001on the bulletin board located in the hallway of the board of administr board of education administrative building as well as the district website. >> Excellent. Roll call. >> Mr. Bartletta, >> present. >> Miss Diodetta, >> present. >> Mr. Barry, >> present. >> Mr. Deumbre, >> present. >> Miss Geller, >> present. >> Miss Howard, >> present. >> Mr. Lewis, >> present. >> Mr. Lions, >> present. Good evening and welcome ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to Dr. Mark Tobach as he officially joins our district. Dr. Tobach brings with him many years of valuable experience as both a superintendent and a business administrator. Since beginning his role on October 1st, he has already visited each of our schools, met with our staff and administrators, connected with town and council
002representatives, and sat in on his first round of committee meetings. Dr. Tobac has truly hit the ground running, providing thoughtful input and actionable ideas to help make our district the best it can be. On behalf of the board, we are excited to work alongside him and look forward to what we will accomplish together. I would also like to take a moment to welcome three new additions to our board family, one of which is here this evening with us, Miss Avalin Torres. Also, who will be joining us in future meetings uh will be Molina and Gianna as well. And on behalf of the board, we are thrilled to have you with us for this school year and we look forward to your contributions and your fresh perspectives. Superintendent Search Update. As many of you know, we
003recently concluded the interview process with our final third round candidate. Unfortunately, the candidate did not receive enough votes to move forward with an offer. While I cannot disclose details of the close session vote, I can share that it was not a unanimous decision. We agreed to take a moment to pause and reflect before determining our next steps in the search process. In the meantime, we are fortunate to have Dr. Tobach with us through June of 2026 and potentially for the 2627 school year, providing stability and strong leadership for our district. Board updates. We're proud to share that Caucus School District has been ranked number one in Hudson County by niche.com as the top school district in the area. This prestigious recognition is a testament to the unwavering dedication, passion, and hard work of our incredible
004staff, educators, and administrators who go above and beyond each day to ensure our students receive a top quality education. Thank you to our entire school community for your continued support and commitment to excellence. Together, we thrive. Board of Education vacancy update. The posting for the open seat on the CC caucus board of education will close tomorrow, October 17th. Once all applications have been received, the board will schedule a public meeting to conduct interviews with the candidates. The date of this meeting will be announced shortly. We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest in serving and support and supporting our school community. Your commitment to education and public service is greatly appreciated. Community conversations, libraries, and books. There's been some recent social media buzz surrounding our library resources and book availability in schools. I want to
005clarify that any student may borrow a book to take home upon request. Simply email your child's teacher to make arrangements. As we continue to integrate more technology into the classroom, we recognize both the benefits and the challenges that come with that, including fewer traditional library resources. We are fortunate to have a wonderful town library that all families can use. Additionally, if a specific book is needed to support classroom learning and is not available at the school, families can explore other options such as online retailers or local bookstores. If cost is a concern, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly by phone or email, and I will personally help facilitate access to the needed material. Now, I'd like to read some district highlights from September and October of 2025. Starting with Claridan School,
006the PTA kicked off their back- to-school bash on October 1st. It was a wonderful event and we want to thank our staff who volunteered their time in the PTA for going above and beyond for our students. Last week, the PTA hosted the Scholastic Book Fair and through this year's Share the Fair program. Every single student went home with a book. A big thank you to the PTA and everyone involved for making this annual celebration of literacy possible for all students. Thanks to Mayor Ganelli, our softball field became a joyful pumpkin patch where every student selected a pumpkin to take home. The PTA added to the fun with cider and donuts for all. Students are eagerly eagerly anticipating next week's Halloween bazaar, a beloved Claran tradition filled with seasonal fun and community spirit. Claridan celebrated the
007week of respect which was led by school counselor Mrs. Doring. Students participated in a powerful program by minding your mind, emphasizing empathy, mental health, awareness, and kindness in our daily daily lives. Spotlight on Taylor Swift day was October 3rd. Students enjoyed music, dance breaks, and classroom karaoke in this friendship themed celebration. The PTA welcomed students with friendship bracelets, and the day created lasting memories. Next up will be spotlight on Walt Disney Day, which will be held on December 5th. The student government in action. The student the SGO is leading a townwide food drive and organizing the upcoming harvest dance for fourth and fifth graders on Wednesday, October 22nd. Yuber Street highlights. On Tuesday, November 11th, our fourth grade students will host their annual Veterans Day assembly, a heartfelt tribute to the brave men and women
