001for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Miss Amal >> here, >> Miss Crystal >> here, >> Miss Cabani here, Miss L >> here, Mr. Sam >> here. >> Miss Wwood >> here. >> Miss Cal >> here. >> Notice of the October 14th, 2025 meeting of the board of education was mailed to the clerks of burrows of zel and rose land to the township of Fairfield and to the editor of the progress on September 16, 2025. Welcome everyone. We have almost um two months under our belt already, which is hard to believe. Um goes quicker than you anticipate. Um everything has been wonderful. We've had our events going forward. Um and we've had a few board members who have attended events. Um we will discuss those later.
002And right now we'll go to superintendent. Okay, I have a brief uh report tonight. Um so I had first coffee chat with the superintendent on Friday, October 9th. It was uh well attended. We had 10 members of our school community. Um it was the first one of the year. We had two representatives from Essex Fels, two uh three from Fairfield, three from North Cwell, and two from Roseland. My guest for the for that coffee chat was Mr. D. Labberto. Um a variety of topics were discussed. Um and it was a really great uh time um and great to engage with members of our school community. Um the coffee chats are a great thing because there is no agenda. we just have uh dialogue. We we get to hear from um the community and um it's
003very professional and it's um it's it's it's really a great experience. So, we ran that coffee chat at 9:00 a.m. Um I think what we're going to try to do is try to run some in the evening. This way we can um reach um a different, you know, a whole another group of parents as well. So then, you know, stay tuned for the next the next um coffee chat. Um shout out to staff members from the high school um especially Andrea Latit, Pat McGlin, and Steve Miller for organizing the West Essex Spirit Day reel featuring our students and staff. um that aired on um October 10th and the video captures school spirit and pride and is currently on the West Essex Instagram page and at this time the reel has over 19,000 views. So if
004you haven't had a chance to check that out, um please check it out. Um yesterday, October 13th, uh professional development uh sessions were led by our very own staff. We have some incredible talent in our district and we certainly can learn from one another and share best practices. So, thank you to our faculty and staff facilitators who stepped up to lead their colleagues. Thank you to Mr. Dabberto and the administrators for coordinating a successful and productive day. Um, this evening we are pleased to recognize and welcome our new high school student representative to the board. The board strongly values the insight and perspective that students bring to our discussions as outlined in our policy, which ensures that student voice plays a vital role in the continuous improvement of our school district. Our student representative will
005serve as a non- voting member representing the interests and ideas of the student body and keeping their peers informed about the board's work throughout the year. In a few moments, the high school principal, I'm going to let Dr. Westervelt take take that over in more detail. She'll formally introduce our new student rep and share more about the selection the student selection process. And lastly, um on the topic of recess uh for the middle school, um we appreciate the comments and the continued advocacy for outdoor recess. Um we truly appreciate the community's interest in supporting student wellness. Um as as you know the the middle school has been carefully reviewing this initiative and um that process included input from a variety of stakeholders and um shortly um in a little while you'll hear from Dr. Dunlevy
006who will talk to you a little bit more about what that analysis looks like um as there are many moving parts um when it comes to um looking at recess. Okay, so with that being said, I will turn it over to Melissa for the referendum update. [Music] >> Come over here. >> Um hi everybody. So, there's not much of an update from our last board meeting. Um, we are still considering moving forward with referendum. So, the majority of focus will be renovations to instructional spaces, including schoolwide event and gathering areas, improvement to existing HBAC systems, and extension of installations in areas that currently do not have HVAC. Um, safety and security measures also remain a top priority and outdoor facility improvements are also under consideration. Um, we are considering a November 2026 election. This is
007all still in the discussion stages. Uh, we will have another referendum meeting November 13th. So, we'll continue to update the public as we have stuff. Um, and that's it for now. Any questions? Nope. Okay. >> Uh, who's that? >> What? >> I bring friends. >> Which way we go? >> There we go. >> Good evening. >> We are the assistant principles. We should do like a song or something. >> Maybe a dance. >> Maybe. Maybe. So, as you know, every year we have to report on uh certain topics and things that happen within the school in the middle school and the high school and input it into the school safety system that the state monitors. There are certain categories that things qualify under. Um Jeff and and Amanda are going to talk about the middle
008school and the high school and then I'm going to skip down and do the bottom part. So, I'll let Amanda could go first. This we're just going to talk about last year. These are just things that qualified in last year under these specific categories. So again, you can >> So in the 2024 2025 school year, there are four categories that we are required to report. The first one being a threat. There were five instances of that in the high school. The second being physical contact, there were seven. In the third, it was a simple assault or a fight. There were two. And uh a false alarm or a weapon. There was one incident in the high school. Um, I'm going to jump down to the bottom for substance abuse offendes offenses as well. Um, users
009confirmed there were seven and then one electronic vape that was confiscated. Oh, I'm sorry, three. I can't even read. Three. I apologize. >> Yeah. >> And in the middle school, um, last school year, there were no threats of of violence. Um, we had nine incidents for inappropriate physical contact, four incidents, uh, four fighting incidents, and then one, uh, possession of the weapon. And there were no substance offenses uh last year in the middle school. >> Any questions on that? So then next, if you go to the middle section there, we go to HIB, we go to investigations and confirmations. So in the high school, we had 14 investigations. Two of those were founded cases. We go over to the middle school, they had 80 cases, and 17 of those 80 were founded. Okay. Also, if
010you skip down, we have a self- assessment grade, which the state asks us to grade ourselves. We have to grade ourselves in very specific categories. One, our programs and initiatives, things that we're doing to combat HIV in our buildings. It's also training of our staff that is every staff member meaning the um cafeteria workers a everybody custodian staff our substitutes everybody gets trained in that how it's infused into the curriculum and different things like that the personnel meaning myself and the specialists in the building along with the principles and and Mr. from Machochi and then also our reporting procedure. Do we adhere to the state guidelines? Do we investigate within that time frame? How do we do it? Do we hit the the three prongs that it has to hit? And do we put all
