001We had a very interesting executive session, resolved a few issues. Uh, and we will move forward now. Ward correspondence. Do we have any, Dr. J? Right. Then we're going to skip right over that. All right. Superintendent's comments. >> Uh, so one of the things I wanted to mention, we had the Murray Hill Chinese School Chinese New Year celebration on Saturday, February 7th, and I was there with my son. We had four board members there. Um Sophie was there because she had a sibling performing in it. But they always do such a nice job. And um one of the things I wanted to to just mention to the board, they they um had mentioned to me at the end how appreciative they are of our support for them and for their program and they really do
002enrich the the culture of our our community and the performance is great. Um they they really do a nice job with it. Dylan, our pack manager, um did a lot to do some upgrades to the south auditorium using existing things that weren't being used in the pack, uh which the Chinese school was very, very appreciative of. That was a great celebration and thank you to those of you that were there. The mayor from Warren was also there. Um so, it was a really nice celebration. And Sophie, after the student representative reports, is going to talk a little bit about what she's planned this week um for the Asian culture club for the Chinese New Year. I attended the lion dance today during lunch which was really well attended and great but I'll let her um
003say a little bit more about that later. We also uh we have five board members that are part of our strategic plan core team and we had our fifth and final meeting for the core team last week. Um so now we have the implementation teams which will be meeting for uh two meetings that that is going to consist of staff members, administrators and um instructional staff. And so once we um develop the implementation plans then we'll have a final presentation to the board of the the draft strategic plan. So of our three strategic plans that we have done here as well as three others that I've been a part of in my in uh two other districts. They all you know have been unique and and all have been um very comprehensive processes. But I
004have to say that um this latest one is definitely the most robust and comprehensive process that I've ever been a part of. And I think those of you on the team could probably speak to that as well. Generally what you do is, you know, you give a a survey to the community prior to starting the strategic plan process. And in every other process, that's what we've done. This time around, because of the mechanisms we put in place from our past two strategic plans for collecting data, we didn't have to do that this time because we had multiple years of data to pull from. We've been giving the New Jersey school climate improvement survey for five years now. We've had over 2,000 responses to that each time be between uh staff, students, and parents. And so
005that's been a tremendous amount of data for us to look at. and members of the core team, you know, looked at the the consultants put together basically a whole data bank for us um of our our school data, everything from our long-range facilities plan to budget documents to student assessment data to chronic absenteeism data to our student and staff handbooks. And that's what the core team looked at when we were doing the gap analysis and you know and looking at what the the overarching goal should be. Um so it was it was really the the sessions were fun. I mean, we, you know, people seem to really enjoy themselves in the conversations. Um, one of the the parents after the last session was, she actually said she was sad that it was the last session
006because and it was I'm glad that I like the reason she gave it because she said she learned so much about the district um and really enjoyed the process and getting to to work with um staff members and students. the students that were part of the process, Juliana and Sophie being two of them, added so much value to the conversations. I and one of the the the goal that we were actually talking about at my table at the last meeting was really student focused and on um student engagement and collaboration. and the students that were a part of that um you know really got their voices heard and it really um made me think about the fact that we should we we need to make sure we're more deliberate about involving students in as many
007conversations as we can because they just they really added such insight. Um and I'll just use Sophie to recruit people because she loves these things and has so much fun at them that um she's a she's a great ambassador. But I just I can't speak enough about how how much I enjoyed the process. I left those nights so inspired by just the the forwardthinking um positivity of the group and the fact that you know whatever your role role was everyone was there for a common purpose. Um so it was it was just really really nice to be a part of that. Uh so anyway, I just I I really, you know, I the presenters, the consultants um have been doing, you know, an outstanding job um with facilitating the process and I really I the
