001I aliance 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. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. >> Here, >> Mr. Door >> here. >> Miss Fron >> here. Missack >> here. Mr. Van Norman >> here. >> Miss Co >> here. >> Miss Snder >> here. Miss Williams >> here. >> Mr. Green >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. >> Public comment. Do we have a sheet? Anyone? >> We have two guests that have signed visit in this evening and neither have indicated that they would like to participate in public comment. Okay. Thank you. Okay, you've all received copies of the school board meeting held September 8th. Is there a motion to approve those
002minutes? >> So move a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any question or addition on the motions? There none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed? No. And so ordered. Special board reports. CLUC. >> Thank you, Mr. Green. Uh we did have our board meeting in September where our next board meeting will be next Monday uh 6:30 in the CLIU boardroom. Um just a handful of things coming up. Our um winter basket raffle begins uh November December time frame. It's uh raffles you can purchase online and they do send um those tickets to you and you can choose the basket. Uh that money does go to their special needs children's foundation for items like the adaptive bikes or at the time um adaptive toys uh
003for um the holiday season for our students that may need some um different type of toy to play with to be able to to have some fun at the holidays. So um ask if you can go on. The website is available. You're welcome to go on to there to get tickets. Um, speaking of the website, there is a new CLIU website. It was just, uh, updated and put out. Uh, one of the areas that I would let our folks here know as well as our administration and staff, there is a link to the new event center. Uh so the IU has updated that website to have a specific area that's called the event center that will allow and get you simplified access to some of their professional development opportunities, things that are coming up. You
004can go on and and see what's available when and where. Um so that has been a a really big hit so far. So if you have some time um administration, take a look at that. There's uh a whole ton of professional development opportunities available. Um, again, our next meeting is next week. If anybody has anything you'd like me to take back, please let me know. Thank you. >> How's your puppy dog doing? >> We now have three of them. So, there are there are three. >> Um, beautiful puppies that uh she was just at the last meeting. So, >> okay. >> They've come to all the buildings. Uh, our latest is at the IU building itself. >> Okay. >> For early education. So yes, they are out and about. >> They're out and about. Mr.
005Fedorich, what's happening at LCTI? >> Thank you. We have uh brought on board and she's has begun now as our new business manager. We also approved the calculation for board seats. There's 21 board members on unfortunately Northern Lehigh being the smallest, we only have one member. Um let's see what else do I have here. Um we also have a waiting list. There's 45 programs at LCTI right now, 2500 students and we have a waiting list as I said at the last meeting uh for a number of students. We have also created a another cosmetology and vet tech program but we still have students waiting after that yet in in those two programs. So, we're doing very well with getting our enrollment up, but we're not very well in accommodating the enrollment. And uh in in
006in a number of cases where students did not get their first choice, they had an opportunity to take a second or third choice, in many cases, they have accepted that, but if they do not want, then they do return back to the home school. So, right now, we're we're doing very well. And we also uh redid or re reapproved our school calendar with some changes. And that's all I have, Mr. President. >> Thanks, Mr. Snider. Anything? >> Um just that we are now over 100 days without a state budget. So there we go. >> Yeah. Thank you. uh down at the community college uh enrollment is kind of steady from last year which is a good thing but it's also down a couple percent from a few years ago which is not a good thing
007but uh I think a lot of schools are experiencing that and uh the college is doing everything they can to increase that meeting with school districts for dual enrollment etc etc and we'll see what happened currently going through a middle states evaluation similar to what school districts go through uh I never realized it was as involved as it is, but there's apparently an awful lot to it. A lot of people working hard on that. Uh, we had some bonds come uh due and we did not refinance them. We put them into cash because as Miss Snyder said, we have no budget. So, there's money going out of your pocket. Say thank you to your legislators. Uh, I I have no idea what's going on. Uh our president told us at the last meeting that she
008had conversation with both members of the Senate and members of the House and asked them what's happening and they're all like I don't know it's the other guys. I don't you know and there's no firm committed answers from any of them. Uh so God knows where that's going to go but we're we're still in the same position and there's a motion tonight to take some action uh by our board. So hopefully we will approve that motion and we'll move from there. And that's kind of all I have. Uh any questions? No. Any questions for anybody? Uh okay, you all got a bunch of minutes there. Take care of Mr. Green. I do believe some of our guests that came in late. At least one of them signed in to speak at public comment. >> Um
009was it you, uh Mr. King? >> It was a non-aggenda item. That's at the end, right? Would you like to do? Okay. Thank you. >> At the end is fine. >> Very good. Thank you. >> At the end on a particular item or just at the end of the meeting on agenda item. I thought that had to be at the end. >> Okay. >> Thank I didn't know which one it was, so I figured I would just give you the opportunity now. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Don't worry. Welcome to committee reports. >> Highlight of the evening. Tada. >> Good evening everyone. It's lovely to see everyone again. Tonight, Maddie and I will be reviewing the events and activities that are happening in our school. So, last Thursday, we held our annual bonfire,
010which was in the middle school parking lot. Even though there was no fire, so it was technically just a barn, it was still very well. There were many clubs who had stands that were selling like baked goods or they were selling just foods in general. And then before the homecoming game on the 10th, student council had their homecoming parade. Thank you to all the students and faculty who helped set up the parade, people who came and supported, everyone who dated a trucks for the parade, and the first responders who participated in the parade. It is very much appreciated to everyone who helped during the football during the homecoming football games halftime homecoming court as well as king and queen were announced. Congratulations to this year's King and Queen, which were which was Kayen Noviki and
011Natalie Nope and Elatage. This past Saturday was the homecoming dance. We had over 300 students who attended the dance. Um, everyone that was in attendance had a great time. Over the past week, the high school's PBIS team has held assemblies that reinforce the bold expectations. The team is working to consistently report on students who um represent the bold expectations. Clubs are starting to fundra. So, some of the clubs that are holding fundraisers are the Patriot Club and the senior class. So, Patriot Club is selling beef sticks and then the senior class is selling pies. Um PSLT PSATs are being held on the 15th. Student council is holding their blood drive also on the 15th and many many colleges are attending the high school. So some of the colleges are Miserordia, Lebanon College and Cedarrest College.