011that information into the state system and all of that stuff is done. So if you look here, we always try to be very fair to ourselves and grade ourselves accordingly. It's out of a 78. When I told Dr. Westervelt our grade, she was very upset with me because I said we got a 75. She thought it was out of 100. She was like, "What are you doing?" I'm like, "I'm grading this fairly." It's out of it's it's out of 78. And then the middle school is a 72 out of that 78. So all of that has to be into the state system so that they can see it and all is public information. And then you will see that grade posted on the website in May when it it is embossed once the state reviews
012it. Are there any questions? >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> I don't know who's next. >> Oh, Mr. Deer. [Music] Did you do that? >> I did it. I barely touched it. >> Oh. Oh my. I'm really losing it. Okay. All right. Well, well, I know most of you are required to be here, but thanks so much for coming after the annual the annual assessment report. Okay. Okay. So, as an educational institution, one of our primary responsibilities is academic achievement as measured by a variety of assessments. Okay. And of course, we know that we're so much more than that, but these tests, uh, these assessments are one set of indicators of our academic performance as a district. So, we do have a lot to celebrate, plenty to celebrate, but we also know that
013we have a few areas, a few opportunities for improvement. Okay? A few areas where we know that the scores are not really reflective of our true capability. So, let's just jump right in. >> I can move. >> There we go. Okay. Here's what we're going to talk about. I'm just going to show some some state and national testing dates. We're going to jump into the student learning, the New Jersey student learning assessments. That's one of our standardized tests. Also, the GPA, that's the graduation assessment. We're even going to look at SAT and advanced placement. And um just a few other little things. So, here is here are the testing dates for this school year. You'll notice SATs and ACTs right up top. West Essex provides we host as much as we possibly can so that
014our students can take these tests somewhere where they are comfortable. Um, and that's only with the exception of a few dates uh during the summer. Uh, the PSATs we have this Thursday. We offer that to sophomores and juniors. Um if there is your one takeaway from this slide though however it is the uh adaptive fall field test and how the future state assessments are now going to be adaptive. So in mid August the department of education put out a broadcast that moving forward all NJsalas and NJ GPA are now going to be adaptive. Okay. Now that that is opposed to static. That means that the questions that are served up on the testing platform vary depending on your previous answer. So if you answered a question right, the next question is it a little bit
015more difficult. If you answered it wrong, the next question is a little bit uh easier. Okay, theoretically, adaptive tests give educators and families a little bit of a better idea of how those students are performing. Okay, so that was the big change that came out in August. Not only is the format of the test changing, but so is the platform. So Pearson that uh everyone became very familiar with is now going to be Cambium except for the science test which still remains static and in Pearson. Not only that, all schools are also required to give the fall field test. Okay? Okay. And they have given us a window. There is the window right there. That really only amounts to about 11 school days where schools are can are permitted to give that test. Um we
016are going to try to give it in with the least disruption possible. Um we're just going to uh block out the the gym down at the high school. We'll have middle school kids going down there. But the public should know and the board should know that each student in and this is in grades 3 through 11 basically is required to take uh 4 hours each of this um field test. Um but again we will try to make it the uh the as least disruptive as we possibly can. Um in uh in March we have the NJGPA again that will be adaptive immed uh not soon after not long after that we have our AP testing and once the seniors all leave on senior services is when we do NJA both at the high school and
017the middle school and those are going to be the adaptive tests. Okay. Now here are our test scores. So, what we're looking at right now is uh basically the last four years of NJSL. Okay. Uh and that's all grades 7 through 9. Okay. I have 2019 up there as well, but we did not test in 2020 or 2021. No one did. So, we're basically looking at at the last four years. So, we're very happy up here with uh 81% for a grade seven. And we we with any of these tests, really what we're looking for is not just performance, but we're looking for how well we're performing compared to the state. So, we always want to maintain kind of a healthy a healthy gap in between us and the state. 81% we're happy with. Even
018here in the 70s could there's room for improvement there, but we're still maintaining a nice healthy temperature. Now, once we get down here in ELA9, 66, that's not really a score that that we want to see. Okay, 66, you know, really that's like D territory if if you're in like a taking a math test or something. So, we know that there's room for improvement here. But here's what I would also like to point out with this slide. With any of these kinds of test results, there are many many variables. Okay? Some of which are instructionally and curricular based. Others perhaps come from other places. So what I want to point out here is this 66% really started up here. So this this in 2023, this ELA7 that's scoring 80%. This is the same cohort, okay,
019that's then scoring 76% this diagonal in 2024 and then a 66% in 2025. Okay. So now, while I'm sure there are instructional improvements that we can make, are are we despite our best efforts teaching this kid these kids and they are every year getting less intelligent or are perhaps they not making the best effort on the test? So I that's something that we need to look at as well. perhaps trying to motivate and incentivize students to make sure that they're trying their hardest on a test which is very difficult with SLA because it's not a test that really counts for anything aside from we use it to look at uh placement. Okay, so that is ELA. Now for math, math is a little different because you can't look at the diagonal the same way. Okay,
020we do like the jump that the the little jump that we see here in math 7. But now these 2024 math 7, these don't necessarily track to math 8. Okay, these kids here in in 2024, the 58% they're going either here to math 8 or to algebra 1. So these kids are coming to these two places. Okay, so this is eighth grade. This is some eighth grade and some freshman. And then these bottom three, algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2 are are are all fresh. Okay, so we know that within uh math 8 and algebra, we need to make sure that we're providing all the right supports and interventions possible. We've even implemented some of those already this year. Um the algebra 2 obviously we're very happy with that. That's really about like five students
