001100% I feel any agenda items. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry for the delay and us coming out. Um, we are going to open the meeting this evening. We are going to turn it over to our New Jersey school board rep. Not yet. We're going to get started, turn it over to her, we'll do the presentations, and then we are actually going back into exact session before we do our agenda. But we will do all the items that you are here to um to see and hear. All right. So, we'll get started. Open public meeting act. In accordance with the provision of the open public meetings act, the board secretary has forwarded notice of this meeting for advertising by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the caucus town hall on the bulletin
002board located in the hallway of the board of education administrative building as well as the district website. >> Flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all in unison. >> Yep. Roll call. >> Mr. Bartletta >> present. >> Miss Detta >> present. >> Mr. Barry >> present. >> Mr. Deumbre >> present. Miss Eckles >> present. >> Miss Geller >> here. >> Miss Howard >> here. Mr. Lewis >> present. >> Mr. Lions >> present. >> Okay, I'm going to get back to um approval of regular meeting minutes of April 23rd, 2026. Discussion. >> Call the RO. I second. >> Second. Sorry. Thank you. Mr. Bartletta, >> yes. >> Miss Dadetta, >> yes. >>
003Mr. Barry, >> yes. >> Mr. Deumbre, >> yes. >> Miss Eckles, >> yes. >> Miss Geller, >> yes. >> Miss Howard, >> yes. >> Mr. Lewis, >> yes. >> Mr. Lions, >> yes. >> Thank you. At this time, I'd like to call up Gan Clearary, our New Jersey school board rep. Thank you. It's good to be with everyone tonight. Um I I believe that it was coming. Change the order. >> While he's doing that, >> he's coming. >> Um I did want to just take a moment, especially because you have some community members here to just um for their benefit um recognize that the board was recently honored and recognized. So, I was pleased to present the award for board certification through the New Jersey School Boards Academy um to the members of your board.
004Uh and I want to point out that it is the first board in Hudson County that has ever achieved board certification through our academy. So, congratulations to all of you. Absolutely. I'm just going to make a brief statement if that's okay. So um while working through the challenges of changes in district leadership and board membership, the board team committed to governance that remains student centered. Through ongoing dedication to the students and community, they engaged upon a path of professional development that requires additional time and energy focused on continuous learning and professionalizing the work that you all do. Um the board brought additional accountability to the work by annually completing your board self-evaluation and engaging in discussions to set annual board goals to ensure focus and continuous improvement. As a team, you identify challenges and work
005together to bring solutions through a commitment to both consensus building and student achievement. It's because of that commitment to your students that um I know the superintendent and president were unable to actually be physically at the meeting because they chose to prioritize the recognition of students. And so I just wanted to take this opportunity when you're all together and on, you know, for your community to recognize all of that. Um and I've been happy, you know, to work alongside you. Um and it's been really my honor and privilege. So, just congratulations and I was happy to share that with your community tonight. >> Thank you, Gan. I also want to mention that um Gerald Lions and Joe Lewis were also honored that evening for certified board members and I believe Gerald um was honored for
00610 years of of public service as a as a board trustee. So, round of applause for them as well. So um it will move into the presentation. Um so I was asked to come out this evening and just review. Thank you so much. Um just review about uh strategic planning. So um for the benefit of your community, I'm Jean Clearary. I'm a field service representative. I work with your board and the boards in H Hudson, Essex, and Union counties to help you with your governance work. Um, and one of the things that um, helps boards work and engage with their community is strategic planning. So, we're just going to take a brief look at that tonight about what it is and the advantages of it. So, this way the board has this information to decide
007when might be the right time that you might want to engage in this process. So for the benefit of your community um we are New Jersey school boards a federation of boards of education and we provide training advocacy and support to advance public education and promote achievement of all students through your effective governance. So strategic planning is really um a way to create a district-wide and organizationwide vision and mission um that's focusing all of the stakeholders and members of the community um together so that you can stay focused on really what you are here to do which is serve students and student achievement. The advantages of doing a strategic plan is that it's proactive process that allows people um different stakeholders in the community to engage in it and we are not looking at um
008starting where often we are where we have a challenge and we have to meet that challenge. It's a proactive process to kind of do some visioning and thinking where do we want to go. It's creative and innovative and flexible. It provides an opportunity for um across the board, the community members, parents, um teachers and administrators, certainly the board to come together and students, I should say, um to come together to really vision where you want the um district to go in serving its students over the next five years. It also helps to create an ongoing cycle of planning and engagement so that once um the strategic plan is in place, it actually helps to guide the work of everyone um moving forward together on behalf of students. It really helps to optimize and um use
009those limited resources in an efficient and effective way for students. And it helps to control the dialogue to be able to share and engage with the community and keep people um informed and um understanding you know why decisions are being made after that because you'll be following this strategic plan and what comes out of it. So one of the things it is meant to do is help to provide a focus on your decision making. Um the board is here to represent not only individual their individual um feelings but to represent the community of stakeholders and a surefire way to be able to do that is to actually hear directly from them and by their participation in this process. It really highlights the importance of being sure that we really know that we're um making plans
010that are appropriate and what the community values for your students here. And it helps to create and as a former administrator I will say that it helps to create a plan that administration and staff members um become more engaged in in understanding how the goals are um designed, why they're there, and what they're hoping to achieve over multiple years instead of just one. Some reasons that you may want to do a strategic plan is to just look at where you are and recognizing the wonderful successes you have here, but recognizing also what challenges and opportunities lie ahead to continue um to advance service towards students. Looking at things like is your school enrollment changing? Is the population changing? Are people coming in with different needs? Are families moving in with different needs? um are there
011more people in the community who perhaps don't have children in the schools? This is a way to engage them because we know that public school, good public schools, strong public schools make for good communities. So even when people from the community may not have children in the schools, connecting them to understand all of the amazing things that you're doing here is very important. It's also important to consider, are there changes in the structure of families in your community? Are there changes in economics? Are there changes in educational levels? So, how you engage with different people at different times to make sure that you're really getting the benefit of bringing people together and being really clear on the plans that are being set to be really operating efficiently for students and student achievement? Um, is there
012competition for your schools? are students perhaps leaving um your public schools because of um offerings that they see are being offered somewhere else, right? How to be how do we remain competitive is an important part of this. Um and of course limited funding, you know, how is that impacting your programs and services and looking at um going forward through the strategic plan, what do you want to prioritize? And uh this process is meant to help you come together to identify the um the areas that you'd like to focus on and then come up with those plans to do so. Strategic planning is meant to bring um a multi-year uh set of goals that the community um comes together and identifies and then helps to identify on an annual basis for the next five years what