012They can all if you would like to attend students can sign up in the guidance office to visit them. Um picture day makeups are on the 22nd in the auditorium. The first virtual day was today the 13th. Um, high school students were to respond to the Google form that Dr. Bali sent out by 11:00 a.m. this morning to be marked present for the day. And that's all I have for tonight. Now, Maddie is going to discuss sports and clubs. >> Thank you, Olivia. So, already the end of the first welcome period is quickly approach is quickly approaching. The last day is to be October 9 29th. Uh, work on this year's fall play has already begun. One stoplight town. Uh, come support the Northern Lehigh Little Theater November 21st to the 23rd. Northern Lehigh esports
013team is first in the state in Rocket League with a record of four to zero. On September 27th, the band had their first showcase. Uh, with many of this fall sports coming to an end, we recognized leaving seniors through senior nights and we wish them the best of luck. Um, for a sports recap, many sports have already ended with the only two still going being football and cross country. The next football game is this upcoming Friday the 17th at Salisbury High School. And cross country will be attending the Colonial League Championship this Wednesday, the 15th. Now, on to records. Field hockey ended with a score of 2 to13. Boys soccer had a record of 3 to1. Girls soccer had a record of 3-11. And football currently has a record of 4 to2. Thank you. two
014questions for Olivia. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. Do >> you have any information on esports? Because I heard they're doing very well. Can you share any any feedback? >> Um, I know that. So, we have sports in Rocket League, Fortnite. >> I think it's there's also like one in Mario like Smash Bros. I'm pretty sure there's also one, >> but all of them I'm pretty sure all of them we have winning records currently. >> That's amazing. That's terrific. Thank you. >> So, I thank you girls. Um I did invite um Mrs. Tiedman and one of the kind of leaders on the esports team, William, to come and actually give an update uh to the school board in November. And like our student reps shared this evening, Rocket League is 4-0. So, one out of 49. Fortnite
015Zone Wars. Does that sound correct? Fortnite Zone W War Wars, they're 3-1. So, they're ranked six out of 68 teams. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is 2-2. They're 32 32nd out of 94 competitors. And Marvel Rivals are 3-1. They are ranked eighth out of 41 teams. Uh, so they are doing exceptionally well. and um we're hopeful that they will come and share a little bit more about their club and um their activities in November. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Very good. >> Thank you, girls. >> I have two questions for you. >> Um 300 students at the dance. That's amazing. I think that's fantastic that we have that kind of participation. That's great. >> Uh thank you. And the second thing is when you introduced your colleague, what did you call her? >> Maddie. Yeah.
016>> Okay. Just wondering. So, it's daddy, not Meline. >> Okay. I'll probably think of some others before the year's over, but that's okay. So, thank you for your your uh participation. Appreciate it as always. Uh never as much fun to solicit report. Nothing. No, sir. >> Okay. All of them. >> Uh Dr. Stoker, >> thank you. I'm going to go off script for a second and just uh draw everybody's attention to um the boardroom and around the district office. We got our seals installed and our motto installed in various places. Um so, thank you to the school board for supporting that and I think it it really shows um our best foot forward in the district office um when people come for interviews or come for meetings. So, um thank you for that support. Uh
017on the board agenda for this evening, we are going to be doing our beginning of the year data presentation. So um our principles are going to come up starting with Mr. Schneiderite and he's going to be presenting on Peter's Elementary. >> Thank you Dr. Stoker. Good evening everyone. It's a pleasure to uh be before you again to present the beginning of year data for this school year. So if we can go to our first slide, please Dr. Stoker. Um, so this data represents the beginning of year ELELA data at Peters Elementary School. You'll see that the data separates kindergarten, which is at top, first grade in the middle, and second grade at the bottom. Once the students take the Dibbles 8 assessment, which is this, this is the second year that we are giving this
018common assessment K through six. Um, that the students are broken into four different categories. well below benchmark which is red, below benchmark which is yellow, at benchmark which is green and above benchmark which is blue. The goal is that throughout the year um we will work with our teams to see that student improvement that when we show that middle of the year and the end of the year benchmark there will be more and more green and blue and less and less yellow and red. So looking specifically at kindergarten um at this time beginning of the year 41% of students are considered well below benchmark 24% are considered below benchmark 21% are considered at benchmark and and 14% are considered above benchmark. Uh just as a reminder to the board um this is at the very
019beginning of kindergarten before we've taught them anything. So when we think about the beginning of the year data, we're looking at the very starting point of their entire school career. Looking at first grade, 26% of students are considered well below and 25% of students considered below. 38% of students are considered at benchmark and 11% of students are considered above benchmark. together 49% of students at or above above benchmark right around that 50/50 um you know cut off there and in second grade 29% of students are considered bel well below 13% are considered below basic uh 29% of students are considered at the benchmark and 29% of students are considered above that benchmark combined 58% of students are at or above benchmark uh this data point is consistent with what we've seen in the past. The
020idea that before they come into school, um you can see 65% of students are below or well below benchmark. Every year, you know, at all grade levels likely, we take a couple steps back um over the summer, but each year a little bit more more students um retain what they learned. So 50% uh right around it's actually 49% in first grade and 58% are starting at or above benchmark in second grade. Again very consistent with what we've seen in the past. If we look underneath that uh you will see the composite for the entire school over two school years. Um this year 31% of our students are well below basic, 21% are below basic, 30% are at benchmark and 18% are above benchmark. When you compare this to last year's beginning of comp uh the
021beginning of the year composite data, which is at the very bottom, the 2425 beginning of the year, um we see improvements in all four categories. Uh this year we have 3% fewer students considered well below, 2% fewer students considered below benchmark, 1% um more students that are considered at benchmark, and 4% um more students considered above benchmark. So overall between last year and this year as a school from the beginning of the year, we've seen a 5% improvement. Next slide, please, Dr. Stoker. So next we'll actually take the same composite data the schoolwide for the last two years and look at it in a sort of a new and interesting way um and we're going to compare that now to the national average of all schools that give that dibbles 8 assessment. Uh the top
022two represent the national average from the past two years related to all the students taking that assessment. You can see it's out of approximately 2.5 million students and 2.4 4 million students respectively. And of course at Peters at the bottom you'll see it's out of 349 this year and 386. So again comparing our school to the nation. Um when comparing this year's pet Peters data to the national average you'll see that Peters is literally at the national average. Um we have 4% fewer students that are well below but then 4% more students that are below benchmark. We have 6% more students at benchmark but 6% fewer students who are above that national average benchmark. So again we are at the national average. However, our concentration is more on the um the center of that that
023graph rather than the outliers. So we've got more students that are below or at benchmark and fewer students that are well below but also fewer students that are above. When you compare that to um last year and how our school um rated compared to the national average, we actually have 5% um we were actually 5% below national average last year. So if you compare us last year being 5% below that national average to this year, we've made that 5 point gain um percentage points. Again, comparing our school to 2.4 4 million students last year and 2.5 million students this year. But I thought that was an interesting data point because you know we always talk about local data but you know local data can be looked at you know comprehensively from from a larger population.