008core team was, you know, it was 30 plus people um who gave five nights of their time and and we worked while we were there. Um we really did and and it was just it it was really um good, productive, meaningful work. So, I'm excited to share those, you know, the outcome with the board when we finish these last couple of steps. Um, and you know, if anyone else wants to add anything about the process, >> I just want to say that like everyone added value like every single person there at every single table added value >> and when do we expect that? So, it should be we we are um scheduling the implementation team meetings right now and those will likely be um I think uh early March before testing. We're trying to get
009those in. So, I would think in April, probably at an April meeting, we'll be able to present the plan to the board. >> Budget night. >> Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So, we'll probably we'll work it around that. It may be, you know, maybe we'll push it off or see if we can do it sooner. So, I'll let you know as soon as we have that nailed down. So, thank you. That's all I wanted to share. But I I really it's just it, you know, reminds you of why we all do what we do when you're really talking about moving the district forward. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. Um I wasn't going to speak tonight. Uh I just want to make a couple comments. We've been talking for probably a year now with respect
010to policy 5756. I am aware that there is probably going to be a motion tonight, although it's not on the agenda, a motion to in effect reinstate that policy perhaps with a couple different uh tweaks that had been discussed. As I mentioned before, and I've mentioned so many times, that's why I really didn't want to speak again tonight because I keep reiterating and repeating myself, but sometimes I have to. Maybe it'll sink in. Um the board I believe is fully supportive of all students. Uh whether there's policies in place or not policies in place, law speaks for itself. And I've had numerous discussions with Dr. Jwit and with or without this policy. All students have been treated the same. Uh nothing has changed. I don't believe anything will change with and I with respect to
011participation in sports. I have found it semi inconsistent with the NJ SIA and policy uh if you're for or against one not the same is again with respect to sports it says that any student can participate in any sport they want as clear as day because it says consistent with their birth sex or gender identity. There's no test. It just says whatever they identify as. So, they have the right to participate in any sport. Whether you think that's right or wrong, that that's an argument for another day. But I, as well as some of the other members of the board, do find it troubling that uh certain individuals can clear their identity and have what I might call an unfair advantage. And it brings me to other areas of sports. where they do distinguish based
012on physical attributes such as boxing or wrestling where oddly enough wrestling is based on weight class. But why would that make sense? So perhaps we should do another test maybe should be based on BMI because isn't a child who's maybe taller and thinner going to be a disadvantage in a weight class, someone who's shorter and has greater musculature. Again, I'm just asking these questions. I don't know the answers to those questions, but you can see it really generates a slew of interesting questions. Again, with regard to 5756, it's guidelines that were instituted by the Department of Education. Uh we do have a new governor. We do have a new uh commissioner of education who of course I welcome to uh come visit our school. I believe that we would be an ideal model school for
013uh the state to come visit based on our performances, based on our uh track record with respect to literacy, which I know is a big issue. With that said, we will move on to Mr. Schultz comments. Thank you, Mr. Burber. Uh the only comment I have is it seems like the uh the governor's address for the state aid notice will be on March 10th from all indications that I've seen. That's really the only update I have right now. Who wants to go first? >> All right. So, this is our report from last meeting and this meeting. So, it's going to be quite lengthy. Um, starting with our student achievements. After three of our six scheduled events, our Watchon Hills math team is currently tied for first place with Ridge High School with both teams holding
014an impressive score of 75 points. Beyond our local standing, Wong Hills is within striking distance of a top three finish among all schools in New Jersey. In a year marked by exceptionally high levels of competition across the state, our students have remained remarkably consistent and competitive. Their performance is a testament to their hard work and dedication to academic excellence. This past November, several students from our math team participated in the American Mathematics Competition, a multi-level contest segmented for 10th and for 9th and tth graders and 11th and 12th graders. And two of our students have qualified for the next round of testing known as the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. David Woo advanced from the AMC 12 level and Anish Bavonsi qualified from the AMC 10 level. These successful students will move on to the next