013the district goals that are focused on students will be and what the board goals for the next five years will be and how your governance impacts student achievement. And it filters all the way down through administrator goals, building level goals, department level goals. When we align all of this and everyone sees the important part that they play. Um, understanding that we have a tight focus on specific goals that we're really um committed to that has been shown to help increase student achievement. So what are the components of strategic planning? First, the board would have to, you know, review this, think about it, um, and make a commitment that you want to go ahead with this process. And then we begin by sharing of information with the community and everyone who's going to be participating in
014the process. that happens um at the first meeting um by a presentation of the state of the schools, usually done by the superintendent or the superintendent's designate to just recognize all of the amazing wonderful things that are happening for students right now, but also some of the challenges and opportunities for growth um that we should be thinking about. we address in the first meeting. Um these meetings are designed to um engage people in cons in consensus and small group work and then come together to share that we address strengths and challenges. Um so after hearing you know uh the report of the state of the schools where do individuals in the community feel those strengths and challenges are where are those commonalities? Then we move we take that and move into the second meeting which
015would be um visioning for the future of what you want to see so that we can start in the third meeting really identifying goal statements with three to five objectives so that we can really um put out there what this expectation is to accomplish over the next five years. After that it moves to administration. The superintendent will work with the administrative team to set action plans that will address the goal statements and the objectives of what come out of the strategic plan. This is helpful to focus everyone's attention and helps to stay engaged because over time as um those accomplishments are being made towards meeting those multi-year goals, the community is staying informed and seeing the progress in real time. So, the process, what does the process of strategic planning look like? We have um
016a pre-planning where I mentioned that the superintendent would put together, you know, a state of the schools to start us off. So, we're all working with the same information. Um I would facilitate through, you know, New Jersey school boards. We facilitate um three planning meetings that are held about a month apart for your community members to come out and participate in. The first one again is focusing on strengths and challenges. The next on vision and finally the goal statements and objectives. And when we say goal statements, we work through that consensus model to come up with perhaps three or four goal statements um and three to five objectives under each that really focus the work of everyone of what we're trying to accomplish over multiple years. So that annual goals will be um a part
017or a step on the ladder to meeting those multi-year goals. So first we would start off with a logistics planning meeting. Um sometimes it happens with superintendent and the full board. Sometimes it happens with superintendent and the president and vice president. Um just to really talk about the logistics, right? getting the word out to your community because we want to really encourage participation from a broad um range of people in your community. Um how to go about targeted outreach to invite people in to participate. How to use things like back to school night and events to share it and again, you know, try to bring people in. um arranging for a way uh to have RSVPs so that we can just know how many people we're expecting and make sure that everyone feels welcome when
018they walk in to participate. And we just look for, you know, a balance of representation. And part of this conversation in the logistics phase is talking about your community partners and inviting them to participate in it as well. Um by having representatives of their um groups participate in this process. So, generally at each one of those three um community meetings where we're we're coming together, the board president and the superintendent may just make brief welcoming remarks. Um we start that very first meeting as I said with the state of the schools to bring everybody the same information as we as we embark on this. Um all board members and staff are encouraged to participate. there. Um, usually we ask board members to um, select so that we can avoid quorum, so that we can really
019keep the focus of each one of those meetings really on a special meeting just specifically for strategic planning. Um, board members are asked to participate as community u members and not as official board members. And it gives the board an opportunity to also engage and hear firsthand from your stakeholders about what their concerns are, what their um vision is for the students. Um after each meeting, we would um I would be providing an outcomes report summing up everything that came out of that meeting. Um, and that would get posted to your district website for the benefit of everyone in the community to be able to follow along even if they're not able to participate in all of the meetings. After we conclude those three meetings and again that's spread out over a period of time
020usually about a month between each um we turn it over to the superintendent and administrative team so that they can come together and that's under creating the action plans of the really the roadmap of how you're going to meet those goals is under the authority of the superintendent. Um, and this will then be um all put together in a a bind um a bound copy of all of the work that all the board members will receive. um a board copy is left there so that if you have changes in um members of your board or for any meeting that you're having, it's always there as a reminder that you should be consulting it to see how the decisions you make and the plans that you're supporting are going to help move you closer and closer
021to achieving um those goals that are outlined in the strategic plan. Um we I would come out and actually deliver that. That would be an agenda item and it gives the district an opportunity to welcome the community in to see the final um presentation of that plan. The board would vote to accept the plan and recognize the importance of it um and move for forward with that um in what happens next over the next several years. So I just put this up just to give um especially the board an idea of what this process would look like. It's really not something you necessarily want to start over the summer because you want to host it hoping that you'll get that turnout from your community members. Summer is not a great time for that with everyone's
022plans. Um, and we recognize that September with the opening of schools can be a challenge to have that happen when you're doing back to school nights and the things that you do. So, between October and November, we can hold the um planning meeting to just lay out what what's going to happen, set the calendar dates and such. Um recognizing that we also have end of year breaks and the reorganization of the board in January, it's common to start this, but these are all, you know, these can all be flexible and change. Um let's say you start in February with that first meeting going into March with the second, April with the third would allow the administration um say six weeks to put together the action plans and then set a time for probably your last
023board meeting of the year to deliver the plan and celebrate that this process has um although the meetings have concluded that the process has begun. So just in summary, it is um a three meeting uh strategic plan. It's generally a fourmonth process. Could be a little bit longer depending on how dates fall. Um we just would really encourage you know students, staff, community members, parents, everyone to you know try to attend those meetings that they are able to attend if not all of them. Um just follow what's going on in the schools. I know tonight you're going to be celebrating students and recognizing wonderful things. Um the people in the room are probably already doing that, but the wider community um to kind of prepare by looking at the website and just following along and
024recognizing what's already happening in the schools. Um and then just, you know, check in over those um after this plan is in place um just to be hearing about the wonderful updates that will happen um in meeting these goals. So, I know some of the board members stepped away for a better view, but if there are any questions for me, I'm happy to um answer those. I I defer to um Mrs. Adetta Deietta. Any questions or >> not for me? Do any of the trustees have any questions for Jean on the strategic plan? >> And as you know, I'm always I'm always available to you. So, just please reach out. I know the board would need time to consider this and have discussions. I'm just really pleased to be with you tonight. I'm glad I
025got to share about your recognition so your community is aware of the great work that you're already doing and this is just another thing for your consideration. So, um, thank you for your attention. Thank you for accommodating me on the evening. Um, and I wish you all a safe and and healthy happy summer and um, please reach out if there's any question or anything you need from me. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Jean. Thank you so much. >> Safe home. Okay, I'm just going to go back to my president's message because I kind of skipped the jingo. >> Okay. Okay. As we conclude another successful school year, I would like to take a moment on behalf of the entire board of education to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who helped make this year a