024And the next slide please Dr. Stoker. This final slide represents the beginning of the year Il math data for our for this school year. You'll see that consistent with the past few years, I'll be reporting just the first and second grade beginning of the year data. Um, in the past, we spent so much time at the beginning of the year preparing students to take that online assessment um that we basically gave that first data point at the middle of the year um benchmark and uh at the middle of the year board meeting. Uh this year I'm very pleased to announce that because if you recall at the board level we discussed purchasing our kindergarteners um touchscreen Chromebooks. Um we do not have the data point ready for now but right now we are engaging in
025that assessment that we would usually first engage in in January. Um so my what we'll do is at the middle of the year board update for the data we will be able to report to you what it was at the beginning of the year. However, it wasn't taken on September 2nd or September 5th. It was taken, you know, the beginning of October. But that'll give us an extra data point to see where we're coming from and where we're going in kindergarten. So, some great news there. Looking at this data specifically, uh you will see that ISL um the data is in a pie chart with dark green representing students above grade level, light green representing students representing students, excuse me, on grade level, yellow representing students below grade level and orange representing students far below
026grade level. The slice of gray represents students who did not take the assessment. um at Peters, oftentimes those students are either special education students who do not engage in that assessment throughout the year or it represents students who either moved into our school district after the beginning of the year um but before the snapshot was complete but did not take the snapshot. Um we certainly have current data on those students but at the snapshot it was not complete. So what does the data show us? Um the data shows that 6% of first and second grade students began the year above grade level. Um with 57% of students beginning the year on grade level, 21% of the students beginning the year below grade level and 4% far below grade level. Um of those you'll also see
027that 12% were not pinpointed. Um, at the very bottom there, you'll see it broken down by first grade and second grade, and you can see a comparison of this year's first grade and second grade. Um, I encourage you just to look at the amount of dark green and green this year in first grade compared to last year. And dark green and green this year in second grade compared to last year. So, we certainly see um more green and dark green, which is what we um what our goal is each year improve um you know, the students that are at or above benchmark. Um this year in first grade at the beginning of the year 7% of students were above grade level and 63% of students were on grade level meaning 70% of students entered the
028year on or above grade level. 24% of students were below grade level 1% were far below grade level as of uh the snapshot just two students in first grade and 5% at that time were not pinpointed. And in second grade, 4% of students were above grade level, 51% were on grade level, representing 55% of second grade being at or above. 19% of students below grade level, and 6% far below with 20% not pinpoint. So that's my data presentation for this evening. I'm going to turn it over now to Mr. uh Mr. Briner at Slangston Elementary School. Yes, Mr. >> Question. Go ahead. When when you present data, I appreciate the fact that you present first grade, second grade, you know, kindergarten. I guess my concern would be you have no control over what comes in
029kindergarten. You you get who you get, you know, and you do the best you can. But when you look at the next year, okay, where did kindergarten go when they went to first grade? Because when you look at first grade, I have no idea where they were in kindergarten, if you understand what I'm saying. So when when you make a presentation and you say first grade this year, I guess I would like to see where they were when they were in kindergarten the first day and see have we made any significant improvements between you know K and one one and two and I I mean in your next presentation maybe you could add something like that. I would like to see that like are we making improvement not did second grade do better than first
030grade or kindergarten or whatever. >> So we do track that internally. So we do follow those students in cohorts through time. Um it gets a little bit difficult sometimes to report that and how students are moving through the system but we do track that as part of our data meetings that we do internally in the buildings. >> Okay. If if you could do something I would appreciate >> and that is a data point we absolutely can pull. We just have to do it with the understanding that the expectation as it goes along gets more challenging. So for instance in kindergarten at the end of the year and first grade at the beginning of the year they didn't learn anything between the end of kindergarten and beginning of first grade but the the expectation went up.
