001this evening. Um, good evening everyone. Thank you for being here and joining community sessions this evening. We're hopeful that you're um able to learn more, listen, and um know the next steps. Tonight's tonight's event um or session is really information only. Um we do have um some members of our community um as well participating. So if they are emailing you that they cannot get in, it's because they did not register prior to today. So they will not be able to attend via Zoom. But please tell them to come this evening and if they have any questions they can come this evening live and participate. Before we get started, we do want to set some meeting norms in order to ensure that the meeting is going to be meaningful to all of us. Um, we expect
002that the norm that everyone will acknowledge and respect different perspectives, listen and speak with an open mind, stay on topic to ensure all voices are heard, and be solution focused. So this evening we did set it up in a two-part because we there were a lot of um community members that did submit me uh questions ahead of time. So we want to respect that they submitted their questions ahead of time. So the first part will be our district presentation from city gate. We'll have a question and answer session specific to that presentation and a part two. Um, we're responding to the community questions and also to the questions anyone may have this evening. Um, so we will kind of judge. So if I have to stop midway during a PowerPoint or the present the questions
003that we we collected um to answer any questions here, we'll kind of um we'll adjust as needed. And then at 7 p.m. is our special meeting of the board of education. Mr. Le, >> thank you. Good evening, everyone. If you're just walking in, there are some seats up front on the left and the right. Um, we want to begin by introducing members of the district committee who have been charged with doing some of uh planning for our project. So, Mrs. Press who you just met, our superintendent, myself, Michael Leeman, the assistant superintendent of schools, our business administrator, Miss Casease, who's here this evening, Dr. Rob Dill, director of personnel, he's here this evening. Our director of facilities, Mr. Carlson, he's joined us as well. Director of student services, Miss Stephich, is in the back. Supervisor
004of student services, Miss Treza, is here. Our transportation coordinator, Miss Kaser, is here. and our consultant Fred Ajanazi from Citygate GIS. So at this point I'm going to give a quick introduction to Fred and I'm going to turn over to him. So Fred works for Citygate GIS has been around for 38 years as a consulting firm. 28 years of continuous demographic and redistricting experience. Their clients include municipalities, K12 schools, local government, state, and federal agencies. Fred has 27 years of demographic experience. He's worked hands-on for multiple school projects and has extensive mapping and analysis experience. So, we're going to turn the presentation over to Fred and he's going to walk you through the process. Yes, thank you. >> Again, I'm Fred Jazzy. I uh own City GIS and basically what we do is mapping work.
005A lot of it having to do with redistricting. We do it at all levels of government from local municipalities all the way to legislative districts, congressional districts. We do a lot of school work. So I've been doing this um for a uh a good while now starting in 1997 actually. So the purpose of the meeting today is to first discuss the scope of the redistricting project. What is it that we're going to try to be doing in the next few months? Why are we doing redistricting? What basically prompted this process? Um introducing the team that was will be working on it. That was the list that you saw earlier. and I'm going to explain the project timeline and our implementation plan and then discuss how you guys can provide feedback. One of the best ways
006for redistricting projects to succeed is when the communities evolve and the process is transparent. And every project that I've ever worked on, I've tried to make sure that that happens. So we've we did an enrollment projection uh last year and that showed that the student population for the next decade is going to increase and some of that is already happening in uh for example this year at Strathmore they have to turn away 20 students and send them to other school because the school is at capacity and this isn't a short-term issue that is going to resolve itself. this is going to continue to get um become more and more of a problem. So what we're trying to do is address the imbalance in school facilitization. So we have room in certain schools and we are
007at capacity or over capacity other schools. So there's a number of ways to address this and what we're going to be doing over the next few months is looking at the alternatives. So the purpose of me being brought on on board is because we have software that allows us to model all these things. So we can model the boundaries. We can find the swim locations where they are now where they're projected to be for the next 10 years. Then try different things in the computer and be able to see what the results are. The other issue is uh strengthening strengthening educational programming access for all. So as the um as you get over capacity tools, some of the areas that are used for special programs have to get converted to being used as classroom. So
008what we're trying to do is avoid that. We want to have some of the programs that exist now and expand them into other schools as well. And then part of this is to make sure that the the boundaries of the districts accommodate an efficient transportation process. So we don't have buses traveling the same street multiple times picking up kids who go to different schools. So we're going to try to address the issues of transportation and hopefully create a more efficient transportation system. So, one of the things that I always um like to do before I start with this project is outline the objectives because as the process happens, you can point to this list and say, "Okay, we move this neighborhood from this school to this school because it met one of these issues." And
009these this is an outline of how we're going to go about actually doing the the adjustments. So the first thing to do is to balance the attendance areas and match up with the school capacities. We want to account for future growth. We want to optimize the utilization of the schools. As I mentioned, we want to make sure that we strengthen educational programming and resources. And then ultimately we don't want to create transportation burden. We want to try to uh alleviate some of the issues that there may be. Address walk zones. to make sure that kids that are in a walk zone go to the school that um is closest to them and modify transportation policy if we need to. If we need to expand or reduce those uh walk zones, we can we can do
010that. Obviously, as I said, we want to be able to create a transparent open process. We want to collect your input at every step of the process. So, this isn't going to be something where we create a plan and then at the end you guys get to see it. the plan. Every scenario that we create is going to be posted online. You guys are going to go to see it, comment on it. Those comments are going to be collected and reviewed. I have had experience where I've drawn plans and then looked at the comments and somebody said, you know, this neighborhood really shouldn't go this way. It should go that way. And when I looked at it, I was like, yes, this person is correct. This is a this shouldn't have gone the way that
011we did and this makes a lot more sense the way that we suggested. So those suggestions are meaningful and they're going to be looked at. And lastly, whenever you do redistricting, what you want to do is create the least impact. So if you can achieve your goals by creating the least amount of disruption, that's really the goal here. So we're not going to make adjustments that aren't necessary. So what has been done already? And I guess there's some um discussion that there's a plan that has already been made. That has not occurred. The only thing that has been done because I'm the guy doing it is the stuff that's up there. I was retained. The data collection was done. So I basically got the location of all the stops, all the bus um information. I
012got the student enrollment, not the actual students, just the points where they are and um the capacity of the schools. I mapped the student locations. Then I created neighborhoods because whenever you're doing redistricting, you need some unit of geography that is the smallest piece of geography you're willing to move to a different school. So you don't want to split neighborhoods. So to the best of my ability, I tried to figure out what the neighborhoods were. I collected the parcel boundaries from the county and then I used those to create neighborhoods. Then I shared that with the school and the school commented on that said, "No, this should be split more and this area shouldn't be split." So that I made those adjustments. So at this point, all I have are the pieces of geography that
013will be used to create the districts. The next thing I did is I took the enrollment projections which were districtwide and brought those down to those little pieces of geography. So each time I move one from one school to another, but if I change a grade configuration, I can see how that plays out over the next 10 years. So that's how we model these scenarios. And then um I wanted to know sort of what can be done at each of the school facilities um because if we decide to for example go K through 5 versus K through3 and can this school for example handle those particular requirements for those students. So that is what has been done so far. So the next set of steps are what is outlined here. We're going to continue to
014look at the enrollment. I'm going to de uh uh do a deeper dive into the facilities and the transportation routes and then we're going to look at creating um potential scenarios and those scenarios are going to evaluate um both the boundaries and how the great configurations can happen. So basically the way that we do this is um we create a catalog of scenarios and each time we create a scenario the scenario goes online and then it'll be a map with boundaries and the school locations and configurations. It'll be in Google maps. You'll be able to place a dot on the map and put your comment on that dot. So, you're going to be able to say if it's a um boundary that should come for this way or that way, you can tie your comments
015to the location. We collect those and then we overlay them on our plans to see what adjustments we can do to accommodate what is um being recommended from the community. Once all of that is done, we're going to uh figure out how this can be phased in through the full implementation. And based on that, we're going to make a recommendation to the um to the superintendent and then to the school board. Finally, it will be approved by the school board if they choose to approve it and then it'll be implemented. So that's basically the process that is going to happen from here on out. And this one basically explains the same thing except it provides um some dates at the bottom of it. So developing scenarios is going to happen in December and January. During
016the whole time we're going to have community engagement as we create scenarios. We expect that we're going to have narrow this down to a implement uh a plan that can be implemented by the end of February and then at which point we're going to look for board approval and then from then on we're going to try to implement this across the entire system um for July 1 uh for the next school year. So that's basically the the the timeline of the of this project. Now, there's going to be a variety of ways for you to provide feedback. As I said, when we make plans, we're going to post them online and I put my my information in there. So, if there's any specific questions that you have, you can you can email me directly and
017then um there's a redistricting website that has been created and all the information that we're going to create is going to be there and you're going to be able to provide comments there and as well as see um what what the status of the process is. So, at this point, if you guys have any questions specifically to my presentation, um, we can take those. >> So, in the next, >> excuse me, I'm going to So, we'll we'll use the mic so then everyone can hear and um, community members on Zoom. >> Sorry. So, in the next two months, you're going to have this all figured out. February is when you said >> we're going to create the scenarios over the next two months. >> You said that you had created neighborhoods but the school made
018adjustment to that when you were talking about your own like unit of geography. So what does that mean? The school now has input in what you had originally created. So, I looked at the I took a map from the county that showed all the parcels. Then I overlaid that um on a street map and then I tried to figure out which are the neighborhoods. So, for example, if I saw a bunch of houses that were next to each other, I grouped them together so that your neighborhood wouldn't be split between two different schools. And I tried to make that as as small as I could without disrupting neighborhoods. So then to to answer your question, because I don't I don't live here. >> Yeah. >> I gave the map to the school district to to
019the other staff to look at and to see if there was anything that I got wrong. For example, did I draw a line in the middle of a of a neighborhood that I didn't understand to be a neighborhood? >> Okay. >> Here. >> Hi there. I just had a question. I understand the neighborhoods, but I guess I'm curious as to how much weight is being given to like the socioeconomic and diversity of neighborhoods. So, I understand not splitting a neighborhood, but like Ravine, for instance, where my child goes is one of I think maybe the more like kind of diverse representation of the town as a whole. Um, and I guess the scenarios I could think of, I mean, I could assume where I live, I could proximitywise, reasonably see my whole area tracking to
020one school and my area makes up a very diverse population for the town. And so I guess I'm trying to wrap my head around how it wouldn't kind of look like like one extremely diverse school in Yeah, I don't want to say like segregation of some sorts. Like I don't understand how we can establish that because logistically a very diverse area of the town would end up tracking reasonably to one school. So I guess I'm curious as to how much weight is being given to that factor like the diversity of our schools and keeping them yeah balanced. >> So that gets a little bit at this stage in the process um there isn't anything because all I did is I looked at the the neighborhood and said okay if I'm if I want to draw
021a line I don't want to go to the middle of this neighborhood. So I'm going to make this in one unit of geography and then either go with this school or that school. So that at this point all I've done is that. So once we start the process um what you said may or may not come into play. Sometimes I mean I know this is based on past experience. Sometimes we have situations where in order to create diversity you have to bust a bunch of kids from one side of town to the other. Nobody wants that. So you have to make a decision as to whether diversity is so important that you're willing to bust it or it is it where it falls in the list and that's a decision that's going to be made
022sort of by everybody here because some plans are going to track more with people and some others won't sorry just just for con I guess my question would be you had mentioned in the beginning that Strathmore was like right it had hit its capacity and kids were having to be diverted. I guess I'd be curious to look at I'm very supportive of the prek program. I think it's a great thing to have. It didn't exist when my kid was small. I would have loved it. Um but how many of the prek classes in Strathmore might be factoring into K to3 kids being displaced? And if we're going to offer a prek program, shouldn't it not come at the cost of displacing K through three kids? So, like could the prek classrooms in Stratmore be moved
