MARSD BOE Regular Action Meeting 10 - 27 - 2025

001Welcome to the October 27th meeting of the 91 Regional School District. The New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or agreed upon. In accordance with the provision of this act, the Madawan Regional School District Board of Education advertised this meeting on September 30th, 2025 in the Aspbury Park Press. This notice was sent to the municipal clerks of the Burough of Madawan and the Township of Aberdine and the Madawan Aberdine public library. The notice was also placed on the district's website. Do roll. >> Mrs. Foley >> here. >> Miss Pilus >> here. >> Mr. McGovern. >> Mr. Mont >> here. >> Miss Pal >> here. >>

002Miss Scott >> here. >> Miss Brell >> here. >> Miss Martinez. Miss Warick >> here. Be it resolved that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy, personel 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 executive session is estimated to be 30 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with visits. Action will take place. May I have a motion and a second to convene executive session? >> Motion. Second. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Thank you for coming to the meeting of the um metal region board of education for October 27th. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance and we have our student

003Emily who will lead us in stand. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes? >> And a motion and a second to approve the correspondence to the board. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Ber, superintendent report. Good evening everyone. I just have um some information. Um I'll be sharing this out publicly tomorrow morning um to the rest of the community. But first, I wanted to thank our school community for providing feedback using our community form that's on our board of ed page, which has really helped us in terms of sending replies and things like that. So, we have a lot

004of parents that are utilizing that. So, I want to thank the board with coming up with that idea because it really is helpful um to answer questions. Um most recently in the superintendent newsletter and other board meetings, we've been discussing we've been discussing um potential redistricting and resoning and we're in the process of gathering some information. This comes as a recommendation from our demographer study from last year um that he presented in June and we're using that demographer study for planning for the future. As part of our district's ongoing commitment to providing a free and appropriate public education for all students, we are conducting this review of several key areas that directly impact educational equity, access, and efficiency across all of our schools. The review includes enrollment trends, examining current and projected student population by

005school and grade level for future years, transportation and busing, looking at routing efficiency, ride times, and cost to ensure access for all. For example, we opened up a class due to late registrations um at that were slated for Strathmore kindergarten class that was not projected for in this current budget. We are now busing those students to Ravine Drive where we had to open up a new classroom. If we had not opened that new classroom, class sizes at Strathmore for kindergarten would be at 25. Building capacity and facilities were evaluating space utilization, safety, and the ability of our facilities to meet programmatic needs. We're reviewing programming including special education programs, early childhood programs, and other specialized supports to ensure students are served in the most appropriate and their least restrictive environments. We are looking at grade

006level configuration, exploring rather current structures, best support instructional alignment. They support developmental needs and resource distribution across all schools. And we're also looking at balancing enrollment, identifying opportunities to ensure that no single school experience, no single school experiences overcrowding or underutilization. This process is designed to help us make informed datadriven decisions about how to best align students, program, and our facilities that align with our mission statement and ensure learning opportunities for every single child. We will continue to communicate updates and invite input like I mentioned in the um the community form the community form through the board page. Um we solicit and we want input from our families, our staff and our community as we move forward with the important work. No decisions have been made thus far. We are we are only looking at

007the information provided to the demographer and also re-evaluating the the schools in place and facilities particularly some of the options and some of the questions that I've received through the community form are what do we are we doing grade configuration and can I share uh the resoning boundaries at each of the buildings. I cannot share that information because I don't have that information yet. However, all options are being considered and will be presented to the community and also for the board to approve in late February. New enrollment, I want to highlight since August and I have been highlighting new enrollment since um the the beginning of the school year. Since August, we have 108 new students that we welcome to our district in grades K to 12, 18 preschoolers. Our current enrollment is 3,848. the

008um it's evenly distributed at this time. Again, we're looking at resoning and redistricting to ensure that we are not overcrowded and we want to balance our enrollment across all districts to make sure all of our students thrive and our staff are successful and buildings are safe. Now, I'm going to turn it over to um Mr. Van. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Okay, so we're off to a great start this year here at MAMS. I just want to take a couple of minutes to show you some of the highlights so far. Um, and then I'm going to turn things over to I'm very excited. We have one of our great teachers, Miss Cleo, here and one of her outstanding students, Emily, who are going to tell you about a really neat project that's happening

009in seventh grade language arts. It just happened in seventh grade language arts. And that has to do with Starbucks. you see all around the cafeteria all these great displays and they're going to talk about that. But just real quickly, some of the things that I want to highlight um from the first we're almost done with the first quarter of the school year are our building improvements, some recognition programs that we have for both students and staff, a new choice for lunch. Um extracurricular offerings, which I always brag about when I bring on MAMS or I'm talking to anybody about mams. Battle of the classes. Battle of the classes. Hopefully this year seventh grade doesn't win. I'm on sixth grade team. So for sixth grade. All right. And then we're going to talk about Starbucks Cafe.

010All right. So if you're making your way around the building, please check out some of our restrooms have been redone recently. We greatly appreciate that. That is awesome. You can see here some of our oldest bathrooms that were in need the most. They got a fresh coat of paint and they got these awesome new epoxy floors. We love them. All right. It's no secret I did not like our pink color from a couple of years ago when I when I rejoined Ma'ams. It was a dark gray and it still exists in several parts of the school, but look at our new hallways and how much brighter and refreshing and every everything about that is better. So, we're repainting. All right, we have outdoor eating now for our students, which is awesome. I love when our

011learners get outside and they get fresh air. We can also use this space for lessons, for classes, things like that. But right here, you see some some students that are excited to eat outside. It's right around the corner. It's actually right outside those doors if you want to take a look. Anybody? All right. Recognition programs. We are bringing back Husky of the month. Um, these are our first Huskys of the month. They were the recipients for September. These are students who were nominated by their teachers and our teachers did a great job of nominating several students. So, it was tough to come up with winners. And I was very proud to read the summaries that our teachers crafted for these students over the announcements in the morning. Each one of these learners received a $25

012gift certificate for exempl exe exemplifying, pardon me, our core values here at Manners. All right. We also have spiritware Wednesdays are back and every Thursday morning we draw tickets out of our bin in the caf in the commons and five lucky recipients get tickets for um free coupons for free snacks in our cafeteria which is always a big hit. All right, we are working hard to improve our students attendance and we're doing a great job of that. I'm very proud of our learners so far. Every week we are making announcements every Friday morning about what our home rooms and we're having a contest and we're trying to change that contest every single month to keep it a little bit fairer. That's some of the feedback that we received last um spring when we started this.

013We actually started this in February of last year, but we're tracking student attendance. We're making announcements. It is so close when we do Mrs. Pandrano, Mrs. Olson and I, we run the data every Friday morning. And when you hear one home room is at 99%age, you know, attendance rate for the month of October and another one is at 98.7. They're they're very close. They're very close. And they get into it about who's going to win and who's who's going to finish second. But the winning classes, one from each grade, earn an ice cream party, which we didn't think was going to be a big hit. We didn't we put it out to the students. We said, "What do you want?" Last year, and they wanted an ice cream party, and they love ice cream parties.

014So, here you can see students lining up for ice cream. And you can see our awesome counselors are serving the ice cream. All right. We also started something just recently with staff shoutouts. All right. So, if you go into our main office, there's little fluorescent green pieces of paper that you can grab and write a nice note about a staff member who went above and beyond for a student or for a colleague or any part of their job. And then we picked those out randomly out of that bin. And we just did our first one last week. I read a really nice note from Mrs. Black and Mrs. Black got a Starbucks gift card. So, thank you to our PTO for providing those for each week. All right, Battle of Classes is back. This was

015a huge undertaking last May, but the kids loved it, so we're bringing it back, but we're changing it up a little. So, the the points system starts right now. It started already. It started in September. So, kids are already earning points for Battle of the Classes. All right. Um, Battle of the Classes has besides being fun, it has so many benefits to it. I've listed some of them below. School spirit, encouraging teamwork, all right, enhancing inclusion, good sportsmanship, and peer relationships. Kids were put on teams and on different activities for Battle of Classes that they've never met before. All right. All of a sudden, I I signed up to be on the um the pie eating contest and I'm with, you know, Mrs. Perez and we don't even know each other and now we're teammates

016on the pie eating contest and it start it started to form those friendships that we saw last night. So, we're we're excited about that. The very first uh points were awarded to sixth grade. Sixth grade, that's whom I'm rooting for. Sixth grade. They won the I'm not being shy about it. and they won the whose pet am I contest. So we had all of our teachers who have pets. They didn't have any names on it. It was just a description of the pet and a photo and the kids got to vote in advisory classes and then we put the answers up there. So that was the first thing. All right. We also just awarded points last Friday for a pink out. So whichever grade wore the most pink for student council did a uh breast

017cancer awareness activity and make sales sixth grade won that. All right. Extracurricular involvement. A lot of people don't know this. We have more than 20 after school clubs and activities here for our learners to get involved in. It is tremendous. Um they all meet multiple times per month. We also have intercolastic sports and intramural sports. I put some data from last spring there about our students enrollment in after school activities because when we start in the summertime with orientation programs and then we do our expectation assembly early in September, one thing that I or one of the things that I ask of all our learners is to try stuff. Get involved something besides your studies. Get involved somehow. And more than 75% of all of our students here at MAMS, I'm proud to announce participate

