001I [Music] pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Thank you and welcome to the South River Board of Education regular meeting of Thursday, July 24th, 2025. Uh, in compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act, chapter 231, laws of 1975 of the state of New Jersey, adequate notice of the meeting of the South River Board of Education, was provided in the following manner. On January 15th, 2025, the notice was delivered to the office of the South River Burough Clerk and posted at the Board of Education Administration building on January 15th, 2005. The notice was faxed mailed to the following newspapers: Home News Tribune, The Star Ledger. On January 15th, 2025, the
002notice was posted at the South River Burough Clerk's office. Mr. Rosa, would you call the role, please? >> Mr. Bzac. >> Mr. Basak has been excused. >> Mr. Budson, >> here. >> Mrs. Bush is excused. >> Mrs. Loud, >> here. >> Mr. Nielsen here. >> Mr. Un here. Mrs. Saddowski >> here. >> Mrs. Yao >> here. >> Mrs. Obanic >> here. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh on tonight's agenda, our first order of business are the minutes. Mr. Rosa, what do we have? >> Some additions from our premium. >> Okay. And those will be the June 16th, regular meeting minutes. Uh board members, what is your pleasure on these minutes? Move the reading of the minutes. >> We have a motion by Vice President Nielsen. Is there a second? >> Second by Mrs. Youngo. Uh, any
003questions or comments? All in favor? >> Thank you. The motion passes. The minutes are approved. Our next item is the use of facilities. And Mr. Rosa, what do we have? >> We have addition number 766. That is for the >> recreation department, >> right? That was a revised. Um, okay. So, board members, what is your pleasure on the use of facilities request? >> Madam President, if I may first, uh, number 794. >> Yes. >> Uh, for the last 12 years, my wife and I have been there with our boys on football. Um, there's very few members who come out to help uh on the morning breakfast for the for the players. It's not just for the players, it's for cheerleaders and for um Mrs. B staff. So, if any parents are out there can, you
004know, give a couple of hours on a on a Saturday morning to come on out, scramble some eggs, uh flip some home fries for the football team and uh any other members. I know it would be greatly appreciated. Uh I won't be there this year. My my boys are done. So, I know they're already on social media asking for more help already. So, I just want to get that out there. And with that, um, move the use of, uh, more facilities in accordance with board policies, please. >> Thank you. We have a motion by Vice President Nielsen. >> Second. >> And we have a second by Mrs. Saddowski. All in favor? >> I. >> The use of facilities passes. Uh, at this time, we're going to go to Mrs. L for our financial report. >>
005Thank you. be resolved that the board of education hereby certifies that is in receipt of the financial report which indicates that no major account has been overexpended and that sufficient funds are available to meet the district's financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year. The finance committee recommends that the reports of the board secretary and the treasurer of school monies for May 2025 be approved and I so >> thank you. We have a motion by Mrs. Low. >> Second. We have a second by Vice President Nielsen. Are there any questions on the financial report? >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. The financial report is carried. At this time, we're going to turn the meeting over to our superintendent of schools, uh, Dr. Zer, please. >> Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Orvanic. There
006are three items on my agenda this evening. I have um some general updates, a review of our district goals, and then we have a presentation from Dr. Trumisano uh regarding some of our student data. Um but to begin with some of the updates, uh I do want to let parents know that we will be providing classroom and teacher assignments on um August 15th. This is going to be through the regular parent portal. Please let us know if you're having any sort of issue. Um, contact your child's school main office if you're having an issue accessing the portal for any reason. But those assignments will be posted there, like I said, on August 15th. Um, I do want to remind our incoming sixth graders who are previous fifth graders in school year 2425 that they are
007the grade level going through a residency update. um and that is required for your child. And so if you are an incoming sixth grader and you have not provided us a recent residency update and proof of residency, you will not be able to access the portal until you do so. So parents, we do already have verification from many of um the grade level families and we're asking for the remainder to please go ahead and submit so that they can access their portal as well. Uh classroom supply lists are posted on our district website. They are in the um alert section of the website as soon as you go there. Very accessible to parents and they're also in each school's individual websites as well. Uh we have some updates on our athletic and outdoor facilities at