023to like say um camp or I don't know some other school where like if that's something we're affording our town that's I don't want to say a luxury but it is it's it's a great thing that we're doing but could those classrooms be relocated and maybe there is a little bit of effort or um accommodation in getting the prek kids to those classrooms if we're going to offer that program. I guess that would be my curiosity. >> So, that's actually one of the questions that are in the second part. So, if we can hold off on specific preK questions in terms of the expansion and funds, um, that's all included in the second part. So, if there are questions for specifically for that would be great. Sorry, I'm too close to speaker. I want to
024build on what she said earlier and ask if there's going to be any socioeconomic impact studies or analysis done. Um, I'm a teacher and when they make up each classroom, they take into consideration all these different factors. So, if we're placing kids in school building, shouldn't we be considering the same factors? You know, at this point, all I can say is that my job is to create the scenarios. So, I'll create the scenarios and I'll tell you what's going to happen if you choose this scenario. and how it how it gets decided on. There's more people more than myself that's going to that are going to be involved. The school is going to be involved. The community is going to be involved. And those decisions are are are um are going to have to be
025made jointly, not just me sitting there saying that this school should get this person minority and this school shouldn't. So I'm going to add to that because we're so early on in this part in terms of we haven't created the scenarios. So what I can envision and the team can envision once the scenarios are up um you're commenting and it's fluid we're getting the um community input and our input that we probably I would imagine that through the our data and our enrollment once those clusters are made then we we could possibly generate maybe a report um which used to reside there currently and then I would be able to possibly then pull the data from there. Okay, I now have all the other backgrounds. The information that was shared with Fred in terms of
026enrollment does not include those specific demographics, but we have it. So, we would have to we would kind of go back to scenarios. Okay, scenario one would say you could say it's totally shifting, right? Demographics because we love the diversity in all of the buildings. And I I really do appreciate that you brought that up. Thank you. Uh, I actually have a two-part question over here. Um, when was your firm retained? >> I'm sorry. >> When was your firm retained? >> I don't have the date. I was retained originally to do. >> A month is fine. Do you have a month and a year? >> Does anyone in the room know when this firm was retained? >> It was sometime last year when it was originally retained. And then this was this was an addition
027to that because I did roll in projections. >> Okay. And then you so you started gathering data for this project when >> I started gathering data for this project in 20 2024. >> Okay. Is there going to be enough time realistically between the end of January when you propose the scenarios to go through what I imagine are going to be hundreds of comments and look through each of them. Right? How what's the methodology? How do you go through all that user feedback and add it to a realistic plan generation in under a month? So what happens is um when you place comments um you get a map and then you're um you decide to put a dot in the middle of the map wherever your wherever you like your comment to be associated with and
028then the first thing that you get to um say in your comment is I like this plan I I'm just providing comment or I am disliking this plan and then you provide your whatever your specific comments are. When I open up my scenario in in on my computer, I will see all of the dots. So, I'm going to be looking at aggregations of dots where they're green, whether they're yellow, whether they're red and then I'm going to go through them like that and they're tied to each of the scenarios and also we'll get aggregates of them. So, we have we do this all the time. This is not we had 40ome thousand comments. you know, Utah just did redistricting based on a court requirement. We had 40,000 comments. So, we had to go through all
029that, summarize it, and actually generate reports that the legislature could look at. So, this is um this isn't going to be necessarily difficult in 2000. >> Do we have access to the reports you generate? Uh, I can't answer that because that has to do with school policy and I don't know whether comments that were given to the school are are open for open records across the community. >> I know you mentioned it briefly, but has it been considered making Lloyd Road a fourth elementary school and then making the other three K through five? >> All of all of those things have been considered. So, is that one of the considerations? Yes, that'll be one of the things that will that that I'm going to try out. >> I think you might have submitted a question
030and I included it in the Q&A as well. >> Will the implementation date affect kids who are already in that school or will it only affect kids who are starting in a school if it gets redistricted? If my son's already in a school, he'd be able to finish out. >> So, um, we haven't made any determinations until after the scenarios are put together, then we would determine how many kids may be impacted and that'll determine really the timeline. So, that's why he's running, we have to run the scenarios first to address that. >> Hi there. So question is when was the neighborhood plan initially finished before it went back to the schools for comments like rough timeline? >> It was about a month ago. >> Okay. And then do you remember who in the school
031you sent it to? Did the was the board of education part of the recipients of the initial meeting for feedback? >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Hi. um you seem fairly confident that you're going to have this implemented in time, but it also seems like this is very preliminary from what we're being told. So, whatever recommendation that's being made, we're saying from March to July, we're feeling very confident that this is going to be implemented by that time. We don't know what the answers are. It's going to be difficult to kind of say, you know, by July, we're going to know exactly how we're proceeding. So the creation of the scenarios doesn't take that much time because I just sit in front of the computer and say okay with these students I mean the
032hard work is creating the data which is already done. So at this point I just sit there and say okay what happens if you make these three schools be prek to three what does the numbers look like over the next 10 years and it's a little spreadsheet just tells me what it is and then I can just move to the next scenario and the next one. So I can do 20 of them in one day. It's not like particularly complicated. The the lengthy part is getting comments and then seeing which of those can be implemented and for the school ultimately to decide which of the scenarios um they want to implement and make sense to implement. >> Uh two-part question. Uh last board meeting you was mentioned uh demography report was done about 10 years
033ago. Did you look at those to see how far off or on point those were? >> Yes, absolutely. And what was the like standard deviation? What was that looking like from the population growth estimate estimate versus actuality? >> So I I looked at all the projections and then I overlaid what what has actually occurred mean some some of it was good and some of it was off. >> And what did you do to take that into account for this? >> Did you do anything to take that into account for this scenario >> where it was good and where it was bad? Well, what what what was good and what was bad was had to do with just their way of doing projections. And I mean to be clear, projecting something 10 years out depends on
034a lot of different factors. >> But this decision will impact for the future as host. >> Absolutely. And >> could be 10 years. Well, look, you you you look at the numbers, you look at the trends, you look at the student population as it exists and how it's performed in the past and you project that forward. Now, no one can foresee a pandemic, change in the financial status, change in um you know, transportation networks, jobs. There's a lot of things that affect um uh student population. And as you get further around 10 years, your confidence is less and less. >> Uh last part of my question is in your first slide, you mentioned something around educational programming strengthening. What deficits did you see and how does redistricting directly impact that? >> As you fill more
035students into a building that is already at capacity, you have to put those students somewhere. So you have to start looking at converting spaces that are used for other activities into classroom. That's basically all you can do. Or increasing the increasing the classroom sizes. There's truly no other way to handle it. And >> I think he's implying that you take the speech room or the occupational therapy space and turn it into a classroom. >> Thank you. I did hear uh one young lady over here to my left indicating an area that she lives that there's equality in the community. Now, if you were to go into a community such as Cliffwood in some parts of Madan, it's heavily Africanamean. And so, I did hear you say that we don't want I believe this is what
036I heard you just say. We don't want to achieve equality by busing students all around. However, we don't want to wind up with a situation where there's segregation in our township. I think we have an equitable plan in our township right now. There's a good balance, there's a good mix, and I would not like to see us revert back to some of the plans that were imple suggested to be implemented in implemented in this township 40 and 50 years ago where we had similar meetings. So, I would like very much for you as you're making your ultimate decisions that you would keep in mind balancing us racially so that all of our kids will know one another. Amen. that the last thing I want to do is end up in court. And it has happened
037to schools where they drew plans and not realizing it, they uh split along racial boundaries and their plans ended up in court. Even though they had no idea that they had done it, it still ended up in the same place. So now knowing that we look at that. So I don't want to unintentionally create a situation where when you look at the map and you overlay different minorities equals like it was an intentional act. I also want to >> I just wanted to add to um Fred's comment that it's also not just the races, but is also special population subgroups that the administrative team looks like at as well. So, it's ESL, it's our special ed um programming as well. 12 years ago, the majority of our special ed programming was in one building. That
038created, we didn't define it as segregation, but it it it limited kids being able to engage with their non-disabled peers, and it also limited mainstream opportunities and inclusion for those students as well. So, we kind of 12 years later, they're now they're housed, every program is essentially housed in every single elementary building. So, I appreciate that. Thank you for saying that. I actually wasn't piggyback off of what she said and you said. My question was, how does this affect special education kids and their programs, related services, resources, and support for them? And will they open up more space for more classrooms in each school if they decide to redistrict for special ed classes? Um, just looking at some comments online and things like that, not from you, but just from parents, a lot of people
039have made comments about, oh, just move all those kids elsewhere and put them in one place. And me as a special ed mother can say that that's not the right thing to do. So, that's what I want to know. Um, because we're supposed to be about inclusion and not segregation. The goal is to get all these children out of the least restrictive environment and not segregated. So if you can think about that when you're making your plans or sharing them with the school district. Thank you. >> We actually have slides in terms of all those questions regarding pro instructional programming and in the next um any other questions for um in regards to the process. We'll take two more questions and then we'll start to move on. You gave an example before saying that one
040of the schools had I guess an extra 20 kids that they had to turn away. What does the data show? Like what is the percentage of overpopulation that we're going to see here? >> It's going to continue to it's going to continue to increase. So >> 20 kids you could maybe figure out what to do with but like how much overpopulation are we talking in the schools like in terms of data because I don't feel like we're getting actual like data points again. So the enrollment projection study is actually on the website. So I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head but it showed that it was going to continue on and the study was done in 2024 when we estimated that this was going to happen and now it's 2025 and
041it has happened and it's going to continue to continue because this this area unlike some of the adjacent areas is in the population is increasing. Yeah, we're building two highrises on Main Street in Madawan and a thousand units at the Glass Works. >> Yes. >> So, what are we going to do when those kids, those families come on board? If we're 20 short today, we could be 100 short next year once these projects are done. So to just briefly explain about the development, I did take that into account when I was doing enrollment injections. >> So we do have those numbers in the process and it wasn't just passwords. It was a number of other ones. So every development that was either planned or under construction is in is in the report and we use
042those projected numbers. Now development happens. you know, those get they get permits, they build the houses, and people move in. >> We're not talking about houses. We're talking about, you know, highrises. >> Sir, can we just um continue with this? >> Sure. Thank you. >> Hi. Um so, I know that there's a lot of questions about the timeline. I guess one of the questions I have would be, are there any considerations for a multi-year timeline for this transition or is this a oneand done or does is that in part of your plans? So depending on the scenarios and what those look like then we would determine if it's over time. So if you can do something a fraction of it in 2627 where it's minimal disruption and then continue to phase it in that could
043potentially be an option but we don't know until the scenarios are created. Two part questions. Thank you. Um I guess this is kind of more for you guys and not so much for you. I don't think that you would look at these um intricate details as opposed to just the numbers and locations. Um but you know considering the current fourth grade class is really important to me. My son is in third atine at Lloyd I don't know for fifth and then maths for six. So that's several transitions, but I I just I know that that wouldn't like a a dot on your maps necessarily, but it's something near and dear to you. Thank you. And that's so and I we Fred is saying dots and I hope no one is um everyone understands that they're
044not dots to us. They're not dots to the members of the board of cash at board of educ. They're our kids, too. So you send them to us. Um we care about your kids. We love them. The teachers love them. So, it's not anything that they're just thoughts. Um, I wish there was another way of saying it. Um, but he that's why he's the consultant and he, you know, I'm I'm the educator, right? But they're not thought to us. So, I just want to share that. >> They're only thoughts to me because I don't want to know the names because everybody's going to get upset that I have all their information. >> So, we're going to get started with the second part and Fred will still be here. um so that he can answer questions.