018in at least one extracurricular activity. So that's a great job. It's a testament to our adviserss who run all of these clubs and these intram murals. It's a great part of May. These are just some of this is a digital club rush that we did. Um it's a website and it's a slideshow too that we presented in advisory which is what we call our home rooms. and you can see descriptions and information about all the different clubs that we run. All right. Um, just real quick, I don't want to steal uh Mr. Leeman's thunder for his uh presentation, which is coming right after, but I wanted to since I'm going to bring up Mrs. Cleo and Emily, I wanted to just let you know that one of the reasons why we're choosing to recognize this

019program tonight is we are so very proud of the growth that our students have made um with certain standardized tests in particular with language arts. Um I I was floored when we got the results over the summer. Um, we have now 70% of NAM's students earning either a four or a five on the NJSLA, which is tremendous. Um, and that's a testament to our students and to our great teachers. And besides, we we know that our teachers deliver high quality instruction day in and day out. One of the things that's shown to to have the biggest impact on learners is reading. All right? And we are really emphasizing the importance of reading. The data is out there. The data, the next slide that I'm going to show you has been around since 1997. You've probably

020seen this slide before somewhere. You've seen it on a poster in a school. You've seen it somewhere. It talks about the importance of reading and just the number of words that students are exposed to if they're reading regularly. And that data still holds true today. All right? Whether it's strengthening vocabulary, focus, concentration, writing, preparing kids for high school and beyond. So, the big question is, and I just love this neon sign. This is in Mrs. Black's classroom. I saw that I had to take a picture of it. Um, how do we help our kids to want to read more? Okay, there's so many things that our kids would much rather do besides pick up a good book. All right, so how do we get them excited about reading? And that's where Mrs. Cleo and Emily

021is going to help out. That's where these type of programs that she's going to share information about come in. Starbucks Cafe and our reading tasting. So, Mrs. Cleo is the seventh grade language arts teacher here. All right. She has 32 years of experience teaching and coaching in the 25 of which are in our district. She's a Rangers fan, a big Rangers fan. She wears Ranger jersey. I don't hold it against her. Okay. I'm a Devil's fan, so hope we can still get along. All right. And I'm going to turn things over now to Mrs. Clay. >> Good evening everyone. Today I'd like to talk to you about something that is very dear to my heart which is reading books and creativity and we came up with Starbucks. Uh just like Famous Coffee Shop, it's inspired

022by Starbucks gave us a cozy and inviting atmosphere. But instead of ordering drinks, we were sampling books. Each book was like a new flavor. Some bold, some sweet, and some with a surprise twist. The goal was to give every reader a taste of different genres and help us discover stories we might not have chosen on our own. During the activity, we moved from table to table, explored book covers, read ver blurbs, and even a whole chapter and wrote down our first impressions, almost like writing a book review. It wasn't just about reading. It was about talking, sharing opinions, and realizing how every story offers something unique. This is when they were exploring the different genres in my room. What made Starbucks special was that it turned reading into an experience. There was music, decorations, and

023even menus listing genres like mystery ma, fantasy prep. It reminded us that reading doesn't have to feel like an assignment. It can be something to savor and enjoy. Just like your favorite drink. They This is where they came in with their own towels, snacks, and they really gathered like a homey environment. By the end, we didn't just leave with a list of books we wanted to read. We left inspired to explore new ideas, new authors, and new worlds. Starbucks showed us that reading can be both relaxing and exciting, and that every book has its own flavor waiting to be discovered. Thank you to everyone who helped make star books happen. From my students who helped set up the atmosphere to the students who shared their enthusiasm, my seventh grade team, Miss Neielson, Miss Martin, Miss

024Kiter, Mr. Apple, Mr. Van Horn and the admin team and the Madawan Aberdine Educational Foundation for supporting our Starbucks activity. Because of their generosity, we were able to create such a fun and inspiring reading experience. Here's more pictures of the kids really enjoying the activity. And what they did was they scattered in their favorite spots around the room. It was more than an activity. It was a reminder of how reading connects us, sparks conversations, and opens our minds. There's some more kids around the room enjoying it. The funny thing is at the end they said, "When can we do this again?" And then they actually love the new books, books of genres that they would never in their on a regular day go and pick up. So that was a good thing. These are two

025students that picked a book that they enjoyed. So, we just snapped some pictures. Couple of more, but you can see the smiles on their faces that they really enjoyed the activity. That's my class. I mean, I paid them to say smile. Here's another one of my classes. Um, I want to thank you once again for allowing us to do this. And I would like now to introduce one of my students, Emily. >> Good evening, everybody. Starbucks was such an educational and fun day. While we enjoyed our snacks, we got to sample all kinds of books. My friends and I dove into worlds of adventure, dystopian stories, and even fantasy. We tasted new books and some great food, too. I had so much fun reading and especially exploring genres I might have never tried before. Starbucks

026is the perfect way to to expand readers reading pallets and discover something new. I really hope others get to experience Starbucks as much as I did. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Emily. Thank you, Mrs. Calo. All right. Thank you for >> Thank you, Mr. Van Horn. I do have a question for Emily. So, what is your favorite book and what are we reading today? >> Um, my favorite book is The Holiday. >> Love it. >> Me, too. And, um, you have a also a future in public speaking. Thank you so much for sharing that. It's great. Board members, any questions for Mr. Van Horn? At this time, I'll turn it over to Mr. Leman. >> Thank you. Good evening. I'm going to go out of order for just one moment. The end of

027my presentation is going to talk about how do we improve test scores? How do we improve language arts? How do we improve math? You just saw that's exactly what happens and happens every day in all of our buildings. We have teachers engage with kids, get kids hooked into learning. That's the answer. So I'm going to share some philosophical and pedagogical answers to the questions of how do we improve test scores but in the reality you just saw it in practice that that is the answer. So this evening this is part two of our district data presentation part one took place in July where we shared test scores on the high school assessment NJ GPA and access for L's. This is part two. We'll talk about NJSLA, ELA, math and science and DLA. It's important before

028we get into the actual numbers of test results. Just to give a little bit of background to the board on the students who take the exams. So the first graphics and demographics on enrollment in the district. This is just for elementary. We have it broken down by building and enrollment trends. And first thing it's important to know is that this is data starting in 2122 bringing us to 2324. All this data is public. It's on the New Jersey Department of Education's school performance reports. There's a link to it once is published to the our district website. Anybody has access to this data at any point. We don't have last year's data. In fact, it's released in the springtime and obviously this year in this year release data. So this is showing some interesting information. first

029that these students are the ones who take the assessments starting in grade three and of course all of grade four and all of grade five students take the assessments that you're going to see in just a moment who receives our students from our three prek to three buildings growth at the moment is stable ravine drive and Cliffwood are all showing growth over that threeyear time span and if we were to peek behind the curtain for last year's data. Those same trends are going to hold true that we're showing growth in all of our elementary buildings. We broke down the data by racial and ethnic just for 23 24 broken down by the four buildings and a couple of core takeaways. Uh first, we are a very diverse district and that is true in all of

030our elementary schools. So in our prek to three buildings, they are all diverse. And when you start to look closer at some of the data, you'll notice, for example, our Hispanic students across the four buildings, it's almost the same percentage, just a few percentage points barrier between each. So that's important because we're going to talk we talked a little bit about the access for Alice test in the summertime and who who's taking the assessments. I'm going to point some of that data out in a little while. So you're going to see some of these subgroups and how they're represented in the results of the assessments. Another quick interesting thing again if you were to dive deeper into it you can take a look at drive for example while click may be the most diverse of

031the four ravine drive actually hits on almost every point in all the sub categories. So the point is diversity is spread across the entire district. Economically disadvantaged students these are students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch. So this is over that same three-year time span. It shows that all of our students represented here at some point increasing in the number of who's receiving this particular service. So Clickwood is increasing as well as ravine drive and Strathmore and Louis Road is increasing significantly. That's going to be important later on in my presentation. I'm going to share why that is and what impact that has in terms of how to start making a difference for for our students. I'll get to that towards the end as well. Um but take a look when you look

032at uh again look at ravine drive and we can look at strap and we're those numbers are very similar under 23 and 24 24 to 19%. They're gaining in terms of numbers. So more and more families are completing the application. They're going through the process which means that more and more students in all our elementary schools are are getting those benefits. All right. to navigate to the actual data of the assessments. The first part we're going to take a look at English language arts. And so all of our students who take the tests, they're tested on ELA, they're tested on math. We're tested on science. ELA and math, grades 3 through nine. Science is grades 5, 8, and 11. You've seen this before, but I just want to remind everybody that there is a link

033on this particular slide. So if parents are new to the NJSI and they see their students report, don't really know how to read it. There is a guide for parents if they were to click on that link, it walks them through it. It breaks down, makes a little bit simple for a parent to take a look at what the scoring mean. So that will be published with this presentation as well. Scoring ELA and math on a scale of 1 to five. Science is on a scale of 1 to four. That'll be important when we get to the science scores. Just as a reminder that there's one lax category score on pre size which makes growth a little bit more challenging. The first set of scores we're looking at scale of 1 to five one is