026success. To our students, thank you for your hard work, determination, and enthusiasm. You have continued to learn, grow, and achieve great things both inside and outside the classroom. We are incredibly proud of all that you have accomplished. To our teachers, thank you for your unwavering commitment to excellence. Every day, you inspire, you challenge, and you support our students. Your dedication makes a lasting difference in the lives of our children and throughout our community. To our administrators, support staff, custodians, transportation personnel, food service teams, and all district employees. Thank you for the countless hours you devote to en ensuring our schools operate smoothly and safely. Your contributions are essential to the success of our district. To our parents and families, thank you for your partnership, your trust, and support. Education is most successful when schools and
027families work together, and we greatly appreciate your involvement throughout the year. As summer begins, we wish everyone a safe, relaxing, and enjoyable break. We hope our students take time to recharge, spend time with family and friends, explore new interests, and create lasting memories. While students and staff enjoy a well-deserved summer, the work of the board of education and district leadership will continue throughout the summer months, and we will remain focused on planning, preparing, and making improvements to ensure that we are fully ready to welcome everyone back in September. from from facilities, projects, and curriculum planning to staffing and district initiatives. We will be working diligently to position our schools for another outstanding year. We look forward to building on this year's accomplishments and continuing to provide the very best educational opportunities for our students. Thank
028you again for a wonderful school year. Have a safe, healthy, and happy summer, and we look forward to seeing everyone in September. Before I do, do we have any acknowledgements, please? No. Okay. Before I turn it over to our student representatives, I just want to say um thank you to these wonderful ladies who served on the board with us. Um I think I've known both of you since you're about three years old. So, it's been a pleasure having you here with us. It's been a pleasure watching you grow up and it was a pleasure watching you receive all of your accolades that I will tell everyone that they they deserved and they earned and they worked very hard for. Um so we as a board are very proud of you. So for the final time,
029student representatives. Good evening. To begin, as we approach the end of another successful school year, I would like to share a few highlights from the principal of Clarin School that reflect the incredible work of our students, staff, families, and community. We kicked off June with our students showcasing their talents during a beautiful band and chorus concert. It was a It was wonderful to see their hard work and dedication come to life on stage. Thank you to our music teachers for providing students with such meaningful opportunities to grow, perform, and build confidence. We are also excited to host career day organized by our school counselor, Mrs. Doring. Thank you to the generosity of our parents and community members. Students learned about a wide range of careers and heard firsthand about many paths available to them in
030the future. It was a fantastic day that helped students make connections between what they are learning in school and the opportunities that lie ahead. Our kindergarten students stole the show during their annual play. Watching youngest learners sing, perform, and shine in front of their families was a reminder of just how much growth takes place throughout the year. We are proud of their confidence, enthusiasm, and hard work. Clariden was also proud to once again participate in the torch run for Special Olympics. This event provided an opportunity for students and staff to come together in support of inclusion, acceptance, and respect for all individuals. It was inspiring to see our school community embrace these important values and support such a meaningful cause. Today we had a successful field day made possible through the hard work of our
031PTA staff and volunteers. Despite the heat, the day was filled with laughter, teamwork, and school spirit and provided a great opportunity for students to celebrate all they have accomplished this year while simply enjoying being kids. Next, I'm pleased to provide an update on the wonderful events and accomplishments taking place at Huber Street School. On June 2nd, fourth and fifth graders from both Huber Street School and Clarin School joined together for their annual spring concert. Special thanks to Mr. Oscar Gangora and Mr. Dana Motto for having the students so prepared for an amazing concert. Mr. Gongora's fourth grade training band showed off what they have learned in their first year playing an instrument. And the fifth grade concert band was fantastic. Mr. Amato's chorus brought down the house with a mix of fun and contemporary music.
032Huber Street School proudly hosted its annual kindergarten play on Thursday, June 4th, and it was an absolute splash. This year, our talented performers took us on a tropical getaway with their incredible show Hawaiian Beach Party. From energetic dances to wonderful singing, our kindergarteners brought sunshine, smiles, and tons of island spirit to the stage. On Monday, June 8th, the field was full of excitement as Huber Street School and Claran School faced off their annual track meet. Fourth and fifth graders from both schools showed off their athletic skills, competed in awesome events like the 50-yard dash, long jump, softball throw, teacher ball, and the thrilling 400yard relay race. Our proud Bears give it their all and came home victorious. Win or lose, every single student cheered on their friends, brought the best energy, and ensured that a
033great time was had by all. Congratulations, Mr. Roco, and way to go, Bears. On Wednesday, June 10th, the Huber Street School joined together with Milriidge School to host the annual pre-K promotion ceremony. Our youngest learners put on an absolute wonderful show, singing and smiling for a packed room of proud family and friends. It was a beautiful day dedicated to celebrating how much these amazing children have grown this year. Following that, I would like to highlight some exciting activities and achievements from Caucus Middle School. June has been an exciting month at Caucus Middle School. Students enjoyed a fun-filled field day and celebrated 8th grade yearbook signing and pool day as they reflected on their middle school years. We proudly hosted the National Junior Honor Society induction ceremony recognizing students for their achievements in scholarship, leadership, character,
034citizenship, and service. We also congratulate students honored in the 2026 Hudson County Hudson County Law Day and Earth Day contest for their outstanding accomplishments. On June 10th, we welcomed fifth grade students from Clarin and Hebrew Street schools for our annual Patriot for a Day assembly, helping them prepare for their transition to middle school. We look forward to celebrating the eighth grade graduation ceremony on June 17th and honoring the accomplishments of the class of 2026 as they begin their next chapter at Caucus High School. Finally, I'm excited to share several accomplishments, celebrations, and updates from Caucus High School. We would like to congratulate Katherine Nardone and Byron Mills, this year's NJIC sportsmanship award recipients. This honor recognizes student athletes who demonstrate outstanding leadership, character, respect, and sportsmanship both on and off the field. We are proud
035of how they represented Cokas High School. Congratulations as well to Sophia Guzman who is recognized as our NJSIA scholar athlete. This prestige award highlights her exceptional achievements in academics, athletics, and leadership. Members of the literary club recently completed the 2025 2026 edition of student snippets, showcasing their incredible writing and artistic talents of our students. Students also participated in construction industry day where they explored careers in the skilled trades through their hands-on activities and interactions with industry professionals. The Cultural Diversity Club, Italian for Honor students, and members of the National Foreign Language Honor Society enjoyed an educational trip to Italy, where they experienced Italian culture, cuisine, and language firsthand. Our science club recently completed its annual campus cleanup, helping to beautify our school grounds and protect the local environment. The senior class has enjoyed several memorable
036events this month, including a trip class trip to Six Flags on June 1st, pool day on June 3rd, and senior prom on June 4th. Prom was a beautiful evening filled with celebration and lasting memories for the class of 2026. On June 9th, we held scholarship night where many seniors were recognized with multiple scholarships and awards for their hard work and achievements throughout high school. Finally, on June 10th, we celebrated our graduated student athletes at the at the athletic awards ceremony. It was a wonderful evening recognizing their dedication, accomplishments, and contributions to the athletic programs. Thank you. That is all we have to report for this month. Thank you, ladies. At this time, I'd like to welcome up Felicia Shri to do the Wilson certification recognition. No, don't you move it. Oh, okay. >> Hello everybody.