021because these are our top performers. The there's these are freshmen that are taking algebra 2. So that's why these numbers are like this. Similarly the the geometry students those are freshmen that are in geometry. Okay moving on. the science test. So, the whole state has challenges with the science test as you can see from these numbers. Okay? Now, no matter what the challenges are with the science test, we want to try to improve these numbers as much as we can. Okay? But like I said, there are a lot of challenges here. Whether it's curricular curricularly based or trying to get students to take tests seriously. Um, one of the biggest challenges with this test from an administrative perspective is contrary to NJSLA and NJGPA where the district gets information on what standards you're deficient in,
022we don't get that information on science test. We just get what whether students are proficient or not, but we don't get any informations on standards that that are are lacking. Okay, here's where things start to change a little bit because this is a test that is of consequence. Okay, this is NJ GPA. Okay, this is the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment. So, all students must pass this in order to graduate high school. So, this is when they really start taking tests seriously. You can even tell back here in 2023 64% that's before the state required that students actually pass it. And as soon as the the the state requires it, then we jump all the way up to a 92. Okay. And math, we were real happy last year with the 97%. That's almost unsustainable,
023though. And we're still happy with with 91%. Math still trending upwards. Okay. In the 80s, here's the same information just represented visually. So you can see here the kind of the separation and the gap that we're creating between uh us and and the New Jersey average. Okay. SAT we do well on SAT both uh both the reading writing and the math. Uh what what's interesting to pick up off the off this slide is the how the number of our actual kids that are taking it is declining because in recent years uh fewer uh more and more schools are are not requiring SATs. Nevertheless, we do a good job there. Again, represented visually for you. And here's another area where we really excel. our advant our AP classes what I think is necessary to point out
024here. So this number here 393 that's the number of individuals that we have taking at least one AP class. Okay the AP enrollment that's our total enrollment. So 393 people in unique students are taking up 1,041 seats in AP classes in multiple classes. So So some of these kids are taking multiple classes. What's really impressive off of this slide is to be able to year after year increase the number of AP students that you have and still maintain such a high passing rate at 88%. With a 3.6 uh average score. So that that I think, you know, to to the credit of our teachers that that are that are trying real hard, but it and it's just great that we can have that many kids uh each year accessing that kind of rigorous curriculum. Okay,
025but this as much as I love the AP slide, this is actually my favorite slide because this is all of our students. Okay, the AP that's that's just part of our students, but this class is 2026 cohort. And this slide, I think, says a lot about what we're trying to do as a district. So, this is the current senior class. Okay? And this is how they've tested throughout the years. Okay? So, back when they were in seventh grade in 2020, 2021, there was no testing. Okay? But the first year that they could test in ELA, they were 73%. then crept up a little bit to a 76% no uh standardized test in 10th grade. But here we are up in 11th grade last year when they took the NJ GPA and we got them up
026to a 91% passing rate. Not bad. Not bad. Same thing down here. Now again, this is this is going to be math 8 and algebra 1. Okay. Then over here this algebra 1 and geometry and we can get them up to an 83% pass on. So to me, this slide is really good indication that hey, we're doing our job. We are taking the kids from A and moving them all the way past B to C. So I I really do like that slide. I think it's a good indication of how well we're doing. Okay, here's a couple things that we have implemented to try to improve some of our uh areas that we know uh need a little improvement. Our I Ready benchmarks at the middle school. We started that this year. Okay, this is
027the first year. This was selected from a committee of teachers and administrators that got together last year um evaluated our our current system which at the time was link and a few others. We landed on on I Ready uh that's going to involve three benchmarks benchmark test prior to uh the state testing which is all adaptive compared to its predecessor link it I gives us much more clear and actionable data for that for educators and for families to use so then we're able to provide the interventions necessary there's so much in the IR program even itself that helps us address the deficiencies that are there. Uh the math mastery program, this is in its second year of districtwide implementation. Now, this is where students take online assessments of the fundament the fundamental skills of each
028unit through Delta Math. Those results are immediate. Okay. Students retake those assessments until they pass them. So, it's a true formative assessment. And then finally, we enter the passing grade into Genesis. uh Greg Ashoff, our mass supervisor, he meets with the M achievement committee periodically uh to evaluate the the this whole process and and and its its efficiency because we realize recognize it's still only a second year in its infancy. So, if there's things we need to tweak along the way, we're happy to do that. And then here's uh we we continue our other supports and extra help opportunities. Our foundations class for both math and ELA, that's actually part of students schedules. They're identified, those students in that class are identified by standardized testing, teacher recommendations, and now those I Ready benchmarks. We have
029study strategies in seventh grade and academic coaching in ETH. Uh we have the learning lab that runs uh during the lunch run by AC uh by the instructional supervisors. Students can show up for help in any subject, but that they do primarily tend to show up for math. And we have night squad. Uh that won't start until after the first marking period, but that is also a uh a lunch program. And then at the high school, we have math lab and we have mastery retakes at the high school as well. We have the writing center. We have peer tutoring. And we will have summer school running again this this coming summer. Any questions? >> All right. Thanks to the board for all your support and thanks to our administration for uh for everything that they
030do and of course our teachers. All right. Okay. Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> So, I've been working with Damian and central office, our administrative team, looking at the lunch block, um, and specifically looking at recess. So, I want to share with you kind of some of the data points that we're looking at. So, just to make sure we're all on the same page of how lunch has kind of grown over the years because we do always try and perfect all of our events and activities and programming at the middle school. When I started in 2019 2020, we had a split lunch with split lunch studies. So in other words, half of the seventh grade ate in one location while half of the eighth grade ate in the other location and then there were