034low by the time which is on assess. It assesses reading and writing and for the past couple years we spent a lot of time educating the board on what's actually assessed. I'm going to quickly go through some data charts because after each section what we did is we really broke down what the numbers mean. As a reminder of the board, we're looking at this graph shows three years worth of data. Spring of 23, spring of 24, spring of 25. Level one on the left, level five on the right. What you would ideally like to see on the left scores going down decreasing and on the right scores going up increasing. In EOI, that trend holds true. Fewer students are scoring in level one and two. More students are scoring at level four or five. That's

035good. That's a trend that shows growth. This chart shows how do we align here in our district to students across the state. Same grades, same assessment. The same philosophy is true. You want to see numbers on the negative or decreasing on the left and you want to see numbers increasing on the right. The left side represents levels one and two against state cohorts. There you didn't know that this is actually an assessment on your eyesight. On the right side, we want to see increases or gains against same students across the state. And that holds true. This one breaks down by building just for our three quick connect to three buildings. So you can see over the three years over the five levels the same patterns are holding true that students are decreasing levels one and

036two increasing levels four and five. This graph and the graph before it shows by grade different students who come into the grade, take the test, leave, and then a new set of students come in. This graph, this is really important because this shows the same cohort of kids. It follows the kids from grade to grade. So that's why it shows students from grade three to four, four to five. So you want to know how students at a particular grade level, it's an assessment of our curriculum. assessment per standards. But when you follow the students year after year, now you're seeing their particular growth in success. And when you look at the two charts, the two bars, the light purple and the dark purple, and they're all climbing the mountain, that's good. That shows that the

037students in the same court, same cohort year after year continue to show growth from the previous year. So that cohort data is really important and that's something that we've looked at in the buildings in terms of how are the students growing. Same idea. This is just grades six through eight. So you can track them back at grade five six and seven eight. And we continue to show growth with that particular cohort of students. Right? So now we're connect this back to some of the demographics. So here are the the subgroups. So, Asian, black, Hispanic, low or two or races and white students. You can see and we have access to this data. So, we can break down the data so significantly that we can see subgroups and how they're achieving. We continue to see growth

038in subgroups that that's trending in the right direction and it gives us an opportunity to work with groups that are much much smaller and who may need specific skills. So, what what does all that data show us? Students who are in grades 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, there are fewer students in levels 1 and two. That's good. We're going to shout out grade eight. There is a decrease of almost 10% for students in levels one and two. When you get closer into double digit decreases in level one, that's significant. We are monitoring students in grade three with grade three levels one and two at Cliffwood. Um, so there there are some peaks and valleys if you go back even further in some of the data. So we're we're watching that. Students in grades three, five,

039six, seven, eight increased in levels four and five. And I want to shout out grade seven and you saw an example of it. Grade seven students increased by 13%. That is significant. We are monitoring grade four. There were increases in levels one through three. There were decreases in levels four and five. we we want to take that scale the other way. So we are monitoring I'm going to talk more about um how we address that in a little while and we're monitoring grade 9. There were some changes in levels from level two from 23 to 25. So we're monitoring our or they're now in 10th grade last year's freshman. We're monitoring that. I'll speak to that as well in a little bit. Just to continue with ELA numbers some good news again subgroups have shown

040growth. Our district outperforms state scores in all levels for English language arts and the cohort of same students are showing growth year to year from grades four to eight. So a lot of great things to celebrate. Moving on to mathematics. So we know that math we are assessing problem solving modeling application word problems charts are the same as yield value. The hope would be decreasing in levels one and two, increasing levels four and five, not as consistent as ELA. So when we look at math scores, we don't have that same success in all grade levels. But I'm going to highlight a little while who did well and who needs more attention, but the graphs in the data, the charts be the same. Same thing with this one. We're comparing ourselves against state cohort. Are we

041decreasing levels one, two, increasing four to five? And we can break down the information by school, what what the board doesn't get to see and what our building leaders can see and teachers can see. We can see individual student scores. We can see what concepts that they struggle with or what they're doing. Well, we can't share that publicly, but we have even more access and more data that's accessible to us. So, same thing, we can take a look at by cohort. So, a little bit different story than ELA math. we're not seeing growth going in the right direction. Um, so we will address that. But we can see like oh, who's achieving who's not. So that was early elementary. This is middle school. Middle school is a little bit better. Actually, we're seeing some categories

042are flat. We do see a little bit of increases especially towards eighth grade. And we can take a look at by subgroup as well for mathematics. So what do the numbers mean in math? grades three, five, six, seven, and eight. There were decreases in levels one and two. Good. We are still monitoring the grade four just like we did in yellow. Monitoring grade four because there were some increases levels three, one through three, and decreases in four and five. Grades three and eight have increases in levels four and five. That's a good thing. That's showing us that students taking the test for the first time as students who are prepared for high school are showing success. That's good. Grades three, seven, and eight outperformed their state cohorts in mathematics. That's good. Shout out to Clickwood.

043Clickwood showed a decrease in level one and showed growth in levels four and five. So that should be applauded. So when you compare Cliffwood to the other two elementary schools when you compare them to Green Drive and Strathmore, those of course those two schools did not show that same amount of success where Cliffwood did. So kudos to Liquid Elementary. Cohorts of the same students moving from grades 6 through 8 show growth. Great. And then students in grades 3 through 5 did not show as much growth. We'll talk about that in a moment. Number of all subgroups that I just showed you in a moment. So we do recognize our data that for the most part they were either flat or they showed growth from 23 to 25. There was a dip in 2024. So we

044look at those anomalies and when you see the peaks and valleys you over time we look at trends and so we address those through here science. So again keep in mind we only assess science at three grade levels grade five 81 and the scale is different. It's not one through five it's one through four. So with this we are seeing in grades five and eight we have seen some decreases in level one and we have seen some increases in level four not the gains that we would like but we are moving in the right direction uh in this particular assessment grade 11 we see some struggles we're going to address that we compare ourselves to the state grades five and eight we're seeing better news decreases in levels one increases in levels three and for

045we're going to talk about in a moment what we're doing to address students coming into the middle school and the body school to address some of these concerns. Again, we can look at subgroup data where the trends kind of in between ELA and MAP where we are seeing some growth later on in the years uh and in some subgroups and other subgroups we're not. But the fact that we can have access to this data makes a difference for students. Okay. So that's NJSLA. We'll regroup at the end and talk about what we're doing to to show improvements or to maintain improvements. The second assessment that is given to a group of students is DLM, dynamic learning map. This is for students who are special education students with an IEP who have significant cognitive disabilities. They

046take this particular assessment. Same categories and same grades are assessed. ELA, math, science, same breakdowns. So 43 students took the ELA assessment. Um just over half of the students scored approaching or at or target or advanced target. So that's good. A little more than 50% are achieving in that subgroup. See 43 students took the math assessment. Pretty much the same results. Almost half the students are approaching or at target science. Same thing. More than half of the students. So 18 students took the science exam. Little more than half are approaching or at target. I briefly talked about this last month with the board when we uh share our PAC results from last year. So the question I'm often is how are we as a district held accountable for test scores? So this this is it

047is through the PAC review. every 3 years. One of the sections that QAC scores us on are the results of student achievement on state assessments. So in 2425 when we went through the QAC review under IMP in a particular category where they score assessments for us, we earned a score of 82. 80 is passing. 100 is the best. We received a score of 82. 40 out of 40 points were on our curriculum resources, our curriculum guides. pacing local assessments that were doing them, the word compliance, the technology we have. So, we earned 40 points of the maximum number of points on our curriculum. That's good. We earned 42 out of 60 points on the actual scores that I just shared with you. What's important to remind the board is that we earn those 42 points

048not based on the actual raw scores and the final outcomes of the student achievement. was based on that we file a waiver to be scored on student growth and the fact that when we dive deeper into all of our scores we can demonstrate that our students are growing year to year and over several years. So we fill out the waiver that approved it. It goes to the QAP committee and we were able to prove that our students are showing growth and will continue to show growth based on what we have to do and that earned us the points that we needed to get the passing score. So this naturally would ask the question well what if we didn't file for the waiver or what if ultimately there is no waiver and our scores don't improve

049or don't show growth what happens if that were the case then the district placed on an improvement plan and the state would come back in they would make recommendations we would have to follow the plan checkins with the plan that put together to show growth to show improvement that's a long process and it's something that At the moment you don't need to be concerned about we're heading in the right direction but should anybody wonder what happens if you don't meet those success markers then the state gets involved right so what are we doing so you saw some of action we we saw that um the first one on the list and the board we speak about this often brought up in his presentation Mr. also wrote up in his presentation last month. It's improved student

050attendance, but more specifically improving student product absenteeism. Mrs. Press is going to share at board meetings each month. What does our attendance look like? So, I I'll share for October. So, districtwide, we are we showed an improvement of 1% from last October to this October. So, districtwide, we've improved by 1%. That's the second month in a row where we've improved by 1%. I will shout out Mr. Anhorn for your sixth grade team. They improved by 2% over last October and Mr. By 11th grade students improved by 2% over last year. So what they have shared with you in the past, what we've been talking about quite a bit is working. Where does that pay off? It pays off in a lot of different areas. Ultimately, we hope that will pay off in student achievement and

051we see those results in class scores. In addition, we've expanded the tools of the mind program. So tools the mind is the curriculum that we use in all our preschool classrooms. Last year drive piloted that program this year. They're in year two and our other two elementary schools. So Strathmore, they're in year one. The the purpose of tools of mind is really about student self-recognition, teaching our youngest learner self-regulation. But with that comes component on how to improve written expression. The European Drive teachers day they have put together a fantastic presentation to share with staff. I had a chance to see it a couple of weeks ago. They shared it with me in advance and it's phenomenal to see how much student growth happens with a 5-year-old when it comes to writing. and they have

052taken pictures over the course of the year of student work samples to see from the first picture in September, the midway point around January, and the end point in May that the amount of growth that you can see right in front of your face of how much writing has changed, how much students grow in less than 10 months, it just blows you away. So, it's really, really impressive. That will pay dividends as they progress into the upper grades. Digibles in race came to three. This is something they shared with the board last spring where we applied for a grant that allowed us to bring in this particular program. So dibbles is an assessment. We are required now this is the first year the state of New Jersey requires us to assess students in early literacy

053in grades K to three. You have to have a required tool to do so. Dibbles is the tool we're using. But along with dibbles there are there's program that staff can use with students to help improve early literacy. So we are in the middle of that right now. I expect to have an update for the board in the spring and probably most likely required to give the board an update next October on the results of levels. We talked about this in the past and that's one small group targeted instruction based on K to8 data. So what do we do with all the data that we have? We can work with our staff. We can break groups into smaller learning groups, use data, target instruction, the set of skills that they need to help show improvement.

