001Yes, I love it. >> I am different. >> That's my license plate as well. I always have to explain. It's my way from Frank Sinatra. There's no other agenda. >> My way or the highway. >> I'd like to call to order the February 19th regular public board meeting. Mr. Jones, please call the role. Miss Barbe >> here. >> Mr. Benedict >> here. >> Mrs. Borov >> here. >> Miss Brody >> here. >> Mr. Greenblat >> here. >> Dr. Kolcowski >> here. >> Miss Seriani. Miss Williams >> here. >> Mr. Murray >> here. Mr. President, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Flag is over there. >> Ready? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
002justice for all. >> All right, executive session we covered personnel, HIP, suspension and detention, legal status, and a student matter. Additions to the agenda, G16, >> superintendent report, Dr. Good evening everyone. So tonight some highlights on the agenda is Dr. McGary will be um sharing just the feedback that we've received and the the goals that we had for our very successful professional development day. And additionally this evening Mrs. Stefani is with us and she is going to um talk about the McKini Vento law. um she is our our director of special education and with that job comes other responsibilities and in the budget season there there are certain things that we're paying attention to. So she she thought it was a good idea to educate all of us on this somewhat um complex law. So
003with that we should have a good e a good meeting this evening. >> Mr. Jones. >> Yeah. So I'll briefly touch on the bud budget. we have some updates from finance committee but so just a reminder for everybody budget uh mostly it's uh it's salaries and and it's benefits and so with um with salaries we we negotiate with our union so we only have um most of our employees in the school district are in the union so um like 95% uh so we just move it's set in the contract salaries are set already and then secondarily it's health benefits and the health benefits are um extremely difficult to manage. Uh I think I mentioned last meeting the state most the state health benefits plan which is uh I think the majority of school districts are
004in is going up 31% this year. So it's a a massive increase. Uh we were able to negotiate something less than that. Uh but still a a huge issue. And I just want to remind the board as well when I do my bud budget presentation um in March that there was a um a law change a couple years ago, two or three years ago where um where it used to be that you would pay for a health insurance plan, you would pay a percentage of the plan and how much it cost, but now uh it's a percentage of your salary. And so what that's done is put a lot of pressure on us in terms of the less contributions coming from employees towards that plan. And so again, this is one of those things are
005out of out of our control. Uh but we have to manage through. And I'm going to briefly touch on the McKini Vento um that Maurice is going to talk about. You know, within the our budget as well, we have to um keep conting contingencies in our budget and because things fluctuate from year to year that are out of our control that we're required to do. Um big one is um out of district special education students and that fluctuates from year to year you know um and so we keep extra funds in that line and uh another big one is this uh McKini Vento and this is something where she'll she'll get into some of the regulations but it is it is something we were required there's an expense for us uh and it's goes up
006and down and it's really hard to you can't really you can't plan for it so you just have to keep open dollars there available but it is another example of one of those things where uh we are required to uh we to be compliant with the law and there's a a funding impact on that. So with that I'll end my report. >> Thank you Mr. Jones. Board President announcement. The New Jersey open public meeting laws enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and attend the meetings of the public bodies of which business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act. to Scotland's Fanwood Board of Education as coach notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and
007place thereof posted by the at the board of education offices located at 313 South Avenue, Fanwood. Such notice was also provided in written notice forwarded to the leader, formerly the Union County Hawk, the Star Ledger, the Township Clerk of Scotch Plains, and the Burough Clerk of Fanwood, and the annual notice of regular scheduled meetings as adopted April 24th, 2025. I'll now pass over to our student board representatives for their reports. Hi everyone. So, after a shorter week since we had President's Day weekend, a lot has happened. Um, as for the sports winter breakdown, we had boys basketball, which moved into the watching division, playing some of the top teams in the state and finished with the season with a 1212 record and a quarterfinal appearance in the county tournament. They head to Bayon on Tuesday
008for the first round of the state tournament. Girls basketball played in the top division of Union County with a roster of mostly sophomores and freshmen. So, a pretty young team this year. Um, the team competed very well and improved throughout the season and they also head to Bayon on Tuesday for the first round of the state tournament. As for swimming, the boys and girls teams had strong seasons this year. The boys did win the watching division and defeated Westfield for the first time in 14 years. In addition, the boys were the north um to group B sectional champions this year. Wrestling. The boys and girls wrestling teams continue to be the among the strongest in Union County. The boys team is strongly heading to districts led by senior Paul Bole who is nearing 100 career
009wins. The girls had an outstanding showing in the in the county tournament and are poised for an outstanding run into districts and regions. We also had winter track. The track program continues to be one of the top programs in the county. Delini Farley continued her dominance in the sprints by winning the county and sectional this year. Bowling. For the second year in a row, the Bowlers won the watch division and the county's uh championship. In addition, the team made it to the sectional semi-finals and were among the top teams in the state. Ice hockey. For the second year in a row, the ice hockey team won the Kelly Cup and this year they are Kelly Division Champions. They are excited to host Oldbridge on Monday for the first round of the state tournament and the
010team is currently 192 to1. Um we also had Cabaret for a cause which was a concert for fundraising and a way to give nonprofits money for their charity and this year it was the youth which provides physical therapy to disabled children and they raised over $2,000 total. Smack um which is a club here at SPFHS had their own Smackdown which occurred in gyms throughout Thursday and Friday where they had various tournaments and games for prizes. All of the event was done in awareness and raising money for cancer research and was another successful tradition here at SPFHS. Um, we also had flower grams which were handed out by student council representatives during this fri or last Friday which um, students could send Valentine's Day notes to their friends and classmates which helped to raise money for
011future studentled events in the future. Okay, adding on to that, um, some of our SPF students are currently in Spain for the yearly Spanish exchange trip and I've heard that they're having a lot of fun and I'm not jealous at all. Um um DECA won their first ever Union County Consumer Bull Championship in a statewide event hosted in this very media center. So, congrats to them. Um more stuff with clubs. Raider Robotics was super successful at their tournament this weekend. They finished in second place after the qualifying matches. They were recognized for being the winning alliance. They won the first place Inspire award. and because of their amazing work, they will be advancing to the FTCJ state championship in March. So, congrats to them. Um, with upcoming school events, there is the Chinese Lunar New