015part of testing in February. On Saturday, December 13th, 23 dedicated students from the Wong Hills Regional High School Music Department auditioned for the Central Jersey Music Educators Association Region 2 Honors Ensembles. With about 800 students from across Central Jersey competing, the level of competition was incredibly fierce. Our students spent months mastering their audition materials for a chance to represent the Warriors at the regional level. Out of 18 instrumentalists, nine students successfully earned a spot in these prestigious ensembles. Congratulations to Alexandra Glner, Winston Sue, Justin Yin, Marcus Shei, YC Kogan, Emily Hawk, Christopher Sperry, Caitlyn Sun, and Alan Zoo. The coral program saw a remarkable 80% acceptance rate with four of the five auditioning students making the cut. Our vocalist achieved standout rankings in sections featuring over 80 competitors. Elizabeth uh Permanand ranked number three overall
016for also 2. Kylo Wang placed in the top six for Soprano 1. Anishka Sashrosski earned an high ranking spot as a freshman for Soprano 1. and Emily Wood successfully auditioned into the ensemble. We are proud to announce that 13 of our student artists have been selected for national publication in the fall 2025 celebrating art anthology. This prestigious honor is awarded only to students who demonstrate exceptional creativity and technical skill. Inclusion in this national publication is a significant achievement that will serve as a distinguished addition to these students academic resumes and professional portfolios. Our recognized students represent every grade level at the high school. The honores include ninth graders Amelia Lee, Amy Tat Tatar, Avery Kellaher, Lily Dodd, and Ria George. 10th graders Belle Keegan and Bruhan Gandhi. 11th graders Alan Zoo, Emily Chen, Preciel Nunes
017Al Farro, and Sebastian Torres. And seniors Kira Bariso and Tori Shiff Shiffman. We would also like to congratulate their teacher, Kate Griffin, whose mentorship and dedication were instrument instrumental in helping these students reach this national milestone. We are so excited to share some big news from our scripting Q theater program. This past weekend, our students headed to the Speech and Theater Association of New Jerseys annual competition, and they absolutely blew us away. They were up against 45 schools from all over the state. So, the competition was incredibly tough, but our students really stood out. Kamiya Martin and Leah Angle took home sixth place in the state for dramatic pairs, and Jason Barnoski took first place in the state for the Shakespeare category. On December 17th, members of the Watch Hills Alamode Fashion Club and Magazine
018participated in filming a segment for News Channel 12's Spotlight New Jersey. Founding members Roxanna Nazarin and Sarah Lavine, accompanied by club adviser Christopher Wyatt, were invited in studio and interviewed by veteran anchor veteran anchorwoman Dela Cruz on the establishment of the club, its creative goals, publications, and contributions to the broader WHRHS community. The interview was aired on December 21st and can be found hosted on the News Channel 12's Spotlight New Jersey homepage. Rebecca Lubec, a senior, has accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. Philip Leavonian, a senior, earned the seal of literacy in five languages: Italian, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and French. And we are pleased to announce that three of our students are local winners in the D Patriots of the American Revolution essay contest. Congratulations to first place winner, Isabelle Walk, grade
01911. Second place winner, Shriruuthy Shredar, 10, grade 10, and third place winner, Carly Hawkmire, grade 11. As the first place winner, Isabelle's essay is now entered in the New Jersey Date Contest, and results should be announced in March. The mock trial team won their first competition against Bridgewwater on January 29th, and Pice Cornstein, grade 11, was awarded best attorney. The science bowl competed at an invitational competition at East Brunswick High School on January 10th and they placed fourth out of 12 teams. They will be traveling to Princeton Plasma Physics Lab on February 21st for the regional science bowl competition. And on February 12th, 25 students took the F= MA exam, a preliminary exam for the US physics team sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Okay, so continuing on with our school events, we
020are proud to report on the success of the 2025 winter instrumental music concert presented by the Wong Hills music department on Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 at 700 p.m. in the pack. The concert was incredibly well attended with over 400 community members filling the performing arts center. Kyla Wang and Elizabeth Parmanand were selected to participate in the Morris Area Choir, an ensemble bringing together top student talent from grades 7 through 12 across Morris and surrounding Central Jersey counties. After auditions, Kylo Wang achieved the distinguished honor of being the top scoring student for the entire choir and Elizabeth Perman ranked as the fourth top scoring student overall. These results are a testament to their dedication, talent, and musical excellence. This past December, the Belief Club successfully completed its first major donation, delivering a thousand dollars worth of