045He'll interject in terms of answering some of the questions that we have here. Um first of all, I want to thank everyone um who submitted the questions. Again, we appreciate them and though I may have not been able to um respond to every single question. Um we use those questions. Um what we did tonight is that they are questions exactly as they were submitted. um because I did not want to um put questions up here and then try and figure out did that person really mean that or did they mean this? So they were they were as is. So you'll see them in quotes. So this part we're going to talk about in in elementary enrollment elementary demographics. We're going to review questions as submitted. All the questions that were submitted I created themes subgroups
046whatever you want to call them under and these are the topics and that's how we'll go through them. the why we're considering and exploring redistricting, transportation, the school assignments and instructional programming uh facilities and preschool. Please hold any questions so we can kind of get through as many questions as we can and then we will turn it over to you all for additional questions. Um like I mentioned, we will start our um our board of education meeting at 7. However, um you we're allowing obviously um ample time for you to stay and also continue with um public comments. You have on your tables pencils. We're going to play like school. You have pencils. You have index cards. So, please please please jot your questions down. I know some of you were writing them in your
047notebook. It will help us because then I can I will update the FAQ and keep that kind of doc that document current with your questions so everyone will be able to see that. So, it'll be almost like a document each week. Um so don't so don't take away the index cards leaving. Um again remember um acknowledge and respect different perspectives, listen and speak with an open mind and stay on topic to ensure versus a hurt and be solution focused. >> Okay. So you all have been speaking to this. So here's some of the data. So this is our district data. elementary schools, school year 2425, enrollment 2526. I can see a lot of you taking pictures. Absolutely. Go ahead. This also will be posted on the Bishop website, so you'll have access to all of
048this. There's some links we're going to point out as well. So, we'll have this. Um, so what this is showing us over the past two years if you look going down which schools they are, they're moving from left to right. So, Loy Road basically is flat in terms of enrollment. Strapore has increased. Ravine drive has increased. Clifford has increased. We've increased by 61 students in elementary from last school year to this school year. So this data comes from our snapshot. Every school district on October 15th is required to take a snapshot of student enrollment and you provide that to the department of education. Then what happens in the springtime that information gets uploaded to the New Jersey school performance report. You're more than welcome to go on to the New Jersey school performance site. You
049can see years worth of data for individual buildings, individual school districts both within our area, within our county, within the state. So all this information becomes public. Mrs. President. Okay. So the next one, the background demographics. You just all talked about this. So here it is. So this is this school year based on our snapshot. And the reason we wanted to show you this is that we are diverse in everything, right? So quick example. So if you look at subgroup Hispanic population, it's almost the same at all four buildings. As educators, we actually use this data and the data was presented in October to the board of education when we look at the tests our students take in the springtime in grades 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. So we can look at
050subgroup data when we receive test results back. So we can use this group to better instruct students. But here you can take a look just to see we are diverse in every building. Again, last one on uh background demographics. This one is on economically disadvantaged students who are students who become eligible for free and reduced lunch. So this is two years worth of data and if you want to see historical data, the link is at the bottom. You can see years past. So for the elementary schools, Cliffwood actually has had a drop in term of number of percentage of students eligible. Um however, Lloyd Road has increased, ravine drive has increased and Strathmore has remained flat. So this is showing you that a different form of diversity. We're just as diverse when it comes to
051economically disadvantaged students and different pockets of our community are growing in that category. Okay. So, this is where background information for all to be aware of and it helps promote the decision-m process. So, the why you heard um Fred mention about the demography study that was conducted last year. Also, it's about planning for future. It's about planning for next year. We're constantly thinking and thinking and what are we going to do next year? So we have this year we move we opened up a new classroom the first before the first week of opening up school. Those are things those are scenarios that we think of and the reason why we need to look into this and explore because we do not want to fall into those situations. Um those situations can be impactful to not
052only families who think that they're going to one building and then now they're going to a new building because we don't want class sizes to 28 um at elementary. But the other piece too is those things are sometimes not budgeted for. So the example that Fred gave that classroom that we opened up that we now some of those students had to be transported to um to Ravine Drive or to Clifford whichever building we were going to that we had to reassign them to. The other piece is sometimes that staff member is not projected. That impacts the budget as well. Um and it also impacts if we don't have a teacher the first day of school because we had to open up a classroom. I say the last that's a last minute decision. Um so we
053want to plan for things like that. So we want to that's why we decided to explore it based off of the recommendation. The other piece is that um not only is it's also facility facility usage across all districts ensuring that we're using and maximizing all of the space. We don't want we do not want one building that's overutilized um where there isn't any space um where we're seeing traffic patterns increase on one side on the other side where you're 100 150 students less in an elementary building. We're trying to balance that and we want to see how can we do that. I don't know. That's why we retain um Fred and so he can help us digest that. Um, we also, um, I mentioned the in terms of instructional priorities, we want to make sure
054that they're balanced and supportive. The minute that you increase class sizes, is that right? Is that the best and the best decision to have 28 to 30 students in an elementary building? Is that the right thing to do? Because we want to just stay in the boundaries that we've had for over 28 years. Again, that's why we're exploring. One of the questions that came in, another one um is how can the district ensure that the redistricting process is inclusive of community feedback and address the diverse needs of families while also providing a clear plan to manage current and future overcrowding in schools. So, we're committed to the process to alleviate any of those challenges. We want to support a long-term vision that's not for this year. It's for years to come. And as Fred mentioned,
055we don't have a crystal ball. We don't know, you know, if something will happen in 10 years, budget, um financial constraints, transportation, etc. But we want to do um what's right for the community, what's right for our kids, um and plan for those things. We absolutely recognize that whatever we're doing here and what our discussions does impact families and it impacts our kids and it impacts our staff. Um whether it's emotional, logistical, um educational, we recognize that. But again, throughout the process, we're thinking of those things and making sure that we h we make any decisions moving forward that it has the least impact. The um to ensure the process is inclusive and thoughtful of our community members, we ask that you continue to use the avenues that we we have set forth thus far,
056which is tonight. And again, thank you. Um you're we're asking for staff input. We've done um each building we got to already just to let them know it's a process. We're welcoming their feedback and a lot of our community me a lot of our staff members actually live here. So they are giving they could perhaps give perspectives from both as mom and also as staff member and of course the open board discussions which are every month twice a month. Um and the calendar is online. The goal is to create authentic opportunities for all stakeholders to respectfully voice their experiences and ask questions. Our redistricting efforts are not it's not about changing just the boundaries. It's about ensuring that we are looking at these things closely and we're listening um to everyone and considering every option
057and then transportation case. >> Good evening. So transportation is always a hot topic. So, one of the questions was if we return to a K to5 setting, uh, would that alleviate bus concerns and congestion during drop off and pickups? At this time, we're still exploring all avenues. So, we have not, but what we will keep in mind is balancing school assignments while trying to optimize those routes, improving the efficiency of bus stops, optimizing clusters and neighborhoods. Right? Those are those centralized bus stops that we continue to kind of go out do field trips and see if they're working or not working and adjust accordingly. We have also minimized street crossings and we're working on those walking hazards. Uh working with the towns, they've been so helpful to help us with additional crossing guards. We're ensuring
058that the schools have safe drop off and pickup locations. And the other thing that we've decided to do is also match the bus sizes to the route demands. And what we mean by that is really working with our vendors and our providers to kind of have 24 passenger vans, 29 passengers and 54. That way we have safe and we can also optimize how many students are able to get on the bus. Um and you know keep in mind where we can bring those a bus can never back up. So it always can present a challenge of kind of where we can fit and the best safe spaces to be picked up and dropped off. And we're trying to avoid large disparities among the students while they're taking the routes. So would a raiseoning plan assign
059students to a school that's farther away than the current school they attend? That is a possibility as we're looking at all the data. So we again we're trying to balance that optimization and enrollment as we're looking at the projections over the next 10 years. We're going to strive to always minimize that travel time. We've also looked at, you know, what routes would look like so that when they're traveling one way, they're then reversing that route the second way. So then everyone is equally on the bus, whether that's coming and going to school. And then we're also trying to work on our capacity, our equity, and our program needs based off that. And so our location will always be a priority. And then we're going to weigh that against all the considerations we talked about previously.