008who have served our country. A highlight of the program will be a dramatic reading of America's White Table, which is a moving story that honors soldiers who are missing in action or held as prisoners of war. The White Table is a symbol of remembrance and respect, and our students will bring its meaning to life through this powerful performance. Special thanks to our dedicated fourth grade team, Alyssa Curry, Melissa Lina, Bill Miloy, Janine Padudo, Jillian Burn, and Jacqueline Goody, as well as music teacher Dan Amato, who led students in clo in a closing medley of patriotic songs. Immediately following the assembly, guests are invited outside to view our flag of flags or field of flags rather, a stunning display of hundreds of American flags placed in front of the school. This visual tribute is part of
009a fundraiser organized by fifth grade teacher Carrie Stam with all proceeds benefiting local veterans through the American Legion and the VFW. Two days later on Thursday, November 13th, Yuber Street School will partner with Claran School and Caucus Middle School to host a vital community forum addressing a critical topic for families, the impact of social media and smartphones on children. Led by ex experts Chrissy Candela, Felicia Never ever going to pronounce your name right. Chhat treat. Okay, got it. Dr. Danielle Garzone and Rob Valente. The forum will explore both the positive and the potentially harmful effects of digital access. Attendees will gain essential tools and insights to help guide and protect their children in today's online world. Please note that due to the sensitivity nature of the content, this is an adults only event and a
010special incentive to attend is every adult in attendance will receive a no homework pass for their elementary or middle school child. Caucus Middle School highlights activity fair and pep rally was held September 24th and 25th. Students explored over two dozen clubs emphasizing teamwork, leadership, and school spirit. The week of respect was held October 6th through the 10th with activities like kindness bingo and twin with a teacher. Students promoted empathy, appreciation, and individ individuality. Mental health awareness walk was held on October 7th in collaboration with the high school sale program. Students raised funds and awareness for the Jshine fund showing unity and compassion. Caucus High School highlights national merit honors. Sonia Gual named a semi- finalist in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Simron Batala recognized as a commended student for outstanding PSAT performance. Amazing accolades
011and congratulations to those two amazing students. College and Career Fair was held September 29th. Nearly 60 institutions participated helping students explore diverse post-secondary opportunities. Special thanks to Mrs. Swissweiser and the school counseling department. I'm going to just dive a little deeper into that. I'm sorry, my info is on my phone. Mrs. Wissweer and her guidance team led a fantastic senior success week which kicked off with a college and career fair where students and their families were invited to meet over 60 institutions. The week continued with college essay workshops, college application boot camp workshops, and a college admission panel where students could ask questions to college representatives to help strengthen their applications. The week finished with a financial aid meeting for parents to help guide them. Volleyball milestone. Congratulations to coach Dylan Caruso for reaching his
012100th win in five years. The team is head the team heads into the county finals next week. Homecoming highlights. Kudos to the SGO PTSA and Miss Kim for organizing a spirited homecoming. Congratulations to Aiden Morano and Molina Ger who were crowned king and queen. That's all I have. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to approve the special meeting minutes of April 2nd, special meeting minutes of April 8th, regular meeting minutes of April 17th, special meeting minutes of April 30th, and regular meeting minutes of May 12th. Second >> discussion. Call the RO. >> Mr. Bartletta. >> All right. I have to recuse myself from every I approve I say yes to the regular meeting minutes of April 17th and the regular meeting minutes of May 12th. Everything else I recetta >> yes >> Mr.
013Barry >> yes to everything but I recuse myself from April 17th's meeting. >> Mr. Deombre. Yes, >> Miss Skellar. >> Yes, >> Miss Howard. >> I say yes to the regular meeting minutes of April 17th and May 12th and recuse myself from all the special meeting minutes. >> Mr. Lewis, >> yes, >> Mr. Lions. >> Yes, >> before we we move further, I just want to jump down to item N, which is the student representative report. So, I apologize. This evening we had a little confusion um a little mixup with the student representatives being here this evening and Alyn Torres was kind enough to grace us with her presence um to represent her group. Um so, I'm going to just introduce her for this evening and they will be giving their report in the next
014month meeting. I know there's a football game happening and you probably want to get to it. So, thank you for coming and go enjoy your night. Thanks. Moving on, uh we have no recognition program this evening, so we're going to jump to the um interim superintendent report. Dr. Kobach. >> Thank you. So, good evening everyone. As I wrap up my first 12 days of work here in Caucus, I wanted to share a few observations with the board and with the community based on my experiences. From the moment I arrived, I made it a priority to visit every school and spend time getting to know our students, staff, and the administrators. Over the past two weeks, I've had the opportunity to walk through classrooms, visit cafeterias, talk with teachers and custodians, and see students engaged in
015learning. Now that I know more about the school system, we'll be stepping out further into the community over the next few weeks by hosting coffee with the superintendent sessions at each of the schools. There will be a hybrid option for these events and then the main event will be held in person. Um, I will be at the Hubert Street School on October 23rd at 8:30 a.m. And then on October 29th, I will be at the Clarendon School, also at 8:30 a.m. On the 30th, I'll be at a combined event for middle school and high school parents at 7:45 a.m. What I've witnessed here has been truly impressive. It's clear that the schools are filled with caring professionals who are deeply committed to our students. teaching and learning that occur in our classrooms is strong. The
