10-16-25 Watchung Borough BOE Meeting

001Call to order a regular meeting of the Wa Chong Burough School District Board of Education for October 16th, 2025 at 7 p.m. Could we please all stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America >> and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Welcome to a meeting of the board of education of the burrow of Waang. Please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings act chapter 231 laws of 1975 and that the advanced notice required therein has been provided. This is a regular meeting of the board of education of the bureau of watch at which formal action may

002be taken. This meeting is being livereamed on the district website where a recording of the meeting will also be provided. The public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda at points in the meeting provided for the public to address the board. Recording or photographing other than for private personal use requires the consent of parents or guardians whose children may be included in the image. I have a roll call, please. >> Mrs. Amado, >> yes. >> Mr. Gonzalez, >> here. >> Mrs. Harvey, >> here. Mrs. Mrs. Duet >> here. >> Mrs. Maddox >> here. >> Mrs. Santos >> here. >> Mrs. Aglaro >> here. >> Mr. Fra and Mr. Craft are absent. >> Thank you. Moving on to presentations. Uh, Mr. Connor O'Brien from Legacy Construction Management was unable to make

003the meeting, but he sent in these notes. So, I will read them out and bear with me. These were just handed to me, so I have not read them. Uh so this is the referendum update for legacy construction for October 16th, 2025 at Bayberry um on the HNS punch list. Uh punch list item for HVAC unit tokick is to be installed on 1020 while the district is closed for staff and students on Dwali and punch list item is redo pipe insulation of pipe sorry redo pipe insulation of pump number one is complete for Valley View Middle School in installing four metal plates to seal off existing abandoned exhaust fan grills Monday October 20th while the district is closed for staff and students Students for Dwali roof leaks. Advanced roofing made a preliminary warranty repair with

004Ricky Boyd's involvement. Breaches in the rubber roofing were temporarily cocked with sealant. Assuming successful verification after the next rain, they will return to provide permanent warrant repair. Ongoing construction at Valley View Middle School in the courtyard. Uh railing at concrete seating and HVAC areaway grading to be installed Monday, October 20th. while we are closed for Dewali punch list item at compass to remove a pink stain from the surface to be completed and resealed and that was completed on sat will be completed on uh the 18th shade structure installation is tenative for installation either the week of November 3rd through 7th or November 10th through 14th and it's pending delivery a formal punch list will follow and landscaping is being directed with the Valley View School faculty sports courts. Uh civil engineering plans are anticipated to

005be submitted next week to the township for the new sports courts and the maintenance shed. A new 6 foot black vinyl fence permit is expected Friday, October 17th with work to commence Saturday, October 18th and into the following week. Permit for the sports courts are anticipated two to three weeks after the plans are submitted. Once received, sports courts will work to start and is expected to take three to four weeks. All materials are ordered and will be on site when the area is available. And final top soil placement and seating are subject to the weather this fall. Simultaneously, ATC is expected to bid the shed construction of the slab and surrounding area. This work is expected to take one week. Valley View School Facilities is managing, ordering, and placing the shed. Valley View School Facilities

006is managing the site lighting, camera work, and poles. And under closeout for Northeastern, final closeout documents were provided last week to DRG. One remaining item had been requested by DRG and is expected Monday, October 20th. Um, our next presentation will be on setting board norms and we have Mrs. Gwen Thornton and Mrs. Kathy Puria from the New Jersey School Boards Association. You can adjust it back. I'm short. Good evening. It is so nice to see you all. I'm really here Kathy's going to do most of the presentation. Um, but when we think about norms and thinking about what they are, they're really about um agreements among and between board members about how you're going to work and interact together. And I was thinking on my way over here in the in the car um about

007norms and the easiest way to really explain it to you and it occurred to me I had forgotten about these um but it came back to me. So when we think about board norms, we all follow board norms in our lives all of the time. And probably some of the most famous ones you will recognize. And they begin with share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt someone. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and milk are good for you. Take a nap every afternoon. And when you go out into the world, watch out for traffic. Hold hands and stick together. Wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup. The roots go down deep

008with the plant. And nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Do any of you recognize this? Everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten. And really board norms are the same type of thing only in relationship to how you as a board communicate. And some of those, believe me, are still applicable. Playing fair, being kind, listening to one another. Um, those are all examples of board norms. And I just thought it was fun to to relive that. For those of you who might remember it or remember, I'm sure if you asked your children who were in kindergarten, um they would have heard that exact list of things over time. And that's really what board norms are about, right? How we're going to work together and interact to be more

009effective as a board of education. They're just simply that kind of list. So Kathy's going to give you some examples about what that looks like um for before a meeting, during a meeting, um for your committees, after the meeting. Um and so it's food for thought for you to think about this evening um as you begin to think about setting those. So I'm going to sit down and let you take it away. Hi, nice to see everybody again. So we can go to the first slide. Thank you. So, as Gwen said, norms are just an effective tool for board governance. They're not something that's required to have or that's mandated to have. They're something that you choose to have so that you can lean on them and let them help you when you have hard

010decisions to make together and use them as a guide when you're in committees, when you're sitting at a board meeting, anytime um just to be able to better work together. And like one said again, they're a description of how board members treat each other. And it answers the question of how is your board going to be a model for your students? Because even if your students aren't here watching, their parents are watching. So you always want to interact with each other as if there's, you know, a student or a child watching you from the audience and you want to set a good example for them. We can go to the next slide. So, we're not really going to have a board discussion right now, but these are just things for you to reflect on in

011the moment and then you can take back and talk about them in committees or wherever you'd like to. Um, but just how are you going to be successful as a board all the time before a board meeting, during committee meetings, during a board meeting, and after a board meeting. So you can think about that and we have some examples for you on the next couple of slides that you can take back and um use to help develop your norms when you're ready to. Okay. So next slide please. So all the time you of course always want to be an advocate and a champion for students and their achievement and for public education. So you always always always want to be setting that example as a board member. You want to be transparent. You set policy.

012That's one of your main roles as a board. Uh you always want to be ethical. Um focusing on high quality learning opportunities for all students that are equitable. You want to be impartial and non-biased. Treat everybody in a professional manner. That's you know your everybody from your fellow board members to your superintendent, your business administrator, other administrators and staff. You always want to treat people professionally. And then you want to work with your superintendent, respect your different individual skills because you all have things outside of this board that you bring um that contributes and helps your board be effective. And you want to have respect for those experiences that each of you bring. And then of course you want to welcome input and consider all viewpoints with the expectation that students are at the center

013of everything that you do and every decision that you make. And then of course you want to always be respectful to the staff to the taxpayers of your community and be effective stewards of your taxpayer dollars. So some examples before a board meeting. Um your board president will be very very appreciative if you read everything before the board meeting. It's hard when you're a board president and you see sometimes board members, well, we used to have, you know, packets or big binders and you would see everybody reading through right away, but now you have computers. If you're logging in for the first time at a board meeting, try to do it in advance when you get all those materials and read everything. That'll give you opportunity to ask questions. Um, you can make norms and

014methods of communication for who you direct questions to before board meetings if you have them. You always want to arrive on time. That way you have a quorum and you can be ready to do business. And then like I said before, ask questions ahead of time because that will give your administration time to do research if they have to um look into a question that you ask them about an item on the agenda. And it's just, you know, a mindful way to treat treat each other. Um during committee meetings, again, be prepared for your meeting. If you have any materials in advance, read them. Notify your chairperson if you can't be there or if you have any questions or concerns. Sit and listen thoughtfully to your administration or if you have a committee where you're

015assigned an administrator, you want to look to them as their the educational leader and be respectful of their opinions and then work towards consensus with your colleagues. Something that I always found to be effective in committees was going around the room, especially if you're dealing with a controversial controversial issue. I was on a board for nine years through some very um difficult times and I understand things sometimes get passionate. People get very passionate about their position. Sometimes things get heated and that's a time where you can rely on your norms and your procedures to help you through those times. But you know one thing your chairperson could do is say you know let's pause and let's go around the room. Give every person a time to speak. Um typically the chairperson or the board president

016the leaders in the room will speak last. That's just an effective leadership practice. But let everyone say their piece without interruption or comment until the end. And maybe you'll find that you can use everyone's comments to come to a consensus. So during the board meeting, you always want to listen with an open mind. Same as in committees. Um don't interrupt while somebody else is speaking. Let them have their say and then you in turn can have your say. You want to deliberate the issues. stick to the issues that you're addressing and not personalities and personality challenges and differences. Um, you want to always always always ensure that every member's voice is heard. That's very important. And a best practice is to never surprise your superintendent. And in turn, a superintendent shouldn't apprise surprise the board.

017And you don't want to surprise each other or spring things on each other at the board table. Um, if you know parliamentary procedure, we have a whole booklet on that. If you don't have it, I can share it with you, but uh, make sure you're aware of what the parliamentary procedures are and that you're following them and your board president and your BA can help you with that. And then your public is always here watching. So, you want to make sure you're articulating what you're doing in a way that's clear and that the public can understand. And of course, celebrate the accomplishments of your students and staff. I know some boards have an end of the year celebration where they celebrate the teacher of the year. Some students bring in student um students or student

018groups when they've received an award or recognition to be recognized in front of the board. And that's just really a way to keep things positive and you know recognize the positive contributions that you are a board are making to your students. And then after a board meeting, this is a tough one, but as a board member, you have to support the will of the majority of the board, even if a vote didn't go your way. And I've had that happen to me where a vote didn't go my way and I had to just quietly support the wishes of the board. So, you can voice your opinion, but once that vote is made, the entire board has to support the decision of the board majority. um you respect the time of your board team and administration

019by setting clear expectations of board member time commitments and not making individual requests for information or visits to the administration. So that's where if you have something like I know your board president had mentioned a handbook um but that's something where you can maybe have a handbook with those communication procedures written out. So, you know, if you have a question on something that's on the agenda or you want something added to the agenda or a committee agenda, like who do you contact? What are those processes? Do you if you have a question on a item on the agenda, do you contact the admin, you know, the committee chair and put it through to the appropriate administrator? Like what are those processes? And those are things that you can discuss amongst yourselves and put into place.