031So that's why we typically compare it by year to year beginning to beginning so we get a sort of a similar data point but that's certainly a data point we can pull together. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you Christopher. >> Good evening everyone. It's great to see everyone this evening. I'm going to pres be presenting the data from Slayington Elementary School. Uh the four slides I'm going to pre be presenting are similar to those that you just saw with Mr. Schneiderite at Peters. Uh just reflecting the data at Slington. So this first slide here is um Slington Elementary School grades 3 through five on our Dibbles ETH assessment. uh and this this particular assessment is given to students in 3 through 5 at Slington Elementary School. It is not given to sixth grade and
032that aligns with what the recommend what's recommended uh according to our program our tier one uh reading and writing program CKLA. Um so on this slide there is a glimpse of how grades three through five performed uh at the beginning of the year benchmark. It shows grades three um at the top, four in the middle, and five uh near the bottom uh before that that break right there. Um and then at the bottom is the beginning of the year benchmark composits for the 24 25 year and then this year. So in third grade, 55% of students are are currently at or above benchmark. And that 55 comes from adding the the green section and the blue section together. Okay. So uh 55% are at or above while 45% are currently below or well below. Uh
033in fourth grade, 52% of students are uh are at or above currently while 48% are below or well below. And in fifth grade, 52% of students are um at or above currently, while 48% of students are currently well below or below. Um overall, as a school in grades three through three through five, we're 53% um of students at or above benchmark while 47% of students are currently well below or below. And in comparison to last year uh we were 47% of students at or above benchmark while 53 were well below or below. And this year we've flipped that uh that figure. So an increase of about 5% of students being at or above benchmark at the same time um as last year in the beginning of the year benchmark and it's likely attributed to the
034changes that we did in our tier one program ampl amplify CKLA um uh and the program and instructional practices that go along with that. So um thank you for your support with that change. Next slide please. on our next slide um is uh the similar data in terms of looking at the national averages uh in comparing Slington to the national average. Um and again this is comparing you know our building to about this year 1.5 million other students and the year prior about 1.35. So um a large number obviously. So when comparing this these data points, the national average is uh on the top and Slington's on the bottom of this slide. And again, we're looking at grades 3, four, and five. Uh combined. As stated previously, Slington had uh a 47% at or above
035in 2425 as compared to the national average of 53% at or above. And at the beginning of this year, we jumped to 53% at or above while the national average moved to 55% uh at or above. So uh while we're still slightly below the national average, we're definitely closing that gap. Uh we've moved uh from uh you know basically being 6% below to now being 2% below. So we're moving we're moving and closing that gap. Next slide please. This next slide is our LL data. Um, and it's looking specifically at our LL data in uh, ELA. Um, it should be familiar to you as you saw with from Peters and we've shown you these data points in the in uh, this particular slide in the past uh, with uh, past data. Um, it provides a
036glimpse at the first snapshot in the school year for Slington Elementary. All students at Sladington uh take this uh snapshot. So this is grades 3 through six. And since uh we are only doing um since this the only benchmark data for sixth grade or the data uh data point is the only benchmark for sixth grade. Um this is uh you know our main data point that we use to make instructional decisions in sixth grade. Um uh students work daily in the program for 10 to 20 minutes um of their day in their own individualized recommendation plans and or through assigned teacher lessons based on their data. Uh and then they step into the arena weekly to update the data. Um but this is just our snapshot window uh data point that is being displayed here.
037This data provides uh a look at how all students at Slington Elementary are performing in the beginning of the year. And according to the LL at this time, 47% of our student population um is achieving at uh grade level or or above while 49% of students are achieving uh below or far below grade level. And again, I'm getting that percentage by adding the green together and then adding the red and yellow together. Um, we also have 5% that are not pinpointed. That's that uh little uh gray slice in uh at the top. And they're not pinpointed for various reasons. Some students are part of an education part of the uh special education department uh and don't use um in uh for benchmarking purposes. Um, and we also might have had some students that were um
038absent, missed a window, started late, uh, similar to um, uh, Peters as well. Uh, below the pie chart, you'll find uh the the bar graphs, and that breaks the same data down by grade level, showing the composite for each grade level. Next slide, please. And this slide is the same exact data but looking at it through the lens of math. Okay. So, uh in math uh is our main data point. All students at Slington Elementary in grades uh 3 through six uh will uh be assessed four times on the the snapshot in. They also go into the program for 10 to 20 minutes daily uh in their own individualized recommendation plans and or through teacher assigned lessons based on their data. Uh they will step into the arena very similar to ELA once a week
039to update their data. Uh but again this is only showing the snapshot and in the window of the snapshot. So this data provides a look at how all students are performing on the beginning of the year snapshot and currently uh uh according to 40% of students are achieving at or above the grade level while 54% of students are below or far below. Um there are also 5% of students that are not pinpointed. Again this is for various reasons. they may be uh part of the special ed department uh and not using for those purposes or may have been absent um or also may have not been present during the window. Uh below the pie chart you'll find the bar graphs that coincide with uh the different grade levels uh related to the data in the
040pie chart and through the work being done at our monthly data meetings which are by grade level and department within grade level. Uh we are identifying instructional strands uh that are areas of concern and those that are areas of strength. Um and we are identifying specific work that is being done while leveraging the use of EXL uh to work in small groups to identify and work with um on those specific needs. Um and so that is my data presentation for this evening if there's any questions. Okay, I will turn it over to Mr. Williams. >> You're not officially the middle school principal yet. Can you can you make this presentation? >> Um, you know what? Okay. Uh, >> that's later on on the agenda, though. >> It is. >> Uh, but you know what? I'll
041take one for the team here. So, thank you, Mr. Briner. I appreciate it. Um, good evening to our board members. Good evening to the community. Um, I'm Mr. Williams. Um, and as alluded to, um, after some action tonight, um, the board agenda, um, I am excited to have the privilege of reporting our student data at the middle school as the new and what will be my first day as the Northern Lehigh Middle School principal. So, I'm very excited about that. Um, as you heard described, um, the data that you're seeing here is our ISL data for ELA and math. As was described by Mr. Schneiderite, by Mr. Briner. So, thank you guys for that explanation. Um, you're seeing, um, a similar representation of our data here at the middle school. When we take a look