021essential supplies to the Children's Hospital. Beyond these materials, our members also felt it was important to recognize the dedication of the healthcare workers by sending special treats to the hospital staff to thank them for the vital work they perform every day. The hospital expressed immense gratitude for these gestures, and they are already in the process of planning a second round of donations to be delivered at the end of January. Miss Socks classes invited students from the Jewish Federation to speak to her world history classes about Judaism on men. On Monday, February 9th, Miss Walsh was one of 21 teachers chosen to participate in live from Antarctica. Ruckers opens a portal to one of Earth's most remote places, a real-time video teleconference with scientists at the Palmer Station LTER project in Antarctica. Students are learning about
022Antarctic food web ecology as well as how scientists are conducting long-term experiments and observations along the coast of Antarctica to understand our changing climate. Miss Lington was chosen as a 2026 Retro Report teacher ambassador. Retro Report is an independent nonprofit newsroom creating trusted documentary videos and classroom resources. It provides short videos to all different subject matters with lesson plans attached. Miss Sock has been selected by the board of directors of the Middle States Council for Social Studies for the Social Justice Award. This award is presented to a teacher or program who demonstrates leadership in advocating for all students through equity and inclusion. Moving on to our athletic update. Boys winter track received second place in their sectional tournament. Girls winter track ranked number four in their sectional tournament. Both the JV and varsity competition cheer
023teams took fourth place in the traditional competition at their national event. Congratulations to Anthony Deandria for winning the Somerset County Wrestling Championship for the fourth time. Wrestling coach Dan Smith was honored with the Rocky Forte memorial award at the Somerset County Wrestling Tournament. The award is given annually to a recipient who has made a sign who has made significant contributions to the development of wrestling in Somerset County. Um, and then I'm going to talk about Lunar New Year. So, um, today marks the beginning of the 15-day long Lunar New Year celebration. The Asian Culture Club hosted a lion dance workshop today during lunch featuring the Garden State Lions, which is a local um, lion dance team. And we also share chocolates to uphold the tradition of starting off the new year on a sweet note.
024This Thursday, we will host a Lunar New Year feast where we will share traditional foods and make paper lanterns. Happy New Year. Great. Thank you. Appreciate that report. And just imagine how great our track team will do it. We have the bubble over the field. >> Okay. >> About the one that collapsed from the snowflated. >> I don't know if we should think negatively. >> Okay. First opportunity for public comment. Note the first public comment period will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only. The second public comment period will be open to any topic. All comments are limited to five minutes. Thank you ladies. Uh do we have any comments this evening? Happy new year. Um okay, seeing none, we will close the first opportunity for public comment. Is there any board discussion?
025Yes. I move that we uh that the board adopt policy 5756 as revised >> the discussion with respect to that. I I think we should wait for the full >> it didn't appear to be necessary when it was raised to resend the policy. I don't see why it's necessary now. But I think you raised that I think you raised that particular point. >> I did. >> Let's not be hypocrites. >> I did raise that particular point. And even assuming that the two people that aren't here were here, it will not affect the outcome of the vote. >> You don't know that. >> I'm just saying you have a right to make a motion. I have a right to comment on it. hypocrisy of that motion on your past comments usually very strict where you stand
026and where you don't stand calling it out it's a fair point that's all >> and in the instance in which I raised it it would affect the outcome but feel free to make a motion to table >> is there any other discussion roll Sorry, let me just clarify. >> Actually, I just want to make one quick comment. >> All right, go ahead. I have >> uh it's not on the agenda. We're taking a vote on something that was leave at that another point that >> and just to clarify that it's voting on first read of the policy. >> A it's voting on first read, but just to clarify, uh the motion was as amended. just clarify what that motion is so that everyone is aware of what they're voting and what I mean by that
027is 5756 was repealed then there was some discussion with regard to some language change within that so so I think your motion was as amended with regard to that language I just want to clarify what that language is this way people know what they're voting on voting issues >> maybe Dr. It has a copy of the of the revisions. I'm referring to the amendments that were made and discussed at executive session at either the last meeting or the meeting before was the typo that I had pointed out. Um, and for the record, I asked that it be put on the agenda and it was not put on the agenda. >> Well, I certainly know that feeling last four years it happens. That being said, really we should have the wording outside just on procedurals, >>