020Um, you want to take responsibility for the work of the team and follow through as agreed upon with a strategic focus and a plan towards the future. And you want to be present in your school community. So, if you can try to attend functions, um, sporting events, concerts. It's nice when people see you as an active part of your community, and I'm sure that you all are. And then always strive to develop professionally and individually as a board member and as a board which I know you're already doing because you're working toward your board certifications. There also are individual certifications that you could go for like certified board member or master board member. But if you're setting your goals and you're participating in group training, you're doing a great job. So high performing boards, they

021adopt norms, but they also follow them. So there's something that you want to share like when you have new board members come on get them started right away like these are our norms these are the processes that we follow and then they become part of your culture and you know they're just in place and that's like uh Gwen put in your presentation the way we do things around here and then use it to guide your your work. So upholding your norms. So this is a discussion that you can have you know in your committees. Are any of the norms you have developed ones that you can't live with and abide by? So that's you know a question that what you want to ask when you're developing these. How will you address norm violations? Is it

022a talk you know with the board president or something else that you want to put in place? Um do our norms reflect an understanding of our role as board members? So, that's always something you want to self-reflect on, like, is this part of my role? What is our role? What is the role of the administration? And then revisit your norms. A lot of boards schedule a retreat in the summer. That would be a great time to go over, if you put written norms in place, that would be a great time to go over them and revise them and just make sure they're working for your board. Um, you also, if you're doing your self-evaluation every year, you could use that as well. So, we have any questions about norms from the board? Is there anything

023that you'd like to add? One that I missed. Okay. Well, thank you. If you have any questions about these or you want us to come back and actually help you develop them, we have a whole norm development process with paper and markers. And >> that was my question. >> Yes. Yes. >> You probably should before I introduce you just since we have public here let everyone know we're not doing this because we're a fractured board. I think we actually do all do a really good job of working together and listening to each other and we do have we have very varied group of people. We have a lot of different viewpoints and ideas and I think that's really important and I'm actually really proud of the fact that we've come to this this point. What

024we wanted to do as a board is develop a governance handbook we where we outline our board norms as well as our protocols and procedures. so that this continues into the future because a non uh a board that has a lot of conflict in it tends not to function very well and that trickles down and then you don't have you know the support that the district needs. >> Yeah. >> In the board. >> Um next steps then would that be to have a working our action plan is actually for this goal to develop this governance handbook. It's being approved tonight. >> In that we put a working meeting. Would that be the appropriate next step then maybe to have you guys come back and help us? None of us, this has never been done here

025before. We've never had a governance handbook. I'm really excited about it. I think you know sometimes it can get a little bit like the wild wild west and to really understand and have everyone on the same page would be really beneficial I think. So would that be >> Yeah, that's what we would do. Yes, absolutely. >> And you know work on it together. Um, yeah, it is really helpful. I mean, it's great that you're a nice board and you function well together. The norms and the handbooks will help you just in case there is a controversial issue. That way, you can lean on that. Like a former superintendent used to tell me, let the process dictate the outcome. So, if you have something that's emotional or controversial, you have a process that you can lean

026on that will help you come to a conclusion and dictate your outcome. So we could we do protocols and procedures at the same time or would we need more than we could all do that in one meeting? Okay. >> Just the one meeting. >> Yeah. come and go over it easier for someone newactensitive. they are able to understand. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Anyone else have any >> Does anyone else have any questions? >> All right. Well, it was nice seeing all of you. Oh, do you have a question? >> Well, just wanted to clarify. So are we scheduling separate protocols and norms trainings or I >> both of them as one training and then a separate working session to follow. >> Could we do it all in one meeting? >> Yes. Here. >>

027I'm so sorry. So it probably should be done at a separate meeting apart from a full agenda meeting where you your public's going to be waiting. You're going to feel pressure because you have to get the business of the board done. So I would recommend it as a separate meeting. Um you can call it a work session. Um professional development, no action to be taken. So your public will be aware. You're not voting on anything critical. Um it's of course open to the public. Um but at least then people will understand and have the expectation here's what we're doing. Um and the board is just working together on a handbook for the board moving forward around your processes, procedures, how you're going to operate, what kind of resources you want new folks to have because

028it's wonderful for onboarding. Um because we now have that beautiful inter interim period between November and January that in the old days when the elections were in April and in two weeks later in May you were sworn in and people look like deer in the headlights. Um and now you have that beauty of that time to be able to onboard in district your folks ahead of time so that when they sit at the first board meeting they don't feel so lost. It's still confusing. I'm not going to tell you it's not and you know it is but they will be much better prepared. >> So we don't need any additional trainings. We could move into a working session special meeting where we would start to develop the norms and the protocols and >> procedures. >>

029Yes. >> Okay. Did that answer? >> All right. Great. So reach out to me and let me know about that. >> I look forward to seeing you again soon then. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Nice seeing everybody. >> I expect to see you all next week. >> You will. >> Okay. Um Dr. Glazer, are you ready for the NJSLA performance report? >> I think we all are. It's a team effort here tonight. Um and as Thank you, Gwen, Kathy, you're not sticking around. We'll see you soon. Well, next week in the conference. Thank you for being here. >> We appreciate you. So, tonight, as we do every year around this time, >> that's right. >> Um, we present the NJSLA um, student performance report data. Um, and over the course of the

030couple years that I have been here and during strategic planning and in our surveys, um, I would say the consistent feedback is, boy, that's a lot of numbers. That's a lot of numbers. But the purpose for what we are um, here to do, right, is to share the data. That is our responsibility to share that publicly but to also share what the analysis of that data is, our growth strengths, the areas of focus that they that we still have. Um, our commitment hasn't changed to making sure that every child is, you know, ex meeting or exceeding the standards. our um message hasn't changed at all. This data is telling a story and we have to follow that story for tonight. Again, we um responded to some of that feedback, adding some um additional kinds of

031slides, additional kind of information. So, the presentation isn't just numbers. So, you can hear about progress. So you can hear about the impact of focused instruction, focused services, professional learning. Um and then uh all obviously the collaborative efforts to meet that goal for everybody meeting or exceeding. Um tonight you have Mrs. Fickner, Denise Fickner, our principal from Bayberry, Mrs. Kidd um our principal at Valley View. We have I know Miss Kid I just it automatically Mrs. I should have done it in a different order. It would have helped me. Um Mrs. Marmelo who is our interim um director of special services together. I hope they are going to be able to share um a story and it's a really good story to hear. Not that there's not always more to do. Not that there's not

032always um room for growth, but that continuous learning is is the goal and I'm excited for you guys to be able to share it with the community. >> All right. Well, let's get going. Thank you for that intro. >> All right. So, we're going to be talking about the spring 2020 administration of NJSLA. And yes, um, we're going to we're going to try to summarize, highlight things for you because that's really what everybody wants to know from the numbers. So, all right, Aaron, let's move forward. Um, so we had NJSLA, English language arts, uh, grades 3 to 8 and then math was also 3 to 8 and end of course assessments in algebra 1 and geometry. And students in grades five and eight took the science and JSLA. Um, do you want to go back

033and forth? >> Go for it. >> Okay. When you want me to talk, >> boot me out when you Okay. So, um, this just breaks down the language arts and the math test just to give you a little more information on what is um, emphasized there. So, for, uh, the language arts, reading and writing, and it's a lot of writing about reading. So, that's important. Close reading, you can see those different um, subtopics. There is um synthesizing ideas, determining the meaning of words, a lot of vocabulary uh work um writing effectively and not only effectively but writing a lot you know so stamina for writing is very important um math we're looking at the course level skills um concepts grade level major content so there's uh major content that we need to make sure that

034in our uh pacing guide is in the beginning of the year so that we get to that and that it spirals through so that we're practicing that over and over again. Um and then there's additional and supporting content uh which is less important than the major content but still needs to be uh taught and reasoning and modeling is very very important not just regurgitating facts. Um it's important to note there in that gray box that student test items vary. So each student might get different um test items and they're not assessed on the same exact thing tested. But now the test is completely changing. So we have no idea what's going to happen. These are the performance levels. The way that we coded them um on our graphs, the graphs that you get from the

035state is like five shades of purple. I don't know why they do that. It's really hard. So we uh made them these colors in the graphs. Um next slide. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Can you go back? Do you want to just do that? Pop in. >> Okay. Um the one thing that we um a lot of times when we're analyzing the data, we're looking at movement between the different levels. So even though the data and the graphs that we give you, they combine the two highest and the two lowest levels, we also look for movement within them. So if we see students from level one moving up to level two, we see that as a success. you won't necessarily see it on your graphs, but when we're analyzing and when the teachers are analyzing student

036growth, we do see that as a success. Also, you'll hear us talk a little bit about how we have um a significant a significant number of children moving from level four to level five. And as you know, in the past few years, our district has been putting an emphasis on the gifted and talented and making those opportunities available for students within the classrooms as well as through our Soore programs. and that's when we're where we're seeing that growth. So, I did want to point that out. It won't be on your charts necessarily, but it is something that we are tracking. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And we really just um we went from five colors to three just so that it's a little easier to look at. We have the breakdown in five

037too. All right. So, these are the important things to note. Um and we can go back to these after looking at the graphs too. Um so these are all of the um highlights. Okay. So across the board we did better over the state significantly and you'll see that. So that's across grade levels in both subjects. Okay. Um levels one and two are consistently below or comparable to state averages showing that we have fewer struggling students. And again that's a success for us. Um, we also outperform the state in levels four and five, showing stronger overall proficiency and achievement. Um, do you want to switch on? >> Whatever you want to do. >> All right. >> You made me do the whole thing last. >> I know I I wasn't here. Um, so for grade level