037Tonight, it is my privilege to recognize three outstanding educators who have successfully completed the Wilson reading certification program this school year. I am excited to honor Sam Ferris, an ESL teacher at Huber Street School, Anna Mongello, a basic skills teacher at Claran School, and Lisa Bartletta, a special education teacher at Claran School. Their commitment to professional growth and dedication to supporting student literacy exemplifies the high standards of excellence we value throughout our district. This accomplishment represents far more than the completion of a professional development course. The Wilson certification program is an extensive and rigorous training process that requires a significant investment of time, dedication, and perseverance. Throughout the year, these teachers spend countless hours outside of their regular workday preparing lessons, studying instructional practices, collecting and analyzing student data, participating in observations, and reflecting on
038their own teaching. While balancing the many responsibilities that come with being an ESL teacher, a basic skills teacher, or a special education teacher, they remain committed to expanding their expertise in literacy instruction so they could better support the students they serve. This certification required them to dedicate evenings, weekends, and personal time to ensure they were providing the highest quality instruction possible. By completing the certification, these teachers have strengthened their ability to provide targeted, effective literacy instruction that will have a lasting impact on student achievement. On behalf of the CC Caucus Public Schools, I would like to extend our sincere congratulations and gratitude to each of you. Your hard work, determination, and dedication to professional growth are truly commendable. We are fortunate to have educators who continually strive to improve their practice and go above and
039beyond for our students. As we continue to strengthen our literacy initiatives, we look forward to utilizing the Wilson reading program as another valuable intervention to support student success. Because of educators like you, more students will have access to these tools, instruction, and support they need to become confident and successful readers. Please join me in congratulating these remarkable teachers on this outstanding achievement. We are proud of your accomplishment, grateful for your dedication, and excited about the positive impact your work will have on our students for years to come. At this time, I would like to invite Sam Ferris, Lisa Bartletta, and Anna Mongello to stand and be recognized as they receive their certificates of achievement for successfully completing the Wilson reading certification program. Please join me in congratulating them on this remarkable accomplishment. While we have
040recognized the dedication and hard work of our teachers this evening, we would also like to acknowledge three very special students who played an important role in this accomplishment. The Wilson certification program requires teachers to work closely with a student throughout the practicum experience. These students committed to participating in Wilson lessons three times a week, demonstrating perseverance, focus, and a willingness to learn and grow as readers. Learning to read and strengthen literacy skills takes courage, patience, and hard work. Their commitment not only supported their own academic growth, but also helped their teachers complete this rigorous certification program. We are incredibly proud of each of you. Your hard work, positive attitude, and dedication to learning have truly been in inspiring. The growth you have made this year is a reflection of your effort and perseverance, and you
041should be very proud of all that you have accomplished. On behalf of the Caucus Public School District, thank you for your commitment and for being such important partners in this journey. We celebrate your achievements tonight and look forward to all the success that lies ahead of you. Please join me in congratulating these outstanding students for their hard work and dedication in supporting their teachers in achieving the certification. At this time, I would like to invite Jaden Lewis from Hubert Street School, Mason Lopez from Claran School, and Anthony Zambrano from Claran School to come forward and accept their certificate of achievement and trophy in recognition of their accomplishments. We are incredibly proud of each of you. Congratulations. Okay. Hello everybody. Uh I'm Felicia Chhatri. I'm also here to present about our benchmark C uh data analysis.
042I am the director of elementary education curriculum and instruction and very excited to share with you our form C results. So the purpose of our link benchmarks that we have been doing three times this school year are first to identify our strengths and weaknesses, address them and then support our students. Now this was one of our district goals this past school year is to provide the report to the board of education three times a year which is exactly what we have been doing and this is the last and final report of the school year. Now just a little bit of background information. We have three benchmark assessments. Benchmark A was in September, B is in January, C is in April. They are in ELA and mathematics. The categories are exceeding, meeting, bubble, approaching, partially meeting,
043and not meeting. I put this bullet point about the bubble category on here again uh for this presentation as well because I probably get questions about the bubble category once a week. Uh this is also the meeting category. So if you see something in brown on this presentation, that is the bubble category, which means that they students are still meeting those expectations, but they fell in that bottom 10% of that meeting cohort. So that's the group of students we really want to monitor to make sure that they stay in that meeting category and don't fall below. Uh just a few differences and you're going to find a few differences in this presentation compared to past ones because each presentation is about a different form. So form A is that diagnostic the baseline it's the initial
044understanding of uh standards baseline data identify strengths and weaknesses it's in September and we use this information to plan instruction for the school year while form B was my previous presentation on progress it's we use this information for progress monitoring growth towards our endofear standards it is growth data we use this to evaluate our effectiveness of instruction and interventions I like that this benchmark is in January. It's the halfway point where we can really hone in on what else we need to do to make sure our students are successful throughout the school year. We adjust instruction at this point of the year. Reteach standards if needed and we also provide support. Now we have form C which was administered in April. That's endofear mastery mastery of endofear standards. Achievement data provides determine the overall achievement
045and readiness. This is administered in April and we use this to evaluate our curriculum effectiveness and plan next steps which is exactly what this presentation is all about. So just again the benchmark C reports that you're about to see. Um there's going to be a lot of charts I'm about to show you just like my previous presentation. So after this slide there's going to be a lot of charts. So, if you do want to watch at home or if you cannot see the charts from your seat, this presentation is already posted on the district website under the board tab and you just click board presentation. So, you can see those charts. I am going to go pretty quickly through these charts uh because there's a lot of information on here, so I don't want to
046be here all night, but um it provides valuable data for our district that I am going to go through. You're going to find that A, B, and C is all a little bit different. Um, I like these questions here where form A is where are students starting? Form B is how much progress are students making and C is did students meet this um the year's learning expectations? Now, every presentation I've done so far this school year, I've used different charts because our linkage platform provides an endless amount of data for our teachers, for our faculty, for our staff, for administrators. So, it's an extremely valuable tool. But depending on the time of year, each chart's a little bit different. The chart I did pick tonight has a lot of colors on them. I think the
047colors are very important to see the red, the orange, yellow, green. Uh where are we? And it's nice to track the colors and watch as things change as students change throughout the school years and where our needs are in areas of strengths and weaknesses. So the biggest part two is this supports the decisions related to interventions, curriculum effectiveness, and state assessment readiness. So you're going to see that this is the first just a district summary going through form A, form B, form C. And again, you're going to see all these charts are very colorful, seeing where we progressed, what areas we're strong in, what areas we're weak in, the categories we need to provide extra support in. This is for math as well. And again, this is going to be a lot of information, a
048lot of numbers being shared. We're looking at those meeting categories, where we're growing, where we're not, where our strengths and weaknesses are. I also broke this down by school. You're going to see this starts with Clarin School of Grades one and two. What I like about these colors is you can see where are we decreasing, where where did we start, where did we end, and then I also have our ELA results comparing from one year to another, from form A to form C, seeing where we were last year, seeing where we are this year. And then I also have math as well. Just like this, we have assess in ELA and mathematics. And again, you can see where are we decreasing? Are we decreasing in the red? Are we increasing in the green? These are