054So that's ongoing work that's happening in terms of common assessments. At the high school, this work started last spring under the leadership of Mr. Wells and his team. Teachers have been working on common assessments in their content areas, which means taking a look at the tests that they give students, particularly the midterms and final exams, and making sure that those exams are aligned to standards, that they're the same questions that are being given across from class to class and content to content, grade to grade. So that work start happening last spring at the high school, continuing in the fall from the high school. And with Mr. available in his leadership leadership team. That work is now happening in the middle school as well. New science curriculum. The board's heard quite a bit about the science

055curriculum. So, open site is the curriculum. This year, all of our sixth graders have the entire school year mapped out. We repurchased the entire program for all the sixth grade. Seventh grade has a unit. Eighth grade has a unit. I'll share with the board. So, I know you've asking a little tease to this board questions. Uh Dr. Cron and I had done some walkthroughs here at the middle school and we had some science classes going on and they were doing a hands-on experiment. So they uh took bath bombs and dropped them into water bottles that were about half full and the purpose is to take a look at change in terms of solids, liquids and gas. So the solid is the bath bomb. It goes into the water which is a liquid and the phenomenon

056question is so what will happen? So students have to make predictions ahead of time. They they work in small groups. They drop the bath bombs into the water bottle. They put the lid on. They make observations. They record those observations form hypothesis of what's going to happen next. I mean it was great. It was actually entertaining walking through the rooms talk about some teachable moments. Students were not aware that when you put the bath bomb in it starts to change. It starts to dissolve. The bath bomb changes the water changes but so does the air or the gas in the water bottle. and caps pop off. And so this some of the students were like, "Oh my god, I didn't realize I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't like how did that

057happen? Why did that happen?" So some teachable moments of not only the intended purpose of what the experiment is, but the byproduct of it and what else is happening. So when we have a chance to walk through classrooms and see these students engage hand with labs and working together and asking questions, learning in that way, it really makes a difference. We're held accountable to test scores but when you can see how students actually engage in the scientific process it makes a great difference. Uh next job embedded professional development. So this is ongoing in all grade levels in all buildings with a focus on literacy and math. Our test scores are improving in literacy because over the years we've made a tremendous investment in early literacy and literacy moving from boy to middle school to high

058school and it's paying off. What we now need to do is shift gears and make that investment and that commitment to mathematics and enhancing co-eing models. So this is for classrooms where we have two teachers and there are general education and special education students in the same room. So all of our administration team, we were trained over the summertime on what strong co-eing models look like. Our staff, a majority of them have been trained already. We're finishing up the training. We have one more building to go to be trained on what those six co-eing models look like so we can show improvements when we start to take a look at those subgroups. And then we continue to show growth. Um, maximizing instructional time actually connects back to student attendance. When students are in school and

059they're in school all day and they come to school on time, it allows us to maximize instructional time, which means that they're in in the room learning more. They have the opportunity to learn more. Maximizing instructional time also means that are we giving teachers the tools that they need to instruct and to instruct well. Um, default the classroom to support collaboration. Uh that's a fancy way of saying working in small groups. Ideally working in groups of three is the best. There are times where we have to give direct instruction which means that the teacher's at the front of the room and is lecturing that should be very very little especially in the younger grades and in middle school. When you work in small groups and the teacher has an opportunity to move around the room,

060to circulate, to listen to groups, to ask questions of small groups, more learning happens in a more effective way. The teacher can then measure engagement and see what that looks like. So defuncting the classroom, vertical surfaces for math instruction. So this may be generational. So when I was in school, we didn't have interactive whiteboards. chalkboard and you went up in front of the the class and you on the chalkboard you solve math problems. So often we talk about how do we go back to some of the basics that work. We don't have chalkboards and chalk in classrooms anymore. We have flat surfaces and we have interactive whiteboards which you can still do the same type of work but you have an opportunity in math to work vertically. The teacher can see what's happening. It gives

061students a chance to collaborate easier with their peers with the teacher. When you work on a flat surface on a device or on a piece of paper, you're often isolated and it's more difficult for the teacher to connect. It's possible but difficult. When you're working vertically, it's different shift in terms of the way your brain connects to the math. It gives a different opportunity for the teacher to see how the student is working through the problem, how they're problem solving or not. and then offer some remediation. Being aware of screen time, particularly elementary, we're doing a better job of this. So, preschool, no screen time. That's part of tools in mind, no screen time. Now that we've moved tools of mind into kindergarten, we've reduced the amount of screen time for kindergarten. So, great, that's

062getting better. what we have to do and that's we the the instructional leaders and teachers how do we find a balance because all the assessment data that I just showed you is taken on a computer here in front of a screen students need to have an opportunity to practice and get a feel for what that assessment is like. So we can't abandon technology and that's not realistic for the workforce that they're entering. There has to be a balance between what technology is good for instruction and when do we take a break. Mr. grand and your team. I appreciate the presentation they did tonight because that's another good example of picking up a traditional book rather than being in front of a screen. Doing drafts on paper and then maybe doing a final draft on paper.

063Those are the ways that we find balance. Those are also ways that allow teachers to make a greater impact when they're seeing work happening in real time in front of them rather than behind the screen. And then finally, review and pacing and sequencing of units. That's the work that the board approves every spring when we have staff members listed for curriculum writing. And then when you approve the curriculum in August, sometimes early September, that's reflected in the work as that should have some additional supports that are in place. Again, the board you know this I'm just reminding that back to school solutions, middle school and high school that they continue to work with our students and students who are involved in that particular program. We do see improving grades. We do see improving attendance. We

064do see improving behavior. They're important partners for our district. As it is the YMCA and their counseling services, we take advantage of that. We do have continue to have sheltered English instruction for multi- language learners across the district. And then finally connecting back to the demographics early on. from the free and reduced slide that I showed you where we saw significant increases in applications for road growing applications for Cliffwood. So their title one screen said we receive additional federal funds into the district to help support programs that help the students. Thank you. This pro this will be posted on the district website. The contact information for our three directors plus myself that that's there as well. a lot of interactive things for parents to take advantage of. So this does emphasis on our website. >>

065Thank you so much. Extremely comprehensive and very important. Appreciate the time that went into that. Does anybody have any questions? >> Mine was quick and pretty much a rehash. I've already asked this question privately. It was um I noticed just because I've been on the board for a little while now and I I saw that there's there's a cohort um that has moved through that seems to just not score quite as high typically and I just I just suspect from being a parent close to it that that that has to do with the timing of a very disruptive school year at one point and um I and so I was just wondering about when you see that that sort of trend with a specific cohort that it's not really reflective of the grade they're in

066right now, but it's the cohort that they're in. What what kind of supports are provided? >> Yes, the disruption is probably the best word to put it. So, when you look at eighth grade schools, so our current freshmen, those students when you go back to 2020 and we return back to the school, that particular group of students did not take NJSLa in grade three. It was offered. They didn't take grade four. It wasn't offered. So the first time they've taken NJSLA, first time they're taking a high states assessment is in fifth grade. So they they lost out in the first two years to kind of get into that mindset. We also don't have access to that fundamental startup data. So that particular group of students who are now in ninth grade and even the current

06710th grade students Mr. but also his team put in place last year and beginning of this year there's midday tutorial where smaller groups that we identify through the data smaller groups we during the day with staff work on skills little bit of practice for test but really it's more about skills and the way that Mr. as well as packaging it. It's also a mentoring program. So there there's a lot of good coming out of that piece. So it's we're focusing on those students and we know that we can help them in two capacities. And a lot of it's about building confidence when it comes to skills especially in mathematics. If you can build the confidence of students, >> thank you um Mr. Uh so this was very helpful for us to see we're moving in

068the right direction especially um in ELA um math and science you know we've had we've all had numerous conversations about I agree 100% on what you said earlier having three kids who have two who are now out of district graduated out one still in the difference between them in terms of the focus in school throughout the years has changed I think in math and science for a while then it became very English focused um and then the math and science seem to kind of take a back seat. So, I'm glad to see we're headed back there because I think we need to um you know, based on these school scores as well as just even my own kids and seeing you know the changes I've seen um in terms of ma math. one question. Uh