016enthusiasm and pride for each school among students and staff is contagious. Everywhere I went, I saw the pride people take in being part of this district. Outside of classrooms, I noticed many other important parts of what keeps our schools running well. Our custodial and maintenance staff works hard and keeps our buildings exceptionally clean and safe. Secretaries and support staff members make sure daily operations are organized and administrators do their best to support the staff. I also met with the mayor and with the police chief and that those meetings reminded me that the schools are such a source of pride for the community. A well-managed school system is about more than just instruction. It means creating a place where students feel safe, teachers feel supported, parents stay informed, and the community feels connected. I've seen all
017these things happening here in CC Caucus thanks to the hard work and professionalism of everyone involved. In short, these first 12 days have shown me that you what you already know. Caucus is a school district with a lot to be proud of. I'm excited to keep building on this strong foundation and to work together to make our schools even better. And I appreciate the opportunity to work with so many excellent school employees. During the board meeting tonight, you'll hear two major mandated reports pertaining to our academic pro programs and also to our school culture. Both reports will be available to the public. We posted on our website on Friday. For the public, the NJSLA or the New Jersey student learning assessments are the statemandated standardized tests that assess students progress toward the New Jersey student
018learning standards in English, language arts, and mathematics and science for students in grades 3 to 11. New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment or the NJGPA consists of an ELA and math component to be administered to students in grade 11 for the purpose of meeting the state graduation requirement. However, major changes are coming for the upcoming year. state standardized testing program is changing. First, the name is changing slightly with one word being added. It's now called the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment Adaptive. New standardized tests will be field tested in Caucus from October 27th to 30th for the elementary schools and the middle school and high school field tests will be administered October 28th and 29th. The new exam will debut for students this spring. One word change in the title represents a huge change in the
019testing program. Students will answer different questions based on how they answer prior questions. So, according to the Department of Ed guidance, as students progress through the test, future questions are determined by the computer based on their responses, creating a more personalized and appropriate experience for each learner. The state's memo to schools indicated this approach can help reduce test anxiety by presenting students with questions closer to their current level, encouraging confidence and focus. Adaptive testing either already exists in other states or is in the process of being implemented and over 30 states are moving forward with adaptive standardized testing along with the SAT and the PSAT. The other report is the annual HIV self assessment which is a public report required each year. The school safety and climate team must complete the self assessment and have
020a school level user enter ratings into the online system. The self- assessment reflects the 2022 legislative changes to the anti-bullying bill of rights. I hope you enjoy the two presentations this evening and I look forward to working with the entire school community this year. I also want to thank the board of ed for the wonderful welcome and introduction into the district along with Mr. Vorhees who also has been a great assist to me over the past few weeks. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Tobac. I'd like to welcome up at this time Felicia say Felicia. I just want to say to do our 2024 2025 NJSLA data piece. Hello everybody. I'm Felicia Shhatri. I'm the director of elementary education curriculum and instruction. I'm here to share with you all of our spring 2025 assessment data
021and the report that we did receive. I'm very excited to share this information with you this evening. So, we had many assessments in the spring. Uh we often say spring at times is the test season. We had the NJSLA for math, ELA, science as well as the DLM, access for ELLLs, and the NJGPA. Now, all six of these assessments I am going to be sharing you the data with tonight. I will give you a heads up on the screen. You're going to see a lot of data, a lot of numbers. It may be difficult to see through the screen if you're watching at home or even if you're back here in the pack center. I did post this on the district website. It'll be up there tomorrow for you to view. So, if you saw
022something on the screen that you want to go back and look at, you're welcome to do so. And the presentation will be posted to the public for you to view at any time. As well as all of our assessment data is under the district website on that assessment tab that's right there on the website where you are welcome to view all of this. So, first I'm going to begin with the NJSLA. Many of you may be familiar with the NJSLA. You may have heard your students come, your children come home and discuss the NJSLA with you. We do tests in ELA and math as well as science, which I'll get to in a little bit. ELA and math is broken into five levels. Our goal here is for our students to be in that level
023four and five, which is why it's in green, and you're going to hear me talk about that a lot throughout this presentation. Our hopes is for our students to be in those meeting and exceeding categories, or at least get them there as they progress through our school system. So, I'm going to start with math. You're going to see I'm going to put all the grade levels here on this slide here. We have grade three and four. And you're going to see I circled the categories in that level four and five, which is our goal. Now, about 40 to 50% of our third and fourth grade students are in the meeting and exceeding category, which is the highest two levels. We have our fifth and sixth grade data as well. You're going to find that as