031lunch studies which essentially was a study hall and then they flipped. So in other words, the entire seventh grade did not eat together as a class and the entire eighth grade did not eat together as a class. And 2019 was the first year of the rotating drop at the middle school as well. That's worth noting in 2020 and 2021. I thought it was really important from an SEAL perspective, especially in middle school where friendships and all of those relationships are changing. Um, we thought m, you know, Mrs. Tamburi at the time and I thought it was really important to have a common lunch. So, we switched to a common lunch by grade. The entire seventh grade ate at one time while the eighth grade was in lunch study and then we flipped. Okay. So, that
032was 2020 to 2021. In 2024, we eliminated the lunch studies. They were very difficult to maintain um with the rotating drop schedule and we went we shifted to we stuck with the common lunch. So the students still ate by grade but we ate together now as a whole school. In 2024 we now have three eating locations. It's essentially one true common lunch. The entire school eats at one time and in lie of the lunch studies we provided academic supports. So some of the academic supports that we are providing are up on this next slide. Um so we have the makeup assessment room which uh Caesar just mentioned. We have a learning lab which is an opportunity for students to go for extra help. It's mostly students seeking math extra help um but it could technically
033be for any content area. We have our counseling corner. This current year we added a quiet study room. And that was something specific that the student body asked for last year. Um because the learning lab 121 can be like a little bit noisy because kids are actually getting, you know, rettaught and there's more conversation. So they asked for a quiet study room. We thought it was really important to to listen to their voice and allow them to advocate for what they needed. So we put that in place. And then we also have the library which provides um reading uh quiet silent reading in the zenen as well as some games and activities. So those are the existing events. So when we look at the option of recess and I say that loosely to mean like
034going outside whether it's eating or whether it's activities when we look at that um it's important for me that we also maintain our academic focus right so we certainly at the middle school believe in culture and climate and initiatives. I always talk about the whole child and and SEAL meaning like we don't just care about academics. if we want to focus also on the mental and social well-being of our students. Uh but having said that, as we do look at the lunch block and consider recess or getting the kids outside, these are all of kind of the moving parts, if you will, of things that we must consider. So, I did visit uh a student council meeting recently um and they did confirm with me there was about 15 students there. It was mostly split
035between seventh and eighth grade. They did um I let them bring it up. I said, "What's working during the lunch block?" And they did mention that they do like the academic supports and they do like the quiet study room. They do appreciate those opportunities. They did agree that they would like to go outside if given the opportunity. Um and so we talked about some of that with them. Uh I'm communicating with the administration on the budget. There's personnel and making sure that we maintain safety and security in terms of you know our studenttoteer ratios. Um during the lunch block talking with the athletics. if we go outside, are we able to use the fields? Um, things of that nature. Middle school roundt. I'm part of a round table of North Jersey middle schools and I'm
036speaking with them about what their practices are. So, many middle schools do split their lunch blocks. Some schools do have a recess where the kids go outside. Other schools split it with um a study hall. The rationale is because they only have like one cafeteria, so they have to get, you know, the students out of the cafeteria as quick as possible to get more students in. Um, so it's it's kind of mixed in terms of what schools are doing there. Uh, communicating with our class 3 officers on best practices to main safety and security because that's always a top priority. Um, especially if students are outside the building, how can we maintain a safe environment for them? Communicating with the music teachers during that music block. Besides the academic supports, we do offer our clubs
037and activities meet during the lunch block and our music teachers have lessons um for their ensembles like individual lessons. So making sure we don't do anything that would jeopardize lessons. Uh skip team is a panel of teachers in the building. Um so just communicating with them about clubs and academic supports, making sure I'm in contact with um our union representation um contractual pmponian, right? They not only take care of our food services, but also our custodial services if we were to go outside being considering, you know, tables and cleanup and things of that nature. And then the lunch monitors are the people currently that we have in our eating locations who maintain order each and every day and kind of getting their thoughts and opinions. So, this is an ongoing conversation that I'm having with
038um the board office. We're talking about different options and um that's kind of the update that I have for tonight. really fun activity as I switched to some culture and climate initiatives and and some things that we've done. It was really fun. Mr. Martin and I were at the football game last Friday night. Uh it was band night which you know every year our middle school students go and play with the high school and it's such a fun event to see them like mixed in with the high school kids and playing and really getting a sense of of what it means to be part of the band. and and I've had many kids say to me once they're in high school that that event, that single one event really is what got them into the
039music program and and developed their passion for being part of the marching band. So, that's a really fun um event at the middle school. So, I want to thank uh Mrs. Swanic and the entire high school and middle school music department. I don't know if you heard, but we had the coolest event on Friday. Um, we have our teachers here on the left listed, Cynthia Ayala, Alex Ays, Giovana Machochi, Jenna Mosculi, and Jenna Solari who came to me over the summer with an idea for our core value kickoffs or our core values. We have the we care core values of collaboration, awareness, resilience, and empathy. And they really dove head first into this project and they created an escape room um on f nobody knew. It was top secret. But I was talking to Damon
040in the hallway and I almost lost my job because they thought I was giving away the I was giving away the you know that the kids might overhear me. So on Friday there was an announcement over the PA. All students check your email report to designated classrooms. They took all 600 kids broke them up into classrooms assigned teachers and they had me I'm I'm not a good actor so I'm not going to actually Don't hit play Dave. I thought I would just show the picture, but they if you've ever been to an escape room, if you ever if you ever go to an escape room, you know they start with the first video and it's like your job is to blah blah blah crack the code. So, they had me do this video. So, the