008Denny Stadium. Uh we are once again ready to welcome our spectators for the upcoming fall season. uh last year's upgrades such as the renovated concession stand, the enhanced picnic area, the new bleachers, uh those were all very much wellreceived and used. Uh but looking ahead for this school year, we are adding a brand new modular press box and this edition is going to feature a sound system. Um, it will have Wi-Fi capability, lighting, and we are adding huddle cameras, which is something the coaches were really uh hoping that we would include in this project. And there will be additional bleacher seating uh installed directly in front of that press box, which will add um to the seating that we currently have. Uh construction to this press box is not going to affect any of our
009home games this season. We are working around on home games and that press box is expected to be fully operational by January. So it will not be operational for this fall season. Um but it will be uh operational moving forward. The multi-purpose uh turf field uh we have some projects underway there as well. We have the new baseball dugouts that are being built as well as a perimeter fence. The fencing is going to enhance safety during our recess period, which is important. We do have um several of our um elementary students use that field every day, and this will give them some protection. That's important. And then, as a reminder, the turn field is for permit use only. Community members who are interested in using any of our fields, any of our grounds, any of
010our buildings do have to go through the district's facility usage process and request that approval. That process is online and it can be found on our district website. Primary school outdoor classroom. This is our last school to receive its uh outdoor classroom space. It is going to be in um a little triangular um area where the green playground currently is. And we will have a space dedicated really for um outdoor learning. that's really what it is designed for as well as some activity as well. Um, but we're looking forward to having that project completed. And then our educational annex uh right across from this building, you can see it's still under construction, but it's definitely moving right along. This is a threeclassroom addition uh at our board office building. And the new space also includes
011a small nurses exam and treatment area as well as a multi-purpose room. We anticipate that this edition is going to be ready around October 1st. We seem to be on schedule to target that date right now. Um, and it will be dedicated for the upcoming school year to the prek program. And with this project and the completion of the early learning center and 2425 school year, we are now in a great position because we are able to offer prek to all families who are interested. We do not have a wait list at this time and um we're excited to be able to start our students in early learning. Next in my report, I would like to review the draft goals that will be activated after your approval this evening. We have four goals this year.
012Uh we're looking to improve academic performance in language arts and math uh by increasing student proficiency in those two subjects through evidence-based instructional practices, targeted interventions, and datadriven instruction. We're looking to promote and expand our visual and performing arts offerings as well. We're looking to really enhance student engagement and creativity and um and expand access to visual and performing arts to all of our students. um at all grade levels. We're also looking to ensure the safe and appropriate implementation of artificial intelligence in our educational programs. And we're looking at tools and platforms that will be safe, ethical, and equitable, of course. Um and that will be put into place to enhance teaching and learning while safeguarding our students privacy and promoting its responsible use. And then our last goal is about safety and security. We're
013looking to ensure that all of our schools continue to maintain a safe, secure, and welcoming environment. And we're looking at that in two different ways. We're looking at that through um our safety and security measures themselves and resources, but also in looking at um social emotional learning and being proactive in minimizing risks in regards to safety and security. And at this time, what I would like to do is turn the presentation over to Dr. Dr. Vado who's going to present um part one of our data public presentation which is on NJ GPA and AP exam data. >> Thank you Dr. Zer. >> Good evening. Uh this is the first of three presentations that will be uh summarizing the district testing data. were required within 60 days of public release to review the data which is
014why we have separated it out into uh different components. So it used to be one big report uh now it's three shorter reports which is not a bad thing. Uh on the first slide over here it's really the summary as I go through every year with what the GPA is. Uh graduation proficient assessment is the latest assessment to measure graduation readiness of junior students as they enter their senior year. um it encompasses language arts and mathematics. Language arts is aligned to grade 10, beginning of grade 11 standards as well as mathematics algebra on the geometry level. Um again, I put this in there. In 2023, the board of education approved GPA as the testing requirement. Um for those just as a reminder, students are required to not only pass classes, attain a certain number of
