MARSD BOE Regular Action Meeting 8 - 25 - 2025

001Welcome to the August 25th regular action meeting of the board of education. 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 interests is discussed or agreed upon. In accordance with the provision of this act, the Madawan Aberdine Regional School District Board of Education advertised this meeting on June 3rd, 2025 in the Asbury Park Press. This notice was sent to the municipal clerks of the Burrow of Madawan and the township of Aberdine and the Madawan Aberdine Public Library. The notice was also placed on the district's website. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it

002stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Mrs. Miss Bus >> here. >> Mr. McGovern >> here. >> Mr. Monton, >> present. And in the back, >> Miss Pal >> here, >> Miss Scott >> here, >> Miss Brell >> here, >> Miss Martinez >> here, >> Miss Warning here. >> Be it resolved that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy, personnel matters, and legal advice. The subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides. Although the board cannot guarantee it, the length of the executive session is estimated to be 40 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business. Action will take place. Can I have a motion and a second to enter

003executive session? >> Motion. >> A second. >> Welcome to back to our public meeting. Uh, can I have a motion and a second to accept the minutes from July 21st regular meeting in executive session one and two? I'll second. >> Can I have a motion and a second to accept the correspondence to the board? >> Motion. >> Okay. Um, if you don't mind, Mr. President, I'm going to do the board president report first. Thank you. Um so to update everybody um with the president's report, we uh are a certified board by the New Jersey School Boards Association. In order to keep that designation, we have ongoing training. We had one today. Um it was on our self-evaluation as a board as well as um starting our goal setting for the upcoming year. Um we find

004that we are a very well functioning board. So, I appreciate everybody who took the time to complete the survey of the self-evaluation. All the comments were very comprehensive and I appreciate the time and effort that was done with that and also um all of your efforts in general in trying to stay um informed and engaged. It's truly appreciated by everybody including um our district leadership. I know. Um I also wanted to tell everybody that again we want to make sure we are keeping everyone informed on the key topic. shaping the district's future. We just completed the demographer study in the spring. Our district population will increase by 4.2% through 2030. So, we are seeing this projection play out. We've already seen more than anticipated kindergarten registrations and we had to do some um increased preparation

005to make sure we had our classrooms ready, fully staffed, and we're prepared to meet the needs of all incoming students. Um the complete demographers report is available on the business department page at our website and we encourage the community to review it. We're going to be continuing to work closely with this demographer. It's a firm that we retained to develop redistricting plans to balance enrollment across the schools because we have some schools that are bursting at the seams and that doesn't really u bode well for classroom sizes especially if we continue to grow. So again we've been um really trying to telegraph this as much as possible. we will be changing the makeup of the grades in the schools and or or both changing which neighborhoods um which schools they call their home schools. Um

006we do want to remind everybody that parental involvement is one of the strongest predictors of student achievement. So please come to events, come to volunteer events, school PTO's, check the parent portal, check Genesis, Google Classroom, check homework, classwork as age appropriate. It's really important to stay on top of um what the kids are learning and um we are going to be uh continuing to communicate other uh opportunities for the community to stay engaged and involved. So please pay attention to those and and we'd love to have you. Um and with that I will turn it over to Miss Perez for the superintendent. >> Good evening. Good evening everyone. Um thank you Miss Oricki. Um, in regards to enrollment, I just wanted to um share some numbers in regards to um each of the schools. We

007have a total enrollment for next starting school next week of 3,869. Um, we continue to receive registrations um that are scheduled throughout this week and the following week. Um, our highest in terms of the elementary schools is Strathmore, which we have discussed um publicly. Um, and I've also shared um concerns with the board. They currently have 492 students, which is 100 plus more than the other two elementary schools. The we did recently add a kindergarten section that would have been projected for Strathmore. If we had left the um a kindergarten section there and not created that um kindergarten section, that class size would have been at 26 to 27 students at Strathmore and K. So, we did move forward. Um, we worked together as a team and we did open another kindergarten section at Ravine

008Drive to maintain the the uh our commitment to cl maintaining class sizes um evenly across the district. In regards to um something to note as well in regards to the other grade levels at Strathmore, their high their highest grade their enrollment for third grade is 126 for third grade in comparison to Ravine Drive at 69 and in comparison to Clipwood at Elementary at 67. So, those are just important numbers and I will continue to update the board in terms of how we're monitoring enrollment and continuing to um ensure that we are providing the best education um possible and maintaining um student safety. What I do want to point out is that the class those students that were projected to be in um Stratmore will now are eligible for transportation to now start being drive. Whether

009the parents are going to accept the um transportation or transport themselves, we're we're speaking to the families. Now in regard on our this evening's agenda, we also have um under finance, we have an approval for this evening for the Mammoth County Improvement Authority Capital Equipment Lease Program that requires both towns to um have a resolution on their agendas as well. And I just wanted to provide publicly context to this approval and what it is. Um the last time we sought approval for this initiative was in 2019. Um it's been a proven program to be an essential tool in addressing our transportation and facilities needs while remaining physically responsible. Um we've been able to secure low we're hoping to secure low interest rates for the next seven years. We are um in the capital lease program.

010What that will um allow us to purchase are the following items. Four bus sizes which are 6 24 29 and 54 passenger vehicles. That'll transportation and trans that will strengthen the transportation fleet and potentially reduce our reliance on contracted services and lowering maintenance costs for our aging fleet. A cargo van to support our lunch program which ensures daily delivery of food to schools that provide breakfast and lunch for our students. A pickup truck with a plow attachment for buildings and grounds. Um which will enhance snow removal efficiency as our current plow approaches the end of life. Useful life, sorry. um golf two golf carts um for athletics which our athletic department and um the high school utilizes for emergency response, event management, including security, transportation of equipment and supplies and accessibility assistance. Um we also

011do use the golf carts at our other building depending on the events and how many um how many community members they'll have at their events. So like for example, Lloyd Road, Dr. Bombadier will ask to borrow the golf cart. Um, at times the lease plan the lease payments are already incorporated into our day-to-day operating budget and we remain responsible for as the district to pay for um for these lease payments. The program participation requires, like I mentioned, each municipality to pass a resolution permitting the boards of education to engage in this initiative. And we are here um we were there um both town meetings Tuesday and Thursday. Um there was an emergency meeting on Saturday for Madawan. Um we did get approval from Aberdine Township um to for their support in terms of the program

012and there will be a meeting September 3rd for Madawan. Um hopefully that'll be approved as well. That concludes my um superintendent report and I'll now turn it over to Mr. Leeman. >> Oh uh Mr. Leman, just one sec. I just want to verify Miss Pres. >> Um, so I just want to make sure people understand. So the children that are now in Ravine, their home school would have been Strathmore. Had we put them in Strathmore, their class size would have been over 26. So obviously um making a better decision for the kids. They are going to a different home school. They're going to a different school which would not be their home school, but they may be they're offered busing if they would like. >> Correct. >> Okay. And so moving forward with redistricting, this

013might be something that you guys are going to be seeing. So just make sure the community is aware that this is going to, you know, this is >> there's a need to it supports the need to redistrict. >> Um, real clear. I want to make sure we're real clear on the buses. Um, so the new buses are not in addition to the new buses are just to allow us to have our own own our own versus contracting out from other sources. So, we will have the same amount of seats, but it's just a different um we're owning versus renting seats. >> That's correct. Okay. Um and um Okay. And then and then this money is also to just repair and and take care of what we have. I just want to make sure people understand