069some of the I think it's eighth grade and then in high school some students are exempt from this testing. Correct. Based on an except so it's not necessarily fully reflective of the district because the kids at the more advanced level don't even take the test. >> Correct. And then when you go back to the NJPI that's an entire grade level students not represented in this. they take a separate assessment and uh they looked at uh 93% of the students who took it last year in ELI 93% of our students 11th graders hit the highest schooler. So you start to see that trend going up. But yes, that so not every student is accountable for that in the data which is important majority >> which could be why potentially some of the upper grades have the

070lower exceeding like you've got 0%s on level five but that could be because your highest math level students are not even captured here. >> Correct. >> Yeah. So I just think that's an important point to you know um and then in terms of science um broken record with this um I think labs are extremely important and when my oldest daughter was in high school they had a specific period for lab. They skipped either gym or lunch and they had a lab once a week. um now it's embedded in the classes and except for the advanced science students and I I still believe that labs are incredibly important because some kids learn much better through experience hands-on learning so you know the more we can do that I know it's still embedded in the classes um

071sometimes it's rushed sometimes it can't always be done if you're teaching a lesson so it's just something that I really really truly believe is important you you know, so I'm glad we're doing it in sixth grade. The more we can keep that going and bring it back, I think is helpful. Um, I think that was it because I think you covered everything else. >> So, I'm glad you brought up labs. So, one of the projects that Dr. Chrome is working on with science teachers grades 6 through 12 is that collectively they're gathering information and sharing with them which I can then share with the blue at each month the labs and investigations that are happening in classrooms. So he's working on that with teachers and then I can then share that most likely with Mr.

072preser weekly updates to one of those weeks each month I can then share a report on what's happening to labs. >> That would be awesome because I think what we take away when they don't have the labs is the excitement. Kids don't want to go into science and my my youngest isn't a big fan of science because he never gets to experience the fun of science. So I think that's a key point. you know, if we want kids to go into science, we actually have to expose them to not just something they're reading on a computer, um, and let them play with it. So, just real quickly, um, I am happy to hear that we are moving away from the technology or as much technology um, in the elementary school buildings. Um I do recognize

073the need for technology as you um as you age right so there's an important role in it but for definitely preschool so happy to hear not happening and then trying to move away from as much technology in the elementary buildings is very important um there's too much screen time so I'd like to hear that we are making that transition so thank you Yes. Okay. Um let's do a president's report. Just wanted to let everybody know that um the board members are staying up to date on their annual required testing. B uh sorry training based on their years of service. So every year that a board member is serving on the board, they have to be um trained in that year's specialty. They it could be school funding, it could be curriculum instruction. Um last week

074many of us attended the New Jersey School Board's workshop and we got specialized professional development there and training in different areas. Um we'll hear a little bit later what everybody experienced there. Um regarding the facilities, our seven school buildings, the district has been preparing had been preparing for referend to fund necessary improvements um within the next year but to remain fiscally responsible and based on updated fund balance information. district is now targeting November 2027 for that referendum for facility improvement. So, uh, before I I get too far ahead of it, what's going on right now is really assessing what the needs, um, the like to haves versus the must haves for the buildings, trying to figure out how those can be funded in various ways, whether they're through grants, bonds, um, and then trying to

075figure out what we may need to go to referendum for to get approval from the voting public. Um this revised timeline allows more time to assess all the buildings and see what the needs are. Um talking about our de demog demographic report that we made public in June. We have been discussing as Miss Perez talked about plans for potential redistricting at board meetings. Since that report became public in June, um we've always highlighted the goal to make the community part of the discussion. It's one of our board goals. um since I've been on the board, it's really important that the community trusts um that we are giving them the up-to-date and correct information and we want that input. We really need that input. Um so we have community information sessions. We have our first one

076scheduled on November 24th. We would like the feedback. We have the email address. Just keep in mind that that most accurate information you will get from the school district um as much fun as it is, social media is not the greatest place to get that information. Um kind of tends to feed on incorrect information in my opinion. Um and that is all I have. So I will turn it over to Mr. May for the students representatives report. >> Good morning everyone. As we near the end of October, I would definitely say that it's been quite an eventful month for everyone. The whole district acknowledged the week of respect from October 6th to 11th. And at the high school, students could write kind messages to their peers and teachers at lunch as well as color and

077decorate shoes that tell their story. This was in an event in an effort to kind of be like um you're walking other people's shoes. Our spirit week was the same week with the class with the most participants winning 100 BOTC points and second, third, and fourth winning 75, 50, and 25 points respectively. In addition to this, our fall pep rally was held on Friday, October 11th, where we recognized every fall sport and had each grade participate in BOTC events. At the end of it all, seniors took first place with 600 points, sophomores second with 550, freshman in third with 500, and juniors in last with 450. In addition to VOTC, the homecoming court was announced at the end of the pep rally. The school congratulated homecoming queen nominees Via Delicado, Harry Pagno, Kira Lugo, Nichollet

078Morello, and Jonfield. We also congratulated the homecoming king nominees Dylan Pedto, Lucas Manville, Robbie Msina, Jason Shank, and Fred Be. Along with this, there is the homecoming football game the same day where homecoming king and queen were actually announced. Congratulations to Fred Be and Ben Delicado for Lane. Speaking of football, the our team made it to the playoffs and will be going against Somerville uh this Friday, October 31st at everyone can wear their costumes for Halloween, but please keep in mind that no masks are allowed. Some other news is that the marching band has been doing very well at their competitions. With their most recent score of 84.6, Six. The marching Huskies have been steadily improvement improving since the beginning of the season. They have high hopes of beating Oldbridge at states this Saturday and

079are striving for first at nationals next Saturday. Another thing to take note of is the first successful round table meeting hosted by student government. Most of the club representatives were present, although not much was supported due to the school year just starting. Any clubs in the high school should keep in mind that the next Monday meeting is on Monday, November 17th. There are also two more events that I would like to mention. The Key Club recovery walk this last Saturday that supported those in their efforts to recover from addiction and this week's Red Ribbon Week with spirit days that pair with saying no to drugs. The last thing I would like to bring up is a campaign that students from SAT have embarked on. A petition has been created in an attempt to gather data

080on the community's opinions on whether or not a light should be installed in front of the high school. And if anyone is interested, please come talk to me after this report. Moving on, we have Cambridge Park who have finally named their school mascot. This is the thing I was most excited about. There was initially a tie between Olly and Buddy with Buddy eventually coming out on top as the Cambridge Park Husky Pup. It also celebrated fire prevention month with the Aberine Fire Department who taught the students fire safety and gifted them coloring books and firefighter hats. Finally, the PTO sponsored its annual harvest fest last weekend where everyone had lots of fun with trunk or treating, a photo booth at DJ, an inflatable obstacle course, food trucks, appearances by the M fire department, the police

081department, and the school community members at Cliffwood. They held their first color of the year just last week with it being a huge success. Students, families, and staff came together for a fun-filled evening, creating memories that will last a lifetime. Principal Sharon wants to thank the Cliffwood PTO for organizing this wonderful fundraiser complete with live music from a DJ, a food truck, and an ice cream truck. Coming up this week, Cliffwood PTO will be hosting Trump retreat from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. And the Cliffwood Halloween parade will take place this Friday, October 31st at 10:00 a.m. Principal Shares encourages everyone to take some time to see the little ones all dressed up. Next up in Strathmore, the students showed off their school spirit by wearing their grades color on the first spirit day of the

082school year. School mascot Hmore the owl even made an appearance to show the school spirit as well. Along with this, the school celebrated the week of respect with designated spirit days that promoted positive behaviors and fostered a culture of respect. Second and third graders also participated participated in a mix it up lunch where they sat with new peers in order to foster new friendships and promote inclus inclusivity. During this lunch, students were also introduced to the new kindness ticket program set set to roll out in November. School's kindergarten and first grade students will have their own mix it up lunch this week. The first grade team also invited families in for the traditional pumpkin day activity. Students and family members rotated through various stations that use pumpkins to get students to apply their counting grouping

083skills, estimate, measure, analyze, and make predictions. Kindergarten kids put on an ABC fashion show, strutting through the hallways while representing letters at the alphabet. The prek students took a field trip to Happy Day Farm where they learned about farm life, including the animals that live there and the food produced there. The PTO also hosted a successful trunk or treat event which included creatively decorated trunks, a craft activity, and lots of treats. Lastly, Stratmore students will participate in the annual Halloween parade parade on Friday, October 31st. Over at River Drive, the students have had a fun and exciting October. The school celebrated their week of respect with a spirit week and daily classroom activities intended to show their students how to exhibit kindness and respect to others. It was also fire prevention week with principal Carvajal

084expressing her thanks to the Melan fire department for visiting ravine on October 6th and October 9th raising awareness for students along with donating fire ads and having fire prevention activities for them. On the 18th, the PTO sponsored a trunk and treat event for the for the community which had a great turnout as well as many volunteers from the high school. On the 22nd, the kindergarten classes held their annual fall festival where parent volunteers came out to do activities for their classes. Last last week, the school celebrated week of peace with theme days and daily activities to demonstrate to the students how we are united in peace. Then at Lloyd school, Lloyd school students also celebrated the week of respect with a special interactive schoolwide assembly with Mr. D and friends. This assembly focused on ways