028right? And that's why I'm asking Dr. Shu JW to share the language right now. >> That should be done. >> That's why I request that really should >> Yeah, >> you had it prior to the executive session last time. >> It's been circulated to the board previously. I don't know that be the case, but go ahead. >> It is the case. >> So, the there were three sections that the board had brought up months ago, you know, that um they wanted the attorney to look at u revised language. So, the statement, the following statement I'm going to read has been struck out of the revised version. It says, "There is no affirmative duty for any school district staff member to notify a student's parent of the student's gender identity or expression." So the the revised
029version removes that line. It has no impact on the policy. People just didn't love the language of that line. So it that has no effect on the actual policy. The second part um had to do with school records and the um we added parent guardian to this statement. If a student has expressed a preference to be called by a name other than their birth name, permanent student records containing the student's birth name should be kept in a separate confidential file. This file should only be shared with the students. Prior to this, it said appropriate school staff members after consultation with the student, but we added this file should only be shared with the student's parent, guardian, and appropriate school staff members. It was understood that their parent guardian would obviously know their birth name, but
030this way it just clarifies that in the policy. And then the last piece is in regard to NJSIA. So for activities, the policy um the former policy said with respect to gender segregated classes or athletic activities including intramural and intercolastic athletics, all students must be allowed to participate in a manner consistent with their gender identity. We added the line for NJSIAA sports. The district will follow NJS NJSIA guidelines regarding student participation. So, those were the um revised portions of the policy. >> Billy, when you uh do the minutes, include the revised version as amended. >> And then there was a typo as well. >> Oh, and there was a typo. Yes. In the on the the is it the third page? I asked to correct that. Do you remember where that was Trisha that you
031pointed out? >> Hopefully. >> She corrected that. So I don't know where. Yes. So there was It said his instead of um there in one part of the policy. So we just corrected that typo. >> It said it. It said his or her. Yeah, it should have said there. >> Was it? Oh, thank you. It was under what page. >> Okay, there we go. Um, yeah. So, a student need not meet any threshold diagnosis or treatment requirements. It had said to have his or her gender identity, but it should say their gender identity recognized. >> So, that was changed, that was edited. So those would be the four revisions policy that I move. >> Any additional qu any additional discussions? >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Decker, >> yes. >> Mr. Galla, >> Miss Lee,
032>> no. >> Miss Potter, >> yes. >> Miss Rexford, >> yes. Mente, >> Mr. Trump, >> Mr. Burberg, abstain. Motion carries. >> No. For policy, you only need majority. We checked it last time. You only need majority of the present board members. You don't need a full. >> No, we have it because we checked this last time. So I do know that for a fact that policy you only need a majority who's president. >> So I do carry this just for these purposes and we did look this up last time. Um and there's only there's a list on here. I can but we looked at this last time. There's only specific >> for reference >> when you did your first reading to repeal it. The vote carried 54 because you held that vote when Miss
033Trump was not here. No, it was held it was held when Bob Mar has a full board until April. Every meeting there was someone out. So that wasn't done at 10. >> My point My point is that in that case five was sufficient. So I doubt that six is required here >> unless unless it's incorrect and it wasn't >> in which case it's not repealed. So >> maybe maybe not. >> Actually there's a lot of law out on this one. We are so ahead. >> Yeah. Uh I'm not sure what's inappropriate, but okay. The uh so it will be on for second read. It's not policy yet. Just to clarify second read uh when we send out the agenda for the next obviously we'll go on it will now go on the agenda because there
034was a majority of the board who officially by vote want it to send out the policy as >> discussed this way everyone knows exactly what's going on. All right, discussion of addenda items. We have an agenda. >> We had a couple items. Any discussion with respect to those? >> Okay, moving on. Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call. Mr. Decker. Yes, Mr. Gall. >> Yes, >> Miss Lee. >> Yes, >> Miss Potter. >> Yes, >> Miss Rexford. >> Yes, >> Mr. Rede. Trumpour. >> Yes, >> Mr. Burnberg. >> Yes, >> Mr. Decker. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gall, >> yes. >> Miss Lee, >> yes. >> Miss Potter, >> yes. >> M. Rexford, >> yes. >> Mr. Dente, >> Miss Trumpour, >> yes. >> Mr. Burnberg, >> yes. Any discussion? >> Mr. Decker? >> Yes. >> Mr.