015credits, pass specific uh content g guidelines, but they also must pass in uh graduation assessment. In this case, it is the GPA. Um students that do not pass the GPA have a number of different options to for testing. The first one is to retake the GPA. Um those of us who've been in this a long time remember the HESPA and you can take that a number of times and we still do the same thing with this assessment. For those students who have sat for the assessment, it's still not passed, they can um again they can retake it or they can meet a cut score, minimum cut score on a number of different other alternate assessments and that would take the place of their graduation testing requirement. Last year, these are our results right here. We
016tested 196 students in language arts, 199 in math. Um, it's categorized as passing or graduation ready and or uh graduation not ready and not passing. Um, I've put the comparison up for the district and the state. If we move over to the right, the passing obviously the state percentages higher in language arts and math than us. um I have it on a later slide, but one point that I'd like to celebrate a little bit is that while the state percentages have remained roughly the same, we increased significantly in mathematics um graduation uh passing. So, as a former math teacher, I have a little pride in that, but that's what that's um demographic breakdown. the B this these slides are now available on the district website. So I'm not necessarily going to go through every single
017component of it but just to explain anywhere you see an asterisk or a star it indicates there's data less than 10 students we have to remove that data from um any kind of identify the ability to identify a student. So any students any data that's less than 10 students has been redacted. Um the summary of the students on the left does not have to be but anything for passing and not passing does in fact have to be hidden. Demographic uh breakdown for mathematics is also listed there. Comparable results it breaks down again by race, gender and by program. Program program being free and produced 504 language learners and special education. Following this I go into our AP mean scores. Um these are the scores of our mathematics and our lang our English language as well
018as Spanish. You'll notice on the right hand side for compsai this is year one of giving the compsai um test. Last year you approved the curriculum and we started doing the AP compsai. So it is more of a baseline than independent achievement. Um while we do look at cal and I have to I'll bring attention to cal the actual number of or the percentage sorry the score received by the students is lower we do have more students taking the test so that is a a positive. Next is the sciences and the social studies. Again environmental science this is the first year that you approved that course. Course is currently running. Uh we had six students take it. uh mean score of 2.3 the college board global average and the global average is AP score is
019given in any state or country that administer AP tests so that's listed as well uh we did increase our score in US history however the number of students electing to take the test is reduced as a reminder AP score AP testing is optional students are not required to take the test we can't necessarily force force a child to take the test. They do take the course because it is college level course and the requirements of the course align with AP college board as well as accredited college institutions. So what are our main takeaways? NJGPA is not going away. It is our testing requirement. The feedback that we get from this and the demographic breakdown makes us go back take a look and revise some of our programs. And actually um following this data, I did
020meet with uh Jamie, principal of the high school, and we did talk about certain things that we're going to look at for the AP courses as well as a GPA. And again, a little note, while we did see a decrease as those categorized graduation readys, we did increase in mathematics, which is, you know, something that many schools actually find their mathematics scores remain comparable. we we saw a 7% increase in those who were graduation ready and in the fact that we're testing more students more students became um were categorized as that moving forward towards improvement as was noted in the first goal that Dr. did go over. We are really focusing on language arts and math this year at the lower well we'll talk about the lower level a another time when we go through
021um the NJSLS. Um we're going to be we're going to continue to review data in language arts and math and high school as well as review the data specifically with teachers that are teaching individual courses. So, we're really going to try to micromanage that data down to the student level, down to the course level, down to the standard level to really make valid and and different instructional decisions. We do continue to offer tutoring through the 21st century program after school and we we continue to grow the supports of mathematics and literacy for our language learners. Um we have begun having our ESL stu ESL teachers really turnkey information for teachers. They attend uh different workshops and different um conventions they bring that information back and what they have in terms of breaking things down for