014there was a lot of confusion with busing with this new um bond um that we're not buying extra buses that these are just to replace contracting out and repair what we have. So the seat number stays the same. That's correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Repair and then really it's to replace buses that are aging out that are more expensive to fix than have new ones basically. >> Okay. So good evening. Um, part of the requirements for the jury department of education is when students take a statewide assessment is that once the results come in, we present those results to the board of education. So, this evening's presentation is really going to be in three parts. Two parts on test scores. We have a pause if there's board questions and the second part not connected

015to the department of student assessment results, but we'll talk about what's new with student attendance. So, the first part of presentation is the NJGPA, which is the high school assessment. I I've shared the presentation with the board. You've seen this information before. Once this information goes up to the website for the public to see. I put this information more for the public so they're aware of what they're about to see in terms of their requirements. Basically, the NJ GPA is for students in 11th grade who are assessed on English like playing charts and mathematics. The ELA component is based on 10th grade English standards and the mathematic component is algebra and geometry. Uh if for some reason students don't meet the cut store cut score, there's plenty of opportunities for students to retake and make

016up the cut score in order to fulfill the requirements of graduation. So they can take the assessment again in the summer or in the fall and if they still fall short, there's a portfolio process that students could complete. So what we really want to know is the data. So what we have we can take a look back at last year just by way of comparison. So for English language arts, it's the first row. In 2024, students, 87% of the students were graduation ready. Last spring, the more recent assessment, that number increased to 92%. But those are our district scores. You can see that that's compared against the co the same cohort for the statewide looking at kids in other districts to the statewide was 82.5 in 2024 and 81.3 in 2025. So a couple important

017things. Um we've increased in English language arts. So our overall score by five points. That's great. Um and we can see that we're above the state average. Mathematics is a different story. So in 24 204 64% of our students on the initial assessment were considered graduation ready. Last year 63% were considered graduation ready. So you can see a drop of 1%. At the same time we were above the state average. However, the state average, if you look at the two columns for their percentages, has shown an increase while ours has shown a decrease. So, that's a matter of concern, which I'm going to talk about in a minute, how we're addressing that. So, positive news with ELA, we're going to keep those trends going. Not as much with mathematics, but we'll address that and you'll

018see why or how. The reason why I included this in the presentation for this slide and the next slide is just to show you that we have access to a lot of data from those scores. This one happens to show three years worth of data 2023, 2024, 2025. It's broken down by the subject areas and it's broken down further by subgroups based on students ranks. And I'm going to give you a summary on this in just a minute. Again, just to show the board that we have access to a lot of data, same two scores, same three years, but now we can take a look at by gender. So, what what are the trends? So, from the overall scores and all that data that I just showed you, how do we summarize that? What does

019it mean? So, the overall graduation readiness percentage, it experienced a dip in 2024, but rebounded in 2025. That's good. District results, they continue to exceed statewide results in both subject areas. That's good. Data trends by race, they show improvement in all subgroups in ELA. Good. However, gaps remain in race subgroups specifically for math. That makes sense when you look at where our overall score is. Female students continue to outperform male students in both subjects. However, male students are showing improvements. So the opportunity to look at all that data really gives us the ability to focus on subgroups of students, but more specifically smaller cohorts of students who need more attention in one of those two areas. Specifically, math being the the one shown because a little bit more glar. So what are we what are

020we doing about it? topic of list is an important one and the board had heard me address this back in January last school year but this calendar year where we districtwide we are on a corrective action plan because our student attendance is considered above the threshold they're chronically absent. So that's important students who miss school it impacts their overall learning and where do we see that? We see that in results of test scores. So we have to address chronic absenteeism. We'll talk more about that this evening, but we'll talk more about it throughout the course of the school year. More specifically, last school year, we developed at the high school a tutoring/mentor program with grant funds that we had received last year. We're continuing that same program in this coming school year. Last year, we

021had the funds to pay teachers during the school day, basically to be tutors for those subgroups who struggled on some of our internal assessments. And when we looked at NJSLA scores, we looked at their whole history of data. We formed subgroups of kids who we knew were struggling and needed additional attention with the idea of how do we improve learning and seeing those results on NJGPA. So the good news showed with the ELA scorers that those students those subgroups who got the extra attention last school year couple things happened. Their attendance improved. They were connecting with adults in the building, the mentorship part, and we were able to see gains in test scores for English language arts. That's good news. Building off of that for this year, we we've already received the grant funds. So,

022it's not a question of if we're going to, we did. It was on last month's agenda. We have the money. We actually have an increase in funds which allows us to continue the program, expand it to more kids and focus on mathematics for this upcoming school year with the idea that the end result is test scores, but really the the primary focus is to improve student learning. And then the third bullet, there are some curriculum updates specifically to assist with mathematics. So if you actually start at the bottom of the three bolts of realigning the course sequence for algebra one, algebra 2 and geometry. We spoke with the board last year that the realignment of those courses is to assist students. So we're frontloading the algebra skills and then geometry for most students. They're taking

023geometry in their third year of high school, the same year they take the NJGPA with the idea that geometry is a difficult concept for students and it's fresh in their minds. We can look at historical data all the way back to the third grade where geometry skills are assessed in elementary school, upper elementary school, middle school, early high school. Geometry is taught all along and students struggled from the very beginning. This gives us an opportunity that if students are struggling in geometry that we have a better way of getting to them sooner. Often geometry skills require a strong foundation in both algebra 1 and algebra 2. So building on the foundation of algebra which would then transition into geometry and we're expecting to see gains for geometry when we look at NJSLA when we look

024at NJ GPA. We are aware of those test scores and we've been at that that flat rate for a long time. So we have to make changes in order to show improvement. Moving up one, we talked about the the subgroups and how do we focus on them? We got one more. We've updated some curriculum this summer. So on the agenda this evening, there are there's a lot of curriculum work that took place this summer. Some of the high school mathematic curriculum changes were done specifically for assessments with the idea that we're changing course sequences. We were introduced to new standards by the department of education in mathematics and we have to make some adjustments in order for our students to succeed in mathematics. So those courses those curriculum guides that are on this evening's agenda

025are specifically for high school assessments. While we're talking about curriculum, just to kind of jump ahead to the agenda just for a moment. There are a lot of curriculum changes that we have this evening. Just give you a couple of highlights of those. So again, anywhere you see mathematics even in elementary it's due to changes in standards and it's due to changes in assessments. Um also for the elementary mathematics, new standards were introduced for English language arts last summer and we incorporated those in the curriculum guides for last year's instruction. The department had also released new mathematics standards last summer and then told districts to pause and to wait to focus on the lighting standards and then this upcoming school year then we can focus on mathematics standards. So we had done some of the

026curriculum work last summer not know that there would be a pause. We finished some of that curriculum work for this summer in anticipation of it completely going after this school year. So that took place in elementary as well. uh middle school science is um this has been to your approved four curriculum. We've talked to the board about how we're moving to a more researchbased phenomena based curriculum for middle school 6 through 8. So open science is the curriculum map that we're using. We have the materials if they're in teachers are being trained starting in sixth grade in this upcoming school year. They're going to be using that new curriculum. We have an opportunity to rewrite the curriculum for all middle school grades at the same time. It just made sense to do it all in

027one shot, especially there were some units that had to be flip-flopped for it to make sense. So, we did all the curriculum writing this summer knowing that this school year will be grade six, the following school year will be grade seven, and the following school year will be grade eight. So, that's up for approval this evening as well. Um, couple of members I know you're interested in some of the changes for middle school in retal. So, those are new courses that will be offered this school year. There's a humanities course. There's a STEM course. The humanities course is focused on student communication uh where they're going to be working on podcasts, the technology behind podcast, how to script and write and produce podcasts. And they're also going to be working on community service projects. That's