049questions we want to ask as we go through these slides. Same with form A and form C. Again, the same comparison. You'll see that growth from the beginning of the year, which is great to see. And then we also compare from year to year. Where are we increasing or decreasing as we continue on, we go to grades three and five, and you're going to find that as our students are progressing through our elementary schools and receiving appropriate interventions, the colors, you're going to see a lot less red as we continue on. Um, so it's very nice to see that growth. um and seeing those numbers decrease and increase in other areas, too. And as we compare from year to year, you're going to see that these are the same results for every grade level. You're
050going to see that year-to-year comparison, as well as the colors, too. So, you could see where our strengths and weaknesses are, what areas did we see substantial growth in, what areas maybe we did not, and we need to focus on that curriculum, the pacing guides over the summer to plan accordingly for next school year. Then, we also have our math results as well for grades three to five. And again, you're going to see a lot less red here. You're going to see the green, that brown, that bubble is still part of that meeting category. And then we have our exceeding as well. And here's our year-to-year comparison going from 2425 to 2026 for Claren School, grades three to five in math. Now, we're going to move on to Hubert Street School as well. You're going
051to see similar graphs for each one. um same similar data and it's nice to see the differences from A to C where that growth was making sure that every single grade level is growing at an appropriate rate. Um as we continue on we're moving on to uh first and second at Hubert Street School and math. Then we're moving on to grades three to five for ELA as well. And again you could see where are we increasing, where are we decreasing, what areas we need to work on moving forward as we continue analyzing this data. And you can see the year-to-year comparison for Hubert Street School for grades three to five. And then we move on to mathematics as well. You're going to see here there's a lot of decreases in the red, which is really,
052really great to see as the year continues on. Um, and then we have our year-to-year comparison. And then we move on to our middle school. Uh, so again, this chart is a little bit larger because we have a larger population of students here. Uh, and we have our ELA averages as well going from form A to form C. So, it's nice to have that consistent data that teachers are getting throughout all of our grade levels. So, it doesn't matter if you're in first grade versus seventh grade, every teacher is still getting the same type of data on their students. And we can use this data to help us drive our instruction. And as we continue on too, you could see the growth from year to year. Um, it's great to see that growth uh from
053form A to form C. And then we move into our high school. Here we have instead of grade levels we have English one, English two, English three. And again we have that same year-to-year comparison. And for mathematics we have algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2. And then we also have the summary of math all grades at the end. So now you may be asking what are our action steps after looking at all this data. There's definitely areas we can improve on. There's definitely areas that we should be celebrating as well. Um, a few action steps that we are doing is an investment in professional development for faculty and staff. We continue to enhance current practices. We're increasing trainings and intervention services such as the Wilson reading certified teachers. We just had three teachers who are certified
054and we're very, very excited to use the skills that they have learned over this past school year to provide intervention services to our elementary students. We also have teachers who are currently in a uh Lexia letters certification program as well as another intervention tool for our elementary students. We also finally have consistency in curriculum and instruction. We also have been making chronic absenteeism uh making sure families are aware of chronic absenteeism. I did a presentation earlier this school year on chronic absenteeism and we do have that in all four of our schools. So, please for parents out there, please send your child to school so we can support them and make sure they're successful as they progress through our schools. In order for your students to get out of the red areas, we need them
055to come to school. We also have an NJSLA intervention program that was offered this past school year for grades three to eight. We have an NJGPA preparation program and we are also integrating educational technology tools to prepare students for online assessments. Our students in grades three and up have onetoone devices that they are taking back and forth from home. And you're going to find a lot of our students are taking online assessments at those grade levels. So that when they that way when they take standardized assessments and they take benchmark assessments, they are prepared and they're used to that online platform already. Our grades one and two students, that's a brand new experience for them. So they're not only taking these benchmarks for the first time, they're also using technology for the first time to
056take an assessment and they're only using that those three times a year. So besides working on those foundational skills, we're also working hard to integrate educational technology tools so that way they are prepared for those online assessments and when they do take the NJSLA when they get to grades three, they're prepared and they know how to navigate that online platform. We also use this information to identify standards with the lowest proficiency rates. We're comparing form C results to form A and B to determine if growth occurred despite low proficiency. We identify standards that may have been under emphasized or not adequately addressed. We're reviewing pacing guides to ensure sufficient instruction time for priority standards. Increase emphasis on standard based instruction. Strengthen differentiation and small groupoup instruction. We're working to facilitate collaborative data meetings and professional
057learning communities. We've worked very hard this school year to have our link representatives come into our schools and support our teachers to make sure that they're making data informed decisions. And we also want to celebrate areas of growth while also addressing areas of concerns. I know I speak to a lot of families in the community about these benchmarks and how their individual child is performing on these benchmarks and it's always nice to see that growth. You might say, "They're still in that orange area. Um, I'm concerned. What else can I do?" But when you look at those numbers, they may have increased by 30 points. They're still making progress. And if we continue the appropriate interventions, we will continue to see that growth. So, thank you for um listening to the three presentations throughout the
058school year on our benchmark assessments. I'm very excited that we have access to this wonderful data and we can continue to make data informed decisions as we continue to enhance and improve our curriculum and instruction. Does anybody have any questions? Okay, thank you. This time I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Tobac to do the of the year goal update. >> Okay. So, um my report will be fairly brief, but it is a required report. So, every year school districts are supposed to report on progress toward goals halfway through the year and then at the end of the year. So, this is our our official end of year goal report up. You'll you'll notice um what you'll see is very familiar. Seen this before, right? So, um the first goal that we had this
059year was to advance safety and security measures. And so I don't think there's any question that our schools are safer. We also thank the the Sakus Police Department and the Department of Education for helping us to assess where we are at all of our schools. We did extensive walkthroughs, reviewed emergency protocols, and like I said, I think that we are as a district much safer school system. Um because we're aware, we're far more aware than what we were. So this process really did help us. Go to the next one. So this goal is basically what you just saw, right? Fact that we have this link software is a valuable thing. The next step is to create awareness in the district about how our schools are performing, how our students are doing, and where they are
060in terms of them meeting the um state's academic standards. So this goal was definitely met, and I think that um I want to thank Mr. doing a very nice job putting together these presentations and assisting with creating this awareness in the community and helping the district really focus on the academic side of of what we're doing here. Okay. So, this is enhanced training and professional development for support staff. So, there really was a fairly minimal amount of time. So, we do have more that we will be doing and there's more that we have planned. Um but additional training, professional development opportunities for our bus drivers, um workers from all different parts of the school district's operations are a part of this. And a lot of that will also be put together with our um we
061we have a excuse me, we have our new employee handbook which is also a vital part of that so that all district employees are familiar with board of policies and all the different things that are required as of the district. Next goal, please. So, this is our fourth goal and this is really one of the first things that I wound up having having discussion about when I arrived in October was the enrollment that we had at Milidge School. So a lot of things happened since that time. Pursued this goal and now we're in a situation where we have program starting at Clarin School next year, right? So we're going to move the program. The other nice thing is that we have um some additional students beyond our capacity. So we built our enrollment to the