038highlights, so English language arts, so you're going to see from the graphs, uh, grades three, six, and seven demonstrated the most notable gains in levels four and five. Um, grade three was grow uh has a growth of 20%. Which is significant. Um, >> Amazing. Yeah. Especially grade three bring, you know, that's their first experience with the test at all. So that's great. Um, so math grades three, four, five, six, and seven demonstrated notable gains in levels four and five, highlighting grade six growing by 17% and grade three again growing by 15%. >> Amazing. We're so proud. Um, all students in algebra 1 and geometry scored a level four or five. Also amazing. and science. Again, grades five and eight, their performance overview. Um, the percentage of students scoring below proficient decreased with visible movement into

039proficient and advanced categories, most prominently in grade five. >> Yes, of course. Okay, Erin, go back one slide. Thank you. So, the one thing I wanted to point out with math, you see every single grade level demonstrated notable gains except for eighth grade. Just a reminder, our eighth graders are split into three different courses. They're in the algebra 1 and geometry, which were levels four and five, 100% of them, and that's why the grade level 8 um didn't have the same growth because they split those kids up. We did also have some seventh graders who were taking algebra 1 also. So, I don't want you to think that eighth grade isn't growing. It's just they're being split into different tests by taking those two high school level courses as well. Thank you, Erin. Okay. So,

040here are the pretty graphs and you can take a moment to look at them. Um, on the left, that's our district and then on the right is the state. So, you can just look >> Ela. Yeah, thank you. >> Yeah, we'll post it so you can analyze it closer, but Okay. Did you switch or no? >> Okay, go ahead and switch, Aaron. Please. >> Okay. >> There you go. >> Did I already do this one? >> No, this is the LA. >> Oh, okay. See, they look so much alike. Okay. So, this is showing us um grade three in or the grades in 2024 and how they did in 2025. >> It's a different group of students. >> Yes, same grade. Sorry. All right. You want to jump in? >> Sure. Uh, this is the

041math, the district versus the state. So, again, you can see that SIG we did significantly better. Um, I do want to highlight, look at that third grade. That's amazing. Um, Erin, you can go to the next one. And this is our comparison 2425. Remember, these are different groups of students um against the same standards, but you see still see the significant growth in every grade level. Okay, Aaron. And then geometry and algebra one. Obviously compared to the state, we knocked it out of the park. Um, next one. And then our science. Um, this is district versus state. Again, we're doing better. And there we are from last year um from two years ago to last spring. And you can see that um again, different groups of kids, same standards, but we're still keeping our percentages

042pretty high. Okay. And then this is tracking the same groups of students. So this I want you to look at the third to fourth the first one and I'll explain it to you. You'll see how much our this one group of children grew from third to fourth grade. So again when we're looking at the fourth grade results they may not have grown as much as the third grade results seem like they have. But when you actually compare the group group of students you can see the growth there. But it's a different set of standards, a different set of expectations, but the same students. And then Aaron, that's the ELA. Can you do math? And then here's the math also. All right, Aaron. Okay, this is just the reminder that I told you about already that

043some students in grades seven and eight um took the algebra 1 or the geometry assessment instead of their grade level assessment. Um, so that data really does impact our percentages, but they're just amazing results. Thank you, Erin. There we go. Oh, all right. I I'll talk about access by default. Okay, so access is a test for our multilingual learners. Um, it does measure their English language proficiency in four separate areas and this is given annually and we also give screeners when kids are new to the district. Um, the areas are reading, writing, listening and speaking. um they must earn an overall score of a 4.5 on a six-point proficiency level to be considered for exiting the ESL instruction and services. So if they have less than that 4.5, they stay in some type of services

044either push-in or a pull out in our district. Um because of we have such a small population, I couldn't share that data with us because it's the sample sizes are fewer than nine in the different grade levels. Um but this is what the chart looks like. Um, and these are the different levels. Um, so you're considered limited English proficient up to that 4.5. Again, at that five, they think that you're bridging. So, they'll see, um, in all areas of language that you are getting much better and then you'll be exited and just in the regular classroom. But we do continue to monitor students once they're exited from the program. So that's very important because as the content and the expect change expectations change as they get older, we don't want to um have them backslide.

045So we're going to keep monitoring them and then uh see if they still need services of any sort. Next, Aaron. Um this basically just gives you a description of each of those levels. So you know um entering, emerging, developing, expanding, bridging, and reaching. when they are tested, they're tested on their oral skills as well. So, they have to do some speaking with looking at a picture prompt. They have to expand on stories um as well as their traditional um reading and writing. So, all of these levels um are applied to those different types of tasks. Next, Aaron. Oh, good. Somebody else. Hello. Um I just want to congratulate the district really for amazing results on the NJSLA because it's not really it's not easy to get those results compared to you know the state results.

046So quite impressive. Great job. Um the dynamic learning maps are another assessment for our students with most significant cognitive disabilities. It's an alternate assessment. It breaks down the New Jersey uh learning standards into its smallest components for our children that have the most difficulty with grasping larger concepts. And so it's also provided to students once a year, those that are identified for taking the dynam dynamic learning map and um it breaks it down into their most essential elements which are really more grade specific um to uh those that will they'll be able to do or show rather than to always have to write and read. So um it is just an alternative assessment for the uh students with your most significant disabilities. Okay, go to the next one. Thank you. >> Okay. And the the

047results of the DM are not shared. They are shared with parents during the annual review meeting, one of the meetings that uh students with IEPs have throughout the year. And during this time, um, the IEP team uses the information on the DLM, uh, or from the DLM to write new goals for the students and, uh, objectives for their IEPs. Whoops, you can go back a little bit, but that's okay. Similarly to the essential elements, what some students do with uh the or learning styles, they break down the teaching into these small pieces called discrete trial learning. And that's similar to what they get assessed on or the way they get assessed when they're doing the dynamic learning map. So again, it's just broken down into smaller components for them to help them better understand the

048basics of what they need to learn. Thank you. >> Thank you, Marie. All right, which brings us now to the district goals. Um I don't know. Did you want to talk to these or no? >> So what happens the reason that our goals are there? This data, all of this information um informs our district goals action plan, right? It informs our first year strategic plan goals. That's it's great to say we're going to enhance student achievement with initiatives and ensure systems. Now that we have specific data related to grade levels, related to students, we can feed that into um our action plan. Update it with this data. Tonight you have the board goals action plan on the agenda for approval. And when we are able to update this after tonight, we'll also have our district

049goals action plan um as it relates to the strategic plan goals on the next agenda for approval. I know it's a mouthful. >> Yep. >> But it's important to to bring it down to that level. >> There you go. >> Thank you. Okay. So now we are here to the action steps. So these are the areas that we're going to prioritize by looking, you know, at all of the data that's available to us. Um we have a fully revised K4 ELA curriculum. Um teachers worked extremely hard on incorporating science of reading practices uh research and practices um and aligning resources. Um so to fully address what the students are seeing on NJSLA because that was one thing that we did find that some of our resources from before did not match what was required on

050NJSLA. Um and then uh I just said that about science or reading. Um talking about the major math content. So our math we revised our math curriculum as well to incorporate more best practice from some of the trainings that they've gone to conquer math and also again looking at the major content that's in the test and making sure we're just getting to it right and it's on the pacing guide early but it's also spiraling through. students are going deep into the content as opposed to um trying to race through. Um so that's important prioritizing those standards. Um the staff grade level team meetings focusing on consistency across the grade by looking at um collaboratively planning um developing and identifying common assessments. Um, all of those things are making sure our students have equitable access to

051the curriculum. All right, next one, please. That's a weird slide. Um, so our our building and staff student growth goals are tied closely to the NJSLA and the other data that we have, multiple points of data, I ready, grade level common assessments. Um, our non-tenured staff are the ones that have the SGOs. Um but we all have professional development goals that we're working towards and um school goals. Um we uh can we are always analyzing that I Ready data and NJSLA like diving into it because when you look at a graph it's nice but I'm always asking you know why why did we get that score? What what are those areas that we still need to focus on? Um, and that to me, I know that's fun, but I'm just a nerd, love school. So,

052um, so then our, um, our benchmark assessments, we have I Ready and we've implemented a pilot of dibbles, um, that are scheduled so that we can monitor growth and progress during the school year. U and again our PLC team meetings at both schools. We're always looking at um benchmark assessment data but also those current assessments that we're doing on a regular basis and monitoring student growth and progress. um both schools we've implemented um uh here at Valley View it's flex and at Bayberry it's a win period but basically it's an intervention period or a time for students to get what they need um in the different areas whether it be intervention enrichment um ESL basic skills all those things um and speaking of basic skills we've rebranded that to learning support um so we have

053an addition of learning support services at Bayberry We hired a part-time uh person and then also worked it out so some other people had some uh periods that they could support students as well. And in addition of full-time um MLL teacher at Bayberry due to our increasing um ESL population or MLL, sorry. >> All right. Do you want to do some of these? >> Nope. >> Okay. She's making me work tonight. All because I wasn't here last year. Um, so our federal grant monies and youth services grants are dedicated to our pursuit of excellence program. As many of you know, it's either before school, after school, or both. Um, those students that might need more time to learn. Um, so extending that school day or a different approach and small group. Uh, basically tutoring. Um,

054and that works um, really well, those small groups with our certified teachers. Um, we've also provided more opportunities for students to actually practice how they're going to be tested. So, we're putting some things in place, curricular resources, instructional strategies, where, for example, they're writing about reading online. So, they're actually practicing their typing skills and getting better at drafting on the computer as opposed to just on, you know, pen and paper, which I love pen and paper, too, but we have to make sure they're ready for that online test. There's no option to hand write it. I mean, unless it's an accommodation. All right, you ready? >> Um, enrichment programs. I talked a little bit about enrichment before. Um, but we have our sore programs and different opportunities. the opportunities sometimes are schoolwide contests um and