041kids go in the classroom, then they see this video. I'm afraid to click this. I don't want to say Oh, no. >> Never mind. You saw it. You saw it. I'm not joking. So, they had to crack the code. They had three different activities to do. At one point the kids were running through the halls. The next code was in the library and it's like look out and like we started getting nervous they were going to run into each other. But so the code was essentially to find the night where is the night? The knight was hiding in a PEL or in the yeah in the PE closet. So this is the group that found our night and um they were awarded like a prize and then we really emphasized the first um item of
042collaboration. It was so amazing. the team of teachers that created this put so much time and thought into this and I really think the kids had a they had a great time but then at the end of the day they were like yeah it was all right you know typical middle school and we're like you know if you've ever had a parent you know or a parent of a middle school kid you're like I put so much work into that and you could care less um but I think they really had a lot of fun so I just I can't thank the the group enough um so that was really fun okay school safety month is this month we're jumping in character ed anti-bullying Our counselors are jumping in and doing lessons. Our student assistance
043counselor um is doing her red ribbon lessons. This gentleman, I said DMX at a faculty meeting and our staff thought I'm like, "No, no, no. I meant BMX." Anyway, this gentleman is coming next week. He's um going to do tricks on a bike and at the same time talk to the kids about having character, being good citizens, and uh some anti-bullying lessons. So, we're looking forward to that. And then our cookies with a cop event. If you recall a couple slides ago, um Chief Strodoff was handing out cookies. That's cookies with a cop. They just come during the lunch block and the PTO donates the cookies. That's just a fun way to get um you know, the building comfortable with having police officers in the building. And then finally, we have spirit week coming up
044that culminates with a pep rally um next Friday. And then the last thing, I didn't do a slide for this, but I wanted to mention we announced our spring musical is going to be high school musical. Um, so everyone's really excited about that in the middle school. So that's it for us. I'll turn it to the high school. >> Hi, good evening everyone. >> All right, so what do we have going on at the high school? On Monday, October 6th, we held um a college fair hosted by our guidance department who did a phenomenal job with it. Um uh I know there were some of you there at the college fair and what the students do is they get um they use an app called Strive Scan and so that gives us some really important
045information for the college fair. So through the Strive Scan app, we were able to determine. So the students get like a QR code and then they go around to each um table, each college, and then the college representative will scan their QR code. So now they have their information that this student is interested in them. And then we have information to know who's attending, what colleges are people visiting. So we know that 253 students attended the college fair on Monday. Um, majority of those students were West Essex High School students, but we also had students from James Caldwell High School, Livingston High School, Mount St. Dominic Academy, and Cedar Grove High School. So, we open it to the local communities, too, because not all of the schools are able to have college fairs. That evening,
046there were over 1,400 interactions between students and college reps. There were 93 colleges and universities present at the job at the job fair at the college fair. Um, and just some fun information, some of those top interactions were Penn State University at number one, Ruckers University, Syracuse University, University of Rhode Island, Sacred Heart University, and the College of New Jersey. So, it was a really successful night for our guidance department who did a phenomenal job with the organization and ensuring that we had many of the colleges and universities represented there. Um some people had asked they said you know we don't see some of the um bigger colleges there more some just hot hotter topic colleges but that's because they're coming to this high school for visits. So they're coming on random days and the
047students are coming for like a one-on-one visit with them. So that's why some of those universities weren't present at that fair. So this Thursday Mr. Dabberto mentioned that we're hosting the PSAT for our grades 10 and 11 students. This is also the National Merit Scholarship qualifying test. So, it's important for our juniors who take the test. Um, we adjust the schedule on that morning. So, the students come in, the grade 10 and 11 students come in to take the test. Um, we also have our grade nine students come in and they connect with the weite senior peer leaders for some like building connections activities. As I speak about this all the time, it's really important for our students to feel connected to our school community. And so for our ninth graders, this is another opportunity
048where they get to they play games and like just basically connection building games with our senior peer leaders and their peers as well. Um then the ninth graders are heading to the auditorium later that morning for a presentation by Max Stosel called the social awakening and he speaks on the impact of social media and what it does to our lives. He talks about the algorithms and how they're designed to manipulate our brains and it just really gets everyone thinking about like whoa what are we doing every time we open that app. Um, but what I love about this presentation is that it also comes with a virtual presentation for the parents. We're going to send it to the ninth grade parents because it's the nth grade students who are seeing it. So, it's can start
049a conversation at home. This virtual presentation, a link will be sent to the parents Thursday afternoon and they'll have 30 days to view it. So, they recognize that not everyone's going to be available at one time. So, they give a 30-day window for parents to go on and view it. So then this can open a conversation for the students and the parents at home to talk about, you know, the social media and the way they're engaging on their phones. Our athletic teams are doing really well. Our girls tennis team won the SEC Liberty Division. Um they did come up short in states, but we're still really proud of their accomplishments. Our cross country team won the SEC Liberty Division and they had the meet of champions today. and coach Emmerine just shared with me. Yeah,
050we just got a picture and an update that both teams won their meets. The girls had five athletes placed in the top 10 earning first team all-conference um honors and the boys had three top 10 finishers earning first team allconerence status. So, we're really proud of our cross country athletes. Our county tournaments are coming up for girls volleyball, field hockey, boys soccer, and girls soccer. And this Friday at 6:30, we have um a really big football game against Hanover Park. Um as you guys may know, our new football coach, he's coming from Handover Park, so it is going to be quite the rival game. We're expecting high attendance there. Um so if you're looking forward to something to do on Friday night, please come out and join us. Also, I'm really excited to um share