062point where we are going to have to run a lottery next week to make sure that um our class sizes are what they need to be. So, we do have more um parents interested in enrolling their children in the program than we have seen, and that's unfortunate. Um and perhaps some additional work could be done in the upcoming year to create some additional classrooms so we can accommodate more parents. Next goal. So, this is basically a goal that took place throughout the year. Um and the idea is that we want to build in-house pipeline um bullpen if you want to think about it ultimately a group of people who are interested in advancing their careers and perhaps entering the administrative ranks. So training programs were held throughout the year to help a group of about
06315 teachers who were fairly reliable in attending these different programs we have. Um, we also have an opportunity for our staff members who attend classes. Monontlair University is starting a program for educational leadership at now Wehawen High School. So, they're going to start a program there. It's very convenient. I know a number of our students, sorry, a number of our staff members have already expressed interest and I believe are signed up for the program. So, that's exciting. Um, I don't think there's any more goals, right? That's it. That's it. Okay. So, um, board members, are there any questions about the goals? No. Good. >> Yeah. Once. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you for all your hard work on behalf of the board and creating those goals and and seeing them through. Thank you. You
064all right? Everybody back. >> Correspondence. >> No correspondence. >> Okay. Interim superintendent report. As we gather this evening for the final board of education meeting of the 2526 school year, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the year and express my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to serve as interim superintendent of schools. This year has been one of both challenges and accomplishments. Like school districts across New Jersey, throughout the nation, we face a number of significant issues. We've worked through budgetary pressures, increasing operational costs, aging facilities, staffing challenges. These are the issues that exist everywhere and the ongoing responsibility of ensuring that every student has access to a safe, supportive and academically challenging educational experience. In addition to the unexpected, there's also numerous unexpected challenges. We all understand that the greatest strength of
065the Caucus schools is not found in any single program or in a building or through an initiative. It is found in its people. And so I've had the privilege of working alongside an exceptionally dedicated board of education, talented administrators, committed teachers and support staff, parents, community partners, and most importantly, remarkable students. The end of one school year is the beginning of the next. And so while we take pride in our accomplishments, we now change gears and we focus on the opportunities for the coming year. Continuous improvement is the hallmark of successful organizations everywhere. And Caucus Public Schools is well positioned to build upon its strengths in the years ahead. The work of enhancing academic achievement, strengthening instructional practices, maintaining fiscal responsibility, ensuring safe and welcoming schools must continue to remain at the forefront of our
066efforts. On a personal note, I'd like to express my gratitude to the board of education for its support and partnership throughout this year. Serving as an interim superintendent has been an honor and a pleasure, and I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the community and working with so many dedicated individuals who care deeply about the success of children. I'm excited for the future of the district and look forward to continuing our work together in the 2627 school year. There's much to celebrate. There's even more to accomplish. Finally, I'd like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the class of 2026. As much as the Sakusa schools have shaped you, you've shaped the school system in a very positive way. Speaking of the future, I'm happy that we've managed to build a good enrollment for our early childhood
067program. So again, just a reminder that on Wednesday, June 17th at 1:00 at the Caucus Board of Education building located at 685 Fifth Street, there is an enrollment lottery that will be held and it is open to parents of registered preK students that will also be recorded for viewing at a later time should anyone choose to view it. On the agenda tonight, you will see a job description, which is very important for the future of the district and completely aligned with the presentation you just saw regarding our benchmarks. This job description is for oversight of our academic programs, a chief academic officer position. It's a position that brings accountability and the goal of improved academic performance across the district to the forefront. The position also includes responsibilities for something that's needed in this district, grant
068writing. And so it is vital for the future of the school system to have a excellent employee holding this position and working hard on enhancing our academic programs. >> Thank you Dr. Tobac. On behalf of the board, we look forward to another great year with you as well. Business administrator board secretary report. >> No report. Okay. Public forum regarding agenda items. Okay. So, this meeting is now open to the public for the purpose of addressing items listed for approval on the agenda only. Residents wishing to speak on such items must sign the register provided for the this purpose and are required to state their names, addresses, and subject matter. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. I guess we have a timer up here. Um, the board may or may not respond to issues
069raised by members of the public at the time they're raised, but will provide a response if and when appropriate. The board asked the members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking. Please note that the board will not respond to comments regarding students or board employees in light of the privacy rights held by those individuals. Moreover, the board discourages comments about such individuals will not be responsible for such comments. Members of the public who choose to speak during this public session should carefully consider their comments since they could be held personally liable for any statements they make. Finally, please note that in accordance with district policy number 10. The board will not officially comment or respond to any matter mentioned unless it can confirm that the matter has
070first been brought to the attention of the appropriate school personnel in an attempt to resolve the issue. >> Public forum general. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Donald Evansson. Don Evansson, publisher of Caucus Spectator, residing at 1407 Harmon Cove Towers. I'm also the president of the Harmon Cove Poker Society. And that's relevant because in our group of 16 to 20 members, we have some very talented people. Two of them are television actors. Two of them are senior bank executives for PNC and Chase. Every now and then we address a problem usually in our building because we have about a $9 million operating budget. But they read the previous issue of the Caucus Spectator and they noted that the school budget was short. Make some money for the school in that way. Well, of course we had actors and
071the actors said, "Well, you know, somebody said you could rent the pack." And then one of my bank executives said, "Why rent the pack? Why not manage the pack?" And then somebody said, "Well, okay, but we can't use any property taxes." And somebody said, "Well, all right. Why don't we make it a nonprofit?" And as a nonprofit, we don't tap in to the town taxes property tax. And as a nonprofit, any profit we generate, we can assign to the SBOE board education for educational purposes. So that got my actors going. And so what we did is the bankers went and they went to the 990s. And the 990s of all of the well about 12 of the major regional theaters in New Jersey. And we found out some interesting things. And we took that information
072and we applied it to here. And we figured out that we could generate after expenses anywhere between 300,000 to $800,000 in revenue as a nonprofit. And so they said, "Well, why don't we think about doing that?" And so my theater guys looked around and said, "Well, we can take seven months of the school year and take one Friday and Saturday of each month for a show and on a different weekend one Sunday matinea for a show. And if we do that, we don't impact on the school because the school generally doesn't use the theater except for special occasions. So that would be clear. We got the place. We can get the talent. We can cost out the talent. We can generate sales from tickets and other sources. For example, for $250, 700 people are listed
073as donators for the Bucks County Theater. 250, 700. Do the math. It's not that hard. What we did say was we only have 21,437 people in the town of Saucus. We can't do that. But there's 740,000 people in Hudson County. We can do that. All we have to do is really simple. We can just say this is the Hudson County Arthur Couch Community Theater. When we do that, we can do a number of things. We can tap into state grant funding. Mr. Evansson, >> we can tap into Senator Stack. >> Mr. Evansson. >> Yes, sir. Time limit. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I'm sorry about that. >> Can I distribute something for you or just give it to you? >> We can continue this conversation at a later date if if that's okay with you.
