% of our of our goal relative to PD opportunities for teachers and staff. And might I close by saying programs in Malawa have the intention to build within the adults and children the understanding that our determination and future comes from our own efforts and actions and are not bound to our past. Thank you, Mr. Um, I'm going to close this out. Um, along the lines of facilities, what I want to talk about first of all is the goals that were that were set forth when we were creating the strategic plan. Some of the things if you look up on to the slide, which you probably can't see, um, it talks about regularly evaluating our learning
120spaces, talks about upgrading our learning spaces, it talks about creating innovative learning spaces that allow our students to thrive. And most importantly, it talked about identifying spaces and adjusting spaces to ensure that every student is able to access their educational experience without boundaries. So what I'm going to talk about over the next couple slides, I'm not going to go chapter and verse in each uh bullet, but there's a lot of commonalities across the elementaryaries. So if you look at the first two elementary schools, Betsy Ross and GW, and it continues on for 11 and Joyce Summer School, across the elementary schools, we um upgraded our fire alarm systems. I know it's not the the exciting upgrades, but those are the essential things that we need in in order to ensure that our kids are safe.
121A new projects have been done throughout the district in consultation with the town council which we're very grateful for that partnership. HBC upgrades and replacements have taken place at GW Len Meadows and Joyce Gilmer School. window replacements at Betsy Ross School and an innovation lab at Joyce Gilmer School. This summer we're going to be working on the new gym on the HDC replacement temperature controls and there's still more work to be done at secondary level. A large amount of work happened at secondary level as well. Uh roofing work happened at both buildings but still more work needs to be done there. window replacement at both buildings, but again, more work needs to be done. Um, hopefully everyone has been able to experience the new grand stands at Ma High School. It's definitely a point of
122pride and it's enhanced the uh spectator experience watching our students perform um resurfacing the new track um and the media center furniture upgrades at Hollow High School. Those are just to name a few projects and I wanted to take a moment to thank the finance and facilities committee. uh four years ago I was fortunate enough to work with them um in our work together um we've been able to develop different um forecasting schedules so we're responsible not only to our district but to our taxpayers all of this work that I just started to speak about um total $10.9 million all of that work is happening within our operating budget um and that for me is a point of pride because there has been tremend tremendous amount of work that that happens um so far over
123the past 5 years. As I said, there's still more more work to be done, but the strategic thought process and assessing of our buildings has allowed our buildings to be um continue to provide a space for our students that the community can be proud of. That being said, what I want to share with you is um throughout the district, our newest building is over 20 years old. Um throughout our district, we have buildings that have character. Let's say that um and that and that is is something that is special to our district. But with that, um we have to be really thoughtful and on top of things to make sure that the infrastructure is in place. The work that the financing facilities and the board administrative team has done with land associates to come in
124and do a early diagnostic assessment of our facilities have aided in our understanding in making thoughtful decisions and improvements throughout these past 5 years and it will continue over the next 5 years. I was going to put a a bunch of pictures of our roof of our rooms throughout the district. I didn't think that was going to hit really well. Um, so we have a picture of HBAC. Um, the picture in the middle is our JPA innovation lab, which is absolutely spectacular. Um, and then a picture of our, I believe, our new HBAC units um, at GW school. Everyone's talking about these bars. So, let me talk about the bars for facilities. As much as I'm extremely proud of the work and commitment that not only the board, the administrative team, I have to give
125a shout out to Greg Romero. has been um just a gem for us of being on top of all the projects and overseeing that and I'm I'm so grateful for Tom coming in this year and work with us on these projects and we continue to um facilities is something that's never going to be done. Um, as much as we're proud of the work that's happened with HBAC roofs, windows, classrooms, field uh, field services uh, and grandstands as we know and I know that Mike Gallow has, I believe, the total um, square footage of our facilities memorized. I do not. Um, it's something that's going to be an ongoing focus not only in the first strategic plan but in the second strategic plan. So that's why we have not uh completed 100% of the goals. But