042at our data for ELA, what you're seeing there um, in the pie chart is our total seventh and eighth grade all student body performance. When we look at that, 57 students or what makes up 23% of our students are above grade level in ELA. 21 students or 8% are on grade level. 35 students or 14% are below grade level. 125 students or 50% are far below grade level. And you see the gray there as was described. We also had 14 students or 6% that were not pinpointed. This data is actually very consistent with what we saw coming into the school year last year as well. Um, we really only saw about a difference of one to 3% in each of those categories as we compare this year's data to last year's data. When we one
043of the things that we do at the middle school is we like to take a look and dive a little bit deeper into the data. And what you can do is you can actually break this down based on different skills that are related to the standards. When we break down our data into standardbased skills, we see that vocabulary acquisition has emerged as one of our stronger areas. And this is important to note because that was a point of emphasis that we had in our building last year. So we saw that kind of emerge as an area that we were able to improve upon. Um when we take a look at it this year, reading level and reading strategies. So reading level, we had 61% of our students that were far below grade level. And in
044reading strategies, we had 64% of students that were far below. So these have emerged as focal points. And we're going to make sure that we target intervention for each of those areas. And we can go to the next slide then, please. When we look at our data in math, um, again, it's going to be represented in a similar way as to what we saw in ELA. 20 of our students or 8% are above grade level. 57 students or 23% are on grade level. 51 students or 20% are below grade level. 108 students or 43% are far below grade level. And you see the gray area there. We did have 16 students uh which make up 6% of our students that were not pinpointed. Again, um very similar. we're talking about compared to last year coming
045into the school year, a difference of about 2 to 4% in each category. So, we're seeing very consistent data there. Um, when we do the same thing and we break down by our standardsbased skills, numbers and operations has emerged as our strongest area or one of our strongest areas. Um, and again, this is important to note because that was an area that we made a focal point last year in our building. When we look at it this year, measurement is going to be an area that's going to emerge for us in math. And that's because we are seeing a beginning of 70% of our students far below grade level in that standardsbased area. So, we're going to make sure that we kind of take that and make that a focal point that we provide intervention.
046And so, that's kind of the last piece that I want to talk about what we do with this data. So, you know, kind of turning this data into action at the middle school. So at the middle school, we're going to use this to inform our intervention and our instructional strategies. Throughout our year, we use a win period that we have during our day, which is about 40 minutes long. And twice a week, we run intervention remediation and enrichment. We use this data to be specific with the groups that we develop. So, for example, when we take a look at math and ELA, if you are in that red area far below grade level, you are going to be grouped based on that content area into an intervention group that's going to meet with those teachers
047and work through those skills and really dive down into those skills. And we're going to be doing that twice a week. If you would happen to be a student that would be far below in both, in marking period one, what we do is we target math. marking period two, we then target ELA so that we're making sure that we're hitting both content areas um when we're doing that. Another way that we do this is we utilize the continuation within EXL and the work that our students do within um throughout the school year and as we get close to the PSSAs, we really take a look at the yellow. So those are the students that are just below grade level and we target them as what we would call bubble students. And those would be the
048students that we provide intervention because while we're giving intervention to the other students, we target them because we believe that if we give specific intervention, they're very close that we can get over to that proficient and advanced level. So those are some of the ways in in which we utilize the data and the action that we take at the middle school. And that's my presentation for tonight. And I'd just like to make sure that there's not any questions. And if not, I'll turn it over to Dr. Bali for the high school. Thank you. All right, good evening everyone. Good to see you as always. So, I'm going to be reporting on the beginning of year benchmark data for our high school. Um, just remember this assessment was given actually I I went back um it
049was given the first week that we were in school. So, the last week of August is when we gave our first snapshot. So, absolutely no instruction whatsoever. the teachers like to get it out of the way so we can use it and get going as fast as we can. So if you look at the first uh slide, you will see the EXL ELA performance for the first benchmark and this is broken down by grade level. Ours looks a little bit different because remember um the first three schools are looking at data across the entire school year. We are looking at data across two semesters. So we will have uh one group of kids for the semester 1 which goes from the beginning or the end of August until mid January and then our second group
050of students picks up then and goes through June. So um we have a lot of work to do in a condensed period of time. Um but we do have longer class periods. We have 80 minute uh blocks. So, and you'll see the gray there on the end. And you'll see in the pie chart, we've completely removed them because our non-pinpointed kids, those students who did not take it, there's a lot of them um because they do not have either an English course or a math course. So, we tried to just keep it as clean as we could for you. And you'll see that on the pie chart. So, um on this chart, you'll see that grade nine has the greatest number of students at or above grade level. Um, and you will see there, and
051you can't I don't have the numbers up there, but 63 students, um, in ninth grade currently have an English course, 51 students in 10th grade currently have an English course, 41 in 11th grade, and 63 in 12th grade. Um, so if you click to the next slide, Dr. Stoofer, thank you. You can see it now by proficiency levels. So the pie chart again represents all students who currently have an English class this semester. 19.2% of students are performing above grade level. This is up from about 10 This is up 10% higher than last year. These students demonstrate strong mastery and readiness to tackle advanced standards. Even at this point in the year, at the end of August, 12.3% of students are currently on grade level, meeting expectations for academic proficiency. Almost 13% of students are
052below grade level, indicating a need for targeted intervention and support. And about 55% of students are performing far below grade level, which represents our most significant area of concern and focus. So, as Mr. Williams said, "This information will drive our instructional decisions, our resource allocation, and intervention planning as we work to close learning gaps and move more and more students to proficiency and beyond." Next slide, please. Uh right now, this slide is showing us our but in math by grade level. uh you will see that ninth grade um has about the highest uh performance for the first benchmark broken out. Uh there's 92 students that currently have a math course, 73 students currently in 10th grade have a math course, 52 in 11th grade, and 31 students in 12th grade. If you go to the