012Year festival this Friday to celebrate the Lunar New Year. And yesterday in the Superintendent Principal Advisory Committee meeting, we talked about starting an honoral breakfast as a school event to recognize students for their good grades and incentivize students to keep working hard in their classes. Um and also another new update, math honor society is starting this year at our school and for those who were accepted for their excellence in math. Um the induction ceremony will be this spring and more milestones. Um today was actually the 100th day of school and there are 26 days until spring break. So we are almost there. >> Yay. >> Thank you both for those updates. All right. We're going to do one of the first of two instructional updates. Mr. Stefani. >> Hello everyone. I'm Mara Stefani. I'm the
013new director of special services here in the district. I do have a PowerPoint presentation. I welcome you to view it. I apologize. I know that means that you have to turn and certainly not something you need to do, but you're welcome to follow along if you'd like. So to start I would just like to give a little bit of background information the history of the Steuart B. Mckin Vinto Education Act which we refer to as Mckin Vinto. It's a program that's specifically designed to support students who are unhoused. And it is built in with protections and services to ensure that they're enrolled and attending school, that they complete their high school education, and therefore are positioned for success after graduation. It's identified to support future avoidance of poverty as adults as well as the the
014risk of being h unhoused in the future. So, it was first identified in 1987. It's been updated December of 2015 by the Every Student Succeeds Act. And it is also recognized in the chapter 17 of the New Jersey Administrative Code, which speaks more to the specifics regarding policies and procedures for schools to support students who are reported to us as being in need of help. So this is a snapshot of the program as a whole, which I'll get into in further detail in the upcoming slides. It's a federal law, as I just shared, and it's designed to protect students from preschool through till 12th grade, as well as the continuence if they're staying through the age of 21. Any child who is experiencing an episode of being unhoused can qualify for the act. It removes
015the barriers which we'll talk in detail about so that they can receive that educational stability and there are various supports that the districts put in place to help these families during this time. Definition of unhoused formerly referred to as homelessness. We are shifting our verbiage to now being con coined as unhoused. A student according to the McKini Vento Act qualifies if they lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. And that can include a variety of different circumstances. As you can see, it could be that they are in a shelter or a transitional housing program, which might be through something such as DCPMP, a supportive housing program. if they are living in a motel or a hotel. If they're doubled up with family, so perhaps they lost their home and they're living with the grandparent
016but there isn't enough bedrooms. So they're sleeping on the couch or they're sleeping on the floor in somebody else's room. Uh or if they're in a car park, uh an abandoned building, etc., or in substandardized housing. As you can see, the definition is broad and it's determined on a case-byase basis. So we review this thor thoroughly every time it's brought to our attention. The two that I can say our district sees most commonly is the doubled up with family due to economic hardship or substandardized housing. And the quickest example I could give you is the recent situation we had with the flooding. So we had situations where the the mold accumulation from the landlords not correcting the flood became a significant hardship and created medical complications that rendered the house unable to be habitable uh
017by doctor's notation and others. So that created a homeless situation. Immediate enrollment is a critical piece to recognize as part of this act. Districts have to immediately enroll students even without the proof of residency. health records, birth certificates, transcripts, etc. Now, that does not mean that we don't continue to pursue that because we absolutely do. What it means is we cannot delay them starting school and receiving that education while we're working on trying to support them to gather this data. School districts have to eliminate any delays and the attendance must begin immediately. Some terminology that you'll see coming up in the code. The school of origin is the school that the student last attended when they were housed. Uh it could be a situation where they were even in transit between grade levels, but it
018is the town that they were last living in when their permanent housing was established prior to the interruption. And the receiving school is the school that they transition to or the the school of temporary residence, the town of temporary residence. in regards to transportation and this connects to what Christopher Jones was speaking of with the budgetary uh restraint is that unhoused students have the right to remain in their school of origin or be enrolled where their temporary housing is residing. So that might mean that in order to provide support to the student, we're arranging for transportation to the school district that they're currently living in or attending. So although they may have been enrolled in Scotch Plains Fanwood, we may be busing them to Planefield or to Newark or etc. which is an expense but
019it is part of the code and we have to support them in maintaining that continuence with their education. We we are able which I'll get into in the future uh slide to share costs when the uh timing is applicable and we have to arrange it promptly. This is another situation where we cannot create a delay in them receiving their education. So, this is a piece that we coordinate very closely with our transportation supervisor. She's excellent in arranging for very prompt transportation for students. A piece of information that you may hear of when we're talking about Mckin Vinto is this reference to 365 days. And I'm often asked how long are we obligated to provide the support and at what point does that responsibility shift? So the answer is that there truthfully isn't always a hard
020and fast rule here. The ultimate goal is to provide the support to the family. But we are obligated from the perspective of the McKenna Vinto Act to honor this for 365 days, one school year. So when a student is relayed to us as in need of support because they are unhoused, we as a district are financially responsible to provide support to that student for 365 days. When that time has expired, then we reassess where they currently are living and if that financial tr responsibility transfers to the town that they're currently residing in. There are some stipulations. I will not get into all the details because it's a very case-byase basis. But there are times for example the 365day may expire in let's say May 1st. Are we going to now ask that student to transition
021for the last two months of the school year? Are we going to make arrangements with the other town for them to pay for that tuition for the remainder of the school year? So that's where we start the clock and ticking. the families do have the option to dispute any decisions that the district relays whether it's eligibility, enrollment or placement. So we as a district when we're notified that a student is unhoused, we interview them. We offer a a support and assistance and we make a determination if they qualify for the Mckin Vinto Act. That would be in writing to them with details. If they are determined to not be eligible, we give them the information about how they can appeal that. There is a thorough appeal process and it is external to the school district.