024I progress through this, same with our seventh and eighth. All this data here has is very similar to the district this the state data. you're going to see our district data and then the state data. So here on our level five was just some information I wanted to point out. Grades seven and eight exceeded the state performance benchmark in level five. That's amazing to see. And here we have our algebra one and geometry for middle school. This data is unbelievable in the amount of students with the level four and five. And if you look closely here, you'll see that every column is the district data compared to the state data. And we also compare from last year versus this year. So when you do look through this presentation and see the data, I encourage you
025to look at our data compared to the state. You're going to find our data is very similar, if not much greater. Uh just like this slide right here. Our middle school algebra 1 and geometry has 100% of our students in the meeting and exceeding categories. That's our highest two levels. And that data is two years in a row. So congratulations. And we have our algebra 1 and geometry in our high school as well. You can see here in geometry for high school that level four and five is very high which we are very proud of that information and high school algebra one scores have increased. Our geometry has 81% of our students in the meeting and exceeding categories. That's the highest two levels. And we also have algebra 2 for high school shared on the
026screen as well and math for all grades. And as you can see we like to look again at that district versus that state data. see where we're at. And looking at those level four and five, how many of our students are there? At algebra 2, you have 67% in the exceeding for level five. That's unbelievable. Now, just a little district summary regarding math. 44% of our students are in the meeting and exceeding categories. And the number of students in the meeting and exceeding categories increased from 2023 to 2024 to the 2425 school year in most of our grade levels. So, that is really great to see. And this is just our data broken in b up basically in a different type of chart. Sometimes seeing the colors and displaying is easier to see where the
027growth is and what grade levels we can pinpoint. So have it by gender as well as our programs. We have free and reduced lunch, special education and general education. Now all of this information here is going to be shared with our teachers and has been through our link platform and we fortunately have a professional development day on Monday. there is a half day for students so our teachers can take that time to really go through this data that I'm presenting to you tonight to use that data to drive our instruction this school year. Now just a few math initiatives we are doing in our district. We continue to provide teachers with reveal mathematics resources. That's our math program that we have. We're currently in year five of implementation. We also have number worlds as a
028supplemental curriculum for our special education classes. Alex Adventure has expanded to grades K through three. Last year we just had it in second grade and we're excited to share kindergarten, first and third also has access this school year. And we're going to continue family math night for grades preK to 5, which happens to be this um next Thursday. So if you're interested in attending, I encourage you to sign up. It's a great night to practice math fact fluency for everyone in grades preK to 5. Also, summer 2025 middle and high school summer math programs were hosted. We had an NJSLA intervention program. We have basic skills math teachers in every building. Our mathematics curriculums have been updated to the 2023 New Jersey student learning standards. And we also have our link at benchmarks that students
029take in math and ELA three times a year. We're also very excited that we now have parents who can access the benchmarks and view all of their student data, which is a great way to promote that parent school partnership. Now, we're going to move on to ELA. You're going to find ELA is set up in a similar format. We have the district versus state and same for grade five, six, and so on. Again, we have all of that data there from the 2023 24 school year and 2425. You're going to find as you view these slides that in grades four to six nearly 50% of our students are in the meeting or exceeding expectations. That's excellent to share. And in our grades seven and eight, very similar. We did very well with that level four,
030level five, same with grade nine. And then I also showed all the grade levels as well where you could see our growth. And you'll see that we're very, very similar to that state data. If not, we exceeded it. So 57% of our grade seven students, 70% of our grade eight students, and 56% of our grade nine students are in the meeting and exceeding category. That's really excited to share, and it's great to hear that our students who progress through our district, those scores did increase as they continue to go through our ELA curriculums, our math curriculums in their time in our school district. And 53% of our students are in the meeting and exceeding category. This is just a district summary highlight that I wanted to share. That's really amazing that most of almost half
031if more than half has exceeded um those expectations. And again just like math we view these charts uh we have the charts in all different formats. It can be bar graphs, pigraphs, all different formats. I thought this was a nice format to share with you. And we have it by the subgroups by our race. We have it by gender. We have it by our programs that we offer as well. And just a few initiatives that we have going on in our schools for ELA. We're investing in Amplify CKLA. We're grade um year three implementation for grades K to two, year two implementation for grades three to four and we have two fifth grade pilots going on in our elementary buildings. We are also in year two implementation of common lift for grades six through 12.