028the humanities course, the STEM course, science, technology, engineering, and math. Uh the courses will be heavier on the engineering and math part where students are going to be doing hands-on projects, problem solving, critical thinking. They'll be looking at architecture and engineering design which is meant to not only enrich students in those grade levels but prepare them for some of the high school courses as well. Okay. So, I'm going to move on to the next part of assessments and I'll take more questions on the assessments once we go through access for multil- language learners. So, students took this assessment in the spring of 2025. This assessment different than NJSLA, different than NJTPA. So, this is an assessment we want to see growth in students. So there's six different levels. Level one is entering. Level six is

029reaching. And when we look at this, this is based on students enrolled in grades K to 12 if they are multi- language learners and they're enrolled in an ESL course. Often we see students in grades K to 5 who are considered entering or emerging, which makes sense not only based on the ESL course, but just developmentally. It makes sense. And as we move year to year and we move from level to level the expectation would be we should see kids progressing from levels one and two to levels four, five and six. So it takes time and often students are enrolled in these courses 3 to four years before we see them exiting but we do see growth. It takes time but we do see growth. So this one's a little bit easier to interpret if

030you just look at the visual. We want to see more green and less orange and yellow. So year to year we want to see the green expanding and we want to see the orange and yellow diminishing. So we do see that we would like to see it all green but the expectation is that students show growth. That's the important thing is that students show growth yeartoyear. So some key takeaways from from the data from the charts. So there are more students eligible for services in elementary grade and that also makes sense if we talk about enrollment that higher numbers of students are coming in and they're getting those services. They need those supports at the elementary level. We do have newer student students moving out of level one and are achieving in levels of four

031and five. We're not seeing as many students in level six which is the highest one. Obviously that's a goal of ours. And how do we do that? We continue to offer the the services at each building. We have pushin and pull out programs where the teacher is going into the classroom and supporting and that small groups are coming out and they're working on skills specifically in small groups. The board me say this often where foundations that's our early literacy products program that's an important program for our multi- language learners. The board's heard me talk about tools the mind for kindergarten a new program this year. That's an important program for our multi- language learners. So there are a lot of programs that just started last year or starting this year that will also help this

032group of students as well. Right. So I'm going to pause. That concludes the two assessments this evening. October I'll be back to present NJSL scores. That's a much bigger much lengthier presentation on scores. So that'll be in the fall. But I'll open up to questions before I get into student attendance. So the testing that they fall >> um so the testing that they take in the fall it's similar enough that we can gauge how we're progressing along or not really like because this is the spring right we said >> yes So, >> so like I'm just trying to understand. So, like we're going to change our approach on math spec like my biggest concern is math um because I think English seems to be doing well. Um but on the math component we went down

033a little bit versus last year we're already >> I know we're above state but we're it's 60% is not great in terms of being ready to graduate. So in terms of making that better, you know, we're changing the curriculum sequence um which I think will help um because geometry is a very tough subject even for the best math, you know, students. Um so that being said, the fall testing that they take, is it any indicator of how they will do in the spring, like can we gauge it's working, it's not working? Is it too soon? Like is it just not enough like under their belts to gauge? So the answer is yes fall testing does help. So what we're talking fall testing we're talking about our own internal district testing. So I ready so that

034is a great predictor of NJS NJSLA and NJ GPA and so students take a diagnostic in the fall and then they benchmark throughout the year. So those early scores are good predictors on what's to come. Here's an important piece which I'll talk briefly now but I'll hear more about this in October. So, we received a broadcast from the Department of Education two weeks ago saying that they're changing all this. So, there's going to be in October, late September, October, they're going to field test a new NJGBA and a new NJSLA test called NJSLA adaptive NJGBA adaptive. So what that means basically is that the computer and the questions would be able to respond to the student and level the questions as they as you're the more successful we are part of yet where if the

035student's having less success it should be less challenging. That's the theory. We haven't gotten we have not had training on this yet. The training is not till the middle of September. We just they said here it is. So what's frustrating with that is that the the data that I just showed you of 3 years we can no longer anniversary because the tests and theories go from being different. So we have a new baseline. So there's there's changes which make this much more difficult. >> Can I ask a question? If it's adapted right so you're adjusting based on how the student is doing will they ever really like is it really to like so the graduation requirement it's adapting it's not you're not getting the same questions as someone else >> based on a graduation require

036so how is it even like what's the graduation requirement then >> that will be one of the first questions that we ask at this point you don't know >> but that's you're thinking the same way that >> yeah I feel like we're going to go down >> I'm going to talk more about it once I know more talk Yeah, that's cool. But one thing I was wondering about too, I mean, we were just chatting that um I is already adapted, right? So the kids may be more used to this than what we're dealing with, but at least from a testing experience standpoint, they will have already done that. >> That's right. Okay. >> I think once we we get more information and are trained on it and have more answers, it'll make more sense. The

037hard part is when you're given a memo, >> not given a lot of information, it's difficult. What is the name? I'm sorry. Just wrote this. What are the names of the tests that they're taking? It's an NJSLA adaptive. >> Yes. >> And then what was the other one you said? >> NJ GPA adaptive, which is the one I just >> both adaptive tests. >> Yeah, adaptive is the new tag. Y >> So, um if we know that I ready is also is already adaptive. So our kids are used to that and like learning resources like ISL and other things like that are also adaptive. Would that be um more telling for us on how they really would be doing anyway? You know, if we are kind of comparing apples to apples in that respect because

038if our kids are doing I ready and benchmark this and whatever and it's adaptive and then they're taking something not adaptive, they're not really apples to apples. At least this is evening that playing field because they're going from an adaptive assessment to a non-adaptive assessment. This will, you know, continue on an adaptive assessment for learners. >> Yes, it it's you're so correct that if you as a board, if you ever had an opportunity to speak with anybody in Trenton and wanted to say, "We're already doing adaptive testing. Why can't you just use our own district adaptive testing scores and not do this?" Wouldn't that be okay? So if anybody's looking to to say something in front of local business and tread, you can talk to me more about it and give you some talking points.

039>> Our state um rep to the NJSBA, >> what is that called Diana? the delegate assembly actually that's an interesting conversation because I was about to well whatever I was going to ask informally if anybody had any ideas because they're looking for another set of resolutions and that you know that what sorry I'm like this is like way outside of the work order of things but um so the just as a reminder what the delegate assembly is doing is setting policy that then SBA NJSBA uses to lobby and So they're looking for suggestions again from district from boards and I was going to ask people if they had any suggestions but then I was going to go back and look and see oh it's already in the policies or it's not because some of them

040are but one of the things is maybe we could say hey if we're already doing adaptive standardized testing in district do we need to keep on participating in this other disruptive nonsense draft draft here I hope you call it nonsense but we That's if people are interested, we could we could talk about that um next month. Um do we the I Ready program at what age do we start fading out of I Ready as our tool for math? Is there do we use it in high school? I Ready? >> We do. So we have access to it. Um I'll talk more about this in October as well but it's alluded to in the the curriculum writing is that at the high school we are moving to common assessments. This is local not so common assessments

041that a department English department or math department they're giving the same midterm the same final exam. That's something that had at one point have happened many many years ago and we had veered away from it. We now have tools that allow us to get common assessments that does a lot of a lot of things. One being that we have a common language of questions which results in a common set of data. It also cuts down on opportunities to achieve not students do that but just saying you cut down on an opportunity. So common common assessments is one of those things that the high school is focusing on. That's part of that's their PDP their professional development piece this school year. I would say that that's kind of norming the the assessments or no across the