060Um, with the five school schedules currently in operation, can redistricting reduce transportation conflicts? Uh, that is the hope. We need more than a half an hour time to get everybody to and from. As we saw this year with late enrollments, it was very challenging cuz they have to open up an additional space. And with that, that made uh routes kind of go all over town instead of into a unique neighborhood, which causes uh many delays. and it has presented many problems. So, we're going to be taking a look at that as well. We do always try to keep a few extra spaces on those routes. However, with what went on this year in enrollment going up, that was not we were not able to do so. So, as we continue to choice to keep Lloyd
061Road at an upper elementary or resolve transportation issues related to time and budgeting, again, we have to review that data before we can give an acceptable answer. But we'll continue to keep transportation and the budgeting that goes into this. And we're always going to try to keep improving that route and again watching and seeing who's taking it, how often it's used, making sure that those buses are used to the best capacity possible. So next set of questions that you have submitted falls under the category of school assignments and instructional programs and support. So we'll get right into the questions. First question that was submitted, how will the district address the emotional and social impact on students, particularly those with special needs who may be reassigned to new schools? So, we we understand this can be
062difficult. Change can be difficult. We want to do what's best for students. We understand that there are different levels of support that you might need as parents, that students may need. We know that staff need supports as well. And so we take this into consideration once we look at the scenarios, we start the decision-m process, we take that into account. I'll give you a couple of examples. We already do transitions now. So when students leave one of the three pre 3k free buildings to come here to Lloyd Road, we do a transition. Students have a chance to come and visit the school. There's a summer orientation. When students leave here, go to the middle school. Same type of thing. There's a summer orientation for you and for students. So we've been doing this for a
063while and so things that work in terms of transition, we're able then to expand it based on what the scenarios in the decision might be. Another example, we look around the room, we have building principles and assistant principles, supervisors, district administrators, transportation is here, teaching staff is here, counselors are here and here also online. So, the the room has plenty of educators here and they're here for information, but they're also here to support you and to support your kids. They came out tonight to be part of the process because they want to support you. Next question, will the district consider a grandfathering option for students already integrated into their current school communities? So, this is asking is there some exception clauses? So this is an interesting suggestion as we get further through the process. This
064is something if appropriate, if it works, we could consider it. Next question. Will prek to through second graders be kept together in any redistricting plan? So that's a question that ties into scenarios. We're not there yet, but a question like this is something that we're going to hold on to. And when we get to the point where we're able to answer in more detail, we can. The next one, will sibling placement continue to be a priority amidst changes? So yes, to the best of our ability, we currently we do the best that we can now to keep siblings together, try to minimize impact on families. When we redistrict, same thing. We take the same approach and we try to minimize impact on families with siblings. Uh, third question on here. Why don't you place prek
065in trailers to have more space? No. Trailers are costly, right? It is not a permanent solution and is not appropriate for all school programs. Will families face annual redistricting concerns and disruptions to established school communities? No. The intention of this we we we bring Fred and his company on as a consultant so we can put together a longterm sustainable plan. You don't want to do this every year. We don't want to do this every year. We want to take something that is long-term that works best for the community over time. So no. Will all special education programs be housed in one building? Followup. Can you consider moving special ed programs to other schools? So no programs have to remain fluid in all buildings. We have special ed programs in all buildings. Now that will remain
066true. Take a look at the second bullet. So some of you have been talking about this this evening and I'll read it. Housing in one building causes segregation which we've worked diligently to solve and ensure inclusion across all buildings. So now we will not be doing that. Uh the next question, why are children with behavior problems taking up classroom space when they should be in a different building? We could use those classrooms for the regular children. So I'm going to I'm going to pause for a moment. I'll address this. I'm going to pause for a moment and let us look at the question. >> We do not excuse. So the question as I said before someone did ask that. So in full transparency we did not change any of the questions. So when it's related
067to our students >> these are >> no these are all of the questions that we put them. We did not put the repetitive questions that is not a repetitive question. >> So again we do not speak about children as being regular. That's not an education term. That's not a term that's appropriate for us. We have a thoughtful response. We'll get that in in just a moment. But questions like this, we cannot respond to moving forward. Okay? So, we want you to understand, leave here educated about the process, but also educated unless you're talking about coffee or gasoline. We do not speak about children as regular. So again, our answer is here and you have a chance to access this a bit more detail, but we support all students. Every student has a right to learn
068in the best environment and studies show that students who are with their peers, all students benefit. Will the district remain committed to offering gifted and talented programs, band, chorus, clubs, and other enrichment opportunities currently available at Lloyd Road for fourth and fifth graders regardless of any redistricting or grade level reconfiguration. Yes, we are required by the New Jersey Department of Education for students to have access to gift talented to be in music and chorus to be in the arts program. That is not changing. So currently students have access to enrichment. They have access to the fine arts and performing arts. They have access to band of course now access to steam. That will not change. We're required to do it. It's the right thing to do anyway. So regardless of what scenario we move forward
069with, students continue to have access to these programs. Okay, this is an interesting question. Won't Cliffwood lose their Title One funding if their cohort is combined with some of our population? Isn't this bad for students and the district as a whole? So, if you remember, it's been a few minutes now. If you were to go back to one of the slides I first presented on economically disadvantaged students and that data, those data points help support this question. So, here's the best way to look at this. This year we have two schools who are receiving title one funding. Cliffwood and Lloyd Road. So all of our students from all three elementary schools come here and they receive title one funding. A few years ago, our middle school received a title one funding. So title one funding,
070if you're unaware, and we can spend a lot of time talking about this. I'll be brief and try to do my best. Title one funding is federal money that comes to New Jersey. The department of ed then allocates to schools who are in the most need. That funding follows the student and that funding is meant to supplement not replace the local budget. So the takeaway from this is title one funding shifts regularly anyway. So in this particular scenario we wouldn't even be able to say that one school would get it or not get it. Staffing planner Dr. Rob. So, in terms of staffing, we've talked a lot about dots, and just like we don't think our students are dots, we don't think our staff are dots either. Um, we've been doing a lot of outreach
071already in terms of communicating with our staff. Although, as you've heard already, we don't have all of the answers or projections or scenarios at this time. So, as we get those things and get that data and information, we're going to be doing more outreach with our staff. uh it's an inclusive uh approach to what we're doing just like we're doing here tonight. We're going to do similar with our staff. We will keep on timelines as we normally would do. Um it's going to be a lot more sprinting obviously uh if especially if we're going 26 27. Uh so we will pick up some pacing when it comes to this. Uh but we will make sure that we're doing it with a humanistic touch. Um and we will look at our staff. Our staff's very highly
072qualified, diverse in terms of their certification, experience and expertise. Uh then we're going to provide professional development for them because it maybe shifts in some ways in terms of content that there's that they're teaching or grade levels uh in age appropriateness. In terms of planning, what role does a superintendent play in the redistricting process and how much influence does the position have on the final decision? Like many things when it comes to education school districts, there are no silo decisions made by a superintendent of schools. Um the the way that school districts are set up is that it's collaborative. There's no like um unilateral decision that's made by the superintendent. It obviously goes through team meaning cabinet administrators. We talked about teacher input. Uh and then we have a board of education uh that serves
073as a regulatory piece process. No one moves to Manawan and pays man taxes to send their child to Cliff schools. Parents choose their town and neighborhood based on the school they want their children to attend. We are a regional school district uh which means that children can be placed in different schools in the region to continue on. Uh when will specific zoning details be made available to families? And I know you've heard a lot of this tonight. Um, but as we continue on, you will begin to give more information based on next steps. Uh, will families have opportunities to pro provide input before the finalization of redistricting plans? As it has been said and it's written here, yes, you will be able to have input uh in in different forms and fashions. Uh when will
074parents know what the final redistricting decision is and where our children will be attending school next year? Uh families will be notified well ahead of the start of the school year. I just talked about process in terms of staffing uh because we want our staff to know that as well uh because it's important to how they approach the next school year. Uh we expect to finalize a plan and communicate assignments in the spring giving families ample time to prepare for their transition. I have a Louis Road child. Is Ravine Drive going to be a prek5 school? If so, does this mean my child will be going back to Ravine for fifth grade? Again, and it's a good question. Um, I've been there as a parent. Uh, so I definitely understand that part. Uh but we
075really don't have all of that information right now. But as the superintendent did share, we're going to be very responsive and look at every case as close as possible and those situations will be uh considered. My child will be in fourth grade for the 26 27 school year. If redistricting is done for the 2728 school year, he will potentially attend three buildings in three years going from Ravine to Lloyd to Cliffwood. I feel strongly this would be destabilizing for my child as well as the rest of his cohort. Uh is there special consideration being given to these students? Again, not to sound redundant, but that's never that's another good case that that speaks to, you know, a child moving a student moving to three different schools. Uh and we are going to consider those scenarios.