032We have our Dibble benchmark assessments for grades K to three. We have boost reading for grades K to four. We departmentalized third grade. We also have family literacy night coming up for preK to 5. This isn't until December, but save the date. It's coming up soon. And we also had NJSLA intervention programs for grades three to eight. That was for ELA and math last school year. Right before testing is when we hosted those programs. We have a basic skills ELA teacher in every building. And again, we also have our benchmarks for ELA as well. And again, Parents out there, I encourage you to log on to link it, explore your child's benchmarks, look at their NJSLA scores. Everything is posted there for you to see. And here is our science data. I really encourage you
033to take a look at our district versus our state. We're really proud of our fifth grade group here who has exceeded the state expectations. We truly do believe we have a lot of crosscurricular lessons happening that are focusing on science and we hope to grow that through our schools. And again, just like science, we see all the different subgroups. This is just broken up. Science is only taken in grades five, eight, and 11. So, you do not see every grade level on these slides. Uh we have it broken up by race, gender. And we also have our subgroups uh for the programs as well for science. And next, we have our DLM, which is our dynamic learning map assessment. This is a collection of short tesllets that measure the academic achievement of students with the
034most significant cognitive disabilities in grades three through eight and 11. These DLM student score reports provide results related to a student's overall performance level for English language arts, mathematics, and science. Uh students results are reported using the four performance levels which are emerging, approaching the target, at target and advance. Notice NJSLA also had different levels. Every assessment I discussed tonight will have different levels. Now, the number of students for reporting assessment results is a minimum of 10 to protect student privacy. As per NJ DOE, the Caucus public schools had fewer than 10 students take the DM assessment. While administrators and teaching staff with an educational interest in the tested students have access, the number will not be reported publicly. We also have access for ELL's. This is our English language proficiency test. Uh to comply
035with federal regulations implementing ESSA, all school districts in New Jersey are required to administer the WEDA assessment, the WEDA access assessment language proficiency assessment to all multilingual learners or ML learners in grades K to 12 in the spring of 2025. Results from the access for ELLL's test administration are used in the calculation of schools and district performance on the progress of English language profic proficiency indicator for ESSA school accountability as well as determining continued eligibility as a multilingual learner. Students earn a total score between one and six. And here is the performance levels we have entering, emerging, developing, expanding, bridging, and reaching. Now, just like our other assessments, our goal is to get them to that bridging and reaching categories uh as they progress through our schools. In this in these slides, I broke it
036down for all the students at each um level. We have our elementary, middle, and high school. You're going to find that we have the total amount tested and the amount in each category as they go through our schools. This is our elementary data. We have our middle school data as well. And notice our goal as they progress, we want to get them to that bridging and those reaching uh levels and we have our high school as well. Now this data we do share with our teachers so they can support our ML students throughout the school day. And this is just our total number tested. We had 129 students tested in the access for ELLLs in the spring of 2025. And this is just a chart that we created to explain the multilingual student population in
037our district. you're going to find that in October 2021, we had 61 students and in October 2025, we had 120. So, our ML population has doubled uh in the past few years. So, it's just, you know, interesting information that we're using to support our students and making sure we have the appropriate resources to support all of our students in this district. We also have the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment, also known as the NJGPA. This is a graduation requirement. All 11th grade students do participate. The readiness score is students must achieve a score of 725 or higher on both components to be considered graduation ready. There is a retake option if needed. And there's al also alternative pathways. In mathematics, uh you're going to see that I also compare the district to state data for
038the students who are not graduation ready and we also have students who are graduation ready. This is our mathematics data. And here is our ELA data. You're going to find that the state data for ELA and math is is very different as well as our district data, too. I do uh believe that the state is looking for other pathways for students to also go through the NJGPA and I do believe they're closely monitoring this assessment data. However, for ELA, our district graduation ready is 93%. That's unbelievable in ELA. So, congratulations. And just a little bit of a reflection on all of this data. We just went through six different assessments that our students took in the spring of 2025. It's always important to take that time to reflect and use this data to drive our
039instruction. So just to maintain and increase our scores is something that we noticed was happening as we compared the two years. We're also hoping to implement new science materials and programs this school year. The Caucus public schools schools is seeing a stable trajectory in mathematics due to reveal mathematics which we've had for five years. The Caucus Public Schools anticipates seeing more growth in the next two years in ELA as we continue the implementation of our new amplify CLA program at the elementary level and common lit at the middle and high school level. This creates a cohesive learning experience for all students. The district received positive feedback about amplify CKLA in grades K to2. Caucus is looking forward to seeing the growth in our future NJSLA scores. The elementary schools are already seeing incremental growth in