055sometimes they're just based on the sore program. We have coding opportunities in our steam coding classes and we have like I said the schoolwide opportunities. Um we have family steam night, we have our visiting authors, we have writing contests, we have our district science fair. We try to extend things as much as possible beyond the classroom for the kids. Um and they do use preassessments in the the courses to kind of differentiate instruction. What students already are secure in the skills and they just need reteing I mean they need more enrichment and which ones are not secure in the skills that either need to be introduced to them or have some reteing profession. Oh, go back Aaron you went too. Nope. One more there. Nope. I don't know where you're going. Professional learning continued. Okay,

056go back one. Oh, okay. They're out of Well, here's all our after school clubs and activities. I think everyone's seen them a million times. I don't know what Skoker is, but we'll fix that typo. I think it's soccer. >> It's a new sport that we have just here at Wong. Um, but here are all our different clubs that we offer. Um, I always like to tell the kids the end of the day is halftime. We offer a number of opportunities at Valley View and Bay for kids to get involved and continue their experience here. I think I have 90% of the school signed up for afterchool sports in addition to the different clubs that we have. So where it's it's a really great time after school here. >> Okay, Aaron. >> Yep. Um just starting

057professional learning. Um, obviously we still have our IDE consultants coming in and they're working on best practices in science of reading at Bayberry. They're working at executive functioning and student achievement at both schools and how do we meet the needs of our diverse learners and how do we improve our co-eing relationships. And so that way we're fully utilizing the staff in the classroom for all learners. And then we do have personalized coaching for teachers if there's areas that they're looking to improve maybe as part of their professional development plan or areas that Denise and I identify for them that we really want them to grow in. Um and then Conquer Math is continuing for our K4 teachers because they're in years one or two whereas Valley View I think most of our teachers have completed

058the program now which is amazing in both special ed and gened. >> You want to talk about these? >> Yep. All right. And this is continued. So these are two programs. Um the lift edu is used by our autism program. Um and it's a program that helps them um track data and follow their students and and >> contains a professional development component as well. So it's a um it sometimes it's very difficult to meet the needs of teachers when you have maybe one in a school. So that um does that for us. uh the master teacher that's for our par professionals mean we require them to also have training and those are just some of the um you know indicators some of the things that we offer them. All right, next one. Okay. Um so

059these are our um we we felt like the I Ready was important to show too um in addition to the NJSLA because this is our district benchmark. So this is I ready 2425 for Bayberry in reading and just visually and there are it does show you at the bottom how many students and how from and how they moved but just looking at the graph it's very easy to see the growth there. So we're very proud of that and definitely um looking even at the red and how much smaller it was at the end of the year. So that's amazing. Okay, this is our math again. Just visually looking at it quickly, you can see that growth. All right, next one. Valley view reading. Same thing. Some nice growth, some nice reduction in those lower levels.

060Okay, next one. And the math as well. So, the same trend. And I think Oh, okay. These are going to be up on the website for you to zoom in when you can. Um, all of these are just the performance by demographic. So, this breaks down, remember I talked earlier about the purple shades. So, this is um all those and then it breaks it down by gender um ethnicity when it can some some of the groups are so small they can't we can't report but it it will all be there. I don't know that we need to go through it like we don't need to click >> just so you know. Yeah. just so if it's shaded out it means that the group was um nine or under. >> Yeah. >> So that's why we

061had to sh >> So we put all of these on this slideshow that'll for each grade level that'll be posted on the website and I think the last slide is just any questions I think. Right. Check. Yeah. Oh no no there's one more. >> Yeah. Erin, can you go to the second to last slide for us please? >> Just click through quick. Yeah, we just wanted to show some information about um this year's test. There we go. Okay. All right. So, this is 2026. As we said, the test is changing. The testing platform is different. Um the test is now an adaptive test um like I Ready. So, our students are used to doing that type of a test, but we don't just don't know what it's going to look like. >> Um, >> and

062we are required to do it, but we get no data. This is for the state to >> the field test is for the state to the field test to implement the new platform, but we won't get any data. >> Right. So, that field test we're doing November 12th and 13th. Are you doing all your grades? >> Yes. Okay. >> Grades two, three. >> No, four. Four through eight. >> Oh, I was have to do three. 4 through eight. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. So, for the field test, the kids are going to be seeing um uh test questions that reflect the previous year's uh skills and content. So, our fourth graders when they take the test will be tested on third grade standards. The fifth graders will be tested on fourth grade standards. If

063they're in algebra 1, they'll be taking the eighth grade math. Just so you know, it's going to be a year behind when they take the field test. Um, I think the thought from the state was they didn't want to overwhelm kids by introducing them or testing them on things they've never seen yet. Whereas in the spring, they'll actually take the real grade level test. Their other thought was they didn't want them to see the test questions and the things that they were going to be tested on in the spring in the fall. So, um, I thought that was interesting. >> It is interesting. Okay. So, and these are um, just go back real quick. Um, and again, this will be up on the website just so everyone's aware of the testing windows and and the

064dates. >> It's actually it's already up on the website. >> Oh, it is >> the district. >> We need to fix the one typo Scott. >> No, no, no. The assessment the assessment schedule is already on the district website already. >> All right. All right. So, any questions? >> Are those graphs on the website? this presentation goes up after the the whole thing. >> Okay. All those graphs I'd really love. >> Yeah, that's that's the important part. >> Yep. >> Just digest them and zoom in and really look at them closely. Yeah. >> Are there any uh from the demo pages that are just too small to see? Any high or low lightss that we should know about? >> I think we highlighted everything. >> The demographics >> from the demographics thing we should know

065in there. I don't >> so the populations are so small that when we're looking at that we end up really looking at individual students >> rather than like in a larger district. I could tell you well this certain demographic is having an issue with this area. Maybe there's something with our programming or resources because our numbers are so small. Sorry Erin, I know you're cursing at me right now. Um because our numbers are so small they really ends up being about an individual child. Got it. which is very informative to us, but that's that these charts don't really help inform us on a specific demographic. Yeah. >> Um we would always like to see um you know we've had increased our numbers of uh females in algebra 1 and geometry. So that's something that we

066want to continue to to support and in STEM. So those are good things. >> I was going to say too gen like we we do look at gender. Um we're curious to see how our students are doing gender. Um some of it is typical that we see the girls doing better in language arts. So we are trying to shift that. Mhm. Um also use it um opportunities right you can again not to um in this forum make inter individual students but you work on equity right access to um learning supports or access to the soore program access to other opportunities that you might not have noticed right? Um didn't include everybody until you you looked at that equity. >> Yeah, I know. Uh Dory, we've looked at the numbers of students with IEPs and 504s

067and that were um ESL that were part of our SOORE program and that were in our enriched programs before. So, that's something that we're always looking to make sure that they're included. Well, it's so great to see that our district and our town's investment in the schools, in the curricula, and in the teachers have paid off. >> Paying off. >> Thank you. >> Are paying off. Yes. And I mean, definitely the teachers are working really, really hard. So, we want to thank them as well. And thank you for your support. >> Before I say, does anybody else have questions? Because I I do think Denise what you said is critical right it is that investment you ask right during the budget time what'll be different what what does this professional learning reinstating professional learning what

068does it mean what does it mean when we have a relevant textbook or relevant resources right so just early literacy initiatives alone I mean 19.6 6 19.6 points at grade three to to grow is is amazing. That upward trend still at middle school, sixth and seventh grade, not typical, right? Those are where you're going to see that impact. When you talk about the math, right? That math growth is is across every grade level. It's the reasoning. It's in the modeling. And you'll see it better when you look at the breakdown, the problem solving, but I think that it's also greater confidence, not just the students, the staff is getting support. They had the opportunity to look at the curriculum to to work on their grade level curriculum, the content. All of those things are the

069investment, right? All of those things combined are what make the difference. And it does take time. We aren't done yet. Um, but I'm excited because in just like I said, this is just it's my third one of these presentations, but just the beginning of my third year in the district and what has been accomplished and it it's huge work to do in faculty meetings and, you know, half days here. the staff, you all as our instructional leadership have really truly um impacted that. And thank you to the board for supporting the resources, not just to keep us even, right? Not just to maintain, but to be able to start to implement some of these initiatives that the community has said are important, have said that they value and we have not been able to do

070previously. So, great. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. Before you go, I just wanted to say one other thing. Um, you know, in regards to the third grade, I just wanted to point out kudos because, uh, for in my personal experience, I know that, uh, the teachers that I saw in the third grade last year gave the children the opportunity to thrive to through to their potential and not limit them. So that that's where I think you saw a lot of these results is the fact that the teachers did give the children the opportunity to go above and beyond what their capabilities were. So kudos pushing them. Yes. Thank you. >> It's a big thank you to all the teachers and both of you for um putting in all that time, effort, and work. It's

071paying off and it's nice to see. >> Thank you. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. Okay, I think we have one more presentation on the new New Jersey Department of Education Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act for 2024, 2025, the school self assessment, right? And just as a reminder, we do do this presentation yearly. It is a look back, right? It it's ended. Um this self assessment is done in each school and that will determine in the spring remember we get to to talk about hip again um the report that is posted on the district website. So when we're talking our way through this tonight through these slides um this is the precursor to what those grades are and that report is in the spring. Okay, hit it Aaron. So, um, as with every year, we

072we are required. It is a compliance piece, but I also think it's important because we have new board members, new, um, community members, new parents of students to talk about what this actually is. Um, each school's required to evaluate its implementation of the anti-bullying bill of rights. It's our HIB program that you hear us talk about. Um, and they use a tool provided by the state. The tool itself gives um, eight core areas, elements that address each of the areas of the bill. And our presentation again has to address each of those areas. So you will see um, a slide for each of those areas. Each school takes the they assign a rating and we'll talk about that in each of these areas. The indicators are based on again specific criteria that data after its

073input in each of the individual areas. Um gives us uh cumulative score that is also reported. Um and that score is again what we use to look at um do we need more professional learning? Do we you know are we needing a different focus in our program those kinds of things. So as we work through each of the core elements we can address that perhaps. Go ahead Aaron. So the first element is actually um the approaches the initiatives. Our schools each have established HIV programs. Um they annually implement those. We assess those programs obviously um and we look at our initiatives designed right to improve our culture and climate to improve the conditions um that might prevent or address um harassment, intimidation and bullying. And those things um are used. The climate team is our