022students such as vocabulary such as um technical language they're actually turnkey that information to our staff as well. And now this year we're instituting a brand new INRS INRS procedure for the coming year which is going to allow us to track students and their individual differences and individual um challenges in education a lot closer. So that's that's something that we're also proud of. Any questions? [Music] >> Questions from the board? >> Thank you. The only thing that I will note is that uh one of our district goals is to improve the academic performance in language arts and math which is one of your main takeaways. So they do work in concert with each other and they do great. Thank you. Sure. >> Uh that concludes my report for this evening. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank
023you very much. uh these items will be under the consent resolution. So at this time we are now going to open up the meeting for the reception of visitors and the public may address agenda items only. There will be a public session toward the end of the meeting for any matters that would concern the board of education. Uh if you do have any comments for the board of education for agenda items only, please state your name and address and please keep your comments to a 10-minute time limit. And this is on first call. On second call, and on third call. Seeing nothing for the agenda public portion, we're going to move on to our consent resolution. Mr. Rosa, the South River Board of Education by means of a consent resolution adopt various resolutions of routine
024and non-controversial nature at one time. And whereas the below listed resolutions are hereby adopted by the set board of education in all as if the same were individually acted upon. Those are the superintendent of schools 3.1 through 3.3 under athletics 6.1 the finance 8.1 through 8.34 under instruction 9.1 to 9.16 policy and legislation 11.1 through 11.2 under human resources 12.1 through 12.24 under safety and risk management 13.1 through 13.2 2 on the residency 16.1. >> Okay. Thank you. Um board members, are there any items that need to be read separately or any abstensions on any of these under >> extension? I'm abstaining at 12.12. [Music] >> Anyone else? Seeing none, is there a motion on the consent resolution? >> Neielson read the consent resolution. We have a motion from Vice President Nielsen. Is there a
025second? >> Second >> from Mrs. Lel. Um all in favor. >> Thank you. So now we're going to move on to our committee reports. Uh under athletics, Mr. Woods is anything. We have one item. Athletic support committee have to review the whole item on this month's agenda. Upon the recommendation, the superintendent recommends the approval of item 6.1 with no additional items on the agenda as listed including routine items and it was only the state uh annual membership into the state association. So that's all I have. >> Okay. Thank you. Anything from the board under athletics? >> Okay. Buildings and grounds. Vice President Nielsen, >> I have nothing to report on tonight, please. >> Thank you. And our finance committee, Mrs. L. >> Thank you. The agenda includes approvals for various contracts, grants, and service agreements
026for the upcoming school year. These include funding for programs such as peer mediation, extraordinary aid, non-public transportation, and dual enrollment, as well as service agreements in areas like security, elevator maintenance, pest control, translation, and student assessment. Several construction and facility improvement projects were also approved, including athletic fields, gym floor refinishing, and the Dennis state presson. Additionally, contracts were authorized for educational tools, musical licensing, and prom venue services reflecting broad preparations across academic, operational, and extracurricular domains. The finance committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the items 8.1 through 8.21 with additional items 8.22 through 8.34 on the agenda as listed including routine items. That is all I have for finance. >> Thank you. Um would you please continue with instruction? >> Yes, I
027may. Thank you. The agenda items focus on instructional planning, program approvals, and operational updates for the upcoming school year. Key approvals include professional development plans, remote instruction strategies, and partnerships such as the safety ambassador program with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and an affiliation agreement with Rowan University. Curriculum updates, which were extensive. Miss Adowski and I reviewed 30 items. Student placements and evaluation models for teachers and administrators were also endorsed. The instruction committee after review of all items on this agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the items 9.1 through 9.12 with additional items 9.13 through 9.16 on the agenda as listed including routine items. And that is all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Uh there are no items under negotiation. So we are going to go to our policy and