040local assessments and reading levels. The Caucus Public Schools has a high expectations on how this will translate into our future NJSLA scores. For the majority of the grade levels and assessments, Caucus Public Schools students outperform the state average. Uh we are also focusing on differentiated instruction and collaboration throughout all of our schools. I just want to take a moment to thank the faculty and staff and the administrators and the board of education for their hard work and commitment to student learning and achievement. The Caucus Public Schools truly appreciates you. All of this data is a reflection on the entire school community and our entire team here in the Caucus Public Schools. So together we can inspire a lifelong love for learning. Thank you very much for uh tuning in to this presentation. I hope you
041enjoyed exploring the data. Thank you, Felicia. At this time, I'd like to welcome up Mr. Christopher Inis to do the 2024 2025 HIV self assessment. Good evening, board of education, Mrs. Yo, Mr. Kikuchi, and welcome to Dr. Tobec the 2024 2025 caucus public schools hib self assessment under the ABR school districts must appoint an anti-bullying coordinator anti-bullying coordinators are at the district level for the secus public school district the uh district hip coordinators are Christina Wiswesser and myself the self assessment is completed by the school climate team under the direction of the anti-bullying specialist in each building and complete the self they complete the self assessment. The school climate teams are made up of teachers, parents, students and administration. The goal of the self assessment is to honestly review and reflect upon the district practices
042with regard to hib in order to learn and grow. In our high school, our dis our building coordinator is Mrs. Tara Tiveres. In the middle school, it's Mrs. Sarah Sicilo. In Huber Street, it's Mrs. Jamie Vigiano. And in Clarin School, it's Mrs. Dawn Durren. Under the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, all public schools in the state of New Jersey are required to conduct an annual self- assessment. This allows districts to measure compliance to the ABR as well as to learn from the process. The goal of this presentation is to report the self- assessment scores for each school. New reporting documents have also been uploaded as per the amendments and can be found on our district website. Okay. Um, if the school district's policy permits the use of a preliminary determination for reports of HIB, then the
043superintendent must annually report to the board of education the number of times the preliminary determination was found to be outside the scope of HIB. If an alleged incident of HIB is later founded as a verified incident of Hib, copies of the results of the investigation shall be placed in the students record. If a student is found to have committed three incidents of HIB, then a principal in coordination with the appropriate school staff shall develop an individual student intervention plan which shall be approved by the superintendent of schools or the superintendent's designate. Each subsequent act of verified HI would also require a principal in consultation with appropriate school staff to develop an individual student intervention plan which would be approved by the superintendent of schools or the superintendent's designate. When submitting a written report of HI
044to the principal, the written report shall be on the HIB 338 form. This has been updated accordingly and available through Hibster, which is also found on our district website. The local education agency shall provide means for parents or guardians to complete the HIP 338 form specified for families and caregivers online and confidentially report an incident of harassment, intimidation or bullying. These new forms are also available on our website. The essentials of the self assessment. Core element one is HI programs approaches and other initiatives. Core element two, training or board of ed approved HIP policy. Core element three, other staff instruction and training programs. Core element four, curriculum and instruction on HIB and related information. Core element five, HIB personnel. Core element six, school level HI incident reporting procedures. Core element seven, HI investigation procedures. and
045core element 8 Hib reporting. Based on our self- assessment breakdown in each of our schools, our numbers maintained or improved in each of our schools in each of those eight core elements. And this is due to the hard work of our faculty and staff. I know that at the middle school level, our guidance department did an excellent job with presenting to the students um anti-bullying assemblies and just speaking to the students and staying in contact with students when cases of HIP are reported. This data will be available on our website. In the high school, these are areas of growth. Our training on the HIP policy has improved. In the middle school, training in HIP policy and procedure and training programs and HIP personnel in Huber Street School, other staff instruction and training programs and HIP
046personnel. And at Claran School, other staff instruction and training programs, instruction and related information and skills, school level HI incident reporting procedure, and HIB reporting. Our goals for the future to continue to streamline the HIP reporting process through Hibster to implement additional social emotional learning and suicide prevention trainings for both staff and students through grants such as the NJ Department of Health lifeline suicide prevention program. Continue to expand our diversity sensitivity training for students. streamlining school counseling department initiatives to provide mental health outreach and productivity and professional development on school avoidance and mental health. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Christina Wiswesser or myself at our email address. We'd be happy to speak with you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Enis. correspondence.
047Oh, you're back in your seat. Sorry. No correspond harassment intimidation bullying report for the period September 3rd 2025 through September 17th 2025. >> Okay. So during that time period there was one report at Caucus High School. A thorough and clean investigation was conducted for each report of an alleged incident of HIV or bullying by the principal or the principal's designate within one school day of the verbal report of the incident. Investigations were completed. Written findings were submitted to the principal as soon as possible, but no later than 10 days and the date of the written report of the alleged incident. Living principal in accordance with the code of student conduct determined appropriate disciplinary action to be taken based on the investigative findings, incident details, and follow-up information. Um, sorry, wrong line. >> Thank you, Dr.