042subjects for the grade or no? >> Well, so norming is a little bit different. That's once you have a set of questions, you're looking at a set of results. Normally can be a part of it, >> but the where we're at is the creation of questions, the implementation of questions, rolling it out. You have to have a couple years worth of data before you can go back and yes, ultimately that's part of it. So Miss Pel to answer your question I think we will discuss that further about what we want to bring to the delegate assembly for resolutions for the upcoming uh legislative session. Okay. >> My question is does the adaptive um give a a chance for I mean is the theory that it will average it in a way that's more favorable to

043getting the you know getting that to that result maybe faster because I'm if if this kids that are answering the questions correctly are getting harder questions and the kids that are answering the questions incorrectly getting easier questions like that seems to me like a way to average the scores, right? >> Yeah. So, I >> So, is that the theory? >> No. Well, when we find out more, I certainly will share with the board. Uh hoping by the time I do the October presentation, you would have more information. That's the logic behind it. uh will to be continued to move on the presentation switching from state assessments again district corrective action plan and student attendance uh where we have more than 10% of our building absent 10% of the time for clinically accident we have we

044talked to the board we have a lot of punitive things in district we have restorative things this part I'm sharing with you now is kind of the middle this is how do we start to get the message out that coming to school is very important. So then this is for a lack of a better word an advertising campaign or a branding campaign about student attendance. So what you're seeing this is this is the logo and the saying the saying is I am here building strong connections. This particular logo the first place you're going to see this is when staff return in the fall they're going to be asked to make this part of their email signature. So it's online. If you're getting an email from me, you would see this logo at the bottom beneath

045my name. Thousands of emails get sent out over the course of the school year. So, if you think in terms of advertising, you get a a message out there thousands and thousands of times. This is a good opportunity to start to get it out there and it doesn't cost us anything. Sending an email to create a signature cost. So, some of the things I'm going to show you, we're trying to be as fiscally responsible in an advertising campaign, which sometimes is not moral. That's difficult to do. Uh, but we're going to do it. And this is the first one. So, if any board members interested in having this in their signature, let me know. I can certainly share the instructions and help. >> Okay. So, the the next one, this would be a long sign,

046something that you see for garage sales or political signs that go on on out of frame. Um, so the idea would be to have these made and at different parts of the year, have them out in front of buildings. Attendance matters, time to year, building strong connections, getting that repetition out there in front of buildings at drop off, arrival, dismissal to get the message that does matter. Um, so this would be a poster that we would be able to put up in buildings. It's also a graphic that can be included in principal newsletters. Uh we're fortunate enough we do have a poster making machine in the district. So again it really won't cost us much other than the the opportunity to make posters. Um so getting that message out there continue the branding. This would

047be an example of an image that would be included in principal newsletters and on social media if we choose to where the I am here is repeated and then making the shot would be a placeholder. So it' be I'm here making a shot basketball season or I am here leading the marching band or I am here getting grades. So again it's meant to be student focused. It's meant to be celebratory meant to be positive but at the same time you have to be here to make the shot. >> Can I just make a quick comment? I feel like it almost has like a mental health like piece to it too. Like I am here I am heard or like I am here I am seen. Like you could play that too which I think is

048really cool. Um it's yeah very interesting. Sorry to interrupt. >> It's good feedback. Uh so this is the last one. So this one is really interesting. Um you remember I shared with the board last January when I made the presentation I talked about a survey that we had sent out to parents in the community. We're going to be saying anything this fall. The feedback we received from the parents who completed the survey was I'm unsure of when to send my child to school. I need to be better educated. Here's the first step. So, these will be posters that will be hung in the building. This is a graphic that can be sent home. I'm trying we're trying to find a sponsor maybe who would help pay for this and make them into refrigerator magnets. And

049basically, the left side is if you can check these boxes, come to school. If you check the boxes on the right side, stay home. That's it. So, we know if you're sick, you're allowed to stay home. Here's what SIP would look like. And the message is it's not about the message about coming to school, but it's not about always being punitive. And often we've heard from parents is that we take family vacations. Great. We go to Florida for cheer. We go to Florida for baseball or football. Fine. Come to school every day leading up to that event. Go to the event. That's okay. But to educate parents, here's what we're doing. And so even for years we've been sending home a form letter but basically it's the same information. This just makes it a little

050bit more visual. It's a little bit more pleasing to see. It says the same message when to come home, when to come to school, when not. Again, the tagline here strong connections it is on on campus. So we want to share that with just a heads up. You're going to start to see that over the next 10 months incrementally. You'll start to see these things and then we'll we'll build as this year moves into next year. We'll take feedback from the community or continue to track data or mix this in with what we have to do punitively and restoratively continue to get the message out. It's important to come to school come to school every day. >> Just a couple comments. Um number one, this is great. It's this we do get people asking about

051I guess they want us to send our kids to school sick. So this is good. Um I I do think it is as you mentioned just like as an adult we would manage our time off from work. we know we have a certain amount. We know when we need to use them. So, if we're planning ahead, if I know I'm going to be out, I try to get all my work done ahead of time and make sure that I can take that time off without having a problem. So, same would be for vacations and other events, um, tournaments and things like that. I'm going to say this because I never miss an opportunity to, but my opinion, kids were told that they weren't it wasn't important to come to school for over a year, and

052so here we are. That's all I'll say. >> Awesome. Um, also when you're doing the uh the lawn signs, if you end up with extra, like if you had to order a certain unit amount, uh, for those of us that live on busier roads, I'd be happy to put one in my yard. Um, just for what it's worth, >> I would too. Um, >> yeah, you advertising standpoint. I just wanted to ask you on the check mark one. I love the colors. I love everything you did with dividing it, but I'm just going to ask perhaps a silly question. Do you think someone will think that they have to have all of them checked off to stay home? >> Just wondering. >> It's possible, you know, that's important to feedback, too, to see how we

053roll that out if we start to get questions and I may include that on the survey. >> There's something to write one or more or if there's a way to fit that as an aster. >> That's Yeah, sure. That's a question, >> Mr. President. That concludes my presentation. [Applause] >> Thank you very much, Mr. Leeman. That was great. We really appreciate the time and effort that you took to put together for us. Moving on to the agenda, um, curriculum and instruction. Thank you. The curriculum instruction agenda for this evening. Item, all items are for action this evening. Item A, travel. Item B, asking the board to approve items B 1 through five are all related to Keys Academy. Item number six, we're asking the board to approve the submission of the RISE grant for a

054total of $50,000 that that submission is due to be sent to the Department of Education. We'll keep the board updated should we receive those funds. Item number seven, we're asking the board to approve the curriculum guides that were sent with the board and gave a preview of some of the highlights in my previous presentation. That also includes um curriculum guides for our ERRI program and two self-contained report cards. Those are all linked to the board. Uh item number eight, we're asking the board to approve the observation and evaluation instruments. Um these are all compliance based that were required to have the board approved each year. No changes year to year. Item number nine, we're asking the board to approve the district professional development plan. that that plan actually has been attached as a link in

055the board questions. So, if you want to see what that looks like, um it's there. There are seven pieces to it. It's um basically broken down by subject area and needs of the buildings. Item number 10, we're asking the board to approve the highly effective teacher practice. Again, that's a compliance thing that we do each year. Item number 11, we're asking the board to approve all the existing district curricula and textbooks for the upcoming school year. And that's an annual uh request for approval. Item number 12, we're asking the board to approve the following names for our district school improvement panel or skip committee and our district evaluation advisory committee or DAK. Skip is a required committee. The DACK is not, but we do continue each year to have those committees. The skip oversees school

056culture and climate. and DACK is a committee of teachers and administrators where we discuss uh changes to our or feedback on our evaluation model. Item number 13, we're asking the board to approve the NCAA academic eligibility presentation at back to school night at the high school. That's an annual presentation. Item number 14, we're asking the board to approve uh the high school civic leadership academy trip. Tide out number 15. We're asking the board to approve the use of a drone at home football games. Just a little bit of background for the board. So, the the request has come from the coaching staff to the supervisor of athletics to me to you um to have an opportunity for a drone to be flown over home football games so the drone can take footage of the game.