074We just have a policy for the time that >> I got speakers are allowed. Okay. >> And the board I'll let you distribute to >> the folks that you want to distribute to. >> Yeah. >> We can go from there. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And it sounds great. Thank you. >> Thank you, Anthony Grineer. Good evening everyone. Anthony Granary, Caucus resident. Um, I'd like to start by commending the teachers uh on the benchmark reports. Uh I am very pleased to see the the improvement that this district showed over the course of the year from form A to form C. ELA from 49% to 53.9% and then math from 33.5% uh this districtwide numbers um meeting the benchmark from 33.5 to 40.3%. Uh so congratulations to our teachers for uh showing the improvement within our
075students. Um, I'm also excited to learn about the district's commitment to the New Jersey State Bar Association, excuse me, New Jersey School Board Association strategic planning process. I'm hopeful that this will lead to increased transparency, community involvement, and a continued improvement in our schools. Um, however, as the benchmark numbers did show, we still do have a lot of room to improve. Um, again, our district currently sits at 53.9% mean the benchmark at ELA and under 50% of math. So, we will have approximately half our students not meeting these benchmark standards uh districtwide. Um so I am also concerned given the budget cuts that were announced last month uh whether this improvement will continue or halt. Going back to my comments from last month, I'd like to acknowledge the fact that the district has still not
076provided any answers to my specific questions regarding the budget cuts. Um there's no need to to again go over those questions, but I would again ask the district to provide answers hopefully tonight. Um the email that I received on Tuesday did not answer the specific questions presented last month. Um I'd also just like to point out one other um report that came out this month. It was the New Jersey Department of Education 2026 local special educations determinations. Uh that reported on fiscal year 2024. Um again, unfortunately, our district scored a one out of four in inclusion. Um we scored a one out of four inclusion on the report the year before that. Um as you all know, I am an extreme advocate of inclusion um of all our students in the general education population to
077uh the extent permitting. The score states that um the district well that the New Jersey Department of Education to receive a four out of four would like to see at least 60% of the students K through 12 with IEPs inside a general education classroom for 80% or more the day. Score three would be between 45 to 59.9%. There is no score of two. A score of one is what we received would be between 30 to 45% of the students K through 12 and IP inside a general education classroom for 80 or more% of the day. Caucus scored a 34.45%. So we are on the bottom end of that one uh point. Um we are only 4% away from receiving a zero in that matter. Uh this is something that the district must address. Uh inclusion
078is such an important part of education. Um it is something that I've been bringing up for two years and unfortunately we have seen little to no progress. So, I'm hoping that this is a goal for next year and beyond and that this district takes that seriously. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, initially in the beginning of the meeting, I had said that we were going to break and go back into executive session. However, we are going to um finish out our agenda items and then we will go back into executive session. We'll close out the meeting, go back into executive session as we will be making no um no decisions. Vic, is that is that appropriate, Vic? If we go back into executive session with um with no action being taken uh just to evaluate to
079go over the CSA evaluation, okay, we can close out. Okay. All right. Okay. Moving into governance personnel. >> Governance met on Thursday, May 28th. Committee reviewed and discussed policy honoring pupil achievement. Discrepancies were noticed in how the policy was followed between the district schools. Moving forward, all the district schools will be following a uniform policy when honoring the honoral students. The committee also discussed several of the reviewed policies from the policy committee meeting. Those were the American with Disabilities Act, executive authority, annual motions and designations, public uh participation in board meetings and recording board meetings. As we move forward, we will keep reviewing uh the policies reviewed by the policy committee and their recommendations. Uh the topic of re-registration was discussed. The committee felt that the best course of action would be limiting it to
080transition grades, thus uh initial registration into the school system of fifth to sixth grade and eighth grade into high school. We also discussed concerns uh regarding the uh coaching stipens and also uh possible uh savings and summer ESI staffing ratios and funding. The board uh committee also had a healthy discussion uh regarding the our nephism policy in regards to future hires. Moving forward, we have um the committee also reviewed approvals which included special education teacher prevention and intervention counselor, approval for faculty transfers, summer academy positions, kindergarten screening, ESY staff, fall and winter coaches, student teachers, pred uh reappointments, uh maternity bonding leave, and FMLA leave. The committee also further discussed the chief academic officer uh it was uh discussed about the description and was reviewed and approved for posting. We also approve the urging uh
081of health benefits relief and reform. We discussed the web managers uh their uh responsibilities expectations for the group will be set and get them to where they need to be. The residency and trency officer position was discussed and reviewed. Uh we reviewed other district offerings and moved to set a standard stipen uh as well for the security specialist. We reviewed the employee handbook update. Uh the committee received a printed copy of the employee handbook. Uh as an excellent job done by Dr. toback students and a special thanks to vice principal Amanda Jones for adding some caucus flare to the handbook graphics and we are hoping to we're going to be adopting the handbook pending attorney review. That was it for our meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you, Alex. Education curriculum. >> Good evening everyone and
082thank you for being here tonight. Uh the education committee had a short but productive meeting on May 28th. Um we are wrapping up the 2526 school year and getting ready for the new year ahead. Uh education never stops. Um the committee had education uh had a good discussion about our extended school year programs. The district is planning to have 10 classes with 76 students expected to attend the programs over the summer. Uh we have quite a few items this month uh for a vote. Um the district is asking for approval of the new fundamentals of technology and business curriculum. This is the course that will be will be replacing STEM in grade 8. Uh also the district is looking for approval of IT disposable list. Um approval of the Sakus emergency virtual or remote instruction