126hopefully what I share with you the summary of just some of the projects showcases the commitment that we've had to ensure that we're evaluating um creating innovative spaces and ensuring that all of our students have access to our facilities to just close out and I appreciate everyone's patience. I appreciate everyone's uh attention to this. To close out, this work has been extremely important to all of us. This has been our our roadmap from 2020 till 2025. Um, I just want to take a moment to thank the administrative team. I started that way. I want to end that way. The commitment that every single school, every single department has had to this work is the reason why all of this um is a reality. I also want to thank the teachers. The teachers have been walking
127alongside of us every step of the way. and the teacher of the year award really encapsulate the special moments that the teachers create each and every day. And we have all of these products on top of the impact that they're making to our students. So, administrative team, thank you very much. Board of Education, thank you very much for for your support and your commitment to this work and I look forward to starting 2025 to 2030 2021. So, thank you very much. Just like I did at the teacher of the year award, I want to look at my administrative team and say, I'm so grateful for you to be here. You are more than welcome to get home to your family. Thank you so much for your time. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. [Music] No, just
128as long as he's here. Yeah. Okay. The last piece of my report. Yes, there's more. I just want to apologize. I usually um able to speak about the work that we're doing uh without reading but this content is extremely important. I don't want to miss any important pieces to not only share with the board with community as well. We are closing out the 2020 and 2025 strategic plan and developing the master model for the first time has experienced a school district that coordinated our path using community input and for formulated an experience for each student designed to maximize their educational and extracurricular experiences. It is clear that the district's DOE, administration, and staff are committed to providing the best possible education for all of our students. We have benefited from many initiatives that use existing
129funds to forge a quality education for all of our students. Projects for which we did not seek additional dollars from our families, including the following. Replaced some roofing and windows. upgraded some HAC systems, but there is still more work to be done. We built a Thunderbird Thunderberg think tank at the high school, established the innovation lab at Joyce Kilmer, instituted a 1:1 laptop initiative for grades 3 through 12, and a 2:1 initiative for grades 1 and two. We also created a full day kindergarten experience. Most of those projects, other districts would go out to seek additional funds, but we were able to keep it within our operating budget. In the past 7 to 10 years, our careful financial planning has accomplished some important goals. In the past four years, we have dedicated budget discussions and
130planning to keeping quality programs for all students while maintaining fiscal prudence. In essence, where we could refrain from spending, we did. and every dollar spent can be traced to the educational benefit for our students. Additionally, our community has benefited from no debt service for the past 2 years. Each of us can personally attest to the fact that money doesn't go as far as it once did. And with the commitment to the 2% increase in property tax for our revenue and the district facing increases in health benefit costs rising 10 to 15%. Utility bills rising 18%. Transportation costs rising more than 3%. This has become balancing act between maintaining functional cost effective buildings and running this outstanding educational program that we are dedicated to ever improving in the years to come. It is important to note
131that it has been over 20 years since we last held a referendum. It is clear that we are at a point where we need to make strategic investments in our schools to ensure long-term sustainability, not just for our students, but for our entire community. As an example, we need to replace or upgrade some food systems as was discussed in the strategic plan presentation and some roofing. We have done that to some extent, always keeping an eye on when the cost of repairs outweighs the cost of replacement. When we talk about the advantage of state aid that comes with bond funding, we understand the value of using referendum as a route toward lower local costs for these kinds of regular maintenance projects. along with general upkeep of our building. We continue we continue to upgrade our
132educational, athletic, performing arts spaces that will provide our schools with the resources they deserve by also offering more opportunities for community use. We cannot do that without bond funding that requires a referendum. We need to continue that financial planning toward a more sustainable approach. We propose a bond referendum as part of that solution. We have some real opportunities to improve our spaces for both students and the community. For example, there's an opportunity to upgrade the gym spaces at both Betsy Ross and George Washington. This would not only help provide better resources for physical education, but also allow the community to use these spaces for recreational sports and other community events. Additionally, we could potentially upgrade the high school and middle school soccer fields by turfing them. This would create highquality yearround spaces for athletics, marching