035Gallock? >> Yes. >> Miss Lee? >> Yes. >> Miss Potter? >> Yes. >> M. Rexford? >> Yes. >> Mr. Roente? >> Miss Trump? >> Yes. >> Mr. Burnberg? >> Yes. Second opportunity for public comment. Anyone have any comments and items unrelated to the agenda? Seeing none, I'm going to close the second opportunity for public comment. Do we have any other business comment? >> Yes. >> I I just want to ask if there was any budgetary updates. >> Working on put we're still putting the budget together, working on the cuts. We're having our internal discussions that we're having with it. As I mentioned at the beginning, we're still waiting on the state aid numbers. That's going to be in March. Um still just going through the whole process trying to get that number down as low
036as we possibly can as of right now. And Dan, just so you know, because I know you've asked this question, certainly a concern of mine as well with respect to class sizes and that discussion has taken place internally. I I have seen a preliminary list. spoken to Liz and how to do it and trying to put it in a form presentable the board so it's not uh misconstrued because again just there's certain classes that are required that we provide that have maybe eight kids in them eight students in them but we have no choice >> I'm just going to on the spreadsheet but no that you're I'm meeting with I'm um the director of counseling and the principal just to go through some of them to put notes next to them so that you know
037I'm not changing the list at all, but just like for our MLL class, our multilingual learners, just putting required. Um, if there's any classes that are running um some of our arts classes, we we may run a different level of a few select kids in a class. So, just letting you know those are combined, those types of things to then share the list with the board. The average for the school, it's it's one to 21 um in terms of one uh teacher to for 20, you know, our average class size is 21. what I asked our um student data manager to do so that we could actually get a list that is um you know makes sense any classes that have a co-teer she only counted it as one teacher so that way we're getting
038a realistic idea of class size not teacher to student ratio if that makes sense of what the class sizes are um and we pulled out the LLD classes because those obviously you know have legal requirements for the maximum size just so we can get a more realistic view um but I just wanted to go over with the director of counseling so I can add some notes next to it for you know for the board members who don't know specific information about some of the sections and then I'll share that with everyone so you can take a look. Can we have an explanation when we do get the list of what a co-teer is? >> Absolutely. >> Or how many there are because I think there might be actually more than one. >> So uh well
039so some classes have if they're um you know it's based on a student's IEP if they're should be in a class with an in-class support teacher. There also might be an instructional aid in that class because a student may have so there might be more than there there wouldn't be more than two certified teachers but there could be additional adults in the room if there's an aid in the room. So we we didn't count those as the because I think what you were looking for was the average class what the actual class size is. So it's a list literally a list of every section with the size next to it in order. So you can see that. Um and then the the only thing that has the um just the first page is just what
040the average is from all of that. But the rest of it you'll actually see all of the sections and all of their sizes regardless of the number of teachers. >> I just want to make it clear I I understand the the boundaries of this board and how it affects the school. You are running the school. I'm not No, it's a good conversation to have though at budget time. >> Yeah, budget time. That's it has to do with the money >> because there's programming decisions to be made and that's why, you know, years ago when we um fortunately reduced some of the languages we were offering. That was something where it wasn't a popular decision, but it was something, you know, that the administration and I came to the board about to say, "Look, here's what