048I'd like to make a motion to accept the harassment, intimidation, and bullying findings as reported by the inter by the intern superintendent and they are available at administrative offices for review. >> Second discussion. Call the role. >> Mr. Bartletta, >> yes. >> Miss Dadetta, >> yes. >> Mr. Barry, >> yes. >> Mr. Deombre, >> yes. >> Miss Geller, >> yes. >> Miss Howard, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Lewis. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lions. >> Yes. >> Business administrator board secretary report. >> Yes. Good evening. Tonight, under governance, we will be amending resolution R1.34 from the September 18th, 2025 agenda and adding resolution R16 to accept the recommendation of the interim superintendent to approve the revised sidebar agreement between the CC Caucus Board of Education and the CC Caucus Education Association. Details of the agreement are
049on file at central office. Thank you. >> Thank you, Grace. Public forum regarding agenda items. Okay. This meeting is 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 this purpose. They're required to state their names, addresses, and subject matter. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. The board may or may not respond to issues raised by members of the public at the time they're raised, but will provide a response if and when appropriate. Board asked that 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
050by those individuals. Moreover, the board discourages comments about such individuals and will not be responsible for such comments. Members of the public who choose to speak during this public session should carefully consider those comments since they could be held personally liable for any statements that they make. the last part. Finally, uh please note that in accordance with district policy 11000, the board will not officially comment or respond to any matter mentioned unless it can confirm that the matter has first been brought to the attention of the appropriate school personnel in an attempt to resolve the issue. We have no public form for the agenda items. Moving on, before we go into our committee reports for this evening, we changed the structure of of how we are uh voting and how we are presenting the information
051to the public. So, I just wanted to give just a little explanation for those who follow our meetings and may be a little confused. So, we are going to be reading committee reports from governance going directly into education going directly then into operations. We will then um have a discussion and we will call the role and we will vote on the agenda on the items for the entire agenda of the meeting. U Mr. Bartletta will call for a motion after all of the committee uh minutes have been read and then we will vote starting with governance personnel. Under governance, we had the approval of bus driver and bus aid salaries effective July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2028. We also had the approval of the caucus supervisors association establishing their holidays. There was approval for
052title one grant funding and title one will be used on title one parent night and multi multilingual language information night. We will be welcoming Jessica Arabalo as a student teacher and we'll also be making a motion to post for spring coaching positions and predium IT staff to support outside facilities who will be renting out the pack. And then under policy, we had a special meeting to suspend policy 7510. This suspension allows our pack center to be rented out to outside facilities for profit. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Christina. education curriculum. >> Good evening all. Uh the education committee met on October 1st this month. I would like to give a couple of updates. Uh the Sakus High School uh senior success week was a success and um President Dad already um covered some
053of the events that took place during that week and the week was packed with a lot of different activities including a college fair and a financial aid workshop for the parents. Um, another thing I would like to highlight, our director of special education, Mrs. Hennessy, presented at the CPAC meeting on September 29th. During her presentation, Mrs. Hennessy reviewed the special education program offered in our district. Also, she gave an overview for inclusion classrooms and provided information on transition from student to adulthood. Um, I know that the night was a great success and it was a great turnout and I'm hoping that we'll see more of such events in the future. Uh, we have four items to vote on today. The district is looking to approve after school NJPA intervention program. It's a test prep academic
054intervention program to help qualified um juniors with their math and ELA skills. Uh, this This will be our third year and in the first two years the program was a big success and we're looking to continue with that tradition. Also the district is looking to dispose some of the broken or outdated IT equipment. Um another resolution is the district completed the DPR and looking for our approval as well. And last but not least, uh we have a very long and very exciting list of field trips for our K through 12 students. >> Thank you, Tatiana. Operations finance. >> So this month we had a relatively short meeting. Um we were updated on uh the school dude reports. There was a slight uptick in uh tickets uh being put in due to the opening of the
055school. We had a preliminary walk through uh for the long uh long range facility plans. Uh there will be an extensive walk through the week of November 3rd as the architects can enter the classrooms and um access uh anything that they need to access without interrupting student learning. Uh we updated on the rooftop units at the high school and the middle school and uh we were also updated on district uh finances, >> safety, security, buildings and grounds. Um we had an approval uh of the annual M1 comprehensive uh maintenance report for the school year of 2526. Um and then the auditors are tentatively scheduled for uh November for the 2425 uh fiscal year audit. I'd like to accept the recommendation of the business administrator, board secretary, and interim superintendent to approve and adopt all resolutions
056and motions as described above. >> Second, >> all the >> Mr. Bartletta. Yes, but I have to recuse myself from R 4.09. >> Miss Detta, >> yes to all agenda items. >> Mr. Barry, >> yes, but I need to recuse myself from 4.09. >> Mr. Deombre, >> yes to all agenda items. Miss Gella. >> Yes. Two old items. >> Miss Howard? >> Yes. But I have to recuse myself from R 1.05 and R1.16. >> Mr. Lewis. >> Yes to all. >> Mr. Lions. >> Yes. >> Ad hoc shared services. Mr. Lions. >> One second. Grace. I have to recuse myself from R 1.05. Shared services take two. >> I said shared services take two. >> The shared service committee meeting was held on Monday, October 6 from 9:00 a.m. until 10 p.m. at 10:00 a.m.