133band, color guard, and other extracurricular activities and would also give the community more access to these spaces. Our high school gymnasium is another area we recognize needs attention. We need more space to accommodate spectators, bringing us in line with the facilities at other comparable districts. The auditorium 2 means an upgrade to better showcase the great talents of our students, giving them a space to perform at a level that matches those in nearby districts. As stated before, I'm sorry, stated before, we need to continue that financial planning toward a more sustainable approach. We propose a bond referendum as part of that solution. Two reasons are bond funding could move some building maintenance costs out from under 50% cap that is placed on our operating budget. We have great difficulty fitting maintenance projects into that budget and
134this would be an alternate funding source. The second reason is very important. Bond funding brings a special kind of state financial aid. Ma school districts get very little assistance from the state. The bond funding comes with state financial aid to reduce the amount paid by local taxes. That's a very advantageous financial planning tool. This aid covers about onethird of the cost of projects that are eligible for the state program. That means we would pay 100% of HBAC work if that work is paid for through our operating budget. But about 70% of the costs when the same work is funded through bonds in state age state aid our taxpayers already pay into that state aid program. This will bring some of that those funds back to model. There are many steps to find funding. We have
135worked with an architectural and engineering firm to analyze our building needs. We are considering not just how we can maintain what we have, but how we can improve opportunities for students. We've already received some feedback from the community during the strategic planning process specific to facility needs, but we'll hold another meeting in the fall focusing purely on state of the facilities in the district to gather more community input. We are looking at building infrastructure, some of it as boring as HBAC and moving. We are also looking and more exciting upgrades for our educational, athletic, and performing performing arts spaces to advance the education the educational programs we have within the district. Many of these areas are used by students and our community. Future steps include the board will be asked to vote on a resolution
136on June 11th to begin the process of submitting an application to the state that includes project descriptions, preliminary drawings, budget estimates, and requests for state funding. During the fall of 2025, we're going to invite the public in to gather their perspective on the state and the facilities. The board would then select which parts of the plan to put on a b on the ballot for the public to consider. The public would vote in a referendum as early as March 2026. If voters approve, the actual work would take a couple of years. So, we are at the starting point of this process. The financial plan hinges on new funding sources that would come with the significant advantage of state. Finally, it is important to note that it's been over 20 years since we last held a
137referendum. We need to be strategic. We need to make strategic investments in our schools to ensure long-term stability. We simply cannot continue doing that with a 2% cap on our annual budget. We want to use the advantage of state aid as part of that solution. I'm happy to answer any questions about the process tonight and any day that brings us closer to the step for action, the June 11th meeting. All right. Um are there any questions at this time for Dr. Dro? Okay. So, uh thank you very much Dr. Toro um for the very comprehensive um presentation. It was nice to see what's happening at each of the schools. I think that was an added element. Thank you very much. And uh to the teachers, the supervisors, the administrative team, to everyone who puts the
138effort in. We do thank you very much. And the strategic plan has really been a really a point of pride as he would say. Um, and I'm glad to see we're embarking on the next one. Um, all right. So, we do need we're going to go back a little bit because we do need an executive session. Um, so I need a motion to recess to executive session. Move your hands. Mr. Hughes, sorry, it's hard. I don't like this. And Miss Tin Jansen. All right. And then we will reconvene um back here uh about 15 minutes. Okay. Very good. Thank you very much. I got to go. [Applause] [Music] No, no, no, it's not. That's [Music] I know. All right. So, um I need a motion to return uh to reconvene without meeting. Um Denise, second
139by Miss Ting Jansen. Thank you. Um, all right. And our next report. Um, Mr. Lyn, do you have a report for us this evening? Yeah. Uh, just quickly, uh, Mr. Romero uh, updated us that the HBAC is live and working at George Washington School after getting tested and it's working so well that Mr. told me today that the teacher will come together. Okay. Thank you very much. Um Dr. Far, do you have a report for us this evening? Yes. I promise it will be brief. I know it's late. So, uh you'll see on the agenda we have a number of recommendations for appointment. So, we hosted I know that we shared with you at a previous meeting that we hosted the Burton County job fair at M High School several weeks ago and I'm really