051the marching band accomplishments so far this season. So they were promoted to open class which is like a higher division. This is kind of reflects their strong performance and consistently high scores that they have been receiving. And so now they're in a more competitive division. Knowing that they still earned first place at Jefferson Township High School on September 20th and first place at Westmore Central High School competition on September 27th. This Saturday, they are performing in the Lewig Muser Classic at Metife Stadium, which is a really cool experience for them to be out on that field. And then on Sunday, this Sunday, we're hosting the Tournament of the Band's Chapter X Championship. Please come out and join us. Sat Sunday, it starts at 12:00 p.m. It's an all day event, though, so if you can't
052get there till like 3:00 or 4, they will still be out there performing. Um, so we're really proud of our marching band students. For culture and climate, we had the week of respect um earlier in October. And what we do at the high school is our annual anti-bullying door decorating contest. It's just a fun way to bring awareness to a really important message um in a festive way. So, uh I think that one says brewing up kindness at West Essex. And it's just fun to have decorated doors throughout the building and it does get students to stop, read them, take it in. So, it's those like subliminal messages throughout the day that they're they're reading. Um, we're also this week we're signing our No Place for Hate pledge. So, we're really excited to kick off
053that initiative this week. Um, and we had spirit week September 29th to October 3rd. It ended with our battle of the classes color war on that Friday. I'm sure many of you saw the um reel that was posted to um our Instagram accounts. So, first of all, the adviserss are amazing. Miss Loat, Mr. McGlin um and Mr. Miller who assisted with them. They came to me with the idea. And as you can imagine, when they present these ideas, they're like, "It's going to be great." I'm like, "Yes, it will be great." I'm like, "Or it's going to be terrible." Like, "This is a whole school buyin. This is really hard." Um, but I have full faith in them the entire time. They had a great student leaders working. They had great student leaders working with
054them who choreographed the whole thing, had the vision. Um, and we we made it work. And I have to say when I came to this district seven years ago now, my first color day, I was blown away, the school spirit is truly something like it is a phenomenon here. Every student puts on color shirt. Every student participates and that is just something so very unique to West Essex. So that reel that we got to share with the world, that is really important for people to see like that's not something we fabricated. like that is truly what happens at West Essex High School. So, we're really proud of that. And for staff recognition, so last year um and each each month we acknowledged a department and the work that that department had done collectively. Um I
055wasn't sure that that excitement of that would sustain throughout the years, right? So, we came up this year with something called the Noble Knight Awards. And so each month we honor three teachers, staff members for their work where they show that they go above and beyond. This is someone who's just truly dedicated to their job. Someone who's shown integrity, someone who had an initiative and went with it and they they ran with it and it was successful. Um so and what's also interesting about these Noble Knight Awards, one of our school goals for this year, a personal school goal for us was to build relationships, right? for the staff to build the relationships among themselves. And so three teachers were selected and I'll speak about them in a second, but their job this month is
056to pass the award on to someone else for next month and it can't be someone in their department. So like they really have to learn some like they really have to get to know people outside of their department which in a high school that's that can be challenging. Um so we're excited to announce Miss Mary and Drew our choir teacher for her work. She does the she did the strangers project. So, if you walk in the arts wing, there is a huge bulletin board and students can leave anonymous messages about what it's like to be them and it's hung up. And so, when you're walking past the board, you just read and you don't know who wrote it and you're like, "Wow, someone else feels that way. That's pretty cool." Or, "All right, I'm not
057alone." Right? Like, I know I'm not alone. So, this was a really um wellthoughtout, supportive project that has been successful. So, thank you to Miss Mary and Drew. We also recognize Miss Liz Rickort, chemistry teacher. We had a student who was in distress a couple weeks ago. Um there was some communication out on social media and it was getting out. And the teacher, Liz, Miss Ricker, reached out to administration. This was in the evening hours and said, "I don't know what to do. There's something going on. Like someone needs to help this girl." And so we were able to, you know, make sure that the girl received the help she needed because Miss Ricker brought it to our attention where most teachers probably just would have kept scrolling or just didn't want to give the
058effort and energy that um Miss Ricker had put in. And we also wanted to acknowledge Steve Srausa, English teacher. He while he was um still even teaching up here at the middle school, he's our east one of our esports coaches. So he would come down every day at at the unit lunch and open the esports room for the kids to have a place to go and hang out. And it was just a safe space for students to go at a time where they didn't feel like they had somewhere else to be. So we just wanted to acknowledge Steve for his efforts. And now I'm really excited to share our newly elected board of education student representative Juicen Zachary Jr. So to be elected student representative there is a pretty thorough process. First I hold an
059interest meeting for the students. Um and there I had about eight students seven to eight students show up to the interest meeting. um they learn about the process, they read the policy, they learn of their expectations um and I explain to them the importance of this role. From there, they then have to go out and submit an endorsement record where they get 10 signatures from students in each grade level and five signatures from members of the community. They then also have to write a platform statement. They have to write an essay of 200 words as to why they would be the best person for this position. Um, and then they also have to submit a threeinut max campaign video. So, at by the time we got to the campaign video part of the process, there
060were only two candidates remaining, Juicy and one other. Um, and then we set it we send that video out to the entire student body. The student body has three days to view the videos and then we hold a schoolwide election um where Juicen was the winner and 82% of the student body voted which is also impressive if you know our student body voting um you know history that that's that's an impressive number that 82% of the students were like you know I feel strongly about this I'm going to vote. So um congratulations to Juicen. So, Juicine is a member of FBLA, Key Club, the premed club, and the basketball team. Her favorite subjects are English, history, and business law. And after college, she has plans to serve in the military, go to law school, and