074um school social worker, our counseling teams, all of those things um that come together, right? When we review our policies, when we review our professional development, it's all part of this core element. Um number one, the first core element. Hi, Eron. Training in um the policy and procedures. Not only do we train our school employees, our contracted service providers, um we also work with our volunteers, there is instruction on preventing HIP. Um the protected classes are identified. They are talked about um not just by the anti-bullying bill of rights but by our coordinators in each school. We really spend time on distinguishing characteristics on um incidents that arise from there discrimination or harassment intimidation and bullying. Um we also work through the policy with our students. One of the things, and it'll come up throughout

075each of these core elements that came up during the spring presentation, during our strategic planning, um is a need for even more of this kind of um work with students, with parents, with the community. Back to school night. Uh Mrs. Kidd both back to school nights for grades fifth through 8th grade did a parent HIV presentation. We have um continued to develop a series of programs. I'll call them comprehensive programs. Um we'll be starting this November with assemblies for students paid for by the PTO training for staff um at both levels, parent chats and workshops. And this series is going to continue all the way through March. Um again it was something that was really highlighted at the strategic planning as part of our goal setting. We um have taken it very seriously and I

076did think it was interesting one of the um things that we had done previously um cyber bullying and having an opportunity for parents to really understand where they could go into a you know a specific program or an app is something that was requested. Um and we will be bringing um Sergeant Rich back to the district. The PTO again is supporting um that effort. So you see it um here in the district, but that is a piece of that core element number two as well. Go ahead, Eric. Number three, right, the staff instruction training programs. I I shared this slide I think in combined with what we've already talked about, but I will say that um between Mountaineer Monday and the lunch programs at Bayberry and again our counseling staff, a real commitment um to

077look at not just um harassment, intimidation and bullying, but discrimination equity, right? Those topics during our recent week of respect um during our other kinds of programming is a really important piece of this and making sure our staff feels prepared to have those conversations. We, as you know, bring in outside groups to um to help with that. last year the ADL we've had um our um Hindu um partners come in and talk a little bit about that and we will continue those efforts as well. curriculum and instruction on HIV related information again ongoing as part of our um instruction as part of our programming included in our um social emotional initiatives as well. Go ahead. Number five of course is personnel. We have um the anti-bullying specialist at each school. those um are our school

078counselors. Currently um in the absence of our district HIV coordinator, it is Karen or Denise named right now. Oh, right. It isn't the principal. I will have to tell you who that is. It had been um >> that would be fun. It it it is it for a conflict, right? You don't want to have a conflict with your administrators or your counselors being the person that has to oversee it, right? They have to be the trusted adults for our students. And when an issue comes up, we need another trusted person to be able to have the opportunity to talk through whatever the um incidents are, whatever is coming up in the investigation. So those pieces are critical. Um our um school climate team does continue to meet that is part of mandated um state policy

079but it's also one of our approved district policies and again on an ongoing basis we are addressing those school climate issues and her harassment, intimidation and bullying is part of that. Go ahead Karen but speak into the microphone. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. You please feel free to jump in. >> Our school climate team is made of our SRO, a parent, an administrator, and the school anti-bullying specialist. >> Thank you. >> And maybe teacher >> and that is detailed also in our policy for that core element six. There you go. Um our incident level um reporting and procedures. So all of those elements are a specific process. We follow the same process in both schools. We follow the same process for reporting, for investigation, for following up with families. Um we follow the same process

080when there is a report um to share with the board. these um reporting procedures, procedures, sorry, are on our district website right on the front page. It has all of the forms available. If you also feel as um a parent, as a community member, that there's something that you want to report, that is part of these procedures. And you hear me say on a lot of topics, see something, say something. One of our parent series arises out of that, right? How are you an upstander? How can you feel that you can see something, say something, and not just hope somebody else does, right? And that's part of the um communication around the procedures and the policy. Go ahead, Aaron. the investigation procedure. again um just shared this about the actual board approved policy, the procedures,

081the notification processes, um even down to what it takes to have an investigation, complete an investigation and the follow-up communication um that happens after the investigation when it's shared with the board before it is reported out all of this is part of um also state reporting. So it it is multiple places where you can see this procedure in action and then of course the reporting part that is where um anybody staff students right that see something say something hear something can report. Our staff members are required to report any incidents, any information, right, that um comes to them related to violence, vandalism or harassment, intimidation and bullying. The self assessment grades that are, you know, make up this part of the report um again are from last year. This is the look back. We do

082it every year and our report from last May is on the district website and this year's will of course replace that in the spring when the state finishes the district reporting for the whole state. Um so at Valley View and Bayberry again each core indicator is rated on the criteria. Um looking at those scores for um again last year, Bayerry self assessment scored 76 out of 78, Valley Views 71 out of 78. Um we do have a breakdown of the individual indicators. I cannot share that um specific data because it is a self assessment. It gets reported out. Um, but I hope that just seeing those numbers lets you know how seriously it's taken, that the criteria is considered for exactly what it is and related candidly, not because of the resulting score, but to

083help us use that self assessment to continue to guide our work, to continue to make sure that not just our anti-bullying specialists, but our um school counselor ing team, our social working team can continue to work in programs and training um and in actual reporting and investigating of incidents of HIP so that we continue to get better in this area as well. That's it. So, questions about the self assessment or the bill of rights. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Glazer. Sorry. Thank you, Dr. Glazer. >> Uh, did you want to go through the enrollment numbers? >> Sure. Let me get to my copy of the agenda. [Applause] One of the other um things you'll notice different this month, you can see lots of things have emerged out of all of our strategic planning

084and other conversations, our board conversations. Um in addition to the comparison of enrollment, um we did add the number of sections um per grade level. people um felt that they couldn't get a good sense of the enrollment without that. Um prek is um unchanged. Kindergarten we are down a section as you know from our um reports in August and September. First grade up a section to five. Um stable at second grade, third grade five sections. fourth grade four sections at Bayberry. Um we are able to give the sections at Valley View because our fifth grade um is structured the same way. There are four sections at fifth grade. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade is by um home room. So it's not a it's not sectioned in this way. There are the team groups. I know

085I'm not explaining that the way you would, Mrs. Kid. explain explain the groups. I know you're sending me love always, but do you want to explain it differently for sixth to 8th grade beyond the teams of why we can't call it a section? >> Because we don't have home rooms in middle school >> and I just said we didn't because we don't. It's sections. We don't um kids are mixed up just like a high school program. >> Yep. >> Here you go. >> On our teams. Thank you. So overall comparatively at um Valley View the difference is three less students on the same day um this year as last year. Um we have the same number of out of district students. Um obviously our Bayberry enrollment is considerably lower without a section of kindergarten that

086is um definitely reflected in the overall numbers. Um down uh 20 my math my mental math about 26 students. >> Thank you. Uh principal's report. And they're back. >> Hello. All right. Good evening, members of the board of education and members of the community. We are pleased to share the highlights from both Bayberry Elementary School and Valley View Middle School for the month of October. >> Thank you. At Valley View, we continued our Mountaineer Monday series, focusing this month on the importance of organization and setting meaningful academic goals. These sessions are helping students build essential habits for success both inside and outside of the classroom. We also launched an exciting new character recognition recognition initiative called Model Mountaineers. Each month, Valley View staff will nominate students who consistently demonstrate what it means to be their

087best selves, showing respect, kindness, helpfulness, courage, and leadership by example. Our very first model mountaineer is Ella Anderson. Congratulations to Ella for setting such a positive example for her peers. Woohoo. Congrats. All right. And I know we said October, but I had to include a couple things that happened at the end of September. Um, parents had a wonderful time visiting classrooms during Bay's back to school nights on September 25th and the 30th. Our students look their best for picture day on September 25th and the 26th, dressed to the nines and ready to shine. A heartfelt thank you to our parent volunteers who helped to make the day run smoothly, ensuring every tie was straight and every strand of hair was in place. Yeah. >> On October 3rd, several of our Valley View musicians participated in

088the high school's marching band interest night. Students had the chance to play alongside the band, learn basic marching techniques, and connect with high school musicians. We're proud that 13 Valley View students joined in, part of a group of more than 55 students from across the sending districts. Student council elections took place on October 8th, and I'm thrilled to recognize our newly elected student leaders. Our president is Sahes Dylan, our vice president Katrina Lang, our secretary Lucy Ferrara, and our treasurer Sophia Pimento. These students have already shown tremendous enthusiasm and leadership, and we look forward to the positive impact they will make this year. Nice. Congratulations. At both Bay and Valley View, our fire prevention week celebrations were a hit. The Wong Fire Department visited to lead engaging assemblies on fire safety. Students who created posters

089for the fire fire safety contest were recognized for their efforts and our kindergarteners especially enjoyed their visit to see the fire truck up close. Throughout the month, both schools were alive with spirit and themed activities. We honored Hispanic Heritage Month, Week of Respect, School Violence Awareness Week, and Red Ribbon Week. Students and staff participated through theme days, announcements, competitions, and classroom discussions. A special thank you to our PTO for supporting school spirit by donating lays and sweat bands during our spirit week, allowing every student to join in the fun at Valley View. And at Bayberry, the PTO funded an engaging Hispanic heritage storytelling assembly for all of the students. Might as well wrap it up. All right. October was a busy and rewarding month filled with learning, leadership, and community spirit. We are incredibly proud

090of the positive energy across both schools and look forward to building on this momentum as we move into November. Thank you. >> Thank you both and um Marie also for being here another night out. the amount of work that it takes if not just the things you're hearing about all the initiatives in school but the analysis of the data whether I ready or NJSLA or preparing for the field testing is tremendous and you have a wonderful team of um leaders making that happen. Thank you for doing everything that you do. Denise, you might still make it to line dancing if you hurt. >> Thank you very much and a special congratulations to those on student council. >> Um, business administrators report. Okay. Okay. So from um buildings and grounds uh managing the referendum as you