140proud of our team that all current teaching and and administrative assistant vacancies have been filled for the 2526 school year. Uh we're currently pending your approval this evening. Um we are in the process of interviewing for our remaining supervisory position for secondary special program. So, that's super exciting. I'm really excited about the talent that's going to be hopefully joining her team. Uh, you'll see, if you can look behind you, Harley Taylor. Congratulations to her on an outstanding day at the Bay North Patriot League Championships. Harley took home the gold in both the girls 100 meters 200 meter race. In the process, she broke the school record in the girls 100 race a blazing time of 12.83. So, uh you'll also see a number of names. We recently yesterday had a college signing day for student
141athletes uh that took place in the Ma High School media center. family, friends, and teammates were invited uh to join the athletes for the signing ceremony on a special day. So, uh you'll see on this list are students, the sport which they're signing on to as well as the college joining. I shared with our board during March's board of ed meeting, uh, the adventures of Bourbon the Bear aims to educate the public on how to handle bear encounters and reduce risks in the community. And just recently, you'll see here a screenshot uh that the book was featured in the MA patch article as well as on the radio. And we have our MA High School Drama Club. Um, congratulations for receiving three nominations to this year's Metropolitan High School Theater Awards. For the musical production
142on Antho, Zachary Oonnell for outstanding performance by a featured actor, George Pchowski for outstanding graphic design, and Eevee Kinsky for outstanding achievement by a stage manager. And lastly, we have a retirement to announce instructional pair professional Rita Marcelo from Lenipe Meadow School who has given 12 years of service uh to our district. Uh she has served as a dedicated par profofessional over the past 12 years at Len Meadows and during this time she has supported countless students in a variety of capacities whether assisting a child academically, socially or emotionally. She was always ready to lend a helping hand and making a meaningful impact. As Rita looks forward to spending more time with her family and embracing new adventures in retirement. We want to express our appreciation for all she has done. We wish her nothing
143but the best in this next chapter of her life. At our next board meeting scheduled for June 11th, our goal is to honor our district retirees. So, we've formally invited everyone to join us again here at Middle School. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Fair. Um, my report this evening um do have an accolade to share uh with all of you and I'd like to congratulate uh the full board um in receiving um recognition uh from the New Jersey School Boards Association. We are a boardcertified uh board and I'm not sure that sounds right, but board certification. Um Mala has achieved this um and this is through um credits that we received for things like strategic planning for uh professional development as a board um our board self-evaluation and our board training that we
144receive uh at the board retreats. Um so this is uh something that we are going to be honored with um next week, Thursday, May 29th um at uh one of the um Bernie County School Board meetings. Um so again, congratulations. Um I think it really [Applause] speak um it really does speak to um the importance of the team, how we work well together. Um and it also talks about our commitment to effective governance and continuous improvement of the board. So again uh you know hopefully many of us can attend and I think at June 11th meeting we may have uh a presentation from our uh representative uh public um the only other thing I had is interestingly Dr. fair. I'm going to shiver about the top scoring teabirds uh for April. Um the student was
145Sarod Melonian um grade 11 for being inspired and determined. The teacher wrote he works diligently to complete all of his tasks and he wants to do well not just for the grade but for the genuine desire to learn. Um and then um the teacher was Jennifer Oenni for science and it was for trusted. Um and the student wrote she has a way of creating an environment in her classroom that's opening and inviting. Students know is a safe space where they can be their authentic self. And it really reminds me of something that that statement that came out in where we did our um audit um our DEI audit and about how that seems to be a very important piece for um us to create an environment where students feel safe and can be their authenticelves.
146So I thought that was very important. Um the only other thing to mention is our Christian Meruri who was the f is the first high school diver um to earn the um the record athlete of the week and was also the New Jersey state diving champion. So anyway, congratulations uh to Christian. That's all I have for this evening. Um board committee reports. John. Yep. Down there. Mike very quickly. Mike. finance committee met once uh since our last board meeting. We discussed um uh the trajectory of our finances to close out this year. We have a very preliminary estimate of where we think we're going to end up. And at our June 11th meeting, uh we will have a resolution to uh transfer a potential amount of money to capital maintenance reserves. The other thing we