057Not that long at the caucus town hall. This meeting for the shared service committee is the third meeting of this committee this year. And the following topics were discussed. Dr. Tobach discussed his visits to our schools and reviewed district safety and security. Mayor Ganelli and Dr. Tobach discussed the strong and supportive relationship the school district and the police department have related to safety. Dr. Tobach reviewed some suggestions that he has for ensuring the highest level of safety and how the school district and police department can work together on several technology areas including two-way radios and panic buttons. Dr. Dr. Tobach said that he's ensuring that the district is in compliance with all state safety and security requirements. Dr. Tobach is going to research any possible grants that may be applicable for school safety costs. The
058dis the committee discussed the process for placing a memorial on the school grounds for a deceased student. Mayor Ganelli discussed the companies that the township has used for this in the past and information will be shared between Squokus Town Hall and the school district. The support of Mayor Ganelli and the town council for events for students with special needs and their students was discussed. Trusty Lions noted that CPAC leader Dina Gvashio has notified him that the mayor and council have provided special time at the town for CPAC members and that gifts were given to the group at a meeting. Mayor Ganelli stated he will continue working with this group and has invited the students, their families to an evening out to celebrate with them. Town Hall employees and district employees informed the group that they
059have completed several maintenance jobs at district schools, including painting and repairs to concrete areas, ordering a second memorial bench, ordering picnic tables for outdoor areas, updating the garden area at the Clarin School, rebuilding sheds, and planning for the planting of new trees on school grounds. The mayor and council members stated they are available to help the district as needed and will notify the district when the pending work has been completed. like to thank the mayor and council for working with us on all these important issues. >> Thank you, Jerry. I also want to add um on the tales of that off of that conversation um I had a conversation with the class of 2027 class advisors. They will be hosting our haunted Halloween um on the 26th, I believe, of October. It's a Sunday. And
060I spoke to Mrs. Kjuski and Mrs. Diorco of the class of 2027 and they have arranged for a private session for all of the uh CPAC community the special education students. So if anybody needs more information on that you can contact me and I will get you the information that you need. Thank you >> Miss Detta. >> Yes. >> Um I need to ask um Mr. Bartletta to recuse himself on resolution R16 as well. Grace, I'd like to recuse myself from R 1.16. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Okay. There were no meetings for legislation, athletics, technology, and communications or visions. Um, Alex, negotiations. >> We're currently negotiating contracts with the principles and the vice principles, and we're working on setting a date to work on contracts with our directors. >> Thank you, Alex. Public
061forum general. Since everyone here was Since everyone who was here was here last time, same rules apply, but now it's just non-aggenda items. So, same rules apply. You can come up and speak. You have three minutes and everything else that we said before. >> Mr. Grineer. Good evening everyone. Anthony Grerary Caucus resident. Dr. Tobach, welcome. We thank you for taking on the position of the interim superintendent while the district looks to fill the position on a full-time basis. I asked the board exactly when it intends to restart the full-time superintendent search process. Dr. Tobec, if you are interested in that position, I encourage you to imply. As we stand here today, Saucus is now in its eighth superintendent in eight years. There's been no consistent leadership in our district for almost a decade, and it
062shows. It's this board's responsibility to hire a competent and qualified person to lead us forward, and the board has consistently failed in this most important duty. There is so much work to be done. As per the most recent US news report, Sukakusa scored an 18.9 out of 100 on high school college readiness. The same report exposed that 50% of our elementary students, 47% of our middle schoolers, and 59% of our high schoolers schoolers are not proficient in reading. Additionally, 50 57% of our elementary students and 59% of our middle schoolers are not proficient in math. There were no reported numbers for high school math proficiency. However, I believe that Miss Satreat just confirmed that 44% of our students in district met or exceeded math proficiency, which means that 56% are not proficient. For special education,
063the New Jersey Department of of Education reported that Saucus scored a one out of four, the lowest a district could possibly score when it came to including children with disabilities in general education and placing them in the least restrictive environment as required by law. I have the reports here if you would like to look at them. For the last few weeks, I have been trying to wrap my head around the fact that this board did not hire a full-time superintendent after a four-month search process, and I honestly can't. The board ignored every plea for transparency and community input. You did the process exactly how you wanted to do, and you came up empty-handed. Through multiple rounds of interviews, you narrowed your applicable applicant pool from 10 into one. And then you had a final interview
064with that person, and somehow someway that person was no longer qualified for the position. That makes absolutely no sense. New Jersey Education Statute 18A1715 states the board of education of any type two district may by contract appoint a superintendent of schools by the recorded roll call majority vote of the full membership of the board. So caucus is a classified as a type two district. Consequently, pursuant to statute, the board was required to have his vote to appoint a superintendent by public and recorded roll call vote of the board membership. When the board voted on whether or not to offer our final candidate for superintendent a contract behind closed doors in executive session last month, it violated education statute 18A1715. Our community has a right to know how each member of this board voted. Therefore, I
065call on each member of this board to now publicly state how he or she voted when deciding whether or not to offer a contract and appoint the final superintendent candidate to the full-time superintendent position. Miss Adetta, the as the board president and the head of the body that conducted this vote in executive session, I call on you to state Enrico Bolanino's vote as he has since resigned. That's it. >> Thank you. >> Board member comments. Motion to close. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Good evening everyone.