083programs. This is the state requirement that we do every year. Also, they're looking for approval of submission to the executive county uh office of reconfiguration change from form to add prek to Clarendon School and also to remove prek from Huber Street School. Uh we also have two emergent items and they have to do with um transportation. uh we didn't discuss them during the committee meetings but this is um ongoing process and uh we do it every year. So the district is looking for approval to provide district transportation for all CBI uh in district travel and also the district is looking for transportation for to all sakus municipal offices and municipal facilities and special community events uh for the 25 26 27 school year. >> Thank you Tatiana. operations committee, finance, buildings and grounds. >> So,
084at our meeting this month, we were updated on um some issues. Uh so, uh the school dude tickets uh we had 335 completed school dude tickets. Uh we are looking into RFPing uh a new architect. We do have some summer projects uh that will be happening. Uh we have some internal moves. Uh the early learning center will be moving to Claren and vice versa. Uh prek4 enrollment, we have 22 uh general ed and six special uh special needs uh students. Uh prek3 enrollment, we have 14 general um and two special needs students. We're looking to raise uh additional revenue through uh transportation and renting out the pack. Um the clarin playground, the the web uh was fixed. Uh turf replacement will take uh two to three more additional weeks. uh the press box at the
085high school. We asked the town if we could if we would buy the the materials, would they be willing to fix it? We had a meeting um on June 2nd. Uh the tennis courts will be uh completed will be completed over the summer. Uh two condensers need to be replaced at Clarin School Library. Uh and then uh normal financials were discussed. That's all. >> Thank you, Joe. Motion to move and approve all agenda items. I'd like to make a motion to accept the recommendation of the business administrator board secretary to approve and adopt resolutions R 1.01 through R 5.07. >> Second >> discussion. Call the RO. >> Mr. Bartletta. >> No to M1.01. Yes to everything else. Miss Dadetta. >> Yes. >> Mr. Barry, >> yes. >> Mr. Deombre, >> yes. >> Miss Eckles, >>
086yes. >> Miss Gella, >> no to R101. Uh, and yes on the rest. >> Miss Howard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lewis? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lions? Yes. >> New business. >> Okay. Under new business, this is these are the resolutions that the district passed in order to run the 2627 school year. They range from our policies to um establishing internal controls, pointing our broker, pointing our risk manager of our benefits. So these are the standard resolutions that are needed to operate the 2627. Okay. >> Like to accept the recommendation of the interim superintendent and business administrator, board secretary to approve and adopt resolutions R 20126.01 through R206.15 >> for school year 2026 27 as described below for the following. >> Second. Second discussion. Call the role. >> Mr. Bartletta? >> Yes. >> Miss Dadetta? >>
087Yes. >> Mr. Barry? >> Yes. >> Mr. Deumbre? >> Yes. >> Miss Eckles? >> Yes. >> Miss Geller? >> Yes. >> Miss Howard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lewis? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lions? >> Yes. >> For ad hoc, there were no shared services. Uh there was not a shared services meeting. Um there was no legislation meeting, no athletics meeting, no technology meeting, no visions negotiations. Uh we met with the SEA on June 1st. Um we also met with the SEA on June 10th. Um we have still not settled the contract. We are scheduling an additional meeting um for I believe the coming week um to meet again with them as well. >> Board member comments. Hello. >> Um, I just want to take this time. I've had the honor the last couple of weeks to
088kind of be involved in a lot of the end of the year activities for both the fifth grade and the the graduating seniors. being that I have a daughter that's graduating fifth and a niece graduating high school and I have to say that it's an honor to sit in a crowd and see how well our students do. Um I don't think people actually realize how talented our students are in this district. We have kids going to Harvard. We have kids going to these schools that are incredible. Um and it takes a village. you know, uh, our community really invests in our kids, which is an amazing thing. The scholarships don't just come by the way of somebody dropping money in a box, right? So, all of the people that invest in our students is great
089because they're investing in the future of those students and actually the future of our town also. Um, the other thing I would like to say is I think we got to give a good shout out to our PTAs and all of our schools because without them, honestly, these the amount of things that they do for these students at the end of the year, I don't know when they sleep because I feel like every day we're doing something else with whether it's a field day or a pool day or whatever it may be. They are incredible with what they do. And last, I want to say thank you to our educators and our administrators and our support staff and our coaches. Um, without them, there is no collective us, right? So, without our teachers, there is
090no us. There's no board up here. There's no students. There's no education, right? And I think that's overlooked sometimes. I think we're just s we sometimes sit here and say, "Well, that's their job." Well, a lot of these teachers go above and beyond what their job title is. And I think that they shape the lives. They inspire the curiosities. They encourage perseverance. And they help students discover their potential. And that's a big big thing is helping our students discover potential. And to our graduates, I just want to say as you leave the hallways and begin your next chapters, remember that your success will not be defined solely by your by what you have achieved, but by how you treat others, how you persevere with through challenges, and how you use your talents to make the
091world a little better than how you found it. That's all. >> Very well said, Melissa. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? I just want to also add uh I attended the senior award scholarship night and it was really tremendously done by Miss Susano and the guidance department and this being the best year in terms of um scholarships handed out was $112,000 and it was really amazing not only that these community members, businesses, corporations donated these scholarships to our students but just to hear all the accolades that the students had accomplished to achieve these That was really a fantastic night. >> Well said. Yeah, I agree. Um, Christina, very, very impressive. Also, I just want to say getting back to our student representatives, I know Molina wasn't here this evening and Alyn and Gianna, we're going
092to have to invite them back in July because this June meeting snuck up on me and and I just completely forgot to acknowledge them. We usually get them an end of the year gift. So, they're going to have to come back in July for that and we will honor them at that time. Um and just on behalf of the board, um enjoy the remainder of the school year and happy summer everyone and um we will be back in July. Motion to go back into executive session. Um no action will be taken with the non-conlicted board members. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Everybody have a good night. Get home safe.