085students can demonstrate respect for everyone and everything around them, including themselves. Through various interactive activities in the assembly, students learned about respecting different points of view, as well as the importance of promoting respect and preventing bullying and cyber bullying through kindness and teamwork. School is also excited to announce the kickoff of their after school clubs for fourth and fifth graders. that a wide variety of clubs select including art club, book club, peer buddies, horse club, chess club, board games, and garden club. In addition to this, the student council is also gearing up for class elections with the school having held its student interest this week, which was a great turnout. The PTO held its annual trunk or treat and fall harvest festival on October 22nd with the kids having just as much fun as the

086parents. The night included a car decorating contest, trunk or treating, pumpkin patch, raffle prizes and giveaways, ice cream, a bouncy house, as well as kidfriendly axing, archery, and ball toss. School would like to express their thanks for the PTO, local businesses, and families who all supported the event. On October 23rd, Lloyd Road was visited by the fire department with all classes attending a presentation outside to learn about fire safety as well as touring the truck, whilst learning about what it's like to be a firefighter. They thank the fire department for coming by. Last but not least, MAM celebrated breast cancer awareness month with a schoolwide pink out on Friday, October 24th. In addition to a bake sale, they held a contest for which grades students and staff wore the most pink. As Mr. Van mentioned,

087sixth grade took home first place and earned 100 points for this year's biology classes. The school also had an event for the seventh graders who visited Starbucks Cafe in their language arts classes. At this book tasting activity, students explore multiple text analyzing genres, themes, and writing styles to identify books that suits them. This is a new grant funded activity designed to help students develop a strong love for reading. Um, this brings me to the end of my report. Thank you everyone for listening and I look forward to seeing all of you at the next board of education meeting. >> Thank you, Mr. D. Do you have a plan for your costume on Friday? Are you planning on dressing up? >> Yeah, I'm going as Wall-E. >> Excellent. Good choice. >> Thank you so much. Uh,

088moving on, we have curriculum instruction, Mr. Leman. >> Thank you. Under curriculum instruction, there are no items in red. We are asking the board to take action and approve items A, B, 1, 2, and three. That concludes curriculum instruction. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda? >> Any questions? >> Seeing no student services items, um moving on to personnel. >> Thank you. Uh the board received a walking item for this evening that we're asking the board to take action on. Uh that item is in the benefit meeting with Peg. Uh now for the regular agenda uh we have several items in red. Uh we are asking the board to take action on all personnel items. On page 105 we have a retirement of Mr. Shu uh 29 years

089of service which will be effective uh June 3rd 2026. Uh we have absence as listed. We have two appointments. Uh Mr. Leman talked a lot about tools of the mine earlier. We have two uh instructional aid appointments that we're asking the board to take action on to support us uh at kindergarten level. On page 205, we have extracurricular activities as listed uh two in red including assistant basketball coaches. We have uh several staff array changes uh just to support uh either leave of absence uh student enrollment for program. Those extend to page three of five. And at the bottom of page three or five, uh we have a uh student well in the office of special services, I'm sorry, Tiffany Crockett is doing research uh and we are going to do some administration of surveys

090to teachers and that's under the direction of Jennifer Steitch on page four in section D. We had a hit from last month. Uh we have some additional hours uh for 2526 school year for services. Uh substit substitute I'm sorry administrator as listed. Uh the superintendent contract for 2526 school year as listed. And uh we have some um salaries listed for instructional aids uh along with um the account numbers. And uh we have our most um staff listed there. And we have an administrative leave pay as listed. And finally on page five of five we have our mentor teachers approved as listed and we have a ma's early bus arrival supervision uh as listed. That completes the personnel agenda. Can I have a motion on a second to approve a motion? I'll second. Any questions? Um

091yes. So um the one thing I I know I said last me to this since it's actually up for vote this time. Um I just want to congratulate Mr. shilling um for his um career in district. I think 29 years, right? So um phenomenal just speaking as a parent uh whose child I had one daughter who had him as a soccer coach and one um who had him as a math teacher and um as a math teacher. Fantastic. My daughter really um understood math after his class which was wonderful to see um that she was able to understand it better. and um from a coaching aspect um you know he was a phenomenal coach as well. So congratulations. Welld deserved. From a planning perspective, I think it's worth noting that he is telling us what

092he's saying after the end of the year. Um sometimes we don't find out till later in the year and then um doesn't always work, you know, works against us, put it that way, for planning purposes for staffing for the following year. So, we appreciate that heads up. Um, I also wanted to um the vice president of the board of education, Tara Tara Martinez, is not here tonight. She's on vacation, so she asked me to read something um related to the renewal of Miss Chris contract. Um she says, I'm going to read it verbatim. Unfortunately, I cannot attend the board meeting tonight due to being on vacation. Although I don't want to miss the opportunity to congratulate our superintendent, Molita Perez, in extending her contract to 2030. I've had the privilege and honor of being on

093the board when Mrs. Perez was hired 12 years ago. I've watched her grow within our district in many roles, all of which she puts her whole heart into for our children. It's almost unheard of to have administrators stay in district for this many years. I'm beyond proud of what our administration has built our district into. We are beyond blessed to have her and thank you all for your service to our children, community and staff. Here's to five more years of doing great things. Um and then I would like to say something as well. Um uh actually I will >> I'll do it later. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Um so I also wanted to congratulate Miss Perez um on the extension of your contract. So this brings you to 2030 which is amazing and um I've

094gotten to work with you for the past six years which has been wonderful. So, we've seen you grow from director of student services to assistant superintendent to superintendent over the past couple of years. Um, and I think on a daily basis we get to see you demonstrate your passion for the district and for the kids in the district and ensuring that they're happy and successful and um also supporting the staff and the whole school. So, thank you. I promise um mine I just wanted to convey that I'm pleased to approve the extension of the contract for our superintendent, Miss Lita Perez. The five-year contract not only provides stability for our district through strategic planning, potential redistricting, and a potential referendum to maintain our facilities, but it also um personally supports our dis she's personally supporting

095our district's commitment to fiscal responsibility by taking an overall reduction in compensation over the terminal contract. On a personal note, Miss Porz has been collaborative, dedicated, student centered, approachable, and caring. She is widely respected among her counterparts across the state and we are very fortunate to have her. Thank you so much. We're just going to thank you very much to the board of education for supporting um supporting my passion is sometimes over the top but thank you so much for that. Uh we've uh moved the district as a team um with the leadership team here at the deis um central office administrators and also the instru the instructional leaders that we have here this evening and those that are not here um they run the district um they come with ideas um always open to

096ours and we're always open to theirs and um we're very committed as a whole um to serve the community and our students especially they're super important and uh we love them. So that's what we're here for. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to policy. Dr. W. >> Thank you. Uh we are asking the board to take action uh on second read. We have no first read for this meeting. Uh we have second read uh and adoption as listed. um which include um the introduction which are bylaws, screaming for dyslexia, scare I'm sorry, care of school property, student journalism, eye protection. Um and then we are asking the board to take uh action on an abolishment of policy for adult uh high school. Um that ends the action items for policy. >> I

097have a motion and a second to approve policy. Any questions? >> Thank you. So, looking over them closely, I had a concern that some of the things within the policy, considering we as a board when we come down to it, the only things we're responsible for are budget and policy. So, I was a bit concerned about some of the wording um especially some of them that says the board shall um I want you to take a look at together. So, you obligate please. We have our policy for screening for dyslexia and um oh I just want to preface by saying we have all done such a great job with these policies in terms of making them work for our district. They come from a legal perspective down to us so that we can implement the

098complimenting ourselves how we're making them work for our district. So nothing I'm saying has to be done. I'm just suggesting that maybe we'll want to change it to make it better and make us a more responsible board saying what we really need. So when I take a look at the policy that's for screening for dyslexia when I get to for us I believe it's page two of three the way it printed out we have a statement that says the board shall select and implement age appropriate screening instruments for the early diagnosis of dyslexia. Um, I know it's not implied that we literally will do it, but legally it says the board shall select an implement. I was wondering about some other wording that would say something about not being as broad that will select or

099put in place a system for the appropriate staff to choose to select and implement age appropriate screening. It also says the board shall ensure the student receives a comprehensive assessment. We are not the people who are ensuring the student receives it. It didn't know if we should be more specific. It also says the board shall provide appropriate evidence based intervention. So I guess I'm asking Mr. Ruben in terms of this is it really sound legally that in setting the board shout is it understood legally that we are not actually doing it or do we need to change the language a little bit and there are other instances of that as well. I think it would generally be understood the former not the latter. Um how I think a interpretive would be down to the board

100to be that we stand by the committee to get this done at all. I mean you can spell it out more explicitly if you want to but asking how the court determined and that's determined. >> Thank you so much. >> And if I could just add district just gave a presentation that mentioned things like which has screeners. So I think when you go you're essentially supporting those types of things even intervention programs Mr. uh they you know spoke about those that's sort of how I mean you all voting on those things is really central to making sure that the district has fantastic thank you I also wanted to ask about the care school policy there are pieces that are under I'm looking at let's see C is under what A is teaching staff member responsib