057uh can get better angles, sideline angles, overhead angles. That footage, it's internal footage. It's our footage. Uh it does get uploaded to the huddle system and huddle is how we broadcast sporting events and the footage is also sent to NJSIA. That's the the overseers of intro scholastic sports. Uh the drone we we have a drone. We're not going to be using our drone for this. the Husky football touchdown club. They have a parent volunteer who is a licensed FAA licensed drone operator. This individual will be bringing their drone under their license. We're working through the insurance piece with them as well. So, that opportunity is something new for us. I can tell you when our team goes to the White Games, often those teams um have an opportunity to use drones and a lot of

058times they share footage back and forth. Uh so we're looking to do the same thing for home football games. Item number 16 are asking the board to approve the use of the therapy dog program at Lloyd Road. This is an annual renewal. This is going into year three. A highly successful program. The kids love therapy dogs in the building. Item number 17, we're asking the board to approve the grants as listed by foundation. Um those grants are on the bottom of page four. Continue on page five. We did share with the board from the Ed Foundation. They broke down what the grants are, how they'll be utilized, where I believe they also shared with the board some of the grants that were applied for, but the ED foundation was not uh providing grants for this

059particular round. So, they try to give the board enough information to make an informed decision on those grants. There's going to be another round of grants uh this school year as well. Item item number 18, we're asking the board to approve field trips for the 2520 school 25 school 25 to 26 school year. The field trips begin on the bottom of p page five and continue through the rest of CI agenda which will be page 25. That concludes the curriculum and instruction agenda. >> Can I have a motion and a second to accept the curriculum and instruction agenda? Okay, >> questions. >> Um, in terms of the curriculum guide, so thank you on the math piece. Uh, that was helpful. Um, science, just a question. I know the sixth grade science, um, we're starting with

060sixth grade in terms of, um, really making it more experiential, easier for them to comprehend the information, right, with materials that we're already in, that sort of thing. So is the idea next year maybe if we have money budget um to jump to seventh grade like to each year so that we keep building versus sixth grade gets it and then they never get it again you know to like just to keep it building. Is that the idea with that? >> Yes. The plan is to budget is to scaffold the budget which we we did for this year for sixth grade. In a perfect world, we would have had all >> but we've got a plan and so it's going to take some time but yes the plan is for 2627 grade 7 and 27 28

061grade 8. >> Perfect. And then um the leap I know we've talked this a few times but the leap from 8th grade to 9th grade the science is so great. Um and I think that's why a lot of kids by the time they get to high school stumble so much. So sixth grade a couple of years off um within the curriculum. There was so much information there. Um but just is there conversations that will be happening between eighth grade staff and first nth grade staff members as science and helping to bridge that gap until we can you know three years from now get those kids ready. >> Yes. And so those conversations really are going to start now because there were units in sixth grade that really belonged in 8th grade. >> So prior to

062the changes that are in front of me this evening, students would metriculate through the middle school and they would have gotten the units they wouldn't have gotten in eighth grade. They would have had that earlier on in their career and by that point transition to grade nine, it's lost. So some of the changes that we made this summer were to flip-flop some units. Okay, >> because it aligns to open science and to help >> with grade n grade n biology specifically is the course. >> So that that's part of it. >> Okay, >> eventually this is really projecting out eventually to take the same concepts and move them down to grades four or five >> and then be able to track and see where we need to make changes if changes are necessary. >> It

063is t takes time but there's a plan. >> Thank you. Um, I just have a a comments. I love all the trips. Um, so thank you to everybody um who planned all those. There's just a lot of good things on here with the grants and the um the dogs. So um thank you for everybody who set all this up. Just a comment on that. >> I just have a question. Um just a followup I guess on the drone. So, I'm glad to hear that this is a licensed pilot because I think people think drones like you can get them in hobby stores and you can just fly them, but they are considered an aircraft. Um, especially the kind that we would be using. So, I'm glad to hear that. Um I don't know what the

064protocol would be because this is a parent volunteer h how what insurance you know I I just urge that we look into it to make sure that everybody is covered expectations are set what that person is responsible for what we're responsible for um making sure everybody's in the loop athletic director I don't you know who knows what can happen with who owns that footage the rights to the footage like I would just ask that all those tees get crossed and eyes get data so we don't have any issues moving forward. >> Yeah. And so I had um a couple of conversations with our supervisor of athletics over the past couple of days about this and so it would it falls under his supervision and we had a conversation that going to away games there are

065some districts that allow it and some don't. And if if a subboard were just to show up on campus and try to fly a drone that the supervisor of athletics, the building principal, the superintendent, security, like there's a lot of people who are aware that drones are flying and who's doing it. So it's not only highly regulated, but it's regulated and monitored by the district. Uh and so we feel confident that in this particular case, the person who's doing it is responsible and experienced. Otherwise, we we wouldn't venture into Thank you. >> I have a question. Excuse me. If we own a we own a drone, the district has their own drone. How come we wouldn't use that drone? >> We would we would have to have someone operate it and most likely we would

066have to budget to pay someone to do so. And that person would still have to have an FAA drone pilot license, which we we we might have someone on staff, but I'm just not aware if we do. >> Okay. What do we use the drone for currently? >> We've used it for graduation one year. We didn't use it for graduation. That's the only time I can think of us using it. Oh, and then um I believe there might have been used for at for a science course at the high school at one point. They had talked about using drones. I don't know if that ever came to fruition. I'm I'm thinking this got lost in the shuffle between CO or something because >> you've had it for a while. >> Yeah. >> I'm thinking a

067student might be really interested in something like this. Although I don't know all the logistics behind insurance and FA >> to have he has an FA pilot license. >> Wow. Okay. Okay. Um one more um question. I think this was covered in the questions we submitted, but just for clarification, I love Keys. They do amazing things there. But I do see some of the um the money on the agenda here. Is that what budget is that coming out of again? >> Comes from the Keys grant. So everything associated with Keys is specific to the Keys grant, not out of the local budget. >> Thank you. >> Moving on. Student services agenda. >> Student services agenda. All items are for action this evening. We are recommending to the board to take action on item number one

068to approve out of district placement for the upcoming school year for two students as listed. Cost is listed. Item number two, we're asking the board to approve out of district placement for the upcoming school year for student as listed. Cost is listed. Item number three, we're asking the board to approve the following provider for the 2526 school year. It's the YMCA cost as listed with effective dates. Item number four, item number four is a revision. We're asking the board to take action on the revision to renew the following service contract for 25 26 school year as listed. That concludes student services. >> Can I have a motion and a second to approve the student services agenda? >> Motion. >> I'll second questions. >> Just um in terms of effective school solutions, so I know I

069sent in the question, but just so that the public understands that covers about 90 students, right? you said >> correct >> which is really good in the long run that actually saved us money by keeping kids in district. >> Yes. >> Um so that's good. And so what was the revision? Was it the cost or was it that now now it's a two-year >> uh yes. >> So that's got Thank you. >> Um I just wanted to comment also on the effect of school solutions um because that cost is lower. So, I appreciate the cabinet and spreads um working with the company to let them know that we really needed to um if we were going to renew that we needed to lower the costs and they also increased the amount of kids bump. So,