041the numbers are looking like. We have some choices to make." Um, and I'm obviously not going to, you know, reduce that if the board's not supportive of it or run it if the board's not supportive of it. So, those are the conversations we have. So, that's absolutely a a good conversation to have. >> Dr. JW, the other question I would ask is just in terms of understanding going into a tough budgetary cycle uh where we were uh over the last I want to say five years in terms of population and total numbers so that we get a feel for >> you know whether it's not gone down. I think we shared that with personnel committee. So, we can pull that from there. That was shared um with the personnel committee at their last meeting. >>
042Okay. Okay. Great. >> I think that's >> but no, that's those are all valid questions and concerns and conversations to have um especially at this time of year. >> And Dan and and the rest of the board, just so you're aware, last Friday at our agenda meeting with Dr. JW where we go over what's the agenda going to be and I asked her to present those numbers to me to get a sense. made her defend the number. >> No. And I and not >> I don't want to say I attacked, but I was on full attack because >> the numbers do show some inconsistencies and I appreciate it and trust me I every year is a budgetary year as far as I'm concerned and I I try to make sense of it and I was
043not a fan of the 1 to21 ratio. I attack that ratio because some number you know math statistics you know it's misleading and you have to really into the numbers and just to be clear uh there are a couple classes I think you mentioned it but just is this wasn't English to me we have one teacher who in effect is teaching two classes at the same time >> I have to check on that I for some of our arts classes if we have a couple that want to do advanced level work >> yeah it's not and I'm not even but I'm not even sure if that's 100% true that's why I need to meet with the director of counseling he meet like for and I Again, I I don't want to say this publicly because
044I'm not sure if it's accurate or not. >> Years ago, we were running >> world that was how we did world language. It was odd, but we would have like level two and level three to it. We changed all of that because that wasn't an effective model for arts because that's more if you're doing like an individualized portfolio. In the past, we may have had a couple students in an art class working on their portfolios. So, I just have to check the number. That's what I'm referring to. >> Yeah. Um but I'm not Yeah. No. So I before but that's why I wanted to get that information. >> Well, no right. So when doc you know so I was looking at some of the smaller classes that had you know six or seven students and
045that's when Dr. J said those >> whatever nine or 10 whatever >> two or three >> and there was there were some art classes and they said those you could do it. So it just begs the question with respect well can you go back to that model? I'm not saying we do having multid-disciplinary class of one like the old schoolhouse so to speak you know in my day and that was the world language example said it's really not as productive and it' be difficult model to follow but it's a question that has to be asked >> there's um there's a couple of no there's a couple of things that I can just share very briefly right now um so and I appreciate I didn't take it as defending I took it as explaining and I
046that's why I I want you to ask those questions questions because if we can't answer them, that's a problem if we're, you know, we're arrang um doing the schedule this way. There's a couple different things at play here. One is for some of our electives um you know, they're just they're they're singleton smaller courses and so we do have to look to make the choice of if we want to discontinue offering them um or if we we want to continue with that program. Um but the other piece too, we've made a tremendous amount of progress in our scheduling process. We used to have and and those of you that have been on the board for a while, uh when I first started here, the first couple of board meetings of the school year, Brenda probably
047remembers this, were parents very mad at the board meeting that their kids couldn't get into the classes they wanted, that they couldn't get their schedules changed. There just all sorts of scheduling issues. Um and we have completely overhauled, you know, thanks to when George Alexis was here and Jason Sabino, our director of counseling, and Dr. Albera has continued it. We very we have really do a student focused scheduling process. Um, but we've also frontloaded the communication about it. So instead of waiting till the fall when a kid, you know, ends up not wondering why they're in a particular level or not liking it, we have those meetings during the scheduling process. And if a teacher is recommending a level change, they have to have a conversation with the student so that the student understands that.