061become a lawyer. And I have no doubt that she will achieve all of that. So, congratulations, Juicen. Thank you. Do we have any comments from board members regarding all the presentations tonight and everything from the principles or anything? >> Great for the presentation. Excellent presentation. >> Okay. Well, I would like to welcome our new student representative. Um, it's something that this board is so excited to be a part of. It's only our year. Third, fourth. Fourth year. >> Look at We're on this fourth year. >> Okay. >> Fourth year. Yes. >> Okay. All right. >> You're number four. Yes. >> So anyway, we're not putting too much pressure on you, but >> those of us who can't count, um, >> we we appreciate everything that you can bring to us because you are, I mean,
062we hear things, you know, you hear things through the grapevine, you hear things from your parents here who have children in the school, you know, you but you are truly in the school. you get the flavor of, you know, what's really going on and and it's important to us because we would like to be as much a part of it that we can and to address things that we think are important for the board to recognize and for the students so that we can work as one body. So even if you think it'll hurt our feelings, you have to bring it to us. Okay? >> Not afraid. >> Okay. Are you are you dad or >> I'm a brother? >> Oh, all right. Little sibling rivalry. >> So, we look forward to you. We welcome
063you. Um, we enjoy the fact that you're going to be our voice and things that we make decisions with you on that you can bring back to the student body and say, "Hey, listen. I brought it to them. They're going to have discussion. What else should we do to get something approved or get something incorporated in our day or whatever you want for your academic life, your athletics, whatever you need to go through high school, make it successful and fun at the same time. So, we welcome you um with open arms. Um we are really not that scary of a group. Um, a lot of us are alumni from West Essex. Um, I'm the oldest one of alumni. I was here way way back when. So, um, but Mr. Stampone, um, who else do we
064have? >> That's it now. That's it now. So, Mr. Stampone, his son went to school here. My children went to school here. So, we really have a legacy going on. and um when they told us that they were going to start adding student reps on, we just embraced the idea because we love another voice. So, welcome and um you know, enjoy your year with us. >> Thank you so much. Okay, can I have um may I have committee reports curriculum? >> Yes. Um um okay so what was very similarly said before we met October 1st um so already a month into the school year admin and teachers are doing a deep dive into the annual score report as you already heard earlier this evening looking for trends in grade levels looking for ways we can
065give extra support enrichment. Um the I Ready program as stated gives multiple assessments but it also has a program called a my path feature which um personalizes differentiated programs on a much more micro level. And we're looking to think about ways to incentivize our students to um look at all standardized testing as important and um rigor and potentially even earning some level of rewards and the continuation of extra support and help and ways to evaluate and enhance that program. >> Yeah. and I attended the county meeting. Um it was as always um just a really nice chance for us to connect with other people um on board superintendent and um we heard a lot about um budgeting um that's some really good insight um which um I think talked about um the rising some of
066the rising costs in healthcare and ways to um better that and some of the challenges that that every district is facing um some of the ways we can address those issues. So it was it was a really informative really good night. >> The only thing I was going to add to that is that they also talked about conference fun. I left out the most important part more food. Better food. [Music] They said there's gonna be better food this year and more options. >> So what Mary was speaking about is that the um New Jersey school boards association puts on a conference every year. Um and we are really probably one of the one groups of board of eds that the most people go and attend. During this function, we go to our um workshop classes
067that we have to take for credits. Some of us have to do governance reporting and governance programs every time we go up in the, you know, first year, second year, whatever reelection. So, we have to do all of that and we get our credits and we meet with vendors. There's a vendor floor um at the convention center. We meet with vendors of things that the school is looking to purchase or inquire about. Um and then we get to actually, you know, speak to other school districts to find out, you know, what are you doing? You know, what do you do to, you know, encourage as just as, you know, Dr. Dunley said, she reaches out to her consortium to find out about recess. You know, we reach out to them to find out. We'll be
068looking to um see if we can find any information on referendums and gather all that. Um, but it is it's a good time because it it is like a team building for all of us to go. You know, the board hats are kind of off. You get to find out about everyone's life at a little bit easier pace. Uh, we look forward to lunch. It's this year. This year it's food trucks and then our our um our vendors and things. We have we have dinners that we, you know, are invited to. So, it's a nice event and that's what we will be um taking advantage of next week. Um so, that was great. And the Essex County meetings are something that we do on a regular basis. We meet with all the Essex County uh
069boards of ed superintendent, BAS, um on a rotating basis. The next one is in December and we will be at Milbour High School. um and we they come and they bring in speakers for us to educate us on what's happening and on the laws and all the legalities of things that are changing. So uh with that being said, I want to just thank the principles. Your reports were great. M Dr. Dunle, thank you for looking into the recess. We had a parents come to us and inquire. So we appreciate that and the you know all of the activities and everything you're doing at the high school and the middle school. It's just it's been a great start to the new year and we do truly appreciate all of your efforts. So, with that being said,
070any public comments on agenda items only, >> would you please state your name, mayor, and your address? >> Sure. Uh, my name is Joshua Raymond. I'm a North Cowwell resident. You need my specific address? >> No. >> Okay. Um, I just want to make this perfectly clear. I'm here not in any formal capacity whatsoever. I am here merely as a parent um to address one of the items on the agenda and maybe to deviate just for one second because it was referenced in Dr. Westfelt's report uh about the marching band. um a proud parent of the drum major and um I invite you all to the tournament of bands competition Sunday afternoon. I think the marching our marching band goes on roughly around 4:30 4:45. We're one of the last bands. Um I know many