101general rules of governing distribution textbooks and um what I saw um sorry the way it printed out I'm on page 205 and care of school property it's talking about a lost textbook must be properly reported to this teaching staff and students must remove covers those papers and things of that nature and it seemed to me I just want to make sure that that's under the student section that is not a teacher responsibility >> is that so I didn't get >> I don't yeah I don't I don't see any reason why the board may come to consensus that that can be moved uh to student responsibility um the student reporting it and then the teacher ensuring that this student has a replacement book uh if that's the board's pleasure I don't I don't I don't see

102reasonise I was just a bit confused because I just didn't want to have our teachers in the district be responsible for something that they can't take care of. So pageionation wise on my side it seemed like it was coming under teacher. So if you could just take a look at that and make sure it's not >> do we need to move to doing that. Do you want to make that if there's a consensus to do it? There's a consensus we can do it. I don't think there's a dispute then. >> Do we have consensus to take a look and make that update as necessary? Yes. >> Thank you. And I just had one more thing to ask because again I'm concerned on the school side and the student side the policy that we have about

103student journalism. Um it says things such as within three school days things will happen and other school numbers. I was just wondering do we need to clarify how many days like is it say a student is told that um like it says if the school official cannot show the school sponsor media is prohibited within three school days the student journalist may release the school sponsored media like where is the three school days what time does it is the end of school day when does the three days start to end I just wanted to make sure that staff was clear on when they had to get back and the student was clear on when they had to get back and I didn't understand is the challenge at the end of the school day. Um I'm just

104I'm just trying to and I may be asking things that it's totally fine the way it is. I just want to make sure our staff knows what they're responsible for and the students. >> Yeah, that that's a uh new policy. Um, but I guess we could, you know, get it by David, but to put 3 days after the day that the student submits it to the principal, I think maybe that would be more clear through school days. I think that's how it's listed as school days. This policy was intended to implement a law adopted years ago national movement in spearheaded by the student trust law center to try to power so-called student journalists more. And I think is implementing state statute that has very specific procedures and guidelines in it. That may be where the

105three days came from for what I know. I think get back to Albert on that, but I guess that when I take a look, that's where all this comes from. >> And I just want to make a comment that I'm so thankful we're adopting this policy. I think it gives the freedom for students to speak and it gives the freedom to the school to decide is this something that's going to disparage in any way the school and it's taking care of it so fairly and really embrace in a policy that students can report and feel comfortable reporting. So, I appreciate that we're adopting it. >> Um, should we table that policy specifically to reook at that time frame just so it's clear for me? >> Uh, yes. If it's the board's pleasure, we can table

106it and revisit it in open. >> Okay. So uh I will make a motion to table that particular policy. Mr. Skully, >> yes. >> Miss Biles, >> yes. >> Mr. Mount, >> yes. >> Miss Pal, >> yes. >> Miss Scott, >> yes. >> Miss Barrell, Miss Marty, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Any other questions on policy? Moving on to finance. Miss Keith, >> good evening. We'll be looking to take action on the following items. the board secretaries report for the month of September. Payroll certification for the month of September. Receive and acceptance of the board secretaries report treasures report appropriate transfers the bills list for October. Adoption of the 2627 budget calendar. Please note as we talk about the adoption for the 2627 budget calendar. Yes, budget is underway for 2627. Uh

107we do know that we will have a new governor with that. Typically, the governor's address for school is delayed by two weeks. We will wait to see what happens. However, if that does occur, it typically is that the schools get a week. However, the county still has to get back ours with under that 30-day window. Uh so, it could potentially happen that we need to make changes and shifts depending on when the budget is approved. We'll keep everyone apprised. We will follow the election calendar. The election calendar has not been released yet. uh when it is we will inform everyone and make the proper adjustments. Uh with that being said, we have the October 2025 district enrollment report. Uh we did have a new New Jersey sleds from NJ Smart. Uh the state has yet

108to open up the ASSA. So the application for state aid for next year. As soon as they do, we'll start making those adjustments and get that audit underway. Uh with that, we'll have the approval and submission of the health and safety checklist for all the buildings, submission of the annual comprehensive maintenance plan, as well as the form N1. And we will be approving for the first time the potential redistricting for the 2627 school year, the fire evacuation drills for the month of September. And that concludes finance. >> Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes agenda? questions. >> I just wanted to make sure I understood this timing right. So on um item nine, this is the first time that we're approving an analysis, not the results of the

109analysis, but the commencement of an analysis for redistricting. Am I am I correct? Correct. Okay. So we we certainly don't have the answers on that analysis yet because we're just now approving the commencement of the analysis. Correct. The demographer came out last year, provided a report to the board. With that being said, then we needed to dive deeper into how that redistricting might look. So, we're asking that same company to come in and do that analysis. >> Thank you. Thank you, sir. >> I also had um on that same one, I just wanted to make sure that the public's clear. Along the same line, um what we're voting on tonight for number nine is not the actual plan. it's to hire the demographer to actually gather the data for us so that we can make

110an informed decision. Um there will be as um Miss Bre and Miss Horniki said earlier a community forum at the end of the month. Um and so you know we really do want the community's input all along the way um because that will help us too um in terms of making decisions. So thank you. So in November on the 24th when we have the community court without the redistricting we're going to be addressing the demographers's analysis of the of the communities correct and then talking are we talking about potential you're what exactly can you just highlight again on the 24th >> so um November 24th Mr. Fred, I forget that was last name from city gate summer. Um he's going to be um virtual and presenting um based on the 3 to four years data

111where students and our families live. how many are in clusters across between 91 and Avenue. After that presentation, he will share the boundaries and how many are rejected for um each of the buildings based on where they reside. Um that will include partially what's done with any development between and um developments and then he'll say some scenarios that we can um part of the team that presented him with the information and the data was is myself construction um busing which would be in this Kaiser and facilities um Mr. Carson in this case. So we provided him that information and then he so what families can expect on the 24th is the to have a thorough explanation of the process with the provided um to and then after he reviews the map um where all of

112our students reside and what boundaries are um and where they could be um he will open that up and then that format will also that comments for um community members then to say can you move Aine Road, can you split it, can you put it all together to one building of comments which is how we recommendations based on a question about the enrollment. So I from what I recall we talked about this last time is it's a snapshot that only happens once a year but that helps us with numbers that would um pertain to fun that a little bit. >> Sure. So there's different categorical weights attached to each of the enrollment. So that goes back into categories for CD. So we'll have different weighted averages um with kindergarten being the least to high school

113students being the most and then there's uh differences and added for special special ed transportation and security. So once we have all that, they need all that data so that they can configure it and then provide us an actual dollar amount associated with it come the end of February. However, we think probably mid-March. I think at the house someone had asked if that if what we provided um how is any momentum any moment after the snapshot in terms of budget we will not receive any is it typical that we would get students that far into the school after October? >> Yes. Um, this is while we're on the section, I'm going to have you give the report of your walk through today if that's appropriate. Um, just a topic. So, um just so the public's

114aware, we newly formed a finance committee, finance and facilities committee um for a number of reasons. One is after um this past year budget presentation and approval, we knew that going forward there may be some um budget constraints um year to year. Um and also because we know we have a redistricting or resoning going on. We know at some point um actually now it's just been um the we've talked about in a number of meetings um going out for referendum in the future for roofs on the on the seven buildings. Um, and originally we were looking at next year. It's actually getting bumped to November 2027 as a referendum. So, what we thought was important is that we do building walkthroughs. Um, and we're doing basically one a month in terms of to kind of

115see what the needs are, you know, the wish list, um, must haves, like to haves, um, sort of thing. And then eventually we'll come together and go through all of the information and um kind of try to balance because obviously budget is is limited but really what do we need to do um across the district. So we did the high school last month. Um we did tonight. We did the middle school. And um so I guess my key takeaway and I saw it today was so looks beautiful painting. Um you know I really it it adds something. So when you come in it felt different to me than you know the just a fresh coat of paint. It's amazing what it can do. So I thought that looked great. Um there are some areas of

116opportunity. Um the biggest so key takeaway was while there are less items than I may have seen at the high school in terms of needs, they could potentially be higher priced items. Um so I think the biggest issue that we saw was we know the roofs across the board, but really here um because when we walked into the new gym, um the new gym, right? Um the water damage is very apparent. Um you can see it on the walls, the bubbling um on the walls, you can see um the ceiling. Um so there was a number of areas there. So while the floor is amazing, it looks fantastic. Um the you can see the water damage. So that's um very important um as we move towards the referendum um in another two years. But uh

117and then you know there were other areas you know as we mentioned the bathrooms I think again flooring it's amazing what some of the little cosmetic things can do. Um so the new flooring in some of the bathrooms I don't know if it's head or what it is but you know the difference it's drastic when you see that. Um so that was good to see and if we can continue forward as possible with renovating the bathrooms or at least adding flooring. Um and then uh those were kind of the the big thing you know the auditorium there may be some opportunity some of the other rooms um you know we said last time at the high school I think it's here too when you go in the classrooms you can see there's an assortment of

118furniture in all of our classrooms um it seems to be in both schools so far so you know like so there's things you know that's what I mean when I say we have you know musthaves like roofs because that could really cause a lot of water damage in the future. Um, and then you have your light tab. So, it's a balance and we'll see as we continue the tours. Thanks for everybody who did that um all through today and appreciate the time and effort on that. Any other questions, comments? The board of education recognizes the value of public comment on matters of interest to the school community. In accordance with legal requirements, the inclusion of superintendent's contract for approval will be part of tonight's agenda and included in the public hearing on all topics. Individuals