091already heard and uh of course working on both buildings big news was that the heat was successfully turned on on Monday. So that was very exciting. >> It is required to be by October 15th. >> Right. We we were early. >> We made it. >> Uh from our accounting department um extremely happy that the audit is finished. uh 80% of the prep work for that audit is actually done by one person and so that one person is very happy now that the audit is done. Um from our payroll department I got a note saying never a dull moment in payroll retropay and new contracts have all been processed the audit is wrapped up and now we're gearing up for cusack calculators are working overtime and caffeine levels are high. Uh, also from payroll, uh, myself

092and, um, Hershey, our payroll, uh, coordinator, we went to, um, Bayberry to attend a staff meeting. We talked about all things payroll. We explained how to calculate the difference in the paychecks from last year to this year. There, you know, there was a uh, time when from September 15th to September 30th that the old salaries were still in place. So, we explained to all the teachers how you could actually calculate that and figure out the difference. We also reviewed the really boring things on a paycheck that no one understands. Talked about things like imputed income, which everybody is like, "What the heck is that?" So, we did that. We're going to do that again at Valley View in two weeks. And that's I think you know >> remind people to fill out their free and

093reduced. >> Oh, okay. And free and reduced um forms went out. That's a survey form. uh it's not required mandatorily but be we are asked by the state of New Jersey to fill out the survey. The reason we do that is because we like to uh check to see who needs, you know, who has needs, who needs services. And so we use that form to to guide us. And that survey, whether you think you qualify or not, please, please fill it out because it is the combined surveys that make the um uh number of free and reduced lunch. It has an impact on our demographics. It has an impact everywhere. We want to make sure that people feel safe and comfortable and confident um to to fill that out so that we have the appropriate

094data to submit. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you. >> I don't know. It's like a weird me. I don't >> want Let me just >> That's better. Uh yeah. District district update. Um, so you've gotten to hear a lot tonight. I want to just um give you a couple of highlevel um things and then we'll keep moving because it is a lengthy night. We um we on the regionalization team, you've heard us talk about it over more than a year, have received a preview of um a regionalization report and a demographic study done as part of a grant that um we signed on with the high school district and sending districts. We um as we got the preliminary reports, you know, of course we're aware of a lot of the local information. Of course, we

095are aware that there are developments, right? The Blue Hill happening on Bonnie Burn, the town houses, we of we all know that they're under construction. Um and of course, you know, the reports in and of themselves give us pause, right? There there are implications for almost everything and and by that because I just saw out of the corner of my eye what do you mean by that enrollment shared services um any town services right like it it is a big impact for everyone so to that end um I think I don't think I know we are going to be proactive uh develop a working group to begin to have some of these conversations of what those implications are going to be. Um maybe some of the patterns, how we can work together to um make

096sure that and from a district viewpoint, the learning experience for students and families is strong. I think the conversations are different, different constituencies, different topics, but I will say we'll be inclusive. obviously of our district board of education and administration, our burough council and their administrators, parents, staff, related community members. I do, you know, I'm looking right at you, so I can't I want to acknowledge our council president, Christine Eid. She's not only here with us tonight, um, but she's participated with Mayor Jubin in almost all of these regionalization meetings over the past well more than a year. Um and and that kind of um participation is important, right? That we are both hearing the same thing and knowing that we all have a collective responsibility to look forward, right, to to address these things.

097So truly, you're in my line of sight. Not maybe for the people at home, but um we will look forward to these working groups, to these conversations, to um really seeing an actual report and and knowing um what it is that is facing the schools, the burrow, right, the community. So, um, also just on the burrow topic, um, Saturday's the harvest festival from 1 to 4. The board will be out there again in that chili contest. I do I think you guys can take it. I thought you guys won last year, but I am still confident. I think you can take it this year. We'll be out there. Please come and say hi to us. Um, taste the chili, visit the scarecrows at the scarecrow stroll. last year was a wonderful afternoon and hopefully um

098Saturday will be a beautiful weather day and we move forward. Um and as a reminder the district is closed on Monday, October 20th in observance of Diwali that is the Hindu festival of lights for those who are celebrating. I hope Diwali is filled with light and love and laughter um as you move forward in the year. >> Thank you. Okay, moving right along. We can uh start with the committee reports. Mrs. Dwet, could you give the curriculum report, please? >> Okay. Right. We met Thursday, October 9th, between 4 and 5:30 p.m. It was a virtual meeting. Committee members are myself, Jessica Maddox, Adam Santos came in by phone. Our board president, Jennifer Aguilero, Dr. Julie Glazer, Denise Vickner, Bayberry principal, Karen Kidd, Valley View principal. All right, we had some followup from the meeting before

099the referendum. The field and outdoor learning uh commons is projected to be ready for the spring of 2026. Another thing, another question that was asked was how does the district address adequacy of resources, training, and programs to support staff and students at managing and responding to increasing racial and cultural tensions and to ensure the district promotes equity and inclusion throughout the school community. Dr. Glazer shared that we work to ensure this on a daily b uh basis. She mentioned the Hindu group who is coming in to work with staff for the second time on November 5th. And we also had the ADL to both faculty meetings. September 30th, we had Hispanic Heritage uh month assemblies with David Gonzalez uh for each grade at Bayberry School. At the middle school, there was a cultural heritage celebration

100as part of the week of respect. Throughout the week, students and staff take part in daily challenges and lessons that reinforce the importance of showing respect for themselves, others, and the school community. Focus. Respect means celebrating differences and having fun together. As Maya Angelou said, in diversity, there is beauty and there is strength. Challenge they had find out three new things about your classmates and teachers. The spirit was wear something that represents your heritage, culture, or a meaningful place or show your pride with patriotic colors. It was an optional thing to do and it was add a fun accessory such as a hat or pattern that reflects your personal or cultural style. We also provide resources in support of many other cultures and initiatives embedded in the curriculum. This is a lot. performance report. The

101principles went over it, but I'll just u make it a little shorter. NJSLA results find district-wide ELA performance in grades 3 to 8 improved from 2024 to 2025. The percentage of students achieving meeting or exceeding expectations, those are levels four and five, increased across most grades. The proportion of students performing in the lowest tiers, one and two, declined. Grades three, five, and six demonstrated the most notable gains in meeting or exceeding expectations. The district outperforms the state in levels four and five. NJSLA math results in grades 3 to 8 mirror the ELA trajectory with yearover-year improvement and a competitive standing relative to state performance. However, variability by grade level is more pronounced, which is a typical trend for math uh outcomes. Early indicators suggest notable gains in some grades warranting a deeper review to identify

102the primary drivers of growth. Curriculum re uh writing. Mrs. Fner presented the updates and changes to the K to4 ELA and math curriculum and associated new uh resources. The process was structured so teachers work their way through completing their to-do lists. both principles and emphasize the importance of aligning our curriculum to the state standards. The approved curriculum documents will be live on Rubicon on the uh curriculum page of the district website for the board of ed. All documents are in the curriculum committee folder for review. Next steps for the school year will be the implementation of the new math resources and updated curriculum in grades K to 8, the implementation of the science of reading resources, instructional strategies, and updated K to 4. Valley view course descriptions and resources were updated, making sure they aligned

103with the standards. The I Ready math test has been updated, making it easier to read and align to the standards. Addition of writable resource that mirrors the NJSLA tasks, focuses on practicing how they will be assessed. Keyboarding skills are taught to help with writing tasks, including keyboarding to the Valley View schedule, has been proposed and is being studied. Dibble's assessment. Dibble stands for dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills. These measures are designated are designed for students in grades K to three. Each of the tests takes about one minute to complete and indicates if a student is on track for grade level reading success. It also it is also one of the screeners for dyslexia. Dibbles are administrated three times a year. Professional development is tied to implementing the new curriculum, district and strategic goals.

104Okay. NJSLA field testing. This is being required by the New Jersey Department of Education to test out the system. Districts will receive no data. The field test is to imple to implement new adaptive questioning to better personalize the results. The new test data will not be comparable with previous NJSLA results. District mentor and PD plans are required each year. The non-tenure teachers individual professional development and student growth assessment goals have been certified. The second year tenure teachers are not required to establish new SGOs, but every teacher has a PD plan. And that's all I'm going to say. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Juette, I will read out uh the report for Mr. Frey. Um on administration finance committee, the administration finance committee met on October 7th at 5:00 p.m. virtually. The attendees were Karen

105Bishop Johnson, Ricky Boyd, myself, Muhammad Fras, Dr. Julie Glazer, Connor O'Brien, and Jessica Maddox. We received an update on the referendum and facilities. We reviewed the progress on out on the outdoor learning commons, the fencing and the sports fields. Um, some delays in the fencing and sports fields were noted due to material orders and design adjustments and the heating and cooling system repairs and testings are ongoing and it sounds like the heating turned on successfully and is working well. Um, under financial and audit updates, he has uh there's continued close tracking of the project expenses and contractor credits. There's uh the annual audit is progressing ahead of schedule and there was some discussion about updating financial procedures for efficiency. Under operations and staffing, we got updates on transportation planning and new the new maintenance hire

106and payroll improvements Mrs. Bishop Johnson already discussed were implemented. Um so the next steps he has complete the audit and review recommendations if there's any. uh continue work on the referendum projects and facilities planning and launch the the working group which you announced as well. Okay. Uh policy committee, Mrs. Amado. The policy committee met on Wednesday, October 8th at 5:33 p.m. virtually. In attendance were myself, uh Phyllis Juet, Adam Craft, Jenna Gugliaro, uh Jul Dr. Glazer, and Hanky Nielson. uh new business policy uh 3218 and it's uh the same regulation use possession or distribution of substances um and sorry policy regulation 3281 inappropriate staff conduct and policy I didn't write the whole name of it I just wrote drug free >> drug free schools thank you um these policies and regulations were adopted during COVID