070not only did they lower it, but they added kids. So, that's awesome. Um and I did want to just mention if I remember I asked earlier, number one, those are children that we did not budget for. >> Correct. that kids for out of four we did >> um because I was there for the meeting. um under item number one they were the first two were budgeted for item number two was not that's a movement >> right okay sorry I hit it backwards so I just wanted to note that um you know these are things that come about with the district that we never know um when we have a child move in that has some need some services and so you know $71,000 was not budgeted for so these are just things that people need

071to understand that you know it's like when your car breaks down, you have no more money in the account. Well, this is same idea like we we budget for certain things, but then we have unexpected um situations. So, and of course we we we have to take care of our kids and want to take care of our kids. So always being mindful that um this is where you know it money is being spent and people question budgeting but um you know there's always got to be money for this. So thank you. >> Okay, moving on to personnel. Dr. Wilson. >> Thank you. Uh the board received a walk-in item uh that we are asking the board to take action on this evening. Uh that does include a leave of absence and some staff array changes

072uh as well as an administrative leave and a salary correction. As for the regular agenda, which we are asking the board to take action, uh on page one of 10, we have a resignations and uh we'd like to draw some attention to uh our retirement uh Patricia Tapia for 25 years of service here in the district. Uh we also have leave of absences which are listed on pages one and two. Uh we have extracurricular activities listed which include athletic and non-athletic appointments on page two of 10. As we move to page uh three of 10, we uh have some curriculum instruction, summer curriculum uh development uh that uh Mr. Leeman shared some on earlier this evening in his presentation. Uh we also have um wind differentiation uh payment here for the wind period and prep

073work that's being done over at Lloyd Road for that program. On page 410 uh we have a student orientation teachers who are helping out with the Lloyd Road uh student orientation. We had a perfect attendance which uh we got over the summer um for transportation which adds to our perfect attendance which is always a good thing. We have uh item number seven, substitute teacher uh who will help out. These teachers help out. Um we had several on our last agenda and we we usually tend to get more and more of these during the year. Uh they're really vital because they give us opportunities for our instructional assistants to serve as substitute teachers in buildings. Uh once we get to the staff array changes, uh this goes from four page 4 to 10. uh it includes

074changes of assignments and it also includes some overloads. Um used uh to balance staffing for the start of the year. Um this is during this month um it is typical to see a a list as such. Um but as you go through you will see uh several um positions being filled whether through overload or some transfers um as listed on page eight of 10. Uh we have some college observers which we're always excited to have uh here in the district college students who are observing uh for hours and credit for college and universities. Uh indeed on page eight of 10 we have the HIP as that's listed from last month's meeting. Uh we also have a salary adjustment um listed on page nine of 10. you will find items 3 through 10 uh which include

075our uh professional development presenter. If you look at item number six, I like to draw some focus there. Nicole Cordy did a really nice job with our new teacher orientation. She presented along with Mr. Leman in the curriculum office uh on the Danielson framework. We had uh 16 uh new staff members who participated in that last week. We also have um as you see at the bottom of the page on item number 10 uh we have tools in the mind training uh for both which is exciting to see kindergarten and prek uh are going to be using that. We had some comprehensive training um that I believe is this week uh for for those staff members. And then on page 10 of 10 you will see uh the preschool uh staff members who will be

076participating in that. Uh that concludes the personnel agenda, both walk-in and regular agenda items. Going to move to table a portion of this agenda um so that the board has more time to um explore the rationale. That would be under item two, uh, under non-athletic activities from the band director through the percussion instructor. Well, the mover can either through the motion or someone can move to table it. >> Well, I think the question is do we have to table the entire item or can we table specific lines? You can table whatever you want. >> Okay. So, I I am motioning to table under section two extracurricular activities, non-athletic activities from the position of band director through percussion instructor. all of those positions, move to remove them from this agenda and table it for another agenda

077at some point in the future. So, I need a motion and a second to table those. >> Thank you. Um, >> so we're going to um >> Okay. So, can I >> Mrs. Skullley? >> Yes. >> Miss Basis? >> Yes. Mr. McGovern, >> yes. >> Mr. Monton, >> yes. >> Miss Pal, >> yes. >> Miss Scott, >> yes. >> Miss Brell, >> yes. >> Miss Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Warning, >> yes. Tabled. >> Okay, then I need a motion and a second to approve the remaining agenda items under personnel. >> Any questions? >> I just Sorry. Oh, >> oh, I'm sorry, Danielle. I didn't know who was talking. Just it's not really a question. I just wanted to um rebring up because it's on the agenda. Um thanking the cabinet, when I say cabinet,

078I mean upper administration and uh Dr. Bombardier and Lloyd Road because I appreciate them thinking out of the box with having the kids not switch this year. um meaning not switching classrooms because it gives them an extra am I right in saying 40 minutes of instruction. Um so you know it it's a it's a change it's a big change to the teachers that are in the school and of course it's a different um it's a change to the principal and how we used to do things. Um but it does buy us an extra 40 minutes. So, I appreciate I just want to say to Lloyd Road, good luck in starting that this year and um you know, we appreciate them being patient with us and um working with that. And um I think it's going

079to be great and I'm looking forward to hearing if we could have like an update maybe on, you know, mid year or before the holidays like, hey, how are we doing? What are we seeing? That would be interesting. Um, so, you know, FYI, just to thank you on that. >> Um, I just a couple small comments if I may. Um, I, um, I see Miss Webster, um, on the agenda as a resignation. And I just want to wish her the best of luck because she was a huge asset. We loved her at Strathmore. So, all the best to you. Um, she was the art teacher at Strathmore. And then I see um do we have a potential art teacher moving into that position on here also? Is that what I see under this >> item

080number eight? >> Yes. >> Is that a permanent solution or is that just >> um and then um I would like to um say congratulations to Mr. Domo because perfect attendance is not easy and leading by example is amazing. So thank you so much for that. Um and I think that's it for now. So thank you. So um two sets of questions. Um the first one is uh I know I asked this but I didn't fully understand. Um the Lloyd Road new student orientation. So we have staff members listed for that. I had asked do we do the same at the other schools. I'm just trying to understand. So it was mentioned about um within a regular contracted day. So the other schools are within a regular contracted day and is not or I'm just

081missing I sorry >> um as far as I know there are other instances where teachers are compensated. >> Okay. So they probably shown up on other so that was one. Um couple of questions when it comes to I know we tabled it but I'm still going to ask some questions. Um because it'll help me for the next meeting. Um so I had asked the question what's the difference between a visual um marching band director and the musical marching band director. And I know you mentioned visual aspects versus musical aspects which I assume that but but like specifically so like visual I understand the music the visual is it essentially like the lineup of the bit like how does I'm just trying to tell you like it aren't the exact same >> yeah just as a

082marching band alum it's basically the drill so the formations okay that are on so there's specific I could be wrong so correct me if I'm wrong but I'm assuming that it's the person who actually creates the program in terms of the drill of the marchers >> is that correct mean it it's a combination the the uh um teaching the individual how to hold their body properly and then also how to present what was written. I don't know that the person that's in there was the one that wrote the drill, but the uh but then how to put that out on the field. The drill is the formation on the field and how you move from one thing to another. And then also our band is our Manowan High School's band is um a a bit