119wishing to speak must state their name and address. Comments are limited to three minutes duration, but an individual may speak a second time after all 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 statements violate the rights of others under the law of defamation or engagement of privacy, they may face personal liability to the injured party. If speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications

120of their comments, the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal advisor. Any public comments? Um, I just want to say it's really nice to see all the um principles and administrators here tonight. So, I don't know, you know, maybe you're getting some Husky Bucks or some Starbucks or something, but it's it's a pleasure. So, thanks for coming. It's nice to see you all for sure. >> Yeah. >> Mrs. Fully. >> Yes. >> Miss Files. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Miss Pal, >> yes. >> Miss Scott, >> yes. >> Miss Barrell, >> yes. >> Miss Warnick, >> yes. All items pass. >> Thank you. Um for I guess new business or they finished business. Mrs. Foley, do you want to just give a liazison update? >> Um yes. >> Uh I'm

121the liaison for uh the Malog for the board with Matalog Council. Um so I have been keeping um our council liaison aware of the redistricting with the community forums happening any feedback that you know we're hearing this far which is in the community you know it's it's real on Facebook you know like you can see like people are commenting um mentioned to her that the referendum is moving to November 2027. Um and then oh the one thing we talked about is so early on we um our finance committee meeting with their finance committee as well as um Aberdines we decided that it might be a good idea to wait until January to really do that because um with the election um things could change um so therefore their committees our committees things could change um

122come January. So, you know, we'll know in November, but then I don't know how things will change on Thursday in terms of committees. So, we're going to do that then after everybody's sworn in. >> Thank you. Um, unfortunately, Mr. McGovern wasn't able to come tonight. He is a liazison from the board to Everine and I know that he's been um keeping them up to date as as best as he can um with information as well. Um, any other new or unofficials? I guess quickly I just did want to share maybe this would have been part of the finance agenda but that with the um you know we noted about the October um snapshot of enrollment that that's new new students come in after that and they're not captured in that and um Miss Casease mentioned

123that and Brook that there there's a bill that periodically comes up in front of the state legislature to add a second snapshot in February And so I did a little bit of research, figured out, still have work to do, but figured out where it went and what happened. And um it did go through the assembly um and made it out of committee, which is kind of that's a lot if you've ever been in a state legislature. Um and it so it would need to come through again because that uh assembly is done. But um they uh the committee that was assigned to actually one of our assembly people that represents um part of the Madawan Aberine district um is on that committee. So I was going to talk to him more about what needs to

124be done to advocate along with talking to the um the bill sponsors and the committee chairs of the committee and the assembly. um in both cases it's the education committee and the committee in the Senate where it had assigned the committee but never actually got heard in committee. So typically I I have past experience in another state um working with the legislature and there's so many bills introduced that even the tiniest little anything um just that's it. We're not even talk about this. we don't have time to do this. And so I'm I'm going to try to do some soouththing before the next um legislative session to to figure out where those pieces are and see what we can do. Maybe talk to our state coalition schools. I would ask that you um discuss that

125you show how developments happen that time after that. Yeah, that's a really good point that a um I think yeah, you you both made a good statement about that the last meeting. You know, something you don't even think about that it's not like u with a a development that it's all in one year and there's suddenly a ribbon cutting and that's when everybody moves in. It's that as buildings go online, families move in and that's throughout the year and there are families waiting to move into the district where they want to be into the town and district where they want to be. And so that's happening all throughout Misspell is our um sort of she's the delegate assembly representative for our board of education, but she's also because she has experience and just likes it.

126She looks into all this legislative type stuff that advocates for school district. So, we really appreciate her time tonight. Um, I also wanted to give people an opportunity to talk about school boards. I know it's getting late, but um, we always like going, we meet a lot of other board members from all over the state and prepare, you know, challenges, wins, all of that stuff. So, I attended a few different sessions. One was on crisis communications. Um I try to go to things that also pertain to my job that I get paperwork and um so I did crisis communications. I did um it one was on security and communications. Um did a session on um board retreats, how to conduct board retreats effectively because we always feel like this is really the only time we

127get a chance to speak with each other. Um, so how to make the most of a retreat. Um, a few others I can't recall off the top of my head, but I'll be asking everybody to kind of debrief and take some notes so that we can use that information as we move forward in things like word retreats and how we move forward with best practices for how we communicate with each other and just get things done um, efficiently and collaboratively. Um so I attended uh a few seminars. Um one was managing board ethical dilemmas which is fascinating um because it was a presentation on basically all the ethical issues in a number of different districts in the state and what the decisions were. So, um it was enlightening um and it actually I I think

128we're doing a great job here um based on the the things that are being filed in other districts, but it was it was really interesting. It basically um talked about what we can and can't do as board members, where our role ends, superintendent and admin um where their role begins um or what their role is. Um so, the difference between the two, conflicts of interest, that sort of thing. Um I also did security and safety. Uh Pompton Lakes was there and they presented they had gone out for a referendum for security um money and uh they essentially went through communications and how they redid all their intercom systems, their phones. Um they have buttons on their phones where people basically hit a button and it essentially initiates lockdown. Um, so there were some fascinating thing,

129you know, sideboards where it can just be flipping there in the hallways that everybody kind of knows. Um, things like that. Um, so that was really interesting. Oh, they also had breathers on doors. Um, which I thought was interesting, too. So, the doors were a jar. Um, but they had gone out for a referendum. I think it was $6 million um, on that fac. And then the other one that I did was facility improvements because as I mentioned you know we have a potential referendum in the future and um so they kind of went over uh you know making sure it's clear, concise um shows it's efficient. What have you done to try to um bridge the gap in terms of the funding already? And then you know where does the community um come into

130play and what's that going for the referendum? um community input which we know is huge. So we need to ensure that we do that if we do move forward in the next uh 2 years. Um the other thing they uh recommended which I know I let you guys know is um using the infrared scans um they said it's pretty cost effective to use those to avoid leaks um and that sort of thing. I attended a couple as well. Um my top two uh was a behavioral threat assessment team management. um talked about being special members. I'm on the team that's responsible for all uh community resources and um the importance of remaining connected with students that may have um been causing crisis or involved in a crisis and those students are no longer um in

131district, but making sure that um we're being connected with those students. Kind of keep tabs on them. Uh make sure they they know that they're still members of our community and um stud talking about um discuss the long run positive impacts um those students that remain connected versus uh those who do not. It's pretty pretty scary actually. Um and then the other one I um really liked was the frontline IEP platform talking about IP direct frontline IEP whatever people call it now um and how they've kind of changed their platform to ensure compliance um in all ways and they're also getting ready to for next year's mandate new IP mandates on communication families um in more in advance than than you have to see currently and how putting those safe guards in place now to

132make sure that there's there's no way to be out of this also double a little bit because that's her career as well, right? 100%. >> Okay. Um I I could only make it one day so I I only went to two sessions. Um so my top two are um one was the it was it was a presentation on CTE and it was about using the academy model essentially to repurpose I mean repurposing that style that I think a lot of us are familiar with to bring back CTE into the high school. Um they uh uh the district is down in South Jersey and off the top of my head I can't remember but Paul I wrote it down um that's not south but um at all jeez but the uh okay so they they uh

133worked with the to they used that same academy structure to offer similar to offering to offer industry stack credentials and um they were what they were really suggesting is that there's a lot of programs that don't require necessarily the level of insurance and liability that when you think of CTE you think of with like plumbing and electrical and what have you. Um and so they were offering mediation and um business and a um a child care credential and uh a couple other programs that were more likely to to lead to next steps with with college. But um and some of them they were even able to offer both um college credit and credentials in the same program. And um they also had a really fascinating way that I mean you guys are probably like, "Yeah,

134no kidding." But the um interesting ways to to um enable gateless entry that the that you're not testing in that there's um that kids that are interested can still participate. Um, and so as long as there's open seats regardless of whether they have a deficiency in a skill that is really necessary to get started because they had some almost I don't know the right term that's that's today but what I think of is remedial but it not with a negative connotation like that supportive yes supportive supports exact um to to bring kids if they did an assessment ahead to bring them up not that they necessarily couldn't go in because of the assessment um and I mean just that they had they they really covered a lot of interesting stuff and I I hope that

135they're going to share the I think they're going to share the the slides because there's a this is all having to do with an NJSBA report on CTV. So um that will go with it. And then the other presentation was about um using in the world of HR using um Instagram and Tik Tok to put out essentially job ads that are very very different than anything we've ever seen. And they showed samples and they had us do our own and there there was you know a model where you're interviewing with somebody else about hey are you interested in this? Oh, is the kind of thing we need all the way to we had an an ad for an IT person where the two people sitting there are struggling with a computer and then it's just

136long enough to that you get a feel that oh they're really having a tough time like we need it like that and then then had the the website right after that. It was just different very different. So those are mine very creative and we always get a lot of great information. It's fun. Like I said, we get to meet people from across the street state that share our our roles and um it's fun to be in the city. So, thanks everybody for for coming who could make it. I know not everybody could. Um so, I appreciate that. And else that be it resolved that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy, personal matters, and legal advice. the subject matter of use especially be disclosed to the public when the reason for

137confidentiality subsides although the board cannot guarantee it the length of executive session is estimated to be 30 minutes after which the public meeting of course shall reconvene and proceed with business action will not take place and I have a motion and a second thank you have a good