022The New Jersey Department of Education reviews that process and the parent has the right to immediate advocacy there. When that occurs, if there is an appeal process, it's important for me to stress that we are not allowed to disenroll the student or postpone their ability for academic support. we have to keep them enrolled in our district throughout the duration of that investigation. The Mckin Vento act is very specific about what districts have to put in place, the infrastructure to make sure that we're appropriately supporting these students. So, these are some of the things that we're required to do above and beyond the identification of the students and the enrollment which we've already talked about. We also make sure that we're making every effort to obtain records from their last school of um on file, coordinating
023all of the services, which I'll talk about in a little bit, and providing ongoing staff training. That's something that I really want to highlight that we've done an exceptional job with this year. I'm I'm really pleased to say that Essex Regional has a a very robust training program for Mckin Vento service providers in school districts and they also offer ongoing support and collaboration if there's any questions, referral needs, etc. So, as I just mentioned, that is one opportunity that we've connected with. They have a really beautiful online resource which we do share with families and it covers a wide variety of supportive services. everything from financial support and guidance to uh housing markets. Uh when there might be a section 8 voucher that's becoming available, new buildings, things of those lines along with healthcare options.
024If they're uninsured and they need additional support, this is how we can connect them. I want to highlight and celebrate our residency secretary. She has been absolutely sensational in supporting these students and their families. When they are identified as a family in need, she reaches out to them a minimum of once a month. She provides them ongoing support and coordination for variety of needs. Everything from clothing, school supplies, laundry detergent, toiletries. She contacted all the families last week because we learned of an opening uh for income based housing. She's dynamite in providing the supports because we only have those 365 days to connect them and we want to make sure we're setting them up for success so that they have these linkages when the program expires. So, in summary, the takeaways that I just want
025to highlight as non-negotiables for us, we have to honor immediate enrollment for students when they're identified as being unhoused, regardless of if they're living in Scotch Plains, Fan Ward, or they've had to temporarily relocate out of our district boundaries. The school stability is prioritized. Their academic success needs to be maintained. Transportation is our obligation regardless of where they've had to relocate for emergency housing. And we have to make sure that we're not creating any barriers to enrolling them. So we can't say because you don't have your birth certificate or your health records right at the moment because you had to immediately leave, we can't offer you placement. We work with them to make sure we secure them as quickly as possible. And we obviously will connect with the board to make sure that we're honoring
026all that we need to do for compliance and oversight. Okay, any questions? with the verification process >> microphone >> um doubled up housing is one of the um main things that we're seeing um is income ver employment verification is that stuff part of the due diligence process like the parents or >> we do not ask for proof of employment that's not something that the McKini Vento act requires you to do however we support the families in obtaining employment if that's something that that's in need. What we might ask for is if they were evicted for the legal documentation to substantiate that eviction. So essentially it's not hearsay. We are asking for proof but the code specifies what you need to seek proof of. >> Sure. >> If I can Dr. Mast just to to follow
027up on Mr. question. It is one of the more troublesome issues we face a lot of times when it comes to McKenna Vento questions of whether or not someone is doubled up because they have to be for the financial reasons that the law is supposed to cover or the emergency situations or there's a lot of families who just choose to live with multiple generations in the same home whether to save money or just for cultural reasons. So, um that does occasionally come up. Uh and as uh Stefani said earlier, the the starting point under McKenna is you take the families at their word uh and and you enroll them if if they're here, you bust them if they they are somewhere else. Uh and if if there's a dispute later on, there's a there's a
028process for that dispute. Um just just for just as a question so that for everyone to hear like what is the scope of of how much money or have we spent or is that is that not a number that we can disclose or just you know just so we know the the breadth of this like a budgetary issue. Um it fluctuates because sometimes people pay us and we pay others but um it can be I mean it's been $500,000 in a year expense. So it can be because transportation I know I've talked about a lot um you know one route can be depends 70 $80,000 for one route and so it depends uh how many students you have or families or whatever. So, um, it can get it can ramp up pretty quickly. >> Yeah.