053next slide, we will show you the percentages there. The pie chart represents all students again who currently have a math class this semester. The initial assessment uh the initial benchmark assessment, excuse me, reveals a significant need for academic support in math across the entire student body. Performance levels are distributed as follows. About 1.2% of students are performing above grade level. 8.8 of students were on grade level at this time. 10.4% of students were below grade level. and a significant number of 79.5% were far far below grade level. Again, the 1.2% of students that were performing above grade level demonstrate strong mastery and readiness. Those that um 10.4% of students below grade level indicate a need for targeted intervention. And we have a large number there, 79.5% which represent our most significant area of concern and
054focus. Again, this information will drive our instructional decisions um especially during our intervention time which you all know happens during lunch and learn. Um and we just continue to um improve upon that and refine what we are doing for those kids during that time. Uh next slide please. For our last slide, this looks a little bit different than last year. We typically use our CDT um as a benchmark tool, but something um that has that CDT does not is enabling us to really drill down and make informed decisions with instruction and giving our kids practice on the key um standards in which they're either doing really well on or need some reinforcement and practice on. So our new um we piloted a couple years ago SBAS by Miller and Lavine. They have a benchmark system
055as well which includes the practice portion. So um this year we've given that SBAS biology keystone benchmark and that's what this slide is showing. So you will see our biology performance on the end of course pre-EST using our SBAS biology curriculum. Again, we are using this end of course exam three more times throughout the semester to show the level of growth and mastery of biology standards. The data shows that the most common score range was between 28 and 36%. This is an expected outcome for a pre-EST as it indicates students have had limited prior exposure to this specific course content. This is the first time these kids have ever had a biology class. This distribution is typical and successfully establishes a starting point for these students. It confirms that upcoming instruction will cover new material
056for most students. These pre-EST scores are a valuable tool that will inform our instruction. They provide a clear benchmark to track student growth and measure the effectiveness of our instruction throughout the course of the semester. The goal will be to see a significant shift toward higher scores on subsequent benchmarks. Um so that is our biology. Again um this is a new benchmark system. So it's a little bit difficult to compare last year to this year. Um but it's one that because of the practice components within it embedded within it um we think it's going to be you know a very valuable tool for our kids. So that's what I have. Any questions? >> Yeah, Dr. >> Yes. When would be the next time that we see a math score so we can see progress? >>
057Yes. So, as um the other principles said, our students, we call it jump into the arena. So, they are in there is there's a minimum time that students need to spend every week similar to the elementary and middle school. In the high school, they have to be on it at least 15 minutes a day. um and that so they're constantly getting a quote score. But when it comes to like the benchmarks where we um compare, you know, our students to other students and our students to themselves, we do it four times throughout the semester. Um so we will have we have our initial one, we will have it again in November, we have it um right before winter break and then we have it right before uh the kids take the keystones or right after
058the kids take the keystones. So our next one will be early November. >> How does that compare last year's scores from the beginning of the year to the end of the year? >> Well, why did you ask that? How so how our scores are comparing this year? >> So they were >> to those kids last year >> very bad beginning of this year. So how did how was it last year? Was it the same? >> Very similar. However, in English, I would like to say that our scores and and our scores went up, if you remember, in our Keystone scores last year, our literature scores went up significantly. Um, math, not so much. Math is a is a focus area. But it's interesting now that our that our first benchmark for ELA, our scores, let's
059see, last year um for above grade level, our students, we had 10% of our students were above grade level. This year for English, our students were double that, 20% above grade level, which is significant. Um, as far as on grade level, this year we have um 12.3% last year 9%. Um, below grade level, we want to see lower numbers. We had 9.5% last year as compared to 12.8% this year. And far below grade level for last year we had almost six we had 66% bar below grade level and this year we have 54%. So we see significant improvement in in ELA math. It's similar to what Mr. Williams said. there's like a two to 3% com, you know, drop or increase as compared to last year at this time. >> hoping to see better well
060and I'm hoping to see better math scores as we like as you suggested as we seek each benchmark. Um, you know, and that is going to be a real and I think Mr. Williams mentioned this. You know, we've really tried to at our data meetings, I think we've had two so far. We look at the data and we've gotten pretty good at analyzing the data, but we haven't been great at action. Now, what are we going to do about it? And that's what our focus is at every data meeting is let's spend a little time on this and most of the time on action. Um, and a lot of that translates to what are we going to do in our classroom in core instruction, but then we have this beautiful time that we never had
061before. Last year we did um for intervention for kids where we can just build upon the great things we did last year and provide more opportunities and more structured and more required opportunities for those kids to get intervention because we have the time to do it. So I think we have the tools in place. Now we just have to execute the plan. >> Thank you for the good question. >> That's all I have, Mr. Green. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Stoker. Uh business manager, Mrs. Molators. >> Thank you, Mr. Green. Um, again, as uh stated by um uh Natalie, Miss Snder down on the end, we currently do not have a state budget yet. We are over 100 days into school year with no state budget. Um the House did pass um a preliminary
062proposed budget, although the Senate is not in session. So um but we are hearing they were probably on opposite ends of the spectrum. Anyway, um, local audit. I have our local auditors coming in the end of this month, the 30th, the 31st, and then Monday, November 2nd, 3rd, something like that, whatever that Monday is. Um, they'll be in those three days. This is late for them. Um, they're normally in mid se mid to end of September. So, um, it's going to be real crunch time for me for the AFR and everything due by December 1st. So, um, um, that's what's coming up in the business office. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh moving to superintendent report. Dr. Link. >> Thank you, Mr. Green. Last month, we approved the retirement of one of our beloved school
063counselors, Mrs. Kelly Chromemer at Peters Elementary School. This evening, I would like to share a little bit more about her tenure here in Northern Lee High School District and at Peters Elementary. So, um, it's gonna be a little bit of a prelude here and we're doing it a little bit different this time because we asked one of her friends and colleagues to share their thoughts on Mrs. Cromer. So, we would like to share that out uh this evening as well. So, excuse me cuz this is going to be a good one. Mrs. Kelly Chromemer joined Peters Elementary in 2011 as our school counselor, stepping into a new role with determination and a genuine desire to serve. During her remarkable 24 years of service in the district, she became a steady and compassionate presence for students,