028legislation committee. Mr. Alowette, >> the policy and legislation committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the items 11.1 through 11.2 two with no additional items on the agenda as listed included items. >> Thank you. Uh human resources vice president Neielson. >> Thank you, Madam President. The human resources committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of superintendent recommends approval on the items 12.1 through 12.20 with additional items 12.21 through 12.22 22 on the agenda as listed, including routine items. That's all I have to Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Um, under safety and risk management, Mrs. Sidowski, please. >> Thank you. The safety and risk management committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and
029upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of item 13.1 through 13.2 2 with no additional items on the agenda as listed, including routine items. >> Thank you. Our school board burough council y is on. Vice President Nelson, >> I have nothing for tonight, Madam President, but I will be reaching out through central office to see if um Mr. the status has any available dates so that we can get together and discuss some uh going on within the rec program and uh other items which um the uh district needs to talk to about. So I'll reach out with some dates that I'm available and hopefully through central office we can come together and uh get that done prior to next month. >> Great. Thank you. Uh if anybody has any items for the um liaison committee
030with the barrel council, please let Vice President Nielson know before that meeting once that meeting is established. Our PTA liaison, Mrs. Saski. Thank you. All PTAs are getting ready for September. I know there's a lot of planning going on about the events that are going to occur during the school year and I just encourage parents to get involved at that level because PTAs can't happen without parents. That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our residency committee. >> Thank you. The residency committee after review of all items on this month's agenda and upon recommendation of the superintendent recommends approval of the items 16.1 and no additional items on the agenda as listed including routine items. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our South River Public Library liaison, Mr. Woodson, this Tuesday they're having a program understanding
031artificial intelligence. It's at 6 pm. On July 30th, they're having Princess's superhero party at 2 p.m. August 3rd, they're having a messy arts program at 6:00 p.m. August 26th, they're having a wave goodbye to summer program at 2 p.m. And then August 6, they're having an end of summer vocals party at 2 p.m. That's all I have. >> Well, that's quite a bit going on there. Thank you very much. Um, is there any old or new business to come to the board? >> You know, um, Madam President, I have something uh I'm going to talk about that. On July 9th, the, uh, governor signed into New Jerry's Universal Preschool and Kindergarten Act into law. Um, if you get the time and you can go through that, um, he gives districts until 2029 to 2030 to
032implement, uh, some things that are in that law. And I just want to let everybody know that we're ahead of that curve. >> Things that are in this law, um people, Dr. Chairman Zano and his crew, Dr. Zer and and everybody else in this board, we saw this coming and we planned ahead. So, we're ahead of it. We have the buildings already built up. We're building them up. There'll be a like Dr. Zera said, tonight hopefully in October. So, um, we saw it coming and I know we got a lot of flack when we decided that we needed to build buildings and to to look forward, uh, to educating the children of South River the way we did and we got a lot of guff for that. But, um, I think this proves that we
033saw into the future with the knowledge that we have here and that we're ahead of the curve and I think that's a great thing for us to be that far ahead. And that's all I have to say. Pat ourselves on the back. Yes, that that's a great comment and hopefully we can serve as a role model for some of the other districts. I'm sure they will be looking for good examples and this definitely serves as a great example. So, thanks to everyone involved in making this happen before it did become a law and we'd be scrambling around. So, thank you, Mr. Parton. Is there an attorney's report for this evening? Ju just echo what vice president said there. This is a major change in a lot of districts and it's had a major panic in
034a lot of districts and here it means nothing because you are so far ahead. So again pat yourself on the back. There are a lot of districts reacting to this news a lot differently than you. >> Thank you. And now we need to pay the bills. It will be the finance committee recommends that all bills presented having been certified by the school business administrator board secretary be paid as listed in ISO. >> We have a motion by Mrs. Low. >> Second by Vice President Nielsen. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Motion passes. At this time, we are going to open up the meeting for the reception of visitors where the public may address any concern or comment that they have for the board. When you do come forward, please state your name and
035address and please keep your comments to a 10-minute time limit. Anyone from the public wishing to address the board? On first call. On second call and on third call. This public portion of tonight's meeting is closed and there is a need for a motion for adjournment. >> Neielson >> by Vice President Nielsen and a second. >> Second >> by Mrs. Sowski. All in favor? >> I. >> This meeting is ajourned. >> Sure. Mr. Over here eat