048And because what was happening years ago, we'd have all these schedule changes at the beginning of the year and then we'd go from balanced classes to a class that was exploding and a class of eight because there was a mass exodus from it. So by front-loading all of these conversations and being much more deliberate about the scheduling process that has tremendously significantly reduced that we also have timelines in place which is why when sometimes you'll get complaints from parents that you know they missed the deadline or and they want us to make an exception but we have those deadlines because we have to create a schedule and balance classes. Um, so the other thing we're looking at with some of the singletons that when I say singleton meaning there's one section of a course and
049so obviously you know all the kids students who want to take that course the chances of them all being able to their schedule's working so that they're able to take it in that period is the chances are low of that. But also if you know we let's say we're making the minimum for the class 15 so that we won't run the course unless we have 15 students enrolled. But then if a couple students drop, it ends up being lower. So we were talking about raising that to 17 or 18. So that way it allows a little cushion. So if you have a couple kids drop, it's still, you know, 14. Um, but these are all philosophical conversations that we will have with the board, which is why I wanted to pull in the the principal
050and director of counseling because they're the ones who are more intimately involved with the schedule. Um, so there, you know, they're discussions. I mean, our world language numbers fluctuate each year. Um, and thankfully now we have a teacher in each world language department that has their ESL certification which is becoming increasingly important as those numbers are going up. So it allows for some variability and flexibility with that. So those are all the things that we look at and you know again these are great questions for the board to be asking and very good conversations for us to be having at budget time and unfortunately difficult conversations to have because they do affect personnel. So >> just for the edification of the board, one of the reasons that I bring this class size or ratio in
051the audit report actually says that we have a 1 to 8.6. >> I think it's 1 to 11 usually in the audit report. Is that what it says in there now? >> It's usually right around 1 to 11 from what I've seen. It's I've seen the past couple years it's 1 to1 11. >> Okay. So it was 1.11, it was 1 10.2, then it was like 9.2 And then this most >> I've really only ever se I I have to look because I've only ever seen it. It's always been around 1 to 11 which if you look at the audit reports either way that's what they are >> extremely low number goals are >> but that's because it's counselors it's aids it's um nurses it's you know it's people who aren't classroom teachers. So it's
052that's not a classroom ratio it's a staff to student ratio which is very different. It's >> administrator. I just wanted so the history of this question is over years. >> Yeah. And Dan the and the other thing I just wanted to mention that I asked Dr. Jud about with regard with respect to the uh the population trend the with respect to certain classes I asked is there a del let's look to see if there's a declining trend in taking it such as Portuguese. So, you know, 10 years ago there were 27 kids taking Portuguese, then it went to 24, then it went to 20 and now we're at 16. You know, is there come a time where we eliminate Portuguese as a language? Do we stay ahead of it? Do we say, "Okay, we're going
053to stop taking newcomers, freshman Portuguese, whatever, and let you know, Portuguese 2, three, and four finish out." So we we have to look at the trends with respect to demand of certain classes as well. >> Just for the public, we don't actually offer Portuguese. It's just an example that Mr. Vernber's using. >> That's a fair statement. >> That's why he used it. I used it. So nobody Yes. Yeah. I didn't want >> I would have used Latin because you know then all the Latin speakers aren't going to come in. >> I was trying to think of a language and I I wish I wish I wish I had said that. I appreciate that. Uh but it's all Greek to me anyway. >> There you go. Uh anything else? >> Yeah. So, so I I like
054what you just brought up about trends and maybe we could look at student teacher trends over time >> within watching else maybe there's a standard that we could apply to rest of the state >> and that's where I don't know where because the confusing >> it's in the audit report again as like a staff to um student ratio not a t not a class size um I can take a Look, that's a harder one to get because also schools play around with it. We'll calculate it differently. Um, so but it's certainly something to to take a look at because, you know, we we look at also best practices. For example, our science lab classes have a smaller student toteer ratio ratio for safety reasons because there's recommendations um for the different lab sciences on what
055the maximum should be. Those types of things. Our phys classes are obviously larger. um you know our ceramics classes it's however many wheels we have in the in the class for the maximum number of students same thing with our music tech classes um the you know culinary program how many stations so there's all different requirements um so that's why that's why it's also difficult to look at one number um I can tell you that 1 to 21 it for an average is actually I mean that's right on par you know with with where we'd want to be um but that being said there'svious obviously outliers to that that you need to take a look at and we'd want to talk about. >> I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. >> All those in favor? >> Thank
056you everybody.