107and need updating our district physician and lawyer are reviewing them and providing feedback. So we hope for um any necessary updates and a first reading next month. Um regionalization report we discussed in the meeting and I think that's covered separately by le liazison so I won't discuss that here. Um board goals the policy committee was asked to write up uh an action plan for our 2025 2026 board goals. Um and so we spent our meeting doing that. The document is in the board packet and will be voted on this evening. Um followup se uh from the September agenda um and many months before that policy 2365 acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence um and policy 5701 academic integrity which is linked to the AI policy. Um we've been discussing this on a monthly basis. staff

108continues to receive training and evolve their guidelines and their comfort with AI. Um TCJ is hosting a training on December 5th around policy writing for AI which we hope to be able to attend. I believe a teacher or two are attending as well. Um the committee plans to continue to draw on all these updates from various stakeholders, attend this training, and our expectation is that a plan and for for writing policy around AI will be structured in December and voted on in early 2026. Um Cusack, uh the New Jersey DOE DPR, what does DPR stand for? >> Good question. We all just signed them. It's the >> It's an agreement. I just um overview. So the district does a self assessment and submits it. The board will actually get that and have to vote on

109it next month and then that self assessment is compared when they actually do the state monitoring. So that DPR has been published uh and a listing of documentation um has been shared for each of the five monitored areas that we have to report on. Um this will be reviewed and then the board will approve it in no November agenda as Dr. Glazer said. Um, that work is in progress. And finally, our Strauss SMA update. We are currently scanning and loading all of our regulations so that they can get onto the website so that people can view them as they want. Um, a third of that project is done internally so that Strauss SMA can then post it for us. That is in progress. >> Great. Thank you very much. And I just want to say

110thank you to the policy committee for taking on the action plan for the board goals. I know a lot of effort and time was taken to develop that. We have picked some fairly high level goals this year. Um the action plan, like she said, is on the agenda for approval tonight, but the goals included uh achieving master's board certification from the New Jersey School Boards Association, which requires extra professional development above and beyond our certification that we just received in May. Um our very lofty goal of developing a governance handbook. I'm personally very excited about that. And I know we were all a little unsure and confused about how to do it and what it involved. And so the work that went into developing the action plan, I really appreciate. And then of course our

111third one was to ensure that our board communication aligns with the strategic plan and the district goals and that we're able to communicate how our board work aligns with our goals. So thank you very much. Um DPR, I looked it up. It's so simple. You would think that I would just know it's district performance review. So there you go. >> Thank you. >> Y >> uh moving on. Uh Mrs. Maddox, could you give the report for the personnel committee, please? >> So we met on Thursday, October 9th from at 5:30 uh from 5:30 to 7. In attendance was Dr. Julie Julie Glazier, myself, Dory, and Jennifer. Jen uh was had another meeting so she was able to uh meet with us for a short period of time. Um what we discussed was I'm going to

112skip over some stuff because we've we've talked about a lot of uh highlights this evening with some other committees. Uh we did discuss the interim director of special services. Uh the interim director performing uh she's been performing well. Uh so I know that the question was she able to stay on longer? Uh unfortunately her contract ends in December. Um the interim can be appointed for up to two years. Uh but uh currently she has uh she's not she does not have interest as in a long-term position as she's got something else that uh she needed to focus on. So she was not able to stay on with us. committee representing administration, general ed, and special education staff had been formed. So, a permanent replacement can be interviewed and hired to begin after winter break. Staff

113and professional development uh based on the strateg strategic plan and conversations, a series of student, parent, and staff assemblies, trainings, and workshops are being planned for the remainder of the year. Let's see. And then the next portion was administrator contracts. Both principles and are working without contracts since July 1st pending negotiations resolution. Request for uh request to allow five remote working days annually when the sup uh students are not in session. and then discussion to a multi-year contract three years for um current uh tenur principles >> and their contracts are on the agenda tonight. >> Okay. Thank you. >> As part of the reappoint of everybody uh one of the pro uh other topics was uh the QAC Danielle just reviewed that so I'm not going to review it again. uh leave placements and parah

114educator openings discussed. Uh the reappointment agenda included all staff reappointed May 9th plus new hire sense and administrators um must be reappointed even though retired because um oh the previous um people have asked why we would have Mrs. Dakota on the reappoint, right? And she was with us from July 1st to August 31st. So, she also has to be reappointed even though she has since retired. Let's see. And that's about about it for um our meeting. A lot of, as I mentioned before, a lot of topics were discussed previously, so I'm not going to review them again. Thank you, Mrs. Maddox. I personally know how hard it is to jump around on your committee report when half of it's already been reported by the other committee, so I appreciate it. >> Um, I don't think

115we need to continue to report out for the negotiations committee. >> Oh, I think you're almost right. I think we're we're done. So, we can probably remove that from the agenda um in the future. >> Okay. >> Uh so, we can move on to board leaison reports. Um I'm assuming there's no report for the legislative liaison. Mr. Frra had an emergency so he's not >> no here. So unless you share updates with anyone. Okay. >> Um Mrs. Maddox, do you have a reporter for the Somerset County Educational Services Commission? >> I do. Thank you. Uh, one of the things that uh that we met on uh October 1st from 4:30 to 5:30 at the Somerset County Educational Services Commission um school and uh one of the things that we did uh recognize Superintendent Hal was

116honored of Superintendent of the Year for his commitment to student centered excellence and innovative programming. So, you know, huge uh huge accomplishment and uh definitely a well-deserved uh recognition. Couple of things that the school was is focusing on is uh behavioral issues um be development by vice princ vice principles incentivized positive student behavior through tiered reward system and that would be with gift cards and then shopite. They do have um which I think is pretty cool a Shopright store inside of the school. So students are able to go in and shop and so they're able to use some of these gift cards or incentives to go shopping. Uh the impact is early early evidence suggest in a reduction in inappropriate behaviors and improve school uh climate. So this seems to be working so far. Programs

117and expansions in facilities is the next topic. So, K through8 program expansions, uh, new middle school classrooms opened, increased enrollment highlights, the need for more space, especially for elementary and middle school students, career center updates, plans to modernize shops such as the Shopright, and create a studentrun beastro to enhance vocational training and optimize space. Audiovisisual technology program is transitioned from building and trades to audio visual tech due to certification shortages which supports music and theater industry pathways and then they are going to start focusing again on sports programs and this is um this I guess they have not been able to since co and so now that uh they're looking for uh teacher/coaches which are under negotiations for the contracts. The summer school participation, they had 72 students attend supported by staff incentive programs to

118ensure consistency and quality staffing. They did they were awarded bonuses for consistent summer teaching, increase counselor hires to support growing student needs. And they do have facility renovations uh which is a recent project's creation of additional classrooms by converting unutilized spaces such as the multi-purpose room, office suite expansions and roof renovations. And some of this the financial aspect was savings from tuition reinvestments in fac in facilities. Anticipation of future budget flexibility as loans are paid off. Thank you. I'm next. Somerset County School Boards Association. Oh, no, that's Danielle. >> Yeah. Um I uh Janet Eugiaro and I attended um an event it was last week on it was a panel discussion on AI um which was very interesting. We'll be pulling that information into our policy meetings going forward. >> Thank you. And for the

119school boards association, um the only update I have is that school boards workshop is next week, Monday through Thursday. We did uh sign up for the group rate. So if anybody who didn't sign up wanted to go down for the day, you still can. Just let uh Mrs. Bishop Johnson know so she can register you so you can get that badge that lets you into everything. Um and that's it for me. Uh regionalization committee. Um so the regionalization shared services feasibility study report will be presented to the public on October 30th at 6:30. It's at the high school. It will also be it's in person, but it will also be livereamed on YouTube. Uh as Dr. Glazer said the report does include a demographic study that projects quite unsurprisingly considering the building that's going on

120on Bonnie Burn Road a significant in increase in student enrollment for us. So that's why the working group has been formed to analyze um what we need to do to be prepared to welcome these students into our district and be prepared. >> And the final one is the Morris Union jointure. Oh, that's that's >> um so similar to um what Jessica shared uh the Somerset County right ed services also facing you know challenges because the special needs students numbers are increasing across the state. Um it means that requests for enrollment in services right are also increasing or projected to exceed very very much like what you're saying exceed the um available space. So looking at you know every opportunity right they've been working on transportation systems and um becoming involved with the electric buses over

121time. We had a presentation at the last meeting. Um, and Aaron, this is for you. I know you're you're back there with your headphones on, but this was really interesting. They um did a presentation on developing a cooperative purchasing model, like creating their own co-op separate from the ones that exist, but just for technology and just for the 30 member districts. Um, they're they're working their way through. Um, I hear the name from you all the time that, Mr. Shupe. they're working their way through all of the things that have to happen, the different liabilities that that might be involved. Um I think you know in the presentation we saw um starting small, right? Like what what could we um get a break purchasing in bulk? Chromebooks, tablets, maybe software, instructional technology, cyber security um

122resources seems to be a real high ticket item that is obviously exploding everywhere. Um but the idea would be for us if we all throw in together, right? That um we're going to save money and doing it um as part of our member districts, not like other co-ops where we pay a fee to get in or that. So, I'll be really interested to to hear how it plays out. Um I think that they're going to survey, >> you know. Oh, they get it. >> We already got the survey. Aaron's already responded. They were going to say what we thought they did >> do for us. Great. Perfect. >> There you go. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to the community engagement reports. Do we have anyone from the PTO? Go ahead. >> Everyone, I bet

123you know why I'm here. >> And you're even wearing your orange and black. >> I know. Angela Milly with Wong Educational Foundation and I'm just here to remind everybody about trunk or treat on October 25th, Saturday here at um Bayberry um in the parking lot and we're looking forward to having everyone there. We're also having Candy Wars which we've now expanded to Valley View for the fifth and sixth grades. So we have the Candy Wars going on in both places. So we look forward to seeing you all there and I look forward to tasting your chili at the Harvest Fest. Thank you all. Thanks. Thanks for being here. >> Thank you. Do we have anyone from CPEG? Okay. So, moving on to our comments from the public on agenda items. We welcome input from the