064staff, and families. Always ready with a listening ear, a smile, or word of encouragement. Her colleagues consistently describe describe her as selfless, kind, and deeply dedicated. She not only supported our students inside the building, but also extended her care to the community through countless service projects. Even through personal challenges, Kelly showed resilience and strength, continuing to put others first. In a final act of characteristic generosity, Kelly has chosen to forego a retirement appreciation gift, requesting that a donation be made on her behalf to the Slington Library, Slington Public Library. The message from her Peter's family is clear. Mrs. Chromemer has left an incredible legacy of compassion, service, and love. She will be deeply missed, but her light will continue to shine through all those she has touched. Perhap the be perhaps the best way to
065celebrate Kelly is to share the letter written by her friend and colleague, Miss Marshall George, a beloved kindergarten teacher at Peters Elementary. Miss George shares the following. Mrs. Chromemer arrived at Peters, or should I say embarked on her new adventure in the fall of 2011. She enthusiastically dove in having no idea what the role of a guidance counselor looked like in a K2 building at that time. And Kelly didn't just take on the role of counselor, she was tenacious in her desire to be the best guidance counselor she could be. Not only did she show up daily, ready to assist students and staff wherever she could, but she also took on the role of a student herself, going to school at night to become a certif to become certified as well as grow into an
066even better version of her new self. And that she did. Throughout the years, Mrs. Cromer has been a constant stabilizing force at Peters. And all the while she has done her job, which I would describe more as her passion, with genuine care, compassion, and knowledge. Kelly has worn many hats throughout the year, and with every hat, she has worn a sincere smile. No matter what was happening in her day, she would always make time to connect with staff and students, offering words of encouragement, dispensing her expertise, or to simply be a listening ear. It's no secret that in the past few years, she has lived through some of the toughest times a person can live through. And yet, without fail, she would steadfastly return to her Peter's family and jump back in to helping anyone
067who was in need. Kelly's bravery, strength, and the way that she put all others above herself did not go unnoticed. She's the type of person who everyone in education should aspire to be like. I'd like to end with a borrowed quote. A candle's flame diminishes not when its light well not when it lights another, but rather it multiplies the light around it. Kindness and knowledge work the same way. The more you share, the brighter the world becomes. Mrs. George ends with, "Thank you, Kelly, for being the flame which brightened the world around you and always asked and all and allowed us to bask in your glow. We are better humans because of you. You are loved dearly and will be missed immensely. Have fun." on writing the next chapter. So, on behalf of the entire
068faculty, support, staff, and administration, we wish Mrs. Cromer well as she transitions into retirement um near the end of the month. And before I move on to um the next part of my update, I'll just look to Mr. Schneider, right? Is there anything as building principal that you would like to share, sir? >> Mrs. George nailed it. >> Um you know, I obviously Mrs. Cor doesn't come to all the meetings, but um and hopefully many of you have had the opportunity to meet her. Just that Kelly um makes me better, makes all of us better. And um I'm very I'm very excited to welcome our new counselor who's going to be um on the agenda this evening, but um you know, I'm certainly going to miss Mrs. Cromer and um she's a part of the
069family and will always be part of the Peters family. So, thank you Dr. >> Thank you. Next, I would like to share uh some information about a donation that has recently been gifted to the Northern Lehigh Middle School. Our former middle school principal, Mr. David Hower, has donated his collection of Slington and Northern Lehigh historical memorabilia to the middle school to be used part of part of the social studies curriculum. His donation includes postcards, letterhead envelopes, stationery, primary source documents, books, trade cards, a slating chalkboard, antique issues of the slate, photographs, graduation programs, and school patches. Additionally, he is donating to the display case that all of these items are currently housed in. We are extremely appreciative of Mr. Hower's gener generation uh generous donation estimated to be valued at $700 to $1,000. It will
070ensure the history of the school district and Mr. Hower's appreciation for the history of the school district and the community as a whole are preserved in the middle school for generations to come. And that con that concludes my report this evening. Sir, >> any questions for Dr. >> No. Okay. Uh I would like to report that we did have an executive session at 6:00 this evening. Uh we had the basic personnel items, couple legal items, etc. And also at our Monday, last Monday night's committee meeting, there was a special uh exe executive session called at 5:15 and again we discussed some personnel items. So there was one last Monday and and one again this Monday, just for the record. Okay. All right, having said that, we'll move to personnel. We got a whole bunch of
071items there. Is there a motion to approve the personnel items? >> Second. >> Any questions on the personnel items? Anyone? >> No. Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> Opposed? No. And so order. Uh where are we? We're down to policy, I think, unless I'm incorrect. Uh policy items. We have uh two policy items. Is there a motion to approve? Motion to approve those items. >> Second. >> I'll let you say who got the motion as a second. >> Um Rhonda was first. I have a second. >> Okay. Thank you. Any questions on the policy? I think we reviewed them. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. And so ordered. Got a couple conferences there. A motion to approve conferences. >> Motion. >> Thank you, sir.
072Second. >> Second. >> Any questions on the conferences? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Oppos? No. And so ordered. Uh curriculum and instruction. There's quite a few things there. Again, uh going on to page six, item I. Is there a motion to approve those items? Was it Donna? >> Okay. Thank you. Any questions on those items? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. No. >> And so ordered. I have nothing under old business. Anyone have any old business? Nope. Uh, we have two items under new business. Is there a motion to approve those items? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh in case anyone missed it, I would just like to point out that one of the items there is to withhold financing
073of uh or payment to uh charter schools because the state hasn't passed the budget. So, if they're not giving us money, it it's kind of senseless for us to have to take money out of our pot to pay charter schools when we're not going to get money from the state. there isn't a whole lot we could do to push back. Maybe that's one of the little minor things that uh that we can do. Thank you, Dr. Link, for bringing that to our attention. Uh any other comments on new business hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I >> opposed. No. And so ordered. Uh financial I Oh, I'm sorry. >> Second. >> You're ahead of me. Am I going too slow? We have a motion by Miss Friends to approve the financial items.
074Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Is there discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I post. No. Uh next we'll move to legal. Couple items under legal. A motion to approve those items. >> So move. Second. >> Thank you, sir. Any questions? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Oppos? No. >> And so ordered. Uh moving on to the last page. Any correspondence at this time? Anyone? >> Secretary. No. >> Uh information. We got a couple items there which basically are the minutes of the meetings. uh recognition of guests and there is a guest that would like to be recognized this evening. Sir, if you would state your name for the record, please. And >> at the podium or >>
075should I go to the podium? >> You you can sure >> um name's King. Uh I was wondering if the board could give us an update on some of the maintenance items that were outlined back in June during the budget meetings that were kind of presented as necessary to be done sooner rather than later. >> Particular you're talking about back in June when we were doing >> Yeah. There was a three- tier list that some things were more important than others. If the school board has had any further discussions, I've been trying to do some research and find out if that topic has been brought up at all. Yes, we we have been talking about some of those items. You want to check that Mr. Man or >> Sure. I I'm happy to respond to
076that and then Mr. May if you want to um add to it at all. Uh myself, Mr. Man and building level administration have been doing building walkthroughs. Uh near the end of this month, myself, Mr. Man, and all school board members that would like to join us are going to be doing walkthroughs with the school board. Uh and then our list of most immediate recommendations all the way through 10 years out will be presented to the board as part of the budgetary process going into the 206 27 budget uh development. Um I know it was discussed and other people have brought it up. It's kind of becoming the running joke on how bad the water is at the middle school and now that we're being told the kids are just giving out bottles of water
077during the day. I thought this was approved and going to be taken care of before the school year even started if I'm not mistaken. I don't know why anybody would think this is acceptable to come out of a public water fountain in the school district. I the running joke is now we want to change our school mascot logo from Bulldogs and pronounce how it's ch or spelled out but we can't take the time to fix a water situation. It's kind of embarrassing when students and teachers alike are both laughing at how bad our water is at that middle school, but yet we're worried about how our mascot looks and how it's pronounced on Logos. >> I can see I share your concerns. I I know there have been ongoing discussions with the Burough Slington. There
078have been ongoing discussions with the water purification people. And again, I'm not doing that on a day-to-day basis. If if either of you would like to make a comment on that, uh you're welcome to do so. But it is a concern and it hasn't gone away, you're absolutely correct. I understand it. >> If that water came out of your fountain at your kitchen sink on any of your homes, you would not wait 6 months to get it fixed. >> It's it's being I can tell you it's being worked on, but you can >> Sure. So, the equipment has been ordered, built, and delivered. It's currently on site. Replacement has started today. It will end tomorrow. >> Okay. Um and when you are doing a full building um uh water softener installation, it takes time just
079to have the equipment built and delivered. >> Understood. >> Uh so that has begun. Um it has also uh been ordered for um Slington Elementary, the high school as well, the other two buildings. Um and we do active water testing and all. And I agree with you, Mr. It does not look pleasant. >> I I know it passes. We've tested it. This came out of the fountain back on the meet the teacher night. So, I know it does test if it passes, but looking at that in a cup, no one would be >> I don't disagree with you. >> Willing to drink that or want to drink that. So, >> your your timing may be good on that. If this stuff was delivered to Dan, you know, come back and talk to us next month.
080>> Yeah. Great news. Great news. Hopefully everything works out and if it's a replaceable filter that we can keep up with, that'd be great. >> Thank you, sir. >> Anyone else? >> Yeah, real quick. >> Just to add on to what Mr. King said, um, so with the improvements that we're doing, um, was there any studies or looked into like how our lateral is going out to the main? You know, is there a lot of sediment sitting in there? I know we used to do a lot of flushing. I don't think that happens anymore. Uh we were doing external flushing in conjunction with the burrow. Uh they have since removed that device. We do internal flushing every morning um prior to student arrival. >> Okay. All right. I just know, you know, you can put
081a $10,000 software on it, but if you have a a half a pipe full of sediment, you're kind of >> shooting a shooting a barrel. >> I'm sorry. Um, I have a question because when I went to the Slendington board meeting, um, they said that the water authority said that the line coming from the main line in was the problem. Is that not so? >> Are we going to entertain those that did not sign up this? >> Um, >> just state your name for the record, ask the question. You you should you should sign in and say you want to ask a question. And I understand reason it wasn't on the agenda, so I didn't I understand. >> My name is Crystal Bilby. Um, and I was at the Slington. I had the water um,
082authority there and they were saying that it's not a Slington problem because it goes from their main our main um, into the building is the problem. So, and they said that the board was aware of that situation. So, I was a little concerned when we just putting a softener in versus fixing the line that may be the problem. who made it. So, >> I can certainly state as a board member, I am not aware of that situation. I have never been informed of that by anyone. Uh whether there were ongoing conversations with anyone else, I don't know, but I am not aware of that. If any other board members heard that, you know, I I have not I have not heard that it was the incoming line. I you know, I've heard some other accusations,
083but I've never heard that one. sell. Yeah, >> I think that maybe we should then maybe talk to the water authority and find out if that softener, we're going to spend all this money for the softener and it's not going to change the color of the water. >> You know, it might be something. >> I can tell you there there are ongoing conversations. There's ongoing work. There there's work being done and like they said, the filtration system was was developed. It was delivered ironically very recently and they are working on putting it in. Uh it's it's not something we're ignoring. We're not just walking away from it and saying, you know, too bad you got dirty water. That's it. So, we're working on it. But, so, thank you for your comment. Anyone else? Okay. Uh,
084if not, uh, any other business that needs to be attended to hearing? None. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Did someone say something or just a motion? Okay. Thank you, Gary. >> Second. >> All those in favor of adjourning signify by saying I. I. >> No oppos. No. And we are done here. Thank you. You