029>> Thank you. >> I would just want to piggyback on that as well. When I talked about providing the support and the supplies to the family, that's through grants and direct supports. That's not something that the district is providing. So, when we're talking about the line item budgeting, that's tied to the tuition and the transportation. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Good evening. And I can invite you to turn around again. Um, unless you think that, um, I have taken some fantastic graphic design class since last I presented, um, it isn't true. um given the topic that that I'm going to be talking about tonight. I did use um generative AI to create these slides. So, I'm I'm here tonight to talk about um and provide a summary of
030our recent PD day um which was held just this past Tuesday um and specifically talk about the morning um in which we we dedicated time to um this theme of navigating the new landscape, AI literacy, equity, and innovation. So, our mission for the day was to give all of our teaching staff members an opportunity to explore both the immense potential and the complex challenges of generative artificial intelligence. As we emphasized to our our teachers on Tuesday, the integration of AI into the digital world is not a temporary trend. It is a fundamental landscape shift. Our strategic goal is was to understand and is to understand how these tools can enhance teaching and learning while sim simultaneously navigating the critical ethical and pedagogical questions they raise. To help us frame this shift, we were fortunate to
031have Amanda Bickerstaff, who's the CEO of AI for Education and a former high school biology teacher as our keynote speaker. She guided us through a pathway of building gen literacy, experimenting with new technology, and adopting an innovation mindset. In fact, one of the things she showed us, I guess I could have brought up tonight and had a conversation with Milo, who is an an a a conver like a conversation partner um in AI that she showed us, which was pretty remarkable. Um, one of the most powerful takeaways from her keynote was the idea of treating AI not sort of as a as a thought partner but as a challenge partner. Um, rather than sort of like thinking about how do I help it to help it help me think, how do I challenge how do
032I help it to challenge my thinking? Our keynote also presented us with some striking statistics from a 2024 study of graduate employability. 62% of employers surveyed believe employees should have basic AI literacy skills. 70% of recent graduates believe basic AI training should be a part of education. But 55% of colleges discourage generative AI use. So some really interesting statistics to think about. Following the keynote, our staff participated in sessions they chose divided into four key uh focus areas. Focus area one prioritized the why and how before the what, focusing heavily on building guard rails and critical perspectives. We discussed things like the ethics of AI use, introduced an an ISTY aligned AI literacy framework, and emphasized critical thinking. As one fourth grade teacher noted in their feedback, as you can see at the bottom of
033the screen, AI must be used with discernment and careful evaluation of the information it provides. Focus area two was all about efficiency and treating AI as a teacher's assistant. Staff explored practical tools for immediate classroom application. They learned how to use magic school AI to instantly differentiate instruction. Gemini Gems to build custom one-on-one coaches that use Socratic questioning to support students and tools like Notebook LM, which I use for my slides here, and Perplexity for deep research. The feedback here was highly positive with teachers reporting that they walked away with concrete products ready for their classrooms. Focus area three, we looked at weaving AI into the fabric of curriculum design. We explored how AI can generate can help generate ideas for authentic learning simulations, align standards with essential questions using Atlas AI features, and act
034as an editing tool to refine initial concepts into polished instructional plans. Focus area four addressed equity, inclusion, and specialized access to meet the unique needs of every learner. We examined AI as an assisted technology in special education for students with dyslexia, disgraphia, autism, and ADHD. Taking a strength-based approach. We also explored creating chat mats and conversation partners for world languages and using AI for differentiation and visual resources in elementary settings, all while maintaining crucial human connection. To move from theory to practice, we hosted a selection of sessions such as the AI playground for hands-on experimentation. The outcomes were fantastic. Staff created digital resources ready for immediate use. Gained experience with text, image, and assessment generators and established workflows for safe experiment experimentation using tools like chat GPT and Canva. We gathered valuable feedback from that
035day and are continuing to do so as teachers have gotten back to the classroom and and are gently being nudged to complete their their feedback forms. Um, many staff members experienced a real mind shift a mind shift mindset shift regarding AI and appreciated learning fun practical ways to use it. However, we also listen to valid concerns regarding development and impact. Some teachers questioned whether children have the developmental capacity to use AI effectively and others expressed a strong desire for more time to collaborate, showcase, and experiment with these tools alongside their peers. As you can see here, some of the comments that of of sort of more more sort of like uh um a little bit more um what what's the word I want to use? um skepticism. Oops. So ultimately this Pday PD day helped
036move our district from confusion to clarity moving towards clarity out of confusion. Um, our staff is now better informed on what generative AI is, as well as ethics and guardrails we must keep in mind and are more equipped with practical tools for personalization and designing curricular resources within this new landscape. So, moving forward, our next steps include providing more guidance by defining approved programs and usage policies. We will also offer more training, including dedicated sessions for elementary applications and create more collaborative spaces for peer-to-peer showcasing and experimentation. So, thank you. It was great to see Mr. Benedict in the audience for our keynote on Tuesday morning. Um, but it was a really positive day. The afternoon was spent looking at the Danielson model and the latest revision to that and really focusing on um domain
037three of that which focuses on um learning. Any questions? >> No, but I will say it was a fantastic presentation. I was only able to see the keynote uh but it was outstanding and I thought it was very well done with great information. So, good work. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. Great. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you, Dr. McGary. Thank you, Mr. Stefani. We're going to move to first public comment session in accordance with Scotchb's family public school by 0164 and 0165. The meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comment. Maximum three minutes per speaker. Speakers addressing superintendent items, business functions, and other board business will be here first. If time remains, speakers may address other matters. Speakers, come to the mic and please state your full name and the town in