124public. There are two times during the meeting when the public is invited to speak. The first opportunity to comment on agenda items only is now. The second opportunity for public comment is towards the end of the meeting. All comments are limited to 5 minutes. The total time allotted for public comment is 30 minutes. Before you make your comment, please state your name and municipality of residents. In the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting may exceed 30 minutes, the presiding officer may limit each statement made by a participant to 3 minutes duration. Our public forums are not structured as a question and answer session, but rather are offered as opportunities to share input with the board. In instances where the board feels a response is needed, the presiding officer or superintendent will

125address the comment. New Jersey statutes do not permit the board to discuss personnel or hiring in public session. Names of students should not be used. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected and identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for comments that they make to the board. The board shall not be held liable for comments made by members of the public. Thank you very much, Christine Eid, Wong, New Jersey. Um, just a shout out. Thank you to all of you, um, teachers, certainly the staff, um, and volunteers on the board of ed. I appreciate all that you do. Um, and also I just want to say thank you. It was great to see that these new NJSLA

126scores are showing some promise. So, thank you. And I know hard work goes into a lot of that. So, I'm sure you're appreciative of all of that good good news and and I certainly am sitting here uh listening to it, not as a Q&A, but just I don't know what Dibble stands for. So, at some point, maybe if you could just let me know. I'm sorry. I I must have missed it at another meeting. Um, also, I was just curious as I was looking at some of the scores and it's notable that uh the score bars are showing that a lot of new entries are where some of the score numbers go down. Um, and obviously with planning for future and what we know is coming down the road. I know you're anticipating it with

127your new committee. I know a lot of your work with enrichment and your action steps and just your whole pursuit of excellence overall goes into the mix of how to address that. I was just curious if you use any kind of technology uh with the students, I guess age appropriate, and also the parents regarding um texting or even emails that go out as soon as test scores go out. I don't know how much goes to the student and how much goes to the parent so that there's more parent involvement and if that's then tracked in any way that you show involvement from the parent and response levels as these numbers come out and I don't know if it digs down that deep. Um so I was just curious if that's out there and uh that's

128pretty much it for me but thank you very much again for all your time lots of input. Appreciate it. meant to answer no. >> So I was just going to share the the data comes in two different ways that each family gets an individual student report sent to them. It's available in Genesis um these days and those scores are the basis of learning support, right? Um, they're used at Bayberry during conferences and in other many other goal setting ways. >> Good evening. >> How you doing? Pete Martino, 15 Sunbright Road. Um, I wish this presentation was like attached to the agenda pri, you know, prior to the meeting so we could review it because it's so hard to sit in the back of the room and write down all these little comments here and there.

129But, um, I I kind of like the crazy about the name norms because I I'm assuming that's normal and government is far from normal. So, uh, but if it's policies, procedures, a way of doing things, that's great. I have no problem with that. I'm assuming it would be like an annual training, which I would absolutely uh suggest. Um, I would be really careful on establishing a rigid format for this board. This board is still a group of individuals. It's a group of people that represent the taxpayers, the watch junk. So, um, rigidity is really not what you want. You want a little bit of flexibility with this board. So, um, you know, public dialogue and education is is probably the most important thing. It's what our whole government was based on. So, again, you know,

130I I I understand how groups work. Um, I'm very leerary when I see the board always voting one way unanimously because you got however many people sitting in a room. There's always going to be question. There's always going to be disagreement and there's going to be a lot of opinions. So, I I don't want to see the board handcuffed in any way by some type of a policy that tells them how to do their research, how and when to speak. um and and always use this public forum. This public forum and that's what it is. It's not for you only. It's also for us. How how does the the public become educated in how our government works except for right here? All right. Now again, three people in a room does not really show an

131overwhelming uh backup for what I what I'm talking about, but the truth is even if one person becomes educated, it's worth it. So, somebody mentioned conflicted board. Um I'm really not sure what that means. Um that word really shouldn't be used towards members. Okay? Just because somebody doesn't agree with you, somebody may have a different opinion, somebody may sit at this meeting and it may go back and forth with some type of a dialogue. And I call it dialogue. I don't call it fighting. I don't call it arguing. I call it a dialogue because that's what it is. It should be respectful to each other. You talk about anti-bullying. This room should also be included with that. And it shouldn't just be for the children, the teachers, and the vendors. achieve be even for the

132parents and the community members that come here. So again, please be careful with that. I I hope you give it a lot of flexibility. Again, when I see everybody voting unanimously, some people see camaraderie. I know this is a tough word, but I couldn't find a better one. I see a type of collusion and not the illegal part of it, but almost like it was discussed ahead of time. So again, we know that's a problem and we know we know what happens. I know what happens, but it is a violation. Um, when I see conflicting opinions, I see variety. I see the people I'm going to vote for and I'm going to say, I'm going to vote for you because I agree with what you said. I'm not going to vote for someone else because

133of what they said. So again, the variety is important. I see open minds at that point. Okay? And that's what you're here for. You're not here to all vote a specific way. you're supposed to really listen to us and again use your own um you know real life experience. So again I also want to see people working with respect. Um this forum is where the members can educate each other but more importantly I'm going to reiterate it's for the taxpayer. It's very important for me to learn. I do want to reach out and say thank you to the teachers. I know uh Mrs. Aguilera did did mention that and your scores go up. you guys a little bit, but mostly it's from those teachers that are busting their humps every day. Um, I see we

134had a little bit of a decrease in enrollment. I don't not doesn't look like much. 4 and a half%. Do you guys I'm just going to throw it out there. I don't know if you do any type of analysis to see if people moved away to see if p people pulled kids out of the district to go to private school. I don't know. I hope you do. If you do, maybe that'll be published somewhere so we know what's going on with that. Um, and again, as you may know, I may or may not know, you know, I'm Italian, right? I'm first generation. I know I mask it very well. I just want to mention that October is also Italian-American Heritage Month. I like to reach out to everybody. Hope you had a good Columbus Day.

135And a big shout out, a little history, the man who this country was named after, America Vaspuchcci, okay, who found the North American continent. I know maybe we don't get a maybe a history lesson at every board meeting, >> history lesson at every board meeting will educate us a little bit more, too. So, again, thank you guys for your volunteer service and um you know, anytime you need something, you know where I'm at. All right, have a good night. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Martino. Um there is a demographic study in the regionalization report. >> Okay. So we're not having an executive session tonight. >> Okay. So we can move on to action items. Uh Mrs. Harvey, could you move the items under administrative? >> Sure. I move one, approve minutes of previous meeting.

136Two, approve New Jersey Department of Education 2425 school self assessment. Three, approve the 2526 board goals action plan. Four, accept school bus emergency evacuation drill report. Five, accept Bay and Valley View School drill report. Six, approve special education placement. Seven, approve the district professional development plan. Eight, approve the district's mentoring plan. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Okay, we can move to roll call, please. >> Sure. Mr. Gonzalez, >> yes. >> Mrs. Duet, >> yes. >> Mrs. Maddox, >> yes. >> Mrs. Harvey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santos, >> yes. >> Mrs. Amado, >> yes. and Mrs. Agliero. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Frasier and Mr. Craft are absent. The motion passes. >> Thank you. Uh Mrs. Maddox, do you mind moving the items under personnel? >> Yes.

137I move to um number one, reappoint district administrators. Two, reappoint tenur certificated staff. Uh, three, reappoint non-tenured certificated staff. Why does that just not sound like a good word this? >> It's not a real It's only an education word. It's not a real word. Don't worry. >> This doesn't flow very well. Um, number four, reappoint district aids and paraprofessionals. Number five, reappoint central office district staff. Number six, reappoint secretarial staff. Number seven, reappoint custodial grounds and maintenance staff. Eight, approve salary guide level advancement 2025 through 2026. Nine, approve job descriptions for senior accountant. 10, approve change of assignment. 11, authorize final payment of accumulated benefits. 12, approve revised leave of absence. 13. Appoint district substitutes for the 20 2025 through 2026 school year. 14. Approve clinical experience. 15. Approve Bay extracurricular positions for 2025 through

1382026. 16. Approve Valley View extracurricular positions for 2025 through 2026. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Okay. Roll call, please. >> Sure. Uh, Mrs. Amado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Duet, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santos, >> yes. >> Mrs. Maddox, >> yes. >> Mrs. Harvey, >> yes. >> Mr. Gonzalez, >> yes. >> Mrs. Aglaro, >> yes. >> Okay. Mr. Fra and Mr. Craft are absent. The motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Gonzalez, could you move the items under operations finance, please? >> I I move uh one, approve payments of bills as follows. Two, approve transfer of funds 2025 2026. Three, accept financial reports. Uh four, approve payment applications, Bay Valley view HVAC upgrades. Five, accept youth service commission grants. Six, authorize to refuse title three part A funds. Seven, approve professional development, school, business, and related

139expenses. And eight, accept donation to funds reflect math. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Sure. >> Mrs. Harvey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Duet, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santos, yes. Mrs. Maddox, >> yes. >> Mr. Gonzalez, >> yes. >> Mrs. Amado, >> yes. >> Mrs. Zliero. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fra and Mr. Crafter are present. The motion passes. >> Thank you. Mrs. Amado, could you move the item under curriculum, please? >> Yes. I move this first item. Approve the potential field trips for the 2526 school year. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. Roll call, please. I mean, one second. Okay. All right. Uh, Mr. Gonzalez. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Duet, >> yes. >> Mrs. Maddox, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santos, >> yes. >> Mrs. Harvey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Amado, >>

140yes. >> Mrs. Agliero, >> yes. >> Mr. Frraasier and Mr. Craft are absent. The motion passes. >> Thank you. There's no items listed under policy, so we can move on to board business. Does anyone have board business? Okay, moving on to comments from the public. As there are none, I make a motion to adjurnn. >> So move. >> Second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Meeting adjourned.