071of you will be in attendance um giving out awards and I encourage you all to come. The show this year is the the name of the show is better together and there's actually music that you'll recognize from the Beatles, the Turtles and Elton John and um it's a great performance. Our band will be performing three times between senior night, Friday at the football game, Saturday night at Metife Stadium, and then Sunday at our own competition. So, we'll be performing, the marching band will be performing three times within roughly 50 hours. Uh, so kudos to the students in the marching band. Um, specifically to the agenda item that I want to reference, and I'm going to be as discreet as possible. Um, I'm specifically referencing the last consent agenda for miscellaneous motions on page 13 of
072your agenda, item 9 or 10. I'm not sure which. Um, regarding the decision in the HIV investigation number 01A or 01B. Again, I'm not sure which one specifically. Let me just start with this. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart Dr. Westervelt and Mr. Emmering and the faculty here at West Essex High School for their diligent effort and their constant communication with us during a very difficult and trying time. Um, my wife and I are extremely thankful for all their efforts. I have two questions. Um, one, it references here in your resolution that the um board um that there's a superintendent report and that the board and directs the the board secretary and the school business administrator to transmit a copy of the board's decision to the affected students parents forthwidth. My
073question is with that decision, do the affected parents students parents get a copy of the superintendent's report? My second question is do the affected students parents find out if there was any discipline imposed or services provided such as counseling and were there any consequences? So one will the affected parents get a copy of the superintendent's report and two will the affected parents find out if there was any discipline imposed? >> I know Mr. Mr. that address it >> and we also are trying to keep this as confidential as we can. >> That's why I'm keeping it as a broad question. I'm not asking for the details of the report nor I'm going to do is Mr. Machoi will report out to you what our policy and procedure is for any circumstances and how it is
074communicated with the parents regarding the report and regarding discipline. So this will be a generic statement. >> That'd be perfect. Thank you. >> Yep. >> With matters of HIV, um what what the district is required to do is provide the parents with a um the the conclusion of the investigation and what the action was that was taken. Um, parents are entitled to request a copy of the investigative report and then they they would be provided with one and it would be a redacted version >> and that's what's provided after the decision from this board >> within five um school days of of uh the board taking action. Um, the parties involved in that investigation will be get will be given u written notice of of what the outcome was. Okay, thank you very much. We
075appreciate it very much. Thank you. And again, thank you very much to Dr. Westervelt, Mr. Emmering, and the faculty that were critically involved in this situation. We appreciate it. >> We appreciate you saying it. I mean, you know, most of the time people come and it's like, you know, but we appreciate that you recognize the hard work that our staff does and, you know, no matter what the circumstances are, generically speaking, for any child here, we appreciate that. >> It was above and beyond the responsiveness. I cannot tell you how quick and responsive and serious everybody took everything and answered questions and responded to emails and phone calls. It it it was A+. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. With that being said, we're going to go on to the agenda. Finance, Ray, please.
076>> Yes. Following finance made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda? Items 1 through 15 will be voted upon in one motion and I shall move. >> Second. Any questions? Everybody good? Okay. >> Miss Ael, >> yes. >> Miss Chris, >> yes. >> Miss Gani, >> yes. >> Miss Bonsa, >> yes. >> Mr. Examp, >> yes. >> Miss Bodwick, yes to one. I was down here, so I Miss Caler. >> Yes. >> Building and grounds, please. >> The following buildings and grounds motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda item one voted upon in one motion. I saw motion questions. >> Yes. >> Miss Crystal, >> yes. >> Miss Giovani, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Mr. Sam, >> yes.
077>> Miss Wulus, >> yes. >> Miss Calderon, >> yes. >> Okay. The next one is personnel. But before we get into the reading, I'd like to just recognize um the resignation of Paul and Jean from our middle school science department. Um they've given over 20 years of service to the school. Um they've molded a lot of our students and started the interest in science which carried through to the high school. Um, and we as a board are wishing them much happiness and health in their next chapter. Um, it's it's a big leap for anyone to take after you've been in something for so long, but we're confident that they will find their niche and and truly enjoy it. So, we do wish them the best. Okay. Personnel. Um, Laya. Yes. The following personal motions are
078made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda items one through six will be voted upon in one motion and I so move. So questions concerns and on another note we just welcome all the new staff which is noted in number two that are going to be joining us. >> Miss Ael, >> yes. >> Miss Principal, >> yes. >> Miss Giovani, >> yes. >> Miss Constaff, >> yes. >> Mr. Samone, >> yes. Miss Wagland. >> Yes. >> Miss Calone. >> Yes. >> Miscellaneous Ruth. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Curriculum. >> Okay. >> The following curriculum special education motions are made at the recommendation of superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda items one approve for we vote upon motion. And I so move. Second. >> Second. questions, comments. >> Miss
079Emo, >> yes. >> Miss Crystal, >> yes. >> Miss Giovani, >> yes. >> Miss Hansa, >> yes. >> Mr. Samone, >> yes. >> Miss Lwood, >> yes. >> Miss Calgro, >> yes. >> Dep miscellaneous, please. >> The following miscellaneous motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda? Items 1 through 11 will be voted upon in one motion and I so move questions. >> Yes. >> Miss Chrisall. >> Yes. >> Missani. >> Yes. Miss Hans. >> Yes. >> Mr. Stamp. >> Yes. >> Miss Vadwa. >> Uh yes to 1 through 8. I was not here from 9 to 10. So stay and yes, >> Miss Catherine. >> Yes. >> With that being said, we'd like to wish the bands a absolutely wonderful next three days. It sounds exhausting.
080Um I have the privilege and I'm proud honor of handing out one of the trophies on Sunday night, which I'm looking forward to. Um, good luck to our football team tomorrow, uh, Friday. And, um, we wish you all a great Halloween, and we will see you in November. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Uh, do we have any comments on non-aggenda items? >> Nope. All good. All right. Uh there being no uh there being no further business before this board of education, be it resolved that this public meeting be adjourned at 8:46. Um motion to adjurnn. I make the motion. Second. >> All in favor? I