083more artsy than probably what we were used to when we were in high school. And so, um, there's even, uh, like dance movements as part of it. And so, they're teaching that as well. So, it's traditional marching technique and and parade as well. And then also the drill on the field and the dance, everything that doesn't involve playing. >> Perfect. Thank Thank you. That >> um, and then I would ask, so when it comes to the sidebar agreement, if the board can see the sidebar, that would be helpful. Um, second, uh, in terms of the title. So, if we can just make sure that the sidebar, they might be in there already, I don't know. But, um, the sidebar, can the titles, like whatever's on the agenda match the sidebar just so that, you know,

084because when I went through and looked against the contract, the titles were different and I know we say formally was this, that, or the other thing. That's fine, but I just want to make sure the sidebar reflects whatever you're putting here just so that it's easy to reference. >> It is in there. Yes. >> Sure. Cuz I this was Yeah. >> Okay. So, the impetus of this was that essentially, and I have no idea when this occurred, the band director was essentially the person who did all of the band. They did the marching band, they did all. And the assistant band director made a certain amount of money. But when the band director himself or herself wasn't actually doing everything, the assistant marching band director was actually getting paid more than the marching band director

085because that's the way it was listed in the contract. >> So, um, the current band director there basically said it's kind of out of whack. >> And we looked at the total amount of dollars. >> The dollars don't increase. The dollars are all the same. They're flat, >> right? it all evens out to the same amount of money. Uh and in fact, he's agreeing to take less money so that others can have more so that it's more spread out amongst what people do. So that's why you'll see a lot of them are listed as the same amount. I think it's 3,400 over and over again, right? And they don't match what's in the contract. So the sidebar would mean we would have to pull out that language that's currently in >> the stipen section and

086replace it with what's there. But what I think happened many many years ago, someone said, "Oh, we need an assistant band director for marching band." Oh, just pay them what the assistant band director gets. Well, that worked out when the band director was also the marching band director cuz he got two stipens as one and it was nice chunk of change. Now, when you're just the band marching band director, you go, why did my assistant make more money than me? And that's where the problem >> on paper it was very >> I was just gonna have Mr. identify himself. >> Oh sorry Casey Burl here. >> Thank you that that is helpful because for me if I just get a piece of paper and I go back to a contract and they don't match and

087I haven't seen a sidebar >> and I'm expected to approve it on the spot. I can't. But now that you explain that, I have no issues with >> I'm gonna see if I can find it on my phone. as long as the titles like the titles for me just because you know as we go through negotiations this time around we like to make sure things match up and if they don't match up um and then just in the future if we could see sidebars in advance that would be great um just before they're on an agenda Um and then I guess would that attach in there to like the contracts that are listed just so that it's >> I like the record all the same place just so if we ever go back it's not

088>> so remember how when we started we ensured not only did we have the contract then we had all the sidebars so we can ensure then the contract aligned with the sidebars as well as that's what'll happen with this. >> Okay. I just want to make sure it's all in order so that when we go to the next round, >> of course. >> Thank you. >> It's all okay. >> And just for the record, Mr. Bara represents the Manowan Aberdine Regional Education Association, which is why he knows all this stuff. Thank you very much for clarifying that for us. >> Can I just ask a weird question? Are we We tabled this, but we just discussed it, so I'm not Are we still moving on? >> You you could when you're finished motion to bring

089it back. >> Oh, okay. No, I was just curious. Okay. So, I we have a procedure in place um that we're going to follow um with after exec two just so everybody knows. Yes. I'm going to leave it at that. We'll we'll get into it a little bit more. Um do I have to explain that? I think everybody um we we'll we'll be discussing it further and then possibly taking action but not not with this agenda as it stands. We're still getting Okay. Sorry. Um policy agenda. Dr. Ross. >> Thank you. We have uh for approval this evening. Uh we're asking the board to take action on item number one which is a first second reading and adoption of the transportation policy. Uh we also have in item number two uh several policies that the

090board have received in the past month uh for review. We did have some discussion around these policies last month in July. Uh and the two discussed um at length were the dress and grooming policy uh and the student attendance policy. Uh the dress and grooming policy, secondary read um as well as the others have been listed um and share it with the board for review uh with administrator feedback on that policy that we spent uh pretty much part of our meeting discussing about an hour or so of that policy. Uh and it is up for second read and adoption. And then we also had a student attendance policy um that we discussed and there just so for the so that the board knows on that policy uh last month we did discuss that we wanted

091a more uniform grace period um when students are absent when they have to make up work. Uh we wanted to uh have a uniform grace period that was responsive to students and families. Uh in order to do that we wanted rather than make a unilateral decision we wanted to involve teachers in that decision. So the first month of school principles are going to be working with committees uh to get more feedback on that so that we can bring this uh policy back to the board uh for a revision. With that in mind, that concludes the policy agenda. >> Can I have a motion and a second to approve the policy agenda? >> I'll motion. I'll second. Any questions? >> I do have a question. I just was noticing from my notes from last time, we

092also mentioned about the surrogate policy and we said that there was more information that we we researched and that we have more as that how do we as a district get a surrogate per student? How is this under our oposes? Um so is there more information for us about that policy? That was a policy uh that we said that we would uh refer to legal on and um David I don't know if you have any information on that uh the circuit and the the districts the policy does outline the district's responsibility uh but if you wanted to speak further >> I think the I think the policy like most grate policies is an attempt to try to distill down in plain language pretty much what the law says our progress are. So what that policy

093says is what the law allows us or and at times requires us to do. I don't have the policy in front of me but the idea here is that there are times where for whatever reason a child is without a parent or parent life figure in their life and we have the authority to line up somebody to serve in that capacity to fill that gap so that the child isn't left then while we wait around for some state agency to get involved which would as those of you know deal with some of the state agencies can take it while >> I just know part of the language. Maybe you could explain a bit more. I said something like we can't hire someone who knows the student and is in any way. That just was confusing

094to me. How would we get someone who doesn't know the student? You know, I don't have the policy in front of me. What I could do if you'd like is um review it and uh get back to the board with a broadcast table of the board on my take on what it says if you like. I don't want to take the time down and go into it here, but I can I can certainly pull it out and uh you know try to summarize what it's all about for you if that's helpful. >> I'm assuming it's similar to um I get my legal information from uh John Gisham. So the client where they appointed the adum remember that so they appointed somebody. It was just a person. It wasn't a a relative or anything like that.

095So that's where it wouldn't you wouldn't know the person. maybe a situation where the the um student was danger from their own family or something like that and so you would have to appoint somebody that like had no skin in the game so to speak is my guess as a complete lay person right so David if you would I'd really appreciate it because it actually said it couldn't be a teacher it couldn't be an employee and I just I'm I'm saying yes to a policy where I don't know if it makes sense to anyone else on the board but where where is this person coming from that knows knows nothing about the student, has no relationship to the student, but we're saying we're going to go find. Um, maybe there's a process in place that's

096more specific. I just have a problem voting yes for something that doesn't make sense to me right now and can't be explained for sure. >> Why don't I pull out the policy and try to answer those questions in an email to the whole board? >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Would it be reasonable? Well, I know that we need to stay on a schedule typically, but could I motion to table that policy just to the next the second read to the next um the next board meeting because hopefully we'll have information by then. Can I make that motion? >> Okay. Um I did I did just want to comment on being policy. >> Yes. >> Miss Fus. >> Yes. >> Mr. McGovern. >> Yes. >> Mr. Montto. >> Yes. >> Miss Pal. >> Yes.