076uh we can't promise that every decision that's made is going to be the right decision for a particular family, but we are going to look at all of those things and consider all of those things, right? So, why isn't redistricting based on geographical proximity to the school? It will be. We will be taking an an important factor and look at that while we're dealing with the school boundaries. However, we're also going to account for balancing our school enrollment, ensuring equitable access, and making efficient use of our available classrooms. We've also been in touch with our architect to ensure that any projections that we have have taken in our professional services and order. Uh so, they have helped along the way to ensure that our capacity levels are where they need to be. So you'll see
077that in some cases assigning students to their closest school could lead to overcrowding in one building while leaving other space unused. We don't want that to happen. So again, that's why we're using our professional services so that we can make the best right decision. With the new influx of students coming to our district residents on Milton Avenue, click remain at Ravine Elementary. At this point in time, it's too early to tell how those changes would impact schools and where they would be attending. So again, we just want to remind everyone that our goal is to develop a redistricting plan that best supports all students academically, socially, and logistically now and in the future. Obviously, we've been here before, so we want to make sure we're making the best right decision for all students. How does
078the district plan address overcrowding resulting from new development while maintaining the quality of education? Um, if schools are overcrowded, how are towns still able to build? So the question the second question is not a question for the district that's a question for um for your towns and I'm suggest kind of go continue to stay involved go to the town council meetings etc. However we are in communication myself um and the admin team we meet with the their their admin team so like their town manager um I meet monthly with the chief um the chiefs of both towns as well. So it is a collaborative um discussion. Um any and any overcrowding is really due to multiple factors. It is not just it's not one answer. It's not the redevelopment. It's not the new developments. It's
079the resale. It's the turnover um of the sales of home mentioned. Um it's growing families in our communities, right? So some of us, you know, for myself, I live the town next door. I can't afford to sell my house and just say, "Oh, I want to move over to, you know, on south or somewhere because the the rising cost of of the homes. So some people are choosing okay I'll add on to my house. So they're staying there they're um there might be two families or mother daughter. So those are changes that are happening in the community which we embrace um and any potential new development as um Fred mentioned anything potential um that is included in demography study. So those are things that we are also consider considering as well. what solutions are available
080for schools that are already overpop populated before considering further development or redistricting. Um so we laid it out. We're reviewing um obviously the solutions are review our current class um classroom layouts um to increase capacity in the buildings as I mentioned um exploring flexible grade level assignments. Is that an option? the review programs to optimize uh building utilization as we mentioned earlier whether it's a change of room for services um supports the use of the dem the demographic study um program enrollment um and enrollment projections we're continuing to look at that those transportation routes if we can solve some of our challenges that we have with transportation through this process that's a win that is a win because we might be able to there are challenges that you know community members that brought up. Why
081can't why don't we have transportation for students that cross it are crossing the highway? If that if that is one thing that came out of this whole exploration, that is a win for the community because we're ensuring that our kids get to school safely. Um facility uh facility usage um again evaluating the facil facilities to identify areas of need and to support um sustainable long-term growth. in terms of preschool. Um I'm watching the time um so I'm gonna get through this as much um most of these questions because there were a lot of questions here. First of all, I want to emphasize I want you to understand preschool expansion and a little bit of the historical perspective because some of the questions that we have there we understand them but you may not understand the
082answers or um the why behind it. So, we were approved for pea preschool expansion aid funds in uh February 2021. If you remember, we were back at school hybrid. We were required to open up. We applied in November for that application when they determined that the towns were eligible for preschool. We applied and we got kids here in February of 2020 with masks. Prior to uh 2020, the district offered tuition based preschool for 51 half day students and 45 fullday students. To maximize inclusion, the superintendent and the board made a decision. How can we maximize inclusion? We rolled out in 2021. We began offering full day preschool to align with the state model which was still tuition based. The district has been committed for years to early learning. The current Cambridge Park, that building after
083that was preschool for years and it was a homegrown program. We're continue to remain committed to preschool for early learning and we're continuing to adhere to those standards. During the application process, the district reached out to multiple community providers in both towns Aberdine and Madawan. And as required we have to follow the requirements which include square footage per pup people cost staffing certifications and professional development. Now did every provider at that time were they eligible? No. It did not meet the requirements of the department of education um because of either one, two or maybe all of them and they were not able to participate and um be partners with the district. The district currently partners with Lakebridge Academy who currently has two classrooms. The location of classrooms in every in the buildings can vary year
084to year depending on need. Um and that's we bas we determine all of that as we're planning um for the upcoming school year. Our current enrollment is inclusive of preschool disabled. We're required to run a preschool disabled program. We are not funded for special ed with our preschool expansion funds. That's coming out a little at Cambridge Park. We have 18 classrooms. Strathmore 2, Rivine 5, and Cliffwood 7. Is the preK program a lottery and how does it impact current overcrowding and other grades? We follow all the state eligibility as I mentioned and lottery is part of the process. PreK enrollment does not contribute to overcrowding. All of our buildings are currently operating within their capacity. Currently operating in their capacity. We are committed to monitoring enrollment trends at every grade level um to ensure our
085learners are supported. Um preschool expansion has been planned carefully to avoid any disruption to K to 5 elementary program and we will continue to plan that way. If prek enrollment were limited through a lottery based on available space, would that prevent reszoning or grade restructuring for school age students? Would this create approximately four vacant classrooms per elementary school? Limiting the lottery would not resolve the underlying issue un with the enrollment across K to 5. The classroom usage is determined based on multiple factors including specialized programming, enrollment projections, and instructional needs. Even if prek were reduced there, that wouldn't necessarily mean that we have enough space to eliminate resoning or restructuring or looking at those things whether it's for next year or for years to come. Would the declining of the prek3 grant reduce or resolve
086the current overcrowding concerns? How does the grant benefit K to 5 students who must be educated by law compared with prek which is optional? So declining pea would not resolve our concerning expiration because we do have the space for built-in enrollment usage. We are accepting this money and it's aided us with transportation and it's helped us with program needs. Um it's highly qualified prek supports or early literacy, school readiness and long-term outcomes for all students. And prek is a strategic investment. Uh the state felt that this was a strategic investment. They felt like while prek we had to always have for our special ed, they wanted to advance that to have general ed students so that they could put money towards it so that in future planning years they would feel like they would see
087a savings cuz they would have all kids start on the same platform. So New Jersey has backed this. They are currently having this as an annual legislative funding source. They do not have it as a statutory requirement at the current time. Their statutory requirement is still K to2. However, every single year they continue to put and increase their annual legislative funding towards the preschool expansion grant. All right. Isn't it true then that you are choosing the 7.8 million in grant money over our school age kids? That grant money legally should not only be spent on prek. So, it doesn't benefit our school age children. Paying teachers more, giving them benefits does not benefit our school age kids. Allowing a lottery for low income or need of early intervention would help the prek students that need
088it most while not taking from our school age kids. How can you justify doing anything other than reducing the chaos of prek that you've allowed because you were blinded by the grant money? We are still committed to supporting both our youngest learners and our school age students. We're committed to offering early learning opportunities and building a strong foundation. We have always been required to ensure child fine for our prek learners for special education. We have not taken actually away from school age children because we are utilizing the money that we're receiving for preschool general ed students. And what we've had the ability to do is also utilize that funding so that it helps uh support all the buildings that are receiving prek students. It's given us the ability to have shared u status so that
089we can increase our social work or increase our guidance counselors through the building. It's helped support our custodial contract that we've had throughout the district. It's also helped support transportation. It's helped purchase buses. It's helped us purchase playgrounds for many of the buildings. So those costs have been helped to offset costs that have then been able to put more money into the K to 5 as well as all K to2 programming. So our goal is never to choose one group over another, but to grow our district so that every student from preschool to high school has the foundation for success. >> Go ahead. So, the QR code that we had at the end of Fred's presentation is up here. Again, there are plenty of opportunities for you to give feedback as the process continues. Couple
090of things. You've been fantastic. This has been a great audience. Thank you so much if you're at home on Zoom or you're here in person that you're engaged in the process. You being here is important to us. Second, happy Thanksgiving. I don't think we had enough to say that yet. So, we have a holiday weekend coming up. We want to wish you all the best. Don't go anywhere. Here's what we're going to do next. We We have five minutes before we have to open up our board meeting. We have time for a couple of questions. Then we do have to stop at 7. The board will then come up to the deis. They're going to open up the meeting and then we'll go through that process. So, Mrs. Perez, if you want to Hi, >>
091thanks for that. Um, I was wondering if you could within as much as you could give a little bit of detail, how would it be better aside from just the classroom sizes, 28, 30 students and buses so far? It's all big picture stuff, but how does the dayto-day get better in the elementary school, for example? Um, from my limited experience here so far, the special ed program is struggling to keep people in place. Schools are changing. It's a little all over the place, right? Uh, service hours have been cut in half this year compared to last year. So, how will districts thinking help that? And furthermore, how does it help get music and art teachers all carts into their own room where they're not fighting over the same space? All the typical things that happen
092in elementary school not enough space. Is that going to make those experiences better for our students? aside from just 28 kids in a classroom and better busing like how's the other finite experiences get better compared to what it is now? Thank you. >> Mike, you want to answer the programming and >> yes so similar to the question that was posted and I had covered about gifted and talented enrichment music course, visual arts, performing arts. So th those are our required programs and courses that we offer and we continue to do so. So what we can say now in a short amount of time two things we continue to offer those and do what's best for kids and if we need more parents if you need more detailed answers on those things that this is great
093so you're giving us those questions we could construct more detailed answers and satisfy those questions that you're asking. In terms of the cards, it is too early to answer that in terms of what the layout would look like. We are always looking that and looking for space. But as we mentioned in one of the slides, in terms of code and what allowable space we can use for say an art class, what I think we can use for a math art class, I say a lot of suggestions. Um, however, then I have Miss Case or Mr. Carlson who is facilities um say no no you can't use that space for that because it's not approved for X Y and Z but we are considering you know all of those options um to that to piggy back
094off that um kind of my questioning would go hand in hand with that 25 30 years ago I was in Strathmore K to 5 we had an art room we had a music room we had a library with a librarian we had a computer lab we had worked four to five classes per grade level. Is that something that could possibly work with the current populations that we are going to oh my sorry is that something that we can possibly return to with the demographics that we are looking at? >> So that's going to be a scenario that Fred is going to take he's going to run through his system and then we'll have a chance to comment on. So that's exactly what Fred's work is going to do. Um, is there going to be any
095consideration with the proposed redistricting given to siblings that are currently separated but could be in the same school? >> Yes. Um, so we always prioritize as much as possible siblings and trying to keep them together. Sometimes it doesn't work out particularly if you have a preschooler and um maybe someone your child's at strap might not work out. Um, but we do try to keep them together. Um, so then this way you're not Correct. >> We we've heard the answers to a lot of these questions have been we're considering every possible scenario. I just want to clarify the timeline and the process. So, are we going to be presented sometime in January with here's scenario A, B, and C, and we're collecting comments on them to determine which way we're going, or is it going to
096be here's one scenario, we'll collect all the comments, maybe we'll publish another one based off of the feedback, or is it just rectangular comments, and we're going to make our final decision based on it. >> Can you help with that? Uh typically I like to do one scenario and then give comments and then try to improve that scenario and work that through the through that through to the end. But given the fact that we're looking at both rate configuration and boundaries, it may turn out that we do multiple scenarios and then we have to try to figure out which one of the community supports and what the impacts are going to be. Can I just just add on to that the timeline between comments period and then the next revision because it it seems like
097it's a pretty tight timeline to go from February to a decision at the end of March or the beginning of March. >> I mean usually we want to give at least two to three weeks worth of time for comments. >> So the first published scenarios we expect when exactly >> um sometime in December. I mean I got to get back to the office after this and start to actually Uh, one more question. >> I have three children in the school system, third grade, first grade, and and prek. You guys said that the prek is not impacting or overcrowding. Um, I noticed Cliffwood has seven prek classrooms. What qualifies to be a prek classroom? because my understanding was if they have a bathroom, my kid's in a classroom that does not have a bathroom. So, it's
098already taking away from a classroom. And this is coming from a mom who has a kid in the prek system. Um, so I wonder how that isn't impacting our schools already. And my second part is my one child gets or used to get basic skills program. She struggles in reading and needs additional help. Beginning this year, she no longer gets that. So, the kids that are no longer getting the help that they there's the gifted and talented, but there's the kids that need the help getting up there. Um, with the redistricting, will you guys consider bringing basic skills back to all the schools? >> So, I'll start with the intervention piece and then Mrs. Crest can talk more about prek classrooms. So we had made a decision two years ago for a majority of our
099schools and then this past year um for one school that we moved away from the interventionist teacher model. So there are still interventions available to students is how do we go about delivering those interventions and again we can get more information on this. We use a tier model. Um, there's tier one, which is a majority of students, tier two, which is a smaller group, and tier three who need very specific help. So, we continue to follow that model. I know you're looking for a specific answer, and I'm sure it's very frustrating that we're not giving specific definitive answers, but we have to go through the process. Mrs. President, you want to talk about the preschool classroom pieces? >> Just really quick, I understand that, but she got pulled out of the classroom and no longer
100gets that and does not have any teachers. Thank goodness she has an excellent teacher who's done that in the past. So, she is helping her in her regular classroom, but she is not getting the services she got last year. So, the like the description of they were still going by the tier isn't really accurate because she's not getting the help she get last year. So, I would welcome you to reach out to principal and if you've done that already, then also reach out to Mr. because that's another discussion, but we definitely want to hear um your concerns in regards to the question about the preschool and say the bathrooms. So when the DOE puts out the um the application process and enrollment and so right now we're submitting information for next year to the state
101because we're already working on budget for next year. Um we have to submit that information. In that process the questions are do your class have bathrooms. If they don't, are you submitting a waiver? So, the DOE does allow for a waiver for the bathroom. However, they must come they come on site every single year and inspect to ensure that the waiver is it's it's okay. So, will and then they will ask will you have an in will you have staff to walk the children to the bathroom so they're never alone. So, that's that's one thing. But the first priority that in terms of layers, the first priority is to have them in classrooms with that. Second piece is that it they do walk around. When she's walking around, this is the county. When she's walking
102around, and this case can tell us through the process, but um when she's walking around, if she sees a classroom, she says, "You didn't show me that classroom." That classroom is most appropriate for this space. So whether it's preschool, kindergarten, the arts, or whatever, she sees the classroom. And she says, "Why didn't you consider that classroom?" And sometimes it's sometimes it makes sense to us why we didn't consider it. And we I would say like that's a larger space. I want to use it for the arts. I want to use it for here. No, that's you have the space. It's available. You might you have to consider using that for whatever we put in the waiver for. So it's so I can't we have to move on to board meeting. But the uh the other
103piece is that um preschool again I want to emphasize that the preschool is not that's not necessarily impacting what we're talking about because the kids already reside here. They are here whether you agree or not the kids are here. We were only you are only eligible for a preschool expansion fund when for that aid when we applied is because they looked at our numbers. They double they have a calculation and they come up with the calculation on how many students you have that you can offer free preschool. When we when they do that calculation they come up with a number. It could be 600 could be 700. We are required to try and achieve 90% of that number. Okay. So when we applied, did we bring in 500 kids in February during CO? 100%. No,
104we did not. It was phased over time while monitoring the enrollment and where we were at the time. And that's that's where kind of where we are with preschool. So right now the preschool is here. We looked at that enrollment and we continue to look at that. Should it be impacting um they're they're they'll ask us and they'll say, you know, is it impacting um you know, special ed? Are we losing spots because we're enrolling gened? Those sorts of questions. And so we do have the answer to that. But that's kind of that is where we are and that was essentially historically and where we are now with the school expansion. I'm going to turn we're going to um if the board members can come up we're going to move to the board of education.