038which you reside. For use a public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns, but not to debate issues or enter into a question and answer session or cross-examination between the public and the individual members. Be aware that not all issues before for the board will be resolved that evening. Boards may respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or her designate. So, I will now open up public comment number one for 15 minutes. So if you have a comment, please come to the mic. >> Gary Morris Fanwood. Um I don't like to brag, but um I've always been artificially intelligent. So um that's just something that was uh I was born with. Um I wanted to I wanted to address
039something from uh December. uh when Dr. McGarry presented um some of the results of testing and I'm wondering if maybe we could rethink how we present that to the public and maybe it's something that's just for the teachers and and the board to review because I felt really uncomfortable with all the students that were here to go through different identities and how they did on tests. I just really I'm pretty good at reading the room and it was really awkward and I'm not sure that that's helpful to students to be exposed to that data. Um, and this is coming from my heart. It just I don't know how I would feel. I mean, if if if people wearing uh you know jersey forever shirts did better on tests, well, you could just get everybody a
040jersey forever shirt and everybody could do well on tests. Um, but I think I think in some ways for some kids it may motivate them and then others they may just say, "Well, why bother?" Because I'm in a group that just doesn't do well or maybe you're they're in a group that traditionally does well and they're not doing as well and they feel like they're not as good or something like that. And I just I just want to reiterate um I my experience with my kids, great experience in in the school district here. I had I had one child, my youngest child literally did the bare minimum just to pass. And now he runs his own company. And in in fact, crazy as it sounds, he literally offered me a job last year. my my
04125-year-old son was offering me a job. I turned him down. Um but I just think everybody has a different learning curve and we just have this thing that you know we can somehow magically make one group do better all of a sudden. And I think I think I I think the potential is there for everybody. everybody can do better and and we just need to really concentrate on the tools. Like I said, I think the information is useful for the board and for teachers to be very aware of that, but I don't know if that's a good thing to be sharing in front of students. Does that make sense? I mean, I just it really was an awkward moment. And um it just happened to be a time where we had uh you know the
042whole room full of students of you know and I just did not feel like this was the right space for it. So anyway that's all I wanted to say. Thanks. >> Thank you Mr. Morris. >> Just in response to Mr. Morris, your points are well taken. It is a compliance piece that we're required to report it out by subgroups. So, I'd encourage you also to write a letter to the NJ DOA. Eric Felen, Scotch Plains. So, so kind of tailing off of what Gary mentioned, um, I I do want to first say I'm very proud of my senior in high school, uh, who just made the super high honor roll or whatever it's called, the high roll. I saw that come out today. Um, so proud of him. My other son, he's on it as
043well in 10th grade. Now, when I looked at the math, and I've been doing this for the past several years, looking at it, and I always wonder, are we doing a good service or poor service with how we're doing the honor roll system? Because when I looked at the numbers, 123 students in the senior class got the super honor roll. 105 got the regular honor roll. That's 128 out of I think about 395 which is about 58%. So if 58% are super achievers, okay, what are we doing with the other folks? And is are we My question then stems from a situation that happened with my younger son and I think it was uh an economics class. I'm not sure. He did super well on a test in the 90s. I forgot what it was,
04493 or four. And the majority of the class did super poorly. So much so that the teacher curved everybody's grades up. So that then brings me back to the question, are we giving everybody a merit badge for just showing up or are we helping to improve and boost the other students who are having a struggle? So those folks that did super poorly on the exams, what do we do after that? Do we just say, "Okay, you got you all guys had 60s, 70s, we'll just call it a 90." and you're good. So, and then it brings me to the point last year when I spoke to a lot of parents, they told me how when their kids entered college their freshman year, they struggled a lot. So, and and I I'm worrisome because my senior
045will be going to college next year. He's gotten into a lot of great schools so far, but I'm as a concerned parent, is he prepared? is he going to be ready for the curriculum that the colleges are going to deliver to them because the grades got him into the college and I'm proud of him for that and he I believe is super bright but I also want to make sure that we are looking at everybody at all the students and that everybody is listen they say to succeed in life you need to fail but if we give everybody an award then nobody fails and nobody pushes themselves to be better so I'm just saying I hope our system isn't watered down. And I hope that we are not just greenlighting everybody for the sake of
046better numbers on our annual tests and all that, but for the sake of helping the students. That's all I can say. >> Thank you, Mr. P. >> I'm tucked tonight. So, so also a a very good point. I mean, I think that the the concern you raise is an age-old concern, not only in Scotch Plains Fanway. Um, there students perform well in high school, they go to college, how many of them return? It's a it's a very important metric to watch. This year, I have the unique opportunity of working closely with the mathematics department again. And I assure you that they're not greenlighting all of their students in doing the assessment of their marking period grades. My question is for those students who who aren't achieving a a C um at least a C, what
047are we doing to help them? Um so you're right, there are a lot of a lot of honoral students, but I also think the amount of support our our students get from their teachers and their parents give us a skewed population. >> We do try to u contact our graduates when they come back. We we ask them that question, you know, where did you struggle? where were you well prepared where could we do better and you you get a mix of answers depending on where the students are going but for the most part you know I'm very pleased with the feedback that we get from our graduates so I'll be anxious to hear from your son as well Dr. ask anyone else for the um public comment. First one. Okay, seeing no one, I will