147talked about briefly was the preparatory steps uh for the referendum. Um, and that'll obviously be a big part of our June 11th meeting as well. And on Access for All, I finally attended one of their meetings recently. And every time I go to one of their meetings, they are an amazing group of people. They have continuous stream of events for their clientele. They have some big news that'll probably be public very soon that I won't share tonight, but very good for them. um they really have their act together in terms of serving uh their clientele many of which are obviously Mala students and uh we look forward to developing that partnership. Thank you Mr. G. Um are there any uh board member remarks this evening? Okay. um are Oh, I'm sorry. It's I I really
148[Music] apolog I kind of try to grab the microphone before the administrator left because I really wanted to uh after the the presentation just to thank everybody. I think as board members we have a uh a better idea than most of the incredible amount of work that goes into being saw on screen. And I know that the presentation was was great, but I think, you know, like I said, we have a better better uh view to it uh than most. I think we still don't fully understand the amount of work that goes into the changes and the things that we saw uh in the presentation tonight and talking about the you know the goals that we marked right rather than I think it's more appropriate to instead of looking at them as you know percentage
149of completion as to to look at it rather as percentage of inspiration right so completion kind of like we hit it when we move on. These these are things that are a part of who we are now. It's it's that level. These things are just integrated into what we do. It doesn't go away. It perpetuates and continues to grow. Um, like I said, I don't think that we really grasp there's really I wanted to thank any of the administrators, you know, certainly, you know, you guys, um, the teachers because there's a tremendous amount of work. Um, the teachers um, but what a what a talk about police pride. I mean that's I know that we should be a drinking game on my but that that really is you know not a lot of schools do
150what we did here and I would venture to say the schools that do didn't do as well and I think it really is something to be proud of looking forward to seeing y go from zero to zero right thank you very important points made and we continue the work. Continue the work. So, um all right. Shall we move on? Any I didn't take any anyone else. Okay. So, uh let's take old business 17. Um we have A and B. Um any motion on the floor? Um sorry, I can't see Mr. Dila. Second, Mr. Gallow. Um Mr. Lamb. Roll call, please. Roll call 17 AP. Mr. Compton. Yes, yes, Mr. Yes, Mr. Denise. Yes, Mr. Gallow. Yes, Mr. Yes, Jansen. Yes, Dr. Yes. Um, now let's take 18 A2S. A2s and I have a motion on
151the floor, please. Miss Ting Jansson, second by Mr. Coplin. Roll call, please. Mr. 18. Mr. Cofflin, yes. Miniro, yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Denise, yes. Mr. Gallow, yes. And I just want to highlight Lucas also. They like to put some picking tables for us as well. I also have three checks came from 119587, 119641, 119572. Yes. And Mr. Yes. Miss Jans. Yes. Dr. Yes. Um All right. Now, let's take um new business personnel. Let's take 19A separately. We need a motion. Um please second. Mr. Gallow and second by Mr. Hughes. 19A. Mr. Yes. Mr. Mr. Dilla. Yes. Mr. Denise. Yes. Mr. Gallow. Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes, Mr. Json. Yes, Dr. Yes. All right. Um, and now we generally take retirement separately as well. Um, so let's take 19B. I thank Misso for her 12 years of
152service to the M public schools and we wish her all the best in retirement. Um, I need a motion and a second. Mr. Gallo, second by Mr. Hughes. Mr. Cofflin. Yes, Mr. Yes, Mr. Pil. Yes, Mr. Denise. Yes, Mr. Gallow. Yes, Mr. Yes, Miss Jameson. Yes, Dr. Yes. Now, let's uh complete uh the section 19 C2N. And we have a motion on the floor, Mr. Jen. Second by Miss Jansen. Roll call, please. Dr. Morphy, discussion real quick. Yes. uh 19l I want to highlight 19 LL. I want to thank the administration for making this a priority uh for anyone who doesn't have it in front of them. It's the creation of the uh school security officers at Betsy Ross, George Washington, Lape, and JK. Um those four officers will be joining the officers we currently
153have at the Ridging High School. So, thank you again for making that a priority. It's something we've been talking about for a couple years now. I'm looking forward to seeing them hire and get them installed at those schools. They'll be great additions for us. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Mr. Cal. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Dilva. Yes. Mr. Denise. Yes. Mr. Gallow. Yes. Mr. News. Yes. M. Jameson. Yes. Dr. Yes. All right. Public Let's do public questions or comment. Public participation in board meetings is in accordance with bylaw 167. At this time, members of the public may ask questions or make a comment on educational issues or school matters and community. As a matter of fairness, you ask your questions to no more than one in your remarks to no longer than 3 minutes. If
154you're here representing a group, please identify yourself, the group, and your position. You're here as an individual, please give us your name and address. Need a motion to open the meeting to the public. Mr. Dilva, second by Mr. Galla, we are officially open to the public. Seeing no one coming forward at this time, um I need a motion to close the meeting to the public. Uh Mr. Hughes, second by Mr. Cofflin. Um I do now need a motion to recess again to executive session, Mr. Dilla, seconded by Mr. Denise, and we will adjourn from there. Thank you everyone. Have a great meeting.