105Good evening. Welcome to the 24th meeting of the regional school board of education. We are glad to see so many of you here. The board meetings per month. >> The board regularly holds two meetings per month. second Monday of each month is the committee of the whole and the fourth Monday is the regular action meeting. I just wanted to start by thanking the uh cabinet superintendent Perez, assistant superintendent Mr. Leman, director of personnel Dr. Ross Phil, um our business administrator, board secretary case. I thought it was extremely thorough um very well presented. I um hadn't seen that. So appreciate all the information that and the time and the effort that was made to provide that information on top of your regular duties, day-to-day duties. So I really appreciate that. Um the New Jersey P open
106public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public school bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or agreed upon. In accordance with the provision of this act, the Madawan Aberdine Regional School District Board of Education advertised this meeting on November 21st, 2025 in the Asbury Park Press. This notice was sent to the municipal clerks of the burrow of Malan and the township of Aberdine and the Maran Aberdine public library. The notice was also placed on the district's website. Before we stand for the pledge, I also wanted to recognize and thank all of the administrators and staff members, directors and supervisors who also came tonight um to learn along with everybody else and we appreciate their support. Can
107we please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I I just also wanted to thank um Fred. I'm not sure where he is. Um Oh, okay. I just wanted to make sure we thanked him. He comes from Washington, so he came on the train. So, he's got him home on the train and he said he's got an 8 a.m. appointment and he's more than willing to stay here and so I appreciate it. Um I I was happy he didn't get in a car and try to get here. Um, but anyway, so thank you, Fred. I don't know if he hears me, but we appreciate it. >> All right, roll call. Mrs. Scolley >> here. >>
108Miss Fus >> here. >> Mr. McGovern >> here. >> Mr. Monton >> here. >> Miss Pal >> here. >> Miss Scott >> here. >> Miss Brell >> here. >> Miss Martinez >> here. >> Miss here. Be it resolved that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy, personal matters, and legal advice. The subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides. Although the board cannot guarantee it, the length of the executive session is estimated to be 30 minutes after which public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business. Action will take place. Can I have a motion and a second to enter executive session? >> A motion. I'll second. >> Good evening. >> We have returned to session and we will start
109with personnel agenda. Dr. Ross. Thank you. Uh some of absences and some volunteer recommendations for the winter season. We also I'm sorry the board seat this evening welcome items. uh for personnel and they included a leave of absence, appointments of staff, uh several volunteers for a winter sport season and our hid report from last month uh as well as administrative leave and a sign agreement for staff. That concludes the personal. >> Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second to accept the personal agenda? >> Motion. Any questions? Okay, Sienna. The board of education recognizes the value of public comment on matters of interest to the school community. Individuals wishing to speak must state their name and address. Comments are limited to three minutes duration, but an individual may speak a second time after
110all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard. All statements should be directed to the board president and no participant may address or question board members individually. All speakers are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others whose legal rights may be affected. Please note, while it is not the board's intention to stifle comment on matters of legitimate concern, the public should be aware that if their comments violate the rights of others under the law of defamation or invasion of privacy, they may face personal liability to the injured party. If speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications of their comments, the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal advisor. Um before we start public comment, um Mr. Ruben,
111if um seeing is that this is over an hour later than we normally start a board, can we limit maybe like public comment to a certain time period and do we do we need to say that ahead of time? board has the discretion to limit the duration of public session and I suggest you do that before the public session gets started. >> Okay. So, I'm going to say um we'll hear comments for about 45 minutes considering the amount of people here. Um hopefully we can answer everybody before that time, but we want to be cognizant of people who have to travel home and um who've been here preparing since early this afternoon. So, I'm going to say about 45 minutes at this time. from 10 uh 10 Washington Street. Uh I've been an educator for
11217 years. I know some of the people who are here. Um I know a lot of people work in the district. Um I worked in public schools for most of my career. and I coached and a lot of the wonderful people who coach and teach here a student here in fifth grade student at drive who struggle mightily uh the other student will be well I don't know where he will be when it comes down to it no decision in education has been ever worked well with haste and presented in the way that it's been presented Uh the redististering issue is not small. I've reviewed a lot of the data. I know better than a lot of the teachers in this district where this district is spending its money or chosen to spend its money on.
113And I have to say I'm really really upset with the way that the board has chosen to spend its money over the last few years. We've taken money repeatedly out of the classroom. Uh we've put it into initiatives. We put it into board level positions and we've removed teachers from the classroom. Students who need additional supports at every single school district, every building in the school, they're not able to get it. I have a student who I'm being told if I want the services from my child, you know what they're asking me to do? They're telling me that I need to go contact a lawyer and I need to present you with a lawsuit in order to get what my child needs. I have to pay out of pocket to go to special testing all
114day for a six-year-old. And we're talking about moving kids around. We're talking about we're being told about moving kids around with a meeting that I was not able to attend. I never received the online invitation. I haven't spoken to my wife who was president. But this is not how districts are supposed to be directly. This is a failure of leadership and we're paying the price for it. Our kids are paying the price for it. I don't doubt that anybody sitting on the dis in front of me has anything but the best intentions for the district. But I have to tell you, we're missing the mark in a lot of ways. And it's frustrating to watch. It's frustrating to hear from the teachers in the district who are not being heard, who are just being handed
115another new program. Let's change this one up. Let's pay another $30,000 here. Let's get another board level higher. >> Thank you. Sorry to interrupt you. That was time to leave. Um, appreciate the comments. The only thing I can address is that a reference to money at board level positions. None of us on the board get paid. Um, might have just been misspeaking. >> It's common term >> and I Oh, okay. Well, I just board level position money towards board level position. So, I was just clearing that up that we all get. Um, I think probably it's a one-on-one conversation perhaps, Miss Bros. Um, anything else you want to address? if you could email specifically in regards to your child um the supports and the avenues that you've been provided um through leadership or through your
116whoever the teacher is for your particular child that if you could just email myself and Miss Julian in regards to that in regards to the budget um it is a we go through the process um it's the process starts now um the intention as I we went through the presentation this evening the intention is to alleviate or avoid any challenges that we're seeing now um in regards to whether it's transportation or underutilization of capacity. So um I know you weren't you mentioned you weren't able to be here for the meeting but the PowerPoint and all the information will be provided online tomorrow available for you. Hello, Messiah 147 Crowood, New Jersey. I just like to address um some stuff that I've seen on social media. I know you can't always believe everything you see on
117social media, but a lot of moms, you know, with elementary school age, prek, school age kids are very concerned about what apparently happened at the New Jersey teachers convention with the curriculum that our new governor is trying to push and the new mayor of Aberine. And I mean, like I said, I don't know details about on social media. Is this something that's going to be, you know, instilled into the elementary schools, the middle schools, the high schools? Are you guys going to be following the whole parents don't have the choice to opt out of certain things that we don't want our children learning? Because to me, that's concerning. As a parent, I feel like parents should have somewhat of a say in the curriculum. Like we should, you know, get full transparency about what our
118children are learning, especially at that young elementary school age. So just curious to see how you know the board plans on going about addressing what our new governor is pushing that you know some people don't agree with. >> Thank you. Um I will say two things. One is that we can't really decide anything until it comes to us. So I don't want to get ahead of anything. We don't really know that inauguration is still coming not even this year. So that's that's one thing. The second thing is um I know that uh this is my third year on the board. There's been many boards. They've you know rotated out. Um they've always been very open to the concept of tailoring things for the community that they're in. That's something that our organization the Jersey School
119Boards Association also promotes which is called home rule. So it leaves a lot of uh flexibility um you know for basically framing policies that um support the community that we're in. We're not you know we live here. North Jersey is different. South Jersey is different. So just something to keep in mind there. I don't know if there's anything else. Um Mr. Leman or I think obviously we keep a breast of the mandates. Um I think a good example that um this morning he was referring to was with some of the mandates that had come forth a few years ago. One of them was um the health and physic um curriculum and the approach that was taken at that time um we tailored it that so that it was age appropriate. So while the statement may
120have been you have to include um sex education and some particular vocabulary and it was very explicit um the board and the administrative team did not take the approach and say okay we look at it we're providing curriculum when we do it we took some time um took actually we we included community input where we said okay let's look at it from an age appropriate p um perspective um so where parents feel comfortable able or staff feel comfortable with what they were teaching and that worked well. Um, and it's we've seen success with that. So, any mandates, we would naturally take that approach. I would advise the the rest of the team in the board to do so. Well, I just hope there's like some sort of open door policy with parents and not this
121whole like secretive thing like my six-year-old daughter could tell the teacher something and she doesn't have to tell me. Like, I feel like things should be transparent especially at that age level. And you know, like you said, age appropriate to what these kids should be learning. >> Thank Thank you. Sorry. Um, we do have policies in place for we I was just going to say we do have specific policies in place for certain things. So if you want to reach out to Miss Perez or Mr. Leman um to kind of maybe get specifics on what you know you're looking for and they can or maybe Dr. as well as actually the policy could direct you to what those policies are so you can review them you know see we really did try to tailor things