048close the first public comment. Additional reports, letters to the board. We received 12 emails and they were sent to the appropriate administrator. We will now move to committee reports. I believe we have a few. Who would like to go first? >> I have two. Well, I have one from Stephanie and then >> policy comes after. >> Oh, well no, then I have curriculum. Um we had our curriculum meeting for February on February 17th. Um we talked about three things really. The first of which was the creative summer workshop that our district has been offering for this will be the 42nd year. I'm a a happy attendee of the creative summer workshop back in the day um when it was at school one. But um we have 16 teachers. We're offering over 40 different courses in
049many areas from STEM, music, art. Um, keeping in step is something that they're bringing back which is a which is an academic course. Um, and there are also some sports offerings. Registration they're hoping will open towards the end of March. Uh once we approve it today, it'll move forward. Um, the second thing we talked about is a AI writing research proposal from Trumark. Um we h we are as a district we are participating as a partner school in a fedally funded research study examining AI assisted writing instruction. Um and we have two teachers using this platform. Um this platform keeps teachers in control by learning from their own grading patterns as teachers score and comment on student writing. The system identifies individual student weaknesses and uses that information to personalize AI writing feedback. Educators can
050review and adjust student profiles at any time through a dedicated dashboard. We have two stu two teachers participating um um in the federal program but we all of our ELA seventh grade ELA and writing workshop teachers I think are using this um the participation in this in in this um federally funded study positions the district at the forefront of this evidence-based AI integration while contributing to national research that will benefit educators and students well beyond Scotch Plains family. Um and the third thing we talked about was Dr. McGary and he he spoke about the PD day and um the AI offerings as well as the Danielson framework. Our next meeting is on March 3rd. >> Thank you, M. Any questions? >> I just have a comment. Um I was really excited to to read about
051the funded program that we're taking part in. Um, and so I don't know what the schedule for updates on that is and such, but I'm very much looking forward to when we get the results of it or when the study comes out and what our involvement stays in with that. >> It was it it was very interesting. Um, Dr. McKenna kind of led us through like what could be done with the program and you can feed it a lot of information. You can it can do quizzes. It was it was very very interesting. So I I'm excited to hear about where that goes to. >> I do have a comment too. And we learned that it was they're operating in a a structured AI environment. So the teacher has control over what a student can
052search and what they can um type in and how it's programmed. So it's not like an open AI where student can ask in anything and hope that they get all these answers and go down this wormhole. So yeah, it is a structured >> and and the coolest thing is it you can limit like how many questions the student can ask. So after the second question the AI will say well maybe you should go ask your teacher or things like that which is we thought was interesting too. So very interesting finance committee report um we did a deeper dive into the tensive budget. There are a number of factors driving the uncertainty of the budget this year. The trend in the past four years adds an additional cost of $4 million to the budget. These these
053trends are that there's more employees on our healthcare and Mr. Jones touched on a lot of this stuff. There are less retirements, the changes in the special ed laws, there's more staff needed for enrollment growth. There's flat aid, flat state aid despite inflation, um enrollment growth and interest rate reductions. So all of these ups and downs are um the trend in the past four years is estimated to be an additional $4 million. Um Mr. Jones will be able to finalize the budget after the state aid figures are announced by the governor on March 10th. Until then we can't really finalize the revenue portion which then we can't finalize the expense portion. >> Thank you Mr. Broy. Any questions? Any other committee reports? Okay, we will move over to uh enrollment report which we received uh
054superintendent action items. So one is the board approving the out of district placements. Two is the approval of an out of district tuition contract. Three are the HIPS that we discussed on January 22nd. Four are the field trip requests. Five personnel report that we discussed in exec and that's it. >> Do we have a motion? >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Amy, is that you? >> That was a big one. >> Do we have any comments or questions for Dr. Mast on any other items? >> Okay. All those in favor? I >> opposed extensions. >> Oh, yeah. Roll call. Sorry. Give a change. >> That's right. >> Yep. Uh, Miss Bar, >> yes. >> Mr. Benedict, >> yes. >> Mrs. Boroff, >> yes. >> Miss Brody, >> yes. >> Mr. Greenblat, >>
055yes. >> Dr. Kolkowski, >> yes. >> Miss Williams, >> yes. >> Mr. Murray, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Mr. Jones, business functions. >> Yep. Uh, number one, staff training. two related services, three non-public spending plans. This is something that um from non-public schools get funding and we are required to oversee that funding. Small dollar amount, but we still have to uh there's some compliance with it. Um five, uh the grand change orders. Again, these are all these are changes as the as they open up walls and and fine things. al all all fairly minor and all within budget, but we have to get them board approved. Um, six is furniture. This is an estimated amount. It'll u most likely come lower. We're still looking to uh completely finalize it. This is very close. Um, number
056seven is the food service equipment for the Grand. Eight is a uh field grant. Nine is the uh nine and 10 are the Mckin Vento. Uh, nine is a receiving. Uh, 10 is ascending. Uh number 11 uh library book disposal, 12 are fire drills. 13 is our financial reports. Uh 14 is our dispersements. 15 is paying our bills. And 16 is uh inspection services. So when you do any type of uh even if it's small structural work, um you have to um hire an an external inspector to come in and check it out. We didn't there was an RFP for this. So, um that was the lowest cost. It was run by our Epic um construction management team and that's it. We have a motion. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> M.