097>> Miss Brell. >> Yes. >> Miss Martinez. >> Yes. >> Miss. >> Yes. >> Thank you. I just wanted to comment real quick about uh the transportation policy being that I'm policy chair for our committee. Um there two things that had changed in there was since we had the demographers report um done and reviewed and he reviewed with us and whatnot. The subscription busing line is being removed out of that policy because unfortunately moving forward after looking at that report and what we're being advised to what we will see in enrollment we will not be able to offer subscription busing moving forward. When I say subscription busing, I mean that that was extra seats that we used to have that parents could opt to pay to have their child ride the bus. Unfortunately, we do

098not have any extra seats at this point. And who knows moving forward where where we're going to be with that, but we definitely know that looking at the numbers and the projections for enrollment, we are not going to be able to offer that. So we were um advised to plea, you know, to remove that from the policy. We don't want people to be confused. And the other thing was um road closures. So we just, you know, High Street has been closed. It still is for now. Hopefully that's opening soon. That's awesome. It looks great. But now we're moving on to Ravine Drives, uh getting work done, and they're projecting 18 months on that. With that being said, by law we are not mandated to bus kids due to road closures. So if for some reason

099you are under two miles, but you now have to go around this road closure and it becomes over two miles, we are not mandated to bus until that road is then open again. Am I correct, Mr. Rubman? >> I believe so. >> Okay. So, I just wanted to mention those are the two things that changed. Um, one was subscription and number two, we added about road closures because obviously we're having a lot of roads closing. So, we wanted people to understand because it is confusing um to to the public when they know that they're normally two miles and now they're two and a half and they don't want their kids walking. Um, and we really really um would love to see and I've been seeing it on Facebook on the on the school pages, people

100asking about car pooling. Um, a lot of the parents are like, "Hey, you know, is anybody, you know, taking their kids, I'll pay you to car pool, whatever." So, I love that because we used to do that back in the day. We all had vans then. So, kids would pile in and we would just we each took a week. Um, so I love that the community is looking to um help us out in that area, get our kids to school safely and help each other. So um I appreciate that and hopefully we'll have more of that moving forward. >> And Miss Martinez, if you guys would like, I can ask um my leazison with the council if they have any intent to do anything that they set up. I don't think people took advantage of

101it, but when High Street was originally closed, they say that there was transportation that they can help with. So, I'll ask I don't know if there are any plans or not, but I can ask. >> Yes. >> Uh finance agenda in this case. >> Good evening. We're looking to take action on the following items. Uh payroll for the month of July, all the secretary reports for the month of July as well as the bills list on page 205. Um 5 through 8 is accepting new students into the Keys programs for tuition. 9 and 10 are accepting our students to go to the Keys program at no cost to the district. 11 is approving the lease agreement that Miss Perez spoke about earlier. Uh we are looking at a reduced rate if we are able to

102participate. In order for us to participate, both towns have to approve it. Our resolution is a little different from theirs. There's different provisions for us to participate than it is for the municipality. As we move further, we have the partnership agreement that we spoke about earlier about the dogs at the at the school as well as the Mammoth University occupational therapy department. And 13 is the dual use waiver and educational space throughout the district. Uh many are due to toilet waivers and that is due to the preschool and the kindergarten classrooms not having the toilet in the classroom but typically across the hallway from the classroom itself. And then 14 is approving the change of use space. Uh we were lucky enough at Cambridge to move rooms around a little bit providing the nurse with

103their own bathroom. So that's what that is for it and then her office becoming a speech space. 15 is the use of Lloyd Road for an emergency shelter. 16 is the acceptance of donation from Ravine Drive PTO in the amount of 5,000 for the outdoor fitness court, which if you've gone past the high school, thank you Aberdine Township for assisting with getting us the concrete slab. We are hopeful that installation will occur for the parts at the end of September as weather pending. And then 17 is the award of jointer routes with other districts. Uh typically this is for out of district placement and we are the host and we are picking up others and they're helping us offset our cost so a revenue back into the district. And then 18 is a fire and

104evacuation drills as listed. >> And I have a motion and a second to approve the finance agenda. >> Motion second. >> Any questions? Miss Case, I just want to verify when you said the nurse, that's a bathroom for the kids, not her personal bathroom. >> Bathroom for the students. >> For the students. Okay. Thank you. >> Um, Miss Kates, also um number 17, these joint transportation routes. That's amazing that we're able to, I guess, retain some of our finances for transportation, but is that already budgeted for or is that like a little bit of extra that we got that we weren't expecting? >> It was not budgeted for. We are happy that that's coming in. It can help us offset costs in other areas. >> Okay. Excellent. That's exciting. Thank you. >> I do want

105to thank um Ravine Drive PTO. Excellent. Um we love the generous donation. That's a huge um contribution towards the fitness court. Um also again thanking the township of Aberdine for paying for the concrete pad for the fitness court and um in general that was a huge community effort. I know everybody kind of went all hands on deck and our community partners, our some of our vendors and um you know even even a parent here and there donated towards that and I think it's going to if anybody has seen the video um on our website or any of the pictures or gone to the website of the program itself to look at it. It's a really cool piece of I guess equipment is the best way to put it. um you know with with sort of

106permanent structures that you can use for exercising and fitness and um it's all weather and it will be open to the community much as our other facilities are open when they're not in use by the school and by the students. So we really appreciate it and we're excited to kind of have an official opening of that when it's ready and um hopefully invite everybody who's involved. Do we have any um unfinished business? Um the board of education recognizes the value of public comment on matters of interest to school community. Individuals wishing to speak must state their name and address. Comments are limited to three minutes duration, but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic will occur. All statements should be directed to the board president

107and 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 invasion of privacy, they may face personal liability to the injured party. Speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications of their comments. The board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal advisor for public comment. Okay. unfinished business comment. Today um it was like opening day for you know the Padawan district here with everybody students logging in and learning their teachers and

108their classmates and it's very exciting sometimes anxietyprovoking but overall hopefully really exciting and I just want to wish everybody a happy and safe school year. Thank you. I would Last week was um the uh the beginning of last week was just a really big kind of kickoff for athletics. I just want to thank everybody speaking as a parent of of students that uh the uh the administration and uh the supervisor of athletics for putting on a really good presentation very early in the morning on Monday morning that caught those kids attention. It mostly focused on drug prevention in a way that was very engaging and uh I mean really was impactful. And then that that we of course personally there was also the marching band field show preview. Very exciting. Um but the the football

109booster I went to the uh the football boosters and alumni association had a car show last Saturday um in the high school parking lot and that was a lot of fun and that's a completely new event for them and and it was just neat seeing a mix of both members of our community and keyboard and just the regional car show folks all coming together um at our at our high school um to benefit our players and alumni. That was just exciting. And uh then I want to encourage everybody that uh this Friday the Huskies have their first football game at Heisttown. It's an away game. It's kind of far away, but I could be an interesting way to finish up your Labor Day weekend or start your Labor Day weekend. Excuse me. So, thank you.

110Thank you to everybody. Um new business Okay. Roll call on all items except for the two that were tabled. Mrs. Skully, >> yes. >> Miss Biles, >> yes. >> Mr. McGovern, >> yes. >> Mr. Monto, >> yes. >> Miss Pal, >> yes. >> Miss Scott, >> yes. >> Miss Brown, >> yes. >> Miss Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Waricki. >> Um, yes. I have to abstain from um the student observer the first name under the student observer and the first name of section 8 under the staff array changes abstain names on here but um so in this case I need to Sorry. Okay. Um, we will be entering a second executive session to uh discuss some matters as noted. Be it resolved that close session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy, personnel matters,

111and legal advice. The subject matter of this discussion will be disclosed to the public by the reason for confidentiality subsides. Although the board cannot guarantee it, the length of the executive session is estimated to be 30 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and proceed with business action may take place. Can I have a motion and a second? >> Motion. I'll second.