122to the community and with notification and things like that which was my first sheet on the board um Dr. Ross the um is it 5700 from Mr. I think that should refer that might help you. >> There's a few I think that's the one to the hotel policy. >> Yeah, >> that's um as Mrs. Morning has explained has explained there is a process for policy and not just this we're doing. Uh we do have a policy committee with the board who meets to discuss policy. Um there's also briefs that go out. So it'll be the sec first be the second read that will go out to the public. So you will have an opportunity to go on to the website and read the policy um any type of provision or social policy. Uh you also
123have a chance to do what you're doing right now. Uh at every board meeting pretty much we have policy order tonight. >> Of course. And it's no disrespect to anyone like I don't want to like go against anyone. I'm just trying to protect my daughter's innocence. You know, I went to school in the '90s. I feel like let's bring that school vibe back and not how everything is now. But um thank you. May I just make one comment on that? Um I was in your shoes um maybe four or five years ago when the state was mandating the sexed curriculum um and the standards that the districts had to teach and implement into their curriculum and I stood up there and I said the same thing. So I can speak for myself in saying that
124I agree. Um, and I'm proud to sit on this board where we take those state standards and we look at them and we as a board of education develop will help with the administrators um, come up with the curriculum and what we think is best for our students and our district. We don't just take what the state says. we do have to follow some of the mandates and we do that but we try to um kind of um I guess tailor them to how we think would best suit our district. So we don't just adopt everything that comes down the pipeline. Um and we look at those things very closely. So with the sex ed curriculum or the standards and also with the policy 5756. So those are some of the things specifically that um
125you know proud to say that we the nine of us with the administration um we work really hard on doing what we think is in the best interest of our students here in this district um and also protecting the students. So thank you Rose. Um I was here for the earlier session and it just seemed like tonight there wasn't a lot of new information. Missine said that this is such an early phase. We understand that we're in such an early phase of the decisions. We don't have much information to share. So I can understand that. Um I'm just thinking if we're in such an early stage for changes that could be so drastic such as things that have been said possibly five two three to five. Um, it does seem like this being ready for
126September could be being done in a rush way or maybe not enough time to do all of these different changes, especially if we're talking about such large restructuring such as moving teachers from their buildings, giving them adequate time to pack up their rooms, be ready for a new building, have the PD for their staff, transportation changes, transition and orientation programs for our students. It just seems like that's a lot of things for a district to undertake. I'm a employee, school employee myself in a different district. We did restructure a couple years ago. was a massive change. So, I understand the school perspective of it and how much goes into it as well. Um, so if we're in such an early phase, it just seems like this whole being ready for September seems like not enough
127time for you guys, not enough time for our students, for the families. Um, so I'm just wondering if with all of these considerations, all of these things that are being promised that are going to be taken into consideration, are we at all considering a start a change for this for the 2728 school year, not for 26 27 just to make sure that enough time is being put into everybody, all of the stakeholders, so there's enough time for everyone to really get on board and and have enough time to deal with all the issues. >> Thank you. I think um what I will say to that um before I hand it over is that um the feedback will include whether or not we think it's possible. I don't think that I'll let them speak to it,
128but I don't think there will come a time where they'll just say, "Well, we have to get this done because we just we have I mean it it'll be achievable." Well, you know, in my estimation, whatever they decide, I think will have to be right achievable because we have staff, we have families, we have transportation, we have buildings, all the things that you mentioned. So, it's not like we can't put a square penny hole just because I we want to. So, I'll let speak to that as well. We're not looking to rush anything. our responsibility is to explore if we knew if we know there's a challenge that we already know and then what came out of the study is really to explore those things and ensure that it the problem isn't getting bigger. Um
129and so with that said it could be and I think we included on the side that it could be a phase and I don't know yet until the scenarios are created if that was that July to August implementation for September. So that doesn't make it look like it is something that's being pushed for September. So just asking if that consideration or it should not be September. So it could be it could be but it could be something it could be something require such moving right the moving of the teachers and computing and all those things. It could be something that's inclusive say a change in the transportation right which may change a student's school. Yeah. However, um but that's that's minor in comparison to any of your grade level configurations. Thank you. Thank you. >>
130Can I just make a comment? I I'm I can probably speak for everybody up here. I think everybody is more than willing to um be patient and wait because that's not what we're about. So, um I I think all of our cabinet would be open to phasing it in, moving it along, whatever the case is when it comes back to us. But, um I know that I can trust that these guys would be okay with um doing things a little at a time. And we did include um and I I don't think I spoke to it, but I did have it highlighted that any that timeline um or had it highlighted that the timeline could be and may be adjusted in accordance to what the scenarios are or or that we still don't know, right?
131So, and that all that information will be uh David at 42 Avenue. Um just a couple clarifying questions because the data showing 4.2% 2% growth by 2030 which is about 69 students over a 5 year period uh based on information that we had. So what's the tipping point um for just let it was also quoted by that all of our schools are currently operating capacity. So 79 students estimated by the person who was here for the presentation tonight. What's the tipping point where we need to rem district? Why are we rushing then? There is nine days left. >> So right from as it is a long-term plan but what I will say that um in terms of um students class sizes it's the tipping point. So if you utilize if I use that scenario that
132um you referenced about the 79 I think um and opening up in the classroom that for us is kind of a >> 72 >> um our tipping point is really monitoring that moment and how it's impacting class size and um safety right so I mentioned also that with safety with um we don't like watching traffic patterns we're watching um classrooms being utilized for other for other um arts or something like that. So we are monitoring that. So that is the tipping point because if we can correct it with some minor changes like I mentioned just a minute ago. If it's something that can be corrected, we want to address it. >> So first of all, the 4.2% growth over 5 years is significantly less than what you saw in enrollment last year alone. So why
133are we rushing this when the data is not going to marry the actual birth? We have 96 days for you guys to make the decision on how we're going to register based on the scenario. A single data and came in told us how to do it and we hired them or told us the numbers that same single bidder same company came in told us are going to tell us the scenario that we have to do to optimize our emissions and based on some feedback that I will collect online. He promises he can move our dots quickly. It wasn't born because it feels inherent frankly. Second of all, 96 days from today. I think it goes before that actually. Right. That's enough time to make a real educated decision based on data. There's argument in a
134month's time. It feels very rush. >> I just want to clarify one thing. So you're quoting numbers from the report that say you said 69 over five or between now and >> 42% increase by 2030 >> and what was the number of students 69 or 96 >> 4.2 group of those total population about 69 but I mean >> okay so I just want to I don't want to put you on the spot first but how many new students new enrollment did we get this September it was more than 69 already >> yes it was 100 but I think for purpose of your question for purpose of your question I think that was a great question for Fred in terms of you know the the percentage that you're talking about because I didn't create that particular
135or percentage for the um for for tonight's presentation whether to contact the judge come specifically at his study. So if you want you can email him which is in the pres that was in the presentation tonight and ask him in terms of those particular percentages in terms of rushing the plan. I'm reiterating again that we're depending on what the scenarios are and what is created. If it is something that is that requires more time then the recommendation will be let's let's go phase it in over time or or or I don't I don't know because we don't have the scenarios that's why we need the information. >> Uh when due to this all public is there a hard date on that yet? >> He's he's going back and that's why he left but that's right.
136So he's going back. Yeah, he's creating this. He's going to be creating the scenarios. That's the next phase. Then we will open up. He'll open up in terms of what he discussed about the map. You're going to see the scenarios there based off of the feedback. Then he is going to then say, "Okay, let's adjust this or what do you guys think? Whatever. um he's going to adjust those things and then if it's another scenario but depending on the scenarios that he creates and how we create the other the other things we've discussed like the transportation or grade level configurations that is all going to be with the community feedback as well >> just at the board level we're we're confident that n less than 96 days from now you'll be able to digest all
137of that information and population growth inconsistencies in the reporting and making a real decision about displacing children in 96. >> Well, that's the thing. We don't know what the we don't know what the scenarios are. So, we >> I'm just using the dates that you guys publish around the decision. >> But, okay, I'm going to give a hypothetical, which I know I really shouldn't do, but what if we what if the scenario that we come up with that we can do by September only involves, you know, a couple of streets going to a different school? We that I mean, that's not it. It doesn't we can't say right now whether that timeline is long enough or not because we don't know what it entails. So if the board members feel that you know do you
138think you can do this and maybe there's some back and forth about that that you know we we we can say let's slow down. I mean there's it's we cannot make a decision on a timeline that we have g given as a rough outline of how this is going to be approached without getting the feedback first. So he we will find out from you from Fred for you when the first scenarios will be released. Um the other thing that I want to say is if we had not started this now we we would be stuck. We there's I think I I hope I'm saying this correctly, but the data is wrong in the bad direction. There's more kids coming than we're supposed to come. Right. >> That's why. So So we're already behind the April.