057Williams. Any comments or questions for Mr. Jones? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Extension. Abstensions. Motion carries. We'll now move over to board policies. Mhm. Thank you. Um we had our um policy meeting on the 26th of January. Um though there are some that are considered new. There are some a lot of it was just moved from one place to another or created separately. Um most of these are mandated. Some of them we are getting rid of or abolishing because they kind of it would be you know information in two places. So just to kind of have it in one place. Um so there the first the for the first read for the following policies. Um P 0142.1 nepotism, P1220 employment of chief school administrator, P1552 sexual harassment staff, P2530 resource materials, P2535 library
058material, P9130 public complaints, and P um P9241 classroom observations. And then there are two sexual harassment policies that we are abolishing because they are now being kind of directed in different places. Um so I just move that the the board of education approves the first read and the abolishment of the following policies. >> We have a second >> second off. >> Any comments or questions on the policy changes or updates or abolishments? No. >> Okay. All those in favor >> I extensions motion carries. >> Um approval of the board minutes. >> So do we have a motion to approve the January 22nd regular public board meeting minutes? >> So moved. >> Benedict. We have a second. >> Second. >> Dr. Kulcowski. Any comments or questions on those? >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion
059carries. Any new board business? liaison reports. I know we have two down the end there. I think Mr. Benedict and I don't know if we have sep All right. I had the opportunity to go to the Union County School Board Association meeting on February 11th and I have a brief report. The meeting focused primarily on legislative updates, statewide financial trends affecting the districts and student recognition efforts. As always, these updates are were valuable because they help us benchmark our work against statewide trends and make informed decisions locally. On the legislative front, several developments are important for districts to be aware of. The new bell-to-bell ban on students using internet enabled devices has been signed into law and will take effect the next school year. Districts will need to ensure the policies are aligned before implementation.
060In addition, cursive writing instruction will now be required for students in grades three through five. Charter school reform legislation was also enacted to increase transparency and accountability. Looking ahead, the governor's budget address is expected around March 10th, and there may be updates to the school funding reform act. A bill has also been introduced proposing more than $10 billion in funding for school facilities projects statewide, which will be important to monitor as we think long term about infrastructure planning. Financially, districts across the state are reporting significant project increases in significant projected increases in health benefit costs. State aid levels remain uncertain in some areas and special education, transportation, and utility costs continue to be a major budget drivers. These statewide trends reinforce the importance of disciplined multi-year financial planning and careful analysis as we work through
061our own budget process. Finally, uh the annual unsung heroes recognition program will be held on March 11th at Rawe High School. And this is a great event that recognizes graduating seniors who have overcome significant challenges and all districts are encouraged to submit nominations. >> Thank you, Mr. Any questions? >> Thank you, Jason. I just signed up for Unsung Heroes. >> We can sub them. Um, I attended the uh CPAG meeting, the special education parent advisory group on February 9th. Um, and this was a great presentation that was provided by Kelly Dunston, our supervisor of ELA and K through from K through 5. Um, and it was a pres presentation on the various dyslexia supports and Orton Gillingham training that goes on in our district, but also just sort of an an overview of dyslexia, including
062the definition. Um but key takeaways as it pertains to our district that I wanted to just update you on is that currently um we administer um two screenings per year for K through three. But in addition there's new implication has provided new implement implementations in New Jersey for K through3 literacy screenings. So there will be even more screenings. Um we do have multi-tered instructions for students and I was a little embarrassed to learn that I did not know this but we actually um provide in middle school and high school decoding programs and the class in the high school is offered as an elective. Um we also run Orton Gillingham cohorts and have various level of training. Um we have uh uh our our our administration has teachers trained um and we they regularly um share
063their insight and train other teachers throughout the district. It was a really great great meeting for anyone um interested in dyslexia or has any questions about it. There's a great um presentation on the CPAG website that you can find through our special services on our website. um but it is filled with really really useful information. And the next meeting will be held um March 26th and it is a caregiver only and parent meeting meaning no administration will be there which is a great opportunity um to express yourselves and collect information and data to bring back to the district. So thank you. >> Thank you Mor. Any questions? >> I have a garden state. >> We had a Garden State coalition of schools meeting yesterday. The topic was New Jersey business in K12 education. How can
064we work together? Um we had a guest speaker Michelle Sier Cier Kirka, the executive director of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association and she basically spoke about how um we have one of the best education systems in the country but but um we lose a lot of our students after after high school and we're putting all this into them and then they're not staying in the state. So, you know, what are ways that we can mine our assets of our students and kind of keep them in the state and, you know, kind of aligning K prek through um for a four-year college education to make sure they stay here. Um talk she talked about trade schools um you know like or helping kids go into a trade, internships in high school that might help
065them realize what they want to do. um for kids for students who fall uh you know go away from education but want to come back. What are pathways that we can create? Um it was she also talked about you know what are some soft skills that that employers are looking for that maybe as a school we can make sure that we are providing you know teamwork, communication, punctuality, students being proactive, a lot of like those kinds of things which I know are sprinkled through our curriculum but it was nice to hear that those are the things that we should really focus on. Um she also spoke very you know highly about how extracurricular activities are so important and it makes just made me feel good about everything that we offer because they are a big
066aid in learning soft skills. Um she also spoke about experiential learning. Um it was just it it was informative. I don't know you know I feel like we we're doing a lot of the things that that were already said. Um, we had a lot of the same legislative updates, so I won't say the same stuff again, but yeah, our next meeting is March 18th in person. >> Thank you, Mr. Any other any questions for any other liazison reports? We have any workshop uh reports or request to attend workshops. Okay. Board resolutions, youth art month. Do we have a motion to adopt? >> So move. We have a second. >> Second. >> Dr. Kowski, do we have any comments or questions on the resolution? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. We will now
067move into the second and final public comment section. In accordance with Scots fan public school bylaw 0164 and 0165, the meeting will be open for 15 minutes for public comment. Maximum three minutes for speaker. Speakers addressing superintendent items, business functions, and other board business will be here first. If time remains, speakers may address other matters. Speakers, please come to the mic, state your full name of the town in which you reside. Use the public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns, but not to debate issues or enter to a question and answer session for a cross-examination between the public and the individual members. Be aware that not all issues brought before the board meeting will be resolved at evening. Boards may respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating
068the authority to investigate the issues to the superintendent or her designate. So we will now open for 15 minutes. >> Gary Morris, Fanwood. Um, as I do once or twice a year, um, I'm a big promoter of, uh, community college. Um, it is, uh, it is an amazing way to save a ton of money. And I've said it before, all my all four of my kids managed to make it through school without a single loan. Um they actually loaned each other money, which I thought was really creative. I'm glad they thought of that. Um so yeah, and you talk about the staying in the state and everything like that. The NJ Stars program is a terrific program. Um if you finish in the top 15% of your class, community college is free in New Jersey.