139If we don't start something, we have to start looking at something. >> I'm not saying we shouldn't do something. I'm just worried about the timeline. Well, we I mean I'll let I'll let >> Can I just make one thing clear and for everybody who's listening, there were two reports. Okay, there were two reports. There was one very long time ago. We used the demographer that the township used >> right now. Moving forward, Fred that we met tonight just did a new one. >> So that information when you say data is incorrect. >> That's his four months you presented with. >> Okay. There are two documents that he worked off of and if for some reason anybody on this board is uncomfortable. We are I I know I can speak for these guys that they are
140not going to rush, but at the same time when you say that we're rushing. What if we didn't do something and by next year we're really stuck? Then we're considered rushing. So, I I I just need people and and Sarah, I'm not sure if you were here, but we we're live streaming it. It'll be on YouTube. It'll be on the website to sit and take the time and to look through it. >> Okay. Well, just >> Okay, we appreciate that. But, um I I know for a fact that >> just so we're clear. >> So, it's not >> But I'm sorry. Can we um I'm going to have you wait if you don't mind until unless anybody else wants to speak cuz we're supposed to get stick to 3 minutes. >> Oh, I'm sorry. You
141didn't find >> it's you over 4 minutes. You guys have a 10-minute delay with the tech problem. It's fine. Question. >> Hi, Dana Gabriel 30 Somerset Place. First, I want to say thank you for um considering, you know, the district when you're making curriculum decisions. I can appreciate hearing that tonight. Um my question is again um about the prek because I'm just it's not making sense to me. So if you could just clarify for me one more time did not make sense during prior meeting. Um so it's a two-part question. One, it looks like you investigated community placement partnerships years ago. So my first question is are you looking to now do that again? because it seems like prek is off the table for considering any movement. That's just a stating piece. Um, and correct
142me if I'm wrong. But then the second part of my question is the part that I don't understand is that there's all these classrooms in each school, seven in Cleveland, five in two at Strathmore. if those classrooms were moved to community placements or if we reduced the amount of prek that we were taking to a lottery they just stayed in Cambridge but now again there's seven classrooms open in Clifford five at me two at Strathmore are you not wouldn't there be no need to redistrict wouldn't there not be overcrowding and I'm I'm not sure if I'm missing something or is it just because prek is just a statement piece that that's unovable Is that why? >> So preschool with preschool um when we do our plan for the upcoming school year, that is an additional
143question in terms of providers. So we do communicate we're looking for providers. That is something that happens every single year. Again, going back to square footage and meeting the requirements that are set forward by the Department of Education. Sometimes it's not square footage that they're not meeting. Sometimes it's ADA. So everything has to be met when we So that's something that's just fluid that's considered every single year. And at this time so like for I'll give you an example. There are community there might be a preschool outside of Malawan and Aberdine that has space. They're not part of Malawan and Aine. we wouldn't they wouldn't be one of our providers and say keyword or something like that. So we don't we don't we don't um consider those and that's but that is a question that's
144always asked and they give us the list here of the list of providers Mrs. did you consider all these and there's like maybe four right so and which there's a lot of um there is a lot of advocacy regarding preschool in terms of minimizing or I don't want to say minimizing but changing square footage changing um certifications etc we don't want to change like if they're going to be a part of the regional school district I want to ensure and I hope they will be accountable in terms of ensuring anyone that we're partnering in at least our students are going there, they have to be certified. They have to have these these requirements in terms of the um the kids are the kids are here. They are here. So, and we have been committed to
145early learning and um and ensuring that they have their foundational skills when they enter kindergart. It's twofold. So, the purpose of preschool expansion was to reduce um some interventions, classifications, over classifications, disproportionality with class, there's a whole reason why they have moved forward in terms of preschool expansion funds programs. Um, we run a risk if I we go back to lottery and in this case if they can discuss the eligibility, we would run a risk with not getting anything for preschool expansion. >> Have we considered you're saying that here will become fours? Have we considered just making it a fours program and eliminating threes and would that disrupt? >> You're at four minutes. Sorry. And I'll let Is it 4 minutes of the bar talking or it's just total of four minutes? >> Okay. Part
146of the preschool expansion requires that we have three and four year olds present in the program. Uh, as well as that, there is a pilot program on the table currently that anybody who receives prequel prek expansion now would have to do a 6040 split. Currently, we're 100% funded by the state for this program. Uh, however, other districts that want to be eligible now need to provide a 60% local funding and then 40% would be state funding. Uh, this is a three-year pilot. They are in the first year. We don't know what will happen, you know, 2 years from now. However, that is something that's on the table. So, currently we would like to keep 100% grandfather funding as we go up. >> So, then just to answer sum, it's not on the table to change
147because we don't want to lose funding. So, therefore, all these extra classrooms cannot stay for our school age kids because we need to keep the money. So then we are choosing money in a condition that that's not what we're saying because we are choosing to offer free preschool and we are participating in that. That's that's what we're choosing to do and we're committed to do that in terms of the space or anything. I don't we don't have the scenarios. We don't have the information. So we can't say we're not comparing school age to >> pres you answer a question. And I think you we should respect that we have a response for you. We're committed to preschool. We committed to that. We committed to early learning. It is our responsibility if we have capacity in
148other programs or other buildings I should say where there is space and we can offer preschool to say 500 kids and still manage and still offer school age instructional programs across the district and all of our buildings. then those are that's what we're exploring to ensure that we're we're not picking and choosing which kids we're going to we're going to offer programs for. I also want to um clarify something for myself. Um the state requires us they do a formula and they require us to take a certain amount of preschool kids and we are required to take I think 90% of that total number that they come up with. We are not taking all of them. Correct. Yeah. Can you just um expand on that please for next year's calculation based on the calculation and
149the DOE puts that out it's your first grade class I think I shared this it's your first grade class times two they have that calculation for our district is close to it is close to 550 students that we have here preschool between three and four we don't have the means to offer over 550 kids. So in terms of our projection, we remain flat with the projection on what we are offering currently. Now, Miss President, may I ask two points or or clarity? Um, so if for some reason, let's just say we did not take in preK 3 or four, let's just say that um we went back to lottery or we didn't have it at all. These kids live and reside in Madawan Avenue which means that they will enter our schools at kindergarten which
150is family. Is that correct? So if they enter the schools th those 500 kids let's say I'm just throwing a number out those 500 kids that are here for three and four will be here when they turn five and six. So they're going to be entering our buildings regardless. It just be at a different rate. So if it's an enrollment issue as far as a number of ahead count, they are children and they are here. We're just choosing to educate them earlier. >> Is that is that correct? Meaning that we're providing right secondly am I not correct in saying that the state is mandating eventually all all districts which is like in this case it said about prek. So, we're going to that that's going to be something coming down the pipe, but it may
151not be a full pay or full funding. I know that's what you were saying before, but I just wanted to reiterate that the 6040. Thank you. The other thing is um we won't know that those kindergarteners were coming because we won't you won't have any knowledge of them until they enrolled in kindergarten. So the situation that happened this year with having to scramble to open a new classroom and find a new staff member to teach in that classroom that happened in August is going to be compounded. That's the only correlation that I can come up with. One thing that I think that >> Okay. So, the one thing that I think is missing right now is that um I believe it might have been Mr. Cleveland in the spring have done a beautiful job talking
152at a board meeting about the deficits that these students can have if they enter in K without the three and four and the amount of catching up that they sometimes need to do and how much we're actually taking care of our children at a young age scholastically to make sure they're up to par as they move up. There are so many things we can catch at a younger age and have to have less interventions down the line which actually does have a monetary value as well. So I think I think we need to be a little more specific about that. I think that we as a board know this information and as an administration. So I'm wondering if someone could speak to that too because I think that might help this conversation. So we discuss
153this speaking to we had talked about this um last spring. So when you look at students who are in our district at ages three and four and they are amongst their peers and they are learning board approved curriculum and state approved curriculum when they transition into kindergarten. We're looking at how students have developed self-regulation, for example, um their written expression, their ability to learn how to read. So, all of those can be accelerated when they have access to preschool. So, we can spend a lot of time and there's a lot of statistics, there's a lot of evidence behind how early um schooling impacts. All right, but that that's the quick elevator pitch turn. some of the things that come with students who enter our school at ages three and four versus just different >> uh
154hi my name is Amanda Leam and I live at 181 drive and I just want to say that I have two children that have benefited from the prek program. I also want to say that to say that however many x number of students that are going to that are currently in pre-k that are going to be there anyway when they come to kindergarten. That's not how math works. So you have kids graduating high school, middle school moving to high school, you know, kindergarten moving up and there's still going to be empty classrooms if the prek is not there. Yes, they're coming in, but other kids are also moving. That's all I can say. The numbers are weren't adding up with that comment. >> Well, I mean, if they're coming in at kindergarten and the high
155schools are graduating, those kindergarters are called high school classrooms. >> No, but the cohorts move up and if the prek classes weren't there, then the classrooms would be open and when they come in, other kids would move up. Right? >> So, I'm not even advocating not to have preschool. I'm just saying that that logic doesn't work. Thank you. It's not a question. I did. Yeah, I actually had the same thought. But on the other side of it, um though is that when we spoke when we uh I think it was Mrs. P spoke about the um the students that needed to be you went to enroll at Strathmore and were able to enroll at Strathmore and they were um you know had to move. It's not like they had to move out of the district.
156They just had to go to a different school because we do have space. And so that's the thing is like I mean when I hear about I mean I love the idea of free school. My kids just missed it. Just missed it as Mr. eyes and um so the but I mean it's a tremendous benefit and as far as I know nobody I mean I guess we'll see when we see this narrative but I don't think any of them involve building a new building so it's like we have space we're just moving like moving people around we have space thank Um, my name is Crystal Hackman. My child goes to Riv. Um, I want to say I'm hearing everything you guys are saying and I'm really taking it in and I want this to be
157constructive. I just want to read something first before phrasing my question. Um it says in New Jersey districts receiving PEA funding must demonstrate that their preK programs won't negatively impact K to2 programs. Um the state provides additional funding to support preK expansion but schools need to balance competing demand. It says uh that you know PEA funds can be used um for upgrading or expanding facilities or creating more space for both preK and K3. And I know with the like little bit of research I've done, some schools have like acquired I guess additional buildings or stuff like that that are like open or vacant in the town. Um I guess my I like to speak in like concrete and not what ifs. So I'm going to give finite examples just of I don't disagree with anything
158of what any of you are saying about the value that the prek brings to like those kids. I think what I'm observing in facts not in hypotheticals is that as somebody who has a K to you know K to3 kid it is having a negative impact on the K to3 I can prove it in the sense of like for instance in health right ever drive there's no designated health classroom because obviously we could we could theorize that there's classrooms that could be designated as health classrooms if not for a prek classroom being in there or there's space that we could designate as a music room or as an art, right? Like there's spaces that we could give them. And what that allows is like I've asked the health teacher like our kids at Ruby Drive
159complain about how boring health is because all they're doing is these little pamphlets. Like health for me was like using petri dishes, right? And learning about like putting the salt and pepper in and watching it separate and like so when we talk about access, I guess my concern is we're ignoring quality, right? Like so they have access to health. They have access to music, but the quality of that access is not great right now. I'm saying right now. So, I just I guess I struggle to say I'm not hating on the prek program. I'm remiss about what it is subtracting away from K to 3. So, like Miss Solano was an interventionist at Revine. She was excellent for K to3 kids. Last year, she doesn't do intervention anymore. breakup group. She was in like I
160can tell you across the board people who said that their K to3 student that was struggling whose reading levels went supremely up being one of them. So I guess when I look at those things I can't it's hard for me to say that this isn't having a negative impact on so I guess I I'm not more so asking a question. I'm just saying like whatever we're answering to this Pa funding to say that it's not having a negative impact. Are we really holding ourselves to what our answer actually is? I And I just hope that you guys consider that. Like I hope that you really look at those things. And I guess that's all I wanted to say. But I do thank you all. I I don't disagree with any argument you've made for implementing
161a prek program. But I I sorely think that it is unfortunately not being advantageous to our K3. We're losing a lot in K3. Anybody else? If not, we'll go for a second round for a few more minutes. >> Okay, we'll take a vote. >> Yes. Good evening. So, we're going to take action on the personnel walk-in items. >> Mrs. Skully, >> yes. >> Miss Vis, >> yes. >> Mr. McGovern, >> yes. >> Mr. Monton, >> yes. >> Miss F. >> Yes. >> Miss Scott, >> yes. >> Miss Brell, >> yes. >> Miss Martinez, >> yes. >> Missing. >> Yes. >> Personal welcome. Anybody have any welcome to as a volunteer the boys varsity basketball team cover team together and I can't wait to see where basketball goes. So welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um
162I again want to thank everybody who came the administrators, directors, um supervisors, teachers, um and also cabinet for doing a fantastic job with the presentation. It answered a lot of my personal questions and clarified a lot of things for me. So I appreciate that and looking forward to um learning more as we go forward. Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you.