069And uh Union College is a great school. Um and they also have NJ Stars 2, I believe. Again, I'm assuming these things are still available where you could then go on to a 4-year school and continue another scholarship, saving thousands of dollars at a state school at a reduced rate. So again, just putting it out there for people who these days, uh we're penny pinching and it it's hard to get by. Um it's a it it literally saved my home. So anyway, um I wanted to just put this out there that I'm not sure I'm sure you have some programs, but I can't reiterate this enough. Um social media literacy is such an important thing. I'm sure you've all heard the the carpenters phrase um I think it's uh measure twice, cut once. You know,
070think before you do things. I stumbled on something just recently. Um a an elected official who had posted something on Twitter and accidentally um took a picture of his camera roll down below. And let's just say it was bad. Okay? And this was this was put out on social media for well over a thousand people could have seen it. Um, and so I'm just putting it out there. Let's reiterate to uh to the kids about, you know, social media. It's one one push of send could be a disaster. It could cost you a job. It could cost you an elected position. It could be really really costly. So again, I think it's it's an important thing. And one final note, um, statistically the thing I talked about before, statistically, if you have a lot of
071one group and a very small group, obviously the scores of the small group are really volatile, while the group that has a lot of people would not be as volatile. So you get false reads on on on data. You're the math person, right? You agree with me, right? Right. So if you have a small a small group, it's not statistically significant. The big group, those don't really change much from year to year. So again, I just think I I think, you know, um they need to rethink that. And it doesn't hurt to push back. You know, you I I I have no power to push back, but I think it's a good idea to push back. Statistically, it makes no sense. um because uh you're you're comparing, you know, uh groups that can change dramatically
072uh in one year to the next versus groups that don't change at all. Um and so um you could just have uh you know some a group of really really smart people one year in one group and and not so much in the other. So it doesn't make any sense. Anyway, thank you. >> Thank you. >> So Mr. Mr. Morris, please don't underestimate yourself. I believe NJ DOE would love to hear from you. And they do >> just sickening me on that. >> They they they they also do cap for for small groups. Um but you're right. Is it is it 15? >> Uh 20. >> 20. So we can't report out on subgroups that are smaller than 20. >> Um but there there still could be a wide disparity between groups. Anyone else for
073the good of the order? I mean for the uh public comment. Sorry. >> Not too fast. Got ahead. >> Too fast. >> I got ahead. >> All right. Seeing no one. Um we'll move forward. Closing the second public comment. Upcoming meeting schedule. March 12th and April 30th. >> Mr. Jones, is that March 12th date dependent upon >> the governor's number budget? >> So that may shift potentially. Now, the good of the order. Does anybody have anything for the good of the order? >> I do. >> Yes. Dr. >> Okay. Um, on February 6, myself and my administrator, Aaron Paul, were uh invited to come to the Nettingham Middle School's career explorations among several other people and we met with eighth graders to discuss possibility possibilities of their futures and what their career interests were. And
074then I also like to remind you that on uh uh Febru um excuse me March 1st, Bye-Bye Birdie will be playing at the Nettingham Middle School. So don't forget to get your tickets. I'm sure it's going to be a great show. It always is. >> Thank you. Um the order >> I just wanted to thank um the PTA and um Sue for coming out tonight but for acknowledging the board of ed um and the appreciation that the PTA I always say this but the amount of work that the PTA puts in is never acknowledged as it should be. So, thank you so very much and um thank you. >> I had the chance to go to the PTA council meeting and there's a lot of moving parts, a lot of fundraising going on and continuous
075work to help with activities and programs and lot I guess the unsung hero term would apply here as well. Um, two things. Guys and Dolls is coming to SPFHS, I think March 14th, 15th, 16th, I think that weekend. Um, so please tickets are are flying off the shelves, so please get them. Um, and it it's crazy at drop off. Actually, it's less crazy now that the snow is melted, but please be safe out there. >> Anybody else for the good of the order? >> We have a motion to adjurnn. >> So move. Second. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Thank you everybody. >> So yeah, so much activity. >> So much going on. >> And then Grace is going to school with people and stuff. Is it? Oh. Oh, she